Author: Crowhill Report

I assume that most of you are spending more time at home than you usually do. So … what are you doing? Are you watching TV, catching up on books, cleaning closets, doing inside projects?

I’m still going to the office every day, but I’m stuck at home in the evening and on the weekends, so I’ve been doing little things here and there. I bottled some wine. Organized the garage. Built some rod holders to organize my messy collection of fishing poles. I did a couple projects on the computer (related to my podcast). Nothing major, but I’m getting a few things done.

My train ride used to be my main reading time, and I don’t ride the train any more, so my reading has slacked off. I took a few hours this weekend to sit down with the Kindle and finish off Cocktail Time by Wodehouse. It’s fun. Not as good as Wooster and Jeeves, but … what is?

P&C drink and review Port City’s Long Black Veil, an American style, black IPA, then discuss whether employers should have any say in what employees do on their own time.

There seems to be a difference in degree, based on the extent to which the employee represents the company. To put it simply, there’s the line worker, the manager, and the company officer, and in each case, the company has an increasing interest in the employee’s positions on issues. Or at least what they say about them.

Is it different when the company has an explicit goal? How about a nonprofit that advocates for a particular issue. Can they only hire people who agree with them?

Is company culture a good enough reason? What if a company doesn’t want any Trump voters?

The old standard, back in the 80s, was that the only thing that mattered was your ability to do the job. That was the standard progressive view. E.g., Bill Clinton’s sex life was irrelevant as long as he was doing his job well.

The new standard is harder to parse, but the boys do their best to meander their way through it.

Some very interesting things have happened in our response to #coronavirus. For one, we’ve all agreed that liquor stores are essential, and schools are not.

But seriously, what will be different when this all blows over?

• Will we still shake hands?
• Will we give each other more distance in public?
• Will we wash our hands more frequently?
• Will we invest more in stockpiles of pandemic response supplies?

The one that bugs me the most — will anyone ever be able to say “we can’t afford that?” when the whole country (except Rand Paul) wanted the Congress to spend $2 trillion.

P&C drink and review Purple Monkey Dishwasher, by Evil Genius Beer Company, and then discuss the dread math of human life.

We like to say that every life is infinitely valuable, but we don’t mean it. Are we willing to eat better to extend our lives one year? Are we willing to reduce the national speed limit to 20 mph to save highway deaths? Should we all wear helmets all the time, or PFDs when we swim?

There’s clearly a calculus to life. We’re willing to spend a certain amount to save a life, but there are limits.

Coronavirus has put this in sharper perspective. Policymakers are faced with lives saved vs. economic consequences. It’s a horrible decision to have to make.

According to Idris Elba, that is. Idris Elba Suggests Coronavirus Is Earth ‘Reacting’ to Human ‘Infection’

I don’t mean to pick on Mr. Elba. (Well, maybe a little.) But this idea that the universe is alive in some way, that there are consequences to actions — something like karma, or justice, or retribution, or whatever you want to call it — seems to be deeply ingrained in the human psyche.

Paraphrasing Chesterton, “When men cease to believe in God, they don’t believe nothing, they believe anything.”