Commentary

Category Archives for Commentary.

Jet Set Jams: The 13 Best Songs About Travel

by Gary Leff

Dec 26 2023

Following my stab at a list of the 13 best movies about travel, I thought I’d work to come up with the very best songs about travel.

That’s a very different exercise than the best travel songs, this isn’t a ‘play list for the road’ it’s about borrowing someone else’s poetry to describe the travel experience. There’s no question that George Gershwin didn’t write Rhapsody in Blue to be about travel, but it’s equally clear that the 1924 composition has become inextricably linked with United Airlines.

What songs most evoke travel for you and are missing from my list? Which ones here are new to you?

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Why Is Service So Bad When We Supposedly Tip To Get Good Service?

by Gary Leff

envelope
Nov 23 2023

U.S. tipping culture is insane, it’s gotten out of control and what’s worse is that it’s getting exported to the rest of the world. Workers should be paid by their employer, not by an uncomfortable system where customers are supposed to pay extra – on top of posted charges – paying some amorphous amount meant to supplement an employee’s wages.

Some people believe that the scheme is meant to encourage better service, to align incentives, because apparently companies are bad at managing their workers, creating a customer-focused culture, or providing the incentives needed to deliver a quality experience.

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Major Indicator of Economic Downturn: FedEx Pilots Being Told To Leave For American Airlines

by Gary Leff

cockpit with pilot
Nov 03 2023

FedEx pilot crews have been told that – despite the national pilot shortage – they are overstaffed, because air cargo demand is down. Pilots are receiving minimum hours only, for the most part, and they expect that to remain “for the foreseeable future.” This is an industry-wide issue.

As a result, the shipping company is telling its pilots to go work for American Airlines through one of their regional airlines.

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Mexican Government Discloses Shocking Footage Of Recovered Alien Body

by Gary Leff

Sep 13 2023

It’s possible that there aren’t beings from outer space, that if there are we’ll never find them, that they’ve probed us and are avoiding contact (prime directive?) or even that it’s actually future human societies traveling back in time (or else, why be so interested in earth over everything else that’s out there?).

The Mexican government seems to be suggesting that not only are there aliens, but we have bodies, and we’ve extensively experimented on them. They’ve even shared the footage.

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Why The Points Guy’s New Effort To Value Miles Is Nonsense

by Gary Leff

Sep 08 2023

The Points Guy has published new “data-driven” valuations for U.S. airline miles and for credit card points, but they don’t… show you much about the data, and the methodology they offer makes very little sense. It’s nonsense built on stilts. They’ve picked out some flights to compare prices in cash and in miles, and then declared the value you’re getting for your miles on those flights is the value of miles. And that’s just wrong. This treats points as being worth the same as cash used towards an airline ticket. But points are not worth as much as cash, because cash can do more than buy airline tickets. You can spend cash on anything you want, not just on what an airline says you can, and you can invest cash to earn a return. You…

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Chris Guillebeau’s Self-Recommending “Gonzo Capitalism” Is Out Today

by Gary Leff

Aug 22 2023

Chris Guillebeau is out with his latest book, Gonzo Capitalism. It comes with book blurbs from Daymond John, Gretchen Rubin, and Dan Pink.

He’s written extensively on the new economy, entrepreneurship, and finding personal freedom in an unfree world. He founded the World Domination Summit where thousands of people descended on Portland, bringing their own dreams and schemes and bound together by a desire to live life by their own rules and still live it well. Self-recommending.

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