Jacob Christensen

• THOMAS H. BENTON: On Stupidity – Chronicle.com
  A cartload of recent books suggests that it's time to reverse the customer-service mentality plaguing academe
  (tags: education university academia)
• Microsoft's strange, passive-aggressive "Mojave Experiment." – By Farhad Manjoo – Slate Magazine
  (tags: microsoft marketing software psychology)
• Our torture policy has deeper roots in Fox television than the Constitution. – By Dahlia Lithwick – Slate Magazine
  (tags: media law crime politics usa)

Well, maybe. The thing is that “Notes from the periphery” points to a) that I’m not a political insider spilling the goods about what’s happening behind the thick walls of Christiansborg or Helgeandsholmen, and b) I have been based in the periphery in a physical sense as Umeå is some way away from the power centres of Denmark and Sweden. Oh, and c) Danes like self-deprecating jokes. If only you knew the language…

But somehow Odense will not fit the description of “periphery” – it may not be Copenhagen, but in a geographical sense the city is pretty close to the centre of Denmark. So in case any of you folks out there have any ideas, you are welcome to make suggestions.

In the meantime, I’ll do my best to take a blogging vacation.

Niccolò Machiavelli har ingen nylig aktivitet.

But why add old Nick as a friend, then?

Facebook

Before the vacation season began in Denmark and Sweden¹, media were full of reports about the dangers of going from work to vacation – as it was, people tend to suffer minor depressions and other stress-related discomforts, partly because it takes a couple of days to get into vacation mode, partly because people (or at least some people) have too high expectations.

But now – as the season ends – experts tell us that going back to work can be just as dangerous: Apparently one in three Spaniards suffer from post-vacation syndrome, a parallel to the feared post-traumatic stress syndrome.

As I’ve never held a “real” 9-to-5 job in my life, it is a bit difficult for me to relate to all this, I have schedules and deadlines, but I have never been tied to a desk for eight or ten hours without a break.

Maybe people would be better off without vacations – but by all means throw in the odd public holiday for good measure -, provided they had better chances of controlling their own work schedule in their daily lives? Another way of coping with vacation stress may be to remember that you are supposed to have a good enough time, not a perfect time.

By the way: David Plotz wants us (or rather the US) to get rid of August. That’s July to the Scandinavians.

1. In the Nordic countries, July is the usual vacation month. In fact, most of Sweden is closed down from mid-June to mid-August. [↩]