I’d not seen this before.
JWZ’s essay on RSI, or typing injury. “… it terrified me. … my career being over”
I have one of my own written years and years ago. “… a friend who lost the ability to pick up a piece of paper …”
And I see that Bill Clementson recently joined this miserable club.
It’s a puzzle how until it happens one isn’t particularly interested; and even if you were interested getting advise isn’t straight forward. The advice is largely the wisdom of crowds. I.e. it’s hearsay, rumor, and stories like the ones above. The best you can hope for is to pick out the better of the old wive’s tails. It’s not often you get to refer to JWZ as an old wife! There is very little hard science and what exists seems to me to be very lame and often self serving.
It amazes me that an industry that has generated so much wealth hasn’t found a way to fund some substantial research into the affliction that forces the retirement of it’s most productive labor. Of course all minority groups have trouble getting attention for their problems. But in this case the minority group has actually got money. Still, it says something about who captures the wealth.
ALL USED UP
( U. Utah Phillips)
I spent my whole life making somebody rich
I busted my ass for that son of a bitch
He left me to die like a dog in a ditch
And told me I’m all used up
He used up my labor, he used up my time
He plundered my body and squandered my mind
Then he gave me a pension, some handouts and wine
And told me I’m all used up
My kids are in hock to a god you call Work
Slaving their lives out for some other jerk
And my youngest in ‘Frisco just made shipping-clerk
He don’t know I’m all used up
Some young people reach out for power and gold
And they don’t have respect for anything old
For pennies they’re bought, for promises sold
Someday they’ll be used up
They use up the oil, they use up the trees
They use up the air and they use up the seas
But how about you, friend, and how about me
What’s left, when we’re all used up
I’ll finish my life in this crummy hotel
It’s lousy with bugs and my God, what a smell
But my plumbing still works and I’m clear as a bell
Don’t tell me I’m all used up