Life Hacking

Being in another country makes me particularly conscious of the importance of practices of "life hacking," which is also studied by my UCI colleague Gloria Mark. Since I've been checked into my hotel in Freemantle, Australia, I've already rearranged the contents of the minibar to make room for some local cheese, a mango, a carton of strawberries, and a bottle of local champagne. I've also moved all the balcony furniture so I can actually see the Indian Ocean from my room. As Michel de Certeau points out, these efforts are necessarily subversive, so I hope I don't see a large "life hacker" charge on my hotel bill.