Word: busywork
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Once the fire died down, the men did busywork or went on fire patrol, an institutionalized form of loafing. The copter pilots would fly several squads, sometimes only a few hundred yards (BLM paid the helicopter rental companies by flight time--$130-$1,125 per hour), to a hillside behind the fire where they were instructed to build fire lines. The firefighters could see little point in doing the work, especially since the snow would soon extinguish the wilderness blaze without human intervention...
Goldbrick Boredom. Motiveless "busywork," the lowly chores of military housekeeping, and menial jobs that fall short of the challenges of civilian life are principal causes for low morale where it is found among reservists. "Our daily routine," fumed Sergeant Robert A. Levy, a District of Columbia Air Guardsman at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, "consists of reading magazines and newspapers, listening to the radio, playing cards, organizing and participating in chess tournaments, visiting the base gymnasium, pitching horseshoes and taking coffee breaks." Levy, who was president of a Maryland computer consulting firm until he was called...
...weaknesses and justify the movie's title, Donen puts his camera to a series of Olympian trials, filming at dizzying angles through, under, or into the reflections of sunglasses, grillwork, optical tools, windshields, mirrors, table tops, television screens and the chromium trim of a Rolls-Royce. The cinematic busywork offers sporadic fun, but also suggests the unsteady posture of a show that always seems about to fall flat on its pretty face...