Problem solved

I often pay attention to the #1 downloaded article at the WSJ or other widely read paper.  Yesterday's WSJ #1 was "No More Angling for the Best Seat; More Meetings Are Stand-Up Jobs ... Companies Ban Sitting to Speed Things Up ..."  It turns out that the military had tried this years ago and it is now catching on in more places.  I started to think of faculty meetings.

There is nothing like simple and common sense answers to difficult problems.  There was the (perhaps apocryphal) story that in some of the Soviet Gulag prisons, the inmates were given pants so big around the waist that they always had to use one hand to hold them up.  This sharply decreased the frequencies of assaults -- at least by inmates.

There have been suggestions that members of Congress place a significant portion of their holdings in U.S. Treasuries while they serve.  No more U.S. debt downgrades.

There are probably many other simple rules that could make life better.  Taking away the chairs is probably simplest and a very good place to start.