What the web says to do in a recession

I've had some fun in the last two days searching the web for "things to do" recession, which brings up a lot of blog posts and articles with 3, 10, or 20 recommendations. All of them seem to assume the declining economic indices are affecting everyone, and a surprising number of them recommend starting a blog (heh). Here are some prevailing attitudes:

Snarky: Take up whatever instrument you played in high school. Clarinet players are excused.

Zen: embrace the empty shikishi board.

Condescending: Conversation. Conversation was perfected during the Renaissance, after people stopped the incessant prayer that characterized the tedious High Middle Ages. Here's how it works: Two or more people discuss issues that concern at least one of them. One person says one thing. Another says another. Pretty soon, everybody's talking. Then you go home.

Obvious: Buy stocks - the old adage, “buy low, sell high” applies well when the stock market is doing poorly.

Snarky part deux: Start a blog on depression. Think of the audience you can get.

Techno-escapist: Any time I want designer clothes, I can get them for my sims. Instead of spending thousands of dollars remodelling my kitchen, I just satisfy my travertine-envy by pimping out a sim domicile.

Inhumane: Read every book in your house before buying another one.

I find it hard to get either too cavalier or too excited about this "recession" thing. Plenty of people do well during hard times, and poorly during good times, so not everyone needs to adapt for it. Also, basic principles of living below one's means don't change much. It's nice to see this country's news media focusing more on frugality, but I don't like seeing it depicted as a strategy only for when the Fed's in a frenzy.