Beware of Falling Trees: The Best and Worst Jobs in America

Growing up, Mike Boot was the guy you wanted to sit next to in math class.

By Joe Springer: Coal's not pining! Coal's passed on! Coal is no more! Coal has ceased to be! Coal's expired and gone to meet its maker! Coal's a stiff! Bereft of life, coal rests in peace! Coal's kicked the bucket, it's shuffled off its mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleeding choir invisibile!!

When you work in a low stress environment that also pays a substantial salary, your career might be the envy of a lot of other professionals.

SpaceX, the space transport company founded by superhero entrepreneur Elon Musk, is a glamorous brand. It seems like quite an appealing place to work. After all, there aren't many companies out there trying to put people on Mars.

Work is a place where deadlines, time management, and multitasking thrive. And no other industry feels that intense pressure more than tech. Tech companies are notorious for being fast-paced work spaces that produce stress-induced workers.

Would you rather have a career that makes you one of the most in-demand workers in the economy of tomorrow, or one that leaves you deeply satisfied when the work day is done? Two new surveys rank careers on these criteria and, indeed, it looks one needs to make a choice: Almost no careers ranked high on both lists.  A quick scan down CareerBuilder.com’s ranking of the top jobs for 2013 based on growth shows that the most in-demand jobs generally involve working with numbers, computers, or both. Software developer is the top gig, followed by accountant.

Dean Baker submits: One of the great skits from Monty Python's Flying Circus was the "Stake Your Claim" game show. The first contestant on this show is introduced as claiming that he wrote the complete works of Shakespeare. By asking the contestant's age, the host is able to quickly determine that works of Shakespeare were known for several hundred years before he was born.