There are two kinds of digital places you can put your creations. In one of them, what you create remains and becomes a kind of stepping stone for crossing a stream. In the other, what you create disappears and becomes part of the stream, as if you’d poured a cup of water into a brook. … Continue reading

Pylimitics.net just joined the Wordy Webring. You can see this just below the dynamic “recent posts” list: A webring is an old idea (“old” in internet time at least); the idea is that the site creator has connected with other sites that you might also like. It turns out that web rings are still active,… Continue reading

I was kicked to the curb by my suddenly-previous employer. Along with a large chunk of my suddenly-previous department. This is not uncommon in the technology industry where I’ve worked for decades, and it’s not the first time for me. It’s always annoying, though, and for some it can be devastating. It’s always life-changing in… Continue reading

I’ve heard the name Ezra Klein, but I can’t say I ever read anything he wrote, and I definitely never listened to his podcast before. I’m not much of a podcast listener. But I did listen to his recent conversation with Te-Nehisi Coates. The occasion of their conversation was a disagreement. Klein had written something… Continue reading

Have you noticed that gun advocates almost always fall back on the claim that carrying guns makes society safer? They actually say this with a straight face. The US has more guns in the hands of more people than any other society. And US citizens are much more likely to be shot and killed than… Continue reading

There are an awful lot of people in the US who spout what they think is “traditional” religion (it really isn’t; what they mostly put forth is a 20th century invention) and seem to be able to convince big crowds to come listen to them talk (they talk a lot) and to donate money or… Continue reading