The Farmer's Station Wagon: A Parable
One day, a farmer went to load up his station wagon to take his family to visit some friends, but found that it wouldn't start. Looking under the hood with his friends, they sadly discovered that the engine block was cracked, and there was no likelihood of an easy or …
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Book mini-review: "Gulliver's Fugitives" by Keith Sharee
Note: no substantive spoilers in this review
If you're short on time, you can skip the preamble
Preamble
As you will know from my previous blog post, I've been on a bit of a reading kick lately. I honestly hadn't read too many novels since I was in University last …
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Paper Books vs. e-books vs "librebooks?"
I took a few days of a break from the fediverse to try to do a mini digital detox, to stop zombiescrolling youtube, and to read more. I picked up a used copy of Michael Jan Friedman's Gauntlet, the first book in the Stargazer series, a Star Trek novel that …
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Examining The Ethics of Media Consumption and Sharing
One of my new fedifriends, Terminal Tilt recently posted:
We should not call sharing "piracy."
Piracy involves the physical theft of property where the original owner no
longer has it. Sharing is an act of duplication, not subtraction.
Language matters. Using the industry's preferred labels only helps reinforce
their control …
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Some Thoughts on Star Trek: Picard
Warning: (obviously) spoilers abound!
I just finished watching Star Trek: Picard last night, and while this won't be a thorough analysis (I'd probably have to watch it five times to accomplish that), I did want to briefly write down my thoughts on it.
Like many older Trek fans, I'm not …
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Smartphone Minimalism: the Underappreciated Middle Road
My current Android setup with IodéOS, KISS Launcher, and grayscale mode
The other day, I was watching a Techlore video while folding laundry, and became increasingly annoyed as it went along: not at Techlore or the video, but the Wired article he was responding to.
Peertube link Invidious link 1 …
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The Past is the Future
Yesterday was my grandmother's funeral. As a family member, I had the shared duty of greeting the various guests, and then when things got started, I just kinda hopped from table to table, talking to people I know and catching up with folks. It was a great way to top …
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How Many Pixels Do You Really Need?
I was reading in Ploum's excellent blog yesterday about his history with Ubuntu, when I stumbled upon a lovely screenshot of his FVWM setup circa 2003, and it brought me back to a friendly, and long-raging debate with some fedifriends on the subject of pixels, namely, whether or not …
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The Mad, Joyful Chaos of the Creative Process
After yesterday's unhinged, painfully cathartic threnody of a post, I really wanted to post something short, light and enjoyable. I was considering writing down my thoughts on my favorite TV show, The Good Place, but that would have taken altogether much too long, so that is going to remain a …
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Nietzsche's Heavy Declaration
Content Warning: this post is a downer. I will be dealing with issues of religious manipulation and existential guilt
Chidi grabs the drug dealer by the hoodie while reciting Nietzsche
In yesterday's post*, I discussed my favorite episode (s03e05 "Jeremy Bearimy") of my favorite series (The Good Place). I didn't …
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