Author Archive
How to shift gears
So I’ve been rebuilding a classic British road bike for the last few months. (It doesn’t actually take months to do this, unless you only work on it every few weeks for a couple hours at a time and without knowing what you’re doing.) About a month ago, I thought I had it all set, [...]
Neoliberalism, briefly
We had some talk here a while ago about what “neoliberalism” means. Here’s a short history and explanation via zunguzungu’s Sunday Reading.
Two popular political delusions, or, the art of the possible
So it’s politics time again. This week, arguments at the Supreme Court about the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare, the law that according to (most of) its proponents will solve the country’s health-care problems and according to its detractors represents socialism or tyranny or something like that. The Tea Party held a [...]
Oh, This American Life
You are a great show. But your aw-shucksiness about politics is really dangerous. (Via zunguzungu on Twitter.)
Because we’re fans of random poems here, right?
Some guy made a program that finds iambic pentameter on Twitter and compiles non-rhyming sonnets, with hilarious results.
Remember when President Bush did x outrageous thing and we were all outraged?
Yet another reason why, even if I vote for the guy, it’ll be entirely without enthusiasm.
Escape fantasies
Sometimes I go to this website and look at the pictures and daydream about what I would build, and where, and how I would eke out a nearly cash-free existence. When I’m feeling just a little more practical, I browse this site and think about getting a cheap piece of land somewhere and setting up [...]
