Personal blogs

In August 2020, the New York Times asked me to write an op-ed for a special feature on authoritarianism and democracy. They declined to publish my submission, which I am sharing here instead. A little …

There is value in reasoning by first principles and there are different approaches you can take to discover the first principles at play in a given situation. I will leave that for future posts. Here, …

Resolved: the intersection of Regent, Highland, and Speedway in front of Madison West HS, the worst four-way stop in the city of Madison and possibly anywhere, is to be renamed Dumbass Corners, since it is …

My Prized Possessions 11 September, 2024 After reading this post at 47Nil, my thoughts slowly turned to the items that mean the most to me. Even though I identify as a small m minimalist, I’m …

Short post for you all today. Notes on Lancelot (T.H. White) Fifteen Questions and Ten Principles (Dieter Rams) 128 Things about the City (Edwin Heathcote) What Every Kid Should Be Able to Do by Age …

There are only eight episodes of the BBC Ghost Story for Christmas, produced between 1971 and 1978. That’s not enough. Here are some suggestions for where to go next. First, let’s address a technicality: the …

1. The more science fiction and fantasy you read the easier it is to guess where any given premise will go. When a book upends your predictions you feel like you’ve got something special. Doris …

Regular readers might just remember that nine years ago, I posted a brief history of Anne Heap of Frogs, the hard rock band I was guitarist for in 1988. (Astonishing to think it’s nine years …

After several years of keeping it going in semi-retired, keep-the-lights-on (KTLO) mode, I’ve decided to officially fully retire this blog. The ribbonfarm.com domain and all links will remain active, but there will be no new …

When I fly the Atlantic ,I drink too much, watch a film I’d never watch on the ground, fall asleep, watch the end of the film, and wonder what the film was about. Somewhere over …

Dear First Name Will you help us? It’s getting late. Do not ignore the horror in your inbox. The situation’s stark.

It's 2024, and it's time to move on from Bearblog for the moment. It's a great place to write, and Herman has been a very gracious host, but recently I've found myself wanting something different. …

shmup (n): Shortened form of “shoot-em-up;” a genre of 2D video games based on shooting down waves of enemies while dodging waves of projectiles. (Usually in an aircraft, usually scrolling in one direction, but not …

Metadata Author: [[Katy Hessel]] Full Title: ‘There Is a Bullet in My Brain’: The Searing Art of Hollywood Nun Sister Mary Corita Category: #articles Summary: Sister Mary Corita was a nun and artist who used …

In praise of all this and more. Read here.

A month’s worth of movies to help you stay awake Every October, I put together a big schedule of horror films to watch, focusing mostly on ones I haven’t seen before. The schedule, a mix …

After 7 long years, Linkin Park is back with their new lead singer Emily Armstrong of Dead Sara, new song "Emptiness Machine", new album "From Zero" (out on November 15), and a new tour.

The World South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol did not survive a second impeachment attempt There's talk of impeachment around here as well, for the VP this time, but I'm kinda fed up with local …

The EP The Chronicles of Gerald Womack, from The Man The Myth The Meatslab is some kind of wonderful. From a TikTok about the album:Hey I’mThe Man The Myth TheMeatslabI wrote this ep over the …