New Essays
New is relative. This list of essays is ordered latest first and dated so you can catch up on anything you've missed
16 Sep 2024 · Walking Past the Ending
When the ending is not happy or sad, but cuts off.
15 Sep 2024 · Storyteller
Maybe it was just the wind
20 May 2024 · Interview with a War Beetle
Waging peace one person at a time.
9 May 2024 · The Kindolypse
We're nicer than I think.
4 May 2024 · Luke and Leia Sit in a Bar
It's not the same bar as last year, honest. Note: spoilers.
11 Apr 2024 · Double You
It's the first letter of we.
1 Apr 2024 · Announcing Qmail
When your email client does everything...
19 Feb 2024 · Coyote's Temple
When you build a monument, make sure it's really what they want.
21 Dec 2023 · Tilted Against Our Elliptical Path
The sun will return to our days
24 Jul 2023 · Apex Elephant
Even the hungriest predator might hesitate to confront a grumpy elephant.
4 May 2023 · Solo and Chewie Walk Into a Bar
The aftermath of a domestic squabble.
21 Apr 2023 · It's Going to be a Nice One.
In which two old guys foil the invasion of the wasp people.
17 Apr 2023 · Nothing Doing - Doing Nothing
Just sit for a while
3 Apr 2023 · The Last Island of Freedom II
Part II - in which the bureaucrat finds her wedge
12 Feb 2023 · Four Balloons
Easter Island Strikes Back!
10 Aug 2022 · Are We There Yet?
Hang on for a long ride.
12 Jul 2022 · Ants Build Nests
Humans do too; we call them cities.
15 Jun 2022 · Do Not Disturb
The IQ of a Rock
25 May 2022 · We Know Better
Or we think we do; why I cry at Disney animated films.
11 May 2022 · Boxer on the Back Cover
A reason for Ragnorak
5 May 2022 · Life Goes On
A man and a cockroach
18 Jan 2020 · Midwinter Encounter
He had not yet reached the state of paranoid delusion that would cut him off from humanity.
27 Mar 2019 · Buried Beside His Daughter
The shots are still echoing.
12 Jun 2018 · Amanda and her Toaster
Free Run
25 Aug 2017 · A Turing Eclipse
Or a romantic machination
15 Dec 2016 · Let Us Have No Handwringing
The Democrats aren't the ones with problems
2 Dec 2016 · Tomorrow
It's the biggest excuse in the world.
22 Nov 2015 · Nobody Should Starve
It isn't charity, it is self preservation
20 Nov 2015 · We Will Have Lost
The price of engagement
16 Jul 2015 · Unintended
If you try, sometimes, you get what you need
10 Mar 2015 · Decisions
Who gets to decide?
6 Mar 2015 · The Last Island of Freedom
Part I - in which a small pebble irritates a bureaucrat.
23 Dec 2014 · Immortality
The government makes me say that; nobody knows for sure.
13 Nov 2014 · Albert
The quantum of infinity
23 Oct 2014 · I'm not Prejudiced, But...
...I may have unconscious attitudes
4 Oct 2014 · Duality
We are science plus spirit down to our bones
30 Sep 2014 · Why We Can't Work Twenty Hour Weeks
The supply is limited, but we'll use up what we have
20 Sep 2014 · Don't Look Down
... you might gain some perspective
12 Sep 2014 · Football Injuries
It's never that black and white
1 Sep 2014 · May I Have This Dance?
Above the fairyland of lights, warm air brushing their cheeks, they glide.
8 Feb 2014 · An Imagined Sky
How do you come to an understanding of something outside your experience?
1 Feb 2014 · The IQ of Stars
The alien intelligence in our solar system
15 Jan 2014 · Thoroughly Modern Mary
There is something wrong in our house.
11 Jan 2014 · Dinosaur
Just don't cross the red line.
10 Jan 2014 · The IQ of Water
Put a bunch of human beings in cars, put them on the road and what do you get?
29 Dec 2013 · Nobody Should Iron
A modest proposal: the next technological challenge for Google
20 Dec 2013 · Muy Frijo
Of Language, Sprites, and Holidays
1 Nov 2013 · Unloved
What you sow...
10 Sep 2013 · Living in a Village
CCTV, cell phone cameras and the loss of privacy
10 Aug 2013 · The Holocene
The Holocene is warm and cozy, but nature may pull the quilt.
5 Aug 2013 · Diversity
Martians and Venusians
19 Jul 2013 · Rule of Law
It takes more time than we want
10 Jul 2013 · Humours
Magic in the cloud
9 Jul 2013 · Presumed Innocence
Nature, Nurture and Equality
25 Aug 2012 · Squeeze
Romance without threatening fluffy animals.
16 Aug 2012 · Wardrobe Fancy
They would return, slightly rumpled but happy
11 Aug 2012 · Consciousness
Hint: it's not that little guy or gal in your head
30 Jul 2012 · Cooperation
Taking down a wooly mammoth
23 Jul 2012 · Inferred Relationships
Social groupings and the workings of the human mind.
16 Jul 2012 · Here We Come Aunt Margaret!
The technical details weren't hard once we saw things Leif's way.
10 Jul 2012 · A Solitary Ant
...cannot be considered to have much of anything on his mind
10 Jul 2012 · A maze of twisty little passages...
They must have invented hypertext, with its links and clicks, just to capture the way I think
8 Jul 2012 · Living in Abundance
What would the world look like if we all knew there was enough for everyone?
9 Mar 2011 · A Spiritual Look at Robert's Rules of Order
The basic idea is to be fair.
28 Oct 2009 · Toys
The city resisted the jungle and wept glass tears.
12 Oct 2009 · Today I will change.
Initially, change does not ask much of her followers
7 Oct 2009 · Illegal
It's illegal but we do it anyway.
2 Oct 2009 · Immunization Volunteer
A little kid, a photograph and morality
20 Sep 2009 · Measured Education
How to annoy the teacher.
10 Sep 2009 · Geese and Grandkids
Geese can't understand, grandchildren might.
2 Sep 2009 · Apologies
Communicating across the void
13 Aug 2009 · Machines Should Beep
Beeping machines, artificial life, and talking GPSes
27 Jul 2009 · As Long As We Both Shall Live
Acting contrary to all reason and knowledge
14 Jul 2009 · House of Cards
I'll huff and I'll puff and blow your argument away.
5 Jul 2009 · Loopholes
There's always at least one
1 Jul 2009 · Identity
When is something ever the same.
30 Jun 2009 · Spiritual Lessons From Evolution IV
How closely related can you be?
27 Jun 2009 · The Humanity of Diversity
It takes a Special Olympics
30 May 2009 · The Worst Form of Government
Except for everything else
8 May 2009 · The Competitive Spiral
Working harder versus smarter isn't the choice we've been given.
17 Feb 2009 · Spiritual Lessons From Evolution III
It takes longer than you think
7 Feb 2009 · The Great Depression
About the nature of human economics
6 Feb 2009 · Long Term
Of an economist, an actuary and a weatherman
4 Feb 2009 · Of Committees, Teams, Mobs and Crowds
We all fall into this fallacy, sooner or later
1 Feb 2009 · Spiritual Lessons From Evolution II
All men are brothers
31 Jan 2009 · Spiritual Lessons From Evolution I
Yes, "Survival of the Fittest" is spiritual.
30 Jan 2009 · Baby Talk
She sits among crying children behind a glass wall.
29 Jan 2009 · Working Too Hard
Are we really sure we've come a long way?
28 Jan 2009 · Inherited Morality
Strictly speculation, but then aren't all ethical discussions?
23 Dec 2008 · Caravan
A Cross Country Daydream
9 Dec 2008 · The Greatest Generation
That word; I do not think it means what you think it means.
4 Dec 2008 · Historical
Poised for Greatness
19 Oct 2008 · Ruling Class Attitudes
They'll do anything for your vote, except talk to you as an intelligent human being.
9 Oct 2008 · Cosmic Giraffe
An ordinary guy gets an extraordinary visit.
11 Jun 2007 · The Rule of Balance
What might be better than the Rule of Law?
1 Jun 2007 · Dancer
On the edge nobody is much interested in anyone else
31 May 2007 · Testing RSS
The code and test method strikes again.
30 May 2007 · Men and Civilization
What Decline of Men?
24 May 2007 · 17, 27, 40 and 60.
Of gas prices, mortality, denial and grief
13 May 2007 · The Color of Silence
Miriam lives at right angles to the rest of the world.
1 May 2007 · Young and Old
Maybe you just want to help pass love on.
29 Apr 2007 · This is Not a Blog
This is one work; a set of articles with an overarching direction which connect into a grand unified hypertextual whole.
3 Apr 2006 · Always act to increase the survival chances of the largest group you are a part of.
Morality from the outside in.