The Proto Elephant in the Cloud
My Mastodon call
A lot of people are looking for a Twitter replacement these days. Some have considered Mastodon, the decentralized platform that describes itself as “Social Networking that’s not for sale.” … [more]
The Company We Keep: Abortion
This is the first of a series of posts I’ll be making about how political positions we hold compare with the policies of the other countries of the world. Often, the propaganda of the political parties within this country can give us a distorted view of what’s normal, and the “echo chambers” that we create for ourselves through our social media circles and our choice of news sources can distort that view even more.… [more]
Beware the Award-Industrial Complex
The publisher of one of my books just informed me that the book won an award from a contest they entered it into, but instead of posting about my win everywhere I can, I’m writing this post in which I’m not even going to mention the name of the book or the award, because I don’t believe the award is legitimate.… [more]
Invasion Man
This was my winning entry to the 2021 US Go Congress’s Bob High Memorial Song and Poetry Contest.
The invasion sequences were created by Gopro Yeonwoo.
The music is based on “Secret Agent Man” by P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri… [more]
Twin Monarchs Chess Problems
I’ve invented, or maybe just reinvented, a new kind of chess problem that is (I hope) immune to being solved by existing chess engines. It involves one or both sides having two kings.
Other than that, all the other rules of the game stay the same, so these problems still feel like normal chess problems. They just involve these two extra rules dealing with the new situations that can arise when you have two kings:
- The only way to checkmate a player is to checkmate both kings simultaneously.
All the USPS petitions (and more)
This is a list of all the biggest petitions I can find related to saving the Post Office from GOP attacks that Donald Trump recently admitted (in another of those classic blurts that must make his team cringe) are intended specifically to suppress the November 2020 vote.
Please sign them all, and let me know if I missed any.
Another good idea I’ve seen passed around is to directly support the USPS by buying stamps.… [more]
That The Power Might Take Knee
In the course of the protests sweeping our nation, police in many cities transformed potentially incendiary standoffs into powerful visions of unity and hope by kneeling, marching, and mourning with the protesters they swear to serve and protect. Not all of them maintained that stance, but many did. I’ve written this anthem to celebrate the moments they created. It can be sung to the tune of our national anthem.… [more]
How to prove election fraud
A favorite post-election activity in America is for the supporters of the loser to claim that the election was rigged. Unfortunately, many of them are not very good at it. As a public service, I’ve created this guide to proving Election Fraud.… [more]
A Trump-Coronavirus Primer
If anyone’s confused by Trump’s behavior in the face of the Coronavirus threat, here are the three keys for understanding anything he does:
- He only ever acts in his own interest.
- He’s too dumb to think in terms of his long-term interest.
- Even when his handlers manage to convey something of long-term importance to him, he lacks the impulse control to consistently act on it.
The “Roberts Gambit” and what it revealed
I’m writing this on the second day of the impeachment trial in the Senate. I haven’t even checked on today’s impeachment news yet, and I have no idea how the trial will end. (Actually, it’s pretty clear what the verdict of the GOP-controlled jury will be, but what we don’t know is how it will play out and how it will affect public opinion.)… [more]