Tom Lambert | Raised By Turtles

Learning to Read

By Tom Lambert, 3 November 2015. Updated January 11, 2016

We talk about “learning to read” as if it’s something we do and is done. As in “when did he learn to read?” But I’m 52 and still learning to read. In this article I recount my meetings with extraordinary readers and what goes into truly learning to read.

The Academy Weighs in on Life Hacking

By Tom Lambert, 2 November 2015. Updated January 11, 2016

There is no English Academy, like there is for French, to protect our language from Philistines. So I’m saying it here: if I ever say in seriousness that I have found a great new lifehack, please shoot me. There’s nothing left worth saving.

Sarah’s Watch

By Tom Lambert, 26 October 2015. Updated January 11, 2016

A man awakes in a cell with nothing but a watch that won’t even truly tell him the time. And secondarily, an experiment in writing using the Hemmingway App

How to Tell Tom from Las Vegas

By Tom Lambert, 26 October 2015. Updated January 11, 2016

People are always telling me I look a lot like Las Vegas. Here is a brief guide to help people tell us apart.

Limiting Daily Bandwidth on a Home Network with Gargoyle

By Tom Lambert, 12 May 2014. Updated February 10, 2017

I needed to set a daily bandwidth limit for our vacation rental, which turned out to be easy once I found the right hardware and software.

Stealing Communion Bread in Reformation Geneva

By Tom Lambert, 6 March 2014.

The development and refinement of the doctrine of transsubstantiation in the 12th and 13th centuries, culiminating in the creation of the Corpus Christi feast in 1264, resulted in a dramatically heightened focus on the eucharist. This had two obvious consequences: first it made it more desirable to steal the host and, second, it made it […]

Taking Stock of the Impending Death of IE8 (Hopefully)

By Tom Lambert, 11 January 2014. Updated October 28, 2015

The long decline of IE8 has been painfully slow, but signs of impending death are finally here.

Hughesnet and Wildblue/Excede: Some Side-by-Side Tests

By Tom Lambert, 12 December 2013. Updated November 2, 2015

For a while we had service from both providers at the same time. I used the occasion to do some ping tests and download tests. Hughesnet won them all

Does Google Care about Custom Excerpts in WordPress?

By Tom Lambert, 13 June 2013. Updated November 2, 2015

You no longer have to worry about Google ranking your Wordpress archive pages and leaving your main page rotting on the vine, but if you’re happy with that you’re missing a big opportunity. Custom excerpts improve the user experience and help you rank in Google.

Best Jeremiah Johnson Quotes

By Tom Lambert, 11 December 2012. Updated February 3, 2018

This doesn’t have anything to do with anything, except insofar as Jeremiah Johnson quotes have to do with everything, now don’t they. And Rand keeps quoting Jeremiah Johnson at me all the time, which is pretty damn cocky of him for a starvin’ pilgrim. And then besides that, since I finally took the time to […]