Why I Don’t Go Paperless

Is it really “green” to go for paperless billing, or is it just a “dark pattern” by which companies seek to distance you from your costs, fees and other nastiness? Read on to see wny I think it’s a dark pattern and what the actual difference in carbon footprint is.

The Boy Behind The Couch

In which our hero recalls an embarrassing moment in the life of a barely-teen introvert upon reading a chance passage in Susan Cain’s book Quiet and discovers his true nature.

Learning to Read

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

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

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

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

Stealing Communion Bread in Reformation Geneva

Stealing the communion bread was both a problem for the authorities in medieval Europe, but also quite understandable. But in the context of Reformation Geneva, it unveils an entirely new set of problems.

Best Jeremiah Johnson Quotes

I don’t know how many times I’ve watched this film, but not enough. Words to live by. The quotes that guided me from childhood into adulthood. You might be asking me whether it was worth the trouble to put this together. Ha? What trouble?

If that response means nothing to you, go watch the movie, then come back here.

Monitoring and Tuning Network Traffic in Windows 8 with Netbalancer

I was having trouble with Google Drive wreaking havoc on my internet connection and need to see what was going on. No tool I know of is better for that than Netbalancer and I was pleased to find out that, unlike another tool I know, this one works in Windows 8.