Year: 2015
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The best of 2015
This year was one of community, organizing and living better. After breaking down my current interests in a recent post, a pattern of community organizing and social activity is apparent. 2015 was a year of solidifying my thinking on social issues, especially those beyond tech, which has consumed me for the past few years. Besides…
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Quarterly review: FY15Q4
Each quarter I do a quick roundup of the book and film reviews that I do on Goodreads and Letterboxd. These reviews are too short and too off-the-cuff to be included with the more in depth reviews I do on this site. Below are the highlights of the quarter. Two trends you may detect are…
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The Interest Stack and Attention Debt
Levels of analysis is a way of studying a political problem from (generally) three different perspectives: individual, state, and the international system. Using this framework I started examining my interests — all of the things I keep tabs on and projects I am involved in outside of my day job. There are a lot, and…
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Quarterly review: FY15Q3
Each quarter I do a quick roundup of the book and film reviews that I do on Goodreads and Letterboxd. These reviews are too short and too off-the-cuff to be included with the more in depth reviews I do on this site. Below are the highlights of the quarter. Books Currently at 37 of 50…
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Random pages of Coupland
Previously I praised Douglas Coupland’s typography, and explained that: Often when reading Coupland’s books, I use my smartphone camera to capture the unique layouts I have collected a number of those photos and gathered them together with some commentary in the galleries below. Have a click through, and enjoy some pithy quotes, equally insightful and…
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A slim crisis — a review of Disruptive Power
Disruptive Power: The Crisis of the State in the Digital Age by Taylor Owen From the book: Coupled with the power that is derived by the state’s increasing sophistication in this space — whether through automation, biometrics, or the new forms of social control and the violence they enable — there is reason to question…
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In between worlds — thoughts from a short trip to Japan
Every time I come back to Japan I ask myself: could I live here again? I spent 8 years here. I met my wife here. Both of my daughters were born here. There is so much about this country that I enjoy. The infrastructure is great, the safety, helpfulness, richness of culture and history. Yet,…
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The time I was outed as the reincarnation of L. Ron Hubbard’s bus-driving supervisor from the interstellar Gnarian realm
The most recent episode of the Dead Author’s Podcast has our intrepid host H.G. Wells interviewing Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard in Part 2 of an extended interview which started a few months ago. As is the custom, H.G. asked his guest questions sourced from Twitter, and my question is included. Here’s the clip: [soundcloud…
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Quarterly review: FY15Q2
Each quarter I do a quick roundup of the book and film reviews that I do on Goodreads and Letterboxd. These reviews are too short and too off-the-cuff to be included with the more in depth reviews I do on this site. Below are the highlights of the quarter. Books I am still a couple…
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Putting humanity back into startups
Startup culture is pretty absurd. You can seriously criticize its neoliberal, technocratic ideological underpinnings, or you can satire it with shows like Silicon Valley. Hackathons are ripe for criticism too, but there is a place for laughs. Listen to this great Radio Berkman ep about “Comedy Hack Day,” where they embrace the absurdity of the…