Nowadays that GNU/Linux just works and Apple doesn’t, at least from what my friends tell me about their laptops and phones, it’s simple to get a computer running on GNU/Linux. It wasn’t always that way. In 1996, when I first installed GNU/Linux on a computer, it took weeks to figure out how. By contrast, a recent time I installed it on a laptop, the guy with the laptop remarked that[…] Keep reading →

[EDIT February 2020: I gathered, edited, and compiled all the posts I listed below into my book ReModel, which I recommend if you prefer a more curated experience with less clicking. Either way, I recommend doing the exercise. It gives a new way of seeing the world that costs nothing and takes little time.] This series covers my doing my Write Your Beliefs exercise, which I’ve found one of the[…] Keep reading →

This year for Martin Luther King day I listened to two recordings of Malcolm X speaking, posted by WNYC in “Remembering Malcolm X: Rare Interviews and Audio.” I recommend listening. People accuse him of racism and inciting violence, but to hear him speak and to hear people who knew him speak about him, it’s hard not to feel those critics missed the essence of what he said, and that they[…] Keep reading →

Many people associate due process and rights of the accused with being soft on crime and coddling criminals. The documentary After Innocence tells the stories of several completely innocent men falsely jailed for a variety of reasons and the organization, The Innocence Project, devoted to helping them. I recommend it, though it’s at times painful and may infuriate you. The movie won many awards, including a Special Jury Prize at[…] Keep reading →

News of shootings, grand juries, protests, and more involving race, class, and gender are making front-page news like they haven’t in decades. I try to stick to posting original perspectives and ideas, but sometimes I find something relevant I feel compelled to link to. Frank Serpico, the real-life cop Al Pacino played in the movie Serpico, wrote a piece “The Police Are Still Out of Control, I should know,” I[…] Keep reading →

[This post is part of a series on the Self-Imposed Daily Challenging Healthy Activity (SIDCHA). If you don’t see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you’ll get more value than reading just this post.] Here are two videos of people who learned to dance by doing it every day. So much more photogenic than burpees and writing here daily. I don’t know[…] Keep reading →

My friend Dave got tickets to a rappelling class over the weekend. It may not have much to do with what I normally write about, but I can’t help sharing some pictures. Come to think of it, people do courses like these as part of leadership training. Taking that first step off the platform to where only a rope was holding you up, and that rope wasn’t tied around you,[…] Keep reading →

Do you stress over eating more than your want on the holidays? I found a great way not to that applies in many other places. Since getting more fit, I’m more sensitive to smaller changes in my fitness. When I used to have more fat, eating more than I wanted for a few meals didn’t change much on my body. To go from having some fat to a little more[…] Keep reading →

Continuing my series of alternative responses to the New York Times column, The Ethicist, looking at the consequences of one’s actions instead of imposing values on others, here is a take on today’s post,”Sorry, No One’s Sitting There.” When my wife and I go to the movies, I typically buy a third reserved seat so I can keep the seat next to me empty. I prefer — but by no[…] Keep reading →