Tag: techocalypse


  • This robot will sell you a soul

    • Why Kids Can’t Read

      I have no patience for podcasts. I leave it to my wife to decide what gets listened to on long road trips (or, in the winter, when a 1,000 piece puzzle is littered all over the dining table). During our drive back from Savannah, where we spent the week of Thanksgiving and adopted our darling…

    • Affiliate Arbitrage

      Theory: search and referrals rarely deliver consumers results for the “best” product or service they are looking for. Just about every link on any “buyer’s guide” page goes through several hoops of affiliate reference codes. So you have to ask: is this product really the best? Or is the publisher getting the most incentive to…

    • How To Grieve a Dog

      When I was 10 or 11 I remember my father taking me with him to an animal hospital out in the sticks. The cat, Friday, was in the back seat in its travel trailer. I don’t remember much about the cat other than that we didn’t care for each other very much. It was effectively…

    • The Logic of Reading Well

      The current reality: reading isn’t a priority. When newspapers were still a stalwart of our cultural hegemony, even they were written at a 7th grade reading level. After all, everyone needs to know the news. I far the average reading level is far less than that. There is the story about the woman suing because…

    • The path to better brains

      Write more. All the time. See what your thoughts look like on paper. Writing by hand conditions fine motor control. This can help with everything from improving synapse connections to properly fingering your partner to orgasm. Read better. Learn to read a text deeply and thoroughly. Ideally, spend large amounts of time with novels published…

    • This robot will sell you a soul

      Was I worried about AI “taking my job”? Never. Mostly because I wasn’t sure what it was they were taking. Oh no, is AI going to run off with all of the people who send me bottom-dollar offers through Upwork? I will say I noticed a two-year lapse of people reaching out for content and…

    • Hell Hath No Fury/ Dead Men Don’t Rape

      Frustration helps me make stuff, even if I have no idea where to take it.

    Was I worried about AI “taking my job”? Never. Mostly because I wasn’t sure what it was they were taking. Oh no, is AI going to run off with all of the people who send me bottom-dollar offers through Upwork? I will say I noticed a two-year lapse of people reaching out for content and…


  • Idea: Techocalypse – the reason this is all getting so much worse.

    • Why Kids Can’t Read

      I have no patience for podcasts. I leave it to my wife to decide what gets listened to on long road trips (or, in the winter, when a 1,000 piece puzzle is littered all over the dining table). During our drive back from Savannah, where we spent the week of Thanksgiving and adopted our darling…

    • Affiliate Arbitrage

      Theory: search and referrals rarely deliver consumers results for the “best” product or service they are looking for. Just about every link on any “buyer’s guide” page goes through several hoops of affiliate reference codes. So you have to ask: is this product really the best? Or is the publisher getting the most incentive to…

    • How To Grieve a Dog

      When I was 10 or 11 I remember my father taking me with him to an animal hospital out in the sticks. The cat, Friday, was in the back seat in its travel trailer. I don’t remember much about the cat other than that we didn’t care for each other very much. It was effectively…

    • The Logic of Reading Well

      The current reality: reading isn’t a priority. When newspapers were still a stalwart of our cultural hegemony, even they were written at a 7th grade reading level. After all, everyone needs to know the news. I far the average reading level is far less than that. There is the story about the woman suing because…

    • The path to better brains

      Write more. All the time. See what your thoughts look like on paper. Writing by hand conditions fine motor control. This can help with everything from improving synapse connections to properly fingering your partner to orgasm. Read better. Learn to read a text deeply and thoroughly. Ideally, spend large amounts of time with novels published…

    • This robot will sell you a soul

      Was I worried about AI “taking my job”? Never. Mostly because I wasn’t sure what it was they were taking. Oh no, is AI going to run off with all of the people who send me bottom-dollar offers through Upwork? I will say I noticed a two-year lapse of people reaching out for content and…

    • Hell Hath No Fury/ Dead Men Don’t Rape

      Frustration helps me make stuff, even if I have no idea where to take it.

    This is a working post, it will update and get more bells and whistles as I continue to expand on the idea. Without hyperbole, this is all Facebook’s fault. Over the past year I have felt a rise of something I’m calling Techocalypse (apocalypse via technology). Last night, as the election results rolled in, I…


  • This Black Box of Doom is getting Heavy

    • Why Kids Can’t Read

      I have no patience for podcasts. I leave it to my wife to decide what gets listened to on long road trips (or, in the winter, when a 1,000 piece puzzle is littered all over the dining table). During our drive back from Savannah, where we spent the week of Thanksgiving and adopted our darling…

    • Affiliate Arbitrage

      Theory: search and referrals rarely deliver consumers results for the “best” product or service they are looking for. Just about every link on any “buyer’s guide” page goes through several hoops of affiliate reference codes. So you have to ask: is this product really the best? Or is the publisher getting the most incentive to…

    • How To Grieve a Dog

      When I was 10 or 11 I remember my father taking me with him to an animal hospital out in the sticks. The cat, Friday, was in the back seat in its travel trailer. I don’t remember much about the cat other than that we didn’t care for each other very much. It was effectively…

    • The Logic of Reading Well

      The current reality: reading isn’t a priority. When newspapers were still a stalwart of our cultural hegemony, even they were written at a 7th grade reading level. After all, everyone needs to know the news. I far the average reading level is far less than that. There is the story about the woman suing because…

    • The path to better brains

      Write more. All the time. See what your thoughts look like on paper. Writing by hand conditions fine motor control. This can help with everything from improving synapse connections to properly fingering your partner to orgasm. Read better. Learn to read a text deeply and thoroughly. Ideally, spend large amounts of time with novels published…

    • This robot will sell you a soul

      Was I worried about AI “taking my job”? Never. Mostly because I wasn’t sure what it was they were taking. Oh no, is AI going to run off with all of the people who send me bottom-dollar offers through Upwork? I will say I noticed a two-year lapse of people reaching out for content and…

    • Hell Hath No Fury/ Dead Men Don’t Rape

      Frustration helps me make stuff, even if I have no idea where to take it.

    It’s billed as “satire,” but, man, I don’t know. Maybe it was the vibe of the trip, but I picked up this book when we were recovering from Helene in Charleston. At the same time, in the same shop, I also bought Loneliness & Company. Both books addressing more or less the same problem: tech…


  • Loneliness & Company

    • Why Kids Can’t Read

      I have no patience for podcasts. I leave it to my wife to decide what gets listened to on long road trips (or, in the winter, when a 1,000 piece puzzle is littered all over the dining table). During our drive back from Savannah, where we spent the week of Thanksgiving and adopted our darling…

    • Affiliate Arbitrage

      Theory: search and referrals rarely deliver consumers results for the “best” product or service they are looking for. Just about every link on any “buyer’s guide” page goes through several hoops of affiliate reference codes. So you have to ask: is this product really the best? Or is the publisher getting the most incentive to…

    • How To Grieve a Dog

      When I was 10 or 11 I remember my father taking me with him to an animal hospital out in the sticks. The cat, Friday, was in the back seat in its travel trailer. I don’t remember much about the cat other than that we didn’t care for each other very much. It was effectively…

    • The Logic of Reading Well

      The current reality: reading isn’t a priority. When newspapers were still a stalwart of our cultural hegemony, even they were written at a 7th grade reading level. After all, everyone needs to know the news. I far the average reading level is far less than that. There is the story about the woman suing because…

    • The path to better brains

      Write more. All the time. See what your thoughts look like on paper. Writing by hand conditions fine motor control. This can help with everything from improving synapse connections to properly fingering your partner to orgasm. Read better. Learn to read a text deeply and thoroughly. Ideally, spend large amounts of time with novels published…

    • This robot will sell you a soul

      Was I worried about AI “taking my job”? Never. Mostly because I wasn’t sure what it was they were taking. Oh no, is AI going to run off with all of the people who send me bottom-dollar offers through Upwork? I will say I noticed a two-year lapse of people reaching out for content and…

    • Hell Hath No Fury/ Dead Men Don’t Rape

      Frustration helps me make stuff, even if I have no idea where to take it.

    Spoilers within, because there are points I want to keep track of. The premise of this book: a top-of-her-class researcher is hired to a company post-graduation to help with the development of an AI application meant to resolve the idea of “loneliness.” In the end, the project more or less fails. If technology drove up…


  • Idleism

    • Why Kids Can’t Read

      I have no patience for podcasts. I leave it to my wife to decide what gets listened to on long road trips (or, in the winter, when a 1,000 piece puzzle is littered all over the dining table). During our drive back from Savannah, where we spent the week of Thanksgiving and adopted our darling…

    • Affiliate Arbitrage

      Theory: search and referrals rarely deliver consumers results for the “best” product or service they are looking for. Just about every link on any “buyer’s guide” page goes through several hoops of affiliate reference codes. So you have to ask: is this product really the best? Or is the publisher getting the most incentive to…

    • How To Grieve a Dog

      When I was 10 or 11 I remember my father taking me with him to an animal hospital out in the sticks. The cat, Friday, was in the back seat in its travel trailer. I don’t remember much about the cat other than that we didn’t care for each other very much. It was effectively…

    • The Logic of Reading Well

      The current reality: reading isn’t a priority. When newspapers were still a stalwart of our cultural hegemony, even they were written at a 7th grade reading level. After all, everyone needs to know the news. I far the average reading level is far less than that. There is the story about the woman suing because…

    • The path to better brains

      Write more. All the time. See what your thoughts look like on paper. Writing by hand conditions fine motor control. This can help with everything from improving synapse connections to properly fingering your partner to orgasm. Read better. Learn to read a text deeply and thoroughly. Ideally, spend large amounts of time with novels published…

    • This robot will sell you a soul

      Was I worried about AI “taking my job”? Never. Mostly because I wasn’t sure what it was they were taking. Oh no, is AI going to run off with all of the people who send me bottom-dollar offers through Upwork? I will say I noticed a two-year lapse of people reaching out for content and…

    • Hell Hath No Fury/ Dead Men Don’t Rape

      Frustration helps me make stuff, even if I have no idea where to take it.

    Not to be confused with idealism. Then again, maybe idleism is the ideal? A working philosophy, a working definition: Anxiety happens against a scale of productivity. The more productive you think you need to be, and how productive you are, determine your anxiety. Idleism is about resetting the bandwidth of productivity. Your productivity should primarily…


  • New Rules for Social Engagement

    • Why Kids Can’t Read

      I have no patience for podcasts. I leave it to my wife to decide what gets listened to on long road trips (or, in the winter, when a 1,000 piece puzzle is littered all over the dining table). During our drive back from Savannah, where we spent the week of Thanksgiving and adopted our darling…

    • Affiliate Arbitrage

      Theory: search and referrals rarely deliver consumers results for the “best” product or service they are looking for. Just about every link on any “buyer’s guide” page goes through several hoops of affiliate reference codes. So you have to ask: is this product really the best? Or is the publisher getting the most incentive to…

    • How To Grieve a Dog

      When I was 10 or 11 I remember my father taking me with him to an animal hospital out in the sticks. The cat, Friday, was in the back seat in its travel trailer. I don’t remember much about the cat other than that we didn’t care for each other very much. It was effectively…

    • The Logic of Reading Well

      The current reality: reading isn’t a priority. When newspapers were still a stalwart of our cultural hegemony, even they were written at a 7th grade reading level. After all, everyone needs to know the news. I far the average reading level is far less than that. There is the story about the woman suing because…

    • The path to better brains

      Write more. All the time. See what your thoughts look like on paper. Writing by hand conditions fine motor control. This can help with everything from improving synapse connections to properly fingering your partner to orgasm. Read better. Learn to read a text deeply and thoroughly. Ideally, spend large amounts of time with novels published…

    • This robot will sell you a soul

      Was I worried about AI “taking my job”? Never. Mostly because I wasn’t sure what it was they were taking. Oh no, is AI going to run off with all of the people who send me bottom-dollar offers through Upwork? I will say I noticed a two-year lapse of people reaching out for content and…

    • Hell Hath No Fury/ Dead Men Don’t Rape

      Frustration helps me make stuff, even if I have no idea where to take it.

    I am absolutely the kind of guy who can’t be trusted to spend “just a minute” on social media because I will absolutely lose the next two hours of my life to it. I get sucked in even though I KNOW there is rarely anything interesting out there. If things were perfect, I would just…


  • Algorithms Just Replace People

    • Why Kids Can’t Read

      I have no patience for podcasts. I leave it to my wife to decide what gets listened to on long road trips (or, in the winter, when a 1,000 piece puzzle is littered all over the dining table). During our drive back from Savannah, where we spent the week of Thanksgiving and adopted our darling…

    • Affiliate Arbitrage

      Theory: search and referrals rarely deliver consumers results for the “best” product or service they are looking for. Just about every link on any “buyer’s guide” page goes through several hoops of affiliate reference codes. So you have to ask: is this product really the best? Or is the publisher getting the most incentive to…

    • How To Grieve a Dog

      When I was 10 or 11 I remember my father taking me with him to an animal hospital out in the sticks. The cat, Friday, was in the back seat in its travel trailer. I don’t remember much about the cat other than that we didn’t care for each other very much. It was effectively…

    • The Logic of Reading Well

      The current reality: reading isn’t a priority. When newspapers were still a stalwart of our cultural hegemony, even they were written at a 7th grade reading level. After all, everyone needs to know the news. I far the average reading level is far less than that. There is the story about the woman suing because…

    • The path to better brains

      Write more. All the time. See what your thoughts look like on paper. Writing by hand conditions fine motor control. This can help with everything from improving synapse connections to properly fingering your partner to orgasm. Read better. Learn to read a text deeply and thoroughly. Ideally, spend large amounts of time with novels published…

    • This robot will sell you a soul

      Was I worried about AI “taking my job”? Never. Mostly because I wasn’t sure what it was they were taking. Oh no, is AI going to run off with all of the people who send me bottom-dollar offers through Upwork? I will say I noticed a two-year lapse of people reaching out for content and…

    • Hell Hath No Fury/ Dead Men Don’t Rape

      Frustration helps me make stuff, even if I have no idea where to take it.

    When I lived in Cap Hill in Denver, my Friday night routine involved walking by a little strip mall that had both a Qdoba and a Blockbuster. I suppose I am that old. I would pick up a few DVDs and two burritos for the weekend and keep walking the few blocks to my apartment.…


  • App Zero Progress – August 2024

    • Why Kids Can’t Read

      I have no patience for podcasts. I leave it to my wife to decide what gets listened to on long road trips (or, in the winter, when a 1,000 piece puzzle is littered all over the dining table). During our drive back from Savannah, where we spent the week of Thanksgiving and adopted our darling…

    • Affiliate Arbitrage

      Theory: search and referrals rarely deliver consumers results for the “best” product or service they are looking for. Just about every link on any “buyer’s guide” page goes through several hoops of affiliate reference codes. So you have to ask: is this product really the best? Or is the publisher getting the most incentive to…

    • How To Grieve a Dog

      When I was 10 or 11 I remember my father taking me with him to an animal hospital out in the sticks. The cat, Friday, was in the back seat in its travel trailer. I don’t remember much about the cat other than that we didn’t care for each other very much. It was effectively…

    • The Logic of Reading Well

      The current reality: reading isn’t a priority. When newspapers were still a stalwart of our cultural hegemony, even they were written at a 7th grade reading level. After all, everyone needs to know the news. I far the average reading level is far less than that. There is the story about the woman suing because…

    • The path to better brains

      Write more. All the time. See what your thoughts look like on paper. Writing by hand conditions fine motor control. This can help with everything from improving synapse connections to properly fingering your partner to orgasm. Read better. Learn to read a text deeply and thoroughly. Ideally, spend large amounts of time with novels published…

    • This robot will sell you a soul

      Was I worried about AI “taking my job”? Never. Mostly because I wasn’t sure what it was they were taking. Oh no, is AI going to run off with all of the people who send me bottom-dollar offers through Upwork? I will say I noticed a two-year lapse of people reaching out for content and…

    • Hell Hath No Fury/ Dead Men Don’t Rape

      Frustration helps me make stuff, even if I have no idea where to take it.

    In the six months or so since I first approached the idea of “App Zero,” I’ve stumbled a few times. Here’s the thing: I don’t need another app. I don’t think anyone does. I sure as hell don’t need to be PAYING for any of them. But I like seeing what independent app developers create…

  • The Age of Information, The Aging of Information.

    The Age of Information, The Aging of Information.

    • Why Kids Can’t Read

      I have no patience for podcasts. I leave it to my wife to decide what gets listened to on long road trips (or, in the winter, when a 1,000 piece puzzle is littered all over the dining table). During our drive back from Savannah, where we spent the week of Thanksgiving and adopted our darling…

    • Affiliate Arbitrage

      Theory: search and referrals rarely deliver consumers results for the “best” product or service they are looking for. Just about every link on any “buyer’s guide” page goes through several hoops of affiliate reference codes. So you have to ask: is this product really the best? Or is the publisher getting the most incentive to…

    • How To Grieve a Dog

      When I was 10 or 11 I remember my father taking me with him to an animal hospital out in the sticks. The cat, Friday, was in the back seat in its travel trailer. I don’t remember much about the cat other than that we didn’t care for each other very much. It was effectively…

    • The Logic of Reading Well

      The current reality: reading isn’t a priority. When newspapers were still a stalwart of our cultural hegemony, even they were written at a 7th grade reading level. After all, everyone needs to know the news. I far the average reading level is far less than that. There is the story about the woman suing because…

    • The path to better brains

      Write more. All the time. See what your thoughts look like on paper. Writing by hand conditions fine motor control. This can help with everything from improving synapse connections to properly fingering your partner to orgasm. Read better. Learn to read a text deeply and thoroughly. Ideally, spend large amounts of time with novels published…

    • This robot will sell you a soul

      Was I worried about AI “taking my job”? Never. Mostly because I wasn’t sure what it was they were taking. Oh no, is AI going to run off with all of the people who send me bottom-dollar offers through Upwork? I will say I noticed a two-year lapse of people reaching out for content and…

    • Hell Hath No Fury/ Dead Men Don’t Rape

      Frustration helps me make stuff, even if I have no idea where to take it.

    Some thoughts on James Gleick’s The Information. “The alphabet is like a contagion – both the virus and the vector of transmission in and of itself.” Back in the “learn to code” days – a phrase shot off in mean spirit by anti-intellectuals to journalists and academics who were loosing their jobs by the thousands…


  • Anti Algorithmic

    • Why Kids Can’t Read

      I have no patience for podcasts. I leave it to my wife to decide what gets listened to on long road trips (or, in the winter, when a 1,000 piece puzzle is littered all over the dining table). During our drive back from Savannah, where we spent the week of Thanksgiving and adopted our darling…

    • Affiliate Arbitrage

      Theory: search and referrals rarely deliver consumers results for the “best” product or service they are looking for. Just about every link on any “buyer’s guide” page goes through several hoops of affiliate reference codes. So you have to ask: is this product really the best? Or is the publisher getting the most incentive to…

    • How To Grieve a Dog

      When I was 10 or 11 I remember my father taking me with him to an animal hospital out in the sticks. The cat, Friday, was in the back seat in its travel trailer. I don’t remember much about the cat other than that we didn’t care for each other very much. It was effectively…

    • The Logic of Reading Well

      The current reality: reading isn’t a priority. When newspapers were still a stalwart of our cultural hegemony, even they were written at a 7th grade reading level. After all, everyone needs to know the news. I far the average reading level is far less than that. There is the story about the woman suing because…

    • The path to better brains

      Write more. All the time. See what your thoughts look like on paper. Writing by hand conditions fine motor control. This can help with everything from improving synapse connections to properly fingering your partner to orgasm. Read better. Learn to read a text deeply and thoroughly. Ideally, spend large amounts of time with novels published…

    • This robot will sell you a soul

      Was I worried about AI “taking my job”? Never. Mostly because I wasn’t sure what it was they were taking. Oh no, is AI going to run off with all of the people who send me bottom-dollar offers through Upwork? I will say I noticed a two-year lapse of people reaching out for content and…

    • Hell Hath No Fury/ Dead Men Don’t Rape

      Frustration helps me make stuff, even if I have no idea where to take it.

    I also struggle with the whole “scrolling on my phone for too long” thing. I wouldn’t feel guilty about it if I were seeing something noteable or worthwhile. Lately, it seems my feed is just full of aspirational content about the great life that exists outside of the very feed the content is made for.…