November 16, 2012

My thinking on Israel has changed a lot over the years. I’ve spent a few
weeks there while in my early 20’s serving in the military, and at the time
I was quite conservative (?) in my stance on the country.

…

I’ve been thinking recently about a concept I call “The Principle of Many
Truths”. It’s a way of explaining why people can present differing points of
view depending on when and how they’re asked about something.

It’s hard to gr…

The XY problem is where you want to do X, and you think Y is the best way of
doing so. But instead of asking about X, you ask about Y, and hours or days
later you realize you lost sight of the actual problem.

I see this constant…

Some people prefer using jj instead of jk, but I prefer jk for two reasons:
jk is typed with two separate keys, so you can “roll” your fingers instead
of using the same one twice, and pressing jk in normal mode out of habit
will …

Libertarianism is attractive. I find that it functions as a sanctuary for
both those unhappy with conservatism (which they often see as loyalty to
authority and tradition) and those tired of liberalism (which they often see
as lo…

Many of us in the tech industry fancy ourselves experts on politics and
various types of policy–especially taxation. We feel our positions are
backed by fact when in fact we’re relying mostly on shadows of other
people’s statements….

I don’t believe men and women in relationships should spend significant
amounts of time with people of the opposite sex. It sounds very 1950s, but
it isn’t. Let me explain.

Humans are designed to fall in love with each othe…

Work on that instead of new years resolutions.

Anyway, enough with the good cheer. If you absolutely must do resolutions,
here are the two that you want.

Call the people who matter to you and tell them you care abo…

A bit ago I posted about the XY problem that’s common in online technical
forums. It should sound (sadly) familiar to anyone in technology:

You want to do X, and you think Y is the best way of doing so. Instead of
asking about…

I think conservatives are fundamentally incorrect about what creates demand
for products and services. Their claim is that those with money and
businesses are the “job creators”, and that taxing them will harm the
economy because th…