First Looks category archive
The Artfulness of the Con 0
Barry M. Mitnick explores why even persons who don’t consider themselves gullible get gulled.
The World New York Was His Oyster
0
My local rag tells the story of Thomas Downing, a child of slaves who became the “Oyster King” of mid-1800s New York City.
It’s a fascinating read.
Break Time 0
Off to drink liberally.
Virginia Beach Drinking Liberally Tomorrow 0
Join us for fellowship and camaraderie and to discuss living in an age of catch-22.
When: Thursday, February 13, 6 p. m.
Where:
Croc’s 19 Street Bistro
620 19th Street (Map)
Read the chapter blog and sign up to have your inbox flooded with one or two emails a month here.
A Poem for Our Hollow Times 0
(The first two lines refer to a passage in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.)
Mistah Kurtz—he dead.
A penny for the Old Guy.I
We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats’ feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar
Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;
Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death’s other Kingdom
Remember us—if at all—not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men.
Down at the Farm 0
Upgraded my server.
Normal nonsense resumes tomorrow after I have had a chance to check the backend thoroughly.
Afterthought:
The last time my website experienced significant downtime, my friend Shaun Mullen said via email something like “I’ve been blogging for umpty-ump years and never had problems like the ones you seem to have.”
I replied, “Yeah, but you’re on blogspot. They manage your backend. I have my own server. I have to manage my own backend.”
I got into this game because I wanted to play with computers and host a website; the whole blogging thing just sort of happened.
Every time I consider packing the whole thing up to spend my time solving chess puzzles and reading books from Project Gutenberg, something new comes along to reignite my disgust.
“I Think I Heard It Somewhere” 0
Esther Cepeda muses on the trap of gullibility in an age of clickbait.
Virginia Beach Drinking Liberally Thursday 0
Join us to discuss the recent developments in Congress, the Middle East, or whatever else is on your mind.
When: Thursday, November 9, 6 p. m.
Where:
Croc’s 19 Street Bistro
620 19th Street (Map)
Read the chapter blog and sign up to have your inbox flooded with one or two emails a month here.
Decadenceds
0
There was no year Zero A. D . (or C. E . if that’s how you roll).
Do the math.