PICK YOUR FRIENDS LIKE THERE’S A WAR GOING ON

Who are my allies and who are my enemies? LBJ was my introduction to the algebraic equation of influence. For LBJ everything was a pissing contest. He took up space – all of it – with pure brute force. But once I realized that identifying a viper in the grass wasn’t a moral failing, LBJ was a good starting point in my attempt to develop a philosophy for choosing teams.

Batmish, what is it?

Animal, vegetable, or mineral? I hung outside my window (opened at the top) to film the dumb thing.

Coursera, I’m not in the mood

Coursera, you’re getting it wrong. Never take anything I do having to do with plague obsessing as a hint of what should come next. And I simply don’t have time for semiconductors. At least not right now. I’m quite busy.Optical engineering will never happen. I may be forced into that Global Health thing but I’m…

“We shouldn’t have started something we didn’t want to finish”

Dak has a strong, Eastern Massachusetts accent. Sort of like Boston+. I only mention that because it adds a bit of flavor to some of her funnier remarks. We’ve been talking a little, here and there, about some of my obsessions, and she asks questions about Massachusetts’ place in American slavery. This morning we were…