Aug 13, 2021Time PassesReading Virginia Woolf Read and subscribe to this thing where it was originally published, over at that other place I like this image because it’s obscure — that is, covered over > concealed > clouded > unclear. It is a lighthouse out of reach — which feels right to me…Fiction5 min readFiction5 min read
Feb 16, 2021Slave to Internet FashionWell, it’s happened to me at last. Slave to internet fashion that I am, I’ve gone and started a newsletter over at Substack. I’ve cooked up a fancy name for it that basically translates into “whatever I’m interested in at the moment.” …Hemingway8 min readHemingway8 min read
Sep 21, 2017The Object-Oriented MilitaryThere may be a way, but is there a will? — My last longread for FastCompany.com, How Software is Eating the Military, looks at how software-based weapons, information systems, and other infrastructure are changing the ways we go to war. Here’s a bit more on putting the story together, and some other implications for the future of the military. The smiling…War5 min readWar5 min read
Apr 17, 2017Startup Advisors: Defining SuccessI posted this advice to another blog a few years back. Posting it here now for posterity, and whatever it’s worth to any other entrepreneurs. A young entrepreneur I met recently asked me how to think about advisory boards and I ended up writing him a long email, which forms…Startup5 min readStartup5 min read
Apr 11, 2017Kicking Down Doors in a War ZoneMilitary technology ultimately has people on either end — I recently did a longish piece for FastCompany.com that I really enjoyed reporting and writing. But, as ever, I was left feeling like I had more to say. …War8 min readWar8 min read
Mar 9, 2017The Good Parenting Approach To Fake NewsThis is not about talking to your kids — Attention, media (and various other people): Providing alternate narratives to fake news is like talking to four-year-olds. If you say to a four-year-old, “Don’t do that,” all they really hear is the “do that” part. And they comply. It doesn’t work to just say no. To more effectively change the…Parenting6 min readParenting6 min read
Jul 19, 2016On the Impossibility of AutobiographyExistential crises and why writing is a trip — Not so long ago I found myself in a Slack conversation with a friend who’s begun to do more writing lately. “Writing is hard,” we both agreed. I was a capital-W “Writer” for a long time. Though it’s been a few years since that was true, I too have been…Writing8 min readWriting8 min read
Jan 4, 2016Why I Won’t Be Reading You This YearIt ends today — Back when I made my living as a writer, one corner of my kitchen counter was reserved for a stack of yellowing newspaper and magazine clippings that I absolutely had to get around to doing something with in the near future. Actually, it wasn’t a corner of the counter, it…Productivity7 min readProductivity7 min read
Aug 12, 2015Rolling the Dice at GenCon 2013Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Game — Originally written for Shut Up & Sit Down. Republished here for fun. Indianapolis is a city generally known for auto racing and being the birthplace of America’s first 20th-century outlaw. Every August, though, it hosts almost 50,000 people who care little for either of those things. They come for the…Board Games10 min readBoard Games10 min read
Jul 29, 2015Minimum Viable HypothesisOr, why it’s good to have a hypothesis at all I was reminded today of the idea of the Minimum Viable Hypothesis. …Product Development2 min readProduct Development2 min read
