I Thought It Was A Harness

SPOILER ALERT: A popular illusion

When you learn how a trick’s done, does it “spoil” it for you? Sometimes I gnash my teeth a bit, but I find that when I know how a trick’s done, my appreciation for the trickster actually increases, and I have a good opportunity to examine my own cognitive biases and how I fell for redirection.

[Read more…]

A Warm Welcome

Coming home and finding your house a smouldering wreckage, burned down to the foundation – that’s not what happened to me. For some reason, though, I dread it; it’s why I have a whole mental check-list I run through before I depart and arrive, walking down the list of systems that need to be turned off (or on) when I am home or away.

I landed at Washington, Dulles around 8:00pm last night and hit the road for the 3hr drive back up to the farm. So (allowing for bathroom and drink breaks) I got home around midnight, roared into the dark and dust called “my driveway” and up to the house, to be greeted by this:

[Read more…]

A Seriously Cool Monument

Although, if I understand it correctly, it’s a monument to autocracy: “everyone stop fighting because if you keep it up you’ll die.” It’s not the best argument for peaceful resolution of political division but I guess it works.

[Read more…]