No Such Thing As A "Self-Made" Man?

I went and wrote another wordy thinkpiece on Facebook in response to a comic that someone was sharing. I figured I might as well repost it here for the sake of giving it a bit more permanence:

Birthday Well-Wishes

Reposted from Facebook:


I want to thank everyone who shared birthday well-wishes with me.

I tend to feel really weird about birthdays because they occupy a strange nebulous space in my understanding of social norms. For instance, if I'm seeing someone in person at their birthday party it makes perfect sense to wish them a happy birthday, but if it's a casual acquaintance or old friend I've grown apart from over time, wishing them a happy birthday from afar feels disingenuous somehow.

Looking For A Little Help

(Or: Noticing A Pattern...)

Pardon me, sir or ma'am. I don't mean to be a bother. I wonder if you could find it in your heart to help me out. I just need a few minutes of your time while I tell you this story. Won't you help me?

Oh, you will? Thank you so much. God bless. I promise this won't be too long.

Better Call Saul - First Impressions

I started writing this for a forum post, then decided I might as well share it around elsewhere, so here we go:


Is anyone here getting into Better Call Saul yet? I just started watching on Amazon and we're 5 episodes in at this point. My feelings are a little mixed so far and I think I know why.

A wordy first-impressions review follows, with very mild possible spoilers:

Was I Wrong About Vaccines?

On a recent episode of my podcast, I ranted a little about vaccines. Given the glib nature of the whole thing, I naturally insulted the intelligence of people who choose not to vaccinate their children, and generally lumped the entirety of vaccine holdouts into a single group along with conspiracy theorists, anti-science mystics, and gullible idiots in general. This was rather unfair of me, and I think I realized as much even at the time. However, I've since decided I want to change my tune, largely in response to an article from the Associated Press that made me rethink my position a bit. Could I have been wrong?