Racism is a System; Prejudice is Human. And you, my friend, are human.

On a story about George Stinney someone recently posted, I saw a comment from a well-meaning white person that said “Racism is pure evil.” Which, sure, but I want to talk to my white friends about why things like that actually do harm to the cause of shifting the thinking of white people who want

Dad Blog: Classical Baby Physics

Sir Isaac Newton certainly got some things right when he defined the laws of motion, but I’d like to point out a field he overlooked: classical baby physics.  I have a law or two I’d like to tack on to the Principia. Your desire for a baby to avoid an object is inversely proportional to

What happens when a white male is sexually harassed

This post contains cable TV-level references to sex.  I’m not sharing this story as any kind of example of men being victims too, or we’re all in this together, or to take anything at all away from the many stories we’ve heard of the variety of inappropriate to illegal sexual situations women are routinely forced

This is a post about Christopher Columbus, for white people

Another year, another Columbus Day post.  I’ll keep doing this til something changes.   This year, the police in NYC are guarding the statue of Christopher Columbus in Columbus Circle 24/7, in light of recent incidents involving Confederate statues in other states.  Apparently this statue and another in the park have been defaced recently.  I’m all

Philosophy of Driverless Cars

I promise this will be more fun than it sounds.   I geek out over many things, but few things get me as excited as the intersection of technology and humanity, and where that intersection will lead us in the near future.  I do my best to stay on top of news in general, but I

Farewell to Political Posts

I need to change my ways.  My internet habits are no longer enriching my life, mostly thanks to Twitter with a little Facebook thrown in.  Donald Trump has absolutely ruined the internet for me.  My echo chamber is loud and panicky.  Rightly so, because he is hands down the last person who needs to be

Charlottesville

I don’t know what I’m supposed to do on a day like this. I read something online, someone said “You want to know what you would have done during the Civil Rights Movement or WWII? What you’re doing today.” Today I was injecting a steady stream of reports of the vilest qualities of Americans. I

Unabridged Dicktionary

When I was a kid, my elementary school library had a big unabridged dictionary open on a pedestal. Once we learned what swearing was, we’d always look up the words we knew and giggle when we found them in there. It never disappointed. Today the internet is for kids what that unabridged dictionary was for

Dad Blog: Spoiled

I was that kid in my childhood. If there was a toy you wanted but your parents wouldn’t get it, I had it. There were just a couple of things I had the good sense not to ask for–G.I. Joe’s aircraft carrier, He-Man’s Eternia playset, maybe that’s it?–because even as a child I could tell

An Open Letter to Mr. Impotent Bighorn

Dear Mr. Impotent Bighorn, I saw you at the end of my five-mile jog today along the West Side Highway.  I was heading south, about to turn onto 56th Street, and I heard an ungodly train horn coming from the traffic waiting to turn left off the highway.  I was deep into Ira Glass talking