Category Archives: writing

The Art of Arbitrary Choices

Posted on 2013-03-26 by TJ

Engineering is more like art than people think. So is science. The key to all of them is the same: making arbitrary choices well. On the face of it, an arbitrary choice ought to be, well… arbitrary. It shouldn’t matter … Continue reading →

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Risk and the Price of Books

Posted on 2013-01-30 by TJ

I’m reading Alan Schom’s utterly brilliant biography of Napoleon at the moment, and noticed the price tag: about thirty bucks. Considering what I pay for other forms of entertainment, this is astonishingly low. I’ve already got dozens of hours out … Continue reading →

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How Not to be a Science Writer

Posted on 2013-01-04 by TJ

The state of science reporting has always been pretty dismal, with a few major luminaries outshining the combined light of their lesser colleagues. I suspect that the science desk is the place where novices and interns get parked until they … Continue reading →

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Some Notes on Reviews

Posted on 2012-12-13 by TJ

Carrie sometimes reminds me that my problems are other people’s dreams, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have problems. In the present instance, I’ve got the problem of figuring out what to read, and I find myself facing a problem … Continue reading →

Posted in bayes, economics, life, marketing, psychology, review, writing | 2 Comments

to wound the autumnal city.

Posted on 2012-09-20 by TJ

But I still hear them walking in the trees: not speaking. Waiting here, away from the terrifying weaponry, out of the halls of vapor and light, beyond holland into the hills, I have come to Dhalgren is a novel that … Continue reading →

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Closure

Posted on 2012-05-19 by TJ

I suck at endings. If there are really two types of people in the world–ones who start projects and ones who finish them–I am definitely of the former variety. That said, for every beginning there must be an end. Today … Continue reading →

Posted in cat, poetry, writing | 1 Comment

Random Quotations

Posted on 2012-05-08 by TJ

These are from the Globe and Mail in the ’90′s, probably… I found them on yellowed newsprint while doing some cleaning: “One is happy as a result of one’s own efforts, once one knows the necessary ingredients of happiness–simple tastes, … Continue reading →

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The Most Important Discovery of My Life

Posted on 2012-05-01 by TJ

I have found the key to one of life’s great mysteries, and in doing so settled an argument that has plagued and divided people since nigh-on the beginning of the Epoch. It is a burning, eternal question, the tinder that … Continue reading →

Posted in poetry, politics, software, technology, writing | 1 Comment

A Peak Behind the Curtain

Posted on 2011-12-21 by TJ

Hilary sometimes complains that I write too fast (OK, it isn’t exactly a complaint…) so these pages from my notebook kind of amused me. The process sometimes is smooth and easy, but this particular poem for Hilary’s lovely winter scene … Continue reading →

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Some Notes on Rejection

Posted on 2011-07-09 by TJ

I have long experience with rejection. It’s a guy thing. The socially mature human male is formed by overcoming adversity, and so we have created a world where despite the perks there’s still a lot of adversity to overcome. I’m … Continue reading →

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