If recent times have achieved anything at all, it is to remind us what it is to be human — to exist, to have each other, to support each other, and to perhaps wonder why the world finds itself at a precipice once again. — If anything positive has come from events in Europe over the last few weeks, it has to be the enormous re-calibration of “woke” talking points that have polluted social media for several years.

While you quietly scroll through the lives of friends and acquaintances, the machinery of the internet watches you. — While listening to people deride popular social media platforms, it seems their complaints often centre around the content served to them. Claims are made of the existence of a mysterious puppeteer — pulling silent strings that fabricate lies, exaggerate, and promote bias. …

Exiting stage left in pursuit of a more simple online existence with a few less literary snake oil salesmen — After spending a year as a member of the partner programme at Medium and enjoying moderate earnings success, the nature of the platform changed. Instead of being populated with insightful essays, journalism and commentary, the platform became polluted with countless mansplained get-rich-quick tutorials.

Thoughts about the incestuous sausage machine where authors grift each other in a recursive race to the bottom. — Late last year I signed up for the “partner programme” at Medium. If you’ve not heard of Medium, or it’s partner programme, I’ll quickly explain. Medium is an online publishing platform where anybody can publish writing either under their own name, or within a “publication”. Anybody can create a publication…

Sometimes you cross paths with people that change you — and you them. You never forget. — While reading the posts of distant friends, I sometimes find myself drawn into their lives — their hopes, dreams, happiness, and sadness. It interests me that so many of us struggle to find our place in the world, or to find our way back to the path when lost. …

If somebody takes exception to content you have posted to the internet, should you defend your view, or move on? — While talking to friends about their interactions on the internet recently, an interesting subject has arisen — the receipt of discordant feedback, and how best to deal with it. If somebody takes exception to content you have posted to the internet, should you defend your view, or move on?

Insights and observations on bottling lightning, after a story rocketed to 40,000 reads in a matter of days. — While furloughed in the late autumn of 2020, I re-discovered Medium. I had been a member since the launch of the platform, but had only experimented — cross-posting occasional blog posts, and tinkering with publications. Over the years I had been something of a journeyman blogger — publishing almost daily…

Why paper wins in the strangest game of rock paper scissors. — Imagine a game of “Rock, Paper, Scissors”, only you substitute the usual combatants with a bullet journal, a mobile phone, and a computer. Through bitter experience, I have discovered that when compared against common use-cases, the bullet journal beats everything else. Whataboutism If you are somewhat incredulous at the suggestion that…

Standing on the the shoulders of past philosophical giants helps us begin to understand both ourselves and the world around us. — In an increasingly uncertain and divided world it sometimes helps to step outside of our place and time, to remind ourselves that our search for meaning is not new — and that the thoughts of those who came before are as valid today as when they were written. Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius