The Latest

My wife Cindil just returned from Guinea, where she was working to help create and implement Ebola response policy. Though she did not knowingly come into contact with anyone who had Ebola, she nonetheless needs to monitor her health for 21 days- the maximum incubation period for Ebola. This is some of the educational material they gave her at the airport. Can’t blame them for being thorough!

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There’s a lot of discussion going on right now about gun laws, and I see a lot of pro-gun posts from some of my friends on Facebook. Most of these consist of graphics that feature a one-liner or something to that effect, and the arguments they make are pretty weak. I hate dumb arguments, and am naturally drawn to pointing out their logical falacies; however, in doing so I risk starting a flame war and being branded anti-gun, which I’m not.

While I wasn’t raised in a gun household, and never owned one myself, I’ve never been particularly against them. Thanks to friends and family (and, you know, living in Michigan), I’ve had quite a bit of exposure to them, and have had occassion to recreationally fire handguns, shotguns, and rifles. Like everyone else, I’ve also witnessed guns being glamorized in books, TV, and movies.

I’m a fairly pragmatic person. I’m also a nerd, so it made sense to me to lay out my thoughts on practical arguments for handgun ownership in a pro-con spreadsheet. More…

My mom was the chief chronicler of family events, documenting every birthday, award ceremony, and lazy summer day with photos. She collected these into many large photo albums, complete with captions and goodies such as newspaper clippings.

Shortly before her passing several years ago, I inherited many of these albums. More…

Folks, after being a watch-guy for most of my life, I’ve been without one these last six years for one reason or another. Meet the Casio F10SW-1A Illuminator:

1. I owned this watch as a kid. In fact it was my first watch, a birthday gift from my mom and dad.
2. It’s rugged and utilitarian, with a reputation for being reliable. Water resistant? Check. Backlight? Check. Multifunctional? Check.
3. It’s kinda dorky and, well, so am I.
4. Hipsters love it. Okay, that’s sort of a reason not to wear it. But at least I could argue that some subset of the population considers it trendy.
5. Al Queda loves it. Or at least they supposedly love its close cousin, the F91W. Enough so that the CIA has used possession of a Casio watch as reason to extend the detention of Guantanamo Bay detainees. While I’m certainly no fan of Al Quaeda, I think Guantanamo Bay and extrajudicial detention is an abomination. So wearing a Casio will be my own little fuck you to the CIA/Military Industrial Complex.

Last monday I started my new job as a Client Services Associate at PhotoShelter.

PhotoShelter is a really cool service that provides the tools for photographers to showcase their business online. One part CMS, one part storefront, one part… magic? Here’s how they describe themselves:

We’re the worldwide leader in photography portfolio websites, photo sales, marketing and archiving tools for photographers. With PhotoShelter you get a customizable website to show off your photography, plus a set of powerful tools that help you attract more website visitors, delight your clients, and make more money from your images. -PhotoShelter

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