Bubbles
Latest Posts
This post will reveal the connection between my two previous posts: one on the Star Trek lemma and one on Pythagorean triples. In the process of writing the latter, I looked at the Wikipedia article on Pythagorean triples and noticed...
Woooo I’ve made some Yoto cards of my kids album! Now your kids can get down whenever they flippin’ like! My kids have been absolutely rinsing it, which I’m chuffed about (while also growing sick of the sound of my own voice) 🤪 Limited...
I’m doing a show on 19th September at the Wardrobe Theatre in Bristol! I’ll be playing songs from my album Ridiculous Songs for Kids! and there will be participatory chaos and musical merriment aplenty :) More info and tickets available...
At the Adam Smith conference in Paris that I attended earlier this month (10 June; see here), historian Emma Rothschild (pictured below, along with the cover of her beautiful 2021 book An Infinite History) brought to my attention the...
If you’ve ever been to a really good museum or botanical garden or an IKEA, they typically have a maze-like layout. Rather than a central hub with clear in-and-out spokes, they encourage you to wander and meander. They have small little...
Today marks the day Mrs. Pirate and I have been married for 4 years, and have been a couple for 8. In that time, I've learned SO damn much about what it means to love and be loved. I've learned what an effective partnership is, and how...
I have a new piece in National Affairs, in which I explain (drawing on Milton, Mill, and Aristotle) why exposure to worthless and harmful speech can make you a better person.
Previously, we talked about the history of Mary Tyler Moore’s 1978 variety series Mary, and analysed a half-finished episode hanging around online which was never transmitted. You would think that the story surrounding this show is...
A Dear Prudence reader who needs to unplug from current events every few weeks asks (search "autism and ADHD") what to do about people who "accuse me of not caring about what's happening outside my house's four walls" for taking a break...
A little over a week ago, my wife Jennifer shook me awake shortly after midnight. "Someone is outside!" Sure enough, there was person just outside our bedroom window, which is a glass slider, dressed in black from head-to-toe, including...
Today I read two posts from people who understand the whole “social media is rigged” thing. The unwritten rules of “don’t include links,” or “post often,” or “make videos.” These two posts buttered up the situation (“haha social media is...
Junited 2026 has gotten such a fantastic response. Much more than both 2024 and 2025 combined. So wonderful to see! I’ve discovered a lot of great posts, amazing bloggers, and cool designs that probably wouldn’t have crossed my path if...
Link: It Is Trivially Easy to Use Reddit to Manipulate AI Search, Research Suggests, by Jason Koebler at 404 MediaAll good fun:“A tiny snippet of user-generated text as short as 13 words long is often enough to manipulate the AI agents...
[Also, that “9-9-6 schedule” is horrifying.] I was recently chatting with friends in San Francisco about the devil of a time they had buying a house. An incredible influx of cash related to A.I. coupled with decades of under-building...