Reading for Pleasure
I read somewhere recently (irresponsible, irresistible phrase!) that the proportion of us who read for pleasure is dropping, and has been for some time. The implication was that most of us, most of the...
An Abecedarium
The current issue of Flusser Studies marks the twentieth year this small, online journal has been publishing research and commentary on the life and work of Vilém Flusser (1920 – 1991). I’ve been a...
Who Reads?
Apparently the US federal government is having difficulties recruiting agents to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). There are a number of reasons, but one important one is that applicants often cannot pass an “open...
The Second Sex (book review)
Reading this now, in 2025, was like visiting a site where something astonishing was built some 75 years ago, something that goes on challenging readers even as the terms of that challenge shift and...
AI can’t dance
This morning I was about to ask my friendly local chatbot (OpenAI) whether Zumba (the joyous, global, immensely popular dance-exercise franchise) is feminist. Luckily, I stopped myself. Just in the nick of time, I...
What does AI remind me of?
I’ve been thinking for a while that the Open AI’s irritating chatbot reminds me of someone. This morning I figured it out: It acts like my brothers did toward me, their quite-a-bit younger sister,...