There are a few posts here at Medium, all within this publication probably, where Stralfs are mentioned. Stralfs is from an acronym referring to a phenomenon which could be described as counter-enjoyment/pro-misery. I actually made it up as a different way to see our apparently persistent social and political plights…

A lesson from Merlin on learning more — An IndSteadavist, per Stu, pursues a different story (narrative), because those stories often come through. That is, if different groups of intellectually honest people are looking at a situation and interpreting it differently, seeing different mechanisms at work driving the scene, then there’s probably something more to learn. …

It’s Not Like We’re Defenseless Morons…Anymore — “You can observe a lot just by watching,” said Yogi Berra, as you probably remember. Almost as obvious-but-valuable is, “You won’t notice flaws in received wisdom if you don’t take the time to watch and think with a clear mind. And if nobody has the time, no one will take…

From the Middle of Nowhere and Everywhere — Merry Christmas Everyone, The theme today, most appropriate for Christmas Day over all the other days, is cozily expansive, a term that emerged here, or metamorphosed, Stu might say, in 2020. Christmastime, at least mine growing up, thanks to the magic in television’s Christmas programs and the magic of the…

Longfellow, Kintsugi, and Turtle Doves — December 24, 2021 (Link to Christmas Day) Christmas Eve is a fun but very busy day for a lot of people, so today’s installment is extra short. …

That was Stu’s idea — See below — December 23, 2021 (Link to Day 2…1) I don’t know about you, but when I think of the “Twelve Days of Christmas” and the Three French hens, my mind goes to both French country and the French Revolution. Well, as our ongoing convergences here would have it, an art historian…

On the Most Promising Palindrome! — It’s 12/22/21 — the last palindrome in a very unusual month for palindromes. This is the kind of thing that gets numbers nerds like Stu and so many others smiling and feeling sure that there’s good in the universe. It’s also the first day that the sun starts rising in…

Five…Golden Rings??!! — December 21, 2021 (Link to Day 4) Golden Rings??!! Here we were just talking about how silver might be better than gold the last few days, and now our Day 5 as we’re counting down (see, on our Day 7 we switched from counting up to counting down) coincides with…

Stu extends yesterday’s poem on silver vs. gold — December 20, 2021 (Click here for Day 5 counting down) On Saturday night I was working late in Lafayette, which is how I got the nice picture of McCord’s Candies you saw yesterday. After the McCord’s picture, Stu and I went west across the river so we could get the…