The Paraphasic

Dear reader,
About two years after giving up regular posting, I've decided to archive all the old stuff on this blog.  You may remember, if you read it way back at the beginning, that this blog was created to host a collection of disjointed and incorrect ramblings...

After an absurdly long hiatus, I've published another volume of Ludwig von Pastor's History of the Popes, this one covering the wildly astringent pontificate of Pope Paul IV (Gian Petro Carafa).  Should be fun reading for people who think certain cardinals...

Reddit's annual April 1st stunt is a 1000x1000 pixel public canvas.  The canvas is colored by individual members of the reddit community, one pixel at a time, with a 5-15 minute user cool-down time between pixel placements.
Because of the hard limits on contribution, it's virtually impossible for an individual person to do anything on /r/place.  What's needed are hundreds of collaborators.  And because the creation of something with any degree of order or meaning requires...

I’ve had a bad flu for the past six days, and spent much of that time getting bedrest and trying to manage various forms of sinus and throat irritation.  Due to the grogginess and the medication, this hasn't been a very productive time.  Instead of trying...