Slope of Hope Blog Posts

Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.

Moonstruck (6 of 9)

By -

Preface to all nine parts: today is Eclipse Day, so I am giving myself an exceptionally rare day off. I have no idea if I'll see anything, because there's so much cloud cover. In spite of that, I had devoted the entire day to this quest, so I'm setting up some posts in advance so my dear readers do not get bored. Once this all blows over, I'll be sure to tell you about whatever adventures I had during my Texas journey.

Have you ever tried to climb on top of a log that’s floating in the water?

I have. I don’t remember the circumstance. Maybe it was some Scout Camp thing. All I remember is that it was really, really tough. The log was typically much larger than the one pictured below, and as such, it was extremely tough to climb on top of it, because naturally when you reached up and tried to hoist yourself, the damned thing would just spin on its axis.

(more…)

Moonstruck (5 of 9)

By -

Preface to all nine parts: today is Eclipse Day, so I am giving myself an exceptionally rare day off. I have no idea if I'll see anything, because there's so much cloud cover. In spite of that, I had devoted the entire day to this quest, so I'm setting up some posts in advance so my dear readers do not get bored. Once this all blows over, I'll be sure to tell you about whatever adventures I had during my Texas journey.

Let’s suppose you were about to head outdoors, and you asked me the temperature so you could dress appropriately. “It’s thirty-two”, I tell you. So you slip on a thick coat, a scarf, and a hat, then you head outside.

(more…)

Moonstruck (4 of 9)

By -

Preface to all nine parts: today is Eclipse Day, so I am giving myself an exceptionally rare day off. I have no idea if I'll see anything, because there's so much cloud cover. In spite of that, I had devoted the entire day to this quest, so I'm setting up some posts in advance so my dear readers do not get bored. Once this all blows over, I'll be sure to tell you about whatever adventures I had during my Texas journey.

Over just two days, I read the newly-published book We Have Been Harmonized cover to cover. For anyone interested in China, global economics, or high-tech surveillance, I heartily recommend it. The book is superbly written, well-researched, and comes from an author who is an expert in the field. In this post, I would like to explore some of the topics covered in the book.

(more…)

Moonstruck (3 of 9)

By -

Preface to all nine parts: today is Eclipse Day, so I am giving myself an exceptionally rare day off. I have no idea if I'll see anything, because there's so much cloud cover. In spite of that, I had devoted the entire day to this quest, so I'm setting up some posts in advance so my dear readers do not get bored. Once this all blows over, I'll be sure to tell you about whatever adventures I had during my Texas journey.

As almost all of you know, when you fly out of an airport, you’ve got at least a couple of parking options for your car: you can pay a high price for short-term parking, which is close and convenient, or pay a cheaper price for long-term parking, which involves some travel, since it’s well away from the airport. The prices for parking, and the distance of the long-term lot, depend on how big the airport is.

(more…)

Moonstruck (2 of 9)

By -

Preface to all nine parts: today is Eclipse Day, so I am giving myself an exceptionally rare day off. I have no idea if I'll see anything, because there's so much cloud cover. In spite of that, I had devoted the entire day to this quest, so I'm setting up some posts in advance so my dear readers do not get bored. Once this all blows over, I'll be sure to tell you about whatever adventures I had during my Texas journey.

I used to be a huge fan of analogs. So much so that I dedicated an entire section of SocialTrade to them. There are at least two huge problems with analogs, however:

  1. They usually don’t work;
  2. They’re often so far-fetched and poorly rendered, they aren’t even valid analogs.
(more…)