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J.P. Melkus
J.P. Melkus

483 Followers

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Mar 6

The Christian God is Roko’s Basilisk

And the Apostles Were Time Travelling AI Researchers — Stop me if you have heard this, but there has been a minor flurry of chatter recently about the idea of Roko’s Basilisk, an “idea” that, once you hear it WILL DOOM YOU TO ETERNAL TORTURE AND TORMENT UNLESS YOU DO ALL YOU CAN TO BRING ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF…

AI

6 min read

The Christian God is Roko’s Basilisk
The Christian God is Roko’s Basilisk
AI

6 min read


Jul 6, 2022

College Football: Musical Chairs at a Pie Eating Contest

College football is much like a junior high gym class. The big kids with premature mustaches — Alabama, Ohio State, and the like — strut around trying to outdo each other in pull-ups, 100-yard dash times, and unabashed nakedness around shower time. They have their two big cliques: the Big…

College Football

24 min read

College Football: Musical Chairs at a Pie Eating Contest
College Football: Musical Chairs at a Pie Eating Contest
College Football

24 min read


Aug 22, 2021

Pushkin’s “Mozart & Salieri”

The Inspiration for Amadeus This play was written in c. 1832 by famed Russian playwright, Alexander Pushkin. It is (obviously) in the public domain. I am posting it here in case some other nerd might be interested in it. …

Play

10 min read

Pushkin’s “Mozart & Salieri”
Pushkin’s “Mozart & Salieri”
Play

10 min read


May 8, 2021

Being There v. Staying Here

AirBnb, VRBO, Neighborhoods, and the Stranger Next Door IMPORTANT TO KNOW: Your feedback is needed soon. The city’s Quality of Life, Arts & Culture Committee will vote on its recommendation for the regulation of short-term rentals on May 17th. That recommendation will go to the full City Council for a…

Dallas

24 min read

Being There v. Staying Here
Being There v. Staying Here
Dallas

24 min read


Jan 21, 2021

Wordplay? Word.

Elemenogram A word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of another word or phrase and adding the letters “L,” “M,” “N,” and “O.” For example, racy and normalcy. Can you think of any other elemenograms? …

Humor

4 min read

Wordplay? Word.
Wordplay? Word.
Humor

4 min read


Jan 21, 2021

The S@!# Sandwich Generation

At various points in the past year my son, daughter, father, and pregnant wife have all been in diapers of some form or another. I had heard of the so-called Sandwich Generation, generally defined as those who are simultaneously caring for aging parents and young children. I just never thought…

Humor

4 min read

The S@!# Sandwich Generation
The S@!# Sandwich Generation
Humor

4 min read


Dec 27, 2020

What’s My Novel About?

Sorry, I don’t really have my elevator speech down, but if you have a minute… It’s sort of a coming age tale, a bildungsroman if you will. Actually, now that I’m thinking more about it, it’s more of a roman à clef of sorts. But also a picaresque. Does that…

Writing

3 min read

What’s My Novel About?
What’s My Novel About?
Writing

3 min read


Dec 21, 2020

Viva la Résistance!

(And a few suggestions.) — Greetings fellow Freedom Fighters. And thank you, Comrade Melshoy, for that gracious introduction. I will try to be brief, but I beg you all to understand the import that I feel my words bear for us: the Resistance! As regards the Collaborators... Yes, yes, boo to them indeed! But as…

Humor

5 min read

Viva la Résistance!
Viva la Résistance!
Humor

5 min read


Dec 7, 2020

End of the Age

The 2010s Ended With COVID & Biden’s Victory. When did the others? — There’s a quote, oft-repeated in Poor Richard’s Almanacks, Guinness Books of World Records, Federal Registers, VH1 Best Ofs, and other definitive cultural retrospectives, that a given decade doesn’t really end until a year or two into the next. This year was an exception. The 2010s For Americans, the 2010s began to end…

Pop Culture

6 min read

End of the Age
End of the Age
Pop Culture

6 min read


Feb 22, 2020

A New Federalism

Let’s Agree to Disagree — We can all agree that Abraham Lincoln was wrong about everything. If so (and it is certainly not) then he was wrong in positing that a house divided against itself cannot stand; thus, a house divided against itself at least might stand. In that case, and assuming you — we…

Economics

5 min read

A New Federalism
A New Federalism
Economics

5 min read

J.P. Melkus

J.P. Melkus

483 Followers

It's been a real leisure. [That picture is not me.--ed.]

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