Forgive me, Internet, but I’m going to discuss The Dress. You probably know the one I’m talking about – you know, the one whose colors people can’t agree on. What fascinated me about this recent phenomenon wasn’t so much the optical illusion but the sheer amount of rage people exhibited. And the opportunity this one particular dress has given us to learn about ourselves.

Here, have some links:

Caitlin McNeill’s tumblr post (WARNING! SEEING THIS PICTURE MAY CAUSE ARGUMENTS AND, PERHAPS, INSANITY.)

The Buzzfeed article that ramped up the madness

A neuroscientist weighs in on the dress on NPR

To kick off 2015 I decided to do something a bit different: a roundtable discussion!

There’s much to be said for Peter Jackson’s Hobbit movies, but how do major Tolkien fans feel about it? I was curious to find out, so I grabbed four people steeped in Hobbit lore and held a discussion full of delicious nerd rage. We talked about the changes made for the movies, the nature of Hollywood, and the difference between dragons and wyverns, among many other topics.

This episode’s panelists were:

Richard Rohlin with Grapple Gun Publishing

I thought I’d end up with no posts this month, but just as I was giving up hope, I stumbled across the hysterical brilliance of the #TalesFromBlackFriday hashtag and felt the need to share it.

or Man’s Crisis of Identity in the Earlier Half of the 21st Century

This one’s a bit different from my normal ramblings, and is much more introspective than usual. I had something of an epiphany the other day after a slip of the tongue at our local Geek Gala that led me to remember something very basic about myself. Something I haven’t thought about for a good, long while, and which gets at what’s pretty much the root of my identity. In this episode, I talk about this realization. I also say “Here’s the thing,” quite a lot.

I ramble for a while trying to put my finger on exactly what it is that bothers me about the way social media has changed since the late 00’s.

UPDATE: Since recording this, I’ve gone ahead and joined Ello. Here’s my page for anyone who’s currently in the Beta and wants to look me up there and say `ello: https://ello.co/otherdoc (cockney slang not required, but appreciated…)

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