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5 Tools to Be Safe on the Internet

November 4, 2024

computer, ignorance, programming, society, technology

It’s not just that technology is changing at a fast pace; it’s changing at an accelerating pace. Heck, even the pace of acceleration is accelerating, too. Put simply, it’s really hard to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to computers, the internet, and IT security. Sadly, IT security is not considered a crucial skill, though it is. Just imagine how much of our daily life revolves around computers. So here are 5 tools to help you be safe on the internet.

These are all things I use myself on a daily basis. I can’t imagine using a computer (especially online) without them. I’m paranoid when it comes to IT security – read my post on Home for Fiction changes to see why – so I want to absolutely minimize the risk.

To be 100% clear, in case it’s not immediately apparent: This post isn’t sponsored; none of these tools’ authors paid me to do this. I’m only doing this because I genuinely think these tools are useful to the average user. Nay, these tools are critical for a safe internet and computing experience.

tools for safe internet. Image of a screen showing computer code — The internet and computers come across as so complicated to most people that a stock image such as this (depicting some simple code) connotes ideas of a hacker penetrating a secret database or something…

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“It Smells like Cock Here”: Warmongering, Masculinity, and Repeating History

October 7, 2024

Society

masculinity, psychology, society

The title probably sounds entirely ridiculous and out of place, yet there is a connection with the subtitle. Indeed, when it comes to warmongering and masculinity, historical examples abound.

Inspiration behind this post came after I read the excellent nonfiction book The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914, by Christopher Clark. Among the many intriguing details, a chapter aptly titled “A Crisis of Masculinity?” proved eye-opening.

So let’s dive deeper into the connection between warmongering and masculinity (here clearly meant as toxic), and see how dangerous it can become to ignore the lessons of history. But first, let’s begin with a hilarious anecdote – which gave the title its name…

Warmongering masculinity. Image of — This car (Museum of Military History, Vienna) is associated with the events that precipitated the Great War. It’s the car where “a bloke called Archie Duke shot an ostrich ’cause he was hungry”. For the more official version, see here

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Functional Illiteracy: a Widespread Problem

September 23, 2024

Society

ignorance, misunderstanding, reading, society, writing

Many (most?) people consider illiteracy – the inability to read – a binary problem: Either you can read or you can’t, they think. However, there is a far more insidious issue that passes largely unnoticed in modern societies. That is functional illiteracy, or the inability to read beyond a superficial level.

To give a somewhat simple example (I’ll show you more structured cases in this post), someone who is functionally illiterate may be able to read a basic headline and a blurb conveying the simple description of a traffic accident, but will not understand the piece itself that, say, analyzes the problematic design of the traffic junction or the political aspects of lack of funds etc.

Of course, the reason that functional illiteracy passes unnoticed is a sort of Dunning-Kruger phenomenon: People who can’t read complex texts – and only seek simple answers – are very unlikely to be aware of their own shortcomings. This creates a dangerously volatile mix with unpredictable consequences.

functional illiteracy - image of old book — In older times literacy was more of a black/white phenomenon: Either you could read or not. This might have been illusory, but at the same time the presence of vast numbers of the population who were entirely illiterate made functional illiteracy less visible. Today, the situation is far different

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