https://curtispoe.org/blog Personal musings of Ovid en-us Copyright 2024, Curtis "Ovid" Poe Sat, 29 Jun 2024 21:31:33 +0000 [email protected] (Curtis "Ovid" Poe) https://curtispoe.org/blog/why-we-dont-read-the-news.html It's sad that we don't read the news any more, and it's because of what advertising has done to the news structure. blog/why-we-dont-read-the-news Thu, 06 Jun 2024 06:49:53 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/being-a-keynote-speaker.html I've been asked to give the opening keynote at the 25th anniversary of The Perl Conference/YAPC. It should be Larry, but he's not able to attend. blog/being-a-keynote-speaker Sun, 26 May 2024 07:50:01 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/a-city-on-mars-review.html Should we settle Mars? Is this 'rush to space' a good thing? Kelly and Zach Weinersmith wrote a book about it. blog/a-city-on-mars-review Sun, 25 Feb 2024 07:39:21 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/marc-andreessen-techno-babble.html By now, if you pay attention to tech, you may have seen Marc Andreessen's The Techno-Optimist Manifesto. While it's not all bad, it's almost breathtaking how thoroughly he misunderstands what's going on. blog/marc-andreessen-techno-babble Wed, 18 Oct 2023 11:29:05 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/young-persons-guide-to-moving-abroad.html If you're a highly skilled professional, moving abroad is easier. Here's a guide for those who don't have those skills. blog/young-persons-guide-to-moving-abroad Sun, 08 Oct 2023 11:30:12 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/rocket-physics-101.html Want to learn the basics of how rockets work? blog/rocket-physics-101 Wed, 04 Oct 2023 11:52:09 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/searching-for-alien-life.html The title seems like clickbait, but it's real. There's not only amazing research being done on the origin of life, but there are extremely intriguing results out there. blog/searching-for-alien-life Sat, 16 Sep 2023 16:47:12 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/the-documentary-that-took-46-years-to-release.html The "Amazing Grace" documentary of Aretha Franklin creating the best-selling gospel R&B album of all time took 46 years to release. The story of how it happened is hilarious. blog/the-documentary-that-took-46-years-to-release Fri, 17 Mar 2023 12:31:22 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/adventures-in-traveling.html Having lived in, and visited, multiple countries, I have loved my adventures. blog/adventures-in-traveling Tue, 27 Dec 2022 10:12:05 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/is-spacex-stumbling.html SpaceX is one of the most valuable private companies in the US, but it may be stumbling blog/is-spacex-stumbling Mon, 19 Dec 2022 11:59:36 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/my-21-weddings.html I have participated in 21 weddings. Twice as the groom, 19 times as the minister. It's been a wild ride. blog/my-21-weddings Mon, 21 Nov 2022 14:52:51 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/how-i-landed-the-worst-best-job.html I am often asked how I got into technology. This is that strange, strange story. blog/how-i-landed-the-worst-best-job Sat, 29 Oct 2022 09:00:35 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/redefining-life-as-a-continuum.html I recently wrote about life being a continuum, not an either/or. Isaac Arthur made me realize it's deeper than that. blog/redefining-life-as-a-continuum Wed, 28 Sep 2022 15:10:25 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/searching-for-extraterrestrial-life-in-our-solar-system.html We might find extraterrestrial life in our solar system. What does that mean and what might we find? blog/searching-for-extraterrestrial-life-in-our-solar-system Tue, 13 Sep 2022 09:45:36 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/the-wasp-sanctuary.html Our house, to my surprise, is now a wasp sanctuary. blog/the-wasp-sanctuary Sat, 13 Aug 2022 15:01:27 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/my-ai-life-simulator.html Years ago I wrote a small AI life simulator. Debugging was ... fun. blog/my-ai-life-simulator Mon, 11 Jul 2022 07:27:19 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/why-you-will-say-no-to-living-abroad.html Many people fantasize about living abroad. However, if they're given the chance, they might say no. Here's why. blog/why-you-will-say-no-to-living-abroad Wed, 29 Jun 2022 16:06:08 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/my-facebook-experiment.html I made a long, disciplined effort on Facebook to reach out and openly communicate with those whose views I do not share. This is what I discovered. blog/my-facebook-experiment Fri, 17 Jun 2022 07:25:22 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/short-story-names.html A short story I wrote a few years ago, playing around with first-person, non-linear storytelling. blog/short-story-names Sat, 09 Apr 2022 09:43:30 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/flash-fiction-charlatans.html A flash fiction story I wrote as part of a writing prompt. blog/flash-fiction-charlatans Fri, 08 Apr 2022 15:47:28 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/why-i-write.html I write. A lot. My muse sometimes shows up when I do. This is why I write. blog/why-i-write Thu, 07 Apr 2022 15:33:40 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/the-reluctant-prince-an-unfinished-novel.html An excerpt from a fantasy novel I'm writing for my daughter. blog/the-reluctant-prince-an-unfinished-novel Thu, 17 Mar 2022 08:02:03 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/gustatorial-adumbration-and-the-sheep-of-the-universe.html Years ago I lived in London in a hotel with a few dozen of my closest colleagues. Some adventures ensued. blog/gustatorial-adumbration-and-the-sheep-of-the-universe Sat, 12 Mar 2022 17:37:40 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/time-to-invest-in-space.html The nature of the nascent space industry is changing rapidly. The next decade is going to see tremendous changes.' blog/time-to-invest-in-space Tue, 08 Mar 2022 13:39:20 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/programming-in-1987-versus-today.html Many developers today have no idea what programming was like in the 80s. blog/programming-in-1987-versus-today Mon, 03 Jan 2022 15:58:46 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/how-i-got-caught-in-high-school.html Teenages are stupid. I was no exception. I once got caught breaking into my high school. blog/how-i-got-caught-in-high-school Thu, 23 Dec 2021 16:40:34 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/jeff-bezos-1000-problems.html The depth of problems that plague Blue Origin are astonishing. blog/jeff-bezos-1000-problems Tue, 12 Oct 2021 07:16:56 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/politics-in-programming.html Designing the Corinna OO system for Perl has been as much a political exercise as a technical one. This has been a good thing. blog/politics-in-programming Sat, 21 Aug 2021 09:03:30 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/resigning-from-the-perl-foundation.html I've put this off for too long, but I'm resigning from The Perl Foundation. blog/resigning-from-the-perl-foundation Mon, 09 Aug 2021 22:24:54 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/why-black-people-hate-your-dreads.html Many stereotypically black hairstyles are worn by white people. White people get upset when black people object to this. Who's right? The answer is complicated. blog/why-black-people-hate-your-dreads Sat, 07 Aug 2021 10:18:27 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/life-on-venus.html Scientists are excited about the discovery of phosphine on Venus. We don't know of any natural prorcess which could cause this on Venus, but phosphine is regularly produced by life on Earth. blog/life-on-venus Tue, 15 Sep 2020 09:04:18 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/dont-defund-the-police.html Defunding the police is a hot, misunderstood, controversial topic. But there may be a middle ground that is easier to implement and satisfies more people. blog/dont-defund-the-police Sat, 25 Jul 2020 13:07:25 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/what-is-socialism.html Many people have strong opinions about socialism, which is curious since it's hard to define it. So let's try. blog/what-is-socialism Mon, 20 Jul 2020 11:49:48 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/the-murder-of-george-floyd-and-the-new-civil-rights-movement.html The horrific video of the death of George Floyd at the hands of the police might just kick off a new civil rights movement. blog/the-murder-of-george-floyd-and-the-new-civil-rights-movement Sun, 31 May 2020 09:21:20 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/coronavirus-fake-news.html There is a lot of nonsense being peddled about the coronavirus. One article by a PhD in psychology is getting shared and it's dangerous. blog/coronavirus-fake-news Tue, 03 Mar 2020 09:37:35 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/the-easy-solution-to-quadratic-equations.html The mathmetician Po-Shen Loh has created a much easier way to solve quadratic equations. Let's take a look. blog/the-easy-solution-to-quadratic-equations Sun, 01 Mar 2020 10:30:15 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/moose-has-a-problem.html For Perl developers, I explain some of the problems with Moo's "has" function. blog/moose-has-a-problem Tue, 31 Dec 2019 10:05:27 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/will-it-rain-tomorrow.html If every hour has a 10% change of rain, what are the odds it will rain tomorrow? blog/will-it-rain-tomorrow Sat, 28 Dec 2019 13:33:07 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/babylonian-numbers-for-8-year-olds.html Wherein I explaine Babylonian numbers to my eight year old daughter and now explain them to you. blog/babylonian-numbers-for-8-year-olds Sat, 28 Dec 2019 11:14:10 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/why-is-zero-factorial-equal-to-one.html A quick explanation of why the factorial of zero is one, not zero. blog/why-is-zero-factorial-equal-to-one Sun, 01 Dec 2019 20:57:22 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/missing-siblings.html Apparently I may have one of two siblings raised in the former Soviet Union. blog/missing-siblings Fri, 01 Nov 2019 20:57:22 +0000 https://curtispoe.org/blog/my-father.html My father passed away recently. His life was a whirlwind of travel from country to country under mysterious circumstances. blog/my-father Thu, 01 Aug 2019 20:57:22 +0000