Nathaniel

Nathaniel launched Difficult Run in November 2012 and ran the website alone until August 2013, when he invited the first Difficult Run Editors to join him in adding content to the site. Nathaniel has a background in math, systems engineering, and economics, and his day job is in business analytics. His real interests are science fiction, and theology, however. He is an avid runner, but not a very fast one. He is married to fellow DREditor Ro and they have two little children. In addition to Difficult Run, Nathaniel blogs regularly for Times And Seasons and writes a lot of reviews on Goodreads.

Schneier on the Boston Lockdown

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2013-04-21 SchneierBob Schneier is a security expert who is also concerned with civil liberties, so he’s the kind of guy who doesn’t cut the TSA a lot of slack. What does he think about the virtually city-wide lockdown of Boston during the manhunt for the fugitive bombers? In this blog entry, he explains why he didn’t object and also links to posts by others who did object.

Me? I’m with Bob on this one. I think the counterexample of the way London wasn’t locked down when some of the subway bombers fled doesn’t work because they just fled. As opposed to the Marathon bombers who hijacked cars, killed cops, got into gunfights, and threw bombs. Frankly, I think calling the lockdown “house arrest” is a stretch. I would have been staying indoors, too.

Belated Milestone… 10,000th view

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I was going to make a post of some kind when I hit 10,000 cumulative page views, but time sort of got the better of me and I missed it. By a lot.

2013-04-20 Stats

As you can see, I’m at 11,833 views (as of a few minutes ago). You can also see that the last three weeks–since starting my new job–have been pretty rough in terms of traffic. (That’s what happens when I don’t post.) This past few days, with about 100 visitors and 200 page views, are closer to where I was before that point.

I launched this blog in November 2012 (I think), but then really started blogging more seriously in January 2013. I’ve also been writing for a few other sites. I post (almost) every Monday for Times & Seasons, I’ve had a few pieces reposted at the Secular Pro-Life blog (one got picked up by LifeSiteNews), and I’ve also started blogging for A Thoughtful Faith. The longer I post the more cool  people I meet, but if it wasn’t for people coming to read my stuff it would all be pointless.

So I just want to say thanks to everyone who comes and reads what I write, and especially to the folks who comment. (I’m looking forward to hitting 1,000 comments!). I’m glad I’m not just talking to myself, and I hope I’ll continue to have things to say and share that you find worth your time.

I Don’t Get Beer

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As an observant Mormon, I am obviously not the most qualified person to talk about beer or any other alcoholic beverage. I think I tasted alcohol once when I bought home made “ginger ale” out of the back of a pickup truck in the mountainous woods of western Virginia (that would explain the snickers as I purchased my bottle), but I didn’t drink enough of the strange-tasting liquid to get a buzz or anything. And that is about the extent of my experience with alcohol.

Not that I have anything against them. My interpretation of the Mormon prohibition on alcohol is that it is:

1. Partially a mistake. (The original scripture appears to have referred only to liquor, with a specific exemption for beer)

2. An attempt to build solidarity within the community. 

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A Thoughtful Faith: Reconstruction As a Way of Life

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A Thoughtful Faith has started a blog, and I’m one of their initial crop of bloggers. Last night they posted my first piece: Reconstruction as a Way of Life.

2013-04-19 Keep Calm

I asked them to post this image to go with the blog because I’m trying to convey a spirit of patience and calm endurance when it comes to dealing with faith issues. Read the post if that makes you curious. :-)

Friday Music: Rome

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The last three posts have not been fun to write. I don’t regret for a second the time I spent writing them, but I also need to preserve my sanity by looking away from the abyss from time to time. So I’m happy that we’re going to go far, far away from the topic of politics and talk about an absolutely amazing record that you have to hear to belief. Because trust me, the description sounds too bizarre to be real. What we have is a loving homage to spaghetti western soundtracks that brought together producer Danger Mouse and Italian composer Daniele Luppi along with Jack White and Norah Jones. It’s the kind of record you could only possibly hear about from NPR.

What’s that, you say? Pics or it didn’t happen?

rome1

Bam! The Internet don’t lie, son!

When I first heard the description on NPR, I knew that I had to listen to the music. A few months later, when I got Spotify Premium, I was incredibly happy to find that the album blew away all my highest expectations. Every single song on it is great. And unique. And yet the album is cohesive. Look, I’m not a music reviewer. I’ll just tell you this: I love to travel as much as the next guy, sure, but I’m basically a hobbit. I love to have my home, and to go on adventures but then come back. But when it comes to music? My desire for new sounds that take me to new worlds is, as far as I can tell, insatiable. And this blend of instrumental and vocal tracks is just perfect for me.

So let’s get to the music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UibsjY5K-c

That’s “Two Against One” (Jack White, obviously), and it’s got excellent lyrics like “I keep my enemies closer than my mirror ever gets to me” and “There’s only three, you and me against me… I’m already fighting me, so what’s another one?”. Recasting bravado into a context of inner turmoil is exactly the kind of unexpected new combination that I can never get enough of. It’s like the audio equivalent of Firefly or Cowboy Beebop. Yes, please . (There’s an animated version of the video, but it was too distracting for me to use in the post.)

But let’s not leave Norah Jones out, oh no! That simply would not do. Not at all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3yAx2uCoHs

Apparently the fourth season finale of Breaking Bad used that track, but I don’t watch the show so I wouldn’t know. I just know it’s awesome. And now you do.

And, after this week, that’s something I know I could use.

Gosnell and Abortion, Part 3 of 3

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In the first post, I introduced the theme that pro-choice journalists are unconsciously avoiding directly covering the Gosnell case because it would cause cognitive dissonance and provided the first example: the Gosnell case would reveal just how liberal and out-of-touch the abortion status quo is in this country. In the second post I got to the heart of the issue: the extreme laws on abortion make it impossible to distinguish between abortion and infanticide, leading not just Gosnell but also pro-choice leaders (including President Obama) to openly call for infanticide. Gosnell’s problem: he followed through on the logic.

There’s one last myth that cannot survive the Gosnell story, and in some ways its the hardest for the pro-choice lobby to accept but also the most important to understanding the pro-life perspective. So here goes.

3. Abortion is not good for women 

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Gosnell and Abortion, Part 2 of 3

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Yesterday I wrote the first in a series of 3 posts discussing why the mainstream media has been reluctant to cover the Kermit Gosnell case. Rather than suggest that there’s some kind of conspiracy or willful deception, my belief is that journalists (who are overwhelmingly pro-choice) are simply unable to confront a case that threatens to upend the misconceptions and doublethink required to support the status quo of abortion in America. For example, most people do not realize how radical the current laws are. The vast majority of abortions are for birth control. They are elective. And, while late term abortions are rare, they are effectively unregulated. Only in the most extreme circumstances–where a doctor injures or kills a pregnant woman–is there any really legal danger to the abortionist.

But there’s a simpler and much more dangerous truth that the Gosnell case would threaten to drag into the limelight. Before I introduce it, however, I ought to include a warning that I will be quoting from some very graphic accounts of abortion. There are no photos or videos or audio, and my source is an abortion doctor who remains adamantly pro-choice to this day and was writing in defense of her career, but that doesn’t make it any easier to read. Having thus warned you, let’s get right to the simple reality:

2. Abortion is a violent way of killing human beings 

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Austrian Economist: Income Inequality Matters

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I’ve been slow to get onto the income inequality bandwagon, but I try hard to let new information shape my beliefs, and since watching Richard Wilkinson’s TED talk on the issue I’ve started to change my opinion. And then along comes this interesting piece from self-described Austrian economist Roger Koppl hammering the point home: income inequality matters. (Austrian economists are the libertarian guys, by the way.)

2013-04-17 Income Inequality

I think Koppl makes good arguments, but I’m not holding my breath for the American right to take the lead on the issue any time soon. Momenutm can be a terrible thing, and in this case doubly-so. The rather uninformed, populist vision of income inequality from the American left will not be supplanted any time soon, and the knee-jerk antipathy of those on the right to the entire topic isn’t going away either.

Google Puts Traditional ISPs On Notice

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Hothardware has a great piece about Google fiber and the future of the Internet. Google Fiber, for those who missed it, is the Google initiative to roll out their own internet service in one lucky American city. In the end, they picked Kansas City, and they’ve been rolling out gigabit Internet there. (That’s a lot faster than current braodband.) They aren’t stopping there, however, and have recently announced that Austin is going to be the next city to get the Google treatment.

2013-04-17 Google Fiber

Obviously this is good news for everyone (competitors in Kansas City dropped prices to try and compete, and AT&T is racing to roll out a gigabit service of their own in Austin to stay afloat). The fact that Google is flush with cash to afford infrastructure expansion means that this threat won’t go away, and the fact that they are charging for their service means it’s more than a side-project.

But the real excitement isn’t just cheaper and faster Internet. It’s that dramatically faster speeds will mean a qualitatively different experience. The Hothardware piece mentions video conferencing (but in hi-def and without the constant stuttering), but then wisely points out that the really exciting use of truly high-speed Internet is the use nobody has thought of yet.

I don’t know how long it will take for this revolution to reach where I live (Virginia), but it can’t come fast enough.