Why I’ve removed “Pearls Before Swine” from my comics aggregator

Today, I removed the comic strip “Pearls Before Swine” by Stephan Pastis from my comics aggregator. Here’s why… Over the years, Pastis has run many strips whose basic theme can be summarized as “Both sides in American politics are the same.” He ran one like that just a few weeks ago. Then, yesterday, he ran… Read More: Why I’ve removed “Pearls Before Swine” from my comics aggregator »

PSA: Always check if your psychologist is licensed, a.k.a., how Dr. Erick A. Medina screwed over my family

A couple of years ago, my wife and I needed neuropsychological testing for one of our children. We asked around among our friends for recommendations, and Dr. Erick A. Medina of Wellesley, Massachusetts was recommended to us. We spoke with Dr. Medina and liked what we heard, so we went ahead with the testing. In… Read More: PSA: Always check if your psychologist is licensed, a.k.a., how… »

Why you can’t trust hotels.com customer ratings

I recently booked a stay at a motel through hotels.com. The night I checked in, hotels.com sent me email asking me to rate my check-in (literally, the subject line said, “How was your check-in, Jonathan K?” and the body of the email said “How’s your trip going, Jonathan Kamens? Rate your check-in experience.”). Thinking that’s… Read More: Why you can’t trust hotels.com customer ratings »

Massachusetts 2022 general election endorsements

I’m a bit late to the party since early voting has already commenced, but here are my endorsements for the November 8, 2022 election in Massachusetts. I am only endorsing in races where I am voting. This is a follow-up to my endorsements in the primary election. The opponents of Questions 1, 2, and 4… Read More: Massachusetts 2022 general election endorsements »

Hack of the day: easily configure Linux hosts to reboot once or always without requiring a decryption key

I have LUKS encryption configured on all of my Linux desktops and laptops, which is a pain when I need to reboot one remotely, since it prompts for the decryption key and won’t finish rebooting until the key is entered. To solve, this, I’ve written keyless-entry, which allows the user to easily configure a LUKS-encrypted… Read More: Hack of the day: easily configure Linux hosts to reboot… »

Endorsements for 2022 Boston MA Democratic Primary

Early voting in the 2022 Massachusetts primary starts tomorrow, and election day is September 6. Here are my endorsements for the races I’m voting in, in Boston. Themes: support progressives, support women. I’ll be helping to staff early voting at the Jackson/Mann school on Sunday, August 28. Stop by to say hi and cast your… Read More: Endorsements for 2022 Boston MA Democratic Primary »

The saga of the leaky gas valve and the “Type A” gas emergency that wasn’t

We’ve been smelling a faint gas smell in our house for several months. It was sufficiently faint and intermittent that we didn’t feel too much urgency to get it fixed, but my wife finally asked me last week to call the gas company (National Grid) and ask them what to do about it, which I… Read More: The saga of the leaky gas valve and the “Type… »

“Beware of Toddler” added to comics aggregator

The Comics Kingdom (King Features Syndicate) comic strip Beware of Toddler has been added to the comics aggregator. For information about reading Comics Kingdom strips in the aggregator, see the user guide. If you enjoy the comics aggregator, please consider buying me a beer or helping with the hosting costs.