About two months ago, I received an invitation from Andrew Huff, who I know primarily through ORD Camp, to participate in something called 20x2. Andrew explained it was “a show in which 20 interesting people each answer a question in two minutes or less”; it originated in SXSW Interactive, and…

It’s November 9th, the day after the election. Today is the day we have to get used to saying President-elect Trump and, soon enough, President Trump. I couldn’t sleep last night. I had to take Ambien (which I only take for jetlag) to be able to fall asleep. I wake…

[Disclosure: The University of Chicago is my employer, and the views expressed here are my own, not those of my employer] The University of Chicago recently announced a major change to its College Diploma Ceremony, where every graduating student in the College gets their diploma. Instead of holding one big…

The other day, I posted the following snippet of code on Facebook and Twitter: This code is from the original Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) source code, available on ibiblio.org as well as on an (easier to browse) GitHub repo. …

This short story was inspired by several high school students working at the University of Chicago’s Computation Institute during the summer of 2015. On their last day of work, they shared that they dreaded having to work on their college essays, particularly variations on “when/how did you become an adult?”…

After getting my green card in December of 2014, I submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for my “A-file” or “Alien file” (basically my immigration file). I did so mostly out of curiosity, since I wanted to learn more about what happens behind the curtain of the green…

A Collection of Fantastical Vignettes set in the University of Chicago Thus, a compromise was reached. To preserve the quirky culture of the university, each Convocation would now have a theme, chosen exclusively by the students. The administration could not veto it and was required to scrupulously play along with…

A Collection of Fantastical Vignettes set in the University of Chicago “That’s impossible, the Ducks of Botany Pond haven’t meddled in our affairs since the Great Ryerson Wars of 1957.” Andrew woke up to find himself in the bookstacks. His mind was still in a haze; all he remembered was…

A short story —  isak55 / Shutterstock Department of Genetics, Washington DC, Pan-american Federated States Monday, April 28, 2183 “Please tell me this is a joke.” “I take it you’ve seen my report.” “Damn right I’ve seen your report, which I assume is just a massive prank that your office concocted to give me…