Looking backwards, guessing forwards

Years ago I was so furious with the insanity in DC that I could not sleep (being 6 hours out of sync didn't help any). I knelt and prayed for a quiet heart. To that end I decided to cut out most political blogging. The anger wasn't good for my soul, and even if you are measurably smarter than the fatheads we generally elect and appoint, it isn't good to dwell on that too much.

In any event, most posts on politics are elaborations on what Sir Walter Raleigh said better:

Tell men of high condition,
That manage the estate,
Their purpose is ambition,
Their practice only hate:
And if they once reply,
Then give them all the lie.

I was tempted to make an illustrated version of this verse, including some familiar faces for each section, but no; the motions in my own mind weren't very edifying.

By the time I get home to read all the news (I still have a little delicacy about blogging during work hours), other people have said pretty much what I meant to say; why pile on? And who wants to read "ditto?" My Facebook status doesn't get updated much either.

I could write on personal matters, but I try not to embarrass the kids. That cut out a lot of amusing anecdotes. Trust me.

I tried the discipline of reviewing one science story a day, but that often took a couple of hours to go through the background material, and it was discouraging to see how far the final headline was from the real work.

I think I'll continue doing more of the same next year, and try to add more science reviews since that's something I can do better than the average blogger.