Michael Lipsey grew up in Chicago, a city that does not like to waste words, and after forty years in California, the Chicago still shows in his writing. He read the Great Books at Shimer College and remains an active observer of intellectual, religious and popular culture.
Lipsey’s Law of True Explanations: The true explanation of why you messed up can always be stated in six words or less. Some examples of true explanations: I overslept. I drank too much. I didn’t read the instructions. I didn’t know they checked. I thought you wouldn’t notice. I forgot to turn it on/off. I don’t actually know Spanish/Tagalog/Navajo. I dropped/lost/burned/over-tightened ...
Thinking about how much time I waste online, I suddenly realized that it’s been 20 years! Two decades ago I was sitting at the kitchen table in Sausalito with my Mac SE 20 “Portable” (weight about 20 pounds, but I took it everywhere) and the fat UNIX manual of commands you needed to navigate The WELL (Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link) boards. I spent as much time wrestling with the UNIX commands ...
Back in the 60’s before I had a clue about what I was going to do with my life, I was, of all weird things, a Democratic precinct captain in Chicago. My precinct was just a few blocks from Obama’s present homestead (some dirty Syrian money lent a hand in the purchase). Obama wouldn’t have had a clue then either, being around five years old. We weren’t Daley machine demos, but independent ...
