Back of the Envelope

For once, I'm doing my month in review at the beginning of the next month, rather than closer to the end. I used to do these as Weeks in Review, but since moving to the new blog, the archives work differently, so it makes more sense to put it at the beginning of the month. Here are my most significant posts this month.

Storyblogging Carnivals (links to the category page) -- Michele Catalano hosted the ninth Storyblogging Carnival, but I claimed number ten for myself, while Sheya Joie hosted number eleven.

Well, I'm here -- I arrive in Boston and start moving into my apartment.

Armstrong Williams -- As usual, it takes me a little while to actually comment on news, but here I take the opportunity to spell out my own full disclosure policy. I start to question my conclusions about Mr. Williams later, though.

Doc Rampage: The most metaheroic blog in the world? -- Doc gives me a chance to put my full-diclosure policy in action by paying me for my commentary.

The Old Testament Law -- I share some of MIT Intervarsity Staffer Kevin Ford's thoughts on the continued relevance of Old Testament law.

Christian family murdered in New Jersey -- Islamist violence isn't something that only happens in Iraq.

Military nanotechnology -- I have some thoughts on an IEEE article proposing International controls on military nanotechnology.

So, you want a quantum key distribution system? -- Quantum encryption may be closer than you think.

RSA Encryption -- I talk a bit about RSA encryption and what makes Shor's algorithm so powerful.

Dr. Dobson and Mr. Squarepants -- I try to figure out what all the fuss is about.

I've decided that I'm going to be trying to put the January Month in Review Post up on time for a change. For that to happen, I need to get the December Month in Review out of the way first. Now, I'm writing this at the end of January, but I'll be moving it back to January 1st in the archive shortly. Nevertheless, here is December's Month in Review:

Storyblogging Carnivals (takes you to the category page) — There were two carnivals in December, one hosted by Tales by Sheya, and the other hosted by Dodgeblogium.

American victim culture and Muslims — When does American victim culture become a menace to society? When it gets in the way of fighting the war on terrorism.

Life imitates webcomic — Webcomics are weird--there's no denying that. But nothing's so absurd that real life can't go just as far. Trying to appease your enemies my dropping lovenotes on them is one such example.

Can't write. Must...reach...in...spiration — I complain about the lack of inspiration, and find it again here.

Kyoto is dead — Why didn't anyone tell me earlier?

Experts and Journalists — One of my pet peeves are when people, especially "experts," state opinion as fact. The fact is, it's a complicated world, most data is open to multiple interpretations, and we really ought to acknowledge that and be careful to separate the data from the analysis.

That's it? Well, I spent a lot of December travelling and moving, so there weren't really that many important posts. Still, I did some photoblogging, and posted some fiction, and had a bunch of linking posts, so why don't you go through the archives (weeks 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5).

This post was originally written on December 5th, although I'll be moving it to December 1st eventually. It is a review of the most significant posts I made during the month of November.

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Back of the Envelope endorses Bush -- To the great surprise of my readers, I explain why I support Bush in this election.

DYT! -- I've decided to make a point of supporting Howard Tayler in his attempts to become a full-time webcartoonist. Howard does Schlock Mercenary, and I'm going to continue my support even when he kills off one of my favorite characters.

Voter Registration -- I got to vote after all.

What are these moral values? -- I attempt to explain what's meant by moral values.

Storyblogging Carnival V -- For the fifth storyblogging carnival, it returns to Back of the Envelope.

The second term: domestic agenda -- What's Bush planning to do domestically in his second term?

Agenda, foreign, in Bush's second term -- And what is he planning to do in foreign policy?

Exiles in Babylon -- We very much need to send Christian missionaries to the strange and hostile land of Blue America.

Reforming the CIA -- Any serious reforms at the CIA will involve a lot of complaints, so I'm just hoping for the best.

Politics as usual, with the usual CNN coverage -- So the Republicans are planning to change the internal rules for their legislative caucuses. How is that any of the Democrats' business?

Decisions this weekend -- I have to decide between two job possibilities.

Storyblogging Carnival VI -- The sixth carnival. I'm still using Roman numerals despite Doc Rampage's attempts to convince me to do otherwise.

Finding evangelicals in Boston -- Yes, there are evangelicals in Boston. Soon I'll be one.

I've accepted a job offer -- Yay! I'll soon be working again.

Evangelicals and law professors -- Not only are there evangelicals in Boston, you can even find them at Harvard.

Wow, it's been a while since I've done one of these. Two months, in fact. I'm going to make this two separate posts, one for October and one for November. I'll eventually move them back to the proper place in the archives (November 1 and December 1), but I'll just note here that these weren't written until December 5th. Anyway, here are all the important posts from October.

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Nuclear Bunker Buster symposium -- My post for Hugh Hewitt's nuclear bunker buster symposium, wherein I argue that we should develop such weapons only if we're willing to use them.

An Unexpected Answer, Chapter 1 of an unnamed story -- Well, the story has a name now, but this is where you should start if you want to read Eyes in the Shadow.

Iraq and al Qaeda -- After pointing out some new evidence of an Iraq-al Qaeda link, I resign myself to the fact that if you don't already believe in a link between the two, it's going to take more evidence than you ever see in the intelligence business.

Stolen Honor -- I point out that the Democrats were behaving pretty hypocritically to go up in arms over Stolen Honor without batting an eye at Michael Moore's plan to broadcast Fahrenheit 9/11 on election eve. I don't think any of the big blogs pointed this out, but I still didn't get an Instalanche or anything. I ask you, "Is that fair?"

Why can't they stay out of our elections? -- Why does everyone in the world think they should have a say in our elections? I say, "Sure, you can vote in the US, if we can vote in your country."

Hmm, I thought the other Jonathan Edwards spoke for the dead -- John Edwards promises miracles without even feeling the need to address the ethical problem. Evil which you overlook because it's inconvenient leads to the worst abuses.

The most boring video in the world -- Why are children's videos so mind-numbingly dull to adults?

First impressions of Doom III -- Okay, I admit, I was compelled to buy this game. And it is one tense game, let me tell you!

Draft rumor e-mail counterattack -- Doc Rampage writes an e-mail designed to counter the draft rumor.

Leadership and IQs -- I don't think there's a direct correlation between leadership skills and IQ.

Breaking and entering -- A heartwarming story of breaking into my sister's home.

The religious right: extreme minority? -- I google a few polls to show that the evangelical positions on embryonic stem cell research, abortion, and gay marriage are actually rather mainstream.

It's been a while since I've done this, partially because my blogging has been sporadic, but I thought I ought to do a variation of the Week in Review. So here it goes:

Now accepting submissions to the Storyblogging Carnival — This is the inaugural post for the Storyblogging Carnival, where I lay out the ground rules.

Dozer's death — A short post on the death of my dog, Dozer.

Forgeries? — My first and only post on the forgeries CBS was presenting as proof of Bush's failure to live up to his National Guard responsibilites. I look at whether it's likely that Rove was behind it.

9/11 — A short remembrance about September 11th, 2001.

Storyblogging Carnival I — This is the first Storyblogging Carnival, with eight stories from around the blogosphere.

Allergies — I complain, loudly and longly, about my allergies.

Review of Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson — I review Dave Barry's Peter pan prequel.

Improvement in superconducting materials? — I consider the plausibility of an al Jazeera article about an improvement in superconductors.

The philosophy of the president — I talk about whether we really want the President to be a good philosopher.

Max's War — A very short story I wrote a while ago, giving a child's eye view of war.

The return of the draft? — I do my part to try to dispel the draft rumors.

Allawi and Kerry — I take Kerry to task for his contempt of Allawi.

Temporal anomaly at Instapundit — A double-post on Instapundit, separated by eight months, and the entire blogosphere goes up in flames.

Storyblogging Carnival II — The second storyblogging carnival, this time with twelve stories.

Catblogging — I don't usually do any catblogging, but I had to take some pictures of these guys.

Hosting a Storyblogging Carnival — I explain what's involved in hosting a Storyblogging Carnival.

Debate advice for Bush — My pre-debate advice for Bush, which turned out to be all wrong.

This may become a regular feature, especially on Sundays where there's not much to talk about and I feel pretty lazy anyway. In any case, here's a list of my posts which I don't regret writing:

Federal Marriage Amendment Alternative — My first post discussing an amendment aimed directly at judicial activism, which sparked my first interblog debate.

Conspiracy Theory — What if Syria really does have Iraq's WMDs? What if Bush already knows this?

A few questions for Mr. Kerry — Questions I'd like to ask Kerry about his 1971 Congressional testimony.

Christianity and the Nanny State — My thoughts on Joe Carter's thoughts on Matthew Yglesias's thoughts on a Christian libertarian's thoughts on... Christian libertarianism.

Why name your blog "Back of the Envelope," anyway? — What's in a name?

Do You Know Who I Am? — The post that started a Cornerlanche. Dave Barry on Kerry's elitism.

Bush's Immigration Plan — My thoughts on the matter. Hint: Ambivalent, but I don't think it's mercenary pandering.

Ideological Purity and the War on Terror — I have little patience for conservatives who feel that Bush's moderate politics are reason enough to stay home in November.

Why Iraq? — The reasons I think Iraq was not just a necessary step, but the necessary next step, in the war on terror.

Kerry minus thirty years — I rant and rave about Kerry's inability to discuss any part of his record which occurred after he returned from Vietnam.