Front Porch
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Feb 2, 2026
Good Enough to Play
Building a practical tolerance for imperfection.
My wife gave me a guitar for my 30th birthday, a department store special she bought with a 20% off coupon. I had wanted a guitar for a while, but as a young father, working hard and doing my part to keep our family afloat, I never afforded myself the indulgence—which made it a perfect gift.
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Jul 8, 2025
The Fourth-Grader Speaks of Rivers
And of canals, estuaries, and saltwater lagoons.
I never questioned anything a teacher told me until the fourth grade. In the Sunshine State, fourth-graders study Florida history. We learn about the St. Johns River, which our teachers told us, along with the Nile, are the only two rivers in the world that flow north. This is where I became suspicious.
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Jun 24, 2025
The Unknowable Truth Epistemic Contract
Personal ego-driven pseudo-philosophy with good intentions.
The Unknowable Truth explores our chaotic, information-choked postmodern world and confronts the challenge of making consequential decisions when we’re not always sure what to believe. It’s practically impossible for us to know the pure, unadulterated truth about anything, so even our deepest beliefs wear a shroud of uncertainty.
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May 20, 2025
The Unknowable Truth About Hamburgers
Burgers, brains, and bureaucracy.
I am on a casual quest for the best burger in Central Florida. Every few weeks, two friends and I assemble for a long lunch at a candidate restaurant to see how their offering stacks up. When I tell people about this pursuit, they’ll ask, “Who makes the best burger?”
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Mar 26, 2025
The Effective Meaning of Signs
Message versus results.
Growing up, my friends and I enjoyed exploring a patch of woods adjacent to our neighborhood. A row of signs reading “NO TRESPASSING” stood before the treeline. The sign literally read “NO TRESPASSING,” but the effective meaning of the sign was “ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK,” which we joyfully did.
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Feb 13, 2025
The Unknowable Truth
Navigating an uncertain world.
Seeing is believing. We want to think that’s true, but reality isn’t so straightforward. We tell ourselves that what we see, hear, and experience is the truth and that our perception faithfully represents reality, but physics, psychology, and philosophy suggest otherwise.
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Nov 22, 2024
Cognitive Ease Wiz
Encountering the Unknowable Truth in the cunning wit of Whitney Cummings.
While performing on her Big Baby tour, comedian Whitney Cummings asks the audience to call out their favorite conspiracy theories. The crazier the theory, the more enthusiastically the comedian embraces it. What struck me was the sincere respect Cummings afforded the validity of the feelings people harbor when they’re suspicious of the news they consume.
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Nov 12, 2024
Respecting Other People’s Valid Wrong Opinions
The art of arguing with love.
I stopped using social media for a while in 2016 because the election of President Trump sparked toxic online conversations. A friend of mine, noted social scientist Dr. Jeffrianne Wilder, reminded me that in the study of sociology, all opinions are considered valid.
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