Find Out if NoVax is Right for You

If Skipping the COVID Vaccine Were a Pharmaceutical Commercial...

What if not getting a COVID vaccine were promoted like a medication? Imagine “NoVax,” if you will. That’s the starting point for an OFB piece I wrote in response to a skeptical friend who asked for a non-reactionary reason why someone should get the vaccine.

The disease that we will likely recall for the rest of our lives as simply “the Pandemic” has been answered by vaccines that, by any pre-COVID standard, would be viewed as incredibly effective. Reduce spread, reduce severity and do so with stunningly few severe side effects? How can “NoVax” be appealing in that light?

Leaving the Social Media Stockyard

The Promise of the Internet was Decentralized Content. Let's Return to It.

Over on Open for Business I argue that it is time for us to return to taking the blogosphere seriously and start to see it as the first place we post, instead of being “social media first” like so many of us are. In doing so, we address some of the biggest concerns both the Right and Left express about social media and we return to the heart of the Internet’s decentralized promise:

It is time we took back control. A healthier Internet need not be free of social media, but it must have far more decentralized interaction from us, so social providers have to actually compete for our attention. The blogosphere offers the path to that better Internet.

My current and former blogosphere compatriots… let’s do this.

Are We Palm Sunday Followers of Jesus?

So Many Misunderstood Jesus Then and We Still Do Today

Palm Sunday was yesterday, marking the beginning of Holy Week. A week when Christians remember Jesus’s path toward crucifixion and His subsequent overcoming of death. While both Palm Sunday and Easter are filled with joy, the joy of Palm Sunday is striking in how the crowd was joyful – at least in part – for the wrong reasons.

WandaVision's Power was in the Human, not the Superhuman

What is grief, but love persevering? Disney+’s WandaVision is one of the best series I can recall gracing the small screen in decades and that question posed by the Vision (Paul Bettany) captures so much about what allows the show to be profound beyond the strictures of either of its roots: classic sitcoms and Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Yeah, That'll Sell Me on the Site

I got a spam today trying to sell me on a new software download site. Here's an excerpt:

Dear user,
We take this opportunity to announce you that a new free software portal has been released, where you can find a wide diversity of software to fit all your needs.



Our website is updated every day with day 0 state of the art free to download software, for both Macintosh computers and PCs.

Yup. I always like to go to places with “0 state of the art free to download software.” Betcha y'all want me to tell you the address so that you can go too, right?

Sin and the Resurrection

When I think about the glorious news of today, I find it hard to believe I could think one sinful thing or commit one evil act. How would that be possible in light of today? Even if tomorrow I'd fall back into my fallen, despicable state, how could I not spend the entirety of today focusing on our Savior's triumph over death?

And yet I realize, looking back, I was sinful throughout the day. There are numerous examples of things I should not have done today that I did. I was proud, I was deceitful, I was lustful. If only I could somehow finally excise all these things from my being, it would be so grand.

I am just so thankful that through the death and resurrection of Jesus I have hope despite my failings. Despite my failings even this day. Forgive me, Lord, for failing you this day.

“Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.”

—John Newton, Amazing Grace