The Disease of Being Busy

"I saw a dear friend a few days ago. I stopped by to ask her how she was doing, how her family was. She looked up, voice lowered, and just whimpered: “I’m so busy… I am so busy… have so much going on.” Almost immediately after, I ran into another friend and asked him how he was." read full text »

What nobody told me about small farming: I can’t make a living

"We’re re-running this story as part of a countdown of the year’s best personal essays. To read all the entries in the series, click here. On the radio this morning I heard a story about the growing number of young people choosing to become farmers." read full text »

The End of Arrogance Is Needed

"The U.S. deserves better. Its decline has been as painful for America’s allies in the Middle East and Europe to watch as it has been embarrassing and frustrating for Americans who care about the United States and want to see it endure." read full text »

The Price of Secularism in Bangladesh

"Until he was stabbed multiple times with a kitchen knife and forced to flee to Europe two years ago, Asif Mohiuddin was a leading member of Bangladesh’s ‘‘freethinker’’ movement and the country’s best-known secular provocateur." read full text »

Poet Stanley Kunitz at 100

"Over his lifetime, poet Stanley Kunitz has received a Pulitzer Prize, a National Book Award and the National Medal of the Arts. He has also served as the nation's poet laureate... twice. As Kunitz turns 100, independent producer Joe Richman of Radio Diaries visits the poet in Provincetown, Mass." read full text »

Dear Muslims, — Medium

"I am an American, a Christian, and a US Army Soldier. I’m white, I grew up in the South, and I love Jesus, as well as the life of freedom and prosperity that my country has enabled me to have. I have fought in Iraq and lost several really good friends there." read full text »

“So David, what should we do about ISIS?” — Medium

"As a member of the US Military, a lot of people ask me my opinion on matters of foreign policy. Lately, the most common question is “What should we do about ISIS?” It’s a hard question. Mainly because there aren’t any good answers." read full text »

bell hooks: Buddhism, the Beats and Loving Blackness

"This is the last in this series of 2015 interviews with philosophers on race. This week’s conversation is with the scholar, critic and public intellectual bell hooks, who is currently the distinguished professor in residence of Appalachian studies at Berea College." read full text »

Renting is Throwing Money Away … Right?

"Bulls**t. You’ve heard those statements, right? I’m going to explain why these clichés are ludicrous. Preposterous. Outlandish. Nonsensical." read full text »

HTTP/2, HTTPS, Let's Encrypt and WordPress

"TL;DR — HTTP/2 is awesome, but requires HTTPS, which is hard to setup. Let’s Encrypt and WordPress can make HTTPS setup simple and help achieve a faster web sooner. My eyes are heavy, my head foggy. Kind of feels like I’m in a dream right now."

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The Definitive PHP 7 (Final Version) & HHVM Benchmark

"It’s been in the works for quite some time and after a long wait PHP 7 was released on December 3, 2015. We tested the most popular PHP based frameworks to see how they perform with PHP 7!"

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This Image Explains Why the U.S. Can’t Stop Mass Shootings

"This Image Explains Why the U.S. Can’t Stop Mass Shootings People are explaining the San Bernardino massacre in different ways. Some people say it is about gun laws. Others say it is about Islamic terrorism or mental health."

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Looking To The Future – Shawn Hooper : WordPress Developer & Speaker

"Today was the closing day of the inaugural WordCamp US, a gathering of over 1,800 of the amazing people that make up the WordPress ecosystem." read full text »

Intrinsic Placeholders with the Picture Element

"The leaner/faster your site is, the more noticeable/painful image loading becomes, especially with hero images. Layout getting recalculated when each image arrives results in a spastic hurk-jerk page reflow. This bothered us enough on DayTrip to find a fix." read full text »

"A good theory is an act of the informed imagination — it reaches toward the unknown while grounded in the firmest foundations of the known."