Articles

Welcome to the blog page. Here's all the articles. Like the tag line for the web site says, I write about a lot of different subjects. Well, at least, when I write at all. It still haven't gotten over being disheartened by losing years and years of content to WordPress hackers. I guess I still need to work that out. In any event, here's what I've managed to slap together so far.

Using AI

I recently added a new page to the site about the CMS I developed, RamaSite. "I developed" sure misexplains what I actually did. I used Claude Code to create a CMS in PHP using the Laravel and Filament frameworks.

Goodbye Grav, Hello...Something Else

June 25, 2026

I did it again. The thing about having a web site is that you get bitten by the bug, at some point. The bug of starting again.

It's for the Children!

January 3, 2026

On 1 January 2026, a bill passed unanimously by the California legislature, AB 1043, will become law. Title 1.81.9 (Digital Age Assurance Act) of the California Civil Code will require the providers of every computer operating system to add an age attestation system to create any user account on a computer. Now that this bill has been enacted into law in California, Colorado's legislature is now considering a bill, SB26-051, that closely mirrors the California law.

Trump's Tariffs Make No Sense

May 25, 2025

First, let's start off by talking about what this article isn't about. It's not about whether tariffs can help support domestic manufacturing or jobs. It's not about whether there are valid national security justifications for tariffs on strategic materials.

Not Too Late to Go

January 1, 2025

In 1949, the United States and its European allies formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The purpose of NATO was to create a collective security arrangement to counterbalance the threat of the Soviet Union and its Eastern European puppet regimes. At the time, the USSR had bilateral defense agreements with the various countries in its sphere, with Soviet forces still directly occupying East Germany.

From Legacy to History: The End of the Post-WWII Era

December 4, 2024

Modern geopolitics has been largely defined by a series of international settlements under which all major powers have operated. We can think of these settlements as the operating environment in which foreign relations are conducted. In most cases, these settlements come about as the result of a major war that results in a new geopolitical reality.

Responding to "Dr. Volts"

December 26, 2023

Browsing Twitter today—sorry, I guess it's "X" now—I saw this post from @drvolts. This is, apparently, a fellow named David Roberts, who runs a newsletter of some sort. I ran across this thread at random, and it captivated me.

Demographics and the Immigration Imperative

November 24, 2023

"Demography is destiny." This sentence is commonly attributed to the French philosopher August Comte, who many consider to be the father of sociology. He probably never actually said this, but it is, at least, a succinct summation of his argument that the future of a nation's people depends largely on its ability to produce young people. Countries that do so can grow and expand their wealth and influence.

How I Use Obsidian

November 17, 2023

I have kind of a weird job. It's very cross-functional, so I have to keep track of a lot of different things. I need to write product documentation, create online training courses in Articulate Storyline, manage an LMS Platform, do about 8.5 hours of customer webinars per month, and manage the technical support system for both customers and partners/resellers.