The Best Blogging Platform

Over the years, I've used several blogging platforms...Blogger, WordPress, Medium. These are three of the most popular ones.

Based on my experience, WordPress is the one I most highly recommend. Here are some reasons why I wasn't very satisfied with Blogger:

1. Terrible URL — MyBlogName.blogspot.com — it's not very appealling.
2. Limited free themes — not many customization options.
3. No plugins.
4. Low visibility — blogs are not promoted in any way at Blogger.

Here are some reasons why I wasn't very satisfied with Medium, after five years of protracted use:

1. Their attempt to put most blogs behind a paywall.
2. No themes.
3. No plugins.
4. Not a great URL — medium.com/@MyUserName or medium.com/smalltalk-talk.

WordPress offers:

1. Great URLs like MyBlogName.wordpress.com or smalltalk.tech.blog!
2. Many nice free themes and great customization options.
3. Many plugins.
4. Some visibility and promotion.

WordPress is the world's largest blogging platform. Medium has been doing less and less to help promote my blog articles.

I am the Painful Truth

Life asked Death, “Death, why do people love me but hate you?” Death responded, “Because you are a beautiful lie and I am the painful truth.”

The death of Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna in a helicopter crash today reminds me how fragile life is. It is unpredictable. It is fleetingly short. It is inevitable. And we are powerless to do anything about it.

We can die at any time for nearly any reason...

1. accident
2. terminal illness or the body finally wearing out
3. natural disaster
4. suicide
5. criminal or negligent homicide
6. casualty of war
7. famine or disease, esp. in the Third World

We must remember that life is a time-limited gift. We can't hold onto it forever.

So make the most of it while you can. And be gracious when you must give it up.

The Final Phase of Life

I turned 66 recently. I'm in the final phase of my life. It is now characterized by several key qualities:

1. I am almost always very cranky. Every little thing frustrates and angers me. I am extremely intolerant and impatient.
2. I am most forgetful. My short-term memory is especially egregious. This could be signalling early onset dementia.
3. I have virtually no sex drive. I have absolutely no sexual energy to "perform" at all.
4. I have all kinds of bodily aches and pains. I get frequent foot cramps. I have a bum knee. I have low back pain.
5. I'm always nodding off while watching my favourite TV shows! Maybe I'm sleep-deprived.

I feel like I'm just waiting to die. The only thing I truly enjoy now is writing and blogging. I spent the last five years evangelizing Smalltalk — see Interview with a Smalltalk Evangelist and Smalltalk tech blog. If I didn't have that, I don't know what I'd do with my life.

The Trump Impeachment Trial is a Political Farce

The Trump impeachment "trial" south of the border is a f*cking joke. It doesn't adhere to any of the conventional rules of legal trials. The Democrats are publicly trying to shame the Republican senators (the "jury") into convicting Trump. Isn't this the very definition of "jury tampering?"

Moreover, the Democrats and Republicans had to negotiate the actual rules of the trial? WTF. This is ad hoc, impromptu justice.

And, finally, it's practically a foregone conclusion that the Senate will not convict Trump. This is all politics, pure and simple. It has very little to do with the "law."

What a f*cking joke!