Learning new things about Christmas

This little handheld device has captured my attention with its unique controls, novel games, and friendly community. The rich catalog of game choices can be overwhelming, so use this guide as a suggestion for what to play next.

Continue reading “My favorite Panic Playdate games”

The chance that people are generally good and want to help others inspires hope within me. I want to believe that perhaps with a little more education and exposure to sensible thought, the average Trump voter can come to see how the far right doesn’t serve their needs. I want to cling to that, but I remain hesitant.

Continue reading “Do people want change?”

I used to host this site on GitHub and use Neocities as a bit of a mirror to the site, but I have changed my mind after watching a video about the history of the Web that a coworker sent me. I have decided to fully embrace the independent, old-school, quirky, and “slower” Web by becoming a supporter of Neocities and moved my site exclusively to it. I have removed the GitHub features from the site in an effort to lean into what made the Web interesting to me in the first place (besides, nobody used the GitHub features I had enabled here anyway).

The process will actually make publishing changes to my site even easier; I used to have to use Git to transfer content up to GitHub Pages and wait for a deployment. Now I can use the Neocities CLI to make changes within Panic Nova without having to deal with the frustration of managing branches and merging that is beneficial to large projects and teams but fairly pointless and frustrating for a small site like mine.

i really thought this country would say no. instead, it shouted yes

— jamelle (@jamellebouie.net) November 6, 2024 at 3:06 AM

I’m deeply disappointed in my fellow Americans and I’m struggling to understand the reasoning for their voting decisions. Is it entirely ignorance? How could it be? Surely they would’ve seen or heard accounts of some of the things Trump has said. Is it the far more unnerving possibility of bigotry and hatred? I fear that the number of voters in that group might be distressingly high.

I thought Americans would do better. I felt a swelling of pride that Americans would stop the advance of fascism in its politics and culture. I had hope for this election and for good people to make wise choices, and that was a mistake.

The latest fearful response to modern technology and social change is upon us: the effects of social networks on young people. Will we succumb to the effects of this hysteria, or will we find a way to use technology to better ourselves and our world?

🇺🇸 Continue reading “Another moral panic”

I purchased a domain name for my blog: dhepworth.com. I bought the license from CloudFlare and they made it a pretty easy process. One can still find the blog at dhepworth.github.io and dhpersonal.neocities.org.

I honestly did not believe it to be possible, after years of disappointment, frustration, and diminishing esteem for the country, to actually be able to consider the possibility of hope and pride for the future of the United States. I think I owe gratitude to Donald Trump for this, though I don’t think he would be pleased, for my reasons for seeing hope are extremely divergent from his own and contrary to his messaging.

🇺🇸 Continue reading “Donald Trump has made me proud to be an American again”

Have we allowed ourselves to process grief poorly, even if our reasons to do so are altruistic? Would we not serve ourselves and others better to refocus our methods to readily accept grief?

🙍‍♂️ Continue reading “What grief has done to us”

Ryan Broderick — Garbage Day

Now we have Babydog

Writer Jason Pargin made a really good TikTok this week about this bizarre side effect of social media-driven news. Pargin, focusing on the 2020 Nashville bombing, which everyone did basically forget about, argues that because the motives of that attack were never clearly linked to a “team” — the bomber was mainly interested in shape-shifting lizard people — the story didn’t have much of a tail online.

Why does it feel like people are underwhelmed by the assassination attempt on a former U.S. President? I feel that this should be a much bigger issue than what it appears to be for most people, because for someone to be able to get that close to an important political figure is a dangerous weakness for the executive branch of the United States’ government. Have we always been this numb to violence, or is this something new?

Rebecca Hopkins — The Roys Report

EXCLUSIVE: Whistleblowers Accuse Voice of the Martyrs’ President of Deception and Retaliation

In exclusive interviews with The Roys Report (TRR), 10 former VOM staff accused VOM President Cole Richards of retaliating against employees for failing to give him unquestioning support. They also claimed Richards pushed out his predecessor to gain control of the organization. And they say Richards has a pattern of lying to protect himself and VOM, including deceiving people about his background and credentials.

• Voice of the Martyrs Whistleblowers Send Letter to Board Calling for Third-Party Investigation
• EXCLUSIVE: Voice of the Martyrs Whistleblowers Tell of Retaliation & Board’s Alleged Sham Investigation
• EXCLUSIVE: Whistleblowers Say Voice of the Martyrs President Put Optics Over Needs of Persecuted Christians
• Former Voice of the Martyrs Executive Calls for Resignations: ‘It’s Time to Clean House’
• EXCLUSIVE: Whistleblowers Accuse Voice of the Martyrs’ President of Deception and Retaliation

I wasn’t entirely certain if I wanted to comment on the latest news about a former employer. It’s been years since I worked for VOM, and I have had enough conflicted feelings about my time there that I’ve largely tried to avoid speaking about them any longer. What prompted me to make this post was seeing the response that has come from the existing employee base, who have not decided to unanimously defend and believe the victims of the executive team’s cruel and vindictive behavior. This bothers me greatly, because I was one of those victims.

I worked for VOM for over eight years. I started as a volunteer and eventually became a full-time salaried employee, supporting the content creation and distribution across VOM’s internet presence. My work is still visible on the VOM website or social media accounts, and the memory of my contributions have continued in some of the practices that the company still employs on their web presence, not solely because of my involvement but I believe because I helped make those processes a success.

Simultaneously I feel as if my time there left very little impact, primarily due to how regularly the executive team constrained and attacked those within the company for attempting to make change within their roles. Retributive behavior was common, with punishments for original thought being a loss of opportunity or diminishment of roles. The executive suite was quick to punish but slow to communicate, leaving people uncertain if anything was actually planned before discovering they had overstepped bounds and were to be reprimanded for the error.

Part of what disturbs me about the response is that this corruption is not new nor was it unknown within the company while I was employed. I even experienced my first taste of disdain for the actions of the company within my first year. When I was new to the company I was able to overcome the cognitive dissonance through the strength of my idealism and hope in the goals of the company, but these weakened until I finally broke. By the latter half of my time with the company I had allowed the propaganda and abuse to disrupt my sense of agency, fooling me into believing that I was blessed to have a job anywhere, especially a place as self-important as VOM. It was only when I escaped, thanks to the encouragement of my wife, Lisa, that I was able to look back and see how much of a victim of abuse I was.

I grieve for the people still trapped in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and in a destructive system like VOM. I worry for those who are supported by such a vindictive company who will pull support for the pettiest of grievances. They are perpetuating a system of abuse that stretches across the globe and they must be stopped.

The employees who are denying the reality of the pain VOM is continuing to cause may very well be active victims themselves, and with that under consideration, I can understand their response. But as someone who denied to himself for so many years the problems at VOM, along with the years of regret and healing that occurred afterward, I encourage everyone involved to reconsider the evidence and perhaps consider trusting colleagues and former employees. The unacceptable behavior being attested to has and continues to occur. The corruption is real. If you’ve managed to avoid being hurt by VOM, then count your blessings, but don’t deny it to be true for others. And get out as soon as you can.

After watching the new series Constellation and the film Everything Everywhere All at Once, I decided to read a little more about how fictional the science referenced in both was when compared with some of the latest scientific discoveries. What shocked me is how close to reality they both appear to be.

🌏 Continue reading “Learning new things about our universe”

The creativity and outrage I’m seeing about Palestine is very encouraging: it gives me hope to see that many Americans are empathetic and decent and will not accept their country behaving poorly in 2024. The American government disappoints, though. I know that Joe Biden wasn’t exactly ever that much of a left-leaning politician, but I could point to some of his mildly progressive actions as evidence that something better might be on the timeline for America. I wonder now if I will ever see that better outcome in my lifetime, especially with so many of the regressive actions happening in the Supreme Court and throughout state and local governments. If enough people choose to not vote for Biden because of his stances on Israel and Palestine and therefore allow Trump to be elected, I worry if we will be able to steer away from the dictatorship that appears to be looming. Come on though, there has to be someone better out there looking to run for President, right? Or are we going to continue to be disappointed time after time by potential future change-makers?

Every Presidential election is claimed to be the biggest decision of our lives, but the claim feels more accurate with each one in which I vote. We can and should do better.

I had never heard of this podcast before but decided to try it out when it came up on my podcast recommendations in Apple Podcasts. What a refreshing experience to hear men sharing their thoughts and emotions deeply and honestly. I don’t normally get to experience this type of conversation in my personal life, and I had forgotten much I craved them until I heard this episode. I appreciated that they could disagree and explain why they disagreed.