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I encourage and build WordPress sites for my clients so they can easily update content with an interface that is not too different from a word processor. They get it.

I just don’t get WordPress 5.0/Gutenburg.

And, if I don’t get it, how will they?

“They have a real library. You know how at the public library they have two floors of books? It’s like that.”

— Beatrix, age 10, judges the schools we are considering for Middle School next year by the quality of the library.

Algorithms Don’t See

United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously quipped “I know it when I see it” in describing his threshold test for obscenity in Jacobellis v. Ohio. The problem with this threshold, of course, is that everyone’s opinion of what is obscene and what is not is different.

For instance, to some, the work of Helmut Newton may be art. To others, it may be smut. But, thankfully, we all have the free will to decide such things for ourselves.

Of course, there are some things I think almost everyone can agree is not OK. Child pornography perhaps being the best example.

And, therein lies the problem with Tumblr’s direction in attempting to ban all porn from their platform. Instead of doing the very hard and very human work of figuring out how to best prevent those things we can almost all agree we know are not OK, they are taking the easy, broad, far reaching, and non-human approach of allowing an algorithm to decide.

Algorithms don’t see. Furthermore, they lack context and nuance. We’ve yet to reach an accurate AI based threshold test for “I know it when I see it.” Because of this, Tumblr’s plan to unleash such a tool to ban porn is not going so well and will likely be the company’s downfall.

A Christmas Day Plan

We generally host our family Christmas celebrations on the Eve, as is tradition in my wife’s Norwegian heritage family. Christmas Day itself has generally been spent with my wife, daughter, and I over at a friend’s house. Those friends are out of town this year, thus leaving us to come up with another plan.

My wife and I have settled on the following idea; about mid morning we’ll start up the fire, light some nice smelling candles, lounge around in comfy clothes, put on some quiet music, and read books all day. But we’re going to make a “thing” out of it and invite any of our friends in town who wish to join us to stop on by with a book of their own. We’ll have some drinks and snacks around for people to enjoy as well. All we ask is that you come prepared to keep things library style and enjoy a bit of peace with us this day.

When throwing around and idea of what to officially call this event my wife came up with the perfect name…

All Is Calm

Of course. What else could it be?

This is the first time I’ve looked forward to Christmas this much since childhood.

Note: Feel free to take this idea and make it your own. If you can’t do this on Christmas Day, do it another time.