About

There are no prizes for guessing where the title of this blog comes from, since the web has rendered such competitions meaningless.

My first choice for the title was “The Compassionate Misanthrope”, which came to me from Ben Wootliff. I later discovered that this description wasn’t as original as I’d hoped (which means that he’s not getting a penny from me) and I’m not using it as a title in case Hillary Clinton sues me. Rudyard Kipling I’m not so concerned about.

Ben also describes me as a “combat accountant”. This is slightly more original, but unfortunately even less accurate since I’m not an accountant and I don’t engage in combat (although I’ve been caught in crossfire a few times). He calls me this on account of my day job, but if you’re looking for my work blog, it’s at www.humanitarian.info.

One thing you should know about me - I don’t exist in your world. I’m actually a virtual entity living in the internet. Obviously I’ve hired an actor to interact with humans, otherwise you’d all freak out and go all lynch mob on me, 21st century Frankenstein monster style. If you see a picture of me, it’s a picture of him, if you see what I mean.

If you want to know anything else about me, you’ll have to piece it together. At various points you can find out what I’m reading, what I’m listening to, what I’m watching, what I’m linking to, what I’m taking pictures of, who my friends are (well, some of them), what I’m planning to do, and so on.