Kevin L Nenstiel
@wordbasket.bsky.social
Author, blogger, theorist. Just some guy with an open mind and a whole mess of opinions.
Hello Darkness, My Old Friend
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2022/12/hell...
Modernist thinking tells us that science, reason, and limitless electric light have banished fears of darkness, fears they call superstition.
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2022/12/hell...
Modernist thinking tells us that science, reason, and limitless electric light have banished fears of darkness, fears they call superstition.
Hello Darkness, My Old Friend
When I was a kid, I was afraid of the dark, as kids frequently are. My father sneered at this fear and refused to give me a nightlight.
wordbasket.blogspot.com
December 14, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Hello Darkness, My Old Friend
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2022/12/hell...
Modernist thinking tells us that science, reason, and limitless electric light have banished fears of darkness, fears they call superstition.
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2022/12/hell...
Modernist thinking tells us that science, reason, and limitless electric light have banished fears of darkness, fears they call superstition.
Luigi Mangione and Political Messianism
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2024/12/luig...
Mangione represents the latest manifestation of a popular phantom haunting American politics: the yearning for a secular Messiah.
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2024/12/luig...
Mangione represents the latest manifestation of a popular phantom haunting American politics: the yearning for a secular Messiah.
Luigi Mangione and Political Messianism
When accused assassin Luigi Mangione gunned down United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson last week, the initial response was surprisingly bipartisan.
wordbasket.blogspot.com
December 13, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Luigi Mangione and Political Messianism
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2024/12/luig...
Mangione represents the latest manifestation of a popular phantom haunting American politics: the yearning for a secular Messiah.
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2024/12/luig...
Mangione represents the latest manifestation of a popular phantom haunting American politics: the yearning for a secular Messiah.
Singing:
It's our omelette-freeee...
Philosopheeeee....
Hakuna Frittata!
It's our omelette-freeee...
Philosopheeeee....
Hakuna Frittata!
December 13, 2025 at 6:07 AM
Singing:
It's our omelette-freeee...
Philosopheeeee....
Hakuna Frittata!
It's our omelette-freeee...
Philosopheeeee....
Hakuna Frittata!
Are Nation-States Obsolete?
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2025/12/are-...
We don’t do polity for ancient reasons, so we can’t do it within ancient boundaries.
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2025/12/are-...
We don’t do polity for ancient reasons, so we can’t do it within ancient boundaries.
Are Nation-States Obsolete?
The President Taco Administration has performed elaborate gymnastics to preserve its adherents’ notions about American identity.
wordbasket.blogspot.com
December 12, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Are Nation-States Obsolete?
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2025/12/are-...
We don’t do polity for ancient reasons, so we can’t do it within ancient boundaries.
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2025/12/are-...
We don’t do polity for ancient reasons, so we can’t do it within ancient boundaries.
It really bothers me to hear people dumping on others for their awkward teenage years. Because come on... does it stop for other people when they turn twenty? Or ever?
December 12, 2025 at 6:13 AM
It really bothers me to hear people dumping on others for their awkward teenage years. Because come on... does it stop for other people when they turn twenty? Or ever?
Everyone says Requiem for a Dream, but let me put in a plug for Badlands.
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2018/08/to-d...
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2018/08/to-d...
December 11, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Everyone says Requiem for a Dream, but let me put in a plug for Badlands.
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2018/08/to-d...
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2018/08/to-d...
Don't Follow Your Bliss
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2020/12/dont...
Work is central to human identity. We organize our lives according to the labors we undertake, either voluntarily or for pay.
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2020/12/dont...
Work is central to human identity. We organize our lives according to the labors we undertake, either voluntarily or for pay.
Don't Follow Your Bliss
“What would you do with your life, if you didn’t have to worry about making a living?” I’ve long forgotten who first asked me this question.
wordbasket.blogspot.com
December 11, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Don't Follow Your Bliss
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2020/12/dont...
Work is central to human identity. We organize our lives according to the labors we undertake, either voluntarily or for pay.
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2020/12/dont...
Work is central to human identity. We organize our lives according to the labors we undertake, either voluntarily or for pay.
James Gunn has released a video snippet announcing that a trailer for Supergirl will drop tomorrow. Yes, a trailer for a trailer. Our media ecosystem is officially swamped.
December 10, 2025 at 11:58 PM
James Gunn has released a video snippet announcing that a trailer for Supergirl will drop tomorrow. Yes, a trailer for a trailer. Our media ecosystem is officially swamped.
I just realized: I'm a werewolf. Except, instead of the full moon, I turn into a slavering ball of all-consuming rage when confronted by Bing Crosby's "White Christmas."
December 10, 2025 at 6:46 PM
I just realized: I'm a werewolf. Except, instead of the full moon, I turn into a slavering ball of all-consuming rage when confronted by Bing Crosby's "White Christmas."
Knowledge That Died in the War
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2024/12/know...
Jayne Anne Phillips’ novels focus on lonely souls wandering an America they don’t understand.
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2024/12/know...
Jayne Anne Phillips’ novels focus on lonely souls wandering an America they don’t understand.
Knowledge That Died in the War
Young ConaLee comes from a part of West Virginia hill country where people don’t need, or know, one another’s last names.
wordbasket.blogspot.com
December 10, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Knowledge That Died in the War
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2024/12/know...
Jayne Anne Phillips’ novels focus on lonely souls wandering an America they don’t understand.
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2024/12/know...
Jayne Anne Phillips’ novels focus on lonely souls wandering an America they don’t understand.
Samantha Fulnecky and the Assault on Learning
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2025/12/sama...
Dennis Prager and Samantha Fulnecky share a premise that truth is something we assert morally, not something we demonstrate empirically.
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2025/12/sama...
Dennis Prager and Samantha Fulnecky share a premise that truth is something we assert morally, not something we demonstrate empirically.
Samantha Fulnecky and the Assault on Learning
I’ve attempted to avoid OSU undergrad Smantha Fulnecky’s newfound celebrity for refusing to do her homework.
wordbasket.blogspot.com
December 9, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Samantha Fulnecky and the Assault on Learning
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2025/12/sama...
Dennis Prager and Samantha Fulnecky share a premise that truth is something we assert morally, not something we demonstrate empirically.
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2025/12/sama...
Dennis Prager and Samantha Fulnecky share a premise that truth is something we assert morally, not something we demonstrate empirically.
I tried to make a Faustian bargain, but thanks to stupid Autocorrect, I wound up making a Proustian bargain, and now I just sit around all day remembering things.
#bookjokes
#bookjokes
December 9, 2025 at 8:23 AM
I tried to make a Faustian bargain, but thanks to stupid Autocorrect, I wound up making a Proustian bargain, and now I just sit around all day remembering things.
#bookjokes
#bookjokes
Capitalism and the Winners’ Society
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2024/12/capi...
When Elon Musk and his giddy evangelists call him a self-made billionaire, they overlook the environment that created his wealth.
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2024/12/capi...
When Elon Musk and his giddy evangelists call him a self-made billionaire, they overlook the environment that created his wealth.
Capitalism and the Winners’ Society
I just did something I used to do frequently, but haven’t done for years: I watched a full episode of Jeopardy.
wordbasket.blogspot.com
December 8, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Capitalism and the Winners’ Society
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2024/12/capi...
When Elon Musk and his giddy evangelists call him a self-made billionaire, they overlook the environment that created his wealth.
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2024/12/capi...
When Elon Musk and his giddy evangelists call him a self-made billionaire, they overlook the environment that created his wealth.
Wilderness Planets and the Human Frontier
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2018/12/wild...
Frontier mythology often looms large in science fiction: sometimes blatantly, as with Han Solo or Malcolm Reynolds, but more often covertly.
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2018/12/wild...
Frontier mythology often looms large in science fiction: sometimes blatantly, as with Han Solo or Malcolm Reynolds, but more often covertly.
Wilderness Planets and the Human Frontier
Dr. Graysha Brady-Phillips never intended to become a frontier scientist, but she needed the money. She needed something else the colonists on planet Goddard might offer: a cure for her incurable chro...
wordbasket.blogspot.com
December 7, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Wilderness Planets and the Human Frontier
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2018/12/wild...
Frontier mythology often looms large in science fiction: sometimes blatantly, as with Han Solo or Malcolm Reynolds, but more often covertly.
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2018/12/wild...
Frontier mythology often looms large in science fiction: sometimes blatantly, as with Han Solo or Malcolm Reynolds, but more often covertly.
I never wanted to become a political blogger, but it looks like that's what I've become.
December 5, 2025 at 10:15 PM
I never wanted to become a political blogger, but it looks like that's what I've become.
Baby, It's Pretty Cold In Here, Too
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2018/12/baby...
These debates matter, because how we interpret the outside world becomes, ultimately, how we interpret ourselves.
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2018/12/baby...
These debates matter, because how we interpret the outside world becomes, ultimately, how we interpret ourselves.
Baby, It's Pretty Cold In Here, Too
Seems like every December anymore, we have the debate: is “Baby It’s Cold Outside” offensive?
wordbasket.blogspot.com
December 5, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Baby, It's Pretty Cold In Here, Too
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2018/12/baby...
These debates matter, because how we interpret the outside world becomes, ultimately, how we interpret ourselves.
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2018/12/baby...
These debates matter, because how we interpret the outside world becomes, ultimately, how we interpret ourselves.
The Sadness of Reading Hamlet as an Adult
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-...
Hamlet reflects every black-clad teenager storming out of the house, screaming “You’re not my real dad!”
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-...
Hamlet reflects every black-clad teenager storming out of the house, screaming “You’re not my real dad!”
The Sadness of Reading Hamlet as an Adult
Almost any erstwhile English major will confess, I suspect, to having read Shakespeare’s Hamlet before being assigned it for classroom reading.
wordbasket.blogspot.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:31 PM
The Sadness of Reading Hamlet as an Adult
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-...
Hamlet reflects every black-clad teenager storming out of the house, screaming “You’re not my real dad!”
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-...
Hamlet reflects every black-clad teenager storming out of the house, screaming “You’re not my real dad!”
I keep going to community events which advertise a "Free Will Offering." Which is great, I suppose, but after all these years, I've received no updates on whether my Offerings have resulted in Will being freed.
December 3, 2025 at 5:56 PM
I keep going to community events which advertise a "Free Will Offering." Which is great, I suppose, but after all these years, I've received no updates on whether my Offerings have resulted in Will being freed.
New Delhi’s Romantic Rain Opera
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2020/12/new-...
Mira Nair set out to create a combination of an American low-budget indie film, and a Bollywood spectacular.
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2020/12/new-...
Mira Nair set out to create a combination of an American low-budget indie film, and a Bollywood spectacular.
New Delhi’s Romantic Rain Opera
Beautiful, fresh-faced Aditi Verma returns to her family’s lush New Delhi manor, to participate in an arranged marriage.
wordbasket.blogspot.com
December 3, 2025 at 2:34 PM
New Delhi’s Romantic Rain Opera
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2020/12/new-...
Mira Nair set out to create a combination of an American low-budget indie film, and a Bollywood spectacular.
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2020/12/new-...
Mira Nair set out to create a combination of an American low-budget indie film, and a Bollywood spectacular.
The American Armageddon Factory
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-...
Apocalyptic philosophies demand absolute devotion, and tend to treat skeptics like heretics.
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-...
Apocalyptic philosophies demand absolute devotion, and tend to treat skeptics like heretics.
The American Armageddon Factory
The United States traditionally traces its foundations to the Mayflower Pilgrims of 1620. But schoolbook histories often overlook the Pilgrims’ apocalyptic beliefs.
wordbasket.blogspot.com
December 2, 2025 at 1:34 PM
The American Armageddon Factory
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-...
Apocalyptic philosophies demand absolute devotion, and tend to treat skeptics like heretics.
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-...
Apocalyptic philosophies demand absolute devotion, and tend to treat skeptics like heretics.
Christians and the Basic Ability to Care
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2020/12/chri...
No wonder “no religion” has become America’s second-biggest religious affiliation, and Britain’s biggest.
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2020/12/chri...
No wonder “no religion” has become America’s second-biggest religious affiliation, and Britain’s biggest.
Christians and the Basic Ability to Care
The two tweets (now deleted, and preserved only in screenshots) are dated just two days apart.
wordbasket.blogspot.com
December 1, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Christians and the Basic Ability to Care
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2020/12/chri...
No wonder “no religion” has become America’s second-biggest religious affiliation, and Britain’s biggest.
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2020/12/chri...
No wonder “no religion” has become America’s second-biggest religious affiliation, and Britain’s biggest.
Internet Censors and Real Speech
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2025/11/inte...
Any reasonable person would agree that social media needs basic standards of appropriate behavior. But those standards are necessarily arbitrary.
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2025/11/inte...
Any reasonable person would agree that social media needs basic standards of appropriate behavior. But those standards are necessarily arbitrary.
Internet Censors and Real Speech
I had no idea, until this week, that Sharon Van Etten’s folk-pop electronic album Remind Me Tomorrow might be off-color. Specifically, the cover art.
wordbasket.blogspot.com
November 30, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Internet Censors and Real Speech
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2025/11/inte...
Any reasonable person would agree that social media needs basic standards of appropriate behavior. But those standards are necessarily arbitrary.
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2025/11/inte...
Any reasonable person would agree that social media needs basic standards of appropriate behavior. But those standards are necessarily arbitrary.
New Millennial Pop-Folk Blues
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2019/11/new-...
Pop music often requires artists to remain eternally teenaged and rebellious, because kids have more disposable income.
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2019/11/new-...
Pop music often requires artists to remain eternally teenaged and rebellious, because kids have more disposable income.
New Millennial Pop-Folk Blues
“Sitting at the bar, I told you everything,” Sharon Van Etten sings mournfully to open this album. “You said ‘Holy shit. You almost died.’”
wordbasket.blogspot.com
November 29, 2025 at 1:30 PM
New Millennial Pop-Folk Blues
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2019/11/new-...
Pop music often requires artists to remain eternally teenaged and rebellious, because kids have more disposable income.
wordbasket.blogspot.com/2019/11/new-...
Pop music often requires artists to remain eternally teenaged and rebellious, because kids have more disposable income.