Handwaving Freakoutery

Share this post
2022 HWFO Year in Review
hwfo.substack.com
General

2022 HWFO Year in Review

Highlights from this past year, and some personal stuff

Handwaving Freakoutery
Dec 27, 2022
12
4
Share this post
2022 HWFO Year in Review
hwfo.substack.com

State of the Blog

2022 was a good year for the publication and for me personally. We now look like a real publication:

We have tabs, which is nice. We have a merch store with coffee mugs, hats, apparel, etc:

https://hwfo.myshopify.com/

We’re closing in on 3,000 subscribers:

The private Slack server for paid subscribers continues to grow, and is approaching 200 active members:

State of the Author

I released my third EP, available on all streaming services as far as I’m aware.

I performed at a couple of shows, including this benefit concert for RAINN: (streaming copy of the set is at this link.)

Big Noise Set Extended

2023 Plans

Most important among my 2023 plans for the blog is throwing the first, possibly annual, possibly last depending on how it goes, HWFOCon with some of the subscription money. This is basically going to be a invite-only weekend long pool party where folks can show up, camp out, grill out, and talk to each other about HWFOish concepts. If you’re interested, upgrade your subscription to paid and join the Slack server, which is where all this planning will take place.

Share

2022 Article Highlights

I ran through the last year’s worth of material, which includes a few old Medium pieces that got ported over, and made a top 20 list. If you missed these, consider going back and reading them.

Handwaving Freakoutery
She Did Not Go Gently
In August 2017, my wife Buffy was diagnosed with early onset colon cancer. She was 41 years old. In April 2019, she passed away. Our five-year-old daughter and seven-year-old son lost their mother. I…
Read more
5 months ago · 88 likes · 14 comments · Handwaving Freakoutery
Handwaving Freakoutery
The Surprisingly Solid Mathematical Case of the Tin Foil Hat Gun Prepper
On the one year anniversary of this publication’s jump to SubStack, in the wake of the January 6th “coup” or “protest” or “cute revolution cosplay” (depending on your media source), it seems appropri…
Read more
a year ago · 37 likes · 17 comments · Handwaving Freakoutery
Handwaving Freakoutery
Ninety Seven Percent
BJ Campbell stumbles into the 97 Percent conference with a glass of bourbon in hand and takes the podium, two cubes of ice bouncing against the sides of the hotel bar tumbler like fat children on a t…
Read more
2 months ago · 50 likes · 34 comments · Handwaving Freakoutery
Handwaving Freakoutery
Guns and Protofascism
Trigger warning: I know exactly who you are. I can see you through your computer screen. You’re going to hate 90% of this article, and even the show stopping finale may not win you back. You might as…
Read more
7 months ago · 52 likes · 31 comments · Handwaving Freakoutery
Handwaving Freakoutery
Finnegan’s Business Plan
Read more
8 months ago · 19 likes · 19 comments · Handwaving Freakoutery
Handwaving Freakoutery
Inflation for Dummies
We’re currently in a ramp up to the worst inflation since at least the 1970s, and while this has completely blindsided the Keynesian economists and the Modern Monetary Theory crowd, all the Austrian …
Read more
10 months ago · 25 likes · 10 comments · Handwaving Freakoutery
Handwaving Freakoutery
Aural Hypertext and the Memory of Man
Twelve days ago I appeared on the Rebel Wisdom podcast discussing the topic of “egregores” as a modern social internet phenomena, and the application of that analysis to Covid sensemaking. The echoes…
Read more
a year ago · 10 likes · 2 comments · Handwaving Freakoutery
Handwaving Freakoutery
Eleven Fewer Dead People
On Sunday July 17, 2022, some dork with two rifles and a handgun attempted to shoot up the Greenwood Park Mall food court in Greenwood Indiana. In the span of only fifteen seconds he was shot eight t…
Read more
6 months ago · 55 likes · 77 comments · Handwaving Freakoutery
Handwaving Freakoutery
Visualizing the 2021 National Firearms Survey
On May 18, 2022, William English of Georgetown University published the most comprehensive gun owner survey ever undertaken. The numbers within have been highly publicized, including by such admirabl…
Read more
4 months ago · 34 likes · 13 comments · Handwaving Freakoutery
Handwaving Freakoutery
Measuring Civil Penalties in Units of "OJs"
We have spoken at length on HWFO about the human mind’s inability to comprehend large numbers, and how to ameliorate that by using different units. A billion is a thousand millions, but when we read …
Read more
2 months ago · 24 likes · 9 comments · Handwaving Freakoutery
Handwaving Freakoutery
Nuclear Power and Hot Air Balloons
In environmental discussions the quantities of pollutant involved are very difficult to visualize. What does a ton of carbon dioxide look like? Nobody knows. It’s a clear gas and the sky is huge so w…
Read more
5 months ago · 33 likes · 14 comments · Handwaving Freakoutery
Handwaving Freakoutery
A New Unit of Measure for Civil Unrest
After the Supreme Court issued Bruen and Dobbs in the span of two days, many social contacts of mine predicted wide scale violence of the nature we saw in 2020 during the Floyd protests. I did not. A…
Read more
7 months ago · 38 likes · 40 comments · Handwaving Freakoutery
Handwaving Freakoutery
Weighing US Homicide Rates vs European Genocide Rates
Lots of people across the social media landscape in the wake of the Uvalde school shooting are talking about banning semi-auto firearms in the United States. No serious policy maker has brought this …
Read more
8 months ago · 29 likes · 40 comments · Handwaving Freakoutery
Handwaving Freakoutery
The Five Confusing Definitions of Racism
On August 26th, 2018, HWFO published a detailed explainer called “The Two Confusing Definitions of Racism,” but as the conversation about racism in the United States continues to devolve, it occurs t…
Read more
a year ago · 20 likes · 6 comments · Handwaving Freakoutery
Handwaving Freakoutery
Memespace Egregores and Maajid Nawaz
After fully processing the Maajid Nawaz appearance on Joe Rogan from February 2022, I think he failed on several crucial layers of his analysis, and I think I know why. A distributed agenda by an egr…
Read more
a year ago · 35 likes · 32 comments · Handwaving Freakoutery
Handwaving Freakoutery
Explaining the USA Pro Gun Position to a Foreigner
I was asked by an intelligent rationalist lady who will remain anonymous to explain the USA pro-gun position. She’s from a European country and recently moved to the USA. This is what I told her, wit…
Read more
8 months ago · 36 likes · 32 comments · Handwaving Freakoutery
Handwaving Freakoutery
87,000 Racists
The Inflation Reduction Act took it on the chin a week ago with lots of people sharing a not totally true yet not entirely false either statistic that the bill included provisions to hire 87,000 new …
Read more
5 months ago · 51 likes · 22 comments · Handwaving Freakoutery

4
Share this post
2022 HWFO Year in Review
hwfo.substack.com
4 Comments
Phisto Sobanii
Writes The Partisan
Dec 27, 2022Liked by Handwaving Freakoutery

Buy a mug. They are good.

Expand full comment
ReplyCollapse
firehat
Dec 29, 2022Liked by Handwaving Freakoutery

I would love it if your merch store had decals. A decal of that morale patch would find a place on one of my coolers

Expand full comment
ReplyGift a subscriptionCollapse
1 reply by Handwaving Freakoutery
2 more comments…
TopNewCommunity

No posts

Ready for more?

© 2023 Handwaving Freakoutery
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great writing