Hi, I’m Bear.

Well, okay.  I’m officially named Ray Dillinger.  People just call me Bear.

Sometimes I write.

Sometimes I code.

There are a bunch of stories I’ve written and want to write and there are a bunch of articles I’ve written about various things. But all those are scattered from hither to yon around the web (some of them accessible only via the wayback machine), and in a few publications here and there, and there’s been no place (until now) where I could direct people who wanted to see my creative output. Recently William Poundstone quoted one of my articles in one of his books.  I started thinking about that, and about the fact that I’ve intended to be more of a professional creative for a long time.

I decided I ought to gather my articles and stories and heck, even code, together in one place, and keep putting new stuff there, so that when I tell people I write/code/draw, I can direct them to someplace where they can check it out.

So.  Where would that one place be?  Well, it would be here.  Welcome.

Wow. I’m stunned at the amount of attention this blog is getting from spammers. I had to delete three thousand spams a few days ago, and I haven’t even had a legitimate comment yet. That’s kind of crazy.

Okay, a few rules. I welcome comments, but will never auto-accept any content containing URLs. I’ve disabled the code that displays URLs with usernames next to their posts, and disabled the ability of newly registered users to post unmoderated. After you have a few posts approved, you’ll get the ability to post comments unmoderated, but any comments containing URLs will be held for moderation, and reviewed by me personally before they go up on any publicly visible page.

If you want to praise or criticize my writing, or respond to a technical point, go ahead. That’s relevant and I’ll welcome it. If you want to use my blog promote some drug or some brand of handbags, die in a fire.