Most people write for others. I write for myself. But this blog is me writing for myself in public so two brids, one stone. (Actually I’d never intentionally kill a bird.)

Frequently given answers

What is Ojisan Seiuchi?

おじさんセイウチ in hiragana, one of the Japanese syllabaries. It means “Uncle Walrus.” That’s a long story.¹

What do you do for a living?

I’m a bon vivant.

That’s it?

Of course not.

I’m a frequent contributor to the Russian language section of en.wiktionary.org. From my user page you can take a look at my contributions.

I think I may know you. Are you the guy that…?

You’ll have to ask me. See How can I reach you? below. I don’t like posting detailed identifying information online.

Why do you write so much about U.S. politics if you live in Canada?

I’m a U.S. citizen and even though I live in Canada, they still make me file taxes in the U.S. So as long as I pay taxes in the U.S. I feel free to vote there and offer my opinions.

Can I like you on Facebook?

No, absolutely not. I’m not there. If you really want to know why, you can read about it. TL;DR While I don’t much like the way their algorithms amplify political polarization, and I don’t care for the addictive nature of the time-wasting that they promote, nor their raison d’être which is at the centre of surveillance capitalism, the immediate reason for my departure was the alignment but Zuckerberg and U.S. President 🍊💩.

What about other social platforms?

For a while I looked at Instagram, but I deleted the app. I’m sure everything I’ve ever posted is out there to live in perpetuity, though. Don’t even ask about the roiling cauldron of hate called Twitter. I do miss interacting with friends on these platforms, especially the folks I met solely because of them. But I also realize how much happier I am when I put boundaries around what I read and what I’m willing to accept as a trade.

How can I reach you?

Use my contact page. You can reach me too through my Talk page on Wiktionary.

You write about a lot of stuff. Why?

I’m opinionated and I don’t sleep enough.

How can I comment on an article?

You can’t. At least not right now. Why? When I had comments turned on previously, the time spent managing comments was more than I had available. You can contact me as above if you need to.

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1. Here’s the long story. When I was a kid, our school offered a Russian language class. It was during the Cold War and a Soviet takeover seemed to be on everyone’s minds; so why not? In the class, we learned that they call Santa Claus “Дед Мороз” which means “Grandfather Frost.” I thought it was a funny name because it sounds like “дядя морж” which means “Uncle Walrus.” So there. ↩︎