Zed A. Shaw

Personal writings and essays.

Latest writings


The Beggar Barons

The rise of the trillionaire beggars.

OpinionPublished 2022-02-05

Sometimes, It's Fun to Die

The survival crafting video game is my pandemic theme song.

OpinionPublished 2021-04-08

The Most Zed Story About a Knife

A microcosm story that more completely explains who I am than anything else you'll read.

OpinionPublished 2020-10-08

Authoritarianism of Code

An essay on the pervasive internalized authoritarianism found in the programming profession.

OpinionPublished 2020-10-07

The Empathy Gatekeepers of Code

If it's required of me, it's required of Google.

OpinionPublished 2020-10-04

Nim and the SpACE iN tHe leXemEs

On the style insensitivity of Nim and my unrealized authoritarianism regarding programming.

OpinionPublished 2020-09-15

Tbilisi, to the Bridge of Peace

A memory of painting the Bridge of Peace in Tbilisi.

MemoryPublished 2020-09-04

Energy, Space, and Magic

An exploration of the experience of art.

OpinionPublished 2020-08-17

Goodbye Wordpress

Goodbye Wordpress

ReviewPublished 2020-06-22

The Billionaires vs. BrandonM

The Eagle does not hunt flies.

OpinionPublished 2018-03-25

Photographing Art

An early document on things I've discovered.

artPublished 2017-12-30

What If It Worked?

Programmers are fascist pricks.

OpinionPublished 2017-08-27

The PSF's Next Steps

Official statement on the PSF abuses in 2017.

AnnouncementPublished 2017-07-11

You Don't Need Talent To Enjoy It

Even a bad day painting is better than any day working.

TheoryPublished 2017-06-21

Painting From Memory Experiment

One of the best things I learned.

ArtPublished 2017-05-06

Vignettes Of Terrible Art Teachers 2

Even more bad teachers, oh my.

ArtPublished 2017-04-27

Vignettes of Terrible Art Teachers

You think programmers are bad?

ArtPublished 2017-04-25

Copying & Repetition

Everyone against rote is wrong.

TheoryPublished 2017-04-24

Killing Magic

TheoryPublished 2017-04-23

I Moved to Miami

Once again, ahead of the curve.

OpinionPublished 2017-04-21

The End Of Coder Influence

Fuck you Holden. You're next.

OpinionPublished 2016-11-24

A Day at The SF MOMA

This is the only part of SF I miss.

ArtPublished 2016-11-23

Practicing Watercolor and Ink

An early study of pen and watercolor.

ArtPublished 2016-08-27

Taking My Saint Anger Cast Drawing Home

This was a huge accomplishment.

ArtPublished 2016-08-14

Finished My Saint Anger Cast Drawing!

I really fucking hated doing this drawing.

ArtPublished 2016-08-08

Plein Air at Willamette River

A nice time in Portland, years ago.

ArtPublished 2016-08-07

Second Cast Drawing Nearly Complete

This is where I learned to hate the pencil.

ArtPublished 2016-08-06

John Singer Sargent Mastercopy #1

A study I did in school.

ArtPublished 2016-08-06

Riot Games is Violating California Employment Law

Did you hear they got sued? Yeah.

OpinionPublished 2016-06-10

My Audition For Silicon Valley Script Writer

Slut shaming of the intellectual male.

EssayPublished 2016-05-28

Facebook Identity is Extortion and Slander

Now facebook is Nazi garbage.

OpinionPublished 2015-09-20

Educational Mithridatism

Take in the poison in small doses.

TheoryPublished 2015-09-14

Mr. Teflon and the Failed Dream of Meritocracy

Unfireable people negates any merit.

TheoryPublished 2015-08-03

The Defense of The Personal

You have cancer and be a shit painter.

ArtPublished 2015-08-02

Random Code Editor Idea

OpinionPublished 2015-07-29

Turd Cookies

Free is no defense against shit.

OpinionPublished 2015-07-26

I Can Kill Any Computer

Just give it to me. I'll break it.

OpinionPublished 2015-07-08

Early vs. Beginning Coders

TheoryPublished 2015-06-16

Liberal and Conservative in Painting

A simple theory on art's expression.

ArtPublished 2015-06-12

Following Painting Videos Digitally

A short description an experiment in learning digital drawing.

ArtPublished 2015-06-08

Dear Paul

The abusiveness of Hacker News being permanent.

OpinionPublished 2015-06-01

I've Been Doing Painting Videos All Wrong

OpinionPublished 2015-05-28

The Dork Distance

Don't let being a dork get in the way of fun.

ArtPublished 2015-04-23

And Then You Have No Taste

I prefer reality to impossibly optimistic.

OpinionPublished 2015-04-05

Dear Slack

They never did this, did they?

OpinionPublished 2015-02-02

The Failure Of Voyeur Marketing

Can you say Facebook 2020?

OpinionPublished 2015-01-07

Artists And Entrepreneurs Oh My

Everyone wants to be painter without the work.

OpinionPublished 2015-01-05

Admitting Defeat On K&R in LCTHW

Use Rust or Go anyway.

AnnouncementPublished 2015-01-04

Tiny Painting At Baker Beach Before The Tide

An early painting of mine.

ArtPublished 2015-01-01

A Consumer Privacy Law

What about that creepy dude reading your DMs?

OpinionPublished 2014-12-30

If It's Flow, It's Art

Viewing the act of art from the experience.

TheoryPublished 2014-10-21

The Coming Code Bootcamp Destruction

A thread I made to a bootcamp that made some changes.

OpinionPublished 2014-10-19

Troll > Artist > Author > Musician > Coder > Nerd In Social Status

Abusers and the status quo

OpinionPublished 2014-10-18

The Day Was March 10, 2013

A recollection of learning to draw

EssayPublished 2014-10-17