. . . Yes, there are the decorations in all of the stores. There are the trinkets and doodads festooning the local mecca of commerce, inviting credulous consumers to spend their hard-earned yen on cheap, slave-made plastic goods from China. There's Wham!'s "Last Christmas" (and all of its many, many cover versions) blaring out of every radio and echoing through every cafe.

Yes, I suppose it is true. Christmas is here already, and New Year's not far behind it.

Now, you all know the drill. It's that time of year when the "content creators" in the "information space" churn out their "year in review" articles, full of hot takes about the important news stories of the past 12 months and/or predictions about what will take place in the coming 12 months.

But, since your newsfeed is probably already full of those types of articles, I thought I'd do something different this year. So, in lieu of the Corbett Report's "2023 in Review" article, here's a more philosophical piece about the work I do and how I came to do it. Enjoy!