Mink Hollow Media

10/12/2026

Vertrautheitsstaunen

A series that examines familiar ideas, assumptions, and behaviours from angles we often overlook. (also on Substack) I recently rediscovered an old piece of audio equipment that my bought when I was about 14, which later became mine. It’s an AKAI amplifier. I’ve had it all this time — and up until maybe 10 years ago, it was still in use in the living room....

A series that examines familiar ideas, assumptions, and behaviours from angles we often overlook. (also on Substack) I recently rediscovered an old piece of audio equipment that my bought when I wa…

10/11/2026

Is Your Identity Fixed or Can You Update It When Needed?

I've been working on some articles that get at the core mindset that appears to drive abusive people. This chart came from some of what I am discovering. Toxic, entitled, abusive, and controlling people seem to have a rigid sense of self that they define quite apart from how they actually show up in the world. This rigid identity can not tolerate being questioned....

I’ve been working on some articles that get at the core mindset that appears to drive abusive people. This chart came from some of what I am discovering. Toxic, entitled, abusive, and control…

10/03/2026

AI or No AI? – Isn’t Actually the Right Question.

What Did I Delegate? AI, Writing, and the Economics of Assistance (*) (*) NOTE: This article talks about the use of AI and omits the environmental cost. It is in no way intended to dismiss the very real issues that surround the physical and planetary costs. This article is part of the "It All Makes Sense Now" series: A series about patterns, connections, hindsight, and those moments when scattered pieces suddenly form a bigger picture....

What Did I Delegate? AI, Writing, and the Economics of Assistance (*) (*) NOTE: This article talks about the use of AI and omits the environmental cost. It is in no way intended to dismiss the very…

09/22/2026

The Philosophy of Enoughness and What it Says About Stewardship and Possession

I realized something recently about the way I become attached to things. And by things, I mean almost everything: animals, houses, land, furniture, tools, books, gardens, old objects, even relationships. My attachment grows through care. I clean things. Fix them. Feed them. Maintain them. Learn their quirks. Protect them. Improve them. Keep them useful. Notice when something is wrong. Invest time and attention....

I realized something recently about the way I become attached to things. And by things, I mean almost everything: animals, houses, land, furniture, tools, books, gardens, old objects, even relation…

09/17/2026

The Six and the Nine of Redemption

There is a familiar meme about perspective: two people stand on opposite sides of a number painted on the ground. One sees a 6. The other sees a 9. They are looking at the same thing, but from different positions, so they interpret it differently. I have been thinking that redemption stories may work that way too. I like redemption stories because I am interested in the transformation....

There is a familiar meme about perspective: two people stand on opposite sides of a number painted on the ground. One sees a 6. The other sees a 9. They are looking at the same thing, but from diff…

09/11/2026

A New Look for my Blog….

I’ve been doing some reorganizing. Over time, several recurring themes have emerged in my writing—some rooted in projects I’ve been working on for years, and others that seem to have quietly become projects while I wasn’t looking. Rather than have them scattered throughout the blog, I’ve decided to give them recognizable homes of their own. I can’t promise frequent or regular posts just yet....

I’ve been doing some reorganizing. Over time, several recurring themes have emerged in my writing—some rooted in projects I’ve been working on for years, and others that seem to have quietly become…

09/10/2026

The Becker Lazy Test (BLT) for Educational Games

The Becker Lazy Test is something I developed many years ago as part of my 4-PEG game assessment template. (4PEG = 4 Pillars of Educational Games). Some of that is described in detail in my book, Choosing and Using Digital Games in the Classroom – A Practical Guide, published in 2016 by Springer. Here's the TL;DR version: When I am examining a game, I see how far I can get without reading or learning anything....

The Becker Lazy Test is something I developed many years ago as part of my 4-PEG game assessment template. (4PEG = 4 Pillars of Educational Games). Some of that is described in detail in my book, C…

09/08/2026

Why Are We Still Giving Exams?

TL;DR: Here’s the TL;DR version, if you are impatient, busy, or simply aren’t sure you want to spend that much time on this article. Exams look precise, standardized, and objective, but they are often much noisier measures of learning than we admit. They test only a small, instructor-selected subset of what was taught, and they frequently measure things that may have little to do with the actual competence we care about: fast recall, comfort with formal testing, written expression, performance under artificial time pressure, and the luck of getting questions that line up with what a student knows best....

TL;DR: Here’s the TL;DR version, if you are impatient, busy, or simply aren’t sure you want to spend that much time on this article. Exams look precise, standardized, and objective, but they are of…

09/01/2026

https://nirtak7.substack.com/p/welcome-to-the-21st-century-eliza?r=2t9v2c&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

08/15/2026

Game Design IS Systems Thinking: Why the Player Changes Everything

I have spent much of my life thinking about, and working with systems. Computer systems. Educational systems. Organizational systems. Family systems. Legal systems. Agricultural systems. Ecological systems. More recently, I have been thinking about how law firms might translate the idea of “trauma-informed practice” into actual procedures rather than leaving it as a collection of good intentions. Somewhere in the middle of that discussion, something clicked....

I have spent much of my life thinking about, and working with systems. Computer systems. Educational systems. Organizational systems. Family systems. Legal systems. Agricultural systems. Ecological…