Because of numerous conflicting commitments, I have not blogged as much as I would have liked over the last two weeks. In addition, blogging has been impeded by the fact that our recent transition to a new platform has (hopefully only temporarily) wrought havoc with the VC archives. I rely heavily on links to old posts in many of my new ones, so as not to have to repeat in detail in-depth arguments that I have already made elsewhere. We hope to have these issues resolved soon, and then I have a large number of topics I intend to get to. So please bear with me for what I expect will only be a brief additional delay.