Why Reiisi? どうして零石？

I guess it's time to explain the 当て字 (ate-ji) I use.
ボクが選んだ当て字のワケを明確にする必要があるかも知りません。

When I was a young CJCLDS missionary in the 関東 (Kantō) area about thirty-five (Wow!) years ago, I looked in my pocket Japanese-English dictionary under り (ri) and れ (re) to see if there were any interesting words with similar pronunciation to my last name.
（吃驚の）３５年も前の、関東地方に配置された末日聖徒イエスキリスト教会の若き専任宣教師だったころの話です。ポケット和英辞書の「り」や「れ」の項目で、名字の発音に似た発音の単語を調べました。

I found 栗鼠 (risu), the Japanese for "squirrel". That would actually not have been a bad choice, I think.
「栗鼠」は出てきました。悪くない選択肢だったかも知れないのです。

I also found 零 (rei), the 漢字 (kanji) for "zero".
「0」という意味の「零」も出てきました。

You have to understand. I was only nineteen. My favorite genre of novel was science fiction and fantasy, and it had only been maybe six years since I had discovered Alice Mary (Andre) Norton's Moon of Three Rings and The Zero Stone.
わかってほしいことがあります。ただ十九歳の私です。好きな小説のジャンルはサイエンスフィクション・ファンタジーです。理化学を元にした空想の物語や純粋空想の物語の好みです。アリス・メアリー・ノートン（アンドレ・ノートン）の小説、三輪の月やゼロ・ストンを発見したのはたった六年前のことでした。

The zero stone is a deep black stone, blacker than any other black. It responds to psycho-kinetic energy as an all-purpose natural amplifier. (This is fantasy. We don't care about the laws of physics, okay?)
このゼロ・ストンは何れの黒よりも黒の濃い黒い宝石です。念力働きに答えて万能天然増幅器となります。（ファンタジーです。空想です。いい、ね。物理の原則は関係ありません。）

(And, in the end of the series, the protagonist Murdoc Jern's familiar, Eet, something like a cross between a ferret and a cat, swallows the stone and turns into what every young male geek wishes for, a beautiful female human companion who is already bound to him for eternity without his having to consciously work through the incomprehensible dance of the sexes. Heh.)
（ちなみに、その連続小説の末尾に、主人公だったマードク・ジャンのイタチと猫のハフのようなものだった使い魔のイートさまが、そのゼロストンを飲み込んで、すべての若き男ギークが切に望む、理解不可な異性との舞いを意識して行き来する必要なく、永久に伴侶となってくれる美しき女伴侶に、変身してくれるのです。まあ、ね。）

One word in Japanese for "stone" is 石 (ishi).
石ですね。

End of explanation. Well, except that it didn't end there.
説明はそれで終わりですね。いや、それでは終わられません。

All the missionaries thought 印鑑 (inkan, the hardwood inked seal/stamp that is traditionally used in Japan instead of a signature) were cool. One day, when I had a little extra money and was at a printer to order calling cards, I asked about the cost of having an inkan made.
宣教師は皆は印鑑をかっこ良く思っていたのです。日本の方が皆、署名のように使っているあの印鑑ですね。カッコエエですね。ある日、小さな印刷屋で名詞を注文していて、予算がちょっと余っていたのです。印鑑を作ってもらうことの値段を聞きました。

It was within my budget. On the spur of the moment, I made one for the characters, 「零石」。
予算の内にできそうだったので気分に乗って「零石」の字に注文しました。

End of story. Well, except there was more to it.
終わり。いや、まだあります。

In LDS culture, there is an expression "magnify your priesthood". I vaguely understood that it meant using your God-given talents, guided by prayer, to fulfill your priesthood calling in your own unique way.
モルモンという末日聖徒文化の中には「自分の神権を大いなるものとする」という表現があります。一応、その意味は、自分が神様からもらっている才能を、祈りの下、自分の特質を活かしてその神権召しを尊んで果たす、という事を漠然して理解していたはずです。

As I young missionary, I had this romantic image in my head, of becoming a "zero stone" in God's hands. Not that God needs any amplification, but I wanted to subsume myself in God's will.
若宣教師の私の頭の中に、神様の手に「ゼロストン」となるような、冒険心の想像が浮かんでいたのです。そもそも神様は増幅器なんか必要などもしませんが、ワタシが神様の御心に昇華されその一部となりたかったのです。

I did understand, sort-of, that God really does not want us to be His mindless robots. After my mission, I have come to understand part of why that is. And the adventure so far has been pretty cool, when I stop to think about it. (I need to stop and thank God for the adventure more often. Right now, I'm blessed and struggling with yet another turn in the trail. God has been pretty good to me, all things considered.)
神様の所有する、個人的な意志の無いロボットなどになることが、神様の御旨にかないませんと、なんとなくわかっていました。伝道終わってからその理由の一部をわかってきていると思っています。これまでの人生の冒険が結構楽しくできています。（神様への感謝を忘れるのが多すぎるけど、思い出したら文句は言えません。全般のことを考えて、今の難しいところがあっても神様からは良い物を受けています。）

Anyway, that's the reason for 「零石」、and reiisi.
さて、以上が「零石」及び reiisi のわけです。

Google Recommends, I Don't

Several years back, a friend of mine told me I should buy into Apple's iOS -- invest in enough Apple equipment to start developing iApps.

Google, he said, was the new Microsoft.

I knew he was right, I knew Google wouldn't stay a true friend of Free Software forever. Really, the writing was on the wall, plain as day for all to see.

Google did not want to invest in the fundamental research that would allow a true Unix-style login on the Android devices, and that meant they had to prevent the ordinary user from getting root. They had to keep you from getting the power to perform even rather rudimentary administration tasks for Android devices.

Lot's of other blue-sky, sure. Anything that might eventually by piped into a profitable revenue stream. Guitars and wild parties? No problem.

But this rant is not about the difficulty of getting root on your device.

Well, Google did not ask me whether I wanted their recommendations in my youtube feed.

Wait.

They didn't even ask me if I wanted my youtube app to start getting push content -- a "feed".

I don't want a feed of any sort. I am plenty capable of feeding myself, thank you. I definitely don't want their recommendations.

In point of fact, all of their recommendations so far have been completely off-base. And they will. Just like almost all the ads we see on TV have nothing to do with us, really. People reaching out to touch our pocketbooks, that's all.

I don't want to live in an information bubble -- especially not of Google's making and selling, even as the cost of a free account.

I guess that's the crux of the matter -- "free".

Can I afford to go to an ad-free paid account? I'd prefer to run my own servers, really.

But the cartels of "content", of course, think they would just as soon have me freeloading, so that they can push their ads at me and tap my pocketbook.

(Which is so empty it echoes. Makes a pretty good drum. Heh. Tap that drum. I still don't like the music.)

Seems like you can't escape the gossamer chains (bent metaphor, yes) of the influence of moneyed interests.

That's not what money is supposed to be for.