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“I’m from the government, and…”
It’s difficult to fully understand complex structures. That’s kind of tautological; “complex” already means “difficult to understand”, at least in part. But never fear; I have a point, and it’s this: in the same way we understand the complex physics of the universe by using simplified models that are “close enough” in most cases, we understand the… Continue reading
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Lest we forget
At McSweeney’s Internet Tendency: LEST WE FORGET THE HORRORS: AN UNENDING CATALOG OF TRUMP’S CRUELTIES, COLLUSIONS, CORRUPTIONS, AND CRIMES. by Emily Greenberg and Cliff Mayotte Continue reading
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Freedomism
“Freedom” is a word you see a lot lately, at least in the US. But nobody knows what it is. Or more to the point, everybody knows what it is, but each individual idea is different. Two recent books have new and thoughtful takes on what freedom might be. The Dawn of Everything by David… Continue reading
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Business Idiots
“Every institution keeps its core constituents and labor forces at arms-length, and effectively anything built at scale quickly becomes distanced from both the customer and laborer. This disconnection — or alienation — sits at the center of almost every problem I’ve ever talked about. Why would companies push generative AI in seemingly every part of… Continue reading
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Originalism is always fabrication
Ben Thompson, whose site Stratechery is interesting, well-written, and afflicted with tunnel vision about “the web” being collection of business deals, just posted this: The original web that we know and love was the human web; that’s why advertising was the preferred business model, and Google was the big winner. Nonsense. I can’t tell whether he means personal… Continue reading
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Lifting the shroud
Jon Katz recently wondered “…why the idea of the value of helping others has vanished.” He surmised that perhaps “we no longer care who we listen to, and the people we listen to often show little concern for charity, people experiencing poverty, or the concept of empathy.” I don’t think charity or kindness have vanished, exactly. They’re… Continue reading
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A quart of prevention…
When someone is suspected of carrying a contagious disease, they might be placed in quarantine. “Quarantine” has an unexpected sound for that context; doesn’t it remind you of quarter or quartile? Well it should! “Quarantine” is derived from the French “quarante,” which means “forty.” In English when we want to say something like about forty… Continue reading
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Which amendment was that?
ICE gestapo monsters left a 12-year-old standing alone, unaccompanied, on a sidewalk after snatching their adult companion. It seems to me this sort of thing could escalate into exactly what that amendment about “a well regulated militia” was supposed to be about. Not good. Continue reading
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Independence Declaration
Calendar-wise, we’re nearing the neighborhood of Independence Day in the US, and it occurs to me that France was the most important ally of the revolutionary American colonies — in fact, France provided the word “declaration,” as in Declaration of Independence. In typical US fashion, we celebrate that document’s signing on July 4, but it… Continue reading
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Lexical ketchup burst
You’ve heard of “generation X.” It may or may not have come from a book, but a big reason everybody started using the term was Douglas Coupland’s 1991 book Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture. It was a very popular book about both the present and the future, and included a glossary of all… Continue reading
About Me
I’m Pete Harbeson, a writer located near Boston, Massachusetts. In addition to writing my own content, I’ve learned to translate for my loquacious and opinionated pup Chocolate. I shouldn’t be surprised, but she mostly speaks in doggerel. You can find her contributions tagged with Chocolatiana.
Recent Posts
- “I’m from the government, and…”
- Lest we forget
- Freedomism
- Business Idiots
- Originalism is always fabrication
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