Blogfog
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Ring in the web
Pylimitics.net just joined the Wordy Webring. You can see this just below the dynamic “recent posts” list: A webring is an old idea (“old” in internet time at least); the idea is that the site creator has connected with other sites that you might also like. It turns out that web rings are still active,… Continue reading
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Well that was a surprise
I was kicked to the curb by my suddenly-previous employer. Along with a large chunk of my suddenly-previous department. This is not uncommon in the technology industry where I’ve worked for decades, and it’s not the first time for me. It’s always annoying, though, and for some it can be devastating. It’s always life-changing in… Continue reading
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Godwin’s Law 2026
“As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Republicans, MAGA, or Trump approaches one.” Even earlier is the Reduction ad Hitlerum fallacy, a Leo Strauss creation from 1953. It’s a description of an attempt to counter an argument by claiming the same notion can be attributed to Hitler or Nazis. As… Continue reading
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Cruel, Stupid, or Both?
The Affordable Care Act has now been around for 15 years. It’s a very complicated combination that accommodates greed, human rights, and pragmatism. The greed it accommodates comes from the demands of the wealthy and powerful health insurance industry, which now believes it’s entitled to profit from misery because…well, because. I’m using “human rights” as… Continue reading
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Dithering
I’ve heard the name Ezra Klein, but I can’t say I ever read anything he wrote, and I definitely never listened to his podcast before. I’m not much of a podcast listener. But I did listen to his recent conversation with Te-Nehisi Coates. The occasion of their conversation was a disagreement. Klein had written something… Continue reading
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Just sayin’…
Have you noticed that gun advocates almost always fall back on the claim that carrying guns makes society safer? They actually say this with a straight face. The US has more guns in the hands of more people than any other society. And US citizens are much more likely to be shot and killed than… Continue reading
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I always wonder
There are an awful lot of people in the US who spout what they think is “traditional” religion (it really isn’t; what they mostly put forth is a 20th century invention) and seem to be able to convince big crowds to come listen to them talk (they talk a lot) and to donate money or… Continue reading
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Passions, Products, and Utility
or: It’s Just a Phone The MacPsych blog has an interesting post about mobile phones, on the occasion of the latest Apple “event” introducing new iPhoniana. They say: “I have read lots of differing perspective online, from fanboy exclamations of ‘the best phone everrrrrr!’ through to the much more realistic ‘it’s just a fucking phone’. As time passes,… Continue reading
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History continues
I had never heard of Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas before, but what’s going on there is yet another case of large scale immorality and incompetence. In this case by the regime of the orange baby, but it’s been going on a lot longer. In the linked article, Haines Eason asks: “Can you name… Continue reading
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This pretty much sums it up
Amazing post on Reddit:“…whatever else there is to say, the most important thing about Donald Trump, the thing that is obvious from watching him speak for just 14 seconds, is that he is profoundly stupid. Whatever it is that he might be talking about or doing at any given moment, it’s clear that while he… Continue reading
About Me
I’m Pete Harbeson, a writer (among other things) located near Boston, Massachusetts. In addition to writing my own content, I’ve learned to translate for my loquacious and opinionated pup Chocolate Bossypaws. No surprise, she mostly speaks in doggerel. You can find her contributions tagged with Chocolatiana.
Check out my other blog, Techlimitics, where I’m grappling with the nature of simplicity. You can also find some of my minor software projects at GitHub. Nothing very impressive. I mostly write tiny utilities in Python.
I find myself suddenly de-corporatized (their choice, not mine). To help keep the lights on, buy me a coffee!