Unanticipated consequences
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We were not ready to lose the gatekeepers
Over the centuries of printed and broadcast media, a system emerged that put intermediaries between the original writers and us, the receivers. Editors and publishers reviewed, improved, or rejected a piece of work before publishing. Whole professions arose whose focus was establishing and enforcing standards. To be published or aired, a piece of content had Continue reading
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Cornered
The lying weasels trying and failing to ruin the US are more violent lately. More idiotic “don’t believe your own eyes” bloviation. It’s because they’re cornered, and they know it. I hope there are real consequences on the way for all of them, but there probably won’t be. Maybe a few of the brute squad Continue reading
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Weird disconnect
Tesla is not doing well at its core business of selling new cars. as [Indranil Ghosh](notes), in 2025 their deliveries fell “8.6% to 1.6 million vehicles.” That’s the second year in a row that sales dropped. However, “The sales decline hasn’t affected Tesla’s stock price.” What’s going on? Ghosh suggests that Wall Street investors are Continue reading
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Is it simpler than it seems?
It seems like there are so many reasons for the decline and fall of the United States. But I keep wondering if it mostly comes down to one thing: the decades-long dismantling of public education, and of education in general. The people in the current cadre are not deep thinkers, with only (maybe) a couple Continue reading
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Needs, wants, and habituated illusions
I need a car. Well, no, I don’t need a car. What I need is a way to travel locally, farther and faster than I can walk, while carrying passengers and goods. I can unpack that even more: I need goods (like groceries) that I choose, stockpiled in small quantities in my home, with the Continue reading
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Sometimes it speaks the truth
“…a wrong Leader can only bring catastrophic results to a country, no matter which country it is.” –the orange baby Continue reading
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Think about this
The orange baby’s administration is zeroing out the ability of the US government to compete with the rest of the world — including actual enemies — in cybersecurity. To the extent this is explained at all, it’s attributed to commercial vendors wanting no oversight, and “MAGA loyalists don’t care because they aren’t interested in leadership Continue reading
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Speaking of facts…
There is a style of mental activity (I hesitate to call it “thought”) that seems obviously to be in the ascendance lately. It features espousing a position, opinion, or belief that’s easily demonstrated to be false — that is, in opposition to what anyone can perceive — and yet “doubling down” on that nonsense even Continue reading
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Navigation versus implementation
Years ago I designed mobile phone software. At the time, phones were just beginning to be able to connect to the internet, so we had a web browser. Since the platform was a phone, it made sense to us to provide a way to automatically dial a phone number you found on a web page. Continue reading
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Tattoos?
I need to first establish that I do not have any tattoos, and I do not anticipate ever wanting to get one. I entirely lack whatever it is that motivates people to get tattoos. Nevertheless I respect it quite a lot. It strikes me as a very human thing, and in a way a sort 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 Bossypaws. I shouldn’t be surprised, but 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.