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As the secret police shoot citizens…
I get text messages. A typical one begins “This is Barack Obama…” First of all, no it isn’t. Second of all, these messages are invariably just requests for donations. Nothing else, just money. Third of all, I’m not even a Democrat! It must be even worse if you are. Continue reading
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Spring Rain by Robert Hass
Now the rain is falling, freshly, in the intervals between sunlight,a Pacific squall started no one knows where, drawn east as the drifts of warm air make a channel;it moves its own way, like water or the mind,and spills this rain passing over. The Sierras will catch it as the last snow flurries before summer, Continue reading
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Two Craigs
Craig Cutler is a photographer. Craig Frazier is an illustrator. They’re collaborating on the website Two Craigs, which shows their interpretations of a prompt every week for a year. They’re not done yet; as of today (11 February) they’re up to #36. As you view the gallery you see each week’s pair of images, but Continue reading
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Your own LLM
The most powerful Macintosh available now is (I think) the Mac Studio. I think it’s more capable than the Mac Pro, although I could be wrong. In any event, the M2 Ultra Mac Studio is a system that would have been called a supercomputer not that long ago, and you can have one, or even Continue reading
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November 7
November seventh turns out to be the anniversary of three of the oldest things around. In 1492, on the outskirts of Ensisheim, France, a meteorite fell — it’s the oldest one with a record of when it arrived. Then in 1665, in London, the London Gazette was first published. It’s the oldest journal in the Continue reading
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Things worth a Look
This is in McSweeny’s Internet Tendency: “A Reminder to Submit Your First Week Attendance to the Registrar, in the Style of Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses” by Ben Steere. This is from The New Yorker: “Why AI Isn’t Going To Make Art,” by Ted Chiang. Chiang is the author of extremely thoughtful speculative fiction, Continue reading
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Weather or not
In 1812, a bit later in the year than it is now, there was a warm spell in Boston. In those days it was called Indian Summer, and a clergyman in the city explained the term this way (he may have been making it up): “This charming season is called the Indian Summer, a name Continue reading
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Head in the clouds
Being on cloud nine means great happiness, euphoria, the very pinnacle of joy, accomplishment, satisfaction, or gratification. But there are other clouds too. In 1955, Tony Bennett recorded an album called Cloud 7. There must have been something about that particular cloud around that time, because a 1954 article in the US Army’s Stars and Continue reading
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The Secret Ingredient
“The thing is,” said Hare, “we’re just going to have to find some, and that’s all there is to it.” “But there are plenty of other things you could use instead,” said Raccoon. “No,” said Hare, “I’m making my special salad, and every single ingredient is carefully selected. Substituting one thing would change the whole 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.