Pylimitics

Simplicity rearranged

unmonetizable content since 1997

  • 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

    ,

  • Two approaches

    There are (at least) two general approaches to creating something technically new. At least I think there are. One is externally oriented. The creator notices or is given a situation or problem that somebody else experiences, and the creator tries to come up with a technical solution. The other is internally oriented. The creator finds… Continue reading

  • The edge of vision 7

    part 7 Roger mechanically transferred his groceries from his cart onto the moving belt at the grocery checkout line. He zoned out while shopping, just picking the usual packages from the usual places on the shelves. He barely noticed when the elderly clerk called for a price check. But then she asked him where he… Continue reading

  • Edges of vision 6

    part 6 Roger drove the LTD to the scrap yard the next day. The place was on state route 24, surrounded by rusty chain link fencing. The gate was open with a wooden shack just inside. A hand-painted “office” sign was beside the open door. He parked beside the office and went in. The walls… Continue reading

  • Tiny Tim

    Apple employs over 160,000 people, and like any enormous collection of humans, the group embodies a lot of variation. Even though they’re a group in the sense that they share an employer, they are not at all a group in other senses. They don’t all live in the same area. They don’t all agree on… Continue reading

  • Greed and cowardice

    I use a lot of Apple products and services. They’re not perfect, but they’re often best in class. Even when they’re not, they’re good enough to keep me firmly within their ecosystem. It’s not the walled garden it used to be, but more like a fenced compound. I don’t know how much of my personal… Continue reading

  • Edges of vision 5

    part 5 Roger drove home, parked the LTD in the street, moved his Prius, and pulled the LTD into the driveway. But he didn’t put it in the garage. He still felt uncomfortable about the garage, although he couldn’t quite say why. Regardless, he was starting to like the LTD, gas hog that it was.… Continue reading

  • Edges of vision 4

    part 4 Roger couldn’t think of anyone who’d want to prank him, particularly in this rather tasteless way. Sure, he’d sort of gone into a shell for a long time, but who would stage an intervention? He didn’t have any relatives he knew of, and no close friends who’d take an interest. And anyone who… Continue reading

  • Edges of vision 3

    part 3 Roger was suddenly sure that whoever was pranking him must be hidden nearby, maybe even filming him. He jerked upright and looked around. But no, how would anyone have known when he was going to open the garage? He hadn’t done that in years, and he’d just had the idea out of the… Continue reading

  • About prepping

    “Prepping” is a trendy meme, and it seems to usually means preparing a backpack with stuff you’ll need when you leave the city or town and go live a life of brave, individual survivalism in the woods. That is delusional; a fantasy that comes from watching too many movies. A lot of aspects of our… 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 newsletter, Artisanal Scribbles, where I’m grappling with writing, authentic human authorship, integrity, and the craft of beauty in the AI age. You can also find some of my old software projects at GitHub. Nothing very impressive. I mostly wrote tiny utilities in Python and shell scripts. I’m mostly retired from coding nowadays.

I find myself suddenly de-corporatized (their choice, not mine). To help keep the lights on, buy me a coffee!

Recent Posts

←wordy webring→

Categories

Artificial Intelligence
Chocolatiana
Essays
History, sort of
Immorality
Incompetence
Quotations
Resistance
Stories
Tales from the Forest
Technicalities
Tragedy
Unanticipated Consequences

Privacy policy
No trackers, no ads, no data collected or saved.

Contact

peterharbeson@me.com

Books

Tales from the Forest

Quarantined; A Book of Days