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A Sunday drive
In the early days of automobile design, none of the standards we’re used to had emerged yet, even the most basic ones. Most very early cars didn’t have steering wheels. you steered them with a lever, which was called a “tiller.” English has two “tiller” words. The first has to do with farming; a tiller… Continue reading
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MIT center for constructive communication
I never heard of the MIT center for constructive communication before today. It’s associated with the Media Lab, and has a “commitment to reach both within and beyond academia to work closely with locally based organizations to launch pilot programs focused on building a culture of listening and dialogue that promotes a sense of shared… Continue reading
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This post costs you nothing
Just to show that it isn’t just obscure words that have interesting stories… Back in the 900s if you asked someone for “bread” in the British Isles, you’d either get a random piece of some kind of food or a blank stare. The word “bread” was rarely used at that time, and didn’t mean what… Continue reading
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Never give up
Those squirrels are annoyingwith their chatter and their scoldsI always try to catch themjust to see the chase unfold. I’ve tried before —so far I’ve missed.But I won’t stop;I’m an optimist! -Chocolate Continue reading
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Even marketing gurus sometimes get it
From Seth Godin:“Marketing puffery: • Burns trust• Puts strain on your customer service team• Often causes users to make bad choices• Teaches your loyal customers not to believe you• Generates negative word of mouth• and it can even lead to lawsuits“ Seth Godin definitely qualifies as a “marketing guru!” Continue reading
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It was that left turn at Albuquerque
If you were to delve into ancient books and texts you might fairly often run across a stylistic quirk in the way they were laid out. Choosing artistic presentation over legibility, many old manuscripts would print alternate lines of text in opposite directions. That is, the first line might start at the left and proceed… Continue reading
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Just a spoon full of of sugar…🎶
What people in the US call “molasses” is called “treacle” in England; it’s the same stuff. The word “treacle”, though, has the more interesting history. The original form of the word was “triacle,” and at first it mean an antidote to a snake bite. It came from the Greek word “theriake,” which also meant an… Continue reading
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The upside of AI
I am still pretty skeptical of large language models. I went pretty deep with them a couple of years ago, and most of what I found was either disappointing (in regard to LLM performance and capabilities) or annoying (in regard to all the marketing blather). In the ensuing months, I tended to discount the whole… Continue reading
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The usual suspects
Remenber the “crypto bubble” of a few years ago, when “blockchain technology” was going to be incorporated into practically everything, and everything was going to be different? And most importantly, lots of guys (all guys) made millions in stock valuations. Sam Bankman-Fried got caught as a scammer, but plenty got away with it. Look at… Continue reading
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2024 Shkreli Awards
The Shkreli Awards are handed out each year by the Lown Institute, a “nonpartisan think tank advocating bold ideas for a just a caring system for health.” The awards are a lot like the igNobel Prizes; you probably do not want to be on this list, which is the worst ten examples of “profiteering and… 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!
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peterharbeson@me.com