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A question of responsibility
“When one individual inflicts bodily injury upon another such that death results, we call the deed manslaughter; when the assailant knew in advance that the injury would be fatal, we call his deed murder. But when society places hundreds of proletarians in such a position that they inevitably meet a too early and an unnatural… Continue reading
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Blogfog
A thoughtful analysis of why Merrick Garland is not the best investigative target. A good infographic can summarize an area of information better than almost anything else. Wait, erase that “almost;” I can’t think of any candidates for something better. Anyway, here’s a compilation of the best infographics (charts) of 2024. The most interesting insights,… Continue reading
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Brevity good
Sometimes words get shorter because people who use them start to leave out sounds or syllables. Take, for example, “pacifist.” Around the turn of the 20th century the word was “pacificist,” as used in the March 4, 1907 edition of the London Times: “Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman’s article…on the limitation of armaments…cannot be said to have… Continue reading
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Humans Unleashed
Signs, poles and treesall make me go ‘sheesh;’those things can cause problemswhen humans are leashed. We go on a walk;I’m ahead; they’re in backbut basic leash management’ssomething they lack. You’d think it was simple.and I sure have tried,but when there’s a postthey will pick the wrong side. So I have to fix itand come back… Continue reading
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Humorous, but not very funny
When you’re feeling hopeful or optimistic about something you might say you’re feeling “sanguine” about it. If you’re like most people, you probably wouldn’t, but the point is that you could. “Sanguine” is a reasonably common word, although it doesn’t generally pop up in everyday conversation in most circles. But it has a pretty unusual… Continue reading
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OMG Look What They Found!
Darrell Huff wrote How to Lie with Statistics way back in 1954. It’s not just about lying with statistics; it’s about completely bungling your interpretation of what you think you’ve noticed. Some people even write books based on that kind of bungling. I haven’t read Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant, but… Continue reading
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The little devils
An “imp” is a small devil or demon, and in modern usage usually means a small child engaged in some sort of mischief. “Imp” is from Old English, and first appeared in a book from about 900, Pastoral Care: “Sio halige gesomnung Godes folces, ðæt eardað on æppeltunum, ðonne hie wel begað hira plantan &… Continue reading
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Attention
A set of connected connections. “What, the internet requires less attention? Yes, because it demands so little of us intellectually and appeals so powerfully to our feelings.” “Postman distinguishes the Orwellian vision of the future, in which totalitarian governments seize individual rights, from that offered by Aldous Huxley in Brave New World, where people medicate themselves into bliss, thereby voluntarily sacrificing their rights.”… Continue reading
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Clifford Cocks
It’s not as unusual as you might think for an idea or invention to arise more than once, completely independently, even at roughly the same time. That’s the case with public-key encryption, which is widely used today. The “s” in “https” that precedes website URLs stands for “secure,” and depends on that kind of encryption.… Continue reading
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You are not free
You are not free. At the very least, you’re nowhere near as free as you like to think you are. What it even means to be free isn’t really all that clear. The things you are free to do depend to some extent on where you live. In today’s world, you live in a “nation”… 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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Contact
peterharbeson@me.com