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Route 66
The pre-Interstate way to go by car from middle America to the California coast was the famous Route 66. It’s a century old as of this year. There were stories, songs, and even a TV show about it. Route 66 is still there (most of it anyway), and Chris Attrell filmed his trip along it.… Continue reading
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A Blast(er) from the Past
Anil Dash’s new post really took me back to the days of the Commodore 64. What a fun machine that was. He perfectly captured the scene, too; the paper magazines with program listings you had to copy by hand. Perfectly. Somehow I never heard of the automatic proofreader before; I coulda used it. The Commodore… Continue reading
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Yet Another Hoax
The tech bros, and most especially Elon Musk, have somehow become such centers of attention that they can spout nonsense and have it reported — by media outlets with actual reputations! — as something like “news.” I’m talking specifically about Musk’s “flying” “car” that was “demonstrated” in a stage show in Texas. It was a… Continue reading
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Exasperation
by Chocolate We dogs all agree about humans and speed:they haven’t got any! An ongoing need. Mine wastes his time when I’m wanting to go;He needs pants, he needs socks, and wouldn’t you know… When I’m ready and waiting (and practically dying)He’s messing about with his shoes! Calls it “tying.” And then there’s his jacket.… Continue reading
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Car Shopping
1996 “Claudia, my car is worn out; I need to buy a new one.” “I can help you; I’m going to the library this afternoon anyway.” (the next morning) “Look at this: I’ve made a spreadsheet of the recommendations from Consumer Reports, Time Magazine, Car and Driver, Motor Trend, Road & Track, and the New… Continue reading
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C’mon give it up, sluggish human
My topic of the day is treats.There’s crunchies, chewies, cheeses and meats. I like them all, and here’s your task:Give me some whenever I ask. My first request is just a look;You ought to read it like a book, But there are times when humans fail.Plan B for me is wag my tail. My third… Continue reading
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The True Chew
by Chocolate Of the things that contribute to contentment accruing,One of my favorites is doing some chewing. A treasure I found a my local pet storeis a treat that I bark to say “I want some more.” It’s a stick made for chewing; of those they have lots.But this one is special — the best… Continue reading
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The Cycles within the Arc
The September 28 issue of Westenberg, the website/newsletter of JA Westenberg, is all about the consistent and ubiquitous hill-shaped curve followed by both natural and human-produced phenomena. Westenberg calls it the arc. It applies to anything that grows, peaks, and declines, and that includes everything from empires to languages to companies to the stars in… Continue reading
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I’d rather have a taco
Yesterday, Tuesday Sept 29, was the momentous occasion of a “Super Intelligence Luncheon” (sic) in Washington, DC. It was a fancy, formal event, and they published the seating chart: The lives of government aides and staffers seems to me like unending torture. There’s Susie Wiles, a 69-year-old woman who started out in 1978 as a… Continue reading
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20-something Hubris
A young prodigy in AI development named Alexandr Wang got a sack of cash from world-class sociopath Zuckerberg to build Facebook’s new AI program “Muse.” Now [Twitter-link warning:] he’s attempted to justify his work, in the most hubristic, egotistical way imaginable. Of course he did so on Twitter. Katie Notopoulos saw through it immediately as… 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!
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