Abducted

Nobody asked but … I frequently tell my students that a human-made system should have a user’s goal, otherwise it is just an inaccessible artifact.  But I was kidnapped today by a functionary of the largest, and most lucrative, parking operation in the commonwealth of Kentucky — a functionary who obviously was a bit dim…

Astrophysics

Nobody asked but … Why don’t we need to regulate by legislation the motions, behavior, and phenomena of planets, moons, sun, stars?  Why don’t we demand in writing the compliance and consistent reliability of geology, climate, tides, non-human sounds, and spectra of light?  It is, perhaps, because we cannot control everything.  Maybe we have our hands…

More !@#$%& Labels

Nobody asked but … I am both mystified and unimpressed with the current debate facing off libertarian brutalism with libertarian humanism.  Either -ism is somewhat offensive to me.  Firstly, they sound like something provided by external parties to provoke hostilities among libertarians.  Secondly, the presumption that libertarianism has only two flavors is further offending.  Just…

Assmanship

Nobody asked but … This singular game, which is so costly and so ruinous and so silly, is called statesmanship–which is different from assmanship on account of the spelling. — Mark Twain Surely this drumbeat for war is a sign, again, that the folks known as neo-cons will gravitate to any side if it gets…

Labored Day

Nobody asked but … What exactly is it that we commemorate on labor day?  The hoodwinking of the American worker into the idea that merit has nothing to do with reward?  The delusion of management in thinking that individual workers are not unique?  The election by both to employ organized crime as an interface, to…