“A client would come in to work out a billing procedure, and after Jackson had
put the relevant numbers on a sheet — in light pencil, so erasures could be
easily made — various questions would come up. For example, if the billing
procedure was based on a 15 percent interest rate, what would happen if the
rate went up to 18 percent? To find out, the whole sheet would have to be
redone. Each figure would have to be punched into a hand calculator and then
checked by one of Jackson’s employees.”
Steven Levy ,
A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge
(Wired, Harper’s ,
November 1984 )
posted 2/19/2020 8:32pm ∞
“I am 100% convinced there are interesting new ‘ways of relating’ waiting on
these overlay networks, these pocket internets. They might require
configurations beyond what’s currently supported, but these companies are
sufficiently young and flexible that, presented with a compelling idea, I get
the sense they’d just … implement it! Maybe you should set up a ZeroTier or
Tailscale network with a few friends or collaborators and … see what happens?”
Robin Sloan ,
A year of new avenues
(December 2022 ,
via Rusty Foster )
posted 12/21/2022 8:00pm ∞
“Twitter wanted all of the credit for the innovation and none of the credit for
the impact, when the reality was the other way around. Time after time, they
came right up to the limit of acknowledging that, always to turn away at the
last moment.”
posted 9/17/2022 8:00pm ∞
“Veil’s website hadn’t been saved, and Pictures for Sad Children was hard to
track down in its entirety. The last, tangible vestige of the comic came from
those who had ordered a copy of the book. … They resolved to share the
collection, mailing copies to whoever hadn’t cracked its spine yet.”
posted 8/23/2022 8:00pm ∞
“I’m not sure this networked and weaponized absurdity is the product of
‘vengeful nihilism’ because I’m not sure the message is that ‘lol nothing
matters.’ To me, the message is similar to that of any protest: We matter.
And you’re going to listen to us.”
Bonus quote: “What you are looking at is an NFT from the popular artist Beeple
of a well-endowed Musk walking a version of the Doge meme (a Shiba Inu). It is
selling for a very specific six-figure sum that is a combination of the numbers
69 (hehe sex!) and 420 (blaze it!).”
Charlie Warzel ,
The Absurdity is the Point
(May 11, 2021 )
posted 7/5/2021 10:23pm ∞