dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 6hnuclear-powered trains, planes, automobiles. Every family would have a home supply of U-235. Atomic bomb would let us tackle inconceivably large earth-moving tasks, a sea-level canal across Nicaragua being just the start. 000
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 6hNo, he does not see the future. A lot of people in the 1950s saw "the future" in which atomic energy, as it was then called, would carry us into a world of limitless abundance. Electricity for free because it wouldn't be worth the cost of metering it was just the start. There were going to be 100
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 6hThe scene in "Shane" where two guys hold Shanes arms behind his back while the third one slugs him repeatedly in the jaw. Because it was so intolerably UNFAIR. 010
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 6hthings, and pretended Trump had policies which she just guess at, often inaccurately. She is a lying liar who lies. 010
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 6hThere's an important difference between Karoline Leavitt and Sarah Huckabee. In Trump's first term, Sarah Huckabee actually knew some facts. She spun them heavily, but mostly without flat-out lying. That's what press secretaries are supposed to do. Leavitt consistently made things up, invented 100
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 21hHer office was in the East Wing. Demolished. And whatever you think of HER mark on the White House, her remodeling of the Rose Garden, Donald wiped that out, too. 120
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 21hYah, Trump hasn't said much about the Reflecting Pool lately. Or renaming New Mexico "New America." Or a 10% cap on credit card interest rates. Or lots of things. 000
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 21hThe trouble with this corrupt form utilitarianism is that it's the world that gets the "bad things" and OpenAI that gets the benefit. 020
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 05/10/2026The problem with risk/benefit balancing is that the public suffers the risk and OpenAI gets the benefits. 022
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 04/10/2026For a longer break, you could just stand there, keep applying gentle pressure, and "sharpen" the pencil down to a two-inch-long stub. And then take another minute to carry the now-full shavings compartment to the wastebasket, and fuss around emptying it--if possible scattering shavings. 010
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 04/10/2026impossibly pristine condition. Actually I like the signs of wear because they show that I am holding in my hands something that other hands touched and other readers enjoyed. 000
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 04/10/2026modern practice. Or, even more delightful, an 1856 edition of "The Song of Milkanwatha," by "Marc Antony Henderson" (pseud.) showing that "Hiawatha" was being parodied and ridiculed even then. I have maybe a dozen of such things, all acquired cheaply because they have no _rarity_ value--are not in 100
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 04/10/2026I'm not a book collector. But I really enjoy having _contemporary_ editions, ones that came out when the book was new and people were reading it for the first time. Like an 1855 copy of "Hiawatha." With "period" book design, typeface, and spelling and punctuation NOT brought into conformance with 100
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 04/10/2026Absolutely, and let's discuss in detail what the poor secretary had to do to correct an error when making six copies. And the use of cheap yellow paper for "second sheets," which aspiring young authors wrote their manuscripts on to save time. 020
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 04/10/2026Absolutely not. It stood for "carbon," and "courtesy" was a retconned word--invented later and claimed to be "the" meaning--to justify continuing to use the abbreviation "cc." It was DIScourteous to send someone a carbon copy instead of an original, so "courtesy" is an annoying euphemism. 010
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 04/10/2026user's voice! This worked well because it played back into a headset, and comfortable volumes were comfortably audible on playback. 030
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 04/10/2026superseded by the "Dictabelt" (plastic flexible belt) in 1947, and other technologies, the old machines worked just fine and were still being used by businesses well into the mid-1950s. Note that the Dictaphone was not electronic! It was purely acoustic, with the groove being etched directly by the 130
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 04/10/2026The lifespan of the Dictaphone was long. And I mean the original technology, which was basically a wax cylinder phonograph, and included a device for shaving off the recorded groove so that the cylinder could be used multiple times. The name was trademarked in 1907. Although supposedly 250
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 04/10/2026forms into the printer. So I'm going to say that to know what "cc" means, you were probably old enough to be RECEIVING them--say 18 years old--by, say, 1978. So, born before 1960. So, over 65. 010
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 04/10/2026first, dedicated machines in businesses, e.g. Wang, IBM, Lanier--occurred around the 1970s, with PCs and inexpensive high-quality printers putting the nail in the typewriter's coffin. Even with a PC driving a daisywheel printer, it was easier to run off a second copy then to fuss loading manifold 110
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 04/10/2026sharp, whereas the best carbon copies were blurry. And you need to commit to a predetermined number of copies, you could always make a few more. Xerox and similar machines were ubiquitous by, let's say 1970. They were also closely connected with the use of typewriters. The rise of word processors-- 120
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 04/10/2026I say "over 65." "Carbon copies" usually refer to personal letters or memos, produced on a typewriter. Familiarity with actual "carbon copies" of letters and memos would have declined with the introduction of Xerox machines in businesses. Xerox copies were preferred because they 120
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 04/10/2026I think this is an example of a modern ideology that calls itself "rationalism:" "a community whose formative shared text taught them that the fate of the world depends on exceptional people being trusted with exceptional power." (Ian Duncan). But maybe it's just a much older ideology, technocracy. 011
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 04/10/2026In his first term, in 2017, Gary Cohn of the National Economic Council said that a tax break would save families about $1,000, and that they could use that money to "remodel a kitchen or buy a new car." 000
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 04/10/2026If you have your premium deducted from Social Security and are innumerate, you might not fully understand that $90 is less than half of one month's premium. It's just $90. And the check will likely have Trump's name on it. 000
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 03/10/2026After not getting either the $5,000 DOGE dividend or the $2,000 tariff dividend, does she REALLY believe she will get this one? 030
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 02/10/2026I would be surprised to learn that Hegseth knows anything more about George S. Patton than he learned from watching the movie. 010
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 02/10/2026Not that it matters, but no, George S. Patton did not carry a 32'x20' around with him all over the European theatre of war so that he could have it as a theatrical backdrop behind it when he gave his speeches to the 3rd Army. That was just a bit of dramatic flair the producers put in the movie. 110
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 01/10/2026Has he noticed that his commander-in-chief is a fatty? 040
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 01/10/2026It's not a lack of intelligence. It's something worse. It's a lack of diligence, care, and attention to detail. It's sloppy. For a fairly important document that you are asking VIPs to sign, somebody should have taken the time to go over the document and check it before presenting it for signature. 100
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 01/10/2026That page also says 968 of the county's 1,312 square miles of land are on the southeastern shore of Lake Ontario. Federal sources now use Lake America (formerly Lake Ontario) under Executive Order 14422 7. New York State's page still uses the former name." 000
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 01/10/2026Q: "According to the State of New York, where is Oswego County located?" America.gov: "According to New York State's Oswego County page 7, Oswego County is in northwestern New York, just north of Syracuse and northwest of Utica, on the eastern shore of Lake Ontario. 100
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 01/10/2026Hegseth knows anything about Patton beyond the George C. Scott performance in the movie. 020
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 01/10/2026I did a little casual poking around online, and as nearly as I can tell there isn't the slightest hint that Patton used a giant flag backdrop when giving his speech(es) to the 3rd Army. He gave versions of that speech all over, and he did not haul a 36'x20' stage prop with him. I doubt that 100
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 01/10/2026Oh, the kids in honors English in my high school in 1961 noticed, all right. 000
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 01/10/2026I don't think it's everyone, but it's not just you. I am in awe of people who can leave an airport during a five-hour layover and eat at a restaurant. 010
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 30/09/2026and produced letters from both hotels to prove it. Dean looked troubled--his lawyer passed him a note pointing out that the name of the coffee shop in the Statler Hilton was "the Mayflower Coffee Shop." 010
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Seniors will recall the Watergate moment when senator Edward Gurney triumphantly accused John Dean of lying. Dean had testified that he met Herbert Kalmbach in the coffee shop of the Mayflower Hotel. Gurney said that was impossible because Kalmbach had stayed at the Staler Hilton, not the Mayflower, 110
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Statler Hilton, not the Mayflower. Gotcha! Then Dean read a note his lawyer passed him, pointing out the name of the coffee shop AT the Statler Hilton was "the Mayflower Coffee Shop." 000
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Us seniors remember how Republican senator Edward Gurney thought he had caught John Dean in a lie, when Dean said he'd met Herbert Kalmbach in "the coffee shop at the Mayflower Hotel." Gurney triumphantly produced letters from two hotels showing that Kalmbach had stayed at the 100
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Why would an official U. S. government chatbot contain easter eggs? What sort of SQA or code inspection do they do? 130
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 30/09/2026He'd been registered at the Statler Hilton. It transpired that the coffee shop at the Statler Hilton was named "The Mayflower." 000
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Very reminiscent of the Watergate testimony, in which Senator Montoya thought he had caught John Dean in a lie. Dean testified that he'd met Herbert Kalmbach in the coffee shop of the Mayflower Hotel. But they had a letter from the Mayflower Hotel saying Kalmbach had not been registered there. 100
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Richard Nixon campaigned in 1968 on a claim that he had a plan to end the Vietnam war but declined to divulge any specifics. 010
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Remember when everyone looked forward to the days of "self-healing" software that would automatically patch and update itself over the Internet? 010
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 28/09/2026fun to crank and crank and crank and keep forcing the pencil in, until an 8" long pencil was "sharpened" down to a 2" stub. Plus the teacher could hardly stop you from sharpening your pencil, which gave you a short break AND made just enough noise that the teacher would have to stop speaking. 000
dpbsmith.bsky.social @dpbsmith.bsky.social · 28/09/2026The Boston and similar pencil sharpeners, ARE an amazing invention and brilliantly unexpected and original. The successful style is so mechanically creative there are no ordinary words to describe it. Two planetary gears driving long, conical, helical gears? Plus as a kid it was so much 100
