Monday, March 18, 2024

Ultracrepidarian

ultracrepidarian
ul·tra·crep·i·dar·i·an
/ˌəltrəkrepəˈderēən/

adjective

expressing opinions on matters outside the scope of one's knowledge or expertise.

noun

a person who expresses opinions on matters outside the scope of their knowledge or expertise.

-- Definition from Oxford Languages via Google.com

Friday, March 15, 2024

Opposed Ideas

The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.

-- F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896 - 1940), Irish-American novelist and short story writer, "The Crack-Up" in Esquire (1 February 1936)

Thursday, March 14, 2024

A Big Lift

When I was growing up and being taught the American system of government, we would always be taught that the U.S. government has checks and balances in its design, so you can't take it over with a sentiment of the moment.  But I think what we've learned is that the institutions that protect us are fragile.  History suggests that all democracies are fragile.  So we have to be on the alert for political movements that want to undermine democratic institutions, because the purpose of democratic institutions is not to put the best people in power, it's to maintain democracy even when the worst people are in power.  That's a big lift.

-- Mike Godwin, who in 1990 coined "Godwin's Law", in an interview with Politico, "‘Trump Knows What He's Doing': The Creator of Godwin's Law Says the Hitler Comparison Is Apt" (19 December 2023)

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

One Thing

Remember one thing about democracy.  We can have anything we want and at the same time, we always end up with exactly what we deserve.

-- Edward Albee (12 March 1928 - 16 September 2016), American playwright, known for works including Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, as quoted in Unleashing Intellectual Capital (2000) by Charles Ehin, p. 99

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Golden Anniversary

On this date 50 years ago today, 12 March 1974, my first PLATO signon "donald appleman / cerl" was created for me by Bill Golden.  

I was a 9th-grade student in Urbana at the time, and my Chemistry teacher had an "in" with Don Bitzer, and was able to arrange this for me.  That act on her part launched my lifelong career.

Monday, March 11, 2024

Sweden Joins NATO

Since Thursday last week Sweden is a proud member of NATO.  The most successful organisation for peace and security that has ever existed.  We are now an ally amongst allies.  After more than 200 years of military non-alignment, this is a historic step. 

But also, a very natural step.  We have been preparing for decades.  And in details the last two years.  With this membership, Sweden has come home. 

Home to the security cooperation of democracies.  Home to the security cooperation of our good neighbours. 

Today, I'd like to say thank you to all of our Allies.  We have chosen you, and you have chosen us.  All for one, one for all. ...

Sweden will be a safer country in NATO, and NATO will be a stronger alliance with Sweden in it.

By joining NATO, Sweden -- like Finland just before us -- has exercised our right to freely choose our own security arrangements. 

That invaluable right is at the core of the European security order -- so bravely being defended in Ukrainian battlefields, as we meet here in Brussels. ...

Sweden joining NATO is not the end of something -- it's a beginning.  I look forward to help making the world a safer and freer place together with all of our Allies.

-- Speech by Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson at a ceremony in Brussels to mark Sweden joining NATO, 11 March 2024

Friday, March 08, 2024

In Season

It is always in season for old men to learn.

-- Aeschylus (525 BC - 456 BC), playwright of ancient Greece, the earliest of the three greatest Greek tragedians, the others being Sophocles and Euripides, Age