I recall reading even before I had any interest in Bitcoin or Bitcoin mining that the cost of electricity was probably higher than the yield one could get by mining. So I never expected to set up a mining operation on my personal computer and get rich quick. I did what I recommend anyone do if they are interested in getting to know how Bitcoin works: I set up a mining operation to learn.
Dear atheists;
To dissipate or distill by percolation.
Mr Lanier strikes again.
When I came across the sentence, «The strangeness is being leached away by the mush-making process» in You Are Not A Gadget I thought at first that I’d stumbled across a typo that had escaped the editor’s eye. I expected that he meant leeched as in, sucked away as though by a parasite. While this would have made enough sense, Lanier’s choice indeed seems more appropriate.
As mentioned in two previous Lexical Geekery entries, I’ve been reading Jaron Lanier’s You Are Not A Gadget which is a refreshing manifesto about preserving individual voices in the mishmash of online culture where identity has become something like an endangered phenomenon.
The area of knowledge about death
Another one found in Jaron Lanier’s You Are Not A Gadget. Lanier is earning points with me for teaching me words. This one in particular I am surprised not to have encountered before, as it is a field of great interest to me. I suppose the matter is probably of great interest to everyone, but even so.
To become objectified or depersonalized.
Found in Jaron Lanier’s You Are Not A Gadget. I haven’t read enough of the book to tell much about it, but it should be clear from the title that reification
is the kind of word one would likely find in its pages.
When someone claims their dog is smart it’s because the dog has learned to obey the person’s commands. When someone says their cat is smart it’s because the person has learned to obey the cat’s commands.1
One of my least favorite things to do here is close things down and make it harder for visitors to my site to interact with me, the site, and the other users. Creating an account on a website can be more time-consuming than is worth just to make an offhand remark. I want to see those offhand remarks.
See Lowering the Bar, one of my absolute favorite blogs.
I’ve often wondered if one could be pulled over for driving at or under the speed limit. After all, everyone drives a little faster than the speed limit. The only reason to drive under the speed limit would be to avoid being pulled over by the police. And the only people who want to avoid being pulled over by the police are… criminals. Right?
