Thomas Kurtz, creator of BASIC, has died at 96. Unlike later language creators (Kernighan and Ritchie, Linus Torvalds), Kurtz’s name isn’t famous. I’d never heard it before. BASIC taught programming to a whole generation. In early PCs, Basica was right there when you turned on the computer. You just started typing commands and making fun…

Amazing. Sandel is described as a philosopher, but he is a HARDASS REALIST. He gets EVERYTHING right, and describes it perfectly. The idiot “journalist” doesn’t show any signs of learning from Sandel’s REALISM. He clearly thinks everything is perfect if only the brainless peasants would understand. Will the party start listening? I doubt it.

Curbside Classic has an article on the Pontiac Star Chief. The article describes the original model correctly but misses its oddness. Most carmakers were playing the same game in the early 50s. Introduce a special upscale hardtop as your first hardtop, give it a rich and romantic name, then later step the name down through…

Seen in a list of computer jokes at Quora. More of an observation than a joke. There are two types of programmers. Type 1: if (x==1) { return TRUE; } Type 2: if (x==1) { return TRUE;} I’m emphatically Type 1. It separates the condition from the consequence, making it easy to read and debug.…

I have no patience with modern poets, and I’ve pretty much lost patience with Brownstone Institute. They have a few good writers but their overall goal is compromised. Exception to both rules! Brownstone pointed to a new book of poems by Gracia Grindal. The samples sold the book. I bought the physical book and started…