> > Democracy is the worst form of government…except for all the others. > [– Winston Churchill](
International Churchill Society
The Worst Form of Government
‘Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-w...
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Fun fact: [“six seven”](
Urban Dictionary
Urban Dictionary: 67 (six seven)
67 (six seven): a meme originating from the lyrics in a song called -Doot Doot-, later popularized by one kid on the internet who from then on was ...
 ) traces its roots all the way back to Old English in the 1380s. Geoffrey Chaucer coined it in his epic poem *[Troilus and Criseyd](
Geoffrey Chaucer (1342-1400) - "Troilus and Criseyde" (middle-english hypertext with glossary)
 )*: > > But manly set the world on sixe and sevene; > And, if thou deye a martir, go to hevene." > 200 years later, Shakespeare picked it up and used it in his play *[Richard II](
SCENE II. The palace.
 )*: > > But time will not permit: all is uneven > And every thing is left at six and seven > The common English phrase “at sixes and sevens,” from an early dice game that preceded craps, [is unrelated](
At sixes and sevens - Wikipedia
 ). > > It is thought that the expression was originally > *to set on cinque and sice*> (from the French for five and six). These were apparently the most risky numbers to shoot for (‘to set on’) and anyone who tried for them was considered careless or confused. >
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> > You should consider that the essential art of civilization is maintenance. > [– Pete Seeger](
Page | Books in Progress
Books in Progress is what we call a “public drafting tool”: Drafts will be made available for comment from the public, allowing for direct coll...
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TIL: *free driver* opposite of free rider > > [> …solar geoengineering’s economics are almost the exact opposite of climate change’s: While global warming is a “free rider” problem, where countries must collaborate to avoid burning cheap fossil fuels, solar geoengineering is a “free driver” problem, where one country could theoretically do it alone.](https://heatmap.news/climate-tech/stardust-geoengineering ) >
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[ ](image ) [WALL·E](
WALL-E - Wikipedia
 ) Lately I’ve been thinking about orphaned code. Code that’s still running, live, with no remaining developers or users. Forgotten hardware devices. Deserted VMs on cloud free tiers. Smart contracts whose DAOs disbanded years ago. Old school internet worms. Abandoned, starving Tamagotchi. Can you think of other examples? There are obvious conclusions here about maintainability, ecosystem security, etc, but I’m not here to lecture, I have no particular conclusions. Just a vibe. It’s a very, very…mad world. image