October 27, 2023
spencergreenhalgh.com posts digest for Oct 27 2023
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Here are long-form blog posts I published this week:
Here are microblog posts that I published this week:
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I was dreaming that some STEM-type was criticizing Bachelor of Arts degrees as “BS” and dream-me flew into a rage ready to defend the humanities until I woke up and realized that his joke didn’t even work.
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Visiting Utah for work this weekend has me thinking about how I’ve never really felt like I understand this state—and that despite attending college here and all four of my grandparents being born here. I feel like it should be more familiar to me than it is.
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Maybe not clicking with Utah is because so many of my interactions with Utah and Utahns involved being defensive about or emphasizing my being from somewhere else. Even in my Mormonism, I was a Kentucky Mormon, and I filtered a lot through that perspective.
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I generally like my local paper, but I’m annoyed by all of the feel-good “someone won big at the lottery!” stories they publish. Lotteries are regressive taxes, and celebrating winners helps conceal that fact.
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Kiddo picked up a new library card over the weekend (lots of Kentucky counties do reciprocity agreements, so we collect them), and she’s incensed that there’s a 25-book limit at this system (we regularly check out 50 books each from two different counties).
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La webradio joue un rôle important dans mes efforts de garder un lien avec le monde francophone depuis le Kentucky. Je suis donc content d’avoir appris ce matin comment trouver un flux caché d’une webradio—comme ça, je peux l’ajouter à une appli au lieu de visiter le site web.
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I would never visit a casino or place a bet, but I’m putting off the last mow of the season until tomorrow morning, when it might rain and get all the leaves wet, so clearly I’m still a gambler.
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Un jour pendant mon séjour en France, un ami (aussi américain) m’envoie acheter des flocons d’avoine. Mais lui, il ne se souvient pas de la phrase complète, et moi, j’entends mal ce qu’il dit. C’est donc comme ça que j’arrive chez Casino demander « des flacons de quelque chose »
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Five years ago, a few of us who had (had) the same PhD advisor started a group chat on Keybase and added that advisor. It’s been a source of music recommendations, professional advice, sympathy during rough personal moments, and much more. It’s wholesome, helpful, and all around great.
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Hear me out: What if the moral of Dr. Strangelove for the 2020s is that automation and efficiency aren’t always good things?
Here are news articles and podcasts I commented on this week:
Here are my reviews of books and other media I consumed this week:
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Thanks for reading!
Spencer