Nostr notes by blog.kenperlin.com (Unofficial)

Thoughts after the election I have been having a lot of ...

2026-11-06T04:14:24Z

Thoughts after the election

I have been having a lot of conversations with friends and colleagues since the election. Of course everyone is elated and relieved, but there is also something deeper at work.
The nearest analogy I can think of is something personal. Suppose you learned that someone close to you, somebody you love, had been beaten up by a vicious gang of thugs.
When they were found, they were suffering from broken bones and internal injuries. You go to visit them in the hospital.
You try to say something reassuring, to let them know that you love them, that the worst is over. But you both know that they will carry those wounds with them for a long time. Bones will heal, but psychic wounds run deep.
They now understand that safety is an illusion. You feel helpless, knowing that no matter how much you love them, you cannot restore what has been taken from them.
This is how I feel about what has been done over the last two years to our beloved country. A gang of vicious thugs broke into its house, and harmed it in ways that might take years to heal.
Yes, the monsters have been vanquished, for now. But we also know, with terrible clarity, that safety is an illusion.

https://blog.kenperlin.com/?p=28912

#bones

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The best ally The electoral sweep in the U.S. this week was ...

2026-11-05T04:37:18Z

The best ally

The electoral sweep in the U.S. this week was wonderful, but it definitely had help. The Democrats had the good fortune to have a powerful ally.
The stakes were high, given that the president is clearly senescent, erratic, and generally losing it at an alarmingly rapid pace. There was real danger that he would wake up one morning and decide to knock down another historical building, impose another harmful tariff, or start another unwinnable and economically devastating war.
But fortunately, the Democrats had a powerful weapon to assist in their appeal to the hearts and minds of American voters. And I think that single factor made a major difference.
Namely, the Democrats had help from a president who is prone to knocking down historical buildings, imposing harmful tariffs, and starting unwinnable and economically devastating wars. You can’t ask for better help than that.
So in the midst of our celebration about democracy being saved, let us take a moment to give thanks where thanks is due. We could not have won this election without the considerable assistance of the greatest enemy of the president. Namely, the president.

https://blog.kenperlin.com/?p=28909

#ally #namely

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Walking to Canada Since I am in Detroit today for the UIST ...

2026-11-04T05:27:48Z

Walking to Canada

Since I am in Detroit today for the UIST conference, I took the opportunity to renew my Global Entry. That’s the thing which lets you cross national borders without needing to stand on long lines at airports.
In particular I signed up for NEXUS, the variation which expedites travel between the U.S. and Canada. To do that, I took an Uber to an address which turned out to be a little mobile office trailer right on the border.
My interview with U.S. Customs was very easy. When it was finished the Customs officer pointed me toward another desk and told me I now needed to do an interview with Canadian Customs.
So I walked the fifteen feet from the U.S. Customs officer’s desk to the Canadian Custom officer’s desk. When I reached that second desk I realized I had just crossed the border.
So I can truthfully say that today I walked all the way to Canada. And I managed to do it without even leaving the room.

https://blog.kenperlin.com/?p=28907

#canada #customs #globalentry #canadiancustoms #uist #nexus #uber

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First build a prototype Sometimes I think something is ...

2026-10-30T03:17:20Z

First build a prototype

Sometimes I think something is impossible. Then I build a prototype.
Usually the prototype ends up cheating in some way. It may not do everything I want, and it might cut corners. But having a working prototype helps me to better understand what I really want.
It’s not that the impossible has suddenly become possible. Rather, it often turns out that the “impossible” problem can be successfully tackled if you reframe it in some subtle way.
Essentially, there is often a meaningful connection between the unattainable original goal and a similar solution that is effectively the same, and yet is indeed attainable.
Without building a prototype, I would never discover that attainable solution.

https://blog.kenperlin.com/?p=28896

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