(no subject)

Apart from recurrence, knowledge would be impossible; for nothing could
be referred to our past experience. Also, apart from some regularity of
recurrence, measurement would be impossible. In our experience, as we
gain the idea of exactness, recurrence is fundamental.

Whitehead. Science ..., 1925

(no subject)

Last night I finished reading Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury and I still can't shake off the deep impression it made on me. I don't know why, but the last two lines of the novel really hit me over the head:

DILSEY.
They endured.

This is probably the shortest, the deepest and the most precise description of a key character I've ever encountered in literature.

(no subject)

Today was a strange day. One startup founder said that they made "one of the biggest discoveries in oncology." Another startup founder didn't say anything, which told us that they were going under in a couple of months or so. I guess I should be happy for the humanity at large.

TIL

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/08/headway/how-an-american-dream-of-housing-became-a-reality-in-sweden.html

While nearly every other industry has become more productive since 1968, productivity in home-building — the amount of work done by one worker in one hour, essentially — has declined by half. The country is barely building enough to maintain the status quo, which is some four million units short of need, according to Freddie Mac.

This is mostly due to regulations.

The barriers to building housing fast... weren’t technological, but institutional.

If I were the president...