Daily observations and commentary on all of it.
June 18, 2026
Thursday
Furman on Social Security - Attention must be paid (harvard.edu)
¶It’s an elementary math problem and a Ph.D.-level political problem.
¶I’d add generational problem to the mix. My generation, GenX, and the generations behind us need to step up and take the reins on Social Security and so many other issues. Generations before us have done nothing but kick the can down the road. We can’t contribute to that ongoing failure.
¶I learned about the Coastline Paradox yesterday when doing some internet sleuthing as follow-up to an argument I overheard regarding the proper name for the Gulf bordering the U.S.A and Mexico. The thrust of the argument was “our coastline in the Gulf is longer, so it should be called the Gulf of America”.
¶I’m not aware of some controlling rule or law that requires an international body of water be named after the nation having the longest bordering coastline, so, from a legal point of view, the argument appears to be meaningless on its face.
¶But, the math of it is quite interesting.
¶Under the Paradox, “it is impossible even in theory to obtain an exact value for the length of a coastline.” Why? I don’t fully understand the math yet, but it’s based on the observation that coastlines are fractals. And the length of a fractal curve approaches infinity as you use finer and finer measuring tools:
¶Empirical evidence suggests that the smaller the increment of measurement, the longer the measured length becomes. If one were to measure a stretch of coastline with a yardstick, one would get a shorter result than if the same stretch were measured with a 1-foot (30 cm) ruler. This is because one would be laying the ruler along a more curvilinear route than that followed by the yardstick.
¶So any reported length of a coastline is inherently flawed, particularly if it does not mention the scale used for the component measurements that contributed to the total length.
¶As for the Gulf of Mexico/America debate, I view the coastline argument as absurd on two levels now (no controlling rule or law, and both coastlines are infinitely long). I say ‘Gulf of Mexico’ out of habit. I suppose time will change that if the name sticks.
Here’s why I think the AI photo features in iOS 27 are so well considered (9to5mac.com)
¶If you didn’t know the scene, I think this would look perfectly plausible.
¶This article is about the technology of AI-assisted photography, but I couldn’t help thinking of the impacts of the technology as I read it.
¶I’m not against AI in photography. Indeed, I think all of the features described here are interesting and will prove to be quite useful. But, reviewing the before and after photos in this article reminds me that you cannot accept a photograph as reality.
¶This isn’t new, of course. Media has been manipulating photographs to convey a narrative for quite some time. Probably quite a long time.
¶But new AI tools take the opportunity to manipulate to a new level. Surely we’ll see actual manipulations rise to a new level, too. This isn’t a problem, in my opinion, for creative photography. I think photographers should disclose the use of such tools in some manner, but I’m also ok if they don’t when the photograph is being used for purely creative purposes.
¶Photojournalism is the thing. The before and after photos in the linked article show that angles can now be easily altered, and content can be made from whole cloth, even for “a pretty big ask of the reframing tool as it essentially has to invent much of her arm.” Spolier: her arm in the manipulated photo looks…real.
¶Photojournalists will no doubt respond accordingly by selling trust alongside their imagery. Consumers should respond, too, by rewarding outlets that truly earn their trust and ignoring those that lack or destroy it. I’m still thinking about that equation, wondering if I worry more about the producer or consumer side of it.
Some Was True is my corner of the web for publishing observations and commentary on various topics I find interesting. I use the process of creating and publishing content to learn about everything from history and tech to sports and culture. The About page has more information about the background of the site and details on how content is organized.
politics, economy, socialsecurity, math, science, gulfofmexico, gulfofamerica, ai, photography, apple