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viking (paid)

  • Dave Wilton

Dave Wilton

21 Mar 2025 • 6 min read
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B&W photo of a cat in a winged viking helmet and scale-mail breastplate, with the caption “Brünnhilde"

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Poster, with pictures of 2 boxers, 1 Black and 1 white, for the Jack Johnson vs. Jim Jeffries boxing match of 4 July 1910

great white hope

19 August 2026 In current parlance, a great white hope, sometimes simply white hope, refers to someone in a particular field in whom others place expectations and desires for success. Originally it referred to a white person who might have success in a field dominated by people of color, and
19 Aug 2026 3 min read
Movie poster featuring a drawing of a cowboy and a woman in an out-of-control horse-drawn carriage
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buckaroo (paid)

19 Aug 2026 3 min read
Graph showing the drop in affinity as an artificial humanoid becomes more lifelike

uncanny valley

17 August 2026 The phrase uncanny valley is a calque of the Japanese phrase bukimi no tani (bukimi (uncanniness + no (possessive particle) + tani (valley)). The Japanese phrase was coined by Masahiro Mori in a 1970 article in which he observed people’s emotional affinity toward robots rising as they appeared
17 Aug 2026 2 min read
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