TITLE: Beautiful Ideas Deserve Beautiful Presentation
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: November 20, 2022  9:00 AM
DESC: 
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BODY:
 From Matthew Butterick, of
<a href="https://beautifulracket.com">
   Beautiful Racket</a>
 fame:
 
<blockquote><em>
 I always think about&mdash;and encourage others to
<a href="https://practicaltypography.com/why-does-typography-matter.html">
   think about</a>&mdash;how
 design and typography can complement the underlying object by finding
 a way to communicate its virtues.  If your writing contains beautiful
 ideas, then your presentation of that writing should be likewise
 beautiful.
</em></blockquote>

 I am old-fashioned, perhaps, in feeling this way about software.  A
 program that embodies beautiful ideas should itself be beautifully
 designed, and beautifully presented.  The universe calls us in this
 direction.

 The above passage comes from
<a href="https://matthewbutterick.com/chron/power-corruption-and-lies.html">
   a charming essay</a>
 on how Butterick ended up living a life of typography, in addition
 to his skills as a programmer and a lawyer.  Spoiler: the title
 "Power, Corruption &amp; Lies" refers not to any political intrigue
 but to an album by the rock band New Order.

 Butterick is also one of the principals
<a href="https://githubcopilotinvestigation.com">
   pursuing action against GitHub Copilot</a>
 for violating the terms of the open-source licenses on the software
 it mined to build the tool.  Sometimes, programmers have to deal
 with things less beautiful than the code we like to write, in order
 to protect that code and its creators.
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