Two lefts | Chris Smaje
Criticising the likes of Bill Gates and his infernal foundation shouldn’t be that controversial a move on the left, yet it suddenly feels a bit dangerous, as if it aligns the critic with dumbass right-wing conspiracy theories about vaccine nanobots or suchlike against the supposedly scientific certainties of technocratic governance.
Chris Smaje, on the money. Again.
Take precautions: global warming deserves it | Jeremy Cherfas
On this day, 17 years ago, I linked to an article by James Hansen about the urgency of taking climate change seriously. We are still not taking it seriously.
Localism, manufactured food and energy futures: thoughts from the Groundswell Festival | Chris Smaje
In other words, there’s no sign of an energy transition out of fossils yet.
Just in case you were feeling optimistic because energy from solar increased by 24% last year ...
patriotic effusion for Independence Day – The Homebound Symphony
All very nicely put.
/u/spez is right about feudalism and that’s why reddit as we know it is doomed | maya.land
Fascinating and informative article, not so much about Reddit -- which I use sporadically -- as about the reality of life before the State really got going. This kind of content makes the "real" internet so much better for me. thanks to @martymcgui.re for the link.
We’ve Lost Our Damn Outrage Because ‘The Community’ Knows Where Their Money Comes From And Are Scared to Lose That Income — But My Fucking Money Comes from Readers, And I’m Pissed – The Brooks Review
”But what is the price of letting egomaniacs ruin unique little businesses, destroy trust, mistreat workers, mistreat society, and break apart core democratic values? Or letting them dictate politics in even the slightest way? Or even working for them for free as all users are, but also moderators on Reddit — providing all the valuable content for “their” platforms?”
Origin Stories: Plantations, Computers, and Industrial Control
A real eye-opener, for me.
Letters from an American
One of the very best editions of one of the very best newsletters.
Ceteris is not paribus – The one-handed economist
Particularly liked this quote:
“Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires” — Ronald Wright, 2004.
Bicycle – Bartosz Ciechanowski
Absolutely wonderful, except that I may now not be able to ride my bike mindlessly at all, so full will it be with physics.
Thanks Waxy.
March: Kung Fu Nuns, Discontinued products, new things, RICOH and NITT – Rivendell Bicycle Works
You can say or think oh shut up, what's the big deal, it's just progress and it'll be fine, but there's more to it than that. What if you couldn't buy a plain hammer--only an electronic nail gun? You couldn't buy a kitchen knife, only a Cuisinart? No pencils and pens, only computers?
The supersedure state revisited | Small Farm Future
States and civilizations have collapsed many times in the past. But we’re in an unprecedented situation globally today, with such a vast population so reliant on high-energy resource flows orchestrated by a tightly-organized global network of centralized states increasingly incapable of organizing those flows, whose citizenries are extraordinarily alienated from the material and mental resource base needed to generate local livelihoods.
Measure attention, not just downloads. Here’s how Bumper calculates Listen Time. — Bumper | podcast growth agency
I think Bumper is onto something here for sure, in that the main reason for big download numbers is to sell advertising, whereas I would just like some sort of measure of whether people find my episodes interesting and whether that is going up or down. If data collection could be automated ...
11 ways ChatGPT saves me hours of work every day,
I'm sure I could make use of at least some of this, in my bumbling, amateur way. I also wish it wasn't a Twitter thread. Need to find time to save the details for myself.
Talking “Bretbug” in the Classroom
Classy dissection.
Sapir-Whorf for Rationalists
Very thought provoking and quite apart from reading and thinking about it, I'm feeling the need actually to do something about it.
it's a truism that anyone who wants you to stop thinking isn't your friend but it's equally true that anyone who insists that you think in exactly the way they've deemed proper is also not your friend.
Lost Media: Finding Bill Clinton's "Boxers or Briefs" MTV Moment - Waxy.org
This is why I contribute my bit to the Internet Archive, when I can.
The UK is wasting a lot of wind power
Very grateful to John Naughton for pointing to this article, which explains the problems and some of the solutions and which seems like an obvious dose of sanity.
Ultimately, like many discussions around solutions to climate changes, this is a “yes, and” rather than an “or” choice. We can, and should, build more transmission capacity and storage, whilst reforming the market such that the UK’s phenomenal success in deploying wind power can be finessed to more precisely match our energy needs.
I'm sure I don't understand all the details, but I feel as if I understand more than I ever did before.
The housing theory of everything - Works in Progress
I'm persuaded; but then, I was already persuaded.
The Expanding Dark Forest and Generative AI
Maggie Appleton has a very persuasive article on the boredom that faces us from generative AI and some ideas to deal with it.
I particularly liked:
Easier said than done, but one of the best ways to prove you're not a predictive language model is to demonstrate critical and sophisticated thinking.
Which ought to go without saying, but of course doesn't. And which ought also to include some sort of distinctive authorial voice.
And:
we can prove we're real humans by showing up IRL with our real human bodies
Bring it on.
Beastly Clues: T. S. Eliot, Torquemada, and the Modernist Crossword
Fascinating deep read, prompting deep memories of my father's abiding interest in cryptic crossword puzzles and prodding me to maybe take up my pen (or more likely pencil) again..Maybe in the New Year.
Fogknife : Six days of the Python (5 minute read)
I feel so seen, and this by Someone Who Knows.
Oh my god web results for popular programming questions are terrible. The top hits for every search phrase with python in it lead to pages that technically contain the information I seek, but which clog up the browser window with animated ads, subscription pop-ups, and sliding survey pitches.
fluffy rambles: Warning signs with social media platforms
Still not feeling a whole lot of urgency about any alternatives to That Silo. Maybe that just reflects my lousy performance as a self-promoter.
52 things I learned in 2022
I really, really like this series, and am thankful it comes around each year. (Even though Medium's markup sucks.)
Health & welfare in a small farm future, Part 3 | Small Farm Future
TIL about TATT and MUS.
[C]ould it be possible that health care in a small farm future wouldn’t necessarily be inferior, because we have the wrong image of what health care involves?