ongoing by Tim Bray · Blah, Blah, Blah, Boom
I'm still, at heart, both a coward and a pessimist.
Revisiting My Ideal Feed Reader – Interdependent Thoughts
Making tentative steps towards implementing an IndieWeb social reader and so reading up what other people have done and how they are using these ideas.
Property ownership in a small farm future | Small Farm Future
[S]o many people in the world today lack the opportunity, knowledge and skill to provide even the most basic perquisites of daily life, and I believe this is a silent pathology that eats at contemporary society.
Yup.
J-School Confidential
I'm pretty sure nothing much has changed in the intervening 28 years.
Thomas P.M. Barnett - Blog - As a Writer, What Would It Be Worth to You to Be Able to Instantly Mine Everything You’ve Ever Written?
Thomas PM Barnett seems to be building a combination personal search engine and Zettelkasten called InfoSquirrel and plans to sell it as a service. I doubt I will ever be able to afford it, but it does look interesting and I certainly wish him well.
Part 1: It will think you are crunching bones
Always readable.
19.10.40 | Orwell Diaries 1938-1942
Thought for the Day
The unspeakable depression of lighting the fires every morning with papers of a year ago, and getting glimpses of optimistic headlines as they go up in smoke.
Pig apples: or, why small farmsteads are efficient and effective | Small Farm Future
[W]hile it’s feasible to wander around a smallholding with a trug looking for apples to feed two pigs, it probably isn’t feasible to wander around a largeholding with a trug looking for apples to feed two hundred or two thousand pigs. So there are diseconomies of large scale to the ecological efficiency of the farm’s unbidden bounty.
That doesn't mean it isn't worthwhile
Ghostwriting – Study Hall
Very interesting long essay about what it is to be unseen, unheard and yet vital. But that professional podcast world? Awful.
How to help someone use a computer
I just rediscovered this page, which I first linked to on this day in 2004. Timeless advice that I try to follow when I give and appreciate when I receive.
In my ignorance, I didn't know who Phil Agre was; now that I want to know more, it is hard to do so.
Opting Out of TurnItIn – Terence Eden’s Blog
Not sure I can be bothered to expend the effort, but the reasoning is sound.
My argument is "Fuck You. I don't want you to hoover up my content and then sell it without my permission."
Godwit – Music of Sound
Wonderful in so many ways, from the natural to the highly technical.
An open letter to Airbnb
I don't know why he doesn't post this to his own site. Seems to me airbnb and Medium share certain similarities
21 pieces of unsolicited advice nobody else is willing to tell you | poste italiane
Found via Ton, lots of these are good. I need to internalise "the grind" more than I currently do.
Best analysis of US pull-out in Afghanistan
We started the Global War on Terror with a Leviathan force but we're continuing it - forever - with the SysAdmin force that does not wage war on states but on individuals.
Rings true to me.
Scotland, stop selling yourself shortbread!
Excellent, thought-provoking read on the fall and rise of local food traditions.
Renegade projections and the domestic mode of production: for Marshall Sahlins (1930-2021) | Small Farm Future
More here than I remember, and my copy of Sahlins is long gone, but it would be good revisit, as Chris has.
w/e 2021-08-01 (Phil Gyford’s website)
What if you don’t realise which genre you’re actually in and you’ve been doing everything wrong all this time?
Nicely put!
Welcome to the Entropocene (Interconnected)
I fully confess that from my position of inherent privilege, I had never considered the negative connotations of Anthropocene, despite often using "not ALL men" myself. So, can I train myself to use Entropocene instead? Maybe
an appeal to people who sell stuff on the internet
Can I get an Amen?
How I grew, and lost, a rainforest | Small Farm Future
I like the idea of a dappled woodland glade, the product of pig rootling, being neither light nor shade, and an apt metaphor for think beyond simplistic dualities.
Pluralistic: 05 Jun 2021
The fact that these cult-members were willing to risk their lives, but not endure poor web design, says a lot about the nature of the Trump cult, and its relationship to passive media.
What magic teaches us about misinformation | Tim Harford
Excellent read, with lots of far-flung examples.
Defending inflation
Excellent, clear explanation. I rather liked this bit:
One strange feature of American ~popular economic discourse~ is that the rarified troubles of the very rich often get discussed as if they were “normal”, but: they are extremely not normal.
The million-dollars-in-cash-havers can fend for themselves.
Because it is so true.
Commonplace – Lucy Bellwood
Fascinating.
TIL Zibaldone, which I might just have to make my own.
Whitewood under Siege
Can't enough of this kind of thing.
[M]any experts consider the pallet to be the most important materials-handling innovation of the twentieth century. Studies have estimated that pallets consume 12 to 15 percent of all lumber produced in the US, more than any other industry except home construction.
Some further thoughts on organic fertility | Small Farm Future
Ultimately, the long-term necessity to cycle rather than mine P could be a key factor propelling humanity back to a predominantly rural, distributed and agrarian human geography.
Is anybody listening?
Teresa Cherfas reviews 'The Return of the Russian Leviathan' by Sergei Medvedev: "For anyone interested in contemporary Russia, this book is an invaluable guide and will leave you smiling through tears." - Rights in Russia
Teresa Cherfas reviews ‘The Return of the Russian Leviathan’ by Sergei Medvedev:
“For anyone interested in contemporary Russia, this book is an invaluable guide and will leave you smiling through tears.”
Race and Biology | BioScience | Oxford Academic
Researchers from many disciplines argue that science would get far more bang for its research buck by looking to solve broader societal contributors to disparities. Housing conditions, segregated neighborhoods, poverty, education, the burden of racism, environmental pollutants, and other factors are likely the main contributors to higher rates of disease and disability in marginalized groups. “We support wholeheartedly the study of health disparities from a wide range of disciplines,” says Michael Yudell, professor of community health and prevention at Drexel University. “Our issue is that race is a poor proxy to understand the biological factors underpinning health disparities.”
The Capitalist Case for Overhauling Twitter
A very interesting analysis, that will probably go nowhere.
to date, nobody has rallied a mob to attack the U.S. Capitol using tastefully curated photos of bathroom remodelings.
I'm no fan of Pinterest, but this seems accurate.
The Essential Weekly Review -- MacSparky
More formality would probably be a good thing, and 10 weeks is not that great a commitment. I should give this a try.