A space for mostly short form stuff and responses to things I see elsewhere.
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.
15 years ago today I wrote enthusiastically about @Mann_Library @Cornell gathering up great graphics to share and inspire.
The old website remains at https://
On this day in 2009, I never thought I would be directing this post to @danielpunkass https://
Long may it continue.
Hey @marcoarment Overcast.fm still giving errors: ssl3_get_server_certificate:certificate verify failed when I try file_get_contents(overcast_url)
Is this a relic of the big certificate fail a while ago? If not, I wonder what I can do about it.
@AgroBioDiverse You are a star! Manuel Elkin Patarroyo is the man.
"The chemically manufactured vaccine known as SPf66, invented by Patarroyo, had limited results with "only" 55 percent effectiveness. Even so, it was a breakthrough."
I hope @thedailybeast follows up.
@LSHTM All this talk of a first malaria vaccine ... first approved, maybe.
I can't be the only person who remembers early trials by a Venezuelan whose name, alas, I cannot remember. There was protection, but not enough. Does anyone else remember what I'm talking about?