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.
The new reading stack - macwright.com
Some interesting ideas, to be sure.
A thread about ideas for Botany One plant stories
Such a fine example of endearing grumpiness in the pursuit of truth and beauty.
The Most Beautiful Experiment: Meselson and Stahl • iBiology
Cannot wait to watch this. For as long as I have been a biologist, I have regarded this as the one thing I wish I'd been around for. Well, maybe poly-U too ...
"Apart From Code"
PESOS from Reading.am.
"The Original Sin of Free Software"
PESOS from Reading.am.
John Naughton gets it:
although I use both Medium and Substack, everything I write therein is also published verbatim on my ‘live’ blog, which is completely under my control, and for whose hosting I pay with my own money. For me, Substack provided merely a convenient and reliable way of sending out the email version of what really matters — the live blog on the open Web.
The Substackerati - Columbia Journalism Review
Very interesting article about Substack that can't quite decide whether it thinks Substack is a good thing or not. Also, I don't buy Substack's excuses about showing only the top 25 earners. Why not show earners 26-50? Or a random selection of 25 newsletters? It's the Matthew Effect all over again.
The Fall of Rome (just the poem) (Interconnected)
So few words, so much intent.
Americans Need to Kick Addiction to Polling - Bloomberg
Yeah, and maybe not just Americans, eh?
Don't Contribute Anything Relevant in Web Forums Like Reddit
Here's hoping this sensible person soon becomes active in IndieWeb things.
How quick and dirty Covid tests could end the weariness | Tim Harford
Far too sensible for anyone in position to make it happen, to make it happen.
Protests and Power (Idle Words)
Seems fair to me.
On the efficiency of my scythe | Small Farm Future
Another great post from Chris Smaje, and how about those comments?
The reason that you see farmers nowadays with combines and not with scythes is because energy and capital are cheap, labour is dear, and most people don’t work the land. Like it or not, I think all this is going to change in the future.
I had a scythe once. I loved that thing, and the sheer joy of becoming skilled in using it and keeping it sharp.
How to pick more beautiful colors for your data visualizations | Chartable
Wow! Great read from Lisa Charlotte Rost on colours in visualisations. I have a lot of work to do ...
PhD student reporting what it's like to use a Zettelkasten for the first time with my classes — Zettelkasten Forum
What this really needs, for me, is a largish piece of paper tucked into the physical book, which I have done, in the past. The insight is to procss those notes later in the day.
Town Hall Clock: read it and weep
“Are you still there? Mum?”
I kept my voice steady. I didn’t show that I was crying
“Moschatel. Adoxa moschcatellina, is the Latin name but I think I taught you town hall clock.”
Did MySpace Kill the Potential for Customization on Social Media?
Sure, the defaults are elegant, but they are constant reminders that you’re ultimately building castles in someone else’s sandbox, which is sad and unfortunate when you’re trying to build the coolest castle you can.
This is about far more than merely being able to customize the look of your site, although that is clearly important too.
Just Too Efficient
I wish there were a way to quantify effectiveness rather than efficiency. It is surely effectiveness that matters.
Krugman revisits pellagra to illuminate the US response to Covid-19
the United States is exceptional, in a very bad way.
It's not the only country that's exceptional, but it is exceptionally bad.
What was it like?
Anyone who thinks blogging died at some point in the past twenty years presumably just lost interest themselves, because there have always been plenty of blogs to read. Some slow down, some die, new ones appear. It’s as easy as it’s ever been to write and read blogs.
Phil Gyford's lovely look back to SXSW 2000 and the blogging around it. I don't actually have a crucial event like that, maybe BlogTalk in Vienna, which I didn't do nearly enough to record at the time.
https://superorganizers.substack.com/p/the-man-who-reads-1000-articles-a
I have about 100 Chrome bookmarks, and I try to visit at least 2 or 3 of them a day to make sure I’m not missing something. But even as I do that, I do it with a private irritation that they don’t have an RSS feed.
Yeah, me too. Except for the bit about checking Chrome bookmarks, because life is too short.
New decade, new theme – Lea Verou
I was hesitating to blog about it because I was embarrassed at how my website looked. This is it, I thought. If it has gotten so bad that I avoid blogging because I don’t want people to be reminded of how old my website looks, I need to get my shit together and fix this, I told myself.
Isn't that the most perfect reason of all?