Just a moment...
History is not destiny, and yet a little understand of history can help to make sense of things. I am grateful to Alan Jacobs for surfacing this enlightening account of the history of an area called Palestine. And if I remember correctly, in 1948 Jordan could have accepted Arabs from Western Palestine who wanted to resettle, but feared that their presence would upset the Hashemite kingdom.
The wholeness of the word: 'Regenesis' as myth, Part II | Chris Smaje
”Plants are energised by zero-carbon, zero-cost sunlight, whereas factory-produced microbial biomass is energised by generated electricity at an energetic cost amounting to at least an order of magnitude more.”
Not going to quibble about that order of magnitude greater than zero. The point is very well made: Proposed ecomodernist solutions to future food supply are not solutions at all.
Stop Hitting Yourself – Bike Snob NYC
"the very nature of social media discourse requires you to stand your ground like Jeremy Vine behind that truck and die with your metaphorical Brompton of Righteousness rather than acknowledge that someone with an opposing view may very well have a valid point."
I couldn't stand him on the radio either.
The wholeness of the world | Chris Smaje
Please give me what Monbiot calls ‘bucolic fairytales’ or ‘neo-peasant bullshit’ and what I call agrarian localism, agrarian populism or a small farm future over this sad dualism.
Glad to see that Chris Smaje has embarked on a series of articles about his new book: Saying NO to a Farm Free Future.
Demise of The Wirecutter, and Trusted Reviews in General – The Brooks Review
What's a person to do?
Gordon's Notes: Mass disability - dysfunctional web sites, apps for everything
I'm sure there is something to this.
against apps, for wander lines – The Homebound Symphony
Long, and fascinating, preamble to the essential point.
When Naomi Klein Realized People Regularly Confused Her With Naomi Wolf, She Went Down a Rabbit Hole | Vanity Fair
My treating Wolf like a branding problem would be about as off-brand as I could get.
Fascinating read, and now I am trying to think whether I have ever mistaken the Naomis.
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.