Links
- Bypass paywalls on popular online publications for free, by 7 Labs.
There is a lot of important information out there that is behind paywalls, many requiring expensive subscription to overcome.
Above the Fold
- Reflections about My Rich Friends, by Tessa Schlesinger, Medium
"They all started with nothing and became very rich…" - If You Make $34,000, You’re Part Of The One Percent, by Matt Lillywhite,
"A crash course in western privilege." - When hope is a hindrance, by Samantha Rose Hill, Aeon
"For Hannah Arendt, hope is a dangerous barrier to courageous action. In dark times, the miracle that saves the world is to act" - The first David Graeber Foundation meetup, between Thomas Piketty and Michael Hudson, by Cory Doctorow, Medium
"Debts that can’t be paid, won’t be paid"
Miscellaneous
- Kim Stanley Robinson on the structure of feeling of this perilous moment, by Cory Doctorow, Medium
- What Is Up With American Trucks? by Quinten Dol, Medium
"We’re all suffering for your masculinity crisis."
I'd say this is a case of vehicle manufacturers talking advantage of our innate, and often frustrated, drive to dominate. Culture takes advantage of those innate drives and uses them towards its own ends, in this case to make a tidy profit. And make no mistake, selling those trucks is a lot more profitable than selling smaller, more appropriate vehicles. - Review: A “Dune” Sanded to Dullness, by Richard Brody, The New Yorker
"Whereas David Lynch’s 1984 adaptation turned Frank Herbert’s fantasy world into a visceral cinematic experience, Denis Villeneuve’s version remains in the realm of worthy principles."
I read Dune in highschool,around 50 years ago, and have re-read it at least once since then, as well as most of the sequels and prequels, but not recently. Still, it seems this reviewer has got some of his details mixed up and is clearly a fan of Lynch's version. - Denis Villeneuve’s Dune Is A Future-Shock Masterpiece, by Chris Nashawaty, Esquire
A more positive review. But I just have to say it, Dune is certainly not the best science fiction book I have ever read, and despite being praised for introducing a generation to ecological ideas, it makes at least one significant mistake, ecology wise. Only in an appendix does it address the question of where all the oxygen is coming from on Arrakis, and even then it doesn't answer the question of where the sandworms are getting the energy to release all that oxygen. - The Enduring Appeal of “Dune” as an Adolescent Power Fantasy, by Ed Park, The New Yorker
"When you’re a teen-ager like Paul Atreides, it can seem like authority figures are always forcing you to do pointless, excruciating things." - Vikings lived in North America by at least the year 1021, by Bruce Bower, Science News
"Scientists used tree ring data to more precisely date a UNESCO historic site in Newfoundland"
Coronavirus
- I am not an antivaxxer, I took all vacines I ever should according to my doctor, but I feel strange about covid vacines. I feel like they have not been tested enough (takes years for other vacines). Can you debunk my worries about long term effects? by Emily Doyle, Quora
An excellent answer! - Could there be more potential health issues with a rushed Covid 19 vaccine (vaccines usually take years of development) than the actual virus? by C Stuart Hardwick, Quora
"It’s as safe as any medicine ever produced. The mRNA vaccine is safer than any vaccine ever produced because it’s made in a way that is inherently more targeted and less prone to contamination or allegen inclusion, using a technology that is new to the public but that has been successfully used in human cancer treatment for 20 years."
Co-operation, Mutual Aid and Direct Democracy
- Worker Cooperatives Are More Productive Than Normal Companies, by Michelle Chen, The Nation
"When maximizing profits isn’t the only goal, companies can actually work better."
Capitalism, Communism, Anarchy
- David Graeber
American Anarchist, Brian Rose interviews David Graeber on London Real
"When I say the word anarchist you probably have an image of a bomb-throwing skinhead shouting slogans and facing down riot police. This week’s London Real guest David Graeber is going to change that image forever. A self-proclaimed anarchist, David is far more the picture of the soft-spoken, thoughtful academic than a combative activist. But David’s credentials as a campaigner and anti-capitalist thinker speak volumes."
Agriculture
- The Myth of Regenerative Ranching, by Jan Dutkiewicz, Gabriel N. Rosenberg, The New Republic
"The purveyors of “grass-fed” beef want you to believe that it solves meat’s environmental problem. But this is merely a branding exercise, not a climate solution." - Lab-grown meat is supposed to be inevitable. The science tells a different story, by Joe Fassler, The Counter
"Splashy headlines have long overshadowed inconvenient truths about biology and economics. Now, extensive new research suggests the industry may be on a billion-dollar crash course with reality."
Recipes and Cooking
- Lost In The Sauce, by Nicholas Hayward, Medium—One table, One World
"Sauce Hacks, Simple-Delicious"
Genetic Engineering
Before jumping to the erroneous conclusion that this section was paid for by Monsanto, stop for a moment and understand that organic agriculture/food is a multi-billion dollar per year industry that relies on fear to get people to buy its product. Millions of dollars are spent to convince you that non-organic food is dangerous. In fact both conventionally grown and organic foods are equally safe. Sadly neither method of agriculture is even remotely substainable.
- Panic-free GMOs, A Grist Special Series by Nathanael Johnson
"It’s easy to get information about genetically modified food. There are the dubious anti-GM horror stories that recirculate through social networks. On the other side, there’s the dismissive sighing, eye-rolling, and hand patting of pro-GM partisans. But if you just want a level-headed assessment of the evidence in plain English, that’s in pretty short supply. Fortunately, you’ve found the trove."
A series of articles that does a pretty good job of presenting the facts about GMOs. I plan to include one article from this series here each month. - GMO labeling: Trick or treat?, by Nathanael Johnson, Grist
"Many of the arguments against Washington state's GMO labeling initiative make sense. Here's why, despite that, it should pass."
Practical Skills
- The Real Secret to Non-Stick Cast Iron, by Paul Thomas Zenki, Medium—One Table, One World
Sure, this might just as well have gone in the Recipes and Cooking section.
Writing Skills
- Comma Queen: To Whom It May Concern, by Mary Norris, The New Yorker
Debunking Resources
These are of such importance that I've decide to leave them here on an ongoing basis.
- Debunking, Wikipedia
- Pseudoscience, Wikipedia
- List of topics characterized as pseudoscience, Wikipedia
- Rational Wiki
- Science Based Medecine
- Quackwatch
- Snopes, debunks or validates urban legends
- Bad Astronomy
- The Skeptics Society
- The 8 Best Fact-Checking Sites for Finding Unbiased Truth, by Megan Ellis, MUO—Make Use Of
- Pain Science, by Paul Ingraham
- Techniques of Science Denial
Science
- Astronomers spot first activity on giant megacomet beyond Saturn, by Elizabeth Howell, space.com
"New Zealand-based astronomers had a time-zone advantage while watching the massive comet." - The Moon’s South Pole Is Hiding Something Massive and Mysterious, by Neel Patel, Medium—Popular Science
- 5 cool things to know about NASA’s Lucy mission to the Trojan asteroids, by Lisa Grossman, Science News
"The spacecraft is the first headed to the space rocks that tag along in Jupiter’s orbit"
Lacking an Owner's Manual
The human body/mind/spirit doesn't come with an owner's manual, and we continually struggle to figure out how best to operate them.
Chock this up to the concept of mutual aid—one of the most powerful ideas in human culture.
"Adopt these lifestyle changes and you will not only sharpen your mind today but also reduce your risk of dementia later on"
Books
Fiction
- Dies the Fire, by S. M. Stirling
- The Protectors War, by S. M. Stirling
- A Meeting at Corvallis, by S. M. Stirling
- Daughter of the Morning Star: A Longmire Mystery, by Craig Johnson
- PROXIMITY: A Gripping Near Future Techno Thriller (iMe Series Book 1), by Jem Tugwell
- Invisible Sun (Empire Games Book 3), by Charles Stross
- Finwell Bay, by Nathan Lowell
- Agency, by William Gibson
- Galactic North, by Alastair Reynolds
- Inhibitor Phase, by Alastair Reynolds
Non-Fiction
- Balancing Two Worlds: Jean-Baptiste Assiginack and the Odawa Nation, 1768-1866, by Cecil King
- The Tragedy of the Worker, Towards the Proletarocene, by The Salvage Collective
Sadly, this book falls into the typical leftist mistake of discounting the possibility that there actually are too many people on this planet. - The Complete Manual of Wood Bending: Milled, Laminated, and Steambent Work , by Lon Schleining
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