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. - Show me a 10ft paywall, I’ll show you a 12ft ladder.
"Prepend 12ft.io/ to the URL of any paywalled page, and we'll try our best to remove the paywall and get you access to the article."
Above the Fold
- How Ottawa residents took care of each other when no one else did, by Jillian Kestler-D'Amours, AL JAZEERA
"How Ottawa residents took care of each other when no one else did." - Is the Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau underestimating the power and/or political influence of Canadian truckers? by Rathkeale T., Quora
- In other words, the Emergencies Act will give Trudeau the authority to jail, evict, and confiscate the property of anyone he views as threatening his regime. Really Canada? by Danny Philp, Quora
In short, no. - The Limits to Growth at 50: From Scenarios to Unfolding Reality, by Richard Heinberg, Resilience
- Dennis Meadows on the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Limits to Growth, by Richard Heinberg and Dennis Meadows, resilience
Miscellaneous
- SpaceX’s Latest Rocket Engine Will Dominate Space, by Will Lockett, Medium—Predict
"Elon’s Raptor 2 engine is in another league."
It is pretty amusing, really, when you get to the end of the article and find out they are having trouble controlling the build up of heat in the rocket engine, and it is a long way from delivering on the promises touted early in the article.
Coronavirus
Housing
- Housing Revisited: Part One, Do We Need Citizen Barracks/Dorms? by Bill Hulet, The Guelph Back-Grounder
- Housing Revisited, Part Two: the Housing Crisis—Branch and Root, by Bill Hulet, The Guelph Back-Grounder
Capitalism, Communism, Anarchy
- ThedaCare Medics Row Shows Worker Clout, by Dawn Allen, Legal Reader
"Seven ThedaCare medics quit for better jobs. At first, a judge said they couldn’t go, a stunning decision in an economy which should be golden for workers."
The New Fascism, the Far-Right and Antifa
I hear a lot of well educated people saying that the people some of us are calling fascists don't meet all the criteria for being "real" fascists. Others have even accused us of calling anyone we disagree with a fascist. I predict that a few decades (maybe just a few years) from now those same people will be saying they wish they hadn't been quite so fussy with their definitions, and had acted sooner to oppose these "new fascists", even if they weren't identical to the fascists of the twentieth century. The following four paragraphs, by Shane Burley, are the best short defintiion of fascism I have yet come across.
There has to be a reliable base point when we are looking at something we think to be fascist, especially when it runs a certain level of subtlety that isn’t apparent on its own terms. I have defined fascism using two key primary points: inequality and essentialized identity.
Inequality: The belief that human beings are not equal for immutable reasons, such as intelligence, capacity, spiritual caste, etc. This inequality is not just fact, but it is a sacrament, meaning that society should be constructed with cleanly defined hierarchies, which are natural, and that society would then be healthier when those hierarchies are made explicit and enforced. This also lends itself to the importance of elitism, that there must be an elite ruler caste, even though they usually reject the existing ruling class.
Essential identity: Our identities are fixed and define us, they are not socially constructed or chosen. The most common of these is racial given white nationalism as the dominant form of Western fascism, but it could also include gender (male tribalism), specific ethnicities (inter-European nationalism), sexual orientation (extreme queer-phobia), or religion (Hindutva). And when I say essentializing identities I mean that it is not just an identity that is true (like being of African heritage), but that the identity defines you in some way as incidence.
There are several points that I consider very important in the definition of fascism, but often put just secondary to the two critical points. This would include a mythology about its tribal group, the sanctity of violence, revolutionary strategy (in some degree), authoritarianism, populism, and the appropriation of the Left. While these almost always exist in relationship to fascism, they are not defining of fascism because they may exist outside of fascism. It is not uncommon to interact with revolutionary left movements that are authoritarian or fetishize violence, and while that may be abhorrent, it does not make them fascist.
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 products. 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 sustainable.
- 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. - Block party: Are activists thwarting GMO innovation?, by Nathanael Johnson, Grist
"GM technology hasn't lived up to its hype. Genetic-engineering proponents blame activists. Here's a deeper look at the GMO blame game."
I have to say that Mr. Johnson leans pretty heavily to the anti-GMO side in this one, even thought the facts he presents don't support that.
Practical Skills
- 9 Bandsaw Resawing Tips And Tricks You Should Know, by Bright Ochuko, Craftsman Pro Tools
- 8 Ways To Prevent Or Deal With Planer Snipe, by Bright Ochuko, Craftsman Pro Tools
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
Books
Fiction
- Light Chaser, by Peter F. Hamilton and Gareth L. Powell
"Amahle is a Light Chaser – one of a number of explorers, who travel the universe alone (except for their onboard AI), trading trinkets for life stories. But when she listens to the stories sent down through the ages she hears the same voice talking directly to her from different times and on different worlds. She comes to understand that something terrible is happening, and only she is in a position to do anything about it. nd it will cost everything to put it right." - A Desolatioin Called Peace, by Arkady Martine
"A Desolation Called Peace is the spectacular space opera sequel to A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine, winner of the 2020 Hugo Award for Best Novel." - Bright Morning Star, by Simon Morden
"Simon Morden has won the Philip K. Dick Award and been a judge on the Arthur C. Clarke Award. He is a bona fide rocket scientist, with degrees in Geology and Planetary Geophysics. In Bright Morning Star he delivers perhaps his finest work to date, a ground-breaking take on first contact. Sent to Earth to explore, survey, collect samples and report back to its makers, an alien probe arrives in the middle of a warzone. Witnessing both the best and worst of humanity, the AI probe faces situations that go far beyond the parameters of its programming, and is forced to improvise, making decisions that have repercussions for the future of our entire world." - Gallowglass, by Simon Morden
"Jack Van Der Veerden is on the run. From his billionaire parents' chilling plans, from his brutal bodyguard, from a planet on the brink of climate chaos.
"Seeking freedom out in space, he gets a job on a mining ship chasing down an asteroid. Crewed by mercenaries and misfits, they all want a cut of the biggest payday in history. A single mistake could cost Jack his life - and that's before they reach their destination. The bounty from the asteroid could change lives and save nations - and corrupt any one of them. Because in space, it's all or nothing: riches beyond measure, or dying alone in the dark."
Non-Fiction
- No Bosses: A New Economy for a Better World, by Michael Albert
"Providing hope and direction to sustain commitment on the path to change, No Bosses is about winning a new world.
"Life under capitalism. Rampant debilitating denial for the many next to vile enrichment of the few. Material deprivation, denial, and denigration. Dignity defiled. Michael Albert's book No Bosses advocates for the conception and then organization of a new economy. The vision offered is called participatory economics. It elevates self-management, equity, solidarity, diversity, and sustainability. It eliminates elitist, arrogant, dismissive, authoritarian, exploitation, competition, and homogenization. No Bosses proposes a built and natural productive commons, self-management by all who work, income for how long, how hard, and the onerousness of conditions of socially valued work, jobs that give all economic actors comparable means and inclination to participate in decisions that affect them, and a process called participatory planning in which caring behavior and solidarity are the currency of collective and individual success."
