Showing posts with label COVID-19. Show all posts
Showing posts with label COVID-19. Show all posts

Saturday, 5 February 2022

What I've Been Reading, December 2021

Links

Above the Fold

  • Solidarity Networks, by Gods & Radicals
  • Seattle Solidarity Network
    • "Seattle Solidarity (“SeaSol”) is a volunteer network of working people who believe in standing up for our rights. Our goal is to support our fellow workers’ strikes and struggles, build solidarity, and organize to deal with specific job, housing, and other problems caused by the greed of the rich and powerful. Join us! Let’s fight to win."
  • Microsolidarity, by Richard D. Bartlett, Microsolidarity
    "In late 2018, Richard D. Bartlett published a proposal to start a "microsolidarity" group — a small mutual aid community for people to do a kind of personal development, in good company, for social benefit."
  • Courage Before Hope: A Proposal to Weave Emotional and Economic Microsolidarity
  • Microsolidarity: Update 2020
    "How To Weave Social Fabric-- 3 Essential Pillars For a New Mutual Aid Community"

Miscellaneous

Reactions to "The Dawn of Everything"

  • Everything we “know” about the rise of Man is wrong, by David Wineberg, Medium--The Straight Dope
    "For 350 years, it has been common knowledge that Man went from bands of hunter-gatherers, to pastoralists, to farming, to industry. In parallel, Man lived in families, in tribes, in villages and then in cities, as technology improved. Technology, the third parallel, took us from the stone age through the bronze age and the iron age to the industrial revolution. All neat, tidy and clearly separable. David Graeber and David Wengrow claim there is no evidence for this. In The Dawn of Everything, they show proof of an unbelievable variety of living styles, governance and intellectual activity all over the world and throughout time. It was never a straight line progression. It was never the result of technology. And possibly most stunning, the larger the population was did not also mean more restrictions, more crime, more laws, or more inequality. This is an important book."
  • All things being equal, by Nancy Lindisfarne Jonathan Neale, Ecologist
    Based on it's harsh criticism of the antropological establishment it was inevitable that someone would write a negative review of The Dawn of Everything. This review reads like the authors only read parts of the book and didn't understand most of those. The only point I agree with is that Graeber and Wengrow are largely blind to the ecological and resource limits faced by human societies on this planet.

The Other News

News that is being ignored by North American mass media

Coronavirus

Capitalism, Communism, Anarchy

Food

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 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.
  • Rat retraction reaction: Journal pulls its GMOs-cause-rat-tumors study, by Nathanael Johnson, Grist
    "Retractions are typically the result of big goofs and frauds -- but in this case, the problem was inordinate attention paid to inconclusive results."

Practical Skills

Debunking Resources

These are of such importance that I've decide to leave them here on an ongoing basis.

Pseudoscience, Quacks and Charlatans

There is No God, and Thou Shall Have No Other Gods

I don't think I've made any secret of the fact that I am an atheist, but I may not have made it clear that I think any sort of worship is a bad thing and that believing in things is to be avoided whenever possible. Indeed, I do not believe in belief itself. That's what the "Thou shall have no other gods" is about—it's not enough to quit believing in whatever God or Gods you were raised to believe in, but also we must avoid other gods, including material wealth, power and fame.

Further, many people today (including most atheists) follow the religion of "progress", which is based on the belief that mankind is destined to follow a road that leads from the caves ever upward to the stars, and that however bad things seem today, they are bound to be better tomorrow due to technological advancement and economic growth. This is very convenient for those who benefit most from economic growth, but it is hardly based on any sort of science and leads to a great deal of confused thinking.

  • Surprises within latest data on decline of US Religion, by David Gamble, Medium-- Science and Critical Thinking
    " On 14th December 2021, Pew issued their latest update on the religious landscape in the US. For the non-religious, it appears to be very good news. The decline of religion in the US continues unabated."

Poverty, Homeless People, Minimum Wage, UBI, Health Care, Affordable Housing

  • Let There Be Money, Joe Manchin, by Sharon Woodhouse, Medium
    "Bathtubs, Modern Monetary Theory, and UBI"
    Not sure how valid Modern Monetary theory is--I'd rather do away with money altogether.

Books

Fiction

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Tuesday, 28 December 2021

What I've Been Reading, November 2021

Links

Above the Fold

  • David Graeber: A Celebration of His Life, hosted by Ash Sarkar, Novar Media
    "David Graeber’s life and work leaves an indelible mark on thinkers and activists from London through New York, from Rojava to Quebec. To celebrate his life and work Novara Media are hosting a live stream with academics, activists, and politicians who have been influenced by, and who were an influence on, his intellectual endeavours and activist pursuits."
  • Rogue State Run By Billionaires Biggest Threat to the Human Race, by Glen Hendrix, Medium--Politically Speaking
    "The rest of the world is becoming aware, and that will have consequences"
    And just in case it isn't obvious, that rouge state is the U.S. of A.
  • The Considerations Needed to Change Our World, by Tessa Schlesinger, Medium
    "We are so out of time. Why is no one speaking about designing new political and economic systems?"
  • ‘The Dawn of Everything’ rewrites 40,000 years of human history, by Bruce Bower, Science News
    "A new book recasts social evolution as surprisingly varied"
    Just finished reading this. I am very nimpressed.

Miscellaneous

Supply Chain Trouble/Economic Collapse

Coronavirus

Collapse

Responding to Collapse

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

  • 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.
  • Playing the field: Corn likes to sleep around — and that makes it hard to control GMOs, by Nathanael Johnson, Grist
    "Pollen spreads, so GMO genes get around. That's everyone's problem -- whether you like your farming organic or industrial."

Practical Skills

Canadian Politics

Linguistics

Dancing on Graves

A different sort of grave dance today, since the deceased is David Graeber, a man I hold in great esteem.

  • David Graeber’s Possible Worlds, by Molly Fischer, Intelligencer
    "The Dawn of Everything author left behind countless fans and a belief society could still change for the better."
    “Since one cannot know a radically better world is not possible, are we not betraying everyone by insisting on continuing to justify and reproduce the mess we have today?”
  • David Graeber: A Celebration of His Life, hosted by Ash Sarkar, Novar Media
    "David Graeber’s life and work leaves an indelible mark on thinkers and activists from London through New York, from Rojava to Quebec. To celebrate his life and work Novara Media are hosting a live stream with academics, activists, and politicians who have been influenced by, and who were an influence on, his intellectual endeavours and activist pursuits."

Debunking Resources

These are of such importance that I've decide to leave them here on an ongoing basis.

Science

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.

Humour

These are great times for political satire.

Books

Fiction

  • Fall; or, Dodge in Hell: A Novel, by Neal Stephenson
  • Dune, by Frank Herbert
    I first read this 50 years ago and have re-read it a couple of time since then. Not a bad book, but certainly over rated.

Non-Fiction

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Monday, 23 November 2020

What I've Been Reading, October 2020

Links

Above the Fold

  • Howard Zinn: Don’t Despair about the Supreme Court, by Howard Zinn, The Progressive
    "It would be naive to depend on the Supreme Court to defend the rights of poor people, women, people of color, dissenters of all kinds. Those rights only come alive when citizens organize, protest, demonstrate, strike, boycott, rebel, and violate the law in order to uphold justice."
  • The Tragedy of the ‘Tragedy of the Commons’, by Matto Mildenberger, Pocket— Scientific American
    "The man who wrote one of environmentalism’s most-cited essays was a racist, eugenicist, nativist and Islamaphobe—plus his argument was wrong."
  • A response to Pollin and Chomsky: We need a Green New Deal without growth, by Jason Hickel, on Jason's blog
    Good stuff, but one needs to be aware of EROEI and the surplus energy problem to really have an intelligent discussion of Green New Deals. And to be aware that as we speak the planet's carrying capacity is decreasing, and so the sustainability target we are aiming for is continually moving.
  • Not a Coup but a Cover-Up and a Con Game, by Jeet Heer, The Nation
    "Trump is refusing to concede and purging the civilian leadership of the Pentagon. The moment requires vigilance rather than panic."
  • 'Sustainability is wishful thinking': get ready for the energy downshift, by John McCrone, Stuff—Environment
    "Renewables can’t deliver in this way so energy abundance is about to become energy poverty. And we need to get ready."
    "Focus on eliminating the need for energy rather than on worrying how to keep increasing its supply."
  • San Francisco just banned gas in all new buildings. Could it ever happen in Australia?, by Susan M Park and Madeline Taylor, The Conversation
    Perhaps all those who are eagerly awaiting their gas hook ups here in Kincardine should ask if this could every happen in Ontario.
  • Degrowth: A response to Branko Milanovic, by Jason Hickel, on his blog
    This is a must read, even if it is ridiculously optimistic about the likelihood of such policies ever being implemented. It is important to know what we are going to say no too, as we rush on toward collapse. And do follow the links, which lead to a bunch of good articles.

Miscellaneous

Things end up in this section not because they aren't important, but because I can't figure out what other section they should go in.

Suddenly, "liberal" is a dirty word

And with good reason, it seems.

  • David Graeber on the Extreme 'Centre', by David Graeber, YouTube—Double Down News
    “It strikes me that what’s called the moderates are the most immoderate people possible”
    "Previously unreleased video of David Graeber talking about liberalism. Originally filmed at the start of 2020. We planned to make a dedicated film on the subject with David upon his return to London. We release this video with the blessing of his beloved wife Nika.
    Rest in Power David Graeber"

Coronavirus

Capitalism, Communism, Anarchy

  • The radical aristocrat who put kindness on a scientific footing, by Lydia Syson, Aeon—Psyche
  • Economics for the people—the challenge of reclaiming the commons from capitalism, by Dirk Philipsen, Aeon
    "Against the capitalist creeds of scarcity and self-interest, a plan for humanity’s shared flourishing is finally coming into view"
    We should be concerned about the "tragedy of the private", not the "tragedy of the commons".
    While this article recognizes the role of fossil fuels in driving growth of the private, it also makes a statement like, "We produce and grow enough for every child, woman and man to have a good and dignified life wherever they live". True, but we must consider the cost to the planet of producing and growing that much, and ask ourselves how long it can be sustained. (Not long, in case anyone is wondering.)
    Scarcity is real, capitalism only makes it worse, even as we produce more and more while ignoring the consequences
    Ordinary people these days have tastes borrowed from billionaires (comfort, convenience, entertainment) and no idea of frugality, so when you say "we produce enough", and talk about prosperity for all, it is taken as something entirely different from what this article means.
  • Are You An Anarchist?, by David Graeber, YouTube
  • David Graeber on basic income, by David Graber, YouTube
    "David Graeber speaking at 'Basic Income: How do we get there?' Basic Income UK meet-up at St Clements Church Kings Square, London, 3 December 2015."
  • David Graeber on a Fair Future Economy, by David Graeber, YouTube
    David Graeber was an anthropologist, a leading figure in the Occupy movement, and one of our most original and influential public thinkers.
  • The Future Is Worker-Owned, by Douglas Rushkoff, Medium—Team Human
    "It’s time for businesses to work for people, not the other way around."

The New Fascism, 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.

Resource Depletion, formerly (and still including) Peak Oil

The change in title stems from the fact that it's not just oil that is peaking.

  • The fall of an empire, by Felix Salmon, Axios
    "The decline of ExxonMobil has been remarkable in its magnitude and unexpectedness."
  • Shell To Shut Down Louisiana Refinery, by Irina Slav, OilPrice.com
    "Royal Dutch Shell will shut down its Convent refinery in Louisiana after failing to find a buyer for the facility, Bloomberg reports, citing a statement by the company."

Climate Change

  • Russian Arctic Sea Fails to Freeze , The Moscow Times
    "Russia’s Arctic Laptev Sea has not yet frozen for the first time since records began, according to the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Centre."

Gardening

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.
  • Food for bots: Distinguishing the novel from the knee-jerk in the GMO debate, by Nathanael Johnson, GRist— Panic-free GMOs

Practical Skills

  • Make a mid-century modern-style coffee table, by Patrick Laperrière and Matt Wallace, YouTube— Lee Valley
    "Lee Valley’s Patrick Laperrière and Matt Wallace show you how to make a mid-century modern-style coffee table out of black walnut."
    I watched this video because I am at the moment seriously considering making a coffee table. It presents some good ideas.
  • Using a Blanket Pin, by Coalcracker Bushcraft, YouTube

Canadian Politics

Politics

Linguistics

Debunking Resources

These are of such importance that I've decide to leave them here on an ongoing basis.

Science

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.

Gender and Sexuality

There is No God, and Thou Shall Have No Other Gods

I don't think I've made any secret of the fact that I am an atheist, but I may not have made it clear that I think any sort of worship is a bad thing and that believing in things is to be avoided whenever possible. Indeed, I do not believe in belief itself. That's what the "Thou shall have no other gods" is about—it's not enough to quit believing in whatever God or Gods you were raised to believe in, but also we must avoid other gods, including material wealth, power and fame.

Further, many people today (including most atheists) follow the religion of "progress", which is based on the belief that mankind is destined to follow a road that leads from the caves ever upward to the stars, and that however bad things seem today, they are bound to be better tomorrow due to technological advancement and economic growth. This is very convenient for those who benefit most from economic growth, but it is hardly based on any sort of science and leads to a great deal of confused thinking.

Humour

These are great times for political satire.

Books

Fiction

 

Non-Fiction

  • Natural: How Faith in Nature's Goodness Leads to Harmful Fads, Unjust Laws, and Flawed Science, by Alan Levinovitz
    Overall, this book does a pretty good job of highlighting much of the nonsense done in the name of nature. If anything, he is a little too kind to the "natural" nuts, especially in the section on medicine. Personally, I just haven't found the medical profession to be as uncaring and inhuman as Leviowitz would have us believe. But then I don't live in the U.S.
    Anyway, if the idea that everything natural isn't necessarily good is new to you, this one is definitely worth a read.
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Thursday, 20 August 2020

What I've Been Reading, July 2020

Links

Above the Fold

Miscellaneous

At the Doomstead Diner

Over the last while I've gotten together on Skype with RE at the Doomstead Diner and made a few videos. Here are links to what we've done so far. There is more to come.

Defund the Police

Coronavirus

Capitalism, Communism, Anarchy

The New Fascism, 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 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.

Economic Contraction and Growing Inequality

  • The Ides of Autumn--Seeds, Stagflation and Crash Risk , by Tim Morgan, Surplus Energy Economics
    "For anyone involved in economic interpretation, these are hectic times. They’re frustrating times, too, for those of us who understand that the economy is an energy system, but have to watch from the sidelines as huge mistakes are made on the false premise that economics is ‘the study of money’, and that energy is ‘just another input’."

Recipes and Cooking

  • Bouillon Brodo Caldo Dashi, Medium-Anthology of Cooking
    "The broths of several cultures, their preparation and use"
    I find broths freeze quite well. I also tend to cook them quite a bit longer than this piece suggests, like overnight. Very few tings benefit by being turned in a race.

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.
  • Genetically modified literature (in which I read books so you don’t have to), by Nathanael Johnson, Grist

Practical Skills

American Politics

  • What Could Happen If Donald Trump Rejects Electoral Defeat?, by Jabin Botsford, The New Yorker
    "A new book conjures three scenarios in which President Trump could lose the election but not step down."
  • Are you a conservative? It’s a trick question., by Jennifer Rubin, The Washington Post
    This article makes some good points, but I'd say that conservatism is a force for evil, and still a powerful one.
  • Biden’s Big-Tent Strategy Seems to Be Working, by John Cassidy, The New Yorker
    "None of this means that Biden is a lock for the Oval Office. Between now and November 3rd, something could conceivably shift the momentum against him, such as a Vice-Presidential pick that backfires, a major slipup in the debates, or a surprising economic upturn. Right now, though, the challenger’s strategy of keeping the focus on the incumbent and pitching a broad tent that accommodates anyone who wants to see the back of Trump is working well."

Canadian Politics

Debunking Resources

These are of such importance that I've decide to leave them here on an ongoing basis.

Science Based Medicine

"Science is properly reductionist for a reason. In order to understand the world, and to have reliable empirical knowledge, you have to build your theories from the bottom up, but also confirm them from the top down. This means that we correlate ultimate effects with basic knowledge about mechanisms. Scientific knowledge does not have to flow in any particular direction. At times we discover something fundamental about the world, and then look for implications and applications. At other times we observe effects in the world, and then reverse engineer their cause. In either case real scientific phenomena become increasingly embedded in this network of knowledge. When a claim remains persistently isolated at one level, and neither leads to further applications or to more basic discoveries about the nature of reality, that is suspect." Steven Novella

There is No God, and Thou Shall Have No Other Gods

I don't think I've made any secret of the fact that I am an atheist, but I may not have made it clear that I think any sort of worship is a bad thing and that believing in things is to be avoided whenever possible. Indeed, I do not believe in belief itself. That's what the "Thou shall have no other gods" is about—it's not enough to quit believing in whatever God or Gods you were raised to believe in, but also we must avoid other gods, including material wealth, power and fame.

Further, many people today (including most atheists) follow the religion of "progress", which is based on the belief that mankind is destined to follow a road that leads from the caves ever upward to the stars, and that however bad things seem today, they are bound to be better tomorrow due to technological advancement and economic growth. This is very convenient for those who benefit most from economic growth, but it is hardly based on any sort of science and leads to a great many confused and incorrect ideas.

Poverty, Homeless People, Minimum Wage, UBI, Health Care, Affordable Housing

Artificial Intelligence

  • If You Think GPT-3 Makes Coders Obsolete, You Probably Do Not Write Code, by Chris I., Medium--Data Science
    "In rebuttal of data scientists and developers going obsolete"

    • Books

    Fiction

    Non-Fiction

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    Sunday, 12 July 2020

    What I've Been Reading, May and June 2020

    Links

    Above the Fold

    • How Many are Going to Die Because Trump Surrendered to Coronavirus? by Umair Haque, Medium--Eudaimonia
    • Calling overpopulation concern ‘ecofascist’ is absurd and harmful, by Olivia, Empathy Conservation
      "There’s a disturbing new trend of associating concern about human population growth with fascism and racism. Here’s why this is hugely damaging to people and planet."
    • 32 Pictures That Show What White Privilege Looks Like, by Dave Stopera and Matt Stopera, Buzzfeed
    • The Plan Is to Save Capital and Let the People Die, by Hamilton Nolan, Common Dreams
      "Whether Americans know it or not, their government is not working for them. Their government is working on behalf of capital. Humans are now a mere second-order, instrumental factor to be considered based on how it affects capital."
    • How Much Do We Need The Police?, by Leah Donnella, NPR Code Sw!tch
      Almost everything we use the police for could be better dealt with in other ways, ways that would address the underlying problems and solve them.
    • The Surplus Energy Economy—an introduction, by Tim Morgan, Surplus Energy Economics
      How the economy really works.
    • Green economic growth is an article of ‘faith’ devoid of scientific evidence, by Nafeez Ahmed, Medium—Insurge Intelligence
      "Crack team that advised UN Global Sustainable Development Report settle a longstanding debate with hard empirical data"
      "Decoupling is therefore not a truly scientific concept. It is, instead, merely an “abstract possibility that no empirical evidence can disprove but that in the absence of robust empirical evidence or detailed and concrete plans rests, in part, on faith. "Instead of focusing on the mythology that we can continue business-as-usual, we need to find ways to mobilise both technology and fundamental restructuring of our economies and production relations to transition to new forms of prosperity. As Jason Hickel of the London School of Economics has shown: “Over and over again, empirical data shows that it is possible to achieve high levels of human welfare without high levels of GDP with significantly less pressure on the planet. How? By sharing income more fairly and investing in universal health care, education, and other public goods. The evidence is clear: When it comes to delivering long, healthy, flourishing lives for all, this is what counts — this is what progress looks like."
    • Resources for a Better Future—Decoupling, by Timothée Parrique, Un Even Earth
      But the title should have been decoupling debunked. And a good job done of it, too.

    Miscellaneous

    Black Lives Matter

    • Black Lives Matter
    • Violence Never Works? Really? by Tim Wise, Medium—Equality
    • Opinion: Maybe That Police Station Shouldn’t Have Broken the Law, by Kevin Tit, The Hard Times
    • Letter from a Region in My Mind, by James Baldwin, The New Yorker
      "From 1962: 'Whatever white people do not know about Negroes reveals, precisely and inexorably, what they do not know about themselves.' "
    • When Gandhi Was Wrong, by Rafia Zakaria, The Baffler
      "There is no universal resistance strategy"
      Much in this that I don't agree with. It is important to realize the MLK eventually came around to the idea that violent protest may be the only way. Throughout history, much has been achieved through violence, and very little through peaceful protest. And I say this as a man who has no great love for violence.
    • Antifa, explained, by Zack Beauchamp, Vox
      "But it’s one thing to say some members are doing this stuff — a “faction of a faction,” as Bray puts it — and another to argue, as O’Brien does, that antifa is behind the overall tumult. The former is a reasonable suspicion based on antifa’s track record, the latter a political move designed exclusively to provide moral justification for a police crackdown on peaceful protesters."
    • This ‘Equity’ picture is actually White Supremacy at work, by Sippin the EquiTEA, Medium—Race
    • Structural Violence, Wikipedia
      A new term that I have just recently become familiar with and which neatly describes much of the oppression going on today.
    • Life and times at the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, by Shane Burley, Roar Magazine
      "Following a long tradition of left revolutionary praxis, protesters in Seattle have declared a cop-free autonomous zone in the heart of the city."

    Defund the Police

    Coronavirus

    Capitalism, Communism, Anarchy

    The New Fascism, 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 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.

    Resource Depletion, formerly (and still including) Peak Oil

    The change in title stems from the fact that it's not just oil that is peaking.

    Climate Change

    Agriculture

    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 being 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.

    Recipes and Cooking

    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.
    • Genetically modified seed research: What’s locked and what isn’t, by Nathanael Johnson , Grist—Panic Free GMOs
      "Monsanto gets a lot of pain in the public press, but they are the company that interacts the best with public scientists — they have always been on the forefront of pushing public research forward."

    American Politics

    Debunking Resources

    These are of such importance that I've decide to leave them here on an ongoing basis.

    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.

    Poverty, Homeless People, Minimum Wage, UBI, Health Care, Affordable Housing

    Humour

    These are great times for political satire.

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    Friday, 10 April 2020

    What I've Been Reading, March 2020

    Links

    Above the Fold

    Miscellaneous

    Coronavirus

    Capitalism, Communism, Anarchy

    Collapse

    Responding to Collapse,

    Peak Oil

    Climate Change

    Economic Contraction and Growing Inequality

    Energy

    Emergency Preparation

    Recipes and Cooking

    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.
    • Genetic engineering: Do the differences make a difference? by Nathanael Johnson, Grist

    Practical Skills

    American Politics

    Canadian Politics

    Debunking Resources

    These are of such importance that I've decide to leave them here on an ongoing basis.

    Science

    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.

    Gender and Sexuality

    There is No God, and Thou Shall Have No Other Gods

    I don't think I've made any secret of the fact that I am an atheist, but I may not have made it clear that I think any sort of worship is a bad thing and that believing in things is to be avoided whenever possible. Indeed, I do not believe in belief itself. That's what the "Thou shall have no other gods" is about—it's not enough to quit believing in whatever God or Gods you were raised to believe in, but also we must avoid other gods, including material wealth, power and fame.

    Further, many people today (including most atheists) follow the religion of "progress", which is based on the belief that mankind is destined to follow a road that leads from the caves ever upward to the stars, and that however bad things seem today, they are bound to be better tomorrow due to technological advancement and economic growth. This is very convenient for those who benefit most from economic growth, but it is hardly based on any sort of science and leads to a great many confused and incorrect ideas.

    Poverty, Homeless People, Minimum Wage, UBI, Health Care, Affordable Housing

    Artificial Intelligence

    Humour

    These are great times for political satire.

    Books

    Fiction

    Non-Fiction

    I am reading currently "The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth", by Benjamin Friedman, which was lent to me by a friend. Written by a conventional economist who doesn't even seem to know what causes economic growth, or what its consequences really are, it is pretty tough going. Important to know how the other side thinks, though, I guess.

    Here are a few non-fiction works that I can recommend. And appropriate to the season, as well.

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