Ask Appalachia about company towns. Folks here at least ought to know better.

This is a fascinating project but I’m always frustrated when they don’t share the formulation of their materials. Looks like a lot of reinforcement. A major downside to modular geodesic construction is the number of seams that invite leakage over time. A more monolithic application of a slower-setting material over a frame would be preferable to me.

Having experimented with a lot of concrete composites I’m always looking for the sweet spots of frugality, obtainablity, practically. This appears to be some geopolymer or magnesium cement -fairly exotic materials for me. Geopolymers often require a strong alkali to set. Not a huge fan of Portland, but at least it’s obtainable and relatively inexpensive for sustainable use cases.

The Orville sorta confused me about their focus. Having not read anything about it, at first I thought it was a show solely to poke fun at Star Trek tropes. Then it appeared to try to actually emulate ST.

The Humanure Handbook by Joe Jenkins is a useful guide for a low-tech, sanitary, low-odor composting toilet option that is safe if correctly maintained.

Seem to recall Blood Music had a pretty ok outcome. Though maybe it was overly optimistic.

“To the juicing room…”

This fella is for sure upholding the Woody Guthrie/Pete Seeger sort of traditions in folk music.

Let me make the case for buying Kentucky as well. You could probably get it cheap.

I WILL APOLOGIZE IN ADVANCE FOR ALBERT

Tiger got to hunt

Bird got to fly

Man got to ask himself “why, why, why”

Tiger got to sleep

Bird got to land

Man got to tell himself he understand

Vines will constrict young trees in such a spiral.

I often wonder about all these little coffee shops around here (Appalachian Kentucky). Almost all of them seem to have a religious bend. They inscribe bible verses around your cup like some kind of incantation. Would bet it’s store policy and not just them wanting to inject gospel into your day. Is coffee even mentioned in the Bible?

I have a neuromuscular demyelinating disorder called CIDP. And some other health complications including getting COVID induced pulmonary embolisms and being on a blood thinner that has interfered with my normal regimen of managing CIDP.

I’m chronically ill. My ability waxes and wanes. When folks see me out doing something challenging, they tend to assume I’m just fine and must be some shiftless malingerer. Rather than understanding I’ve sunk a lot of time and preparation into trying to be ok for that occasion.

Late to the party but I’d say something about this. Sure looks like folks are plenty aware we’ve been on a downward track for many decades and now it’s plain enough that folks are naming it “polycrisis” or “metacrisis”. Baked into the material conditions of life how such as it is, I don’t reckon folks want to see an END but rather see no brakes on this express elevator of combined existential threats. There is now a concentration of power such that it is so much toothpaste impossible to get back in the tube -failing awful violence or catastrophe. A divided, hopelessly propagandized culture that can never get on the same page for collective action. I hear friends talking about lifeboats and doing what one can as communities. Maybe that’s all we have left now.

Terrific really. He is for sure upholding the folk tradition in the spirit of Guthrie and Seeger.

Except it’s not just very stupid people. It’s a big demographic swath. Some folks know what psychological buttons to consistently push and keep pushing those very reliable buttons. These are old tricks, but they’re now amplified by the technology of new media -and these dillweeds have great feedback now thanks to social media to know if this week’s shenanigans are playing well so they can adjust accordingly. A mess. Humankind’s evolutionary biology weaponized to the benefit of a few. It’s where we are.

There’s also an interesting Greg Bear novel called Blood Music about computational cells that take over. Worth a read/listen.

“I cannot permit this to continue”.

New acquaintance: “Why the Hell are you staring at me like that…? What’s wrong with you?”