Adam's Curated Quotes

A collection of quotes from what I have read. The order is roughly based entirely on what I've been reading recently (descending order). I am adding highlights from my ebook reads so there's a few of those here too! You probably think this looks ugly, but this is my project and I can style it how I see fit. Best viewed with Victor Mono font installed.

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Yep, it's thinner than the old iPad --...

Yep, it's thinner than the old iPad -- thin enough to hide behind a pencil, in fact! And thank God for that, because the sheer thickness of the previous iPad models made me want to shit myself with rage. It was a whopping 8.8 millimeters thick, while the iPad Air is only 7.5 millimeters. Several members of our team own the old iPad models, and time and time again we sent out assignments and time and time again got the reply, "I'm sorry, David, my iPad is simply too thick for that task."

Author: David Wong

#satire #technology

Webster did an experiment. It is what she...

Webster did an experiment. It is what she does. She orally infected forty-nine rats with Toxoplasma gondii. She then pretended to infect an additional thirty-nine control rats by giving them an oral dose of what was effectively saltwater. Each group of rats, infected and control, was then further divided into four groups. One group received no additional treatment, one received valproic acid (a mood stabilizer), one received haloperidol (an antipsychotic), and the last group received pyrimethamine, a drug known to kill parasites, including, under some conditions, Toxoplasma gondii. Afterward, she put the rats, one by one, into a one meter by one meter square pen. In each corner of the pen she put fifteen drops of one of four odors. In one corner, she put wood chips soaked with fifteen drops of the rats' own smell, rat urine. In another corner, she put wood chips soaked in a neutral smell, water. In the third corner, she put wood chips with rabbit urine, with the idea that rabbit urine should have no specific effect on the rats because rats have no reason to be scared of or attracted to rabbits. And in the final corner, Webster set down wood chips soaked with cat urine. Webster works at one of the most prestigious universities in the world. She has made major discoveries, and yet here she was, day after day, laying out the urine portfolio. After the pen was set up, an individual rat was released and Webster or someone from her team watched and noted the proportion of time the rat spent in each corner. This was done again and again and again for a total of 444 hours of observation of eighty-eight rats. When the data from these observations were tallied, they totaled 260,462 lines. Webster took the time to count. Those lines of data showed that the uninfected rats spent more of their time huddled near the familiar and "safe" smell of their own pee or that of other innocuous animals such as rabbits. The uninfected rats wisely avoided the cat pee areas. The infected, but unmedicated rats behaved differently. They entered the cat pee corner more often, and once there they tended to stay, as if completely unaware of the potential danger the pee might signal. Amazingly, the rats infected with Toxoplasma gondii but treated with either of the schizophrenia medicines or the antiparasite medicine acted more like uninfected mice. Compared to the rats infected with Toxoplasma gondii, but not treated with any medicine, they were less likely to enter the cat pee area and, if they did, they didn't stay as long. They were, to use a loaded term, cured.

Niebhur and his colleagues found that people exposed to Toxoplasma gondii have a 24 percent higher risk of developing schizophrenia at some point in their lives than people who have never been exposed. If you have been infected by Toxoplasma gondii, ever, your risk of schizophrenia is at least 24 percent greater than that of someone who has not been. Time has added nuance to the work led by Niebhur and his colleagues, as has replication. The number of papers published on the parasite has increased. To date, fifty-four studies have looked at links between schizophrenia and Toxoplasma gondii. All but five have found evidence of such links that suggest that infection by Toxoplasma gondii increases the risk of schizophrenia.

Source: Never Home Alone

Author: Rob Dunn

#ecology #microbiology

YOU CAN LEARN to be interested in the...

YOU CAN LEARN to be interested in the insect life around you and realize most of the arthropod species nearby are interesting, poorly studied, and more likely to help control pests than to be them. Or you can go to war. The modern way to wage such war is with chemistry. But be warned: if you decide on a chemical war, the battles are not evenly pitched. Not even close. To each round of new chemicals we apply, the insects we attack respond by evolving via natural selection. The more aggressive the attack, the faster the evolution. Insects evolve faster than we can understand how they have evolved, much less counter.

Source: Never Home Alone

Author: Rob Dunn

#ecology #microbiology

To ecologists, when someone asks what good a...

To ecologists, when someone asks what good a species is, it chafes. It is a weeping foot fungus of a question. As ecologists, we learn that any particular species isn't good or bad, nor of greater or lesser intrinsic value than any other---they simply exist. Except in the light of our own beliefs and wants, a blue whale has no more value than does the tapeworm in the blue whale or the bacterium in the tapeworm or the virus in the bacterium. They exist simply because they evolved. The same for the genital louse or the human botfly, a species whose larvae live in human subcutaneous tissue and breathe through two snorkel-like spiracles. No goods, no bads, just existence. But just because we wouldn't ask a question (or wouldn't ask it a certain way) doesn't mean that there isn't some version of the question that isn't very interesting. Rather than simply dismissing this question, we can reframe it as "What use might this species have to human society, and how could you use ecology and evolutionary biology to figure that out?" The change is subtle (and a bit wordy), but it turns the question into something scientists are better able to think about. A variety of species from houses have indeed proven useful to humans.

Source: Never Home Alone

Author: Rob Dunn

#ecology #microbiology

If you aren't a scientist and you see...

If you aren't a scientist and you see a camel cricket in your house, you assume scientists know what it is. If you are a scientist, but not an entomologist, and you see a camel cricket in your house, you assume that entomologists know what it is. If you are an entomologist and you see a camel cricket in your house, you assume the specialists in camel crickets know what it is. Meanwhile, just two people on Earth specialize in the study of camel crickets and neither of them happens to live in a house where the Japanese species is present.

Source: Never Home Alone

Author: Rob Dunn

#ecology #microbiology

And so the city needed to pump water...

And so the city needed to pump water in, not so much as a source of drinking or other daily water but instead to flush the feces out into the sea. Once water began to be piped into cities, it became a commodity. The rich accessed this commodity by paying for pipes to be laid directly to their property; the middle class, by paying for buckets of pumped water. In this context, it didn't take long for water and all that it could be used to do to become symbols of affluence. To be able to afford to flush away the odors of the toilet was prestigious. To be able to wash so often that the body did not smell was prestigious. The affluent installed water closets in their homes (to flush their waste) and then, more slowly, baths. Once this trend started, it never really stopped.

Source: Never Home Alone

Author: Rob Dunn

#ecology #microbiology

Mycobacterium tuberculosis spread with us. Once we domesticated...

Mycobacterium tuberculosis spread with us. Once we domesticated goats and cows, we then gave them Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and, in their very different bodies, confronted with the realities of their unique immune systems, Mycobacterium tuberculosis evolved into Mycobacterium caprae in goats and Mycobacterium bovis in cows. We gave Mycobacterium tuberculosis to mice and it evolved into a form better able to take advantage of the immune systems of mice. We gave it to seals, in which it evolved yet another form. That form appears to have traveled, with seals, to the Americas no later than 700 CE, where it infected Native Americans (and then evolved into yet another specialized form).

Source: Never Home Alone

Author: Rob Dunn

#ecology #microbiology

Dan Janzen has suggested some bacteria produce repulsive...

Dan Janzen has suggested some bacteria produce repulsive odors not as waste products but instead as a means of preventing their food from being eaten by us. They stink, he argues, in order to be able to eat in peace.

Source: Never Home Alone

Author: Rob Dunn

#ecology #microbiology

Three-toed sloths make the treacherous descent from the...

Three-toed sloths make the treacherous descent from the safety of their canopy perches down to the forest floor every three weeks or so to defecate. When they do, the moths living in their fur lay their eggs in the sloth dung. The moth larvae develop completely within the dung. When they are mature, they fly up to the canopy to take up residency in the sloth's fur. An individual three-toed sloth can harbor between four and thirty-five moths. It has been suggested that the moths provide nutrients that help algae, also growing in the sloth's fur, to flourish. The sloths then eat the algae to supplement their diet because the algae are richer in lipids than is the foliage.

Source: Never Home Alone

Author: Rob Dunn

#ecology #microbiology

For an organism the size of an archaeon...

For an organism the size of an archaeon or a bacterium, your home contains incredible extremes. Most of these extremes are new habitats we have unintentionally invented. Homes contain refrigerators and freezers that can get as cold as the coldest tundra. They contain ovens hotter than the hottest desert and, of course, hot water heaters as hot as hot springs. But homes can also include very acidic conditions, such as in some foods (like sourdough bread starters), and very alkaline (basic) conditions, such as in toothpaste, bleach, and cleaning products.

Source: Never Home Alone

Author: Rob Dunn

#ecology #microbiology

But the truth is they often arrive in...

But the truth is they often arrive in our homes together. Our dogs, for instance, walk in our front doors carrying fleas in the guts of which live fungi and bacteria on which live bacteriophages. When the author of Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift, noted that "each flea hath smaller fleas that on him prey," he didn't know the half of it.

Source: Never Home Alone

Author: Rob Dunn

#ecology #microbiology

Like so many other departures of the Roosevelt...

Like so many other departures of the Roosevelt years, the marriage of intellectuals to liberalism was to continue for decades after the New Deal ended. The association had become so nearly complete by the 1960s that it may be hard for many readers to imagine that it was ever otherwise. But it was, and the alliance of intellectuals and the poor that seems so natural today was another of FDR's contributions. The "establishment" of the 1930s was anything but liberal, but Roosevelt's actions convinced bright young people that government should be active and humane. This was the source of the "liberal establishment" that irked conservatives in later decades.

Source: The Great Depression America 1929-1941

#history #economics

The explanation of how the previously reliable Literary...

The explanation of how the previously reliable Literary Digest poll could be so utterly wrong tells much about the mood of the electorate in 1936. In many areas of the nation the people polled were chosen from lists of automobile owners and from telephone books. This skewed the poll toward upper-income groups. Even in areas where a truly random selection of voters was conducted, the well-to-do were more likely to return their ballots. This, of course, had always been the case with Literary Digest polls, but in the past it had not mattered. That it did matter in 1936 is a strong indication that socioeconomic class made a difference that year as at no time since at least the Jacksonian era. In short, Roosevelt's appeal to class had worked.

Source: The Great Depression America 1929-1941

#history #economics

The most lasting---and perhaps the most impressive---of the...

The most lasting---and perhaps the most impressive---of the Art Project's achievements were the murals its artists painted in public buildings across the nation. The decisive influence came from Mexican painters of propaganda murals, particularly Diego Rivera and Clemente Orozco, who spent the early years of the Depression being paid large fees by the likes of the Ford and Rockefeller families to paint anti-capitalist murals in such incongruous places as the San Francisco Stock Exchange Club, the Ford-supported Detroit Institute of Arts, the RCA Building in Rockefeller Center, and the Dartmouth College Library.

Source: The Great Depression America 1929-1941

#history #economics

The fundamental reason for Roosevelt's shift to the...

The fundamental reason for Roosevelt's shift to the left in 1935 is clear. His constituents had already turned in that direction and it was politically necessary for the President to move to catch up with his followers. Roosevelt was many things---patrician, optimist, stamp collector, sailor, among others---but above all he was a politician. He rarely, if ever, made a decision without first thrusting a damp finger into the political wind.

Source: The Great Depression America 1929-1941

#history #economics

I am not sure it's worth reading into...

I am not sure it's worth reading into what there are and aren't emojis of. There is an emoji of the Tokyo Tower, but not one of the Eiffel Tower. It isn't because the Tokyo Tower is more important than the Eiffel Tower, it's because the set is based on a random collection of pictures that Japanese cell phone carriers created over the years. (e = picture, moji = letter, that's where the word came from. A "false friend" with emoticon, interestingly.)

When creating this collection, they missed a lot of stuff. It was never intended to be a complete set of all symbols that a human might need. Some guy at some phone company just made them. The attempts to add a handful of new characters with each new Unicode version don't improve much.

People seem to be using the eggplant emoji as a standin for a penis. It gets the message across, apparently.

Source: Hacker News

Author: jrockway

#technology #internet

A widespread attitude of the unemployed early in...

A widespread attitude of the unemployed early in the Depression was: "There must be something wrong with a fellow who can't get a job." Sure, I've lost my job, but I'm still a worthy provider. Work will turn up soon. Every morning up before dawn, washed, shaved, and dressed as neatly as possible. To the factory gates, only to find a hundred others already there, staring blankly at the sign: NO HELP WANTED. The search then became more feverish. One day in 1934 a man in Baltimore walked twenty miles in search of a job. "I just stopped every place," he said, "but mostly they wouldn't even talk to me." Perhaps an employment agency? A long wait, but it will be worth it to get a job. At last a chance. The questions: name, age, experience. Yes, well, we'll see what we can do, but there are already more than a hundred men in our files with similar backgrounds, and most of them are younger than you. Employers can be choosy, you know. It's a buyer's market.

Source: The Great Depression America 1929-1941

#history #economics

As Franklin Roosevelt almost instantly turned the federal...

As Franklin Roosevelt almost instantly turned the federal government into the center of activity in a depressed nation, thousands of ambitious and idealistic young men---and some women---flocked to Washington. It was that rarest of times when ambition and idealism could go hand in hand. These were the "New Dealers," the seemingly tireless young people of ideas who were bent upon changing the world and being part of the most dramatic transformation in their nation's history. In the 1920s an ambitious young man headed for Wall Street, "where the action was"; in the sixties, depending upon his orientation, he might go into the aerospace industry or social work; in the 1970s he was likely to enter petroleum geology. During the New Deal, though, he went into government.

Source: The Great Depression America 1929-1941

#history #economics

Edmund Wilson in his piercing memoir of the...

Edmund Wilson in his piercing memoir of the era, The Shores of Light, wrote of the Crash and the banks: To the writers and artists of my generation, who had grown up in the Big Business era and had always resented its barbarism, its crowding-out of everything they cared about, these years were not depressing but stimulating. One couldn't help being exhilarated at the sudden, unexpected collapse of that stupid gigantic fraud. It gave us a new sense of power to find ourselves still carrying on, while the bankers, for a change, were taking a beating.

Source: The Great Depression America 1929-1941

#history #economics

"The real hopeless victims of mental illness are...

"The real hopeless victims of mental illness are to be found among those who appear to be most normal. "Many of them are normal because they are so well adjusted to our mode of existence, because their human voice has been silenced so early in their lives, that they do not even struggle or suffer or develop symptoms as the neurotic does." They are normal not in what may be called the absolute sense of the word; they are normal only in relation to a profoundly abnormal society. Their perfect adjustment to that abnormal society is a measure of their mental sickness. These millions of abnormally normal people, living without fuss in a society to which, if they were fully human beings, they ought not to be adjusted."

Author: Aldous Huxley

#society #mentalhealth

One morning about 5 years ago, for reasons...

One morning about 5 years ago, for reasons which I have never fully understood, I clicked on the morning news for the first time ever. The date was 9/11/2001. The result was so bad that I never repeated the experiment.

Author: posted by Jamie McCarthy on October 20, 2006

#media #trauma

"Since ads are the primary way sites stay...

"Since ads are the primary way sites stay in business, they are obligated to fight against user agents or other intermediary systems. The ultimate problem is that Facebook doesn't want to show you good, enriching content from your friends and family. They want to show you ads. The good content is just a necessary evil to make you tolerate looking at ads. Every time you upload some adorable photo of your baby for your friends to ooh and aah over, you're giving Facebook free bait that they then use to trap your friends into looking at ads."

Author: user "munificient"

#socialmedia #advertising

After the thing went off, there was tremendous...

After the thing went off, there was tremendous excitement at Los Alamos. Everybody had parties, we all ran around. I sat on the end of a jeep and beat drums and so on. But one man I remember, Bob Wilson, was just sitting there moping. I said, "What are you moping about?" He said, "It's a terrible thing that we made." I said, "But you started it. You got us into it." You see, what happened to me - what happened to the rest of us - is we started for a good reason, then you're working very hard to accomplish something and it's a pleasure, it's excitement. And you stop thinking, you know; you just stop. So Bob Wilson was the only one who was still thinking about it, at that moment. I returned to civilization shortly after that and went to Cornell to teach, and my first impression was a very strange one. I can't understand it anymore, but I felt very strongly then. I sat in a restaurant in New York, for example, and I looked out at the buildings and I began to think, you know, about how much the radius of the Hiroshima bomb damage was and so forth... How far from here was 34th St? ... All those buildings, all smashed - and so on. And I would go along and I would see people building a bridge, or they'd be making a new road, and I thought, they're crazy, they just don't understand, they don't understand. Why are they making new things? It's so useless. But, fortunately, it's been useless for about 30 years now, isn't it? So I've been wrong for 30 years about it being useless making bridges and I'm glad that those other people had the sense to go ahead.

Author: Richard Feynman

Link: http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/34/3/FeynmanLosAlamos.htm

#science #ethics

What gets me going is programming a game...

What gets me going is programming a game (old-fashioned, not graphics-based). I'm free to do as I please, and I can learn new technology. Ex: Blockus, Cryptoquote, Sudoku. The World needs a server-based four-player Scrabble game without all the advertising.

#programming #games

Vladimir [Lenin] kept his sanity during incarceration by...

Vladimir [Lenin] kept his sanity during incarceration by sticking to a strict routine. Soon he was having messages smuggled out of the house of detention on Shpalernaya Street, using milk as invisible ink kept in inkwells made of bread that could be hastily consumed if the wardens came too close (on one day alone he had to eat six ink pots).

Source: Conspirator: Lenin in Exile

#revolution #history

We still pray to be given each day...

We still pray to be given each day our daily bread. Yet there is too much bread, too much wheat and corn, meat and oil and almost every other commodity required by man for his subsistence and material happiness. We are not able to purchase the abundance that modern methods of agriculture, mining and manufacture make available in such bountiful quantities. Why is mankind being asked to go hungry and cold and poverty stricken in the midst of plenty?

Source: The Great Depression America 1929 - 1941

#history #economics

The weakness of the international economy and contradictory...

The weakness of the international economy and contradictory American foreign economic policy unquestionably contributed to the coming of the Great Depression. If the origins of the calamity are to be kept in perspective, though, it must be realized that while the world collapse was cutting $1.5 billion from American exports between 1929 and 1933, domestic contraction was slicing $12 billion from the American gross national product. Statistically, internal problems appear to have had an effect on the American Depression some eight times greater than did foreign ones.

Source: The Great Depression America 1929 - 1941

#history #economics

The fanatical patriotism of World War I left...

The fanatical patriotism of World War I left a legacy that would play an important part in the decade ahead. The insistence on "100 percent Americanism" helped turn many people against anything with a hint of "internationalism" about it. This included Communists, Catholics, and Jews, all of whom became prime targets of the new Ku Klux Klan. The Klan of the 1920s represented a carry-over of the intolerance and reaction against progressivism, the war, and internationalism that had become so popular in 1919-20. It cannot be blamed for creating these feelings. Indeed it was, like so much else in the twenties, a business dictated by the marketplace. Its organizers were interested in nothing so much as making money through the sale of memberships. It was organized rather like a modern fast-food franchise, but in this case the product was not hamburgers but hatred. Accordingly, the Klan had to be willing to be intolerant of anyone the potential consumers did not like. Basically it was: "You don't like Group X? Well we don't either. Join us." This meant that while the KKK certainly exacerbated intergroup tensions in the twenties, it did not manufacture them.

Source: The Great Depression America 1929 - 1941

#history #economics

In the useful concept developed by nineteenth-century German...

In the useful concept developed by nineteenth-century German sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies, Gemeinschaft---the small, personal community of the nineteenth century---was replaced by Gesellschaft, a large, anonymous society in which the importance of one's place and achievements in the local context nearly dissolved.

Source: The Great Depression America 1929 - 1941

#history #economics

VanillaSkittlez 7 points · 7 hours ago Could...

VanillaSkittlez 7 points · 7 hours ago Could you give an applied example where causation isn't relevant and correlation would fit the model and be sufficient? Honestly asking, not in a snarky way. WallyMetropolis 22 points · 7 hours ago Prediction. The classic example of causation not being correlation is noticing that the sidewalk is always wet when it's raining and then stating that wet sidewalks cause rain. This is silly. But you absolutely can say: "the sidewalk is wet, so I bet it's raining." i_use_3_seashells Statistician, MSc5 points · 6 hours ago This is a good example. It gives two things that are actually related, and there's the smug "correlation is not causation" remark that can come up on the rare occasion when someone has rinsed off their sidewalk. The model is still good/useful even if it isn't always right.

Source: A thread on r/AskStatistics

Author: A thread

#statistics #research

Samson's music program was an example. But to...

Samson's music program was an example. But to hackers, the art of the program did not reside in the pleasing sounds emanating from the on-line speaker. The code of the program held a beauty of its own. (Samson, though, was particularly obscure in refusing to add comments to his source code explaining what he was doing at a given time. One well-distributed program Samson wrote went on for hundreds of assembly language instructions, with only one comment beside an instruction which contained the number 1750. The comment was RIPJSB, and people racked their brains about its meaning until someone figured out that 1750 was the year Bach died, and that Samson had written an abbreviation for Rest In Peace Johann Sebastian Bach.

Source: Hackers: heroes of the computer revolution

#computing #history

Sounds like a bank, a government agency, or...

Sounds like a bank, a government agency, or any business over a certain size.

I tell people you only call it politics when you are losing. More accurately, it's a layer of literal stupidity above the competent to shield the money side of the company from the leverage that operations people would have if they had any information about how the money side worked.

Instead of a hierarchy, rethink a company as a hub and spoke model with concentric rings. The main differences are the implication in a hierarchy that there is "gravity," keeping people down and that they need energy and leverage to climb "up," which further implies there is a place to "fall," and that there is only one way "up," instead of many possible paths to the centre from all directions. There is no gravity, only gates and barriers, and even these are just information. Politics is how a middle manager runs interference and creates distractions to make sure you can't see over, around, or through them, and that the people behind them closer to the money can't see you. Tech is usually outside the main perimeter, mediated by contracting companies or middle managers whose job is to compartmentalize the value people create, and be sure it is replaceable.

Viewed this way, of course this demented political farce is how Apple works, because it's how everything seems to work when you have internalized the precise and specific mental model someone uses to take advantage of you.

Sorry if you can't unsee it now, but hopefully it will be funny and we can get good, competent people who value tangible skills into positions of power.

Author: motohagiography

#technology #satire

Microbiology has a well-deserved reputation for being highly...

Microbiology has a well-deserved reputation for being highly variable. Our lax attention to precision and accuracy in our measurements helps further this perception. We have allowed specifications for environmental monitoring, raw material bioburden, in-process bioburden, and finished product bioburden to be imposed by regulation without regard for the ability of the methods to support those specifications.

#culture #reflection

"One general theory for the origin of AIDS...

"One general theory for the origin of AIDS goes that, during the late nineteen-sixties, a new and lucrative business grew up in Africa, the export of primates to industrialized countries for use in medical research. Uganda was one of the biggest sources of these animals. As the monkey trade was established throughout central Africa, the native workers in the system, the monkey trappers and handlers, were exposed to large numbers of wild monkeys, some of which were carrying unusual viruses. These animals, in turn, were being jammed together in cages, exposed to one another, passing viruses back and forth. Furthermore, different species of monkeys were mixed together. It was a perfect setup for an outbreak of a virus that could jump species. It was also a natural laboratory for rapid virus evolution, and possibly it led to the creation of HIV. Did HIV crash into the human race as a result of the monkey trade? Did AIDS come from an island in Lake Victoria? A hot island? Who knows. When you begin probing into the origins of AIDS and Marburg, the light fails and things go dark, but you sense hidden connections. Both viruses seem part of a pattern."

Source: The Hot Zone

Author: Richard Preston

#virology #publichealth

"The story becomes more disturbing. He went on:...

"The story becomes more disturbing. He went on: "The sick ones were being killed, or so I thought." But later he learned that they weren't being killed. The boss of the company was having the sick monkeys put in boxes and shipped out to a small island in Lake Victoria, where they were being released. With so many sick monkeys running around it, the island could have become a focus for monkey viruses. It could have been a hot island, an isle of plagues. "Then, if this guy was a bit short of monkeys, he went out to the island and caught a few, unknown to me, and those infected or recently infected monkeys were then shipped off to Europe." Mr. Jones thinks it is possible that the Marburg agent had established itself on the hot island, and was circulating among the monkeys there, and that some of the monkeys which ended up in Germany had actually come from that island. But when the WHO team came later to investigate, "I was told by my boss to say nothing unless asked." As it turned out, no one asked Mr. Jones any questions---he says he never met the WHO team. The fact that the team apparently never spoke with him, the monkey inspector, "was bad epidemiology but good politics," he remarked to me. If it had been revealed that the monkey trader was shipping off suspect monkeys collected on a suspect island, he could, have been put out of business, and Uganda would have lost a source of valuable foreign cash"

Source: The Hot Zone

Author: Richard Preston

#virology #publichealth

Threats to shave female heads en masse, and...

Threats to shave female heads en masse, and the exemplary shavings undertaken in the Female Factories, a cross between a female shelter, workshop and prison, caused riots amongst the women, as in Parramatta in 1827, 1831 and 1833, in Hobart in 1827 and 1842, at Moreton Bay in 1836 and Launceston in 1841. Foster Fyans, the Moreton Bay commandant between 1835 and 1837, wrote: 'the loss of hair . . . was held in the greatest dread and abhorrence, often causing disorder and riot, cursing, tumbling and flinging before the constabulary could carry out the sentence, when any other punishment could be carried out without a murmur'.

Source: Australians vol 1

#australianhistory #colonialism

One incident that occurred while Arrow was forecasting...

One incident that occurred while Arrow was forecasting the weather illustrates both uncertainty and the human unwillingness to accept it. Some officers had been assigned the task of forecasting the weather a month ahead, but Arrow and his statisticians found that their long-range forecasts were no better than numbers pulled out of a hat. The forecasters agreed and asked their superiors to be relieved of this duty. The reply was: "The Commanding General is well aware that the forecasts are no good. However, he needs them for planning purposes."

Source: Against the Gods

#risk #probability

In the long run, we are all dead....

In the long run, we are all dead. Economists set themselves too easy, too useless a task if in the tempestuous seasons they can only tell us that when the storm is long past the ocean will be flat.

Author: John Maynard Keynes

#geology #naturalhistory

Over the 110 years covered by Baumol's analysis,...

Over the 110 years covered by Baumol's analysis, the difference between the most productive nation and the least productive nation converged from a ratio of 8:1 to a ratio of only 2:1. Baumol points out, ". . . what is striking is the apparent implication that only one variable, a country's 1870 GDP per work-hour, . . . matters to any substantial degree."9 The factors that economists usually identify as contributing to growth in productivity---free markets, a high propensity to save and invest, and "sound" economic policies---seem to have been largely irrelevant. "Whatever its behavior," Baumol concludes, each nation was "fated to land close to its predestined position."10 Here is a worldwide phenomenon that exactly replicates Galton's small-scale experiments.

#finance #markets

On one of these, Mount Sarmiento, a distant...

On one of these, Mount Sarmiento, a distant mountain 6800 feet high, presented a very noble spectacle. I was frequently surprised in the scenery of Tierra del Fuego, at the little apparent elevation of mountains really lofty. I suspect it is owing to a cause which would not at first be imagined, namely, that the whole mass, from the summit to the water's edge, is generally in full view. I remember having seen a mountain, first from the Beagle Channel, where the whole sweep from the summit to the base was full in view, and then from Ponsonby Sound across several successive ridges; and it was curious to observe in the latter case, as each fresh ridge afforded fresh means of judging of the distance, how the mountain rose in height.

Source: Voyage of the Beagle

#naturalhistory #exploration

Today, statisticians refer to the practice that stirred...

Today, statisticians refer to the practice that stirred Cournot's misgivings as "data mining." They say that if you torture the data long enough, the numbers will prove anything you want. Cournot felt that Quetelet was on dangerous ground in drawing such broad generalizations from a limited number of observations. A second set of observations drawn from a group of the same size could just as likely turn up a different pattern from the first.

Source: Against the Gods

#risk #probability

Realizing that my career is my own, and...

Realizing that my career is my own, and that I owe nothing to anybody. Nobody is doing _you_ a favor by hiring you. At most, it's a calculated risk.

Furthermore, realizing that I shouldn't suffer for management decisions. If you've been putting out fires for a whole year, either the whole team has been consistently doing a very poor job (unlikely, though possible), or the fault is out of your reach (quite likely IMO). In either case, it's totally acceptable to jump the ship to another team.

#risk #probability

At night we slept close to the junction...

At night we slept close to the junction of Ponsonby Sound with the Beagle Channel. A small family of Fuegians, who were living in the cove, were quiet and inoffensive, and soon joined our party round a blazing fire. We were well clothed, and though sitting close to the fire were far from too warm; yet these naked savages, though further off, were observed, to our great surprise, to be streaming with perspiration at undergoing such a roasting. They seemed, however, very well pleased, and all joined in the chorus of the seamen's songs: but the manner in which they were invariably a little behindhand was quite ludicrous.

Source: Voyage of the Beagle

Author: Charles Darwin

#naturalhistory #exploration

Galton's curiosity was insatiable. When a traveling circus...

Galton's curiosity was insatiable. When a traveling circus came through Cambridge while he was studying there, he walked straight into the lion's cage, only the fourth person to have done so in that circus's history. He kept himself from falling asleep during his favorite studying hours of 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. with his "Gumption-Reviver machine," a gadget he had invented that kept his head wet with cold water. Later in life, he invented a device for reading under water; he nearly drowned on one occasion when he submerged himself in his bath while enjoying a good book.

Source: Against the Gods

#risk #probability

As it happens, 33 of the 840 monthly...

As it happens, 33 of the 840 monthly observations, or about 4% of the total, were more than two standard deviations away from the monthly average of +0.6%---that is, worse than −11% and greater than 12.2%. Although 33 superswings are fewer than we might expect in a perfectly random series of observations, 21 of them were on the downside; chance would put that number at 16 or 17. A market with a built-in long-term upward trend should have even fewer disasters than 16 or 17 over 816 months. At the extremes, the market is not a random walk. At the extremes, the market is more likely to destroy fortunes than to create them. The stock market is a risky place.

Source: Against the Gods

#risk #probability

Archaeologists discovered ancient Egyptian papyri in the nineteenth...

Archaeologists discovered ancient Egyptian papyri in the nineteenth century which list some of the materials used in medicine at the time and these have been documented by Campbell.2 These include the Kahun papyrus (ca. 1850 bc) found by Flinders Petrie at the workmen's village in the Fayoum, the Edwin Smith papyrus (ca. 1550 bc), the Ebers papyrus dating to Amenhotep I (1546--1526 bc) found in the Valley of the Kings, and the Chester Beatty papyrus found at Deir in Medina dating to Ramses III (1150 bc). The materia medica mentioned included plants, drugs from animals, minerals and dressings. Drugs used in ancient Egypt included linseed (Linum usitassimum), coriander (Coriandrum sativum), anise (Anethum graveolens), Styrax benzoin, Citrullus colocynthus, garlic (Allium sativum) and honey. All of these are included in the current 2014 British Pharmacopoeia and are in current use in conventional or alternative medicine in Britain.

Source: History of the BP

#medicine #measurement

A Scots artist, Thomas Watling had been amongst...

A Scots artist, Thomas Watling had been amongst the more than four hundred convicts who sailed in the Pitt, and had escaped in Cape Town. He had been arrested by the Dutch after the Pitt's departure, put in gaol, and then taken aboard Royal Admiral by Captain Bond. Well-educated, and having worked for a time in Glasgow as a coach and chaise painter, he would become the most important artist of early New South Wales.

Source: Australians vol 1

#australianhistory #colonialism

After finishing the article it strikes me that...

After finishing the article it strikes me that this person may have gone to a school that would be in the set he describes as "elite." I think this might have warped his worldview because they're the only places where people can unironically imagine America as a "meritocracy" as described

Source: usr ixtl in

Link: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21955489

#war #history

Colby was diverted by food---the officers tried to...

Colby was diverted by food---the officers tried to eat him down. 'It was hoped that he would feed so voraciously as to render him incapable of executing his intention.' He was given a huge meal of 'a light horseman' (a New South Wales fish) and five pounds (2.3 kilos) of beef and bread. But then 'he set out on his journey with such lightness and gaiety as plainly showed him to be a stranger to the horrors of indigestion'.

Source: Australians vol 1

#australianhistory #colonialism

Bennelong had a temperament which participated passionately in...

Bennelong had a temperament which participated passionately in all these inter-clan squabbles, but the difference between himself and Pemulwuy ran deeper than mere scars. Pemulwuy stayed remote from the Europeans. He would never investigate the whites or try to work them out. He wished to exorcise them and restore the normal world. While Bennelong was conciliatory in however puzzling a way, Pemulwuy was a hard-liner. Both would suffer unutterably for the positions they took.

Source: Australians vol 1

#australianhistory #colonialism

In London, the criminal classes availed themselves of...

In London, the criminal classes availed themselves of many public houses in the City and Spitalfields that were centres for prostitution, the fencing of stolen goods and the division of plunder. 'Hell houses' or 'flash houses' were common names for such places. They were to be found in a number of notorious locations: Chick Lane, Field Lane, Black Boy Alley. Over their half-doors fleeing criminals were free to toss whatever they had plundered and were on the run with. A convict turned novelist would describe a criminal approaching a 'fence' in a house in St Mary Axe: 'There was a box in the wall, so contrived that upon placing any article you wished to dispose of within it and ringing a bell, the box disappeared. After a lapse of a few minutes it again turned, and in lieu of the article left was a sum of money . . . the thieves of London much approved of the principle, as they were never seen by anyone while disposing of their ill-gotten booty.'

Source: Australians vol 1

#australianhistory #colonialism

Due to the vulgar urgings of domestic politics,...

Due to the vulgar urgings of domestic politics, Prime Minister Pitt and Lord Sydney were sending to the ends of the earth a reputable but not glittering fellow, in command of many vessels stocked not with naturalists and artists but with Britain's sinners.

Source: Australians vol 1

#australianhistory #colonialism

The malcontents formed a league and succeeded in...

The malcontents formed a league and succeeded in extracting a charter of freedoms from King András II. The Golden Bull of 1222, like the English Magna Carta, enshrined the right to disobey the sovereign if the latter contravened this 'constitution of the nobility', before the term had been coined.

#culture #reflection

Descriptions of Sigismund as an incompetent and cowardly...

Descriptions of Sigismund as an incompetent and cowardly war leader, a ferocious beast and a clown are probably exaggerated. Even a figure more stable than this gifted if lightweight man would have attracted a few pejorative adjectives during the course of a fifty-year-long reign over five kingdoms.

#war #history

When I reacted to my friend's expression of...

From

When I reacted to my friend's expression of affection with distrust, I was reacting the way a predominantly solo predator might. My trust for their material good will - their intent to actually do things in my interest - was at a nadir, so good feelings were unexpected. And when I get an unexpected signal designed to make me feel warmly towards someone, it makes me feel as if I'm facing the Blight, or some other clever predator who's learned to send simple signals of warmth. It feels worse than honest coldness.

Many people find empathy the most natural basis for establishing good will. If I make a bid to be someone's ally, and immediately jump into using predator cognition, trying to understand them and ask explicit questions, they may not trust that my predator part is under the control of the part that cares about others. They can't trust this until they've received lots of direct signals of interpersonal warmth. Once they're satisfied that I feel warmly towards them, then they can begin to open up and let themselves be seen. If ever.

I don't have a recipe for learning to cooperate the way fully integrated benevolent intelligences would. But I do think this framework is helping me learn to avoid some basic mistakes. It helps me understand when other people need a signal I'm not sending - or, when I think they're sending signals in the wrong order, why it might make sense to them to do so. It helps me remember that trust is fundamentally very hard, and that it's amazing we can do it at all.

Link: http://benjaminrosshoffman.com/the-predator-in-the-herd/

#film #creativity

One thing you could do is look at...

One thing you could do is look at histories of past outbreaks - such as the 1918-19 Influenza epidemic, which is the one that's probably going to end up being most similar in terms of number and severity of cases. How did society cope? What happened? The fact that all that happened was that a few more people than usual died of flu means that there weren't riots in the streets, mass starvations because food systems had broken down, etc. Older colleagues and relatives of mine talked about remembering their school closing during the 50s and 60s outbreaks, but not about "that nice family of 6 in Acacia Avenue who all died within a week of one another" or "Swanage descending into cannibalism when there were no workers for the harvest". That's probably a good place to start for keeping things in proportion.

#culture #reflection

So that's the it's-not-you-it's-me part, but I'll be...

So that's the it's-not-you-it's-me part, but I'll be honest: It might be you. You might write screed after rant after hot take of self-satisfied and misinformed op-ed pieces. You might drag one poor, unoriginal thought across fifteen paragraphs of synonyms for boredom, in some accursed no-man's land between bad poetry and overwrought prose. You might try to communicate a seemingly optimistic yet intensely condescending epiphany in an attempt to bring enlightenment to all, but instead perfectly describe the width of the canyon separating your fortress of ignorance from the rest of the world. You might have one interesting theme that you revisit so many times I can recite half your work without reading it. Your villains might all have faces that would have been handsome but for the jagged scar they never talk about except they always talk about it halfway through the story. Your characters might all have exactly the same flippant sense of humor that makes them both indistinguishable and cloyingly obnoxious because you can't get over your own cleverness. You might just use the word "just" too often.

#fiction #storytelling

This example illustrates the potent role played by...

This example illustrates the potent role played by probability in making inferences. Probabilists assume that they know the structure of the population of interest and use the theory of probability to compute the probability of obtaining a particular sample. Assuming that they know the structure of a population generated by random drawings of five cards from a standard deck, probabilists compute the probability that the draw will yield three aces and two kings. Statisticians use probability to make the trip in reverse---from the sample to the population. Observing five aces in a sample of five cards, they immediately infer that the deck (which generates the population) is loaded and not standard. The probability of drawing five aces from a standard deck is zero! This is an exaggerated case, but it makes the point. Basic to inference making is the problem of calculating the probability of an observed sample. As a result, probability is the mechanism used in making statistical inferences.

Source: Mathematical Statistics with Applications

#statistics #mathematics

Two of the three legal officers in the...

Two of the three legal officers in the colony [of Sydney] were convicts, and could not be officially employed. One of these two was a middle-aged solicitor named George Crossley, who in 1796 had been charged with forging the will of a clergyman, defrauding the heir-at-law. Crossley had allegedly placed a fly in the mouth of the dead testator before tracing the signature with the deceased's hand, so that he would be able to claim that there was life in the body. Crossley survived that trial but was subsequently charged with perjury and convicted. Crossley would become an important source of informal advice for King and, later, the new governor, William Bligh.

Source: Australians Vol I

#australianhistory #colonialism

Pear Mesa was different because it had bought...

Pear Mesa was different because it had bought up and hardened its own hardware and power. So Pear Mesa's neural nets kept running, retrained from credit union portfolio management to the emergency triage of hundreds of thousands of starving sick refugees.

Pear Mesa's computers taught themselves to govern the forsaken southern seaboard. Now they coordinate water distribution, re-express crop genomes, ration electricity for survival AC, manage all the life support humans need to exist in our warmed-over hell.

But, like all advanced neural nets, these systems are black boxes. We have no idea how they work, what they think. Why do Pear Mesa's AIs order the planting of pear trees? Because pears were their corporate icon, and the AIs associate pear trees with areas under their control. Why does no one make the AIs stop? Because no one knows what else is tangled up with the "plant pear trees" impulse. The AIs may have learned, through some rewarded fallacy or perverse founder effect, that pear trees cause humans to have babies. They may believe that their only function is to build support systems around pear trees.

Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20200111154328/http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/fall_01_20/

#computing #technology

One last thing: "virtue signalling" was not invented...

One last thing: "virtue signalling" was not invented by the right. The right only weaponised a universal trait of Human Nature. There's a reason why panhandlers and flower-sellers specifically target people who are accompanied by partners. There's a reason why, if you give some charitable volunteer a choice between being altruistic in the presence of witnesses (say, working in a soup kitchen) or in isolation (say, cleaning litter out of a secluded ravine), they're far more likely to opt for the more public display. As a species, we are wired to crave social status. The way to get that is to reinforce community standards in front of as many witnesses as possible.

Virtue signalling. It's a thing. It's a real, widespread, ethological thing. I'm not entirely sure why it's perceived as a predominantly left wing phenomenon, when it occurs along the entire axis. I guess we just got outplayed by the opposing team.

Author: Peter Watts

#ecology #evolution

It's tempting to think 'So what?' and dismiss...

It's tempting to think 'So what?' and dismiss these details as incidental or specific to stair carpentry. And they **are** specific to stair carpentry; that's what makes them details. But the existence of a surprising number of meaningful details is *not* specific to stairs. Surprising detail is a near universal property of getting up close and personal with reality.

You can see this everywhere if you look. For example, you've probably had the experience of doing something for the first time, maybe growing vegetables or using a Haskell package for the first time, and being frustrated by how many annoying snags there were. Then you got more practice and then you told yourself 'man, it was so simple all along, I don't know why I had so much trouble'. We run into a fundamental property of the universe and mistake it for a personal failing.

#culture #reflection

I've noticed something about subreddits that focus on...

I've noticed something about subreddits that focus on lifestyle design and center around advice: they all start to converge on fairly narrow groupthink. /r/personalfinance is all about super frugal living and passive investing. In /r/backpacking, the general advice is to go as light as possible and spend money reducing weight. /r/cscareerquestions is about the leetcode grind and getting into FAANG. /r/malefashionadvice only really recommends a narrow range of personal styles and is not helpful if you don't want to look like that.

Now, the advice is often pretty decent in those subs, but it's not helpful if you don't want exactly what they recommend. And they put way too much emphasis on the narrow range of things they think are worthwhile.

#genetics #biology

"Heraclitus, after so many speculations on the conflagration...

"Heraclitus, after so many speculations on the conflagration of the universe, was filled with water internally and died smeared all over with mud. And lice destroyed Democritus; and other lice killed Socrates."

Source: Meditations

Author: Marcus Aurelius

#stoicism #philosophy

as they could others if they became undesirable...

as they could others if they became undesirable or stayed too long. Always I had to think of what an exiled Russian had said to me years ago: "Formerly man had only a body and a soul. Now he needs a passport as well for without it he will not be treated like a human being." Indeed, nothing makes us more sensible of the immense relapse into which the world fell after the First World War than the restrictions on man's freedom of movement and the diminution of his civil rights. Before 1914 the earth had belonged to all. People went where they wished and stayed as long as they pleased. There were no permits, no visas, and it always gives me pleasure to astonish the young by telling them that before 1914 I traveled from Europe to India and to America without passport and without ever having seen one.

Source: World of Yesterday

Author: Stefan Zweig

#history #europe

They invited each other to full-dress parties (little...

They invited each other to full-dress parties (little thinking that they would soon be wearing prisoner's clothes in a concentration camp), they were lavish customers at Christmas for their beautiful homes (little thinking that in a few months they would be confiscated and plundered). And this eternal gay unconcern of old Vienna which I had formerly so much loved and which, as a matter of fact, I am always redreaming, this gay unconcern which Vienna's poet laureate Anzengruber once caught concisely in Es kann Dir nix g'schehn--for the first time it gave me pain.

Source: World of Yesterday

Author: Stefan Zweig

#history #europe

I regarded it more as an honor than...

I regarded it more as an honor than a disgrace to be permitted to share this fate of the complete destruction of literary existence in Germany with such eminent contemporaries as Thomas Mann, Heinrich Mann, Werfel, Freud, Einstein, and many others whose work I consider incomparably more important than my own, and as any gesture of martyrdom is so repugnant to me I mention my personal inclusion in the common fate only reluctantly. But by strange chance it was just my lot to get the National Socialists and even Adolf Hitler in person into a very embarrassing situation. It was allotted to me, among the literary outlaws, to become repeatedly the object of heated and long debate in the high circles of the Berchtesgaden villa with the result that I am able to record among the pleasant things in my life the modest satisfaction of having annoyed Adolf Hitler, the most powerful man of modern times.

Source: World of Yesterday

Author: Stefan Zweig

#history #europe

In fact, one electoral poster -- a satiric...

In fact, one electoral poster -- a satiric piece of 'anti-propaganda' or not -- offers the support of 'the late drinkers' to one particular candidate for public office: 'All the late drinkers are canvassing for Marcus Cerrinius Vatia to be aedile'.

Source: Pompeii

#ancienthistory #disaster

A rapid excursion into the romantic, a wild,...

A rapid excursion into the romantic, a wild, manly adventure--that is how the war of 1914 was painted in the imagination of the simple man, and the young people were honestly afraid that they might miss this most wonderful and exciting experience of their lives; that is why they hurried and thronged to the colors, and that is why they shouted and sang in the trains that carried them to the slaughter; wildly and feverishly the red wave of blood coursed through the veins of the entire nation.

Source: World of Yesterday

Author: Stefan Zweig

#history #europe

In Tarnow I came upon the first transport...

In Tarnow I came upon the first transport of captured Russian soldiers. Fenced within a large square, they sat about on the ground, smoking and chatting, guarded by two or three dozen mature, bearded Tyrolese militia who were as tattered and torn as their captives, and had but little in common with the smart, clean-shaven, brilliantly uniformed soldiers we saw pictured in the illustrated papers at home. But the guard had nothing martial or severe about it. The captives did not display the slightest desire to escape, nor the Austrian militia the slightest inclination to be strict about their duties. They sat about in a neighborly fashion with their captives, and the very fact that they could not understand each other's language caused huge enjoyment. They exchanged cigarettes and laughed at each other. A Tyrolese militia man was just taking some pictures of his wife and children out of a very old and dirty pocketbook and showing them to the "enemy," who passed them about amongst themselves asking the Austrian by means of their fingers if this child was three, or four. I could not escape the feeling that these simple, primitive people had understood the war more truly than our university professors and poets: namely, as a disaster that had come over them with which they had had nothing to do, and that everyone who had happened into this misfortune was somehow a brother.

Source: World of Yesterday

Author: Stefan Zweig

#history #europe

At that time a visit to Austria called...

At that time a visit to Austria called for preparations similar to those for an Arctic expedition. Warm clothes and woolen underwear were needed because it was known that across the border there was no coal with winter at the door. Shoes had to be soled for there were none but wooden soles over there. Provisions and chocolate in such quantities as Switzerland permitted were taken so that the traveler could keep going until he received bread and fat ration cards. It was the practice to insure luggage for the maximum amount allowed since most baggage cars were looted and shoes and clothing were irreplaceable;

#war #history

I've spent the past year losing 80 lbs...

I've spent the past year losing 80 lbs and getting in shape. A lot of people have been asking me how I did it; specifics like what diet I was on, how many times a week I worked out, etc etc. So I thought I'd just answer everyone's questions by giving you guys step by step instructions on how you can achieve everything I have... IN JUST 4 EASY STEPS! Ready? Here we go!!!

**1.) NO BEER**\

This is a big one, and one that you've probably heard before. Every time

you drink a beer, it's like eating seven slices of bread. That's a lot

of bread!

**2.) PORTION CONTROL**\

This is especially true when you go out to eat at restaurants. A good

trick to do is when your meal comes, cut it in half and right away ask

for a takeout container, so that you can save the rest for later --- and

even better, if you start your meal out right by ordering lean meats and

veggies, you'll slim down in no time!

**3.) HAVE YOUR HEART BROKEN**\

And not just broken; shattered. Into itsy bitsy tiny little pieces, by a

girl who never loved you and never will. Join the gym at your work.

Start going to the gym regularly, and even though you don't know that

much about exercise and you're way too weak to do pretty much anything

but lift 5 lb weights and use the elliptical machines with the old

people, do it until your sweat makes a puddle on the floor. Then go home

and go to bed early and the next day do it again. And then again. And

then again.

Listen to stories of your ex-girlfriend fucking around with gross and terrible people, stories from your friends who think they are doing you a favor. Go to the gym and make more puddles of sweat. Buy books. Learn about different muscle groups and how they work together. Start eating healthy. Learn about nutrition. Plan out your week of meals. Try to forget her.

After work one night, go up up up all the way to the top floor of the parking garage and walk all the way to the back. Look out at the twinkling lights of the skyscrapers of downtown Los Angeles and think about how every single one of those office lights represents a person. Try to imagine how they feel. What they're doing right then; if they miss someone special, if they wonder if someone special misses them. Then realize that most of those lights are probably shining into offices with no one in them except for a custodian or two. Realize you are alone, that you are staring at no one. Turn your collar up against the cold and drive home to a meal of a single chicken breast and steamed vegetables. Go to sleep. Go back to work. Go to the gym. Sweat.

Buy a scale. Pick a goal weight. Imagine the goal weight as a shining beacon on a hill. You are at the bottom, in the dark. Talk to her at work. Notice the awkward way she walks in high heels and her goofy smile when she looks over at you. Feel something clench inside your chest. Think about the gym and what muscle groups you are going to work that night.

Get on the treadmill. Push yourself to level 3, then level 4. Then 6. Run so fast you feel like you are going to die. Hit level 10. Pray for death. Think of how bad she makes you feel. Find the strength to keep going.

Late one night, make the mistake of looking at her Facebook and Instagram posts. Feel lower than you ever thought possible. Unfriend her and try to forget what you've seen. She is doing things with other people that you asked her to do with you. She is having a great time without you, and you are wasting your life listening to Taylor Swift on repeat and making sweat puddles on a gym floor.

Watch as your life shrinks down to four things: 1.) work, 2.) the gym, 3.) the food you eat, 4.) sleep. She wears the necklace you bought her and tells you that she got it "from someone who's really special". That night you discover that Slayer's "Angel of Death" might be the perfect song to do squats to.

Start to make friends at the gym. Vince and you spot each other on Wednesdays; Chase and you spot each other on Fridays. You used to look down on bro nods and fist bumps --- but since that's how gym rats communicate, that's become the language you speak most often. Work, Gym, Food, Sleep. Over and over. More sweat puddles. More fist bumps. You run hundreds of miles and lift thousands of pounds.

You start to see new people working out here and there and you realize you have done something you once thought impossible: You have become one of the regulars. Once in a while, you are the last one leaving the gym. You make a point to get to the gym earlier, but your workouts start to stretch from one hour to ninety minutes to two hours. You are now routinely the last person at the gym. You run. You lift. You make more puddles.

Your body changes slowly, then all at once --- you are suddenly thin and muscular. You hit your goal weight, pick a new one, then hit it again. You go out and buy new clothes. You receive wave after wave of compliments. Your ex tells you that she's seeing someone else. Your chest clenches. You feel exhausted.

That night you go to the gym. You listen to all her favorite songs. You run farther and lift more than you thought your body was capable of. It is a good workout. It leaves you numb. You go home and eat a single chicken breast and steamed vegetables. You go to sleep. You dream of a bottomless black puddle.

You've stopped drinking alcohol months ago, so now when you hang out at bars or parties you don't talk to anyone new. But with your new body and new clothes, gorgeous women hit on you constantly. One time, a woman literally comes up to you and says she thinks you'd be good in bed and hands you a napkin with her number on it. As she is talking to you, her hand resting on your chest inside your shirt, all you can think of is how badly you need to beat your best time sprinting across the park across from your house the next day. That night when you get home you research the best shoes for trail running and click "buy". The shoes are a hundred dollars. The phone number goes in the trash.

There is a girl you see a lot at the gym, who always does these weird leg exercises you've never seen before. She's beautiful. You make it a point to not look at her --- because you are overly worried about looking creepy like that guy in the blue shirt who never wears underwear and always hangs around the lat pulldown machine --- but you notice this girl is always at the gym when you are, and seems to always choose the bench next to you. You turn up the Slayer and concentrate on making your puddles bigger.

Your ex parades her new boyfriend around, flatly ignoring you the entire time. He is taller than you, more ripped than you, better looking than you, and --- according to the Greek chorus of your mutual friends --- he comes from money. As you watch her introduce him to everyone but you, you remember how her blue eyes lit up underneath the ferris wheel on her birthday when you gave her those bracelets she's wearing. In your pocket, your hand makes itself into a fist.

That night, you deadlift your body weight. You sneak a photo of yourself in the mirror and email it to yourself with the subject heading "You Are A Warrior". The next day you are disgusted with yourself and delete it.

You make puddle after puddle after puddle and eat single chicken breasts and work and sleep and the weather gets warm and then gets cold and you know all of Taylor Swift's songs by heart and the only things that exist in the entire universe are you and The Gym and then something different happens: a night comes where you are not the last person in the gym.

It is you and the girl who does the weird leg exercises. You end up walking out at the same time.

Her name is Melissa and she works in the building next to you. She's worked there for two years. She asks you out to dinner on Friday, promising it'll be healthy. The leg exercises are Pivoting Curtsy Lunges.

You start seeing Melissa a lot, both inside the gym and out. You tell no one. You add a couple cheat days to your week --- for when you two get dinner and share dessert --- and you start getting a lot less sleep. You phase out Slayer in favor of Springsteen. Vince and Chase note that you've stopped looking like you're praying for death when you run. Your ex texts you late at night to ask you out to coffee, but you don't write her back. You can't remember the last time you fantasized about puddles.

One night you're walking Melissa to her car in the parking garage and she is parked up up up all the way on the top floor. She says she wants to show you something and she takes your hand and leads you all the way to the back. You both stand there in the dark looking out over the twinkling lights of the skyscrapers of downtown Los Angeles.

"Isn't it beautiful?" She says. "All those lights."

You tell her that yes, it's beautiful, but it makes you sad. All those pretty lights mean nothing; they're just shining into cold lonely offices with nobody in them. Melissa squeezes your hand and says yes, each light is an empty office --- but they're only empty because the people have all gone home for the day. All those twinkling lights aren't sad; each one is a person who's at home, happy with the one they love. And how romantic is that?

You look at her in the lights and she smiles. Something in your chest expands.

Late one Sunday afternoon you are writing out your rent check and realize it's been exactly a year since you started working out. You think of all those miles you've run and those pounds you've lifted and chicken you've eaten and puddles you've made. It doesn't seem that bad. You realize that it's not about hitting a goal weight, or lifting a weight. It's about being able to wait. Waiting, being patient, and trusting that life will slowly inch along and things will eventually get better. After all, change takes time.

But time is all it takes.

**4.) NO FRUIT JUICE**\

Too much sugar!!!

Link: https://medium.com/@AaronBleyaert/how-to-lose-weight-in-4-easy-steps-1f135f7e1dec

#socialmedia #advertising

There is a creeping tendency to use made...

There is a creeping tendency to use made up acronyms at SpaceX. Excessive use of made up acronyms is a significant impediment to communication and keeping communication good as we grow is incredibly important. Individually, a few acronyms here and there may not seem so bad, but if a thousand people are making these up, over time the result will be a huge glossary that we have to issue to new employees. No one can actually remember all these acronyms and people don't want to seem dumb in a meeting, so they just sit there in ignorance. This is particularly tough on new employees.

That needs to stop immediately or I will take drastic action - I have given enough warning over the years. Unless an acronym is approved by me, it should not enter the SpaceX glossary. If there is an existing acronym that cannot reasonably be justified, it should be eliminated, as I have requested in the past.

For example, there should be not "HTS" \[horizontal test stand\] or "VTS" \[vertical test stand\] designations for test stands. Those are particularly dumb, as they contain unnecessary words. A "stand" at our test site is obviously a test stand. VTS-3 is four syllables compared with "Tripod", which is two, so the bloody acronym version actually takes longer to say than the name!

The key test for an acronym is to ask whether it helps or hurts communication. An acronym that most engineers outside of SpaceX already know, such as GUI, is fine to use. It is also ok to make up a few acronyms/contractions every now and again, assuming I have approved them, e.g. MVac and M9 instead of Merlin 1C-Vacuum or Merlin 1C-Sea Level, but those need to be kept to a minimum.

Source: Memo to SpaceX

Author: Elon Musk

#spaceflight #engineering

In the special case where C= 0 (i.e.,...

In the special case where C= 0 (i.e., it costs nothing to attack) making a profit is easy so long as there are some viable victims. Profit is guaranteed so long as true positives give some gain. Spam seems to be an example where C≈0. If false positives cost nothing, while false negatives mean lost income, there's little point in restraint.

#culture #reflection

As so often in Pompeii, the tiniest traces...

As so often in Pompeii, the tiniest traces preserved beneath our feet, often unnoticed by most of those who now wander through the town, can be pressed into service to reveal all kinds of intriguing and unexpected aspects of Roman life

Source: Pompeii

#ancienthistory #disaster

I read an article once, that claimed when...

I read an article once, that claimed when a Scandinavian country joined the EU, they expected significant job distortion as a result of free trade. So they literally moved government agencies from their current locations, to locations that they expected would be hardest hit. The end result was the shifting of thousands of government jobs from one location to another. Highly trained people in the old government centers were still in really competitive markets with significant government opportunities. But those communities that were about to be devastated by free trade (usually smaller backwater communities) suddenly saw federal agencies appear that required thousands of jobs overnight, and whom had a mandate to hire those affected by free trade, thereby saving the economy for those workers in the area.

My point is that creative solutions are possible, if we dispense with the notion that the only solution possible is the free market.

#finance #markets

Sulla's handiwork is still visible at Pompeii, in...

Sulla's handiwork is still visible at Pompeii, in the shape of numerous lead bullets and ballista balls (the Roman equivalent of cannon shot) found on the site, and a smattering of small holes in the city walls where shots that had presumably been aimed to clear the defences fell short and left their tell-tale mark. Inside the city, houses close to the walls at the north came off particularly badly. The House of the Vestals -- so called because of a fanciful eighteenth-century notion that it was the residence of a group of virgin priestesses, the 'Vestal Virgins' -- suffered serious damage, even if its wealthy owners managed to turn the chaos and destruction to their own advantage. In the aftermath of the war it seems that they got their hands on some of the neighbouring property, rebuilding their house on a much larger scale. By an uncanny coincidence, the House of the Vestals was again a victim of warfare almost 2000 years later, when it was hit by Allied bombs in September 1943. Excavations now turn up pieces of modern shrapnel alongside the Roman sling bullets.

Source: Pompeii

#ancienthistory #disaster

The genuine and childish quality that emanated from...

The genuine and childish quality that emanated from this naïve poet--who in Germany today is almost forgotten--perhaps diverted my attention from the elected chairman of "The Coming Ones," and yet he was a man whose words and ideas were to be formative in the lives of many people. In Rudolf Steiner, whose disciples were later to build magnificent schools and academies for the propagation of the teachings of the founder of Anthroposophy, for the first time since Theodor Herzl I approached a man to whom destiny had given the mission of guiding millions of people. Personally he was not so much of a leader as Herzl had been, but he was more engaging. A hypnotic power lay in his dark eyes and I listened to him better and more critically when not looking at him, for his ascetic, thin face, carved by spiritual suffering, was well disposed to be convincing--and not only to women. At that time Rudolf Steiner had not yet formulated his theories, he was still seeking and learning. On occasion he recited for us commentaries on the color-theories of Goethe, whose portrait, as he drew it, became more Faustian, more Paracelsian. It was exciting to listen to him, for his education was stupendous and quite different from our own, which was confined to literature alone. I always returned home from his lectures, and from many good, private conversations, both enraptured and somewhat depressed. However, if I ask myself today whether I would have foretold for that young man his great philosophical and ethical effect upon the masses, I must admit, to my shame, that I would not. I had expected great things from his questing intellect, and I would not have been in the least astonished to hear of some important biological discovery which his intuitive spirit had accomplished; but when many years later I saw the grandiose Goetheanum in Dornach, this "school of wisdom," which his pupils had founded as a platonic academy of anthroposophy, I was rather disappointed that his power had run to material and sometimes even into the commonplace. I do not claim any judgment of anthroposophy, for even today I am not quite clear as to what it seeks or means, and I believe that on the whole its seductive power is bound up not with an idea, but with the fascinating personality of Rudolf Steiner. Nevertheless, meeting a man of such magnetic personality at so early a stage, when he yielded himself to the younger people around him in friendship and without dogmatizing, was an incalculable gain for me. In his fantastic and at the same time profound knowledge I realized that true universality, which we, with the overweening pride of high school boys, thought we had already mastered, was not to be gained by flighty reading and discussion, but only by years of burning endeavor.

Source: The World of Yesterday

#history #europe

Yet still, you never know a people or...

Yet still, you never know a people or a city in its depth and its most hidden qualities through books, nor even most persistent poking about in its nooks and crannies, but only through its best people. It is only through an intellectual friendship with the living that one gains insight into the true connection between folk and land; all observation from without can give no more than a spurious premature view.

Source: The World of Yesterday

#history #europe

I used my time in translating from foreign...

I used my time in translating from foreign languages, and even now I hold this to be the best way for a young poet to understand more deeply and more creatively the spirit of his own language. I translated the verses of Baudelaire, a few of Verlaine, Keats, William Morris, a short drama by Charles van Lerberghe, a novel by Camille Lemonnier, pour me faire la main. Just because every strange language at first offers opposition in its most personal turnings to those who would copy it, it invites forces of expression which, otherwise unsought, would never come to light; and this struggle to wrest from a strange language its most intimate essence and to mold it as plastically into one's own language, was always a particular artistic desire on my part. Because this silent and actually thankless work requires patience and perseverance, virtues which I had neglected in the Gymnasium through ease and boldness, it became particularly dear to me; for in this humble activity of transmitting the highest treasures of art I experienced for the first time the assurance of doing something truly useful, a justification of my existence.

Source: The World of Yesterday

#history #europe

It was only much later that I realized...

It was only much later that I realized that this unfeeling and soulless method of the education of our youth was not due to the carelessness of the authorities, but represented a definite, and what is more, a carefully guarded secret intention. The world about and above us, which directed all its thoughts only to the fetish of security, did not like youth; or rather it constantly mistrusted it. Proud of its systematic "progress" and of its order, bourgeois society proclaimed moderation and leisure in all forms of life as the only effective virtues of man; all hasty efforts to advance ourselves were to be avoided. Austria was an old State, dominated by an aged Emperor, ruled by old Ministers, a State without ambition, which hoped to preserve itself unharmed in the European domain solely by opposing all radical changes.

Source: The World of Yesterday

#history #europe

I have always been of the same opinion...

I have always been of the same opinion as the Shah of Persia who, when urged to attend the Derby, replied with Oriental wisdom: "Why? I know that one horse can run faster than another. It makes no difference to me which one it is."

Source: The World of Yesterday

#history #europe

This is all very odd. A man's opinion...

This is all very odd. A man's opinion about tax rates should not have anything to do with his opinion about abortion, but in the American context they often do. A woman's conclusions on the life history of Brett Kavanaugh should hold no relation to her opinions about conservationism. One's convictions about transgender bathrooms should tell you very little about one's attitude towards Russia or Iran. Yet they do!

#colonialism #australianhistory

Yet soon afterwards Cosimo's agents discovered another plot...

Yet soon afterwards Cosimo's agents discovered another plot to kill him by submerging a chevaux de frise of swords and spikes beneath the waters of the Arno at the place where he used to dive in for a swim during the summer months.

Source: The rise and fall of the house of Medici

#renaissance #history

This settled the matter. Cosimo's nomination was approved,...

This settled the matter. Cosimo's nomination was approved, and Guicciardini looked forward to the exercise of power in his name. Yet those who knew Cosimo took leave to doubt that Guicciardini would be able to control him in the manner he intended. As Benvenuto Cellini commented: They have mounted a young man on a splendid horse --then told him you must not ride beyond certain boundaries. Now tell me who is going to restrain him when he wants to ride beyond them? You can't impose laws on a man who is your master.

Source: The rise and fall of the house of Medici

#renaissance #history

I've taught my children to read first using...

I've taught my children to read first using board books and then moving on to paperbacks. Printed books are uniquely suited as teaching materials for children. They are robust to dropping, food spills, and drink spills (if you're quick to react). Losing one book doesn't imply the loss of the whole library.

#culture #reflection

> and it was no guarantee that you...

> and it was no guarantee that you were measuring the protein and not some weird light physics effect!

My thesis was in fluorescent bio physics at the nano scale (STED). We literally had a PI effect. Normally, the 'PI effect' is that when the professor comes in, the experiment stops working, mostly due to Murphy's law. With our case, it was because the extra body heat caused the mirrors to expand and drift out of place, ruining the alignment. This also meant it took a while for the mirrors to come back into alignment after lunch and first thing in the morning. What a mess!

So yes, in microscopy, the apparatus very much is part of the experiment and it takes ages to get things controlled and imaging correctly.

Source: Replying to me on Single Molecule Biophysics

#biophysics #research

Note that your brain calculates what you might...

Note that your brain calculates what you might learn in the short term — your long-term interests aren't a factor. That's why a cardiac surgeon who is passionate about her job will nevertheless find a conference presentation on the subject boring if her brain decides that the talk won't add to her knowledge. Conversely, when a friend persuades her to watch a documentary on type fonts, her brain may calculate that this will be a rich source of information — and she finds herself fascinated.

It's that disconnect between long- and short-term interests that makes frothy articles so frustrating. The feeling of curiosity promised you'd learn something and, admittedly, you did — now you know French citizens' favorite macaron flavor — but you're disappointed because your new knowledge doesn't contribute to your long-term interests. You've been clickbaited by your own brain.

#neuroscience #consciousness

In the digital age we think of someone...

In the digital age we think of someone reading a printed book curled up in bed or sprawled under a tree, reading for pleasure, probably some classic work of imaginative literature. But for most of the history of printed books, that kind of reading has been distinctly in the minority. If you asked people in Britain or in the US a generation ago what book they had in their house, the most common answers would have been a Bible and a telephone book. So when we blame the absence of printed books for the distraction and the impatience and superficiality of the digital world, it's unfair. We're comparing an ideal scenario of print reading with a more realistic assessment of digital reading. We kid ourselves if we think that the presence of printed books would magically make us more attentive and more focused.

#genetics #biology

It really is difficult to make precise measurements....

It really is difficult to make precise measurements. Everyone who has examined the way the best values of the fundamental physical constants have varied with time has noted that there is usually a "fashionable" value that is often many standard deviations away from a later value more precisely known. This phenomenon, which I call intellectual phase lock, occurs partly because no one likes to stand alone.

The person I know who most successfully avoided intellectual phase lock was Frank Dunnington, who worked with Ernest Lawrence at Berkeley in the 1930s. Dunnington spent several years measuring the electron's charge-to-mass ratio, e/m. He used a method that Lawrence had suggested shortly after he invented the cyclotron, his wonderful instrument for accelerating particles by spiraling them through a magnetic field: the method involves measuring the time it takes an electron to move through some measured fraction of one revolution in a magnetic field, a measurement from which the value of e/m can be calculated. The measurement was potentially much more accurate than earlier measurements using different techniques.

Dunnington knew that his e/m results were eagerly awaited but recognized his human susceptibility to intellectual phase lock. If he was going to spend four years of his life on a measurement, then he had to devise a scheme to avoid tilting the answer to an anticipated value.

He did so by deliberately obscuring a crucial piece of information, the angle between the slits in his experimental arrangement through which the electrons entered and exited. He told the head machinist that he wanted the angle somewhere between eighteen and twenty-two degrees, its precise value unknown. The machinist complied, and Dunnington began his years of careful measurements and the elimination of all "systematic errors." Only at the end, after he had written the final draft of his lengthy paper, did he dismantle his apparatus, remove the key slit system from its vacuum chamber, and mount it on a machine for measuring angles. After a long series of careful measurements, he wrote down the best measured value of the angle, punched that value into his desk calculator, and multiplied it by the number that represented the sum total of his several years of work. The number that appeared in the window of the calculating machine, now the world's best value of e/m, he wrote in the blank space he had left on the last page of his paper. Then he sealed the envelope and mailed it away.

Dunnington's care to avoid intellectual phase lock illustrates one major difference between scientists and most other people. Most people are concerned that someone might cheat them; the scientist is even more concerned that he might cheat himself.

#research #science

There is hardly a city in Europe where...

There is hardly a city in Europe where the drive towards cultural ideals was as passionate as it was in Vienna. Precisely because the monarchy, because Austria itself for centuries had been neither politically ambitious nor particularly successful in its military actions, the native pride had turned more strongly toward a desire for artistic supremacy. The most important and the most valuable provinces, German and Italian, Flemish and Walloon, had long since fallen away from the old Habsburg empire that had once ruled Europe; unsullied in its old glory, the capital had remained, the treasure of the court, the preserver of a thousand-year-old tradition. The Romans had laid the first stones of this city, as a castrum, a fortress, an advance outpost to protect Latin civilization against the barbarians; and more than a thousand years later the attack of the Ottomans against the West shattered against these walls. Here rode the Nibelungs, here the immortal Pleiades of music shone out over the world, Gluck, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, and Johann Strauss, here all the streams of European culture converged. At court, among the nobility, and among the people, the German was related in blood to the Slavic, the Hungarian, the Spanish, the Italian, the French, the Flemish; and it was the particular genius of this city of music that dissolved all the contrasts harmoniously into a new and unique thing, the Austrian, the Viennese. Hospitable and endowed with a particular talent for receptivity, the city drew the most diverse forces to it, loosened, propitiated, and pacified them. It was sweet to live here, in this atmosphere of spiritual conciliation, and subconsciously every citizen became supernational, cosmopolitan, a citizen of the world.

Source: The World of Yesterday

Author: Stefan Zweig

#history #europe

"I remember some quote saying that Nintendo effectively...

"I remember some quote saying that Nintendo effectively sold 1 DS unit per second for 5 years straight.

60 seconds per minute

60 minutes per hour

3,600

24 hours per day

86,400

365 days per year

31,536,000

5 years

157,680,000"

Source: reddit

Author: eeyore_

#internet #culture

Link: https://abstrusegoose.com/522

#culture #reflection

"that makes it all the more odd that...

"that makes it all the more odd that Libra's ambitions are international. The front page of Libra.org speaks of 1.7 billion unbanked people globally. "Banking the unbanked" has long been a concern in international development, and the phrase was co-opted by bitcoin advocates around 2013. At no point has any bitcoin advocate put forward a coherent plan---the mere fact of bitcoin would somehow fix the problem. Libra's plan is an unspecified implication that it can provide lower fees, apparently just by existing. It's literally the bitcoin claim, with the buzzword changed.

David Marcus, the Facebook executive in charge of the project, told the press last week that the problems of banking the unbanked were technical --- that banks were unable to move money fast enough without a blockchain. This is completely backward. Experts know how to move numbers on a computer. The slow part is settlement and compliance: making sure that money transmitters are solvent, honest, and not fronting for drug runners. Banking the unbanked is a slow, one-on-one social process. Libra's public relations material describes this as if it were entirely a technical problem --- and none of it is." -

Link: https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/06/24/971554-facebook-bitcoin-libra-crypto-bad/

#socialmedia #advertising

"A huge percentage of the Internet is the...

"A huge percentage of the Internet is the same information, repeated over and over again. This is especially apparent on film websites; they call it aggregation but it's really just a nicer way to say regurgitation.

So go to the library. Read books. We cannot emphasize this enough: read books, read books, read books. Your work is only as good as your research, and the best research tool we have is the public library (or a film archive/research library if you're lucky)."

Source: Every Frame a Painting post mortem

Link: https://medium.com/@tonyszhou/postmortem-1b338537fabc

#film #creativity

On facebook dating comment by Deven34: >other options...

On facebook dating comment by Deven34:

>other options are substantially worse

Talk about misaligned incentives!

The dearth of effective dating platforms is the expected end state of the current "pay per use" model. The popular sites earn more from repeat customers than from single-time customers. That is fine for general goods & services. However it goes against the usual idea for dating: to find a partner & establish a good, lasting relationship in as few "attempts" as possible. Users successfully coupling up are effectively "lost" for the platform that facilitated it.

What would it take to build a sustainable dating platform? First up, it would need to benefit the most from a successful & permanent match, rather from repeated use.

Come to think of it, the "traditional" (for lack of better word) society built on nuclear families just might have been geared that way - to benefit the most from people finding partners & becoming long term couples.

#socialmedia #advertising

I was surprised to find, on counting the...

I was surprised to find, on counting the eggs of a large white Doris (this sea-slug was three and a half inches long), how extraordinarily numerous they were. From two to five eggs (each three-thousandths of an inch in diameter) were contained in spherical little case. These were arranged two deep in transverse rows forming a ribbon. The ribbon adhered by its edge to the rock in an oval spire. One which I found, measured nearly twenty inches in length and half in breadth. By counting how many balls were contained in a tenth of an inch in the row, and how many rows in an equal length of the ribbon, on the most moderate computation there were six hundred thousand eggs. Yet this Doris was certainly not very common; although I was often searching under the stones, I saw only seven individuals. No fallacy is more common with naturalists, than that the numbers of an individual species depend on its powers of propagation.

Source: The Voyage of the Beagle

Author: Charles Darwin

#naturalhistory #exploration

An intentional depressurization would have been an obvious...

An intentional depressurization would have been an obvious way---and probably the only way---to subdue a potentially unruly cabin in an airplane that was going to remain in flight for hours to come. In the cabin, the effect would have gone unnoticed but for the sudden appearance of the drop-down oxygen masks and perhaps the cabin crew's use of the few portable units of similar design. None of those cabin masks was intended for more than about 15 minutes of use during emergency descents to altitudes below 13,000 feet; they would have been of no value at all cruising at 40,000 feet. The cabin occupants would have become incapacitated within a couple of minutes, lost consciousness, and gently died without any choking or gasping for air. The scene would have been dimly lit by the emergency lights, with the dead belted into their seats, their faces nestled in the worthless oxygen masks dangling on tubes from the ceiling.

Source: The Atlantic

Link: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/07/mh370-malaysia-airlines/590653/

#journalism #culture

From The Rise and Fall of the House...

From The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici, on the Duke of Milan Filippo Maria Visconti:

This Visconti was widely believed to be mad and was certainly unbalanced. He had been known on summer days to strip the rich clothes from his grotesquely fat and dirty body and to roll about naked in his garden. So ugly that he refused to have his portrait painted, so weak on his deformed legs that he could not rise from his chair without leaning on a page; so nervous that he had been known to scream at the sight of a naked sword; so frightened of thunder that he had a sound-proof room built in his palace; so fond of practical jokes that he would suddenly produce a snake from his sleeve when talking to an unsuspecting courtier, he was also wilful, secretive and inordinately suspicious.

Source: The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici

#renaissance #history

The design was to be for a bronze...

The design was to be for a bronze panel representing the sacrifice of Isaac; and, when all the works had been handed in, the judges decided to give special consideration to the submissions of three young artists, all of them in their twenties, Jacopo della Quercia from Siena, Lorenzo Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi, both Florentines. After lengthy deliberations the choice fell upon Ghiberti and Brunelleschi; but when these two were asked to collaborate, the suggestion so annoyed the fiery-tempered Brunelleschi that he stormed out of Florence and went to study architecture in Rome, handing the bronze he had made to Cosimo de'Medici who afterwards placed it in the old sacristy at San Lorenzo where it was displayed behind the altar.

Source: The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici

#renaissance #history

Even so, Cosimo succeeded in remaining the most...

Even so, Cosimo succeeded in remaining the most powerful man in Florence for years without ever appearing to be much more than an extremely prosperous, generous and approachable banker, prepared to undertake whatever political or diplomatic duties were imposed upon him, and to help direct the financial policies of the State. He acted with the greatest skill to preserve his power, his friend, Vespasiano da Bisticci the bookseller, wrote. 'And whenever he wished to achieve something, he saw to it, in order to escape envy as much as possible, that the initiative appeared to come from others and not from him.'

Source: Rise and Fall of the Medici's

#renaissance #history

In Captain Owen's Surveying Voyage (vol. ii. p....

In Captain Owen's Surveying Voyage (vol. ii. p. 274) there is a curious account of the effects of a drought on the elephants, at Benguela (west coast of Africa). "A number of these animals had some time since entered the town, in a body, to possess themselves of the wells, not being able to procure any water in the country. The inhabitants mustered, when a desperate conflict ensued, which terminated in the ultimate discomfiture of the invaders, but not until they had killed one man, and wounded several others." The town is said to have a population of nearly three thousand! Dr. Malcolmson informs me that, during a great drought in India, the wild animals entered the tents of some troops at Ellore, and that a hare drank out of a vessel held by the adjutant of the regiment.

Source: Voyage of the Beagle

#naturalhistory #exploration

We were here able to buy some biscuit....

We were here able to buy some biscuit. I had now been several days without tasting anything besides meat: I did not at all dislike this new regimen; but I felt as if it would only have agreed with me with hard exercise. I have heard that patients in England, when desired to confine themselves exclusively to an animal diet, even with the hope of life before their eyes, have hardly been able to endure it. Yet the Gaucho in the Pampas, for months together, touches nothing but beef. But they eat, I observe, a very large proportion of fat, which is of a less animalized nature; and they particularly dislike dry meat, such as that of the Agouti. Dr. Richardson6 also, has remarked, "that when people have fed for a long time solely upon lean animal food, the desire for fat becomes so insatiable, that they can consume a large quantity of unmixed and even oily fat without nausea:" this appears to me a curious physiological fact. It is, perhaps, from their meat regimen that the Gauchos, like other carnivorous animals, can abstain long from food. I was told that at Tandeel, some troops voluntarily pursued a party of Indians for three days, without eating or drinking.

Source: Voyage of the Beagle

#naturalhistory #exploration

He was no good at anything else. Wizardry...

He was no good at anything else. Wizardry was the only refuge. Well, actually he was no good at wizardry either, but at least he was definitively no good at it. He'd always felt he had a right to exist as a wizard in the same way that you couldn't do proper maths without the number 0, which wasn't a number at all but, if it went away, would leave a lot of larger numbers looking bloody stupid.

Source: Discworld

#fiction #satire

If every human being, elephant, orchid, and razor-billed...

If every human being, elephant, orchid, and razor-billed auk were precisely like all the others of its species, life on this earth would be very different from what it is. But life is a collection of similarities rather than identities; no single observation is a perfect example of generality. By revealing the normal distribution, the bell curve transforms this jumble into order.

Source: Against The Gods

#risk #probability

One winter night during one of the many...

One winter night during one of the many German air raids on Moscow in World War II, a distinguished Soviet professor of statistics showed up in his local air-raid shelter. He had never appeared there before. "There are seven million people in Moscow," he used to say. "Why should I expect them to hit me?" His friends were astonished to see him and asked what had happened to change his mind. "Look," he explained, "there are seven million people in Moscow and one elephant. Last night they got the elephant."

Source: Against The Gods

#risk #probability

De Méré tried a variation on his system...

De Méré tried a variation on his system by betting that sonnez — the term for double-six — had a better than 50% probability of showing up on 24 throws of two dice. He lost enough money on these bets to learn that the probability of double-six was in fact only 49.14% on 24 throws. Had he bet on 25 throws, where the probability of throwing sonnez breaks through to 50.55%, he would have ended up a richer man. The history of risk management is written in red as well as in black.

Source: Against The Gods

#risk #probability

The final chapter describes a game in which...

The final chapter describes a game in which each of ten players risks one coin in the hope of winning the nine coins of his fellow players. The author then points out that there are "nine degrees of probability of losing a coin for only one of gaining nine." Though the observation is innocuous, the sentence has earned immortality. According to Hacking, this is the first occasion in print "where probability, so called, is measured."

Source: Against The Gods

#risk #probability

Relentlessly prune bullshit, don't wait to do things...

Relentlessly prune bullshit, don't wait to do things that matter, and savor the time you have. That's what you do when life is short.

Link: http://www.paulgraham.com/vb.html

#culture #reflection

"This deck of punch cards worked all over...

"This deck of punch cards worked all over the world except in Australia, and what was happening was customs inspectors, when they inspected things like light bulbs, would pull one out at random to check. They did the same thing with the punch cards, and put them back out of order." From

Link: https://reading.supply/post/432f6903-c7cd-4cb0-a894-c09155a8ca8b

#culture #reflection

The weird sort of doublethink that surrounds invasive...

The weird sort of doublethink that surrounds invasive species is far from the only example of the kind. As a Druid who's written at some length about the future of industrial society, for instance, I quite often field emails and letters from people who've read the latest stories from the media about how this or that or the other crisis has doomed the Earth, and want to know what I think about it all. It so happens that almost without exception, the news stories in question take some change currently under way in the biosphere, extrapolate it in a straight line to the point where things break down, and claim on that basis that the end is nigh.

When we act as though Mother Nature isn't playing by the rules, in other words, we've forgotten that she makes the rules, and our opinions on the subject don't matter to her at all; whatever nature does is, after all, natural. Gaia is a tough and feisty old broad; she's shrugged off cataclysm after cataclysm—ice ages, nearby supernovas, asteroid impacts, gargantuan volcanic eruptions—and watched millions upon millions of species emerge, strut their stuff, and go tumbling down into extinction. We like to think of ourselves as something special, and to ourselves and each other, no doubt we are, the way dogs are important to other dogs and zebra mussels to other zebra mussels. To Gaia? Even if the biosphere of the Earth is a conscious entity, as some traditional occult philosophies and some modern mystics insist, there's no reason whatsoever to think that to her, we're anything but one species out of millions, no more inherently interesting or important than hagfish or aardvarks or blue-green algae.

#ecology #evolution

AI is a fantasy, nothing but a story...

AI is a fantasy, nothing but a story we tell about our code. It is also a cover for sloppy engineering. Making a supposed AI program that customizes a feed is less work than creating a great user interface that allows users to probe and improve what they see on their own terms—and that is so because AI has no objective criteria for success.

#fiction #storytelling

"The Smith version of the Kupe story and...

"The Smith version of the Kupe story and its dissemination in the School Journal and other literature, and the title of the first widely read general history of New Zealand, William Pember Reeves's The Long White Cloud (1898), all popularised and entrenched the notion that the Maori name for New Zealand had been and still was Aotearoa. After decades of repetition, Maori themselves came to believe that this was so. And, because shared mythology is ultimately more pervasive and more powerful than history, it became so.

The point of oral tradition, however, was that it recorded what people needed to know to understand and justify present circumstances, not 'domestic' detail about how people lived and worked in an earlier era."

#genetics #biology

"Mountain Ash are about the limit of how...

"Mountain Ash are about the limit of how tall a tree can grow," Steve says, "The highest recorded was over 140m." Such tall Eucalypts harvest water from the air. "The clouds pass through them, so even when it's not raining, water condenses on the leaves and drips down to the roots."

#culture #reflection

A classic case of poor cockpit design is...

A classic case of poor cockpit design is the ejection procedure which used to be in one Air Force trainer. It was a placard listing half a dozen important steps, printed boldly on the canopy rail where the pilot couldn't miss seeing it. The only flaw was that step 1 was "jettison the canopy." As the most experienced test pilot of the fourteen, Dick Gordon was well equipped to avoid problems such as these.

#culture #reflection

In Central Europe, there are no longer any...

In Central Europe, there are no longer any true old-growth forests. The largest extensive stand of trees is between two hundred and three hundred years old.

#culture #reflection

In a modern capitalist society, technology was, is,...

In a modern capitalist society, technology was, is, and always will be an expression of the economic objectives that direct it into action. A worthwhile exercise would be to delete the word "technology" from our vocabularies in order to see how quickly capitalism's objectives are exposed.

#culture #reflection

"Someone I know getting some therapy recently had...

"Someone I know getting some therapy recently had links to abusive nasty vids pop in thier feed, provoking horror and rage.\ \ Social media are become like hallucinogens that reflect our unconscious back to us, loosening our hold on objective reality.\ \ I wonder have we invoked something that we can't send back"

#socialmedia #culture

"But to the extent that ancestry is considered...

"But to the extent that ancestry is considered in genealogical rather than genetic terms, our findings suggest a remarkable proposition: no matter the languages we speak or the colour of our skin, we share ancestors who planted rice on the banks of the Yangtze, who first domesticated horses on the steppes of the Ukraine, who hunted giant sloths in the forests of North and South America, and who laboured to build the Great Pyramid of Khufu."

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm0hOex4psA

#ecology #symbiosis

"I believe that in recent years, while looking...

"I believe that in recent years, while looking for revenue models that work for electronic games, game designers and publishers have stumbled upon some formulae that work only because they abuse segments of their player population. Games can have addictive properties -- and these abusive games are created -- intentionally or not -- to exploit players who are subject to certain addictive behavior.

One reason it has been possible for this to happen is that the resulting product is inexpensive, or free for most players, since most of the burden of cost has been put upon the players who become addicted to the game.

I am going to refer to these games as skinnerware. Skinnerware has a large overlap with freemium games, but not all freemium games are skinnerware, and skinnerware exists that isn't freemium."

#statistics #prediction

"If you are going back in time and...

"If you are going back in time and wishing to set things up for success, there is usually a lot you can do to remove rather than add to your responsibility burden when you are young. Young people are often rushing to "make it" -- get the car, get the house, get the relationship, get the family, etc, etc. Once you have those things, your options narrow considerably.

While working for free is not an option that is available to a lot of people, I think the sentiment is still valid. No matter how many responsibilities you have in life, when you are young it's probably best to try to delay adding more so that you can spend some time exploring options that will be much harder to explore later in life when you are more established."

#research #science

"Airbnb promises to let visitors "live like a...

"Airbnb promises to let visitors "live like a local," but Quaglieri argues that its users generally have in mind a specific kind of local: someone who lives just as the visitors do back home. This consistent demographic of tourists, interchangeable with one another in their cosmopolitan tastes and habits of consumption, expects to find wherever it goes the café culture of Melbourne, the industrial lighting of Brooklyn, and the Internet speeds of Stockholm. "These people are not looking to live like a working-class family of migrants from Bangladesh," he said. "They are not looking for *that* kind of local.""

Link: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/04/29/the-airbnb-invasion-of-barcelona

#genetics #biology

"Mice lie, Monkeys exaggerate, and ferrets are not...

"Mice lie, Monkeys exaggerate, and ferrets are not people!"

Source: TWIV

#virology #science

"But that isn't what people are like. Instead...

"But that isn't what people are like. Instead of quitting early, they find new things to need. Many of the new things they've found weren't even around when Keynes was writing---laptops, microwaves, Xboxes, smartphones, smart watches, smart refrigerators, Prada totes, True Religion jeans, battery-powered meat thermometers, those gizmos you stick in the freezer and then into your beer to keep it cold as you drink it."

#spirituality #consciousness

"Imagine that at different points in time, the...

"Imagine that at different points in time, the confidence in your persona can be quantified. Say at some point in time last year they were 89% confident of the type of person you were, but today after months of using a ton of random fake likes and clicks they are only 16% sure.

They could choose to ignore low confidence measurements and still assume you are the same person from that point in time last year. Given that they can measure the standard rate of change in people's interests (per interest even), and how quickly interests fall out of style, they can then extrapolate how relevant certain ads might be for you today based on your old data.

Imagine that. They don't just own your data today, they own all the forecasts of your data for years to come. Go home and sleep on it."

#socialmedia #advertising

"Cats have done the seemingly impossible: They've integrated...

"Cats have done the seemingly impossible: They've integrated themselves into the modern high-tech world without giving themselves up. They are still in charge. There is no worry that some stealthy meme crafted by algorithms and paid for by a creepy, hidden oligarch has taken over your cat. No one has taken over your cat; not you, not anyone."

Source: 10 reasons to delete your social media accounts

#socialmedia #technology

"Someone I know works for a big 4...

"Someone I know works for a big 4 that is also roughly at this point in the delayed hype cycle. They are furiously selling blockchain solutions to everyone who will listen, and doing quite well at it. They did a firmwide review of internal skills recently, and amazingly there are zero staff who have any idea what a smart contract is. You wouldn't know if reading about them in the news, but they are getting paid millions and millions for various projects that are currently undeliverable."

Link: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19161457

#culture #reflection

"That stuff hit me hard. It's like finding...

"That stuff hit me hard. It's like finding out your favorite bakery is owned by a clansman. They're the best pastries you've ever had and you've been going there without any discussion outside of the transaction for years. Then one time you go in mention the overcast weather and the baker blames it on the Jews and interracial marriage. Now you can't eat the best danishes you've ever had without feeling complicit."

#culture #reflection

"I have long thought the PhD experience is...

"I have long thought the PhD experience is kin to historical tales from Zen monasteries. "Enlightenment" comes not when you pass the master's test, but when you realize you've gotten what you came for and simply tell the master you're leaving."

Source: thread about burnout.

Author: eob

Link: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15054099

#burnout #work

"For my mother, privacy is not just a...

"For my mother, privacy is not just a personal boundary or a practical concern but an instinct, and something like an ethos: She has a deep revulsion to the idea of something private circulating in public context. She dislikes having her picture taken and hates having it shared; it removes her right to represent herself. She feels uneasy when she encounters other people's old, anonymous family photographs at flea markets. The shots might be totally banal --- a woman standing barefoot on a lawn, or a child crying at the beach --- but their very banality is demeaning; they meant a lot to *someone.*

When she first explained this to me, I didn't get it. I remembered a performance I saw years ago by the Trachtenberg Family Slideshow Players, a mom, dad, and daughter who collected strangers' old snapshots and made up songs about them. As a teenager I thought this was a neat schtick, and a nice gesture, a way of honoring the humble people traced by old Polaroids. Now I think of how I'd feel were the artifacts of my life used as fodder for someone's art project, and it makes me very angry.

More and more, I understand my mother's circumspection: Most of the time, what feels monumental to you is a trifle to anyone else; describing it out loud, absorbing an outside response, can put you at odds with your own emotions. Posting pictures of a loved one is, on one hand, like placing them on a work desk; on the other, it seems obscene to consider the image's likability. Posting pictures of friends means using their image, in some way, to augment your own, inviting the sort of self-presentational calculus from which friendships are, ideally, an oasis."

Link: https://reallifemag.com/new-feelings-selfish-intimacy/

#ecology #symbiosis

"Alternatively, the existence of the cliche might suggest...

"Alternatively, the existence of the cliche might suggest that (some) climate change is always happening, just on a timescale that makes old people complain, and everybody else just be incredulous."

#culture #reflection

"One must always remember that bio was 'designed'...

"One must always remember that bio was 'designed' by a very drunk, very horny, illiterate schizophrenic over 4.5 billion years with an average design cycle of about 22 minutes (~10E14 total cycles). It makes no sense because it never did."

#culture #reflection

"An article in the *British Medical Journal* titled...

"An article in the *British Medical Journal* titled [*Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma related to gravitational challenge*](https://www.bmj.com/content/327/7429/1459) came to the conclusion that "the effectiveness of parachutes has not been subjected to rigorous evaluation by using randomised controlled trials.""

Link: https://www.bmj.com/content/327/7429/1459

#culture #reflection

"The goal of inclusion work is not "More...

"The goal of inclusion work is not "More black folk!" Or "More women!" The lack of black folk and women is a symptom of the root cause: opportunity to succeed and thrive is not evenly distributed."

#culture #reflection

"Do you love to travel? Do you love...

"Do you love to travel? Do you love photography? What about writing? Hiking? Rock climbing? Snowboarding? Surfing? Well on instagram you can only pick the one you're best at (or best at taking pics of) because that's what will get engagement, and you want engagement don't you? Those sweet, sweet likes give you that quick hit of dopamine to get you through the work day. It's those very same likes that have led to the downfall of what started out as a fun diversion. Every time you make a post that doesn't get engagement, you subconsciously "learn" that that isn't what you want to do, you want people to like your stuff, so you start to post about one thing, your profile eventually gets turned into photos about the one thing that drives engagement and you get caught up in it. You start to become driven by the engagement and you lose sight of the many facets of your personality that make up you." -

Source: @sean on instagram

Author: @sean

#socialmedia #culture

"When your circle of acquaintances is the whole...

"When your circle of acquaintances is the whole internet, being in the top tenth percentile of anything takes years of determined effort."

#culture #reflection

"Your fixed income portfolio will never try to...

"Your fixed income portfolio will never try to turn the garage into a meth lab."

#research #science

"There are all kinds of silences and each...

"There are all kinds of silences and each of them means a different thing. There is the silence that comes with morning in a forest, and this is different from the silence of a sleeping city. There is silence after a rainstorm, and before a rainstorm, and these are not the same. There is the silence of emptiness, the silence of fear, the silence of doubt. There is a certain silence that can emanate from a lifeless object as from a chair lately used, or from a piano with old dust upon its keys, or from anything that has answered to the need of a man, for pleasure or for work. This kind of silence can speak. Its voice may be melancholy, but it is not always so; for the chair may have been left by a laughing child or the last notes of the piano may have been raucous and gay. Whatever the mood or the circumstance, the essence of its quality may linger in the silence that follows. It is a soundless echo."

Source: West With the Night

Author: Beryl Markham

#aviation #memoir

"The typical American devotes more than 1500 hours...

"The typical American devotes more than 1500 hours a year (which is 30 hours a week, or 4 hours a day, including Sundays) to his [or her] car. This includes the time spent behind the wheel, both in motion and stopped, the hours of work to pay for it and to pay for gas, tires, tolls, insurance, tickets, and taxes. Thus it takes this American 1500 hours to go 6000 miles (in the course of a year). Three and a half miles take him (or her) one hour. In countries that do not have a transportation industry, people travel at exactly this speed on foot, with the added advantage that they can go wherever they want and aren't restricted to asphalt roads."

Author: Ivan Illich

#socialmedia #advertising

"\> Recognize you are not the special person...

"\> Recognize you are not the special person you thought you were. Really see how incredible all the people around you are.

What helped for me (though I'm not sure how realistic I currently am - but surely more than before) is not to realise how amazing the people around me are, but how ordinary the people I look up to are - specifically, not locally.

For example, I'd like to be a good programmer. There are a few "big names" online that people listen to; that I listen to. At a certain point, you realise they too make mistakes, they too don't know things that you do, and they have sacrificed some things to get where they are that I am simply not willing to sacrifice - but if I were, I might make it to the same place. But I'm not, and that's fine - now I know what I get back for not being where they are."

#computing #technology

"I own a car, a bike, shoes, and...

"I own a car, a bike, shoes, and a transit card. Most people where I live have at least 3 of these. Saying that "car owners" are 88% is exactly the kind of superficial statistic that got us to where we are today."

#culture #reflection

""How often does it get cold enough to...

""How often does it get cold enough to light a fire?" I asked, as what little I knew about the city included the fact that it is mostly hot and humid. Maybe once or twice a year, she replied, but her husband came from Wisconsin. He liked a log fire. So they would turn up the air conditioning and light one."

#culture #reflection

"Since conferences usually accept less than 20 percent...

"Since conferences usually accept less than 20 percent of paper sub-missions, if reviewers get a bad first impression when reading a paper, then they are likely to reject it. Dawson and I were not specialists in the empirical software measurement subfield, so we weren't able to "pitch" our paper submissions in a way that appealed to reviewers' expectations. Thus, we repeatedly got demoralized by negative reviews such as, "In the end, I find I just don't have much confidence in the results the authors present. There are two sources of doubt: I don't trust their interpretation of the measures, and they don't use very effective statistical techniques." In the cutthroat world of academic publishing, simply being passionate about a topic is nowhere near sufficient for success; one must be well-versed in the preferences of senior colleagues in a particular subfield who are serving as paper reviewers. In short, our data sets were not as good, our techniques were not as refined, and our results and presentation style were less impressive than what the veterans in this subfield expected."

Source: The PhD

Author: Grind

#academia #research

"Moby Dick is 1.2mb uncompressed in plain-text. That's...

"Moby Dick is 1.2mb uncompressed in plain-text. That's lower than the "average" news website by quite a bit--I just loaded the New York Times front page. It was 6.6mb. that's more than 5 copies of Moby Dick, solely for a gateway to the actual content that I want. A secondary reload was only 5mb.

I then opened a random article. The article itself was about 1,400 words long, but the page was 5.9mb. That's about 4kb per word without including the gateway (which is required if you're not using social media). Including the gateway, that's about 8kb per word, which is actually about the size of the actual content of the article itself.

So all told, to read just one article from the New York Times, I had to download the equivalent of ten copies of Moby Dick. That's about 4,600 pages. That's approaching the entirety of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, without appendices.

If I check the NY Times just 4 times a day and read three articles each time, I'm downloading 100mb worth of stuff (83 Moby-Dicks) to read 72kb worth of plaintext. Even ignoring first-principles ecological conservatism, that's just insanely inefficient and wasteful, regardless of how inexpensive bandwidth and computing power are in the west."

#socialmedia #culture

"The legacy of colonialism is baked into every...

"The legacy of colonialism is baked into every facet of every culture on the planet"

Author: Lindsay Ellis

#colonialism #australianhistory

"*Which is funnier: tech bros innovating their way...

"*Which is funnier: tech bros innovating their way to public transit, or bitcoin folks slowly reinventing financial regulation?*"

Author: Joseph Fink

#culture #reflection

"The research does get disseminated, just slowly. The...

"The research does get disseminated, just slowly. The transmission vector is contact with other people with firsthand knowledge of the research. It becomes an oral tradition, which makes it difficult to break into and is inefficient. I've come across many non-publishing research communities in various parts of computer science that continue to develop and share the state-of-the-art amongst themselves. The research isn't being lost, it is just compartmentalized.

For example, there is an elegant cache replacement algorithm I learned from a database kernel engineer a decade ago, one of those algorithms that is so obvious in hindsight that you can't believe it never occurred to you. It solves a key problem with the algorithms everyone knows in literature. I've used it ever since and taught a bunch of other database kernel engineers the same algorithm. I have no idea where the person I learned it from got it, but the literature still treats it like an unsolved problem. Many engineers are using it in more and more systems, and there are a few different variants in the wild, but no one has bothered to write it down AFAICT.

The salient point is that academia is not the only community that develops and defines the state-of-the-art in computer science, but at least they publish. Without an incentive for non-publishing research communities to publish, it becomes difficult for an outside academic to break into some fields because there isn't an obvious entry point."

Author: jandrewrogers

#computing #technology

"\>I hope that we can grow beyond changing...

"\>I hope that we can grow beyond changing ourselves to fit the algorithm

I personally think you are in for a very rude awakening. This is exactly what people are trying *not* to do with Machine Learning. It is always, almost, about profiling you, about finding out who you are in order to offer you what you already know, to limit your horizon, to "tailor" your "experience" and the span of possibilities.

As a very technical fellow told me: "when you read three political news in a row we set a badge, you are now politically minded."

This, sadly, doesn't fit your yearning for us growing "beyond changing ourselves to fit the algorithm."

My prediction is that it will get worst before it gets any better at all."

Author: ILikeConemowk

#culture #reflection

"Good scholarship is hard. It is easy to...

"Good scholarship is hard. It is easy to miss that someone tackled the same problem as you (or had the same idea as you) last year, or 5 years ago, or 50. People use different words to describe the same things, and publish in out-of-the-way places. Once you found the literature you must read it and actually understand it in order to see how it is similar to or differs from the idea you had. Because good scholarship is not just listing a number of previous works that are vaguely related to what you, but rather telling a believable, coherent and true story where all those previous works fits in, and your own work makes a logical conclusion. Therefore good scholarship takes a lot of searching and reading, a lot of time and effort. It's no wonder that lots of people don't want to spend the time and effort, and would rather get on with the tinkering."

Source: The differences between tinkering and research

Author: Togelius

#research #engineering

"Those people who post pictures of their dinner...

"Those people who post pictures of their dinner on Facebook, only to be dissapointed by the lack of 'likes' from friends, are simply trying to appeal to the wrong audience."

Source: *Gut*

Author: Guilian Enders

#medicine #microbiome

"The immune system can be described as 6...

"The immune system can be described as 6 blind people chasing a fly with brooms in a china shop."

Source: TWIM 13

Author: Elio Schaecter

#culture #reflection

"Many researchers believe that sugar is sugar. But...

"Many researchers believe that sugar is sugar. But people don't generally overeat natural sugars. Have you ever inhaled five apples in one sitting?"

Source: NYTimes article on sugar

#nutrition #publichealth

"Mucus: the duct tape of biology"

"Mucus: the duct tape of biology"

Source: TWIV

Author: Alan Dove

#virology #science

"You take what is offered, and that must...

"You take what is offered, and that must sometimes be enough."

Source: Altered Carbon

Author: Virginia Vidaura

#sciencefiction #identity

@JobvdZwan: *My mother called me the other day...

@JobvdZwan: *My mother called me the other day asking why I "installed Bing". Because she does not grasp that software can modify itself, it did not occur to her that Firefox itself switched after an auto-update. In this light it makes sense that family members blame you for "breaking" their computer if you helped them out months or years before: if you fix, say, a door, it will not spontaneously change after that. But fixing a computer is not like fixing a door.*

@algoglitches: *Interestingly doors will probably be computers a few years from now cf https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/09/you-are-already-living-inside-a-computer/539193/. We will refer to them as "formerly fixable objects" and they will produce their own glitches.*

@JobvdZwan: *Did you just make up the term "formerly fixable objects"? Because that should be a term.*

Link: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/09/you-are-already-living-inside-a-computer/539193/

#ecology #symbiosis

"There are cows in the green hills over...

"There are cows in the green hills over the Tasman Sea on the west coast of New Zealand that live rent-free in a nicer place than I ever will, and there is nothing I can do about it."

#culture #reflection

"If you're a painter you need to stop...

"If you're a painter you need to stop making excuses and fucking paint."

Author: unknown

#culture #reflection

"If you're paying someone for sex, it's not...

"If you're paying someone for sex, it's not a relationship, it's a business transaction. It's like me hiring someone to come and paint my house, then getting jealous when they paint someone else's house."

Author: ihateveryoneonthishsip redditor.

#culture #reflection

"It is a sobering thought, for example, that...

"It is a sobering thought, for example, that when Mozart was my age, he had been dead for two years."

Author: Tom Lehrer

#culture #reflection

"We always overestimate the change that will occur...

"We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don't let yourself be lulled into inaction."

Author: Bill Gates

#culture #reflection

"I have always wished for my computer to...

"I have always wished for my computer to be as easy to use as my telephone; my wish has come true because I can no longer figure out how to use my telephone."

Source: Hacker News

Author: Aloha

#technology #internet

"Life is basically just one big waste of...

"Life is basically just one big waste of time before dying" -- redditor "turbografx-sixteen".

#culture #reflection

"To those who argue programming is an essential...

"To those who argue programming is an essential skill we should be teaching our children, right up there with reading, writing, and arithmetic: **can you explain to me how Michael Bloomberg would be better at his day to day job of leading the largest city in the USA if he woke up one morning as a crack Java coder?**"

Link: https://blog.codinghorror.com/please-dont-learn-to-code/

#programming #games

">NEO: I've kept quiet for as long as...

">NEO: I've kept quiet for as long as I could, but I feel a certain need to speak up at this point. The human body is the most inefficient source of energy you could possibly imagine. The efficiency of a power plant at converting thermal energy into electricity decreases as you run the turbines at lower temperatures. If you had any sort of food humans could eat, it would be more efficient to burn it in a furnace than feed it to humans. And now you're telling me that their food is the bodies of the dead, fed to the living? Haven't you ever heard of the laws of thermodynamics?

>MORPHEUS: Where did you hear about the laws of thermodynamics, Neo?

>NEO: Anyone who's made it past one science class in high school ought to know about the laws of thermodynamics!

>MORPHEUS: Where did you go to high school, Neo?

>(Pause.)

>NEO: ...in the Matrix.

>MORPHEUS: The machines tell elegant lies.

>(Pause.)

>NEO (in a small voice): Could I please have a real physics textbook?

>MORPHEUS: There is no such thing, Neo. The universe doesn't run on math."

#education #learning

"The cost of raising children are the civil...

"The cost of raising children are the civil damages you pay for kidnapping your children into existence. I mean, I don't actually like to think of it like that, but if you think your kids owe you shit, this is why they don't." — BoozeiosPig on Askreddit

#genetics #biology

"In any bureaucracy, the people devoted to the...

"In any bureaucracy, the people devoted to the benefit of the bureaucracy itself always get in control and those dedicated to the goals the bureaucracy is supposed to accomplish have less and less influence, and sometimes are eliminated entirely."

Source: Pournelle's Iron Law of Beaucracy

#bureaucracy #institutions

"God gave you eyes, plagarise."

"God gave you eyes, plagarise."

Source: liar's poker

#finance #markets

"Any country with satellites spends tons of their...

"Any country with satellites spends tons of their time gawking at everyone else's stuff, while maybe occasionally predicting the weather."

Author: Hackernews commenter "Shouldbworking"

#culture #reflection

"Turns out the people who care about you...

"Turns out the people who care about you the most and really want you to succeed give the worst advice - it is often based on hope rather than reality."

Author: redditor on student loans in the US

#education #learning

"If a man could fuck a woman in...

"If a man could fuck a woman in a cardboard box, he wouldn't buy a house"

Source: Dave Chappelle

#comedy #culture

"A more prohibitive society, which tells us we...

"A more prohibitive society, which tells us we can't have everything, sets limits on our sense of self. Choose to be a bus conductor and you can't be a concert pianist; a full-time parent will never be chairman of the board. In our attainment society, we are constantly told that we can be, do and have anyone or anything we want. But, as anyone who's tried to decide between 22 nearly identical brands of yoghurt in an American organic hypermarket can confirm, limitless choice debilitates far more than it liberates."

#finance #markets

"a free person does not need to win...

"a free person does not need to win arguments --just win"

#culture #reflection

"One linguist asked me if the fact that...

"One linguist asked me if the fact that so many very smart people were attracted to Chomsky's theory didn't indicate that it was right. Not at all. There have been many brilliant theologians. But I still don't believe there is a god to theologise about. Intelligence is no guarantee of being right, and science is not a democracy." -- Daniel Everett in Aeon Magazine.

Author: Daniel Everett

#mythology #culture

"I once met an older guy who was...

"I once met an older guy who was a software developer and asked him how he got into the field. He said that he'd originally received a doctorate in psychology and was a psychiatrist for years before he realized that most people don't want to be fixed. He said he'd gotten into programming because, 'Computers always want to be fixed.'"

Source: jotux on hackernews

Author: jotux

#technology #internet

"What are you willing to struggle for?"

"What are you willing to struggle for?"

#culture #reflection

"The most stressful situations are where you are...

"The most stressful situations are where you are expected to perform, but have little or no control. This could be a job situation or some other situation. Find a new situation or a way to establish more control. Better to lose that job than your ability to work at any job."

#culture #reflection

"Let me draw you a scene to make...

"Let me draw you a scene to make this clear. You're in a party, with some friends. There is a woman who doesn't laugh, makes no expression at all. She looks at you like a butcher deciding which pig to slaughter. Now and then she looks at others, and then looks back at you. She smiles, and it's not a gentle smile. This would be Mallory wearing no mask. It is a frightening sight, and a rare one. And there's a guy, wearing a stupid orange hat, dressed in lurid colors. He's laughing out loud, a huge stupid grin on his face. Everyone loves him. He's the life and soul of the party, roaring loud and happy, his face and hands animated. He looks like a harmless fool. If you meet his gaze, you feel warmth and affection. You could fall into that gaze, it's so deep. That's Mallory wearing his colors." -- The Psychopath Code.

Source: The Psychopath Code

#psychology #mentalhealth

"This is why imitative art is 'fake.' It...

"This is why imitative art is 'fake.' It is why engineering isn't art, and why fast food feels 'cheap.' It is why we don't explain jokes, and why an artist cannot explain the 'point' of his or her work. It is a test, and if you don't know the answer, that itself is significant. It's why a pile of bricks in the Tate Gallery is worth a million pounds. That's the joke." -- The Psychopath Code.

Source: The Psychopath Code

#psychology #mentalhealth

"But then, you can always publish a book...

"But then, you can always publish a book during your researcher work, without all the 'student' charade and ceremonial roadblocks. For the STEM field, a thesis is academically worthless. What is in it, is already inside papers published or to be published, plus a review of the literature. Almost no one will read it after it has been defended. No one will care about it, alas -- not even Ph.D. supervisors, often. Actual Ph.D. thesis are rushly written, redundant, often tragically boring review books: not really a good document of anything except 'look mom, I can type 200 pages in LaTeX.' Whatever valuable experience a thesis is able to give, it is not worth the drawbacks of the charade. It is a waste of resources: for the 'students' and for the committees. A minor one, perhaps, but still a waste."

Source: devicerarandom. A blog on academia.

Author: devicerarandom

#technology #satire

"In Silicon Valley, the minimalism fetish can perhaps...

"In Silicon Valley, the minimalism fetish can perhaps be traced back to Steve Jobs's famously austere 1980s apartment (he sat on the floor) and the attendant simplicity of Apple products. Pare down, and you, too, could run a \$700 billion company."

Source: NYT article whinging about two different definitions of 'minimalism'

Link: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/07/31/magazine/the-oppressive-gospel-of-minimalism.html?_r=1&referer=https://news.ycombinator.com/

#technology #satire

"Some of the comments here make me think...

"Some of the comments here make me think of crabs in a pot pulling down the ones who try to climb out.

Nobody's making you participate in this venture. If you don't like it, then you're free to go do whatever it is you do like.

You might think Musk could better direct his efforts and resources elsewhere, but most other billionaires don't do anything all that interesting, they just invest their money in mundane stuff, outsource jobs, build hotels, run for President, etc. So why are you upset with this one and not all those others?"

Source: mikeash on hackernews on a thread about Elon Musk's Mars plans

Author: mikeash

Link: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12591617

#technology #internet

"The only right career is owning a small...

"The only right career is owning a small farm with sufficient output to provide for one's family. Everything else is supplemental."

Source: on Hackernews

Author: user rch

#technology #internet

"Companies know that messages that interrupt people immediately...

"Companies know that messages that interrupt people immediately are more persuasive at getting people to respond than messages delivered asynchronously (like email or any deferred inbox).

Given the choice, Facebook Messenger (or WhatsApp, WeChat or SnapChat for that matter) would prefer to design their messaging system to interrupt recipients immediately (and show a chat box) instead of helping users respect each other's attention.

In other words, **interruption is good for business.**

It's also in their interest to heighten the feeling of urgency and social reciprocity. For example, Facebook automatically tells the sender when you "saw" their message, instead of letting you avoid disclosing whether you read it ("now that you know I've seen the message, I feel even more obligated to respond.")" On the *seen* function in FB messenger.

Link: https://medium.com/@tristanharris/how-technology-hijacks-peoples-minds-from-a-magician-and-google-s-design-ethicist-56d62ef5edf3

#socialmedia #advertising

"Nell did not imagine that Constable Moore wanted...

"Nell did not imagine that Constable Moore wanted to get into a detailed discussion of recent events, so she changed the subject. 'I think I have finally worked out what you were trying to tell me, years ago, about being intelligent,' she said.

The Constable brightened all at once. 'Pleased to hear it.'

'The Vickys have an elaborate code of morals and conduct. It grew out of the moral squalor of an earlier generation, just as the original Victorians were preceded by the Georgians and the Regency. The old guard believe in that code because they came to it the hard way. They raise their children to believe in that code—but their children believe it for entirely different reasons.'

'They believe it,' the Constable said, 'because they have been indoctrinated to believe it.'

'Yes. Some of them never challenge it—they grow up to be small-minded people, who can tell you what they believe but not why they believe it. Others become disillusioned by the hypocrisy of the society and rebel—as did Elizabeth Finkle-McGraw.'

'Which path do you intend to take, Nell?' said the Constable, sounding very interested. 'Conformity or rebellion?'

'Neither one. Both ways are simple-minded—they are only for people who cannot cope with contradiction and ambiguity.'" — Neal Stephenson's *The Diamond Age*

### Related to that quote:

"Nell," the Constable continued, indicating through his tone of voice that the lesson was concluding, "the difference between ignorant and educated people is that the latter know more facts. But that has nothing to do with whether they are stupid or intelligent. The difference between stupid and intelligent people—and this is true whether or not they are well-educated—is that intelligent people can handle subtlety. They are not baffled by ambiguous or even contradictory situations—in fact, they expect them and are apt to become suspicious when things seem overly straightforward." — Also from Neal Stephenson's *The Diamond Age*

Source: *The Diamond Age*

Author: Neal Stephenson

#genetics #biology

"I tried that Japanese decluttering trend where you...

"I tried that Japanese decluttering trend where you hold each thing you own, and throw it out if it doesn't give you joy. I threw out all my vegetables and the electric bill."

#culture #reflection

"So here we are... commencement... life's great forward-looking...

"So here we are... commencement... life's great forward-looking ceremony. (And don't say, 'What about weddings?' Weddings are one-sided and insufficiently effective. Weddings are bride-centric pageantry. Other than conceding to a list of unreasonable demands, the groom just stands there. No stately, hey-everybody-look-at-me procession. No being given away. No identity-changing pronouncement. And can you imagine a television show dedicated to watching guys try on tuxedos? Their fathers sitting there misty-eyed with joy and disbelief, their brothers lurking in the corner muttering with envy. Left to men, weddings would be, after limits-testing procrastination, spontaneous, almost inadvertent... during halftime... on the way to the refrigerator. And then there's the frequency of failure: statistics tell us half of you will get divorced. A winning percentage like that'll get you last place in the American League East. The Baltimore Orioles do better than weddings.)" Some high school English teacher in America.

Link: http://theswellesleyreport.com/2012/06/wellesley-high-grads-told-youre-not-special/

#statistics #prediction

"It is an honour to help."

"It is an honour to help."

#culture #reflection

"I was shopping at Costco one crowded Sunday...

"I was shopping at Costco one crowded Sunday and they were giving out samples of clam chowder in little paper cups. I guess two men arrived at the sample table at the same time when there was only one sample left, and one of the men grabbed the clam chowder before the other one could get his hands on it. An argument ensued, which turned into a bit of light shoving, and ended with the man with the clam chowder throwing it into the other man's face. These were two grown men with their wives by their sides trying to calm them down, having a full-blown playground fight in the middle of Costco. There were children watching. You could hear parents telling their little ones that 'you should never act like this. These men are making very bad choices.'

Since then, I've always reminded myself to be kind and considerate to strangers. Let them have the last sample or the parking spot you both saw at the same time. After all, you never know whose life has reached a point where they're an ounce of clam chowder away from punching you in the fucking face." — reddit user patentspatented

#culture #reflection

"Last night my friend asked to use a...

"Last night my friend asked to use a USB port to charge his cigarette, but I was using it to charge my book. The future is stupid." — Reddit.

#culture #reflection

"It is not the critic who counts; not...

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." — Theodore Roosevelt

Author: Theodore Roosevelt

#history #economics

"The accuracy of most forecasts depends on the...

"The accuracy of most forecasts depends on the decisions being made by people rather than by Mother Nature. Mother Nature, with all her vagaries, is a lot more dependable than a group of human beings trying to make up their minds about something."

Source: *Against the Gods: The remarkable story of risk*, Chapter 10, second paragraph.

#risk #probability

"Then I said to myself, "Man is the...

"Then I said to myself, "Man is the measure", and I went, and after many visits I found an opening."

Source: "The Machine" 1909

#culture #reflection

"A billion hours ago, human life appeared on...

"A billion hours ago, human life appeared on earth. A billion minutes ago, Christianity emerged. A billion seconds ago, the Beatles changed music. A billion Coca-Colas ago was yesterday morning."

Source: Goizueta, chief executive of the Coca-Cola Company, April 1997

Author: Robert Goizueta

#music #technology

"Man was not meant to be cooped up...

"Man was not meant to be cooped up inside all day doing work or playing video games. We're supposed to be out chasing deer and wrestling bears and shit. It's the natural order of things. Working out doesn't propel you into a superior being, it just uncovers the greatness you should already have."

Author: ocelot_senpai (reddit user)

#culture #reflection

"We want what we cannot possibly have on...

"We want what we cannot possibly have on the terms that we want it."

Author: James Hunter

Link: http://thefrailestthing.com/2014/12/31/what-do-we-want-really/

#culture #reflection

"'You've become cynical,' said Nemur. 'That's all this...

"'You've become cynical,' said Nemur. 'That's all this opportunity has meant to you. Your genius has destroyed your faith in the world and in your fellow men.'

'That's not completely true,' I said softly. 'But I've learned that intelligence alone doesn't mean a damned thing. Here in your university, intelligence, education, knowledge, have all become great idols. But I know now there's one thing you've all overlooked: intelligence and education that hasn't been tempered by human affection isn't worth a damn.'"

Source: Flowers for Algernon

Author: Daniel Keyes

#philosophy #belief

"But that isn't what people are like. Instead...

"But that isn't what people are like. Instead of quitting early, they find new things to need. Many of the new things they've found weren't even around when Keynes was writing---laptops, microwaves, Xboxes, smartphones, smart watches, smart refrigerators, Prada totes, True Religion jeans, battery-powered meat thermometers, those gizmos you stick in the freezer and then into your beer to keep it cold as you drink it."

Source: No Time

Author: Elizabeth Kolbert

Link: http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2014/05/26/140526crbo_books_kolbert?currentPage=all

#spirituality #consciousness

"Think a scar (or a tattoo, for that...

"Think a scar (or a tattoo, for that matter) is permanent? It's not. Your body was literally formed from stardust and will eventually return there. The duration of a scar doesn't even register on the big time line. In fact, I heard that God watches jewelry commercials and LOL's when they say that diamonds are forever. It's all a big joke up there. There's a drinking game in Heaven, where angels do a shot every time humans invest "for the long term.""

Link: http://johnnybtruant.com/the-universe-doesnt-give-a-flying-fuck-about-you/

#mythology #culture

"If you do nothing else right today, at...

"If you do nothing else right today, at least you sat at fifty miles an hour"

Author: raptitude

Link: http://www.raptitude.com/2011/09/how-to-walk-across-a-parking-lot/

#culture #reflection

"You know a guy is likely cheating if...

"You know a guy is likely cheating if they have glitter that isn't yours on him"

Author: Rose Gosper

#culture #reflection

"Every young adult should be able to comfortably...

"Every young adult should be able to comfortably sleep on somebody's floor, drive an old manual-transmission car with rust holes to a concert, and eat leftover pizza for breakfast. Without complaining. Be sure you are not creating any new Paris Hiltons."

Author: Mr. Money Moustache

#culture #reflection

"Just wait. We'll be sending you coupons for...

"Just wait. We'll be sending you coupons for things you want before you even know you want them."

Author: Andrew Pole, Analytical statistician for Target (American corp)

#culture #reflection

"All that is needed to answer Malthus is...

"All that is needed to answer Malthus is human excrement"

Author: Gaston Leroux

#culture #reflection

"Only when you feel lost and confused do...

"Only when you feel lost and confused do you have any chance of being sure you are doing things right."

"Would you believe in what you believe in, if you were the only one who believed it?"

#culture #reflection

"The average Australian has one boob, one testicle,...

"The average Australian has one boob, one testicle, and smokes four cigarettes a day."

Source: Who We Are blog

#culture #reflection

"And the news from the sky Is looking...

"And the news from the sky

Is looking better for today

In every single way

But not for you"

#culture #reflection

"The objects we describe as beautiful are versions...

"The objects we describe as beautiful are versions of the people we love"

Source: Architecture of Happiness

Author: Alain de Botton

#culture #reflection

"In the fields of observation chance favors only...

"In the fields of observation chance favors only the prepared mind."

Author: Louis Pasteur (invented pasteurization aka "pasteurized milk")

#culture #reflection

"I guess I could be pretty pissed off...

"I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me, but it's hard to stay mad when there's so much beauty in the world"

Source: American Beauty

Author: Lester Burnham

#culture #reflection

"For most of life, nothing wonderful happens. If...

"For most of life, nothing wonderful happens. If you don't enjoy getting up and working and finishing your work and sitting down to a meal with family or friends, then the chances are you're not going to be very happy. If someone bases his [or her] happiness on major events like a great job, huge amounts of money, a flawlessly happy marriage or a trip to Paris, that person isn't going to be happy much of the time. If, on the other hand, happiness depends on a good breakfast, flowers in the yard, a drink or a nap, then we are more likely to live with quite a bit of happiness."

Author: Andy Rooney

#culture #reflection

"This cosmic dance, bursting decadence and withheld permissions...

"This cosmic dance, bursting decadence and withheld permissions twists all our arms collectively, but if sweetness can win - and it can. Then I'll still be here tomorrow, to high five you yesterday, my friend. Peace."

#culture #reflection

"And you really haven't heard of other wizards...

"And you really haven't heard of other wizards asking these sorts of questions or doing this sort of scientific experimenting?" Harry asked again. It just seemed so obvious to him.

"Then again, it'd taken more than two hundred years after the invention of the scientific method before any Muggle scientists had thought to systematically investigate which sentences a human four-year-old could or couldn't understand. The developmental psychology of linguistics could've been discovered in the eighteenth century, in principle, but no one had even thought to look until the twentieth. So you couldn't really blame the much smaller wizarding world for not investigating the Retrieval Charm."

Source: HP MOR

#research #science

"Mathematicians call them twin primes: pairs of prime...

"Mathematicians call them twin primes: pairs of prime numbers that are close to each other, almost neighbors, but between them there is always an even number that prevents them from truly touching. Numbers like 11 and 13, like 17 and 19, 41 and 43. If you have the patience to go on counting, you discover that these pairs gradually become rarer. You encounter increasingly isolated primes, lost in that silent, measured space made only of ciphers, and you develop a distressing presentiment that the pairs encountered up until that point were accidental, that solitude is the true destiny. Then, just when you're about to surrender, when you no longer have the desire to go on counting, you come across another pair of twins, clutching each other tightly. There is a common conviction among mathematicians that however far you go, there will always be another two, even if no one can say where exactly, until they are discovered. Mattia thought that he and Alice were like that, twin primes, alone and lost, close but not close enough to really touch each other. He had never told her that. When he imagined confessing these things to her, the thin layer of sweat on his hands evaporated completely and for a good ten minutes he was no longer capable of touching anything."

Source: The Solitude of Prime Numbers

Author: ― Paolo Giordano

#colonialism #australianhistory

"Life is problems. Living is solving problems."

"Life is problems. Living is solving problems."

Source: Silverthorn

Author: Raymond E. Feist

#culture #reflection

"The human race is a monotonous affair. Most...

"The human race is a monotonous affair. Most people spend the greatest part of their time working in order to live, and what little freedom remains so fills them with fear that they seek out any and every means to be rid of it."

Source: The Sorrows of Young Werther

Author: - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

#culture #reflection

Yeah Matt Damon saying "fortune favours the bold"...

Yeah Matt Damon saying "fortune favours the bold" certainly didn't favour SBF's victims.

Source: reddit r/perth

Author: Captain-Peacock

Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/perth/comments/zlcc45/gamblers_anonymous_warns_of_really_really_sad/j053yug/

#internet #culture

I felt overwhelmed by stimuli from within: thoughts....

If autism is a sensory processing disorder, maybe adhd is just autism specifically for thoughts?

I felt overwhelmed by stimuli from within: thoughts. Thoughts that raced around my head like Formula 1 cars, lap after lap. Usually something like this happens the day after a busy workday with lots of communication. I’m tired, I’d love to just go to sleep, but at the same time my head just keeps racing. There’s a schedule with a thousand things to be done and I’m way too hyper to go to sleep. But I’m tired. But I have things to do. But I’m tired.

Source: But You Dont Look Autistic

Author: Bianca Toeps

#autism #neurodiversity

But why the obsessions? And why these specific...

But why the obsessions? And why these specific subjects? Experts think predictability is a factor. Most autistic people’s hobbies can be categorised or are logical or predictable. Horses or birds belong to animal species and have certain characteristics. Computers do what you tell them to do. (And if they don’t, that’s usually because you – or the software developer – made a mistake. A computer can’t just go and decide to do something wrong because it doesn’t like you, no matter how many people say it can.) Stamps can go into an album, bicycle race results can be compared. And sorting, categorising and calculating simply makes most autistics very happy.

Source: But You Dont Look Autistic

Author: Bianca Toeps

#autism #neurodiversity

That doesn’t just explain autistic people’s hypersensitivity, but...

That doesn’t just explain autistic people’s hypersensitivity, but also their apparent insensitivity and limitations in social communication. We close up in the overwhelming storm of stimuli, like a computer that freezes when you give it ten different tasks at the same time.

Source: But You Dont Look Autistic

Author: Bianca Toeps

#autism #neurodiversity

A more inclusive, more comprehensive explanation can be...

A more inclusive, more comprehensive explanation can be found in the Intense World Theory, a theory that has been gaining more credence in the past few years. The founders of this theory, neuroscientists Henry and Kamila Markram, have an autistic son. Their findings resonate with what a lot of autistic people actually already know: the autistic brain is hyperactive. According to the Markrams, more connections are being made in the autistic brain and brain cells respond more emphatically to each other. There’s a stronger response to stimuli, thoughts run rampant quicker. In short: the world is extremely intense for autistics.

Source: But You Dont Look Autistic

Author: Bianca Toeps

#autism #neurodiversity

And in my head I go around and...

And in my head I go around and around about whether my fellow Nadirites suffer the same steep self-disgust. From a height, watching them, I usually imagine that the other passengers are to the impassively contemptuous gaze of the local merchants, service people, photo-op-with-lizard vendors, etc. I usually imagine that my fellow tourists are too bovinely self-absorbed to even notice how we’re looked at. At other times, though, it occurs to me that the other Americans on board quite possibly feel the same vague discomfort about their bovine role in port that I do, but that they refuse to let their boviscopophobia rule them: they’ve paid good money to have fun be pampered and record some foreign experiences, and they’ll be goddamned if they’re going to let some self-indulgent of neurotic projection about how their Americanness appears to malnourished locals detract from the 7NC Luxury Cruise worked and saved for and decided they deserve.

Source: A supposedly fun thing i will never do again

Author: David Foster Wallace

#culture #selfconsciousness

Where Asperger saw threads of genius and disability...

Where Asperger saw threads of genius and disability inextricably intertwined in his patients’ family histories—testifying to the complex genetic roots of their condition and the “social value of this personality type,” as he put it—Kanner saw the shadow of the sinister figure that would become infamous in popular culture as the “refrigerator mother.” He was an astute clinical observer and a persuasive writer, but in this case his errors in interpreting his patients’ behavior had wide-reaching implications. By blaming parents for inadvertently causing their children’s autism, Kanner made his syndrome a source of shame and stigma for families worldwide while sending autism research off in the wrong direction for decades.

Source: Neurotribes

#autism #neurodiversity

It was as if the children were constantly...

It was as if the children were constantly generating rules about how things should be based on how they were when they happened to come across them. A walk taken along a certain route one day had to be taken the same way every time after that. A random sequence of actions—such as the flushing of a toilet and the switching off of lights before bedtime—instantly became a ritual that had to be endlessly reiterated. The most humble and ordinary day-to-day events became imbued with terrifying significance.

Source: Neurotribes

#autism #neurodiversity

Karl Bonhoeffer, a pioneering neurologist. Bonhoeffer parted ways...

Karl Bonhoeffer, a pioneering neurologist. Bonhoeffer parted ways with the father of diagnostic psychiatry, Emil Kraepelin, by pointing out the deceptively seductive power of naming a condition. The problem with labels, he said, is that they seem to correspond to disease entities that live independently of the patient, like types of viruses or bacteria. But in psychiatry, labels describe constellations of behavior that can be related to any number of underlying conditions.

Source: Neurotribes

#autism #neurodiversity

Mindful of the poet Horace’s advice that profound...

Mindful of the poet Horace’s advice that profound truths are often best disguised as jokes (“Ridentem dicere verum quid vetat?” or “What prevents a laughing man from telling the truth?”),

Source: Neurotribes

#autism #neurodiversity

There, he earned his final footnote in history...

There, he earned his final footnote in history by befriending a fellow POW who later became a patient of Viktor Frankl, the psychiatrist-author of Man’s Search for Meaning, a memoir of surviving three years in Auschwitz, Theresienstadt, and Dachau. In a section of the book about redemption, Frankl wrote: Let me cite the case of Dr. J. He was the only man I ever encountered in my whole life whom I would dare call a Mephistophelean being, a satanic figure. At that time he was generally called “the mass murderer of Steinhof ” (the large mental hospital in Vienna). When the Nazis started their euthanasia program, he held all the strings in his hands and was so fanatic in the job assigned to him that he tried not to let one single psychotic individual escape the gas chamber . . . Recently, however, I was consulted by a former Austrian diplomat who had been imprisoned behind the Iron Curtain for many years, first in Siberia and then in the famous Lubianka prison in Moscow. While I was examining him neurologically, he suddenly asked me whether I happened to know Dr. J. After my affirmative reply he continued: “I made his acquaintance in Lubianka. There he died, at about the age of forty, from cancer of the urinary bladder. Before he died, however, he showed himself to be the best comrade you can imagine! He gave consolation to everybody . . . He was the best friend I met during my long years in prison!” This is the story of Dr. J, the “mass murderer of Steinhof.” How can we dare predict the behavior of man?

Source: Neurotribes

Author: Steve Silberman

#autism #neurodiversity

I’m pretty sure I know what this syndrome...

I’m pretty sure I know what this syndrome is and how it’s related to the brochure’s seductive promise of total self-indulgence. What’s in play here, I think, is the subtle universal shame that accompanies self-indulgence, the need to explain to just about anybody why the self-indulgence isn’t in fact really self-indulgence. Like: I never go get a massage just to get a massage, I go because this old sports-related back injury’s killing me and more or less forcing me to get a massage; or like: I never just “want” a cigarette, I always “need” a cigarette.

This is the occasion I first see the thirteen-year-old kid with the toupee. He’s slumped pre-adolescently in his chair with his feet up on some kind of rattan hamper while what I’ll bet is his mom talks at him nonstop; he is staring into whatever special distance people in areas of mass public stasis stare into.

Source: A supposedly fun thing I’ll never do again

Author: David Foster Wallace

#culture #selfconsciousness

In 1971, before these problems emerged, Taronga Zoo...

In 1971, before these problems emerged, Taronga Zoo obtained fourteen Healesville ibises to create its own wild flock. When the first wild-born chick was fledged in 1973 the zoo felt triumphant, issuing a self-congratulatory press release. ‘This successful hatching is regarded as a triumph for Taronga Zoo Bird keeping Staff: it is probably the only ibis hatched in Sydney environs for many, many years, and it confirms the success of an experiment to create a liberty flock.’ This ‘liberty flock’ roamed around Mosman each day after breakfasting with the flamingoes. ‘The experiment works wonderfully’, the press release crowed. But over the years the ibises multiplied and spread across Sydney. Now there are ibises patrolling parks and slinking down back alleys in Kings Cross. They raid bins and scare children. At a breeding colony in the Botany wetland rare Japanese snipe were displaced. Ronald Strahan, former zoo director, openly admits his zoo spawned Sydney’s ibis problem. ‘I can’t prove it, but I do have it on my conscience,’ he told me. The zoo-keeper (now retired) who freed the flock is also convinced.

Source: The new nature

Author: Tim Low

#ecology #australia

"Study the chapter opener to help you get...

"Study the chapter opener to help you get ready to read." "Oh, no," groan students. "Nothing good will come of this." They know that no one has to tell them how to get ready to read a Harry Potter book or any other book that is readable.

Source: Lies my teacher told me

#education #history

The masterminds of our war in Vietnam, Lyndon...

The masterminds of our war in Vietnam, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, tried to manipulate the media, which usually worked, notoriously about the Gulf of Tonkin incident, when they got newspapers to report on enemy ship movements that didn't exist. That manipulation undermined the public's confidence in the media after the truth came out. Johnson and Nixon also tried to suppress the media, also usually successfully, which again undermined the media after the truth came out. When that did not work, both, along with Nixon's vice president, Spiro Agnew, attacked the media as biased, wrong, and anti-American.

Source: Lies my teacher told me

#education #history

For 360 minutes per diem, we receive unconscious...

For 360 minutes per diem, we receive unconscious reinforcement of the deep thesis that the most significant quality of truly alive persons is watchableness, and that genuine human worth is not just identical with but rooted in the phenomenon of watching.

Source: A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, David foster Wallace

Author: David Foster Wallace

#culture #selfconsciousness

Tasmania’s south-west, the great wilderness mecca, is by...

Tasmania’s south-west, the great wilderness mecca, is by some criteria a biodiversity desert. Diversity of mammals, birds, reptiles, frogs, fish and plants is low. More reptile species (twelve) roam through my backyard than occupy south-west Tasmania, and my local creek, thick with weeds, supports many more kinds of rainforest tree, including an endangered myrtle.

Source: The new nature

Author: Tim Low

#ecology #australia

Explorer Dirk Hartog summed matters up in 1616....

Explorer Dirk Hartog summed matters up in 1616. ‘This land is cursed,’ he wrote, ‘the animals hop, not run, the birds run, not fly, and the swans are black, not white.’

Source: The new nature

Author: Tim Low

#ecology #australia

We hear so much these days about wildlife...

We hear so much these days about wildlife dying out, as if nature en masse were sliding down the drain. The truth is more interesting. Many native things are thriving by riding on our coat-tails. Seagulls, ravens, magpies, red-back spiders and bulrushes have never known better times. Their futures brightened when people came to the great south land.

Source: The new nature

Author: Tim Low

#ecology #australia

"Things look different without the Prophets' lies clouding...

"Things look different without the Prophets' lies clouding my vision. I would like to see our own world - to know that it is safe." - To the Arbiter, on board of the Shadow of Intent.

Source: Halo 3

#games #belief

“The gesture that precipitates this insight for most...

“The gesture that precipitates this insight for most people is an attempt to invert consciousness upon itself—to look for that which is looking—and to notice, in the first instant of looking for your self, what happens to the apparent divide between subject and object. Do you still feel that you are over there, behind your eyes, looking out at a world of objects?”

Source: Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion

Author: Sam Harris

#spirituality #consciousness

I love it, because it’s so strange, so...

I love it, because it’s so strange, so dizzying, and — credit where due–because our mystery producer is truly going with the grain of the medium, in a way that no one merely “making albums” does, at all. What could be more 21st century, more “liquid modernity”, than releasing your music as a haze of variations into the swirling currents of the algorithm?

Source: https://www.robinsloan.com/newsletters/visions/#spotify

Link: https://www.robinsloan.com/newsletters/visions/#spotify

#music #technology

“The Buddha’s famous parable meant to denigrate mere...

“The Buddha’s famous parable meant to denigrate mere intellectualism seems apropos here:1 A man is struck in the chest with a poison arrow. A surgeon rushes to his side to begin the work of saving his life, but the man resists these ministrations. He first wants to know the name of the fletcher who fashioned the arrow’s shaft, the genus of the wood from which it was cut, the disposition of the man who shot it, the name of the horse upon which he rode, and a thousand other things that have no bearing upon his present suffering or his ultimate survival. The man needs to get his priorities straight. His commitment to thinking about the world results from a basic misunderstanding of his predicament. And though we may be only dimly aware of it, we, too, have a problem that will not be solved by acquiring more conceptual knowledge.”

Source: Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion

Author: Sam Harris

#spirituality #consciousness

“Take a moment to absorb how bizarre this...

“Take a moment to absorb how bizarre this possibility is. The point of view from which you are consciously reading these words may not be the only conscious point of view to be found in your brain. It is one thing to say that you are unaware of a vast amount of activity in your brain. It is quite another to say that some of this activity is aware of itself and is watching your every move.”

Source: Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion

Author: Sam Harris

#spirituality #consciousness

“In such cases, each hemisphere might well have...

“In such cases, each hemisphere might well have its own beliefs. Consider what this says about the dogma—widely held under Christianity and Islam—that a person’s salvation depends upon her believing the right doctrine about God. If a split-brain patient’s left hemisphere accepts the divinity of Jesus, but the right doesn’t, are we to imagine that she now harbors two immortal souls, one destined for the company of angels and the other for an eternity in hellfire?”

Source: Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion

Author: Sam Harris

#spirituality #consciousness

“Spirituality must be distinguished from religion—because people of...

“Spirituality must be distinguished from religion—because people of every faith, and of none, have had the same sorts of spiritual experiences. While these states of mind are usually interpreted through the lens of one or another religious doctrine, we know that this is a mistake. Nothing that a Christian, a Muslim, and a Hindu can experience—self-transcending love, ecstasy, bliss, inner light—constitutes evidence in support of their traditional beliefs, because their beliefs are logically incompatible with one another. A deeper principle must be at work.”

Source: Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion

Author: Sam Harris

#spirituality #consciousness

His speeches were once described as “an army...

His speeches were once described as “an army of pompous phrases moving over the landscape in search of an idea.”

Source: Blink

Author: malcolm gladwell

#psychology #judgment

The ADHD burnout cycle in comic form: https://twitter.com/ADHD_Alien/status/1157690943014920192

The ADHD burnout cycle in comic form: https://twitter.com/ADHD_Alien/status/1157690943014920192

Link: https://twitter.com/ADHD_Alien/status/1157690943014920192

#adhd #mentalhealth

“Hoover even overcame his shortness. The FBI public...

“Hoover even overcame his shortness. The FBI public relations arm, Crime Records, would answer inquiries about his height with the prescribed response “The director is just a shade under six feet tall.” A raised dais under his desk, the avoidance of tall people at parties, and the rare promotion of tall agents to headquarters positions helped maintain the illusion”

Source: J. Edgar Hoover

#politics #image

Of late, however, the old incompatibility and compatibility...

Of late, however, the old incompatibility and compatibility hypotheses have given way to a slightly more open approach suggesting that some birds can actually like each other and are compatible for very individual reasons. As one recent study of zebra finch partnering behaviour found, coupling up pairs randomly (and without the birds’ consent and wish) had poor results.

Source: Australian Magpie

#naturalhistory #australia

A lot of not quitting quotes are bullshit....

A lot of not quitting quotes are bullshit.

Michael Jordan quit college before he graduated.

Michael Jordan then quit basketball to play baseball.

Michael Jordan then quit baseball to play basketball again.

Michael Jordan then quit basketball to become a team owner.

Michael Jordan then returned to play basketball but quit 2 years later.

Michael Jordan then quit being married to his wife.

This guy quits stuff.

If someone told Michael Jordan that he shouldn't quit college a year early to play in the NBA, you'd say that person is an idiot. Quitting things is a good idea when you're not happy or have a better opportunity or any million other reasons that people have for quitting things.

If you have found a singular dream that you want to pursue, fine, don't quit things that are in service of that singular dream. But a lot of other things in life are much messier than singular dreams. It's no surprise that the list of quotes come from two athletes, two generals, one positive-thinking self-help guru whose ideas were rejected by mental health professionals, and one from a novel which, in context, I'm not really sure proves any good points about not quitting.

I stayed in a job for 2 years that I knew I should have quit after 3 months. I got nothing for staying an additional 21 months of my life except for a few friends.

As counterpoint:

“Think about all the time, brainpower, and social or political capital you continued to spend on some commitment only because you didn't like the idea of quitting”

― Steven D. Levitt

“Quitting is not giving up, it's choosing to focus your attention on something more important. Quitting is not losing confidence, it's realizing that there are more valuable ways you can spend your time. Quitting is not making excuses, it's learning to be more productive, efficient and effective instead. Quitting is letting go of things (or people) that are sucking the life out of you so you can do more things that will bring you strength.”

― Osayi Emokpae Lasisi

Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/GetMotivated/comments/5m7a3p/image_xkcd_shouldve_left_sooner/dc1qpwj/

#neuroscience #consciousness

The unfortunate similarity between signs of ADHD and...

The unfortunate similarity between signs of ADHD and normal misbehavior is frustrating for everyone involved. ADHD’s effects operate on the foggy boundaries between voluntary and involuntary, possible and impossible, victim and perpetrator. It’s not clear where unwillingness stops and inability starts.

Source: https://www.raptitude.com/2021/03/what-raptitude-has-always-been-about/

#mindfulness #habits

“Bell Labs was slow to abandon the vocoder...

“Bell Labs was slow to abandon the vocoder concept. As late as 1961, Betty Shannon’s former boss, John Pierce, half seriously proposed to extend the vocoder concept to television or videophones. “Imagine that we had at the receiver a sort of rubbery model of the human face,” Pierce wrote. The basic idea was that every American home would have an electronic puppet head. When a call came in, the puppet head would morph to the appearance of a distant speaker, and you’d converse with it, as the puppet head mimicked every word and facial expression of the calling party.”

Source: Fortune’s Formula

Author: William Poundstone

#probability #gambling

There was the utterly unlikely story of four...

There was the utterly unlikely story of four male magpies from different clutches that I had hand-raised together and who stayed together for life, after 10 years accepting one female into their group who then produced two offspring per year every year that were then raised jointly by all four males while the territory was extremely well defended against many incursions and birds of prey.

Source: Australian Magpie

#naturalhistory #australia

A pair that was in the middle of...

A pair that was in the middle of raising two fledged youngsters, the male suddenly disappeared and the female was struggling on her own to provide food for the two fledged offspring. Very unexpectedly, the male that had disappeared flew in a week or so later with two females in tow and immediately began to assume authority over the territory and these two new females. The female parent was initially confined to a small area in the territory with her two fledged offspring but such a semi-truce only lasted for a few days. After continual harassment the female and her two offspring were forced to leave altogether, facing a very uncertain future, almost certainly condemning the fledglings to death.

Source: Australian Magpie

#naturalhistory #australia

I just had the thought that someone, somewhere...

I just had the thought that someone, somewhere at this moment is risking their life just noodling their body through small water-filled crevices underneath the surface of the earth. And here I am, sitting on my couch, safe and sound. I am the winner here.

Source: Shadynasty26 on reddit

#internet #culture

Another feeding innovation by magpies has recently been...

Another feeding innovation by magpies has recently been discovered by Colin and Suzie Fairclough from Noggerup, south of Perth, Western Australia, that so far, I believe, has not been described in the literature. They noticed that magpies were searching in the bushes of native fuchsias, not at ground but at magpie eye level. The fuchsias produce beautiful long and tubular bells in bright red. They obviously also produce nectar because these flowers are regularly frequented by introduced honey bees. The bells are so long that the bee has to crawl completely inside the flower and only a little of its abdomen remains visible. In that position, they are quite vulnerable and incapable of responding to a predator by flight. The magpies have learned to wait until the bee is completely enveloped by the flower and then catch it by the abdomen, slowly move it to the ground where they wipe off the sting and then consume it

Source: Australian Magpie

#naturalhistory #australia

He’s a difficult man to describe, as he...

He’s a difficult man to describe, as he seems to have been solely engineered to be both well-meaning and devoid of any interesting traits.

Source: I AM NOT A WOLF

#satire #technology

Tamara had brought Albert into the office a...

Tamara had brought Albert into the office a couple times for some reason and you had taken a liking to what would prove to be the only living thing you’ve never had any interest in eating. You remember Tamara holding his tiny tortoise form in her hands, his legs pointlessly flailing in the air, his eyes calmly staring straight ahead. You watched him eat a cube of watermelon and experience pure bliss. A tiny, simple thing deemed deserving of centenarian status, or so he’d thought. You remember being jealous of the incredible confidence he seemed to radiate from behind the protection of his longevity and a home he carried with him wherever he went. You’d never seen peace before you’d met Albert. And you’d never known such jealousy.

Source: I AM NOT A WOLF

#satire #technology

DESPITE YOUR BEST EFFORTS, you find yourself in...

DESPITE YOUR BEST EFFORTS, you find yourself in the office parking garage with Gary and his two sales department subordinates, Brett and Brent. These two men are so alike in their incredible subservience to Gary that you genuinely thought that they were the same person until just now when you saw them together.

The restaurant is a temple to the concepts of meat and yelling.

Gary laughs, taking his frequent patronage at a chain restaurant and mistaking it for friendship.

Brett and Brent laugh, perfect servants in every way; though Brent’s laugh seems strained and his eyes get a bit distant. It’s as though he wonders for a moment exactly which decision brought him here to WING TOWN, where he lay prostrate to the conversational whims of a man with so little self-awareness that he thinks his waitress is interested in him romantically.

Author: I AM NOT A WOLF

#war #history

Though when it comes to human dating, it...

Though when it comes to human dating, it would seem that knowing that someone likes dogs is like knowing less than nothing about them.

You know all the things that humans should talk about on dates (hiking, study abroad trips they went on almost a decade ago, and the concept of dogs)

Source: I AM NOT A WOLF

#satire #technology

You’re pretty sure that human dates require dim...

You’re pretty sure that human dates require dim lighting and slightly fancier than normal attire to create confusion and add pressure to meeting a complete stranger with whom you may spend the rest of your life.

Source: I AM NOT A WOLF

#satire #technology

The restaurant’s dim lighting immediately signals it as...

The restaurant’s dim lighting immediately signals it as both a place of importance and a place where you can make use of your naturally impressive low-light vision. The entire restaurant looks like it was designed to look like a human’s version of the woods. Nearly every surface is wooden and made to look rougher than it is. Each table is a large slab of wood. The bar is an even larger slab of wood on top of a different type of wood. The lights look dated and bad, which is how you know they are nice. The floor is covered in some sort of ornate but messed-up tile.

Source: I AM NOT A WOLF

#satire #technology

It didn’t really sound like the insects were...

It didn’t really sound like the insects were kidding around but luckily, months of experience in Corporate America have trained you in the art of learning to work with someone who is actively gaslighting you.

Source: I AM NOT A WOLF

#satire #technology

The office is open and bright, lit only...

The office is open and bright, lit only by fluorescent bulbs that look so unlike sunlight that you assume that it must mean they’re better somehow. The common space has a wide variety of amenities such as couches, soda machines, and a pool table that you’ve never seen anyone use but just knowing that the option is out there fills you with excitement. As it turns out, capitalism can make room for fun.

Source: I AM NOT A WOLF

#satire #technology

“The traditional medical model emphasizes pathology—what is wrong...

“The traditional medical model emphasizes pathology—what is wrong and sick and in need of remediation. However, when applied to the mind, this approach can do a good deal of damage. The kidney doesn’t care if you call it sick, but the mind does. If you tell a person that she has a mental disorder, you create a mental disorder—not only in the patient but in those who love her as well. The disorder is fear. Chronic fear holds more people back in life than any other mental infirmity. How ironic—and wrong—that the helping professions all too often create this problem.”

Source: Delivered from Distraction

#adhd #mentalhealth

In lieu of a proper political or religious...

In lieu of a proper political or religious creed, the Pancasila, Sukarno’s set of bland ‘national principles’, was firmly established as Indonesia’s national ideology. Pancasila’s five vague requirements—belief in a non-specific god, nationalism, humanitarianism, social justice and democracy—were hardly demanding for the average Indonesian. But their very blandness meant that virtually any opinion could be deemed anti-Pancasila if needs be. Every single organisation in the country, from sports clubs to political parties and religious groups, was obliged to make Pancasila its sole ‘guiding principle’.

Source: Brief history of indonesia, Tim Hanningan

#indonesia #history

Embittered former colonial employees pontificating about the wrongdoings...

Embittered former colonial employees pontificating about the wrongdoings of the empire for which they had once toiled were something of a nineteenth-century cliché, and there were plenty of other Dutch and Englishmen doing the same thing. The more energetic of their number might write a letter to a newspaper, or even publish a pamphlet.

Source: Brief history of indonesia, Tim Hanningan

#indonesia #history

“I HOPE THIS E-MAIL DOES NOT FIND YOU...

Same author as I AM NOT A WOLF

“I HOPE THIS E-MAIL DOES NOT FIND YOU

I HOPE YOUR CHAIR HAS GROWN OVER WITH MOSS

I HOPE A PLEASANT BUT UNOBSERVED BEAM OF LIGHT HITS YOUR DESK PERFECTLY THROUGH THE COLLAPSED CEILING

I HOPE THE SILENCE IS DEAFENING”

Link: https://mobile.twitter.com/SICKOFWOLVES/status/1356294995246940160

#culture #reflection

“In captured areas of Poland and the Soviet...

“In captured areas of Poland and the Soviet Union, parallel organizations like the party’s agency that seized land for redistribution to German peasants (the Rasse- und Siedlungshauptamt) had more freedom than in the Reich. The SS set up its own military-economic empire there where the normative state played hardly any role at all.55 In that no-man’s-land, both bureaucratic regularity and moral principles were easily set aside, and the needs of the master race became the only criteria for action. The traditional contempt of German nationalists for Slavic Untermenschen aggravated the permissive climate. In that nameless nonstate, Nazi zealots had free rein to fulfill their wildest fantasies of racial purification without interference from a distant normative state.”

Source: The Anatomy of Fascism

#fascism #politics

“Fascist radicalization, finally, cannot be understood as a...

“Fascist radicalization, finally, cannot be understood as a rational way to persuade a people to give their all to a war effort. It led Nazi Germany into a runaway spiral that ultimately prevented rational war making, as vital resources were diverted from military operations to the murder of the Jews. Finally radicalization denies even the nation that is supposed to be at fascism’s heart. At the end, fanatical fascists prefer to destroy everything in a final paroxysm, even their own country, rather than admit defeat”

Source: The Anatomy of Fascism

#fascism #politics

The black-and- white subspecies of the White-winged Fairy-...

The black-and- white subspecies of the White-winged Fairy- wren on Barrow and Dirk Hartog Islands (free of cats since 2016), are under no real threat of extinction, especially as the Dirk Hartog subspecies has now been successfully reintroduced to the Montebello Islands— from which they were extirpated by nuclear bombs in the 1950s.

Source: Bird life magazine dec 2021

#ecology #evolution

Reports of Aboriginal hunting techniques in the nineteenth...

Reports of Aboriginal hunting techniques in the nineteenth century show that great skill was required–ducks were snatched by an under water hunter breathing through hollow reeds; other birds were tricked by nooses lowered over their necks from a place of concealment, or hit with clubs and boomerangs, or spooked into nets strung between trees by a slab of bark winging past like a hawk. Perches smeared with sticky fig sap ensnared small birds, as did tangles of sticky herbs draped around pools. Crows and hawks were grabbed by a hunter stretched upon a rock in the sun, counterfeiting sleep, with a piece of fish or meat in the hand as bait. Emus were drugged at pools laced with narcotics, or lured towards spears by a fairy-wren fluttering on a string. How was the wren caught? James Dawson offered one explanation in 1881: ‘Small birds are killed with a long, sharp-pointed wand by boys, who lie in thickets and attract them by imitating their cries. When a bird alights on a bush above their heads, they gently push up the wand and suddenly transfix the animal.’

Source: Where Song Began

#naturalhistory #evolution

In Australia, mild temperatures and evergreen leaves ensure...

In Australia, mild temperatures and evergreen leaves ensure there are more winter insects and little winter fruit, except in all the gardens planted with northern privets, cotoneaster, camphor laurel, firethorn, hawthorn and holly. These fruits are enhancing the winter survival of pied currawongs, which have become the main predators of small birds in eastern cities and towns. Nest predation is increasing, and a connection has been made to proliferating currawongs and all the fleshy fruits of exotic shrubs and trees. Satin bowerbirds are entering gardens in Canberra because these fruits suit them better than the leaves they turn to in winter. The plants are responding by spreading into paddocks and bushland, becoming weeds wherever birds drop their seeds.

Source: Where Song Began

#naturalhistory #evolution

When fires are stopped, trees often thicken up...

When fires are stopped, trees often thicken up and suppress grass. In national parks along the east coast, missing out on Indigenous burning and on lightning fires that don’t travel far because roads and farms serve as firebreaks, rainforests are advancing via seeds dropped under eucalypts by birds. Australia would carry far more rainforest (supporting rainforest birds) had grasses never evolved. The area of forest on earth would double were fire switched off, according to modelling by leading biologists, with Africa and South America gaining the most.

Source: Where song began

#naturalhistory #evolution

a defining article about Australia’s flora penned by...

a defining article about Australia’s flora penned by Nancy Burbidge in 1960. The tropics she depicted as ‘rich in Malaysian elements’ while also harbouring old Australian endemics. North Queensland had been the main portal for entry and exit of plants, in traffic that was uneven: ‘Northward migration of Australian elements has apparently been less successful than southward migration of Malaysian elements.’8 Her paper and others like it drew fire in the years that followed, as surging nationalism inspired scientists to reclaim the rainforests for Australia. One concern was that paranoia about the Yellow Peril pouring in from the north would undermine efforts to protect Queensland’s forests.

Source: Where Song Began

#naturalhistory #evolution

One reason origins are difficult to think about...

One reason origins are difficult to think about is that we’re so apt to see the past through our own backgrounds. There is ‘the vanity of the present’, to quote Richard Dawkins–the presumption that the past had a purpose, which was to deliver this particular present. Fossil experts discuss ‘experiments in evolution’, as if birds had an adolescent phase during which they tried out jaws of teeth before settling on the design they have today.

Source: Where Song Began

#naturalhistory #evolution

Australia was colonised at a time when interest...

Australia was colonised at a time when interest in exudates ran high. The proof is preserved in the name of the dominant trees: ‘gum trees’. Their sticky secretions served well against dysentery, becoming one of Australia’s first exports, sold in London as ‘Botany Bay Kino’. By sniffing and licking anything that oozed from trees, colonial botanists found that Australia abounded in interesting exudates. There was talk of making rubber from gum tree sap and explosives from grasstree resin. Wattle gum was sold in Sydney stores as chewing gum, although in texture it is more like boiled toffee. The banyalla tree excited interest for having rancid-tasting resin that triggered nausea and headaches.

Source: Where Song Began

#naturalhistory #evolution

Whatever inspiration can come from confronting one's own...

Whatever inspiration can come from confronting one's own mortality, I'm all for it, but keep in mind, if you're not on your deathbed, you probably have rent due next month.

Author: rdiddly

Link: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30985258

#culture #reflection

“Programmers are experts at setting up convoluted menu-systems,...

“Programmers are experts at setting up convoluted menu-systems, learn to work around it, and then don't understand why anyone has a problem with it.”

Author: _flaks

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYYpisXsiRU

#computing #technology

That's the problem with vaccines. When they work,...

That's the problem with vaccines. When they work, absolutely nothing happens. Nothing. Parents go on with their lives, not once thinking that their child was saved from meningitis caused by Hib or from liver cancer caused by Hepatitis B or from fatal pneumonia caused by pneumococcus or from paralysis caused by polio. We live in a state of blissful denial. But somebody was getting those diseases. Before pharmaceutical companies made the Hib vaccine in the early 1990s, every year about ten thousand children were stricken with meningitis, leaving many blind, deaf, and retarded. Today, fewer than fifty children every year suffer this disease. But who are those thousands of children who aren't getting Hib today? What are their names? We don't know. And that's what makes vaccines - or any prevention - much less compelling than treatment. We spend hundreds of millions of dollars on bone marrow transplants and lung transplants and kidney transplants and heart transplants. These therapies are extraordinarily expensive, and they certainly don't save money for the health care system or society. But when we know a person is sick, we'll stop at nothing to help. Unfortunately, we seem perfectly willing to withhold life-saving vaccines when we don't know who is going to be sick. We're willing to take that gamble - a gamble that many children will inevitably lose.

Source: Vaccinated

Author: Paul Offit

#vaccines #publichealth

It seems that Pasteur wanted to turn his...

It seems that Pasteur wanted to turn his nephew’s thesis into a condemnation of the way that he, Pasteur, had been treated by the Rabbit Commission, the New South Wales Government, and others. The lengthy introduction to the chicken-cholera section rings with language that is typical of the by-now embittered and quite unwell Louis Pasteur, and very untypical of the polite, ultra-diplomatic Adrien Loir. It is clear that Pasteur dictated this part of the thesis to Loir.

Source: Pasteur’s Gambit

#sciencehistory #vaccines

When people start anxiously or glibly opining about...

When people start anxiously or glibly opining about gene editing for designer babies or selecting embryos for blue-eyed children, they’re not really talking about our contemporary understanding of genetics. Instead, they are relying on a hugely outdated or a never-true version of altering heredity that is pretty much impossible. If you were to select an embryo for eye or hair colour based on the versions of the genes most closely associated with blue eyes or red hair, you’d have an expensive gamble, and a hard-to-calculate chance of getting what you want. Our current understanding of genetics does not allow for control of even the supposedly simplest traits.

Source: Control Adam Rutherford

Author: Adam Rutherford

#genetics #biology

We now know that nature and nurture were...

We now know that nature and nurture were never in competition. When it comes to the complexities of human behaviour, for several decades most geneticists and psychologists have adhered to what has been described as the first rule of behavioural genetics: ‘everything is heritable’. All behaviours have a genetic component to them, and an environmental one too. What we really want to know is how much of each, and how each influences the other

Source: Control Adam Rutherford

Author: Adam Rutherford

#genetics #biology

In November 2021, Imperial College London proposed removing...

In November 2021, Imperial College London proposed removing a bust and the name of the nineteenth-century evolutionary scientist and vocal abolitionist Thomas Huxley from their campus, on account of his views on racial hierarchies (a view very widely held at the time), while apparently not considering that the whole university is named after the empire that oversaw slavery. Kellogg remains a global brand apparently untainted by its weird sex-obsessed racist eugenicist founder, just as many of us drive Ford cars despite the proud antisemitism of Henry Ford, who is namechecked in Mein Kampf as a role model to its author.

Source: Control Adam Rutherford

Author: Adam Rutherford

#genetics #biology

Some frequently used datasets that purport to represent...

Some frequently used datasets that purport to represent national IQs – including for many sub-Saharan African countries having significantly lower averages than European countries – are meaningless, absurd and deliberately biased, as selected by notable racist scientist Richard Lynn. For example, the national IQ for Botswana in the NIQ_QNWSAS dataset is 69.5, but upon inspection, this number was arrived at with a single sample of 104 natively Tswana-speaking high school students aged seventeen to twenty, tested in English, and thus incomparable with that of other countries. For Somalia (measured at IQ 67.7): a single sample of refugees aged eight to eighteen tested in a Kenyan refugee camp, and so on. Nevertheless, these data are unquestioningly cited frequently as valid by dozens if not hundreds of peer-reviewed academic papers, despite being demonstrably invalid, flawed and perhaps fraudulent.

Source: Control by Adam Rutherford

Author: Adam Rutherford

#genetics #biology

I’m not in the business of erasing or...

I’m not in the business of erasing or ignoring knowledge because of its provenance. We rightly celebrate the pleasing Newtonian principle that we see further by standing on the shoulders of giants. We are not nearly as good at recognising that our vantage point can be unstable because those giants may also have been bastards. This is how history works. It is not there to reassure us or make us feel warm. If the actions of our forebears only make you feel proud, and don’t sometimes baffle, upset or anger you, then you may not be doing history at all. The oft-heard refrains ‘you can’t change history!’ and ‘you are erasing the past!’ have become standard canards deployed in response to reassessments of historical figures. Both sentiments are obtusely incorrect. To blindly commemorate people with significant legacies is itself the erasure of history, as those tributes offer no context or analysis of their work. They merely assert monolithic greatness. Posthumous celebration of individuals is inherently a political act, and their subsequent removal from the public sphere does not erase the past – on the contrary, it constitutes history. The past is fixed, but history is always changing, and is always contested.

Source: Control Adam Rutherford

Author: Adam Rutherford

#genetics #biology

However, all science is political. This is a...

However, all science is political. This is a statement that causes vexation among some who confuse the ideals of science with its reality. We aim for an objective description of the world, and try to minimise the grubby political, personal and psychological biases that hinder our view of reality. But in all science – and especially the scientific study of humans – we inherit knowledge infected by the contingencies and political obsessions of our scientific forebears, whether we know it, deny it or acknowledge it.

Source: Control Adam Rutherford

Author: Adam Rutherford

#genetics #biology

TED of course can’t be held solely responsible...

TED of course can’t be held solely responsible for the increasingly eschatological pronouncements of this cohort [the tech elite]. That would be, in a way, to buy into its hype too much. But as the most visible and influential public speaking platform of the first two decades of the twenty-first century, it has been deeply implicated in broadcasting and championing the Silicon Valley version of the future. TED is probably best understood as the propaganda arm of an ascendant technocracy. It helped refine prediction into a rhetorical art well-suited to these aspiring world conquerors — even the ones who fail.

Link: https://www.thedriftmag.com/what-was-the-ted-talk/

#history #culture

Point by detailed point, Pasteur aggressively countered Koch’s...

Point by detailed point, Pasteur aggressively countered Koch’s claims and counter-claims. And it was obvious now why the German had waited three months to answer him. To attack vaccination, and Pasteur’s use of vaccination, Koch had collected recent statistics on the stock vaccinated in France with Pasteur’s anthrax vaccine. He then used these statistics ‘in a most erroneous manner’ according to Pasteur, skewing and misrepresenting some figures and omitting others to condemn vaccination. ‘Entirely violent as your attacks are, Monsieur, they will not impede its success,’ Pasteur declared. ‘I must add, in conclusion, that everything predicts that preventative vaccination will be even more effective in the future.’ ...

From that point on, the scientific, medical and veterinary communities became divided into two camps – those for vaccination, and therefore for Pasteur; and the anti-vaccinists who joined Koch in deriding and opposing vaccination. The divide became so marked that those who supported Pasteur used his word, microbiology, to describe his field of science while Koch and his supporters spoke of the very same field as bacteriology.

Pasteur's Gambit

Source: Pasteur's Gambit

#sciencehistory #vaccines

I hate how much phones lately alters the...

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29739235#29742341

I hate how much phones lately alters the images. Of course it most of the time makes the images look better, and cameras are a big selling point on a phone.

But I don't like how my photos of people suddenly have a filter applied to the faces, how a picture of leaves during fall have vibrance exaggerated, how the sky looks clearer than it really did.

Author: matsemann

#film #creativity

Naturally, blackbirding put Europeans living in the islands...

Naturally, blackbirding put Europeans living in the islands in danger. Anglican Bishop Paterson of Vanuatu knew his life was in constant danger from natives because blackbirding ships often impersonated missionary ships. In October 1871 when he landed alone on the island of Nukapuj, he was clubbed to death by the inhabitants, and two of his companions waiting offshore in a boat were killed with poisoned arrows.

Source: Australians vol ii

#australianhistory #colonialism

The high standing of the bushranger in popular...

The high standing of the bushranger in popular imagination has been, despite the disapproval of authorities, enduring. Ned Kelly remains fabled, where the man who condemned him to death, Redmond Barry, despite being a great Victorian in both senses of the word, despite his statue outside the State Library of Victoria, despite being one of the creators and Chancellor of Melbourne University, despite his brilliance as judge and classicist, despite his being bravely loyal to a long-term partner named Mrs Barrow, despite his being a defender of Aborigines, is unknown in popular legend.

Even the students who pass Redmond Barry Hall at Melbourne University are probably ignorant of his record. Search the streets of the cities and one finds statues of forgotten monarchs and unspecified colonial politicians, and scarcely a marker to bushrangers. Glenrowan, scene of the last stand of the Kelly Gang, goes unmarked and unexplained by anyone other than local entrepreneurs. Yet the bushrangers’ monuments have existed since their day and until now in the Australian imagination.

Source: Australians vol ii

#australianhistory #colonialism

It was phrenology which made Truganini, the Tasmanian...

It was phrenology which made Truganini, the Tasmanian Aborigine, very nervous of what would happen to her body after her death. William Lanney, her husband, seen as the last surviving full-blood Tasmanian Aborigine, had died in 1869 and his corpse had been immediately dismembered and beheaded. ‘I know that when I die the Museum wants my body,’ Truganini told a clergyman. She had good reason to be fearful that her head would join the hundreds on display for the use of scholars in museums in Australia and throughout the world. Indeed, after her death in 1876, the Dandridge family, who had protected her in life, buried her at midnight in the remains of the old Female Factory at the Cascades. It was scientific men from the Royal Society of Tasmania, not ghouls, who exhumed her body in December 1878 and kept it in a secure part of the museum for study by scientists. But ultimately, in the early twentieth century, as she had feared, she was placed on public display. She would again be buried—with honours and more publicly than the first time—a hundred years after her death.

Source: Australians vol ii

#australianhistory #colonialism

The cause of the death of Governor-General Coen...

The cause of the death of Governor-General Coen was never finally established. It is only known that he died in late 1629 at the age of 42, likely from typhus contracted during the second uprising from all the corpses rotting in the river that ran through the middle of Batavia, or perhaps dysentery or cholera – maybe even an excess of bile? Another theory, however, floated by Charles Corn in his outstanding book The Scents of Eden, has it that ‘another less plausible source suggests that Coen died of sheer terror over the impending confrontation with his successor, Governor-General Specx’. Specx happened to be the father of a young girl whom Coen had had flogged for making love to a 15-year-old soldier, whom he had subsequently executed. Corn suggests that perhaps he was poisoned, though concurs with most that the cause of death was more than likely fatal illness. Whatever it was, for a man who had been the cause of the deaths of so many, he was singularly fortunate to die in his bed and not at the point of a sword or an arrow.

Source: Batavia

Author: Peter FitzSimmons

#maritimehistory #survival

Cancel culture new? Tell that to Socrates

Cancel culture new? Tell that to Socrates

Source: Mekisteus on Reddit

#internet #culture

Did former Vandemonian and New South Wales convicts...

Did former Vandemonian and New South Wales convicts settle in South Australia? It would be remarkable if they did not, thus rendering the colony less pure than it chose to think itself. The South Australian Act of 1838 excluded them, and Adelaide’s first execution, in 1839, was of an escaped Irish convict from New South Wales named Michael Magee. Other convicts and ticket-of-leave men came as members of droving parties, and some settled in shacks in the Adelaide Hills and were referred to as Tiersmen, fearless, lawless Irish who lived on the tiers of the hills above the Anglican plain of Adelaide. One of these men, Tolmer, was hanged for bushranging and outraged decent citizens by smoking his pipe on the scaffold. Other ex-convicts worked for the South Australian Company itself at its Encounter Bay whaling station, again as early as 1839. That some of them did not marry or beget young South Australians is improbable.

Source: Australians vol ii

#australianhistory #colonialism

“The four kinds of malaria to which these...

“The four kinds of malaria to which these statements applied are caused by protists of the species Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium ovale, and Plasmodium malariae, all of them belonging to the same diverse genus, Plasmodium, which encompasses about two hundred species. Most of the others infect birds, reptiles, or nonhuman mammals. The four known for targeting humans are transmitted from person to person by Anopheles mosquitoes. These four parasites possess wondrously complicated life histories, encompassing multiple metamorphoses and different forms in series: an asexual stage known as the sporozoite, which enters the human skin during a mosquito bite and migrates to the human liver; another asexual stage known as the merozoite, which emerges from the liver and reproduces in red blood cells; a stage known as the trophozoite, feeding and growing inside the blood cells, each of which fattens as a schizont and then bursts, releasing more merozoites to further multiply in the blood, and causing a spike of fever; a sexual stage known as the gametocyte, differentiated into male and female versions, which emerge from a later round of infected red blood cells, enter the bloodstream en masse, and are taken up within a blood meal by the next mosquito; a fertilized sexual stage known as the ookinete, which lodges in the gut lining of the mosquito, each ookinete ripening into a sort of egg sac filled with sporozoites; and then come the sporozoites again, bursting out of the egg sac and migrating to the mosquito’s salivary glands, where they lurk, ready to surge down the mosquito’s proboscis into another host. If you’ve followed all that, at a quick reading, you have a future in biology.”

“This elaborate concatenation of life-forms and sequential strategies is highly adaptive and, so far as mosquitoes and hosts are concerned, difficult to resist. It shows evolution’s power, over great lengths of time, to produce structures, tactics, and transformations of majestic intricacy. Alternatively, anyone who favors Intelligent Design in lieu of evolution might pause to wonder why God devoted so much of His intelligence to designing malarial parasites”

Source: Spillover

Author: David Quammen

#virology #zoonosis

“Then another decade passed before filoviruses made their...

“Then another decade passed before filoviruses made their next appearance, in another shape, in an unexpected place: Reston, Virginia.

You know about this if you’ve read The Hot Zone, Richard Preston’s account of a 1989 outbreak of an Ebola-like virus among captive Asian monkeys at a lab-animal quarantine facility in suburban Reston, just across the Potomac from Washington, DC. Filovirus experts express mixed opinions about Preston’s book, but there’s no question that it did more than any journal article or newspaper story to make ebolaviruses infamous and terrifying to the general public. It also led to “a shower of funding,” one expert told me, for virologists “who before didn’t see a dime for their work on these exotic agents!” If this virus could massacre primates in their cages within a nondescript building in a Virginia office park, couldn’t it go anywhere and kill anyone?”

Source: Spillover

Author: David Quammen

#virology #zoonosis

“Diseases of the future, needless to say, are...

“Diseases of the future, needless to say, are a matter of high concern to public health officials and scientists. There’s no reason to assume that AIDS will stand unique, in our time, as the only such global disaster caused by a strange microbe emerging from some other animal. Some knowledgeable and gloomy prognosticators even speak of the Next Big One as an inevitability. (If you’re a seismologist in California, the Next Big One is an earthquake that drops San Francisco into the sea, but in this realm of discourse it’s a vastly lethal pandemic.) Will the Next Big One be caused by a virus? Will the Next Big One come out of a rainforest or a market in southern China? Will the Next Big One kill 30 or 40 million people? The concept by now is so codified, in fact, that we could think of it as the NBO. The chief difference between HIV-1 and the NBO may turn out to be that HIV-1 does its killing so slowly. Most other new viruses work fast.”

Source: Spillover

Author: David Quammen

#virology #zoonosis

If I had to pick the critical technology...

If I had to pick the critical technology for the 20th century, the bit of social lubricant without which the wheels would've come off the whole enterprise, I'd say it was the sitcom. Starting with the Second World War a whole series of things happened--rising GDP per capita, rising educational attainment, rising life expectancy and, critically, a rising number of people who were working five-day work weeks. For the first time, society forced onto an enormous number of its citizens the requirement to manage something they had never had to manage before -- free time.

And what did we do with that free time? Well, mostly we spent it watching TV…

…And it's only now, as we're waking up from that collective bender, that we're starting to see the cognitive surplus as an asset rather than as a crisis. We're seeing things being designed to take advantage of that surplus, to deploy it in ways more engaging than just having a TV in everybody's basement.

Link: https://gist.github.com/jm3/6724931

#war #history

Such contemporary ‘sources’ which need to be treated...

Such contemporary ‘sources’ which need to be treated with caution are everywhere in the Napoleonic canon. The Comte de Montholon, who was with Napoleon on St Helena, wrote his supposed ‘narrative’ of his time on the island twenty years later, without contemporaneous notes, and his memoirs were ghosted by the novelist Alexandre Dumas, who also ghosted those of Napoleon’s favourite actor Talma. Laure d’Abrantès was banned from Paris by Napoleon in 1813, and by the time her memoirs appeared in the 1830s she was an opium addict who nonetheless claimed to have remembered verbatim long, intimate conversations with the Emperor. Several of her eighteen volumes of memoirs were ghosted by Balzac and written to stave off creditors. Those of Napoleon’s police chief Fouché were actually written by the hack-writer Alphonse de Beauchamp; those of one of Napoleon’s favourite mistresses, Mademoiselle George, were also drawn up by a ghost-writer, but she found them so boring that she sexed them up, with stories of Napoleon shoving wads of banknotes down her corset.

Source: "Napoleon the Great" by Andrew Roberts

#biography #war

“Mythology is the discourse we need in extremity....

“Mythology is the discourse we need in extremity. We have to be prepared to allow a myth to change us forever. Together with the rituals that break down the barrier between the listener and the story, and which help him to make it his own, a mythical narrative is designed to push us beyond the safe certainties of the familiar world into the unknown. Reading a myth without the transforming ritual that goes with it is as incomplete an experience as simply reading the lyrics of an opera without the music. Unless it is encountered as part of a process of regeneration, of death and rebirth, mythology makes no sense.

Source: A Short History Of Myth

Author: Karen Armstrong

#mythology #culture

“Anthropologists note that modern indigenous peoples frequently refer...

“Anthropologists note that modern indigenous peoples frequently refer to animals or birds as ‘peoples’ on the same level as themselves. They tell stories about humans becoming animals and vice versa; to kill an animal is to kill a friend, so tribesmen often feel guilt after a successful expedition. Because it is a sacred activity and charged with such high levels of anxiety, hunting is invested with ceremonial solemnity and surrounded with rites and taboos. Before an expedition, a hunter must abstain from sex and keep himself in a state of ritual purity; after the killing, the meat is stripped from the bones, and the skeleton, skull and pelt are carefully laid out in an attempt to reconstruct the animal and give it new life”

Source: A Short History Of Myth

Author: Karen Armstrong

#mythology #culture

“The Sky Gods of the ancient Mesopotamians, Vedic...

“The Sky Gods of the ancient Mesopotamians, Vedic Indians, Greeks and Canaanites all dwindled in this way. In all the mythology of all these peoples, the High God is at best a shadowy, powerless figure, marginal to the divine pantheon, and more dynamic, interesting and accessible deities, such as Indra, Enlil and Baal, had come to the fore. There are stories that explain how the High God was deposed: Ouranos, the Sky God of the Greeks, for example, was actually castrated by his son Kronos, in a myth that horribly illustrates the impotence of these Creators, who were so removed from the ordinary lives of human beings that they had become peripheral. People experienced the sacred power of Baal in every rainstorm; they felt the force of Indra every time they were possessed by the transcendent fury of battle. But the old Sky Gods did not touch people’s lives at all. This very early development makes it clear that mythology will not succeed if it concentrates on the supernatural; it will only remain vital if it is primarily concerned with humanity.”

Source: A Short History Of Myth

Author: Karen Armstrong

#mythology #culture

If you go to the Pacific Northwest today,...

If you go to the Pacific Northwest today, never having been there before, you will not notice the declining salmon runs, the PCBs in Puget Sound, or the toxic orcas. Like so many other environmental disasters, these critical problems are unrecognizable without prior knowledge or baseline information—essential reference points from the past. On a good day, Seattle looks as gorgeous as it ever has, ferries plying the sparkling water on the sound, bald eagles perched in the evergreens, sea lions bobbing alongside boats. A recent poll in the area found that, while 90 percent of the public wanted Puget Sound protected, over 70 percent thought it was perfectly healthy and not in need of restoration.30 The inability to recognize the severity of environmental problems, due to a lack of historical knowledge of ecosystems, represents a serious threat to ecological restoration and public support of it. That phenomenon—the failure to recognize damage already suffered by natural systems—has been dubbed “shifting baselines” by a group of marine biologists and divers who launched a media project and Web site, illustrated with short videos, to describe the problem.

Source: Rewilding the world

#ecology #conservation

An experiment that was conducted a few years...

An experiment that was conducted a few years ago with Harvard undergraduates yielded a finding that surprised me: enhanced activation of System 2 caused a significant improvement of predictive accuracy in the Tom W problem. The experiment combined the old problem with a modern variation of cognitive fluency. Half the students were told to puff out their cheeks during the task, while the others were told to frown. Frowning, as we have seen, generally increases the vigilance of System 2 and reduces both overconfidence and the reliance on intuition. The students who puffed out their cheeks (an emotionally neutral expression) replicated the original results: they relied exclusively on representativeness and ignored the base rates. As the authors had predicted, however, the frowners did show some sensitivity to the base rates. This is an instructive finding.

Source: Thinking Fast and slow

#psychology #decisionmaking

Opinions are also divided on the second example...

Opinions are also divided on the second example Kuran and Sunstein used to illustrate their concept of an availability cascade, the Alar incident, known to detractors of environmental concerns as the “Alar scare” of 1989. Alar is a chemical that was sprayed on apples to regulate their growth and improve their appearance. The scare began with press stories that the chemical, when consumed in gigantic doses, caused cancerous tumors in rats and mice. The stories understandably frightened the public, and those fears encouraged more media coverage, the basic mechanism of an availability cascade. The topic dominated the news and produced dramatic media events such as the testimony of the actress Meryl Streep before Congress. The apple industry sustained large losses as apples and apple products became objects of fear. Kuran and Sunstein quote a citizen who called in to ask “whether it was safer to pour apple juice down the drain or to take it to a toxic waste dump.” The manufacturer withdrew the product and the FDA banned it. Subsequent research confirmed that the substance might pose a very small risk as a possible carcinogen, but the Alar incident was certainly an enormous overreaction to a minor problem. The net effect of the incident on public health was probably detrimental because fewer good apples were consumed.

Source: Thinking Fast and slow

#psychology #decisionmaking

The metaphors of neuroscience – computers, coding, wiring...

The metaphors of neuroscience – computers, coding, wiring diagrams and so on – are inevitably partial. That is the nature of metaphors, which have been intensely studied by philosophers of science and by scientists, as they seem to be so central to the way scientists think.15 But metaphors are also rich and allow insight and discovery. There will come a point when the understanding they allow will be outweighed by the limits they impose, but in the case of computational and representational metaphors of the brain there is no agreement that such a moment has arrived.16 From a historical point of view, the very fact that this debate is taking place suggests that we may indeed be approaching the end of the computational metaphor. What is not clear, however, is what would replace it.

Source: The idea of the brain

#neuroscience #history

Libet’s work is generally taken to undermine the...

Libet’s work is generally taken to undermine the notion of free will – our feeling that we can choose how to behave. In a very complicated experiment that has since been replicated many times in various forms, Libet found that EEG traces which revealed subjects’ intentions to move a finger slightly preceded their conscious decision to do so. For many scientists and some philosophers, this finding suggested that consciousness and free will, in the form of a mental homunculus, are an illusion. The conscious sensation of deciding to move your finger, they claim, is a rationalisation of a decision that has already been taken by your nervous system. The strong interpretation is that we have no free will, being controlled instead by neuronal activity that is not immediately available to consciousness, but which is ‘made sense of’ immediately afterwards. Although the results of Libet’s experiment are not in question, this interpretation and its implications are still disputed.65 One recent study has shown that Libet’s basic finding holds only if subjects are making arbitrary choices, not if they are making important, deliberate decisions.66 This issue is far from being resolved.

Source: The idea of the brain

#neuroscience #history

In his sprawling 1981 masterwork, Mind in Science,...

In his sprawling 1981 masterwork, Mind in Science, Gregory questioned whether this was actually true, pointing out that particular functions could rarely be revealed by removing parts one by one: One finds, rather, that bizarre things happen when parts are removed; or nothing may happen, except under special conditions such as extreme demands or loading. For example, spokes of a bicycle wheel can be removed, one by one with little effect until there is a sudden collapse. Removing parts from an electrical circuit may produce output characteristics that were not present – such as whistles for a radio or complex patterns for a television … In truth the relations between parts, and their causal interactions, and the functions that they achieve, are highly complex and subtle beyond common understanding. It is particularly difficult to say where functions are located. This is a most serious problem for brain research.

Source: The idea of the brain

#neuroscience #history

The pursuit of the genetic bases of mental...

The pursuit of the genetic bases of mental health disorders has, in one case at least, led to a dead end. From the late 1990s researchers became interested in a gene that codes for a serotonin transporter called SLC6A4. Variants in the gene seemed to be linked to depression, fitting in with the SSRI model. Hundreds of papers were published, virtually all of them contributing to a scientific consensus in which SLC6A4, along with a number of other genes, held the key to understanding depression, and in particular the link with anxiety. In 2019 researchers studied the role of all these genes using massive data sets (up to 443,264 individuals) and rigorous statistical techniques that required them to describe expected results before doing the study, rather than endlessly fishing for statistical significance afterwards. Their conclusion was that all that time and effort had been wasted; there was no evidence that the eighteen genes that were thought to play a role in depression, including SLC6A4, actually do so.

Source: The idea of the brain

#neuroscience #history

Many courses on regression and linear models emphasise...

Many courses on regression and linear models emphasise the technical aspects of fitting and testing models. In practice, the hardest challenges facing an applied statistician relate to issues of how to construct and interpret appropriate models in such a way that you (the statistician) can help provide reasonable answers to empirical research questions. While technical material is generally easier to teach we place as much emphasis as possible on these less tangible issues, which are not any easier than the more technical material just because they involve less mathematics

Source: LMR study guide

#genetics #biology

However, the reality of scotophobin soon began to...

However, the reality of scotophobin soon began to evaporate. In July 1972 Ungar published an article in Nature in which he claimed that scotophobin induced dark-avoidance and speculated that there might be many such behaviourally active molecules in the nervous system.57 The article had been submitted to the journal seventeen months earlier; the reason for this long delay between submission and publication was that one of the referees involved in peer review of the paper, Walter Stewart, felt strongly that the whole thing was nonsense. In a highly unusual step, Nature eventually decided to publish Ungar’s article, but to accompany it by a long paper from Stewart detailing his criticisms of Ungar’s biochemical claims, including with regard to the synthetic version of the molecule. Stewart argued that, despite having already published seventeen scientific articles on the topic, covering more than a hundred pages, Ungar’s group had not provided the necessary experimental detail to allow the work to be replicated and its claims to be tested. His conclusion was that ‘the authors’ conclusions are more likely false than true’.58 Despite a brief riposte from Ungar in the same issue of Nature, the effect of Stewart’s critique was devastating. Improved behavioural measures and better biochemistry soon revealed that there was no transfer of learning, and that if scotophobin did exist it was probably a polypeptide, perhaps produced as a consequence of stress when the animals were shocked, and had nothing to do with learning.59 Funding for transfer-of-learning experiments dried up virtually immediately, as something that had excited the scientific community and beyond for years turned out to be an illusion.60 Scotophobin became neuroscience’s version of N-rays, a form of radiation that briefly obsessed physicists at the beginning of the twentieth century but which turned out not to exist.61 The exact origin of the widespread behavioural effects that were reported remain unclear, but neither engrams nor the fear of light can be transferred from one animal to another in a syringe. Nevertheless, recent research confirms that memories can indeed reappear in the regenerated head of a planarian, suggesting that not everything done at this time was complete nonsense

Source: The idea of the brain

#neuroscience #history

As with most scientific discoveries, if Adrian had...

As with most scientific discoveries, if Adrian had not done this work, someone else would have done so at about the same time. That is the nature of science – with very few exceptions, if researcher X had fallen under a bus, events would have proceeded on something like the same path, through the work of researcher Y. But in one key respect Adrian’s contribution to our understanding of how the brain works did not depend on his experimental studies and was much more due to his own unique attributes. Throughout his early career, Adrian produced popular accounts of his work, leading him to think about what nerves do in a rather different way from that expressed in his scientific papers. It was in these writings, searching for ways of explaining what he had discovered to the general public, that Adrian assembled some existing terms in novel ways, with lasting effect. These concepts – messages, codes and information – now form the basis of our fundamental scientific ideas about how the brain works.

Source: The idea of the Brain

#neuroscience #history

Indeed, the belief that only fathers mattered led...

Indeed, the belief that only fathers mattered led horse breeders astray: they failed to race mares, and then took the ludicrously expensive imported Arabian stallions and crossed them with random mares, and then took the sub-par performance of their offspring as evidence that race performance was critically dependent on the dry Arabian environment and they simply had to keep importing & crossing.

Source: Gwern

Link: https://www.gwern.net/reviews/Bakewell

#rationality #technology

We now know that here are an indefinitely...

We now know that here are an indefinitely long list of ways that development can go wrong with thousands of environmental insults or developmental error or distinct genetic diseases (each with many possible contributing mutations), and that for the most part, each case is its own special case; sometimes ‘monsters’ can shed light on key aspects of biology like metabolic pathways, but that requires biology centuries more advanced than was available, and that the search for universal principles was futile. There are universal principles but they pertain mostly to populations, must be investigated in the aggregate, statistically, and individual counterexamples can only be shrugged at, as the universal principles can be and often are overridden by many of those special cases.

Source: Gwern

Link: https://www.gwern.net/reviews/Bakewell

#rationality #technology

Darwin has often been depicted as a radical...

Darwin has often been depicted as a radical selectionist at heart who invoked other mechanisms only in retreat, and only as a result of his age's own lamented ignorance about the mechanisms of heredity. This view is false. Although Darwin regarded selection as the most important of evolutionary mechanisms (as do we), no argument from opponents angered him more than the common attempt to caricature and trivialize his theory by stating that it relied exclusively upon natural selection. In the last edition of the Origin, he wrote (I872, p. 395):

'As my conclusions have lately been much misrepresented, and it has been stated that I attribute the modification of species exclusively to natural selection, I may be permitted to remark that in the first edition of this work, and sub- sequently, I placed in a most conspicuous position - namely at the close of the Introduction -the following words: "I am convinced that natural selection has been the main, but not the exclusive means of modification." This has been of no avail. Great is the power of steady misinterpretation.'

Source: The Spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm: A Critique of the Adaptationist Programme

#evolution #critique

An extraordinary number of modern inventions were made...

An extraordinary number of modern inventions were made more than once, and the statistician Stephen Stigler even proposed a law that no discovery is ever named after its real discoverer (Stigler’s Law, he observed, was actually discovered by the sociologist Robert Merton twenty-five years earlier).

Source: Why the West rules

#history #civilization

I normally call this “nuance”. That is a...

I normally call this “nuance”. That is a very optimistic term. The pessimistic term is “a giant incoherent mess of sadness.”

Link: https://buttondown.email/hillelwayne/archive/i-ing-hate-science/

#culture #reflection

The odd thing about the Renaissance was that...

The odd thing about the Renaissance was that this apparently reactionary struggle to re-create antiquity in fact produced a wildly untraditional culture of invention and open-ended inquiry. There certainly were conservative voices, banishing some of the more radical thinkers (such as Machiavelli) to drain the bitter cup of exile and intimidating others (such as Galileo) into silence, but they barely blunted the thrust of new ideas.

Source: Why the West rules

#history #civilization

Archaeologists often suffer from an affliction that I...

Archaeologists often suffer from an affliction that I like to call Egypt envy. No matter where we dig or what we dig up, we always suspect we would find better things if we were digging in Egypt. So it is a relief to know that Egypt envy affects people in other walks of life too. In 1995 State Councillor Song Jian, one of China’s top scientific administrators, made an official visit to Egypt. He was not happy when archaeologists told him that its antiquities were older than China’s, so on returning to Beijing he launched the Three Dynasties Chronology Project to look into the matter. Four years and $2 million later, it announced its findings: Egypt’s antiquities really are older than China’s. But now at least we know exactly how much older.

Source: Why the West Rules

#history #civilization

Truly exceptional individuals, weak or strong, are, by...

Truly exceptional individuals, weak or strong, are, by definition, to be found at the extremes of statistical curves…Since each individual produced by the sexual process contains a unique set of genes, very exceptional combinations of genes are unlikely to appear twice even within the same family. So if genius is to any extent hereditary, it winks on and off through the gene pool in a way that would be difficult to measure or predict. Like Sisyphus rolling his boulder up to the top of the hill only to have it tumble down again, the human gene pool creates hereditary genius in many ways in many places only to have it come apart in the next generation.”

Source: On Human Nature 1978

Author: E.O. Wilson

#evolution #society

Score sheets, the critics insisted, obscure more than...

Score sheets, the critics insisted, obscure more than they reveal, masking the peculiarities of individual cultures. I certainly found that to be true when I was studying the origins of democracy in the 1990s. The ancient Greek cities that invented this form of government were really peculiar; many of their residents honestly believed that instead of asking priests what the gods thought, the best way to find the truth was to get all the men together on the side of a hill, argue, and take a vote. Giving ancient Greece a score for differentiation does not explain where democracy came from, and burying the Greeks’ peculiarity somewhere in an index of social development can actually make the task harder by diverting attention from their unique achievements.

Source: Why the West Rules

#history #civilization

These matters continued to be widely debated, of...

These matters continued to be widely debated, of course, and some at least also regarded the Germans themselves as victims of the Second World War. Yet in the early twenty-first century, Germany’s capital city has a large public memorial to the Jewish victims of Nazism at its very centre, German concentration camps have become public museums to Nazi atrocities, and on the streets of a growing number of German towns and cities brass plates have been put on to the pavements outside houses and shops that belonged to Jews before 1933, with the names of their former owners inscribed on them. German historians have exposed the long-denied involvement of many sectors of the German population in the crimes of the Third Reich, from the officers and men of the army to the doctors and scientists who staffed Germany’s hospitals and research institutes. Former slave labourers have launched successful actions to gain recognition and a small amount of compensation for their sufferings, and the businesses and companies that profited from the Nazi regime and its policies have opened their archives and admitted their complicity. Artworks and cultural objects expropriated from their Jewish owners under the Third Reich have been catalogued and galleries, museums and state authorities have opened the way for the restitution of those that have not yet been returned.

Source: Third Reich at War, Richard Evans

#fascism #history

“Such is life,” although rarely is it described...

“Such is life,” although rarely is it described in this manner: an inserting itself, a drawing off to its advantage, a parasitizing of the downward course of energy, from its noble solar form to the degraded one of low-temperature heat. In this downward course, which leads to equilibrium and thus death, life draws a bend and nests in it

Source: The Periodic Table

Author: Primo Levi

#chemistry #memoir

In his first letter he had spoken of...

In his first letter he had spoken of “overcoming the past,” “Bewältigung der Vergangenheit”: I later found out that this is a stereotyped phrase, a euphemism in today’s Germany, where it is universally understood as “redemption from Nazism”; but the root wait that it contains also appears in the words that express “domination,” “violence,” and “rape,” and I believe that translating the expression with “distortion of the past” or “violence done to the past” would not stray very far from its profound meaning.

Source: The Periodic Table

Author: Primo Levi

#chemistry #memoir

In the summer, when he went off by...

In the summer, when he went off by himself, he often took along a dog to keep him company. This was a small yellow mongrel with a downcast expression; in fact, as Sandro had told me, acting out in his way the animal episode, as a puppy he had had a mishap with a cat. He had come too close to a litter of newborn kittens, the mother cat was miffed and became enraged, and had begun to hiss, getting all puffed up; but the puppy had not yet learned the meaning of those signals and remained there like a fool. The cat had attacked him, chased him, caught him, and scratched his nose; the dog had been permanently traumatized. He felt dishonored, and so Sandro had made him a cloth ball, explained to him that it was the cat, and every morning presented it to him so that he could take his revenge on it for the insult and regain his canine honor. For the same therapeutic motive, Sandro took him to the mountains, so he could have some fun: he tied him to one end of a rope, tied himself to the other, set the dog firmly on a rock ledge, and then climbed up; when the rope ended, he pulled it up slowly, and the dog had learned to walk up with his muzzle pointed skywards and his four paws against the nearly vertical wall of rock, moaning softly as though he were dreaming.

It was also said that he had spent his entire academic career demolishing a certain theory of stereo-chemistry, not with experiments but with publications. The experiments were performed by someone else, his great rival, in some unknown part of the world; as he proceeded, the reports appeared in the Helvetica Chemica Acta, and Professor P. tore them apart one by one.

Source: The Periodic Table

Author: Primo Levi

#chemistry #memoir

Here the Soviet generals launched a counter-attack, with...

Here the Soviet generals launched a counter-attack, with the aim of encircling and destroying the German forces. The leading Soviet tank general Pavel Rotmistrov sent in fresh forces, advancing up to 380 kilometres from the rear in a mere three days with more than 800 tanks. Keeping some in reserve, he sent 400 of these in from the north-east, and another 200 from the east, against the battle-weary German forces, who were taken completely by surprise. With only 186 armoured vehicles, a mere 117 of them tanks, the German forces faced total destruction. But the Soviet tank-drivers, tired after three days’ driving and perhaps also fired up, as Red Army troops often were, by liberal doses of vodka, failed to notice a massive, 4.5-metre-deep anti-tank trench dug not long before by Soviet pioneers as part of Zhukov’s preparations for the battle. The first lines of T-34s fell straight into the ditch, and when those following on finally saw the danger, they veered aside in panic, crashed into one another and burst into flames as the Germans opened fire. By the middle of the day the Germans were reporting 190 wrecked or deserted Soviet tanks on the battlefield, some of them still burning. The number seemed so unbelievable that a senior general arrived personally to verify it. The loss of so many tanks enraged Stalin, who threatened to have Rotmistrov court-martialled. To save his skin, the general agreed with his commanding officer and with the senior political commissar in the area – Nikita Khrushchev – to claim that the tanks had been lost in a vast battle in which more than 400 German tanks had been destroyed by the heroic Soviet forces. Stalin, whose idea it had originally been to send Rotmistrov’s forces into the fray, was obliged to accept their report. It became the source of a long-lived legend that marked Prochorovka as the ‘greatest tank battle in history’. In reality it was one of history’s greatest military fiascos. The Soviet forces lost a total of 235 tanks, the Germans three. Despite all this, Rotmistrov became a hero, and today a large monument marks the site.

Source: Third Reich at war

#fascism #history

“James Dewar (later Sir James, and the inventor...

“James Dewar (later Sir James, and the inventor of the Dewar flask and hence of the thermos bottle), of the Royal Institute in London, in 1897 liquefied fluorine, which had been isolated by Moisson only eleven years before, and reported that the density of the liquid was 1.108. This wildly (and inexplicably) erroneous value (the actual density is 1.50) was duly embalmed in the literature, and remained there, unquestioned, for almost sixty years, to the confusion of practically everybody.”

Source: An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants

#rocketry #chemistry

Women’s share in the German civilian labour force...

Women’s share in the German civilian labour force did increase, according to one estimate, from 37 per cent in 1939 to 51 per cent in 1944, and there were also 3.5 million women working part-time in shifts of up to eight hours by this latter date. But of course the German civilian labour force was shrinking all the time. More and more German men were leaving for the front, so the actual number of German women in paid employment only increased from 14,626,000 in May 1939 to 14,897,000 in September 1944.

Source: Third Reich at war

#fascism #history

“The book is written not only for the...

“The book is written not only for the interested layman—and for him I have tried to make things as simple as possible—but also for the professional engineer in the rocket business. For I have discovered that he is frequently abysmally ignorant of the history of his own profession, and, unless forcibly restrained, is almost certain to do something which, as we learned fifteen years ago, is not only stupid but is likely to result in catastrophe. Santayana knew exactly what he was talking about”

Source: An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants

#rocketry #chemistry

Even a frog was to be carried on...

Even a frog was to be carried on board, not a leaping frog, but one whose inner ear was wired and who was encased in a miniature centrifuge. After enjoying weightlessness for prescribed intervals, the frog was to be periodically spun up on the centrifuge, and his otolith function duly recorded. The crew couldn’t even warn the poor suffering little bastard, but merely flipped a FROG switch to ON, and away he went. Imagine that, a FROG ON-OFF switch, hardly work for test pilots.

Source: Carrying the Fire

#spaceflight #memoir

Of course the very heart of the matter...

Of course the very heart of the matter is that NASA, which loves redundant systems, has never been able to figure out a practical way of providing redundant pressure shells. By that I mean that between the little soft pink body of the astronaut and the hard vacuum of space there is only one thin shell of aluminum (the spacecraft) or of rubber (the pressure suit bladder). To this basic fact add the complication of having to glue that rubber bladder together from an individually tailored array of body-fitting fragments. When you think of a space walker, you may visualize a chap confidently exploiting the most advanced technology which this rich and powerful nation can provide, but not me, friends. I see a covey of little old ladies hunched over their glue pots in Worcester, Massachusetts, and I only hope that between discussions of Friday-night bingo and the new monsignor, their attention doesn’t wander too far. Maybe it’s basic insanity to abandon hearth and home to dance in space on the end of a fifty-foot cord.

Source: Carrying the fire

#spaceflight #memoir

Steno’s view that the brain was not simply...

Steno’s view that the brain was not simply like a machine, but actually was some kind of device, was part of a shift in view that took place in seventeenth-century Europe. Philosophers and physicians became comfortable about using mechanical metaphors when thinking about the body (the same view was also extended to the whole universe, with the regularity of celestial mechanics being seen in terms of some cosmic clockwork). For example, in 1641 the philosopher Thomas Hobbes asked rhetorically: ‘For what is the Heart, but a Spring; and the Nerves, but so many Strings; and the Joynts, but so many Wheeles, giving motion to the whole.’

Source: The Idea of the Brain

#neuroscience #history

To properly understand the past, to provide a...

To properly understand the past, to provide a full background to today’s theories and frameworks, and even to imagine what tomorrow may hold, we must remember that past ideas were not seen as steps on the road to our current understanding. They were fully fledged views in their own right, in all their complexity and lack of clarity. Every idea, no matter how outdated, was once modern, exciting and new. We can be amused at strange ideas from the past, but condescension is not allowed – what seems obvious to us is only that way because past errors, which were generally difficult to detect, were eventually overcome through a great deal of hard work and harder thinking.

Source: The Idea of the Brain

#neuroscience #history

The other side of the matter, the perception...

A personal note here: this indicates that much of the biochemistry I have been taught is within a particular paradigm of thought. That is that biological systems are constructed in a way that mirrors the ideas of information theory. It seems to me that the influence of information theory may have been what drove biologists to conceive of biological systems in those terms! Discrete transfers of energy and bioinformatics as a concept. This is in contrast to the bucket chemistry style approach of classical biochemistry. What do we miss by only exploring within our own paradigm?

The other side of the matter, the perception of the biological code as an abstract problem distinguishable from the biochemistry, had few and isolated forerunners—and the fact is surprising. The late forties, after all, were the years when information theory, turned loose from the armorers’ workshops, grew with world-conquering confidence and was publicized throughout the sciences as well as to laymen. A fundamental of information theory, unforgettable for example to anyone who read Norbert Wiener’s Cybernetics—the book came out in 1948 and aroused wide discussion—was the unique status of information as something that could be transferred at almost no cost in energy and yet with hugely multiplied consequences…

Source: Eighth Day of Creation

#sciencehistory #molecularbiology

In a sense the evolution of biological molecules...

William James Astbury quoted in the Eighth day of Creation

In a sense the evolution of biological molecules has been one long story of numerology, a sifting and sorting of shapes and sizes and a progressive selection of molecular patterns that has been going on throughout the ages.

Source: Eighth day of Creation

Author: William James Astbury

#sciencehistory #molecularbiology

Indeed, a density gradient is a subtle refinement...

Indeed, a density gradient is a subtle refinement of the insight upon which Archimedes shouted “Eureka!” Archimedes made his discovery in the bathtub; Meselson began his at the dinner table. “In the house where we lived at Caltech, in the guest room, on the wall, we had a periodic table of the elements,” Meselson said. “It was a big chart, made of oilcloth, a beautiful chart. And the first experiment we did was at dinner. We had sugar on the table—I remember the evening very clearly, Frank and I and some other people—and I just put sugar, a lot of sugar, in a glass, and filled it with water, and then cut off a piece of fingernail and dropped it in—just to see if you could float, in a solution like that, materials of the density of DNA. I mean, we didn’t know exactly the density of DNA—though we sure did later—but fingernail seemed a reasonable analogy. And as I remember, the fingernail sinks, even in the strongest sugar solution. So we needed something denser. We went to the chart in the guest room and said, ‘Well, we want something like table salt, sodium chloride, but very dense,’ so we read straight down the chart from sodium to the heavier elements that are chemically similar—sodium, potassium, rubidium, and then there’s cesium, which is the last naturally occurring element in that group. And we could have used other salts of cesium, the bromide, the iodide, but we knew that the chloride was the most chemically stable and least likely to hurt the DNA. So we chose cesium chloride.”

Source: Eighth Day of creation

#sciencehistory #molecularbiology

Discovery, examined closely, I said to Crick, seemed...

Discovery, examined closely, I said to Crick, seemed curiously difficult to pin to a moment or to an insight or even to a single person. “No, I don’t think that’s curious,” Crick said. “I think that’s the nature of discoveries, many times: that the reason they’re difficult to make is that you’ve got to take a series of steps, three or four steps, which if you don’t make them you won’t get there, and if you go wrong in any one of them you won’t get there. It isn’t a matter of one jump—that would be easy. You’ve got to make several successive jumps. And usually the pennies drop one after another until eventually it all clicks. Otherwise it would be too easy!”

Source: Eighth Day of Creation

#sciencehistory #molecularbiology

Watson attended a seminar by Franklin in 1951....

Watson attended a seminar by Franklin in 1951. From the seminar he and Crick put together an incorrect model for DNA. Turns out it was Rosalind Franklin herself who decinstructed the model when she was invited along with Wilkins and Gosling to appraise it:

"Franklin led the attack on the model itself. By Watson’s account seventeen years later, she was adamant that “there was not a shred of evidence that DNA was helical.” The notes she had prepared a few days earlier and the fellowship report she submitted a few weeks later bracket this encounter, to give the true range of her opinion: in fact at the time she was not firmly set against helices. What she could correctly have said was that her best x-ray pictures of DNA so far—those of the crystalline form—failed to show the pattern characteristic of a helical structure. It was true also that while her pictures of the second, wet form presented helical features, these were not unequivocal—but she may never have gone into the details of the wet pattern, any more than she had in her notes for the colloquium. The model had two more deficiencies, each crippling. The backbones could not be inside. Finally, a glance told her and a word told them all that the model did not contain enough water—which Crick then had to recognize was not just Watson’s lapse of memory but his own lapse of basic chemistry, for those charged sodium or magnesium ions would strongly attract water. “Jim said there was no water there. With little water, the electrostatic forces would be very strong,” Crick told me. “That was reasonable given that what Jim said was reasonable, but what I should have known was that what Jim said wasn’t reasonable. Anybody who knew any chemistry would have known there was a lot of water just from first principles!” With the water put back in, very many other models were once more compatible with the rest of the data. By Wednesday afternoon, less than a week since Franklin’s seminar, Watson and Crick’s first model for DNA had been flooded out."

Source: Eighth Day of Creation

#sciencehistory #molecularbiology

in his application to the Medical Research Council...

in his application to the Medical Research Council for a research student’s grant, Crick wrote: The particular field which excites my interest is the division between the living and the non-living, as typified by, say, proteins, viruses, bacteria and the structure of chromosomes. The eventual goal, which is somewhat remote, is the description of these activities in terms of their structure, i.e. the spatial distribution of their constituent atoms, in so far as this may prove possible. This might be called the chemical physics of biology. It might be called a definition of molecular biology.

Source: Eighth Day of Creation

#sciencehistory #molecularbiology

It should be said, then, that Crick has...

It should be said, then, that Crick has to a pronounced degree a habit that most scientists cultivate, a careful and constant self-depreciation that distinguishes between what a man knows for sure and what he knows only speculatively or by hearsay. “I do not speak now from secure knowledge,” said one, expressing a typical care with a graceful turn; or as Crick sometimes puts it, “I don’t know this subject, I only know about it.” The habit has little to do with modesty. It is a hedge against being caught in error. More, it is an intellectual courtesy, a running contribution to evaluation of the weight of statements in truth-seeking talk.

Source: Eighth Day of Creation

#sciencehistory #molecularbiology

“DNA, you know, is Midas’ gold. Everybody who...

Quote from Maurice Wilkins

“DNA, you know, is Midas’ gold. Everybody who touches it goes mad.”

Source: Eighth Day of Creation

#sciencehistory #molecularbiology

I saw before me in dark contours the...

Erwing Chargaff quoted in The Eighth Day of Creation

I saw before me in dark contours the beginning of a grammar of biology…. Avery gave us the first text of a new language, or rather he showed us where to look for it. I resolved to search for this text. Consequently, I decided to relinquish all that we had been working on or to bring it to a quick conclusion…. But these biographical bagatelles cannot be of interest to anybody. To the scientist nature is as a mirror that breaks every thirty years; and who cares about the broken glass of past times? I started from the conviction that, if different DNA species exhibited different biological activities, there should also exist chemically demonstrable differences between deoxyribonucleic acids.

Source: The Eighth Day of Creation

#sciencehistory #molecularbiology

In a conversation a few weeks earlier at...

In a conversation a few weeks earlier at the faculty club of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a couple of biologists had speculated whether Pauling, whose recent popular book on the benefits to health and sanity of massive doses of vitamin C was stacked in display near the entrance of the M.I.T. bookstore, was showing signs of what one of the men called “old scientist’s disease”—which they defined as what happens to great men when they grow beyond the psychological reach of the salutary system by which scientists blow the whistle on one another’s mistakes.

Source: Eighth day of creation

#sciencehistory #molecularbiology

Pauling’s political stand in the last years of...

Pauling’s political stand in the last years of the Truman presidency seems mild enough now, a rather flamboyantly idealistic campaign against the cold war, against atomic weapons and the development of the hydrogen bomb. In those days of the rise of Joseph McCarthy and Richard Nixon, when the national anxieties reverberated into hysteria in Southern California, Pauling’s course took courage and principle. His politics had unpleasant consequences at the time. At the end of April 1952, Pauling was supposed to go to London to attend a meeting of the Royal Society on the structure of proteins, but at the last minute was refused a passport.

Source: Eighth day of creation

#sciencehistory #molecularbiology

“When I rode along the Kinshasa Highway as...

Richard Preston

“When I rode along the Kinshasa Highway as a boy, it was a dusty, unpaved thread that wandered through the Rift Valley toward Lake Victoria, carrying not much traffic. It was a gravel road engraved with washboard bumps and broken by occasional pitlike ruts that could crack the frame of a Land Rover. As you drove along it, you would see in the distance a plume of dust growing larger, coming toward you: an automobile. You would move to the shoulder and slow down, and as the car approached, you would place both hands upon the windshield to keep it from shattering if a pebble thrown up by the passing car hit the glass. The car would thunder past, leaving you blinded in yellow fog. Now the road was paved and had a stripe painted down the center, and it carried a continual flow of vehicles. The overlanders were mixed up with pickup trucks and vans jammed with people, and the road reeked of diesel smoke. The paving of the Kinshasa Highway affected every person on earth, and turned out to be one of the most important events of the twentieth century. It has already cost at least ten million lives, with the likelihood that the ultimate number of human casualties will vastly exceed the deaths in the Second World War. In effect, I had witnessed a crucial event in the emergence of AIDS, the transformation of a thread of dirt into a ribbon of tar.”

Source: The Hot Zone

#virology #publichealth

“So I don’t really see, in retrospect, that...

Delbruck, Eighth day of creation

“So I don’t really see, in retrospect, that Avery had been neglected. I think certainly all the people who were seriously interested in what we now call molecular genetics, which at that time didn’t have that name—interested in the nature of the gene—those who were fully aware of the data and were discussing it, to the extent that it could be discussed, they clearly saw the three alternatives. That it was contamination and not DNA at all. Or that the transformation was not really specific but just a special case, a physiological switch. Or that the DNA does carry specificity—but even if it did carry specificity then nobody, absolutely nobody, until the day of the Watson-Crick structure, had thought that the specificity might be carried in this exceedingly simple way, by a sequence, by a code. This dénouement that came then—that the whole business was like a child’s toy that you could buy at the dime store”—Delbrück laughed and shook his head—“all built in this wonderful way that you could explain in Life magazine so that really a five-year-old can understand what’s going on. That there was so simple a trick behind it.” He laughed again, the same rueful way. “This was the greatest surprise for everyone.”

Source: Eighth day of creation

#sciencehistory #molecularbiology

The main moral of priming research is that...

The main moral of priming research is that our thoughts and our behavior are influenced, much more than we know or want, by the environment of the moment. Many people find the priming results unbelievable, because they do not correspond to subjective experience. Many others find the results upsetting, because they threaten the subjective sense of agency and autonomy. If the content of a screen saver on an irrelevant computer can affect your willingness to help strangers without your being aware of it, how free are you? Anchoring effects are threatening in a similar way.

Source: Thinking Fast and Slow

#psychology #decisionmaking

It was queer how for nearly six months...

It was queer how for nearly six months past I had had no eyes for such things. With my discharge papers in my pocket I felt like a human being again, and also a little like a tourist. For almost the first time I felt that I was really in Spain, in a country that I had longed all my life to visit. In the quiet back streets of Lérida and Barbastro I seemed to catch a momentary glimpse, a sort of far-off rumour of the Spain that dwells in everyone's imagination. White sierras, goatherds, dungeons of the Inquisition, Moorish palaces, black winding trains of mules, grey olive trees and groves of lemons, girls in black mantillas, the wines of Málaga and Alicante, cathedrals, cardinals, bull-fights, gypsies, serenades—in short, Spain. Of all Europe it was the country that had had most hold upon my imagination. It seemed a pity that when at last I had managed to come here I had seen only this north-eastern corner, in the middle of a confused war and for the most part in winter.

Source: Orwell, Homage to Catalonia

#war #politics

In 2010, a corrupt policewoman demanded a bribe...

In 2010, a corrupt policewoman demanded a bribe from impoverished pushcart vendor Mohammed Bouazizi. He couldn't afford it. She confiscated his goods, insulted him, and (according to some sources) slapped him. He was humiliated and destitute and had no hope of ever getting back at a police officer. So he made the very reasonable decision to douse himself in gasoline and set himself on fire in the public square. One thing led to another, and eventually a mostly-peaceful revolution ousted the government of Tunisia. I am very sorry for Mr. Bouazizi and his family. But he did find a way to make the offending policewoman remember the day she harassed him as something other than Tuesday. As the saying goes, "sometimes setting yourself on fire sheds light on the situation".

Link: https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/still-alive

#politics #power

I went back to my post on the...

I went back to my post on the roof with a feeling of concentrated disgust and fury. When you are taking part in events like these you are, I suppose, in a small way, making history, and you ought by rights to feel like a historical character. But you never do, because at such times the physical details always outweigh everything else. Throughout the fighting I never made the correct 'analysis' of the situation that was so glibly made by journalists hundreds of miles away. What I was chiefly thinking about was not the rights and wrongs of this miserable internecine scrap, but simply the discomfort and boredom of sitting day and night on that intolerable roof, and the hunger which was growing worse and worse—for none of us had had a proper meal since Monday.

Source: Homage to Catalonia

Author: Orwell

#war #politics

“Colonel Clarence James Peters, MD. He was the...

“Colonel Clarence James Peters, MD. He was the chief of the disease-assessment division at the Institute, the doctor who dealt with the dangerous unknowns. (“The interesting stuff,” as he called it.) C. J. Peters had built up this division almost singlehandedly, and he ran it singlehandedly. He was a strange sort of military man, easygoing and casually brilliant. He had wire-rimmed glasses, a round, ruddy, pleasant face with a mustache, a light Texas drawl. He was not a large man, but he liked to eat, and he believed himself to be overweight. He spoke fluent Spanish, which he had learned during his years in the jungles of Central and South America, hunting for hot agents. He was required by Army regulations to show up for work at eight o’clock in the morning, but he usually drifted in around ten o’clock, and then worked until all hours of the night. He disliked wearing a uniform. Usually he wore faded blue jeans with a flaming Hawaiian shirt, along with sandals and dweebish white socks, looking like he had just spent the night in a Mexican hotel. “His excuse for his lack of uniform was that he suffered from athlete’s foot, an incurable tropical strain that he’d picked up in Central America and could never quite get rid of, and so he had to wear socks with sandals in order to keep air circulating around his toes—and the jeans and the flaming shirt were part of the package.

C. J. Peters could swim through a bureaucracy like a shark. He inspired great loyalty in his staff, and he made enemies easily and deliberately, when it suited him or the needs of his staff. He drove a red Toyota that had seen better days. On his travels in rain forests and tropical savannas, he ate with pleasure whatever the locals were eating. He had consumed frogs, snakes, zebra meat, jellyfish, lizards, and toads cooked whole in their skin, but he thought he had never eaten salamanders, at least none that he had been able to identify in a soup. He had eaten boiled monkey thigh, and he had drunk banana beer fermented with human saliva. In central Africa, while leading an expedition in search of Ebola virus, he had found himself in termite country during swarming season, and he had waited by termite nests and collected the termites as they swarmed out and had eaten them raw. He thought they had a nice sort of nutty taste. He liked termites so much that he refrigerated them with his blood samples, to keep the termites fresh all day so that he could snack on them like peanuts with his evening gin as the sun went down over the African plains. He was fond of suffocated guinea pig baked in its own blood and viscera. The guinea pig is split open like a book, offering treasures, and he enjoyed picking out and eating the guinea pig’s lungs, adrenal glands, and brain. And then, inevitably, he would pay a price. “I always get sick, but it’s worth it,” he once said to me. He was a great believer in maps, and his offices always contained many maps hung on the walls, showing locations of outbreaks of virus.”

Source: The Hot Zone

#virology #publichealth

“The cave itself was considered to be a...

“The cave itself was considered to be a Level 4 hot zone. The tarp closest to the cave covered a gray area, a place where the worlds met. The men took chemical showers under the gray-area tarp, to decon their space suits after a visit to the cave. Another tarp covered a Level 3 staging area, where the men changed in and out of their space suits. Another tarp covered a Level 4 necropsy area. Under that tarp, wearing space suits, they dissected any small animals they had trapped, looking for signs of Marburg virus.

“We were going where no one had gone before,” Johnson said to me. “We brought the Biosafety Level 4 philosophy to the jungle.”

Source: The Hot Zone

#virology #publichealth

It was also impossible to ignore the widespread...

It was also impossible to ignore the widespread irritation, even anger and fear, aroused more widely by the ubiquity of street collections which, a Social Democratic agent reported in 1935, had ‘completely assumed the character of organized highway robbery’. ‘The importunity is so great’, reported another agent, ‘that nobody can escape it.’ ‘Last year one could still speak of it as a nuisance,’ one informant complained of the Winter Aid in December 1935, ‘but this winter it has become a plague of the first degree.’ There were not only Winter Aid collections but also Hitler Youth collections for the building of new youth hostels, collections for the support of Germans abroad, collections for air-raid shelters, collections for needy ‘old fighters’, a lottery for the benefit of job creation, and many more collections for local schemes. There were pay deductions for the Volkswagen car and workplace contributions for Strength Through Joy and Beauty of Labour, and much, much more. Such contributions, whether in kind or in money or in the form of unpaid voluntary work, amounted in effect to a new, informal tax.

Source: The Third Reich in Power

#fascism #history

Even with hours of leisure, men who had...

Even with hours of leisure, men who had been “bookish ” could not read. That was a common phenomenon. I could read hardly at all, for years, and thousands were like me. The most “exciting” novel was dull stuff up against that world convulsion. What did the romance of love mean, the little tortures of one man’s heart, or one woman’s, troubled in their mating, when thousands of men were being killed and vast populations were in agony? History—Greek or Roman or medieval—what was the use of reading that old stuff, now that world history was being made with a rush? Poetry—poor poets with their love of beauty! What did beauty matter, now that it lay dead in the soul of the world, under the filth of battlefields, and the dirt of hate and cruelty, and the law of the apelike man? No—we could not read; but talked and talked about the old philosophy of life, and the structure of society, and Democracy and Liberty and Patriotism and Internationalism, and Brotherhood of Men, and God, and Christian ethics; and then talked no more, because all words were futile, and just brooded and brooded, after searching the daily paper (two days old) for any kind of hope and light, not finding either.

Source: Now it can be told

#nuclearhistory #war

To devise a plan, to conceive the idea...

To devise a plan, to conceive the idea of the solution is not easy. It takes so much to succeed; formerly acquired knowledge, good mental habits, concentration upon the purpose, and one more thing: good luck.

Source: How to solve it

#mathematics #problemsolving

We have a plan when we know, or...

We have a plan when we know, or know at least in outline, which calculations, computations, or constructions we have to perform in order to obtain the unknown. The way from understanding the problem to conceiving a plan may be long and tortuous. In fact, the main achievement in the solution of a problem is to conceive the idea of a plan.

Source: How to solve it

#mathematics #problemsolving

Because System 1 represents categories by a prototype...

Because System 1 represents categories by a prototype or a set of typical exemplars, it deals well with averages but poorly with sums.

Source: Thinking fast and slow

#psychology #decisionmaking

The peasantry were generally assigned in German political...

The peasantry were generally assigned in German political discourse in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century to that peculiar and amorphous social group known by the untranslatable German appellation of the Mittelstand. This term expressed in the first place the aspirations of right-wing propagandists that the people who were neither bourgeois nor proletarian should have a recognized place in society. Roughly equivalent to the French petite bourgeoisie or the English lower middle class, they had come by the early 1930s to embody much more than a mere social group: in German politics they stood for a set of values. Located between the two great antagonistic classes into which society had become divided, they represented people who stood on their own two feet, independent, hard-working, the healthy core of the German people, unjustly pushed to the side by the class war that was raging all about them. It was to people like these – small shopkeepers, skilled artisans running their own workshops, self-sufficient peasant farmers – that the Nazis had initially directed their appeal. The Nazi Party programme of 1920 was indeed among other things a typical product of the far-right politics of the German Mittelstand; the support of such people was among the factors that had got the Party off the ground in the first place.

Source: The Third Reich in Power

#fascism #history

A reliable way to make people believe in...

A reliable way to make people believe in falsehoods is frequent repetition, because familiarity is not easily distinguished from truth. Authoritarian institutions and marketers have always known this fact. But it was psychologists who discovered that you do not have to repeat the entire statement of a fact or idea to make it appear true. People who were repeatedly exposed to the phrase “the body temperature of a chicken” were more likely to accept as true the statement that “the body temperature of a chicken is 144°” (or any other arbitrary number). The familiarity of one phrase in the statement sufficed to make the whole statement feel familiar, and therefore true. If you cannot remember the source of a statement, and have no way to relate it to other things you know, you have no option but to go with the sense of cognitive ease.

Source: Thinking fast and slow

#psychology #decisionmaking

The general theme of these findings is that...

The general theme of these findings is that the idea of money primes individualism: a reluctance to be involved with others, to depend on others, or to accept demands from others. The psychologist who has done this remarkable research, Kathleen Vohs, has been laudably restrained in discussing the implications of her findings, leaving the task to her readers. Her experiments are profound—her findings suggest that living in a culture that surrounds us with reminders of money may shape our behavior and our attitudes in ways that we do not know about and of which we may not be proud. Some cultures provide frequent reminders of respect, others constantly remind their members of God, and some societies prime obedience by large images of the Dear Leader. Can there be any doubt that the ubiquitous portraits of the national leader in dictatorial societies not only convey the feeling that “Big Brother Is Watching” but also lead to an actual reduction in spontaneous thought and independent action?

Source: Thinking fast and slow

#psychology #decisionmaking

people who are simultaneously challenged by a demanding...

people who are simultaneously challenged by a demanding cognitive task and by a temptation are more likely to yield to the temptation. Imagine that you are asked to retain a list of seven digits for a minute or two. You are told that remembering the digits is your top priority. While your attention is focused on the digits, you are offered a choice between two desserts: a sinful chocolate cake and a virtuous fruit salad. The evidence suggests that you would be more likely to select the tempting chocolate cake when your mind is loaded with digits. System 1 has more influence on behavior when System 2 is busy, and it has a sweet tooth. People who are cognitively busy are also more likely to make selfish choices, use sexist language, and make superficial judgments in social situations.

Source: Thinking fast and slow

#psychology #decisionmaking

Doctors said: “It is difficult to draw the...

Doctors said: “It is difficult to draw the line between shell-shock and blue funk. Both are physical as well as mental. Often it is the destruction of the nerve tissues by concussion, or actual physical damage to the brain; sometimes it is a shock of horror unbalancing the mind, but that is more rare. It is not generally the slight, nervous men who suffer worst from shell-shock. It is often the stolid fellow, one of those we describe as being utterly without nerves, who goes down badly. Something snaps in him. He has no resilience in his nervous system. He has never trained himself in nerve-control, being so stolid and self-reliant. Now, the nervous man, the cockney, for example, is always training himself in the control of his nerves, on ’buses which lurch round corners, in the traffic that bears down on him, in a thousand and one situations which demand self-control in a ‘nervy’ man. That helps him in war; whereas the yokel, or the sergeantmajor type, is splendid until the shock comes. Then he may crack. But there is no law. Imagination—apprehension—are the devil, too, and they go with ‘nerves.’”

Source: Now it can be told

#nuclearhistory #war

Now that you have measured the lines, you—your...

Now that you have measured the lines, you—your System 2, the conscious being you call “I”—have a new belief: you know that the lines are equally long. If asked about their length, you will say what you know. But you still see the bottom line as longer. You have chosen to believe the measurement, but you cannot prevent System 1 from doing its thing; you cannot decide to see the lines as equal, although you know they are. To resist the illusion, there is only one thing you can do: you must learn to mistrust your impressions of the length of lines when fins are attached to them. To implement that rule, you must be able to recognize the illusory pattern and recall what you know about it. If you can do this, you will never again be fooled by the Müller-Lyer illusion. But you will still see one line as longer than the other.

Source: Thinking fast and slow

#psychology #decisionmaking

Then there were the methods Delbrück perfected of...

Then there were the methods Delbrück perfected of assaying, every few moments, the presence and number of free phage particles, by taking a measured sample from the broth of bacteria and phage and spreading it across a plate of nutrient jelly, where each virus starts a colony of bacterial destruction that multiplies so quickly that within a few hours it can be seen by the naked eye, as a bare spot in the bacterial lawn—called a plaque, d’Hérelle’s original term—to be counted and characterized for size, texture, outline.

Source: Eighth day of Creation

#sciencehistory #molecularbiology

And, you say you have to know all...

James Watson in Eighth Day of Creation

And, you say you have to know all these facts—well, clearly the facts, some of them, that you learn are wrong, so if you take them too seriously you won’t discover the truth.

Source: Eighth Day of Creation

#sciencehistory #molecularbiology

On the other hand, the anti-intellectualism of the...

On the other hand, the anti-intellectualism of the Nazi movement made sure that many senior figures in the Party, from Hitler down, ridiculed many of these ideas and thought them too abstruse to have any real political relevance. Neither Bernhard Rust nor Alfred Rosenberg, the two leading senior Nazis in the field of education and ideology, was politically skilled or determined enough to outmanoeuvre wily professors whose abilities to intrigue and dissemble had been honed in decades of in-fighting on university committees. The foundation of a new institute dedicated to the pursuit of a favourite obsession of the Nazis could be welcomed by conservative professors as a way of shunting off an unpopular colleague into an academic byway, as it was for example when the cantankerous far-right historian Martin Spahn was given his own Institute for Spatial Politics at the University of Cologne in 1934. This killed two birds with one stone, since it got Spahn out of the History Department, where he was deeply unpopular, into an area where he did not have to come into contact with his colleagues, and demonstrated at the same time the university’s commitment to the geopolitical ideas of the new regime.

Source: The Third Reich in Power

#fascism #history

In short, two different types, one an R,...

In short, two different types, one an R, live but not virulent, and the other an S, virulent but killed. Many of the injected mice had died. In the heart’s blood of these mice, Griffith had found living, virulent pneumococci, of the S form—and not Type II but Type III. The change was permanent and inherited. Generations more of culturing had produced nothing but more Smooth, virulent Type III pneumonia germs. Other experiments produced similar transformations of other pneumococcal types. Griffith’s discovery suggested doubts about the existence of distinct true-breeding species among bacteria. It opened grave practical problems for epidemiologists and immunologists. It raised clouds of speculative and spurious explanations. All in all, microbiologists found transformation of bacteria about as unsettling as atomic physicists, at that same time, were finding the transmutation of elements by interaction with neutrons and protons.

Source: The eighth day of creation

#sciencehistory #molecularbiology

Make no mistake: Defoe meant for Due Preparations...

Make no mistake: Defoe meant for Due Preparations to be a manual. It is didactic by design, and it is also a political intervention, advocating for preventive care as a matter of national importance. In distinguishing “preparations against the plague” from “preparations for the plague” and specifying that the former were preparations for the body, the latter for the soul, he emphasizes that such preparations are not just meant for times of plague. For Defoe, preparedness is a long-term, holistic project of self-management predicated on the idea that crisis is always “impending.” While almost always pursued belatedly because individuals tend to remain distracted by the trivialities of their daily lives, “put[ting] ourselves in a posture” of preparedness can at least defer, if only for a short while, suffering and regret. Defoe acknowledges that most English people will not prepare early enough, but even the awareness that actions can be taken in advance could make a difference for survival.

Link: https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/epidemic/what-preparations-are-due

#war #history

On 20 April 1935, a local paper, the...

On 20 April 1935, a local paper, the Schweinitz District News-Sheet (Schweinitzer Kreisblatt), printed a large photograph of Hitler on the front page in such a way that part of his head covered the letters ‘itzer’ in the title, leaving the letters ‘Schwein’, the German for ‘pig’, to provide what the Gestapo, who promptly banned the paper for three days, thought of as an insulting description of the Leader. It is unlikely that the offending layout was an accident.

Source: The Third Reich in Power

#fascism #history

"The Double Helix is full of delights, high...

"The Double Helix is full of delights, high among them, for professional readers as well as laymen, the delight of demystifying science of its more pretentious claims to rationality and orderly procedure, the delight of revealing for once, or seeming to reveal, what scientists “really do”—which turns out to include coffee breaks and gossip. The result is a very beguiling version of the circumstances of Watson and Crick’s discovery. The book is irresistible to quote from, dangerous to lean on."

Source: Eighth day of creation

#sciencehistory #molecularbiology

Discussing the discovery of DNA-B structure: "Then there...

Discussing the discovery of DNA-B structure: "Then there is the undeniable drama of how the discovery was made—a high comedy of intellect, and in action a full-blown thriller. To begin with, the discovery gathered in the threads of several lines of evidence and many experimental antecedents. Equally complex was the web of relationships among the scientists: in this net the purely intellectual details of the process of knowing are tangled inextricably. The discovery was made in a mood of artificially stimulated, frenzied competition. The competition was won by wit, insight, and luck rather than by thoroughness and hard work: victory for the grasshoppers over the ants, and the ants are resentful to this day."

Source: Eighth day of Creation

#sciencehistory #molecularbiology

Ateshga’s world - shown beneath the map of...

Ateshga’s world - shown beneath the map of the galaxy - was an outrageous confection of a planet: a striped marshmallow giant with a necklace of sugary rings, combed and braided by the resonant forces of a dozen glazed and candied moons. We were crossing the ecliptic, so the rings were slowly tilting to a steeper angle, revealing more of their loveliness. There was no doubt that it was one of the most glorious worlds I had ever seen, and I had seen quite a few.

Source: House of Suns

Author: Alastair Reynolds

#sciencefiction #space

Not just Hitler personally but also the Nazi...

Not just Hitler personally but also the Nazi movement in general had always held the letter of the law and the institutions of the state in contempt. From the very beginning, they had operated extra-legally, and this continued even after they had abandoned the idea of a direct putsch as the way to power. For the Nazis, the bullet and the ballot-box were complementary tools of power, not alternatives. Votes and elections were treated cynically as instruments of formal political legitimation; the will of the people was expressed not through the free articulation of public opinion, but through the person of Hitler and the Nazi movement’s incorporation of the historical destiny of the Germans, even if the Germans themselves disagreed with this. Moreover, widely accepted legal norms such as the notion that people should not commit murder or acts of violence, destruction and theft, were disregarded from the outset by the Nazis because they believed that history and the interests of the German (‘Aryan’) race justified extreme measures in the crisis that followed Germany’s defeat in the war.

Source: The Third Reich in Power

#fascism #history

No longer is the science like that. Between...

No longer is the science like that. Between my two spells as Editor of Nature, in 1966–’73 and 1980–’95, the most striking change was the huge increase in competitiveness. In the old days, people would occasionally telephone to say they were sending a paper and to hope that we’d give it a fair wind; by 1980, authors would call to ask whether their manuscript had arrived, whether it had been sent to referees, why we had declined to publish it and why it was Nature’s consistent practice to rely on referees whose intelligence was below par, whose judgment had been warped by self-interest, whose charitable instincts had been blunted by cynicism and whose parentage must even be in doubt. My colleagues and I could never understand why authors did not appreciate an argument that seemed to us undeniable, that a top-class journal could remain so only by being selective. But these endless telephone conversations from 1980 onwards were a telling sign that good manners had ceased to matter.

Source: The Eighth Day of Creation

#sciencehistory #molecularbiology

The past is complicated, and the people in...

The past is complicated, and the people in the past were complicated as well. I have frequently observed that the people who tell us not to impose present-day judgments on the past are unaware that many of these same judgments were made in the past as well.

Author: http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2020/06/09/what-journalists-should-know-about-the-atomic-bombings/

#nuclearhistory #ethics

During the last quarter of the nineteenth-century, train...

During the last quarter of the nineteenth-century, train travel was increasingly common but still risky, and accidents were not rare. Passengers injured in such accidents often demanded compensation from the railroad companies for their debilitating symptoms: back pain, trembling, exhaustion, numb extremities, headache, anxiety, insomnia, and memory defects. So common was this package of complaints that it became the basis of a new syndrome known as “railway spine” or (sometimes) “railway brain.”

Source: The Mind Fixers

#psychiatry #history

To me, this mostly tracks with what 538...

To me, this mostly tracks with what 538 has said on record about how their model works and the design philosophy behind parts of it. To me, what Nate means when he says "directionally the right approach in terms of our model's takeaways" is that these sorts of wild and unintuitive outcomes are part of the point of the way the model is constructed.

Specifically, that when you get off into the weird situations like Trump winning Washington state, it's likely something incredibly weird has happened - something that likely has no historical precedent, so it may actually be a more sane thing to do to assume that now almost everything is backwards and Biden would win a bunch of states he shouldn't either.

To me, this points to a general willingness in the 538 model to just go "who knows" and build in some room for insane things to happen on the fringes. The Friday podcast episode about the 538 model specifically mentions that they have large/fat tails on their distribution that make it nearly impossible for someone to get over 95% chances of winning on a national level, and these sorts of wild results seem like the outcome of that. If you bake in an assumption that there's always a 5% chance of something crazy happening, that chance has to come from something in the data somewhere that reflects the ability of that to happen numerically, and thus will have numerical outcomes that seem impossible.

Source: HackerNews

Author: Noirbot

Link: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24887323

#technology #internet

When quietly walking along the shady pathways, and...

When quietly walking along the shady pathways, and admiring each successive view, I wished to find language to express my ideas. Epithet after epithet was found too weak to convey to those who have not visited the intertropical regions, the sensation of delight which the mind experiences. I have said that the plants in a hothouse fail to communicate a just idea of the vegetation, yet I must recur to it. The land is one great wild, untidy, luxuriant hothouse, made by Nature for herself, but taken possession of by man, who has studded it with gay houses and formal gardens. How great would be the desire in every admirer of nature to behold, if such were possible, the scenery of another planet! yet to every person in Europe, it may be truly said, that at the distance of only a few degrees from his native soil, the glories of another world are opened to him. In my last walk I stopped again and again to gaze on these beauties, and endeavoured to fix in my mind for ever, an impression which at the time I knew sooner or later must fail. The form of the orange-tree, the cocoa-nut, the palm, the mango, the tree-fern, the banana, will remain clear and separate; but the thousand beauties which unite these into one perfect scene must fade away: yet they will leave, like a tale heard in childhood, a picture full of indistinct, but most beautiful figures.

Source: Voyage of the Beagle

Author: Charles Darwin

#naturalhistory #exploration

When we arrived at the head of the...

When we arrived at the head of the lagoon, we crossed a narrow islet, and found a great surf breaking on the windward coast. I can hardly explain the reason, but there is to my mind much grandeur in the view of the outer shores of these lagoon-islands. There is a simplicity in the barrier-like beach, the margin of green bushes and tall cocoa-nuts, the solid flat of dead coral-rock, strewed here and there with great loose fragments, and the line of furious breakers, all rounding away towards either hand. The ocean throwing its waters over the broad reef appears an invincible, all-powerful enemy; yet we see it resisted, and even conquered, by means which at first seem most weak and inefficient. It is not that the ocean spares the rock of coral; the great fragments scattered over the reef, and heaped on the beach, whence the tall cocoa-nut springs, plainly bespeak the unrelenting power of the waves. Nor are any periods of repose granted. The long swell caused by the gentle but steady action of the trade-wind, always blowing in one direction over a wide area, causes breakers, almost equalling in force those during a gale of wind in the temperate regions, and which never cease to rage. It is impossible to behold these waves without feeling a conviction that an island, though built of the hardest rock, let it be porphyry, granite, or quartz, would ultimately yield and be demolished by such an irresistible power. Yet these low, insignificant coral-islets stand and are victorious: for here another power, as an antagonist, takes part in the contest. The organic forces separate the atoms of carbonate of lime, one by one, from the foaming breakers, and unite them into a symmetrical structure. Let the hurricane tear up its thousand huge fragments; yet what will that tell against the accumulated labour of myriads of architects at work night and day, month after month? Thus do we see the soft and gelatinous body of a polypus, through the agency of the vital laws, conquering the great mechanical power of the waves of an ocean which neither the art of man nor the inanimate works of nature could successfully resist.

Source: Voyage of the Beagle

Author: Charles Darwin

#naturalhistory #exploration

Besides the several evident causes of destruction, there...

Besides the several evident causes of destruction, there appears to be some more mysterious agency generally at work. Wherever the European has trod, death seems to pursue the aboriginal. We may look to the wide extent of the Americas, Polynesia, the Cape of Good Hope, and Australia, and we find the same result. Nor is it the white man alone that thus acts the destroyer; the Polynesian of Malay extraction has in parts of the East Indian archipelago, thus driven before him the dark-coloured native. The varieties of man seem to act on each other in the same way as different species of animals—the stronger always extirpating the weaker. It was melancholy at New Zealand to hear the fine energetic natives saying that they knew the land was doomed to pass from their children. Every one has heard of the inexplicable reduction of the population in the beautiful and healthy island of Tahiti since the date of Captain Cook’s voyages: although in that case we might have expected that it would have been increased; for infanticide, which formerly prevailed to so extraordinary a degree, has ceased; profligacy has greatly diminished, and the murderous wars become less frequent.

Source: Voyage of the Beagle

Author: Charles Darwin

#naturalhistory #exploration

So I looked with fascination at those people...

So I looked with fascination at those people in their mobes, and tried to fathom what it would be like. Thousands of years ago, the work that people did had been broken down into jobs that were the same every day, in organizations where people were interchangeable parts. All of the story had been bled out of their lives. That was how it had to be; it was how you got a productive economy. But it would be easy to see a will at work behind this: not exactly an evil will, but a selfish will. The people who’d made the system thus were jealous, not of money and not of power but of story. If their employees came home at day’s end with interesting stories to tell, it meant that something had gone wrong: a blackout, a strike, a spree killing. The Powers That Be would not suffer others to be in stories of their own unless they were fake stories that had been made up to motivate them. People who couldn’t live without story had been driven into the concents or into jobs like Yul’s. All others had to look somewhere outside of work for a feeling that they were part of a story, which I guessed was why Sæculars were so concerned with sports, and with religion. How else could you see yourself as part of an adventure? Something with a beginning, middle, and end in which you played a significant part? We avout had it ready-made because we were a part of this project of learning new things. Even if it didn’t always move fast enough for people like Jesry, it did move. You could tell where you were and what you were doing in that story. Yul got all of this for free by living his stories from day to day, and the only drawback was that the world held his stories to be of small account. Perhaps that was why he felt such a compulsion to tell them, not just about his own exploits in the wilderness, but those of his mentors.

Source: Anathem

#fiction #philosophy

Accustomed to look at maps drawn on a...

Accustomed to look at maps drawn on a small scale, where dots, shading, and names are crowded together, we do not rightly judge how infinitely small the proportion of dry land is to water of this vast expanse. The meridian of the Antipodes has likewise been passed; and now every league, it made us happy to think, was one league nearer to England. These Antipodes call to one’s mind old recollections of childish doubt and wonder. Only the other day I looked forward to this airy barrier as a definite point in our voyage homewards; but now I find it, and all such resting-places for the imagination, are like shadows, which a man moving onwards cannot catch.

Source: Voyage of the Beagle

Author: Charles Darwin

#naturalhistory #exploration

Systems 1 and 2 are both active whenever...

Systems 1 and 2 are both active whenever we are awake. System 1 runs automatically and System 2 is normally in a comfortable low-effort mode, in which only a fraction of its capacity is engaged. System 1 continuously generates suggestions for System 2: impressions, intuitions, intentions, and feelings. If endorsed by System 2, impressions and intuitions turn into beliefs, and impulses turn into voluntary actions. When all goes smoothly, which is most of the time, System 2 adopts the suggestions of System 1 with little or no modification. You generally believe your impressions and act on your desires, and that is fine—usually.

Source: Thinking fast and slow

#psychology #decisionmaking

Part 5 describes recent research that has introduced...

Part 5 describes recent research that has introduced a distinction between two selves, the experiencing self and the remembering self, which do not have the same interests. For example, we can expose people to two painful experiences. One of these experiences is strictly worse than the other, because it is longer. But the automatic formation of memories—a feature of System 1—has its rules, which we can exploit so that the worse episode leaves a better memory. When people later choose which episode to repeat, they are, naturally, guided by their remembering self and expose themselves (their experiencing self) to unnecessary pain. The distinction between two selves is applied to the measurement of well-being, where we find again that what makes the experiencing self happy is not quite the same as what satisfies the remembering self. How two selves within a single body can pursue happiness raises some difficult questions, both for individuals and for societies that view the well-being of the population as a policy objective.

Source: Thinking fast and slow

#psychology #decisionmaking

These men, excepting from accidents, are healthy, and...

Darwin speaking about miners called “apires”

These men, excepting from accidents, are healthy, and appear cheerful. Their bodies are not very muscular. They rarely eat meat once a week, and never oftener, and then only the hard dry charqui. Although with a knowledge that the labour was voluntary, it was nevertheless quite revolting to see the state in which they reached the mouth of the mine; their bodies bent forward, leaning with their arms on the steps, their legs bowed, their muscles quivering, the perspiration streaming from their faces over their breasts, their nostrils distended, the corners of their mouth forcibly drawn back, and the expulsion of their breath most laborious. Each time they draw their breath, they utter an articulate cry of “ay-ay,” which ends in a sound rising from deep in the chest, but shrill like the note of a fife. After staggering to the pile of ore, they emptied the “carpacho;” in two or three seconds recovering their breath, they wiped the sweat from their brows, and apparently quite fresh descended the mine again at a quick pace. This appears to me a wonderful instance of the amount of labour which habit, for it can be nothing else, will enable a man to endure.

Source: Voyage of the Beagle

Author: Charles Darwin

#naturalhistory #exploration

The disjunction between scientific consensus and public opinion...

The disjunction between scientific consensus and public opinion on the topic of GMOs is disturbing, to say the least. I see it as partly a reflection of the breakdown in communication between scientists and the public at large. Already in my relatively short time working on CRISPR, I’ve discovered how challenging it can be to maintain a constructive, open dialogue between these two worlds—but also how necessary that kind of communication is for the advancement of scientific discoveries.

Source: A crack in creation, Jennifer Doudna

Author: Jennifer Doudna

#genetics #bioethics

It is not possible for the mind to...

It is not possible for the mind to comprehend, except by a slow process, any effect which is produced by a cause repeated so often, that the multiplier itself conveys an idea, not more definite than the savage implies when he points to the hairs of his head. As often as I have seen beds of mud, sand, and shingle, accumulated to the thickness of many thousand feet, I have felt inclined to exclaim that causes, such as the present rivers and the present beaches, could never have ground down and produced such masses. But, on the other hand, when listening to the rattling noise of these torrents, and calling to mind that whole races of animals have passed away from the face of the earth, and that during this whole period, night and day, these stones have gone rattling onwards in their course, I have thought to myself, can any mountains, any continent, withstand such waste?

Source: Voyage of the Beagle

Author: Charles Darwin

#naturalhistory #exploration

"In the real world, the right thing never...

"In the real world, the right thing never happens in the right place and the right time. It is the job of journalists and historians to make it appear that it has."

Author: Mark Twain

#humor #history

The first reported attempts came in the late...

The first reported attempts came in the late 1960s from Stanfield Rogers, an American physician who had been studying a wart-causing virus in rabbits, Shope papillomavirus. Rogers was particularly interested in one aspect of the Shope virus: It caused rabbits to overproduce arginase, an enzyme their bodies used to neutralize arginine, a harmful amino acid. The sick rabbits had much more arginase in their systems, and much less arginine, than healthy rabbits. What’s more, Rogers found that researchers who had worked with the virus also had lower-than-normal levels of arginine in their blood. Apparently these scientists had contracted the infections from the rabbits, and these infections had led to lasting changes in the researchers’ bodies as well.

Source: A crack in creation

Author: Jennifer Doudna

#genetics #bioethics

Because much of what ecologists do is cheap...

Because much of what ecologists do is cheap and as likely to involve a bucket of mud as a fancy machine, to ecologists a lab is often a group of people who might share some physical space but who more often have fanned out across the world. My lab is a group of brains connected by a common set of quests. My lab is a group of people dedicated to beautiful new discoveries and to engaging the public in those discoveries.

Source: never home alone

#ecology #microbiology

the biodiversity of your body and home is,...

the biodiversity of your body and home is, indeed, a kind of record of your life, much as the bacteria on the bakers’ hands are a measure of how much time they spend baking. I’ll note here that once the bakers found out that some among them had hands covered in starter bacteria, each one wanted to know who had the most. Who, among them, had lived the life most fully submerged in bread?

Source: never home alone

#ecology #microbiology

Australianisms appeared in Kendall’s poetry—he called the dingo...

Australianisms appeared in Kendall’s poetry—he called the dingo the warragul, a common coastal usage at the time. The kookaburra he called ‘the settlers’ clock’. He was particularly annoyed by the non-Currency belief that Australian birds had no song. The magpie certainly did, and the bellbird, and with colonial pride he pushed them in his writing. He possessed a sense of care for nature—he complained that the loss of many native species of birds was due to the extinction of Aboriginal hunters in many areas, which had led to a glut in the population of the huge lizard named the goanna, an eating delicacy which the Aboriginals had kept in check.

Source: Australians vol i

#australianhistory #colonialism

The freed Canadians were impressed as other visitors...

The freed Canadians were impressed as other visitors were, by the amount of drinking in the colony, particularly Lepailleur. Mrs Stone, the wife of one of his employers, was a pretty woman but she drank as much as a man, and was rapidly becoming deranged and dishevelled. Hippolite Lactôt found ‘Intemperance was de rigueur; sobriety the exception, amongst women as it was for men.’ Once a woman convict, intoxicated and just released from the Female Factory, stood in the middle of Parramatta Road screaming drunken curses outside the house of another ex-convict woman. When a Patriote sent a police guard to protect her, she turned her back, ‘lifted up her clothes and showed . . . her bum, saying that she had a “black hole” and slapping her belly like the wretch she was’. The Canadians were utterly unaccustomed to such drunkenness and displays of crudeness in women.

Source: Australians vol i

#australianhistory #colonialism

‘Nyet – no, sorry. Am apologize for we...

‘Nyet – no, sorry. Am apologize for we not use commercial translation software. Interpreters are ideologically suspect, mostly have capitalist semiotics and pay-per-use APIs. Must implement English more better, yes?’

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=77

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

Europe has achieved peaceful political union for the...

Europe has achieved peaceful political union for the first time ever: They’re using this unprecedented state of affairs to harmonize the curvature of bananas.

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=144

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

The shower tries to strike up a friendly...

The shower tries to strike up a friendly conversation about football, but he isn’t even awake enough to mess with its silly little associative personalization network.

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=262

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

Would you be happy about the future if...

Would you be happy about the future if it was 1901 and you’d just married a buggy-whip mogul?’

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=326

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

Shut up, he glyphs at his unruly herd...

Shut up, he glyphs at his unruly herd of agents, I can’t even hear myself think!

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=624

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

The metacortex – a distributed cloud of software...

The metacortex – a distributed cloud of software agents that surrounds him in netspace, borrowing CPU cycles from convenient processors (such as his robot pet) – is as much a part of Manfred as the society of mind that occupies his skull; his thoughts migrate into it, spawning new agents to research new experiences, and at night, they return to roost and share their knowledge.

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=669

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

‘Then what could be up with him? His...

‘Then what could be up with him? His voicemail is trying to cover for him. It is good, but it does not lie convincingly.’

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=1335

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

Some of the agents in his glasses are...

Some of the agents in his glasses are wondering if elocution lessons are the answer, others aren’t so optimistic.

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=1483

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

McMurphy’s is a fake Irish pub, a stone...

McMurphy’s is a fake Irish pub, a stone grotto installed beneath a mound of blank-faced offices. It was once a real Irish pub before the developers got their hands on it and mutated it in rapid succession into a punk nightclub, a wine bar, and a fake Dutch coffee shop; after which, as burned-out as any star, it left the main sequence.

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=1595

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

He can’t spin off threads to explore his...

He can’t spin off threads to explore his designs for feasibility and report back to him. It’s like someone has stripped fifty points off his IQ; his brain feels like a surgical scalpel that’s been used to cut down trees. A decaying mind is a terrible thing to be trapped inside. Manfred wants out, and he wants out bad – but he’s too afraid to let on.

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=1680

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

It’s crude moral blackmail, transparent as glass and...

It’s crude moral blackmail, transparent as glass and manipulative as hell, but Amber’s corpus logica flags it with a heavy emotional sprite miming the likelihood of physical discipline if she rises to the bait. Mom is agitated, nostrils slightly flared, ventilation rate up, some vasodilatation visible in her cheeks. Amber – in combination with her skullset and the metacortex of distributed agents it supports – is mature enough at eight years to model, anticipate, and avoid corporal punishment. But her stature and lack of physical maturity conspire to put her at a disadvantage when negotiating with adults who matured in a simpler age. She sighs, then puts on a pout to let Mom know she’s still reluctant, but obedient. ‘O-kay. If you say so.’

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=2028

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

‘Don’t be vile.’ Amber scans the READ ME...

‘Don’t be vile.’ Amber scans the READ ME quickly. Corporate instruments are strong magic, according to Daddy, and this one is exotic by any standards – a limited company established in Yemen, contorted by the intersection between shari’a and the global legislatosaurus. Understanding it isn’t easy, even with a personal net full of subsapient agents that have full access to whole libraries of international trade law – the bottleneck is comprehension. Amber finds the documents highly puzzling.

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=2173

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

Yemen is one of the few countries to...

Yemen is one of the few countries to implement traditional Sunni shari’a law and a limited liability company scam at the same time. Owning slaves is legal – the fiction is that the owner has an option hedged on the indentured laborer’s future output, with interest payments that grow faster than the unfortunate victim can pay them off – and companies are legal entities.

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=2187

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

They’d cramp your style, kid. You shouldn’t have...

They’d cramp your style, kid. You shouldn’t have to put up with parents who have more of a life than you do.’

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=2206

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

‘Sorry.’ She spawns an autonomic thread with full...

‘Sorry.’ She spawns an autonomic thread with full parasympathetic nervous control, tells it to calm her down, then spawns a couple more to go forth and become fuqaha, expert on shari’a law. She realizes she’s buying up way too much of the orphanage’s scarce bandwidth – time that will have to be paid for in chores, later – but it’s necessary. ‘Mom’s gone too far. This time it’s war.’

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=2268

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

The Taming of the Shrew.

The Taming of the Shrew.

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=2363

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

The Tuileries are full of confused lobsters.

The Tuileries are full of confused lobsters.

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=3249

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

A type-one weakly superhuman entity,

A type-one weakly superhuman entity,

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=3315

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

From outside the Accelerated civilization, it isn’t really...

From outside the Accelerated civilization, it isn’t really possible to know what’s going on inside. The problem is bandwidth: While it’s possible to send data in and get data out, the sheer amount of computation going on in the virtual spaces of the Acceleration dwarfs any external observer.

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=3628

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

‘There is a runaway semiotic excursion under way...

‘There is a runaway semiotic excursion under way in the zone.

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=3789

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

She feels blind and unsure, stripped of her...

She feels blind and unsure, stripped of her ability to spawn threads of herself to pursue complex inferences.

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=3801

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

She glances at Aineko, who sprawls on the...

She glances at Aineko, who sprawls on the flagstones, snoozing or whatever it is that weakly superhuman AIs do when they’re emulating a sleeping cat.

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=4151

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

‘The civilization isn’t for sale,’ Pierre says slowly....

‘The civilization isn’t for sale,’ Pierre says slowly. The translation interface shimmers, storing up his words and transforming them into a different deep grammar, not merely translating his syntax but mapping equivalent meanings where necessary. ‘But we can give you privileged observer status if that’s what you want. And we know what you are. If you’re interested in finding a new exchange to be traded on, your existing intellectual property assets will be worth rather more there than here.’

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=4212

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

‘Individuality is an unnecessary barrier to information transfer,’...

‘Individuality is an unnecessary barrier to information transfer,’ says the ghost, morphing into its original form, a translucent reflection of her own body. ‘It reduces the efficiency of a capitalist economy.

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=4290

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

‘Well.’ She yawns, then sits up and snaps...

‘Well.’ She yawns, then sits up and snaps her finger imperiously. Down-stuffed pillows appear behind her back, and a silver salver bearing two full glasses of wine materializes between them. ‘Corporations are life-forms back home, too, aren’t they? And we trade them. We give our AIs corporations to make them legal entities, but the analogy goes deeper. Look at any company headquarters, fitted out with works of art and expensive furniture and staff bowing and scraping everywhere—’ ‘—They’re the new aristocracy. Right?’ ‘Wrong. When they take over, what you get is more like the new biosphere. Hell, the new primordial soup: prokaryotes, bacteria, and algae, mindlessly swarming, trading money for plasmids.’ The Queen passes her consort a wineglass. When he drinks from it, it refills miraculously. ‘Basically, sufficiently complex resource-allocation algorithms reallocate scarce resources … and if you don’t jump to get out of their way, they’ll reallocate you. I think that’s what happened inside the Matrioshka brain we ended up in. Judging by the Slug, it happens elsewhere, too. You’ve got to wonder where the builders of that structure came from. And where they went. And whether they realized that the destiny of intelligent tool-using life was to be a stepping-stone in the evolution of corporate instruments.’

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=4342

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

(The flying city, despite being the product of...

(The flying city, despite being the product of an advanced technology almost unimaginable two decades before, is full of bugs – software complexity and scaling laws ensured that the preceding decades of change acted as a kind of cosmological inflationary period for design glitches, and an infestation of passenger pigeons is by no means the most inexplicable problem this biosphere harbors.)

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=4397

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

Actually, the Slug is a surgical disguise. Both...

Actually, the Slug is a surgical disguise. Both it and the quasifungal ecosystem have been extinct for millions of years, existing only as cheap stage props in an interstellar medicine show run by rogue financial instruments. The Slug itself is one such self-aware scam, probably a pyramid scheme or even an entire compressed junk bond market in heavy recession, trying to hide from its creditors by masquerading as a life-form.

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=4774

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

‘They’ll eat you alive down there. Your other...

‘They’ll eat you alive down there. Your other half left behind substantial debts, and they’ve been bought up by the most predatory—’ ‘Runaway corporate instruments,’ she states, calmly enough. ‘Fully sentient and self-directed.’

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=5145

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

‘You might enjoy the egg mayonnaise, too,’ Sirhan...

‘You might enjoy the egg mayonnaise, too,’ Sirhan hears himself saying. ‘It goes a long way to explaining why the dodo became extinct first time around.’

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=5173

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

‘Early upload entrepreneurs forked repeatedly, discovered they could...

‘Early upload entrepreneurs forked repeatedly, discovered they could scale linearly to occupy processor capacity proportional to the mass of computronium available, and that computationally trivial tasks became tractable. They could also run faster, or slower, than real time. But they were still human, and unable to operate effectively outside human constraints. Take a human being and bolt on extensions that let them take full advantage of Economics 2.0, and you essentially break their narrative chain of consciousness, replacing it with a journal file of bid/request transactions between various agents; it’s incredibly efficient and flexible, but it isn’t a conscious human being in any recognizable sense of the word.’

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=5187

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

“Mind children” the extropians called the posthumans, but...

“Mind children” the extropians called the posthumans, but they were more like Vile Offspring.

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=5201

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

The end result we found is a howling...

The end result we found is a howling wilderness of degenerate data, fractally compressed, postconscious processes running slower and slower as they trade storage space for processing power.

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=5215

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

weakly godlike intelligences.

weakly godlike intelligences.

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=5646

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

A weakly godlike intelligence is not a supernatural...

A weakly godlike intelligence is not a supernatural agency but the product of a highly advanced society that learned how to artificially create souls [late twentieth century: software] and translate human minds into souls and vice versa. [Core concepts: Human beings all have souls. Souls are software objects. Software is not immortal.]

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=5647

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

applied theological engineering [see: God bothering].

applied theological engineering [see: God bothering].

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=5689

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

Sirhan’s attention is, however, elsewhere. The various fragments...

Sirhan’s attention is, however, elsewhere. The various fragments of his mind are conducting three simultaneous interviews with philosophers (‘whereof we cannot speak, thereof we must be silent’ in spades), controlling two bots that are overhauling the museum plumbing and air-recycling system, and he’s busy discussing observations of the alien artifact orbiting the brown dwarf Hyundai with Aineko. What’s left of him exhibits about as much social presence as a pickled cabbage.

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=5773

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

Manfred used to be a flock of pigeons...

Manfred used to be a flock of pigeons – literally, his exocortex dispersed among a passel of bird brains, pecking at brightly colored facts, shitting semidigested conclusions. Being human again feels inexplicably odd, even without the added distractions of his sex drive, which he has switched off until he gets used to being unitary again. Not only does he get shooting pains in his neck whenever he tries to look over his left shoulder with his right eye, but he’s lost the habit of spawning exocortical agents to go interrogate a database or bush robot or something, then report back to him. Instead he keeps trying to fly off in all directions at once, which usually ends with him falling over.

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=5968

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

But it doesn’t take him long to figure...

But it doesn’t take him long to figure out how to ask the assembler to make him a pair of pants and a plain black vest, and to discover that as long as he keeps his requests simple the results are free – just like back home on Saturn. The spaceborn polities are kind to indigents, for the basic requirements of life are cheap, and to withhold them would be tantamount to homicide.

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=6618

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

Manni’s primary adult ghost lives in some of...

Manni’s primary adult ghost lives in some of New Japan’s virtual mindspaces (which are a few billion times more extensive than the physical spaces available to stubborn biologicals, for the computational density of human habitats have long since ceased to make much sense when measured in MIPS per kilogram). They’re modeled on presingularity Earth. Time is forever frozen on the eve of the real twenty-first century, zero eight-forty-six hours on September 11: An onrushing wide-body airliner hangs motionless in the air forty meters below the picture window of Manni’s penthouse apartment on the one hundred and eighth floor of the North Tower. In historical reality, the one hundred and eighth floor was occupied by corporate offices; but the mind-space is a consensual fiction, and it is Manni’s conceit to live at this pivotal point. (Not that it means much to him – he was born well over a century after the War on Terror – but it’s part of his childhood folklore, the fall of the Two Towers that shattered the myth of Western exceptionalism and paved the way for the world he was born into.)

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=6679

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

‘Resynchronize me with my primary,’ he says. A...

‘Resynchronize me with my primary,’ he says. A fraction of a second later, the floor of the penthouse bucks and quakes wildly and fire alarms begin to shriek as time comes to an end and the frozen airliner completes its journey. But Manni isn’t there anymore. And if a skyscraper falls in a simulation with nobody to see it, has anything actually happened?

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=6724

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

Sirhan waves a hand vaguely at the cat....

Sirhan waves a hand vaguely at the cat. ‘Please wait.’ He’s trying to integrate his false memories – the output from the ghosts, their thinking finished – and his eyes narrow suspiciously.

Source: Accelerando

Author: Charles Stross

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00486U2RS&location=6761

#sciencefiction #technology #Accelerando #CharlesStross

The goal of studying breastfeeding is to see...

The goal of studying breastfeeding is to see if children who are breastfed are different later in life—​healthier, smarter—​than those who are not. The basic problem is that most people do not choose to breastfeed at random. In fact, people think carefully about this choice, and the kind of people who choose to do it are different from those who do not. When we look at recent data from the US, breastfeeding is more common among women with more education and higher income.

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=166

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

Figuring out the range of normal newborn weight...

Figuring out the range of normal newborn weight loss requires data that, until recently, hasn’t been that easy to come by. In 2015, however, a set of authors published a really nice paper in the journal Pediatrics that used data from hospital records on 160,000 births to graph out the weight loss among breastfed infants in the hours after birth.

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=465

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

The primary sign of jaundice is that your...

The primary sign of jaundice is that your baby’s skin will turn yellow (this might also look more orange). The fact that your baby is yellow, however, doesn’t necessarily mean they need treatment, and color on its own is not diagnostic. At Penelope’s four-day visit, our pediatrician, Dr. Li, told us, “People will tell you she is yellow. Just ignore them.”

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=520

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

When the nurses take your baby away at...

When the nurses take your baby away at the hospital, it will invariably be returned tightly packed in a little blanket, swaddled up like a burrito. The hospital-grade swaddle is a baby straitjacket. No baby can escape it.

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=606

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

Infantile colic isn’t a biological diagnosis like strep...

Infantile colic isn’t a biological diagnosis like strep throat, but a label we give to babies who cry a lot for no identifiable reason. A common definition of colic (although not the only one) is the rule of three: unexplained crying for more than three hours a day for more than three days a week for more than three weeks.

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=662

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

In contrast, if your two-week-old has even a...

In contrast, if your two-week-old has even a low fever, you’ll need to take them to the hospital, where they’ll be subjected to lab tests—​likely including a lumbar puncture (spinal tap)—​given antibiotics, and admitted as an inpatient. With very young babies, doctors have a harder time distinguishing between high- and low-risk fevers.

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=753

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

The big downside of being exposed to germs—​or...

The big downside of being exposed to germs—​or specifically, to sick kids—​during these early weeks is the possibility of setting off this chain of interventions. If your infant does get sick, these procedures make sense, but if they just caught a cold from being pawed by a germy two-year-old, you’ll be doing a lot of interventions for no reason. It’s therefore better to keep the germy two-year-old away from the newborn, if at all possible.

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=766

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

After the baby, you’re a lactation-oriented baby accessory.

After the baby, you’re a lactation-oriented baby accessory.

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=789

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

There is some evidence that warm compresses on...

There is some evidence that warm compresses on the perineum during the pushing stage of labor can prevent very severe tears.

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=809

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

In fact, this is completely fabricated. There is...

In fact, this is completely fabricated. There is no set waiting period for resuming sex after giving birth. The six-week rule appears to have been invented by doctors so husbands wouldn’t ask for sex. This somewhat odd tradition persists. When I had my first postpartum checkup around six weeks after having Finn, the doctor (not my midwife, but the doctor who happened to be available that day) told me I was fine, and then asked if I wanted him to write me a note to tell my husband I was not. I found this very uncomfortable.

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=907

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

“encouragement design”:

“encouragement design”:

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=1180

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

Despite the warnings, there is simply no evidence...

Despite the warnings, there is simply no evidence that the use of pacifiers impacts breastfeeding success.

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=1569

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

The authors then do something clever, which is...

The authors then do something clever, which is to compare breastfeeding rates at three months for moms who chose to use a pacifier versus not, without using the randomization. Basically, they treat the data as if they didn’t have a randomized trial at all, and just saw breastfeeding and pacifier-use rates for mothers. The results from this analysis are in the second set of bars in the graph below. Here we see that moms who use a pacifier are less likely to be breastfeeding at three months. The researchers’ conclusion—​comparing the two sets of results—​is that some other factor causes both the pacifier use and the early cessation of breastfeeding. For example, given the rhetoric around pacifiers, it is easy to believe that women who choose to use pacifiers may have a less intense desire to breastfeed.

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=1576

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

Even better, it’s in alphabetical order, so you...

Even better, it’s in alphabetical order, so you get a discussion of caesarean section followed immediately by a section on competitive sports.

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=1596

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

A biological mechanism links the frequency of feeding...

A biological mechanism links the frequency of feeding to milk supply. The system is designed to have a feedback loop where you produce more milk when the baby needs more. The existence of this loop is why, for example, people who are looking to increase their supply will sometimes pump after feedings to trick the body into thinking demand is greater than it is.

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=1603

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

Almost a quarter of women have milk production...

Almost a quarter of women have milk production delayed beyond three days. This is even higher—​about 35 percent—​for first-time mothers.

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=1613

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

Let’s start with the food part. The only...

Let’s start with the food part. The only food women are medically advised to avoid during breastfeeding is high-mercury fish.

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=1662

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

This changed in the early 1990s with the...

This changed in the early 1990s with the release of a series of studies showing more directly that stomach sleeping was associated with a dramatically elevated risk of SIDS.

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=1825

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

The trouble is, they do not agree. Ferber,...

The trouble is, they do not agree. Ferber, for instance, says that at six months, a baby should sleep a total of about 13 hours: 9.25 hours at night, and two 1- to 2-hour naps. Weissbluth suggests this same six-month-old should sleep a total of about 14 hours, but with more of those hours falling at night: 12 hours at night, and two 1‑hour naps. This is a 3‑hour difference in the suggested nighttime sleep.

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=2034

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

This particular study found that, in fact, infant...

This particular study found that, in fact, infant security and attachment seemed to increase after the “cry it out” intervention.

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=2719

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

This study is not alone. A 2006 review...

This study is not alone. A 2006 review of sleep-training studies, which included thirteen different interventions, noted the following: “Adverse secondary effects as the result of participating in behaviorally based sleep programs were not identified in any of the studies. On the contrary, infants who participated in sleep interventions were found to be more secure, predictable, less irritable, and to cry and fuss less following treatment.”

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=2722

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

It is not an exaggeration to say this...

It is not an exaggeration to say this advice has made things worse and, indeed, may be largely responsible for the increase in peanut allergies over the past twenty years. The fact that your kid has to bring SunButter to school? That may well be the fault of bad public health advice.

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=2889

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

Peanut timing is not the only recommendation that...

Peanut timing is not the only recommendation that you’ll hear about food. The American Academy of Pediatrics (among other sources) has whole websites devoted to transitioning your child to eating solid foods. For the most part, there is little real evidence behind these recommendations.

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=2894

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

And there is some reasoning behind this approach....

And there is some reasoning behind this approach. Before four months, your baby is unlikely to be able to eat solid food—​the skill is fundamentally different from nursing or drinking from a bottle—​and there is no reason to give them anything other than breast milk. There is also a concern about filling their stomach with foods that, unlike breast milk and formula, do not give them the appropriate nutrients for their age. This gives you part of the timing recommendation.

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=2906

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

Baby-led weaning involves just giving your child the...

Baby-led weaning involves just giving your child the food you are eating. This seemed great! I was already producing that food. I was all for signing up for an easier approach that preserved my closet space.

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=2928

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

most kids become more picky around two and...

most kids become more picky around two and then slowly grow out of it in their elementary school years.

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=2990

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

none of us is especially good at reporting...

none of us is especially good at reporting our actual behavior. The primary finding relates to how parents talk about the new food. Kids are more likely to try to eat it with what researchers call “autonomy-supportive prompts”—​things like “Try your hot dog” or “Prunes are like big raisins, so you might like them.” In contrast, they are less likely to try things if parents use “coercive-controlling prompts”—​things like “If you finish your pasta, you can have ice cream” or “If you won’t eat, I’m taking away your iPad!!”

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=3002

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

These studies also show that food refusals are...

These studies also show that food refusals are more common in families where parents offer an alternative. That is, if your kid doesn’t eat broccoli and then you offer him chicken nuggets instead, he may learn that this is always the reward for not eating new foods.

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=3007

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

And don’t use threats or rewards to coerce...

And don’t use threats or rewards to coerce them to eat.

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=3012

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

The vast majority of allergies result from eight...

The vast majority of allergies result from eight food types: milk, peanuts, eggs, soy, wheat, tree nuts, fish, and shellfish.

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=3022

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

you cannot force someone to poop.

you cannot force someone to poop.

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=3107

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

If you ask, “Does early walking predict walking?”...

If you ask, “Does early walking predict walking?” the answer will be, “No, everyone walks.”

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=3199

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

The Portable Pediatrician for Parents

The Portable Pediatrician for Parents

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=3221

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

in the current parenting climate, screen time has...

in the current parenting climate, screen time has expanded. Your kid can now watch TV on your phone or iPad, but also play games and apps and do all manner of other things. Is this type of screen time like TV? Should it be limited? We basically have no idea.

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=3341

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

Early additional food and fluids for healthy breastfed...

Early additional food and fluids for healthy breastfed full-term infants.

Source: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool (The ParentData Series)

Author: Emily Oster

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RT6YFWK&location=4266

#sciencefiction #technology #CribsheetADataDrivenGuidetoBetterMoreRelaxedParentingfromBirthtoPreschoolTheParentDataSeries #EmilyOster

Loyalty is dumb. Data is valuable. The real...

Loyalty is dumb. Data is valuable. The real genius of these programs is making people forget both of those things.

Source: How They Get You: Sneaky Everyday Economics and Smart Ways to Hold on to Your Money

Author: Chris Kohler

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0FNNGFD8Q&location=442

#sciencefiction #technology #HowTheyGetYouSneakyEverydayEconomicsandSmartWaystoHoldontoYourMoney #ChrisKohler

I still say the best loyalty programs are...

I still say the best loyalty programs are the ones where a coffee shop stamps your card and gives you your 10th coffee free. It’s an incentive to return without requiring the customer to hand over personal information.

Source: How They Get You: Sneaky Everyday Economics and Smart Ways to Hold on to Your Money

Author: Chris Kohler

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0FNNGFD8Q&location=517

#sciencefiction #technology #HowTheyGetYouSneakyEverydayEconomicsandSmartWaystoHoldontoYourMoney #ChrisKohler

Making a decision on your retirement savings based...

Making a decision on your retirement savings based on an ad campaign is like marrying someone who once wore an interesting hat. You’ve been bamboozled by a dork.

Source: How They Get You: Sneaky Everyday Economics and Smart Ways to Hold on to Your Money

Author: Chris Kohler

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0FNNGFD8Q&location=691

#sciencefiction #technology #HowTheyGetYouSneakyEverydayEconomicsandSmartWaystoHoldontoYourMoney #ChrisKohler

the government runs a superannuation comparison service called...

the government runs a superannuation comparison service called YourSuper Comparison

Source: How They Get You: Sneaky Everyday Economics and Smart Ways to Hold on to Your Money

Author: Chris Kohler

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0FNNGFD8Q&location=718

#sciencefiction #technology #HowTheyGetYouSneakyEverydayEconomicsandSmartWaystoHoldontoYourMoney #ChrisKohler

In Australia, the US and Canada you’re likely...

In Australia, the US and Canada you’re likely paying anywhere from $1 to $5 per gigabyte of data per month, but let’s have a look at an interesting case study in data: India. In India, you’re paying about $0.10 per gigabyte of data. Why? The reason is as simple as it is fascinating – a telecommunications company named Jio entered in 2016 and destroyed the marketplace. Jio offered data for free for six months to anyone who signed up. Completely unheard of. Within six months the company had 100 million users signed up and, instead of proceeding to charge the same as the competition once the six-month free period ended, it undercut them significantly on ongoing price.

Source: How They Get You: Sneaky Everyday Economics and Smart Ways to Hold on to Your Money

Author: Chris Kohler

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0FNNGFD8Q&location=1025

#sciencefiction #technology #HowTheyGetYouSneakyEverydayEconomicsandSmartWaystoHoldontoYourMoney #ChrisKohler

Behavioural psychologists call this the ‘mere exposure effect’...

Behavioural psychologists call this the ‘mere exposure effect’ or ‘familiarity principle’. It basically holds that people develop an acceptance, and even fondness, for something they’re shown over and over again.

Source: How They Get You: Sneaky Everyday Economics and Smart Ways to Hold on to Your Money

Author: Chris Kohler

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0FNNGFD8Q&location=1199

#sciencefiction #technology #HowTheyGetYouSneakyEverydayEconomicsandSmartWaystoHoldontoYourMoney #ChrisKohler

Words like ‘gambling’ or ‘betting’ are deliberately removed...

Words like ‘gambling’ or ‘betting’ are deliberately removed from the language. What you end up with is a ‘three-leg, same-game multi’ being spoken about as if it’s a risk-managed investment strategy.

Source: How They Get You: Sneaky Everyday Economics and Smart Ways to Hold on to Your Money

Author: Chris Kohler

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0FNNGFD8Q&location=1202

#sciencefiction #technology #HowTheyGetYouSneakyEverydayEconomicsandSmartWaystoHoldontoYourMoney #ChrisKohler

Everybody has to buy food, so if the...

Everybody has to buy food, so if the price of groceries goes up while leaving behind wages, it acts like a flat tax. Wealthy people might not notice much, because they have bigger discretionary budgets, but people with less spare cash will be floored by it.

Source: How They Get You: Sneaky Everyday Economics and Smart Ways to Hold on to Your Money

Author: Chris Kohler

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0FNNGFD8Q&location=1449

#sciencefiction #technology #HowTheyGetYouSneakyEverydayEconomicsandSmartWaystoHoldontoYourMoney #ChrisKohler

Aldi Australia CEO Anna McGrath sat down in...

Aldi Australia CEO Anna McGrath sat down in front of the senators, and journalists like me listening via web stream, and said this: ‘We offer such low prices by being a significantly less complex business than our competitors. Everything from our smaller stores, our limited product range and even the way that we serve our customers means our business is simpler to operate. These efficiencies lead to reducing our operating costs and this affords us the ability to maintain our low price position.’

Source: How They Get You: Sneaky Everyday Economics and Smart Ways to Hold on to Your Money

Author: Chris Kohler

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0FNNGFD8Q&location=1547

#sciencefiction #technology #HowTheyGetYouSneakyEverydayEconomicsandSmartWaystoHoldontoYourMoney #ChrisKohler

Supermodel Heidi Klum once took out a policy...

Supermodel Heidi Klum once took out a policy for her legs. They were ‘inspected’ – whatever that means – and deemed to be worth £1.5 million as a pair. Weirdly, one of the legs was worth slightly less than the other due to a small scar.

Source: How They Get You: Sneaky Everyday Economics and Smart Ways to Hold on to Your Money

Author: Chris Kohler

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0FNNGFD8Q&location=1850

#sciencefiction #technology #HowTheyGetYouSneakyEverydayEconomicsandSmartWaystoHoldontoYourMoney #ChrisKohler

‘contents reduction strategies’ or ‘downweighting’,

‘contents reduction strategies’ or ‘downweighting’,

Source: How They Get You: Sneaky Everyday Economics and Smart Ways to Hold on to Your Money

Author: Chris Kohler

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0FNNGFD8Q&location=2213

#sciencefiction #technology #HowTheyGetYouSneakyEverydayEconomicsandSmartWaystoHoldontoYourMoney #ChrisKohler

I actually had a friend whose parents bought...

I actually had a friend whose parents bought him the game he wanted and then placed it on top of the fridge. Like a motivational hostage. We thought this was cruel and unusual. Now I’m a parent, I consider it a masterstroke in delayed gratification and goal visualisation.

Source: How They Get You: Sneaky Everyday Economics and Smart Ways to Hold on to Your Money

Author: Chris Kohler

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0FNNGFD8Q&location=2808

#sciencefiction #technology #HowTheyGetYouSneakyEverydayEconomicsandSmartWaystoHoldontoYourMoney #ChrisKohler

Clearing land, while it allowed grass to grow,...

Clearing land, while it allowed grass to grow, did not always create better pasture. An anecdote from the other side of the continent might be helpful here. An early twentieth-century dairy farmer in the Hunter River district kept a farm diary, which his grandson found and inspected. His grandfather had kept meticulous records of his milk yield from the well-treed and shady pasture that his cows grazed. Later, his son, keen to have more pasture, felled the trees to gain more room for grass. His records revealed a decline in milk quantity. The grandson, in turn, when he inherited the farm, replanted shade-giving trees and his milk yield went back up to a level close to his grandfather’s records. He had understood what his grandfather had noticed, that where trees shaded pasture, there was more morning dew and hence more moist grass.

Source: Invisible Country: Southwest Australia: Understanding a Landscape

Author: Bill Bunbury

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0CBX3Z7K5&location=556

#sciencefiction #technology #InvisibleCountrySouthwestAustraliaUnderstandingaLandscape #BillBunbury

Discussing the flora, the wildflowers, of the region,...

Discussing the flora, the wildflowers, of the region, botanist Neville Marchant, makes this point. One thing we have to remember is that if the Aboriginal people have been here for forty, fifty, sixty or even seventy thousand years, that is nothing really in the long-term time-frame. WA and the south-west have been isolated from eastern Australia for 50 million years; a long time in isolation and you are looking at five, six or seven million years for the evolution of lots of our species. So the species evolved without that controlled burning effect of the Aboriginal people.

Source: Invisible Country: Southwest Australia: Understanding a Landscape

Author: Bill Bunbury

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0CBX3Z7K5&location=1105

#sciencefiction #technology #InvisibleCountrySouthwestAustraliaUnderstandingaLandscape #BillBunbury

the top five centimetres of soil contains 90...

the top five centimetres of soil contains 90 per cent of the seed of plants and all the associated helpful fungi and micro fauna that keep the flora community ticking over. And if you go down another five centimetres you’ve got all of 95 per cent of all that action.

Source: Invisible Country: Southwest Australia: Understanding a Landscape

Author: Bill Bunbury

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0CBX3Z7K5&location=1337

#sciencefiction #technology #InvisibleCountrySouthwestAustraliaUnderstandingaLandscape #BillBunbury

Salinity was the quiet sleeper in the early...

Salinity was the quiet sleeper in the early years of the ‘new land’ clearing. However, as David Pannell, Professor of Agriculture at the University of Western Australia,

Source: Invisible Country: Southwest Australia: Understanding a Landscape

Author: Bill Bunbury

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0CBX3Z7K5&location=1389

#sciencefiction #technology #InvisibleCountrySouthwestAustraliaUnderstandingaLandscape #BillBunbury

WA’s newly established (1971) Environmental Protection Authority, through...

WA’s newly established (1971) Environmental Protection Authority, through its Environment Protection Council, examined an application to mine low-grade coal in the central Fitzgerald Valley. A report after a 1972 inspection described the vegetation of the Fitzgerald River valley as: ‘Not visually impressive. It appears chiefly to consist of mallee eucalypts similar to those found in many places in WA’.

Source: Invisible Country: Southwest Australia: Understanding a Landscape

Author: Bill Bunbury

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0CBX3Z7K5&location=1535

#sciencefiction #technology #InvisibleCountrySouthwestAustraliaUnderstandingaLandscape #BillBunbury

UNESCO is currently reviewing the status of biospheres...

UNESCO is currently reviewing the status of biospheres worldwide and has raised questions about the effectiveness of the Fitzgerald Biosphere Reserve.

Source: Invisible Country: Southwest Australia: Understanding a Landscape

Author: Bill Bunbury

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0CBX3Z7K5&location=1574

#sciencefiction #technology #InvisibleCountrySouthwestAustraliaUnderstandingaLandscape #BillBunbury

early on we used to grumble that the...

early on we used to grumble that the conservation movement only cared about what we called the four W’s: whales, wilderness, waterfalls and w(r)ainforest.

Source: Invisible Country: Southwest Australia: Understanding a Landscape

Author: Bill Bunbury

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0CBX3Z7K5&location=1625

#sciencefiction #technology #InvisibleCountrySouthwestAustraliaUnderstandingaLandscape #BillBunbury

Dad bought another farm on the Carlecatup Road...

Dad bought another farm on the Carlecatup Road around 1930 in the Cherry Tree Pool area…When we first had this farm the river had lots of marron and perch and the wild ducks were plentiful. The wildflowers were a delight to see in the springtime with a profusion of kangaroo and cat paws, orchids, everlastings, smoke-bush and bottlebrush. We gave this farm the name of ‘Birdwood’ because of all the native birds and habitat. The river was fresh in those days but now has turned salt and all the beauty has gone. Much of the water is too salty for the stock.

Source: Invisible Country: Southwest Australia: Understanding a Landscape

Author: Bill Bunbury

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0CBX3Z7K5&location=1909

#sciencefiction #technology #InvisibleCountrySouthwestAustraliaUnderstandingaLandscape #BillBunbury

The Anglo-Saxon settlers who populated Australia brought with...

The Anglo-Saxon settlers who populated Australia brought with them no traditions of forestry as a rural industry, and for 100 years or more the forests were looked upon as an enemy to be slaughtered.

Source: Invisible Country: Southwest Australia: Understanding a Landscape

Author: Bill Bunbury

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0CBX3Z7K5&location=2555

#sciencefiction #technology #InvisibleCountrySouthwestAustraliaUnderstandingaLandscape #BillBunbury

There has to be a habitat for every...

There has to be a habitat for every creature in the landscape. That concept was enforced through totems that connected people to creatures in the natural environment. An emu totem, for example, meant that you would be responsible not only for emus but also their habitat. In other words, the law is ecologically based and recognises the interconnectedness of life. It says that you must create these habitats and, if you don’t, your own soul is at risk because you are linked by your soul to your totem.

Source: Invisible Country: Southwest Australia: Understanding a Landscape

Author: Bill Bunbury

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0CBX3Z7K5&location=2605

#sciencefiction #technology #InvisibleCountrySouthwestAustraliaUnderstandingaLandscape #BillBunbury

Roger Underwood, however, is quick to point out...

Roger Underwood, however, is quick to point out that foresters are not loggers. Forestry is a profession, a calling, like engineer, historian or architect. It is not an industry. The role of foresters, practising forestry, is to manage forests and thus management need not have anything to do with cutting timber.

Source: Invisible Country: Southwest Australia: Understanding a Landscape

Author: Bill Bunbury

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0CBX3Z7K5&location=2838

#sciencefiction #technology #InvisibleCountrySouthwestAustraliaUnderstandingaLandscape #BillBunbury

A suggested solution in sites like this with...

A suggested solution in sites like this with too many small trees is to ‘thin’ the forest. Drastic though this practice might appear, Neil Burrows thinks that it would benefit our brooks and streams because, with too many trees in a given area: …the less water there is for the catchment. The higher the area of the tree stems or the leaf area of tree canopies, the more water they use. So there is less water available for creeks, streams and catchments.

Source: Invisible Country: Southwest Australia: Understanding a Landscape

Author: Bill Bunbury

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0CBX3Z7K5&location=2966

#sciencefiction #technology #InvisibleCountrySouthwestAustraliaUnderstandingaLandscape #BillBunbury

We lived in a street with about fifteen...

We lived in a street with about fifteen houses and by the time I grew up all the houses had manicured lawns, and edging around the flower-beds. But there was one couple in the street, two doctors, who had left the native bush as their front yard. Banksias and things like that. I remember as a kid thinking it was ugly, partly because of what all the adults around me said about it. They all complained about this one house. They said, ‘This street would look so nice if it wasn’t for the doctors’ garden. Why don’t they sort it out? They are so lazy’. Then someone else bought the house, cleared out all the banksias and planted palm trees. And everyone loved it. I look back now and I just think that is really tragic that this ‘neatness’ is our perception of what a garden should be.

Source: Invisible Country: Southwest Australia: Understanding a Landscape

Author: Bill Bunbury

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0CBX3Z7K5&location=3184

#sciencefiction #technology #InvisibleCountrySouthwestAustraliaUnderstandingaLandscape #BillBunbury

What surprised him was what the students took...

What surprised him was what the students took away, as the primary message from that film, was the arrogance of the scientists, how dismissive they were of other people, of alternative views and how cocksure they were. The scientists came across very badly. So this, rather than the dishonesty of some of the creationist advocates, was the primary message. And the film had made it clear how dishonest some of the creationists had been in pursuit of their aims.

Source: Invisible Country: Southwest Australia: Understanding a Landscape

Author: Bill Bunbury

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0CBX3Z7K5&location=3523

#sciencefiction #technology #InvisibleCountrySouthwestAustraliaUnderstandingaLandscape #BillBunbury

I’ve long believed that good food, good eating...

I’ve long believed that good food, good eating is all about risk. Whether we’re talking about unpasteurized Stilton, raw oysters or working for organized crime ‘associates’, food, for me, has always been an adventure.

Source: Kitchen Confidential: 25th Anniversary Edition

Author: Anthony Bourdain

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004U9J9GS&location=118

#sciencefiction #technology #KitchenConfidential25thAnniversaryEdition #AnthonyBourdain

‘Vichyssoise,’

‘Vichyssoise,’

Source: Kitchen Confidential: 25th Anniversary Edition

Author: Anthony Bourdain

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004U9J9GS&location=133

#sciencefiction #technology #KitchenConfidential25thAnniversaryEdition #AnthonyBourdain

Television was a Big Event. At seven o’clock,...

Television was a Big Event. At seven o’clock, when the two national stations would come on the air, my Oncle Gustav would solemnly emerge from his room with a key chained to his hip and ceremoniously unlock the cabinet doors that covered the screen.

Source: Kitchen Confidential: 25th Anniversary Edition

Author: Anthony Bourdain

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004U9J9GS&location=206

#sciencefiction #technology #KitchenConfidential25thAnniversaryEdition #AnthonyBourdain

On payday everyone in the kitchen handed money...

On payday everyone in the kitchen handed money back and forth in a Byzantine rondelay of transactions as the cooks settled up the previous week’s drug debts, loans and wagers.

Source: Kitchen Confidential: 25th Anniversary Edition

Author: Anthony Bourdain

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004U9J9GS&location=312

#sciencefiction #technology #KitchenConfidential25thAnniversaryEdition #AnthonyBourdain

The Provincetown Seafood Cookbook

The Provincetown Seafood Cookbook

Source: Kitchen Confidential: 25th Anniversary Edition

Author: Anthony Bourdain

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004U9J9GS&location=389

#sciencefiction #technology #KitchenConfidential25thAnniversaryEdition #AnthonyBourdain

Creole, Gumbo and All That Jazz

Creole, Gumbo and All That Jazz

Source: Kitchen Confidential: 25th Anniversary Edition

Author: Anthony Bourdain

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004U9J9GS&location=390

#sciencefiction #technology #KitchenConfidential25thAnniversaryEdition #AnthonyBourdain

It was a protein rush to the cortex,...

It was a protein rush to the cortex, a clean, three-ingredient high, eaten with the hands. Could anything be better than that?

Source: Kitchen Confidential: 25th Anniversary Edition

Author: Anthony Bourdain

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004U9J9GS&location=426

#sciencefiction #technology #KitchenConfidential25thAnniversaryEdition #AnthonyBourdain

Of course, my stocks in class always tasted...

Of course, my stocks in class always tasted far better than my classmates’. No one could figure out how I coaxed such hearty flavor out of a few chicken bones, or made such wonderful fish fumet with fish racks and shrimp shells, all in the limited time available. Had my instructors given me a pat-down before class they might have learned my secret: two glassine envelopes of Minor’s chicken and lobster base inside my chef’s coat, for that little extra kick. They never figured it out.

Source: Kitchen Confidential: 25th Anniversary Edition

Author: Anthony Bourdain

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004U9J9GS&location=533

#sciencefiction #technology #KitchenConfidential25thAnniversaryEdition #AnthonyBourdain

Another class, Oriental Cookery, as I believe it...

Another class, Oriental Cookery, as I believe it was then called, was pretty funny. The instructor, a capable Chinese guy, was responsible for teaching us the fundamentals of both Chinese and Japanese cooking. The Chinese portion of the class was terrific. When it came time to fill us in on the tastes of Japan, however, our teacher was more interested in giving us an extended lecture on the Rape of Nanking. His loathing of the Japanese was consuming. In between describing the bayoneting of women, children and babies in World War II, he’d point at a poster of a sushi/sashimi presentation on the wall, and say in his broken, heavily accented English, ‘That a raw a fish. You wanna eat that? Hah! Japanese shit!’ Then he’d go back into his dissertation on forced labor, mass executions, enslavement, hinting darkly that Japan would pay, sooner or later, for what it had done to his country.

Source: Kitchen Confidential: 25th Anniversary Edition

Author: Anthony Bourdain

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004U9J9GS&location=564

#sciencefiction #technology #KitchenConfidential25thAnniversaryEdition #AnthonyBourdain

I won’t eat in a restaurant with filthy...

I won’t eat in a restaurant with filthy bathrooms. This isn’t a hard call. They let you see the bathrooms. If the restaurant can’t be bothered to replace the puck in the urinal or keep the toilets and floors clean, then just imagine what their refrigeration and work spaces look like.

Source: Kitchen Confidential: 25th Anniversary Edition

Author: Anthony Bourdain

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004U9J9GS&location=952

#sciencefiction #technology #KitchenConfidential25thAnniversaryEdition #AnthonyBourdain

Vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter-faction, the vegans, are...

Vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter-faction, the vegans, are a persistent irritant to any chef worth a damn. To me, life without veal stock, pork fat, sausage, organ meat, demi-glace, or even stinky cheese is a life not worth living. Vegetarians are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit, an affront to all I stand for, the pure enjoyment of food. The body, these waterheads imagine, is a temple that should not be polluted by animal protein. It’s healthier, they insist, though every vegetarian waiter I’ve worked with is brought down by any rumor of a cold. Oh, I’ll accommodate them, I’ll rummage around for something to feed them, for a ‘vegetarian plate’, if called on to do so. Fourteen dollars for a few slices of grilled eggplant and zucchini suits my food cost fine.

Source: Kitchen Confidential: 25th Anniversary Edition

Author: Anthony Bourdain

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004U9J9GS&location=974

#sciencefiction #technology #KitchenConfidential25thAnniversaryEdition #AnthonyBourdain

A few years back, at a swinging singles...

A few years back, at a swinging singles joint on Columbus Avenue, we had the misfortune to employ a sensitive young man as a waiter who, in addition to a wide and varied social life involving numerous unsafe sexual practices, was something of a jailhouse lawyer. After he was fired for incompetence, he took it on himself to sue the restaurant, claiming that a gastrointestinal problem, caused apparently by amoebas, was a result of his work there. Management took this litigation seriously enough to engage the services of an epidemiologist, who obtained stool samples from every employee. The results – which I was privy to – were enlightening to say the least. The waiter’s strain of amoebas, it was concluded, was common to persons of his lifestyle, and to many others. What was interesting were the results of our Mexican and South American prep cooks. These guys were teeming with numerous varieties of critters, none of which, in their cases, caused illness or discomfort. It was explained that the results in our restaurant were no different from results at any other restaurant and that, particularly amongst my recently arrived Latino brethren, this sort of thing is normal – that their systems are used to it, and it causes them no difficulties at all. Amoebas, however, are transferred most easily through the handling of raw, uncooked vegetables, particularly during the washing of salad greens and leafy produce. So think about that next time you want to exchange deep tongue kisses with a vegetarian.

Source: Kitchen Confidential: 25th Anniversary Edition

Author: Anthony Bourdain

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004U9J9GS&location=980

#sciencefiction #technology #KitchenConfidential25thAnniversaryEdition #AnthonyBourdain

And chicken is boring. Chefs see it as...

And chicken is boring. Chefs see it as a menu item for people who don’t know what they want to eat.

Source: Kitchen Confidential: 25th Anniversary Edition

Author: Anthony Bourdain

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004U9J9GS&location=995

#sciencefiction #technology #KitchenConfidential25thAnniversaryEdition #AnthonyBourdain

your body is not a temple, it’s an...

your body is not a temple, it’s an amusement park.

Source: Kitchen Confidential: 25th Anniversary Edition

Author: Anthony Bourdain

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004U9J9GS&location=1025

#sciencefiction #technology #KitchenConfidential25thAnniversaryEdition #AnthonyBourdain

We are, after all, citizens of the world...

We are, after all, citizens of the world – a world filled with bacteria, some friendly, some not so friendly. Do we really want to travel in hermetically sealed popemobiles through the rural provinces of France, Mexico and the Far East, eating only in Hard Rock Cafés and McDonald’s? Or do we want to eat without fear, tearing into the local stew, the humble taqueria’s mystery meat, the sincerely offered gift of a lightly grilled fish head?

Source: Kitchen Confidential: 25th Anniversary Edition

Author: Anthony Bourdain

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004U9J9GS&location=1036

#sciencefiction #technology #KitchenConfidential25thAnniversaryEdition #AnthonyBourdain

vanadium steel Global knives, a very good Japanese...

vanadium steel Global knives, a very good Japanese product which has – in addition to its many other fine qualities – the added attraction of looking really cool.

Source: Kitchen Confidential: 25th Anniversary Edition

Author: Anthony Bourdain

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004U9J9GS&location=1074

#sciencefiction #technology #KitchenConfidential25thAnniversaryEdition #AnthonyBourdain

Margarine? That’s not food. I Can’t Believe It’s...

Margarine? That’s not food. I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter? I can. If you’re planning on using margarine in anything, you can stop reading now, because I won’t be able to help you.

Source: Kitchen Confidential: 25th Anniversary Edition

Author: Anthony Bourdain

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004U9J9GS&location=1144

#sciencefiction #technology #KitchenConfidential25thAnniversaryEdition #AnthonyBourdain

Example: here’s a very popular dish I used...

Example: here’s a very popular dish I used to serve at a highly regarded two-star joint in New York. I got thirty-two bucks an order for it and could barely keep enough in stock, people liked it so much. Take one fish – a red snapper, striped bass, or dorade – have your fish guy remove gills, guts and scales and wash in cold water. Rub inside and out with kosher salt and crushed black pepper. Jam a clove of garlic, a slice of lemon and a few sprigs of fresh herb – say, rosemary and thyme – into the cavity where the guts used to be. Place on a lightly oiled pan or foil and throw the fish into a very hot oven. Roast till crispy and cooked through. Drizzle a little basil oil over the plate – you know, the stuff you made with your blender and then put in your new squeeze bottle? – sprinkle with chiffonaded parsley, garnish with basil top … See?

Source: Kitchen Confidential: 25th Anniversary Edition

Author: Anthony Bourdain

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004U9J9GS&location=1178

#sciencefiction #technology #KitchenConfidential25thAnniversaryEdition #AnthonyBourdain

‘An ounce of sauce covers a multitude of...

‘An ounce of sauce covers a multitude of sins,’

Source: Kitchen Confidential: 25th Anniversary Edition

Author: Anthony Bourdain

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004U9J9GS&location=1639

#sciencefiction #technology #KitchenConfidential25thAnniversaryEdition #AnthonyBourdain

The food was not bad. God knows we...

The food was not bad. God knows we had enough cooks, plenty of equipment, and room to put it. Somehow, things got done, though I have no idea how; the place had its own momentum, like some rudderless ocean liner, captain and crew long gone – it just kept going, plowing through ice fields.

Source: Kitchen Confidential: 25th Anniversary Edition

Author: Anthony Bourdain

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004U9J9GS&location=1984

#sciencefiction #technology #KitchenConfidential25thAnniversaryEdition #AnthonyBourdain

The place was owned by a very aggressive...

The place was owned by a very aggressive rat population,

Source: Kitchen Confidential: 25th Anniversary Edition

Author: Anthony Bourdain

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004U9J9GS&location=2116

#sciencefiction #technology #KitchenConfidential25thAnniversaryEdition #AnthonyBourdain

I cleverly volunteered that my personal approach to...

I cleverly volunteered that my personal approach to cuisine was appreciation of fine ingredients, that too much frou-frou on the plates, food too sculpted, excessively garnished like that of many of my peers, was a distraction. Owners usually like this rap. And by saying it, I had inoculated myself against the ‘I’m too good for this place’ issue.

Source: Kitchen Confidential: 25th Anniversary Edition

Author: Anthony Bourdain

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004U9J9GS&location=2254

#sciencefiction #technology #KitchenConfidential25thAnniversaryEdition #AnthonyBourdain

To see his bread coming out of the...

To see his bread coming out of the oven, to smell it, that deeply satisfying, spiritually comforting waft of yeasty goodness, to tear into it, breaking apart that floury, dusty crust and into the ethereally textured interior … to taste it is to experience real genius. His peasant-style boules are the perfect objects, an arrangement of atoms unimprovable by God or man, pleasing to all the senses at once. Cézanne would have wanted to paint them – but might not have considered himself up to the job.

Source: Kitchen Confidential: 25th Anniversary Edition

Author: Anthony Bourdain

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004U9J9GS&location=3384

#sciencefiction #technology #KitchenConfidential25thAnniversaryEdition #AnthonyBourdain

If I had a well-disposed Eric Ripert and...

If I had a well-disposed Eric Ripert and Grey Kunz in my background, I’d be endorsing blenders, committing unnatural acts in the pool near the Vegas outpost of my not-very-good-anymore restaurant chain, and pickling my liver in Louis Treize. At that point in my career, I wouldn’t be shutting down the whole gravy train so I could learn pastry! I’d be mugging it up on the Food Network, schmoozing at the Beard Awards dinner, and contemplating a future where I’d never have to get out of my pajamas!

Source: Kitchen Confidential: 25th Anniversary Edition

Author: Anthony Bourdain

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004U9J9GS&location=3680

#sciencefiction #technology #KitchenConfidential25thAnniversaryEdition #AnthonyBourdain

When you know what it’s like to squat...

When you know what it’s like to squat on a blanket on upper Broadway in the snow, selling off a lifetime’s accumulation of rare books, records and comic books for drugs, the idea of spending next week’s paycheck on a bottle of red seems like, well, something that I probably shouldn’t be doing.

Source: Kitchen Confidential: 25th Anniversary Edition

Author: Anthony Bourdain

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004U9J9GS&location=3808

#sciencefiction #technology #KitchenConfidential25thAnniversaryEdition #AnthonyBourdain

Les Halles Tokyo, located in the shadow of...

Les Halles Tokyo, located in the shadow of the Eiffel-like Tokyo Tower, and across the street from a pachinko parlor, looked much like its older brother in New York, though spanking new and impeccably, surgically clean. Les Halles New York is loved for its smoke-stained walls, creaky chairs, weathered wooden bar – the fact that it resembles what it is: a familiar, worn, old-school brasserie of the Parisian model. Les Halles Tokyo, on the other hand, though accurate to the model down to the tiniest design detail, was shiny and undamaged, and apparently kept that way.

Source: Kitchen Confidential: 25th Anniversary Edition

Author: Anthony Bourdain

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004U9J9GS&location=3900

#sciencefiction #technology #KitchenConfidential25thAnniversaryEdition #AnthonyBourdain

Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London...

Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London is invaluable.

Source: Kitchen Confidential: 25th Anniversary Edition

Author: Anthony Bourdain

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004U9J9GS&location=4252

#sciencefiction #technology #KitchenConfidential25thAnniversaryEdition #AnthonyBourdain

When you thought about it, this made a...

When you thought about it, this made a lot of sense. For example, the American moon shot was one of the most innovative programs ever seen in the United States. Thousands of scientists, engineers and designers came together and worked 18-hours-a-day to make the moon shot happen. Did they do it for the money? No. None of them became millionaires. They did it because they loved it and believed in the idea. Einstein did not create the theory of relativity for the money. The Wright Brothers did not create the airplane for the money. Creative people create for the joy of it.

Source: Manna: Two Visions of Humanity's Future

Author: Marshall Brain

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B007HQH67U&location=800

#sciencefiction #technology #MannaTwoVisionsofHumanitysFuture #MarshallBrain

Nor did I wish to shy away from...

Nor did I wish to shy away from reporting on the obsessiveness, competitiveness, dishonesty and downright nastiness of contemporary Night Parrot politics – no wonder the bird hid from view for so long.

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=315

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

By the end of the month, all three...

By the end of the month, all three men were suffering from the effects of arsenic soap, used to clean and insect-proof the specimen skins, which White mixed double strength. Eventually the soap worked under the nails, separating them from the flesh, which caused the fingertips to fester and left them severely sensitive to touch.

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=1319

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

From 1879 to the early 1880s, however, were...

From 1879 to the early 1880s, however, were generally dry years.153 In 1883, rain fell but there were few birds about of any description.154 By then, overstocking had taken its toll, feral goats roamed, the soil was blowing away, and waterholes were depleted and muddied.155 The Land Regulations required pastoralists to stock their runs with 50 sheep per square mile (19 per km2).156 However, when the wet years of the 1870s ended, it soon became obvious that the harsh, arid conditions and unreliable water supply made that level of stocking unsustainable. During the 1890s, too late for the parrot, many of the station leases in the Gawler Ranges (including Yardea) were abandoned

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=1485

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

Andrews’ apparent failure to collect Night Parrots after...

Andrews’ apparent failure to collect Night Parrots after 1873 may also have been related to the fact that the local Aboriginal people were leaving their country and could not assist, or were uninterested in assisting, Andrews, as it seems they once did. It seems likely that Andrews used Indigenous help more often than is apparent, both as guides and collectors.

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=1494

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

Andrews’ unusual demise seemed to capture the public...

Andrews’ unusual demise seemed to capture the public imagination, for reports of his ‘drowning’ and the subsequent inquest were republished widely in various broadsheets.

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=1568

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

Weetunga, at the Reedbeds,

Weetunga, at the Reedbeds,

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=1832

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

Bourgoin’s diary entry for 8 August 1927 has...

Bourgoin’s diary entry for 8 August 1927 has him searching for Dingo pups around the breakaways at the head of Ned’s Creek, 6 miles (9.5 km) south-east of Bolger’s Soak, when he happened upon eight Night Parrots on the ground at the mouth of a cave. Approaching within 15 feet (5 m), he sat quietly watching for 20 minutes. The two birds, presumably the adult pair, were brightly marked, but the other six were ‘a dull green and very plain’.52 Every now and then, the young clustered around the adults and squawked as though begging for food. Bourgoin returned 3 days later, intending to trap or shoot a bird, but was unable to locate the family. This was truly new information, suggesting an association of the parrot with rocky outcrops and giving an indication of brood size.

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=2905

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

Mr. Bourgoin has never been able to find...

Mr. Bourgoin has never been able to find a nest, but Mr. Jim Crogan, a pioneer of the North-West, told him that at one time they were fairly plentiful in the Hammersley Ranges and Upper Ashburton country, and that he and the natives had found their nests and young in the spinifex, Mr. Bourgoin questioned Bullocky and another old native named Masters and they told him that they had found the nests in tunnels under the spinifex and also in limestone caves. Masters maintained that the bird went away to Central Australia during dry seasons and came back after rain when the spinifex is in seed. Bullocky said that they bred after big rains when there was plenty of feed and that the clutch was two to four white eggs.

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=2964

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

In 2004, consultants from Biota Environment Sciences group...

In 2004, consultants from Biota Environment Sciences group made a possible sighting during a survey for the Fortescue Metals Group’s (FMG) Cloud Break Mine in the eastern Pilbara.91 The next year, not far from the Biota sighting, Rob Davis and Brenden Metcalf, biologists from Bamford Consulting Ecologists, were making a routine fauna survey for the mining company when, staked out at Minga Well around dusk, they spotted two or three birds on the opposite bank of the permanent pool. The birds flew when Davis stood up to get a spotlight. It was yet another unauthenticated sighting, but the biologists were confident enough in their identification to publish their sighting in Emu.

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=3118

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

Kalli land system

Kalli land system

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=3259

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

In 2011, Charlie Nicholson and I revisited one...

In 2011, Charlie Nicholson and I revisited one of these breakaways and its survey site on chenopod footslope plains, which were in near-pristine condition in 1986. We walked into a landscape greatly changed over 25 intervening years. The soil crust and topsoil was lost from over 90% of the site, and the footslope plain was extensively scalded, micro-terraced, rilled and gullied. There was also an increased cover of annuals and unpalatable invasive shrubs, mainly silver poverty-bush Eremophila pterocarpa, Black Bluebush Maireana triptera and Acacia spp.

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=3330

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

Lesser Stick-nest Rats

Lesser Stick-nest Rats

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=3439

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

One of the most interesting of the birds...

One of the most interesting of the birds that haunts the spinifex tracts in Sunset country is the now rare night parrot, whose plaintive whistling note heard in the still of the night makes one in a sense [aware] of his solitude. They are unfortunately becoming extinct. Some years ago hundreds of domestic cats were turned loose in the Mallee, in the hope that they would kill off the rabbits. They evidently preferred a bird diet and the night parrots, occupying in day time old rabbit burrows, fell easy prey to them. The ever-increasing fox is another enemy, and when I find feathers or remains of the night parrot there are generally fox or cat traces in the loose soil.

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=4147

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

Pine Plains.

Pine Plains.

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=4300

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

North Geelong

North Geelong

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=4354

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

Hermannsburg Mission,

Hermannsburg Mission,

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=4367

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

Bourke’s Parrot.

Bourke’s Parrot.

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=4685

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

While teaching, he began to paint in watercolour...

While teaching, he began to paint in watercolour all the birds of Australia, using as guides specimens brought in by the children and, after retirement, from the Australian Museum in Sydney, where in 1928 he painted the Night Parrot.

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=4701

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

Keartland must have been excited to discover that...

Keartland must have been excited to discover that ‘in the operators’ rooms several picture frames were covered with wings and tails of the porcupine parrot (Geopsittacus occidentalis) which had been caught by a cat last summer’.

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=4790

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

Lake Amadeus,

Lake Amadeus,

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=4807

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

Grey-headed Honeyeater,

Grey-headed Honeyeater,

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=4814

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

At the mission, Whitlock happened upon the local...

At the mission, Whitlock happened upon the local name of the parrot pencilled in the margins of the Reverend Carl Strehlow’s account on his life at the mission, the last volume of which was published in 1920, 2 years before a gravely ill Strehlow died on his way to Adelaide.22 Beside ‘Nacht-lichter papagei’, listed among the totemic birds of the Aranda people, Strehlow had written ‘Tnokkapaltara’. Using that name, Whitlock was able to question the older Aboriginal men, who clearly knew the bird and told him of its habits of tunnelling and taking shelter in Triodia and its reluctance to fly in daylight such that it could be run down.

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=4877

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

When doing field-work in the backblocks I have...

When doing field-work in the backblocks I have often met with the remark, ‘What is the good of the work you are doing? Wouldn’t you be better employed prospecting for gold?’ Of course, from a pounds, shillings and pence point of view I might if successful. But there are higher things in life than money-making.

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=4985

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

On the birdman’s 91st birthday, again celebrated in...

On the birdman’s 91st birthday, again celebrated in the press, his date of arrival in Australia was given as 1901.53 It seems that Whitlock had managed to successfully erase his bank-robbing past and time as a fugitive in the goldfields. Among the subspecies that celebrate his name, and which still stand, are the Crested Pigeon Ocyphaps lophotes whitlocki and the Shy Heathwren Hylacola cauta whitlocki. He was also the first to collect many rarities, including the eggs of the Grey Honeyeater, and he is the only person ever to find (and photograph) a clutch of the Western Ground Parrot in the wild.

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=5019

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

soda lake,

soda lake,

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=5055

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

Stirling Station,

Stirling Station,

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=5173

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

Bourke’s Parrots,

Bourke’s Parrots,

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=5186

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

Keep River National Park,

Keep River National Park,

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=5193

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

During the important Horn Scientific Expedition to Central...

During the important Horn Scientific Expedition to Central Australia in 1894, it was reported to me by Mr. Richard Helms, who was a naturalist of the party, that in one of the rooms used by the operators at the far inland and isolated telegraph office at Alice Springs, several picture frames were covered and ornamented with the beautiful wings and tails of these exceedingly rare birds, which were from birds that had been caught there by domestic cats the previous summer. I have shown [the feathers] natural size in this article.

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=5290

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

Potentially, the first record of a Queensland Night...

Potentially, the first record of a Queensland Night Parrot came from Alice Monkton Duncan, who lived on Mooraberree, her parents’ vast cattle station west of Windorah in the Channel Country of south-west Queensland, until early 1918, when she was 16.6 Duncan’s older brother and her father died, leaving her mother to manage the 888 km2 station, breeding shorthorns and raising ‘baby beef’ with the considerable help of the local Aboriginal people, paid with food. Mary Ann, a local Mithaka woman, cared for Duncan and her two sisters. The sisters grew up among Indigenous friends and were sent to school in Toowoomba and Brisbane. Duncan developed a great respect for the local people and learned bushcraft and bushlore from an elder named Moses Yoolpee, who had been educated at Scotch College in Melbourne, and Bogie, another Mithaka man. Later in life, under her married name Duncan-Kemp, she wrote several popular books about her experiences during that time, set within lyrical descriptions of landscape, fauna and flora.

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=5689

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

Where Strange Paths Go Down (1952),

Where Strange Paths Go Down (1952),

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=5699

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

The desiccated body of the Night Parrot found...

The desiccated body of the Night Parrot found beside the Diamantina Development Road (Highway 83) in October 1990, in situ showing the right-hand side. Photo by Max Thompson.

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=5849

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

The Boulia specimen was studied and deposited in...

The Boulia specimen was studied and deposited in the Queensland Museum, its home State. Further investigation unearthed some interesting details.43 On discovery, the bird’s head was detached, but X-rays showed that the skeleton was complete, making it the only entire skeleton of the species. There was minor damage to some ribs, consistent with impact from a vehicle. Sun-faded plumage, and the amount of soft tissue removal by ants and desiccation of the remainder, indicated that the bird had been dead at least 3 months. Its physical dimensions indicated that it was a male, which average slightly larger than females and, based on details of plumage, including some moulting feathers, it was judged to be an adult, which are brighter than juveniles. Muscle samples were removed for future molecular analysis that, more than a decade and a half later, revealed that the bird was in fact a female. A tissue sample yielded a DNA profile that was lodged with a genetic database available to all researchers. One further fragment of information was that among its feathers were seeds of Sclerolaena, now suspected to be an important food plant.

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=5880

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

It is a salutary exercise to acknowledge that...

It is a salutary exercise to acknowledge that Night Parrots have been recorded reliably in every decade since their scientific description. Curiously, this fact is overlooked ad nauseum. In the late 1980s, I viewed a Night Parrot specimen in Ballina, New South Wales, which had died in transit from the Marble Bar district, Western Australia. I believe the body was then destroyed by the aviculturist responsible, to hide any evidence of illegal activity. He stated that Aborigines of the source location could collect four to five birds per day by excavating spinifex and that the parrot usually avoided waterholes if dew was available.

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=5925

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

A map of ∼200 Night Parrot records

A map of ∼200 Night Parrot records

Source: Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Author: Penny Olsen

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07H9N28JM&location=7279

#sciencefiction #technology #NightParrotAustraliasMostElusiveBird #PennyOlsen

This kindly, ancient Cambridge professor, hollowed out by...

This kindly, ancient Cambridge professor, hollowed out by cancer, speaking in the cadences of the King James Bible about the new world in the heavens that would be populated by the children of the dead, venerating their ancestors’ JPEGs and GIFs, was the closest thing to an uplifting message that anyone was going to see today.

Source: Seveneves: Astounding apocalyptic fiction from the New York Times Bestseller

Author: Neal Stephenson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00R0RGSLG&location=879

#sciencefiction #technology #SevenevesAstoundingapocalypticfictionfromtheNewYorkTimesBestseller #NealStephenson

Most of the people on the Cloud Ark...

Most of the people on the Cloud Ark were going to have to be women. There were other reasons for it besides just making more babies. Research on the long-term effects of spaceflight suggested that women were less susceptible to radiation damage than men. They were smaller on average, requiring less space, less food, less air. And sociological studies pointed to the idea that they did better when crammed together in tight spaces for long periods of time. This was controversial, as it got into fraught topics of nature vs. nurture and whether gender identity was a social construct or a genetic program. But if you bought into the idea that boys had been programmed by Darwinian selection to run around in the open chucking spears at wild animals—something that every parent who had ever raised a boy had to take seriously—then it was difficult to envision a lot of them spending their lives in tin cans.

Source: Seveneves: Astounding apocalyptic fiction from the New York Times Bestseller

Author: Neal Stephenson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00R0RGSLG&location=895

#sciencefiction #technology #SevenevesAstoundingapocalypticfictionfromtheNewYorkTimesBestseller #NealStephenson

“We don’t believe in anything as simple as...

“We don’t believe in anything as simple as metempsychosis—the movement of an individual soul from one body to another. That’s not what we mean by reincarnation at all.” “What do you believe in, then?” Doob asked. Tav had lost interest and was belaboring his phone with his thumbs. “A better analogy might be to a burned-down stump being used to ignite a new candle. But I won’t be able to give you a satisfactory answer, Dr. Harris. The teachings are esoteric—deliberately hidden from the uninitiated, specifically to prevent false interpretations. How an enlightened lama would think about the question of the seven billion is as far beyond my comprehension as are the quantum gravity theories that you study in your work.”

Source: Seveneves: Astounding apocalyptic fiction from the New York Times Bestseller

Author: Neal Stephenson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00R0RGSLG&location=2816

#sciencefiction #technology #SevenevesAstoundingapocalypticfictionfromtheNewYorkTimesBestseller #NealStephenson

Luisa chuckled. “I hear you, sugar. I’m not...

Luisa chuckled. “I hear you, sugar. I’m not gonna say you’re wrong. But I have to warn you that this is the word—‘politics’—that nerds use whenever they feel impatient about the human realities of an organization.”

Source: Seveneves: Astounding apocalyptic fiction from the New York Times Bestseller

Author: Neal Stephenson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00R0RGSLG&location=3423

#sciencefiction #technology #SevenevesAstoundingapocalypticfictionfromtheNewYorkTimesBestseller #NealStephenson

“Problem is solved,” Tekla said. She was fluent...

“Problem is solved,” Tekla said. She was fluent in English and was perfectly capable of saying “The problem is solved,” but sometimes dropped the article for effect. Anglophones found this mysterious and impressive.

Source: Seveneves: Astounding apocalyptic fiction from the New York Times Bestseller

Author: Neal Stephenson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00R0RGSLG&location=6653

#sciencefiction #technology #SevenevesAstoundingapocalypticfictionfromtheNewYorkTimesBestseller #NealStephenson

Which didn’t mean she couldn’t hear anything. She...

Which didn’t mean she couldn’t hear anything. She could hear the wind. A phrase that didn’t really do justice to the soundscape now being rendered by the array of miniature speakers. “The canid smelled the forest” was a completely different sentence from “The man smelled the forest,” not because the words had different meanings, but because the canid’s olfactory apparatus was infinitely superior to that of the man.

Source: Seveneves: Astounding apocalyptic fiction from the New York Times Bestseller

Author: Neal Stephenson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00R0RGSLG&location=8445

#sciencefiction #technology #SevenevesAstoundingapocalypticfictionfromtheNewYorkTimesBestseller #NealStephenson

When it comes suppertime at sea, why not...

When it comes suppertime at sea, why not say, Meat-pie! and the meat-pie appears, and you eat it?” “Well, we could do so. But we don’t much wish to eat our words, as they say. Meat-pie! is only a word, after all . . . We can make it odorous, and savorous, and even filling, but it remains a word. It fools the stomach and gives no strength to the hungry man.”

Source: The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition

Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07CRN8NNG&location=2320

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBooksofEarthseaTheCompleteIllustratedEdition #UrsulaKLeGuin

“What for?” said Arha, chewing a bitter stem...

“What for?” said Arha, chewing a bitter stem of milkweed she had picked from the wall. The barren land was just past its flowering. All the small desert blossoms, yellow and rose and white, low-growing and quick-flowering, were going to seed, scattering tiny plumes and parasols of ash white on the wind, dropping their hooked, ingenious burrs. The ground under the apple trees of the orchard was a drift of bruised white and pink. The branches were green, the only green trees within miles of the Place. Everything else, from horizon to horizon, was a dull, tawny, desert color, except that the mountains had a silvery bluish tinge from the first buds of the flowering sage.

Source: The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition

Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07CRN8NNG&location=2904

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBooksofEarthseaTheCompleteIllustratedEdition #UrsulaKLeGuin

“What are you then—a god? a king?” She...

“What are you then—a god? a king?” She looked him up and down, as he sat chained, dirty, exhausted. “You are nothing but a thief!”

Source: The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition

Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07CRN8NNG&location=3746

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBooksofEarthseaTheCompleteIllustratedEdition #UrsulaKLeGuin

She turned and went on, with her massive,...

She turned and went on, with her massive, deliberate steps, crushing the frost-starred weeds under her heavy, sandaled feet, going to the white-pillared house of the Godking. The girl stood, slight and dark, as if frozen to earth, in the front courtyard of the Big House. Nobody moved, nothing moved, only Kossil, in all the vast landscape of court and temple, hill and desert plain and mountain.

Source: The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition

Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07CRN8NNG&location=4005

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBooksofEarthseaTheCompleteIllustratedEdition #UrsulaKLeGuin

As she stumbled forward she cried out in...

As she stumbled forward she cried out in her mind, which was as dark, as shaken as the subterranean vault, “Forgive me. O my Masters, O unnamed ones, most ancient ones, forgive me, forgive me!” There was no answer. There had never been an answer.

Source: The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition

Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07CRN8NNG&location=4306

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBooksofEarthseaTheCompleteIllustratedEdition #UrsulaKLeGuin

“Summon up a supper,” he said. “Oh, I...

“Summon up a supper,” he said. “Oh, I could. On golden plates, if you like. But that’s illusion, and when you eat illusions you end up hungrier than before. It’s about as nourishing as eating your own words.”

Source: The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition

Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07CRN8NNG&location=4399

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBooksofEarthseaTheCompleteIllustratedEdition #UrsulaKLeGuin

And Tenar listened to the sea, a few...

And Tenar listened to the sea, a few yards below the cave mouth, crashing and sucking and booming on the rocks, and the thunder of it down the beach eastward for miles. Over and over and over it made the same sounds, yet never quite the same. It never rested. On all the shores of all the lands in all the world, it heaved itself in these unresting waves, and never ceased, and never was still. The desert, the mountains: they stood still. They did not cry out forever in a great, dull voice. The sea spoke forever, but its language was foreign to her. She did not understand.

Source: The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition

Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07CRN8NNG&location=4522

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBooksofEarthseaTheCompleteIllustratedEdition #UrsulaKLeGuin

What she had begun to learn was the...

What she had begun to learn was the weight of liberty. Freedom is a heavy load, a great and strange burden for the spirit to undertake. It is not easy. It is not a gift given, but a choice made, and the choice may be a hard one. The road goes upward toward the light; but the laden traveler may never reach the end of it.

Source: The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition

Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07CRN8NNG&location=4575

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBooksofEarthseaTheCompleteIllustratedEdition #UrsulaKLeGuin

Now came the great, improbable impetus to the...

Now came the great, improbable impetus to the book: a road trip to southeastern Oregon, our first visit to Harney County, a high and lonesome land of mountains and great sagebrush plains, of pure skies, far distances, and silence. Coming back from there, after a two-day, weary, dusty drive with our three kids, I knew my novel would be set in that desert. In the car, when we weren’t playing Signs Alphabet or singing “Forty-Nine Bottles,” I began to dream my story. That land had given it to me. I am forever grateful.

Source: The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition

Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07CRN8NNG&location=4678

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBooksofEarthseaTheCompleteIllustratedEdition #UrsulaKLeGuin

In The Tombs of Atuan, the Old Powers,...

In The Tombs of Atuan, the Old Powers, the Nameless Ones, appear as mysterious, ominous, and yet inactive. Arha/Tenar is their priestess, the greatest of all priestesses, whom the Godking himself is supposed to obey: But what is her realm? A prison in the desert. Women guarded by eunuchs. Ancient tombstones, a half-ruined temple, an empty throne. A fearful underground labyrinth where prisoners are left to die of starvation and thirst, where only she can walk the maze, where light must never come. She rules a dark, empty, useless realm. Her power imprisons her.

Source: The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition

Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07CRN8NNG&location=4711

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBooksofEarthseaTheCompleteIllustratedEdition #UrsulaKLeGuin

SCIENCE FICTION IS OFTEN DESCRIBED, AND EVEN DEFINED,...

SCIENCE FICTION IS OFTEN DESCRIBED, AND EVEN DEFINED, AS extrapolative. The science fiction writer is supposed to take a trend or phenomenon of the here-and-now, purify it and intensify it for dramatic effect, and extend it into the future. ‘If this goes on, this is what will happen.’ A prediction is made. Method and results much resemble those of a scientist who feeds large doses of a purified and concentrated food additive to mice, in order to predict what may happen to people who eat it in small quantities for a long time. The outcome seems almost inevitably to be cancer. So does the outcome of extrapolation.

Source: The Left Hand of Darkness: A groundbreaking feminist literary masterpiece (S.F. MASTERWORKS Book 172)

Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01NCU4VNT&location=185

#sciencefiction #technology #TheLeftHandofDarknessAgroundbreakingfeministliterarymasterpieceSFMASTERWORKSBook172 #UrsulaKLeGuin

I talk about the gods; I am an...

I talk about the gods; I am an atheist. But I am an artist too, and therefore a liar. Distrust everything I say. I am telling the truth. The only truth I can understand or express is, logically defined, a lie. Psychologically defined, a symbol. Aesthetically defined, a metaphor.

Source: The Left Hand of Darkness: A groundbreaking feminist literary masterpiece (S.F. MASTERWORKS Book 172)

Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01NCU4VNT&location=232

#sciencefiction #technology #TheLeftHandofDarknessAgroundbreakingfeministliterarymasterpieceSFMASTERWORKSBook172 #UrsulaKLeGuin

Therem Harth rem ir Estraven.

Therem Harth rem ir Estraven.

Source: The Left Hand of Darkness: A groundbreaking feminist literary masterpiece (S.F. MASTERWORKS Book 172)

Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01NCU4VNT&location=315

#sciencefiction #technology #TheLeftHandofDarknessAgroundbreakingfeministliterarymasterpieceSFMASTERWORKSBook172 #UrsulaKLeGuin

He smiled again, and every tooth seemed to...

He smiled again, and every tooth seemed to have a meaning, double, multiple, thirty-two different meanings.

Source: The Left Hand of Darkness: A groundbreaking feminist literary masterpiece (S.F. MASTERWORKS Book 172)

Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01NCU4VNT&location=355

#sciencefiction #technology #TheLeftHandofDarknessAgroundbreakingfeministliterarymasterpieceSFMASTERWORKSBook172 #UrsulaKLeGuin

when action grows unprofitable, gather information; when information...

when action grows unprofitable, gather information; when information grows unprofitable, sleep.

Source: The Left Hand of Darkness: A groundbreaking feminist literary masterpiece (S.F. MASTERWORKS Book 172)

Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01NCU4VNT&location=759

#sciencefiction #technology #TheLeftHandofDarknessAgroundbreakingfeministliterarymasterpieceSFMASTERWORKSBook172 #UrsulaKLeGuin

MY LANDLADY, A VOLUBLE MAN, ARRANGED MY JOURney...

MY LANDLADY, A VOLUBLE MAN, ARRANGED MY JOURney into the East.

Source: The Left Hand of Darkness: A groundbreaking feminist literary masterpiece (S.F. MASTERWORKS Book 172)

Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01NCU4VNT&location=811

#sciencefiction #technology #TheLeftHandofDarknessAgroundbreakingfeministliterarymasterpieceSFMASTERWORKSBook172 #UrsulaKLeGuin

constant radio touch with checkpoints along the way....

constant radio touch with checkpoints along the way. It all moves along, however crowded, quite steadily at the rate of 25 miles per hour (Terran). Gethenians could make their vehicles go faster, but they do not. If asked why not, they answer “Why?” Like asking Terrans why all our vehicles must go so fast; we answer “Why not?” No disputing tastes.

Source: The Left Hand of Darkness: A groundbreaking feminist literary masterpiece (S.F. MASTERWORKS Book 172)

Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01NCU4VNT&location=846

#sciencefiction #technology #TheLeftHandofDarknessAgroundbreakingfeministliterarymasterpieceSFMASTERWORKSBook172 #UrsulaKLeGuin

“Yes. There’s really only one question that can...

“Yes. There’s really only one question that can be answered, Genry, and we already know the answer.... The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty: not knowing what comes next.”

Source: The Left Hand of Darkness: A groundbreaking feminist literary masterpiece (S.F. MASTERWORKS Book 172)

Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01NCU4VNT&location=1111

#sciencefiction #technology #TheLeftHandofDarknessAgroundbreakingfeministliterarymasterpieceSFMASTERWORKSBook172 #UrsulaKLeGuin

“Is he a threat to us, this Envoy?”...

“Is he a threat to us, this Envoy?” “I think not. He brings from his people offers of communication, trade, treaty, and alliance, nothing else. He came alone, without arms or defense, with nothing but a communicating device, and his ship, which he allowed us to examine completely. He is not to be feared, I think. Yet he brings the end of Kingdom and Commensalities with him in his empty hands.”

Source: The Left Hand of Darkness: A groundbreaking feminist literary masterpiece (S.F. MASTERWORKS Book 172)

Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01NCU4VNT&location=1293

#sciencefiction #technology #TheLeftHandofDarknessAgroundbreakingfeministliterarymasterpieceSFMASTERWORKSBook172 #UrsulaKLeGuin

Consider: Anyone can turn his hand to anything....

Consider: Anyone can turn his hand to anything. This sounds very simple, but its psychological effects are incalculable. The fact that everyone between seventeen and thirty-five or so is liable to be (as Nim put it) “tied down to childbearing,” implies that no one is quite so thoroughly “tied down” here as women, elsewhere, are likely to be—psychologically or physically. Burden and privilege are shared out pretty equally; everybody has the same risk to run or choice to make. Therefore nobody here is quite so free as a free male anywhere else. Consider: A child has no psycho-sexual relationship to his mother and father. There is no myth of Oedipus on Winter. Consider: There is no unconsenting sex, no rape. As with most mammals other than man, coitus can be performed only by mutual invitation and consent; otherwise it is not possible. Seduction certainly is possible, but it must have to be awfully well timed. Consider: There is no division of humanity into strong and weak halves, protective/protected, dominant/submissive, owner/chattel, active/passive. In fact the whole tendency to dualism that pervades human thinking may be found to be lessened, or changed, on Winter.

Source: The Left Hand of Darkness: A groundbreaking feminist literary masterpiece (S.F. MASTERWORKS Book 172)

Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01NCU4VNT&location=1377

#sciencefiction #technology #TheLeftHandofDarknessAgroundbreakingfeministliterarymasterpieceSFMASTERWORKSBook172 #UrsulaKLeGuin

They do not see one another as men...

They do not see one another as men or women. This is almost impossible for our imagination to accept. What is the first question we ask about a newborn baby?

Source: The Left Hand of Darkness: A groundbreaking feminist literary masterpiece (S.F. MASTERWORKS Book 172)

Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01NCU4VNT&location=1389

#sciencefiction #technology #TheLeftHandofDarknessAgroundbreakingfeministliterarymasterpieceSFMASTERWORKSBook172 #UrsulaKLeGuin

To learn which questions are unanswerable, and not...

To learn which questions are unanswerable, and not to answer them: this skill is most needful in times of stress and darkness.

Source: The Left Hand of Darkness: A groundbreaking feminist literary masterpiece (S.F. MASTERWORKS Book 172)

Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01NCU4VNT&location=2083

#sciencefiction #technology #TheLeftHandofDarknessAgroundbreakingfeministliterarymasterpieceSFMASTERWORKSBook172 #UrsulaKLeGuin

“Stole it,” said the one-time prime minister of...

“Stole it,” said the one-time prime minister of Karhide,

Source: The Left Hand of Darkness: A groundbreaking feminist literary masterpiece (S.F. MASTERWORKS Book 172)

Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01NCU4VNT&location=2708

#sciencefiction #technology #TheLeftHandofDarknessAgroundbreakingfeministliterarymasterpieceSFMASTERWORKSBook172 #UrsulaKLeGuin

Eskichwe rem ir Her hypothesized that the volcanic...

Eskichwe rem ir Her hypothesized that the volcanic activity in N.W. Orgoreyn and the Archipelago has been increasing during the last ten or twenty millennia, and presages the end of the Ice, or at least a recession of it and an interglacial period. CO2 released by the volcanoes into the atmosphere will in time serve as an insulator, holding in the long-wave heat-energy reflected from the earth, while permitting direct solar heat to enter undiminished. The average world temperature, he says, would in the end be raised some thirty degrees, till it attains 72°. I am glad I shall not be present. Ai says that similar theories have been propounded by Terran scholars to explain the still incomplete recession of their last Age of Ice. All such theories remain largely irrefutable and unprovable; no one knows certainly why the ice comes, why it goes. The Snow of Ignorance remains untrodden.

Source: The Left Hand of Darkness: A groundbreaking feminist literary masterpiece (S.F. MASTERWORKS Book 172)

Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01NCU4VNT&location=2952

#sciencefiction #technology #TheLeftHandofDarknessAgroundbreakingfeministliterarymasterpieceSFMASTERWORKSBook172 #UrsulaKLeGuin

Some who have read the book, or at...

Some who have read the book, or at any rate have reviewed it, have found it boring, absurd, or contemptible; and I have no cause to complain, since I have similar opinions of their works, or of the kinds of writing that they evidently prefer.

Source: The Lord of the Rings: The Classic Bestselling Fantasy Novel

Author: J. R. R. Tolkien

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B093KH5GSS&location=191

#sciencefiction #technology #TheLordoftheRingsTheClassicBestsellingFantasyNovel #JRRTolkien

But I cordially dislike allegory in all its...

But I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history, true or feigned, with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers. I think that many confuse ‘applicability’ with ‘allegory’; but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author.

Source: The Lord of the Rings: The Classic Bestselling Fantasy Novel

Author: J. R. R. Tolkien

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B093KH5GSS&location=209

#sciencefiction #technology #TheLordoftheRingsTheClassicBestsellingFantasyNovel #JRRTolkien

Bombur was now so fat that he could...

Bombur was now so fat that he could not move himself from his couch to his chair at table, and it took six young dwarves to lift him.

Source: The Lord of the Rings: The Classic Bestselling Fantasy Novel

Author: J. R. R. Tolkien

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B093KH5GSS&location=4422

#sciencefiction #technology #TheLordoftheRingsTheClassicBestsellingFantasyNovel #JRRTolkien

They entered the circle of white trees. As...

They entered the circle of white trees. As they did so the South Wind blew upon Cerin Amroth and sighed among the branches. Frodo stood still, hearing far off great seas upon beaches that had long ago been washed away, and sea-birds crying whose race had perished from the earth.

Source: The Lord of the Rings: The Classic Bestselling Fantasy Novel

Author: J. R. R. Tolkien

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B093KH5GSS&location=6713

#sciencefiction #technology #TheLordoftheRingsTheClassicBestsellingFantasyNovel #JRRTolkien

At last they reached the crest of the...

At last they reached the crest of the grey hill, and a sudden breeze blew in their hair and stirred their cloaks: the chill wind of dawn.

Source: The Lord of the Rings: The Classic Bestselling Fantasy Novel

Author: J. R. R. Tolkien

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B093KH5GSS&location=7944

#sciencefiction #technology #TheLordoftheRingsTheClassicBestsellingFantasyNovel #JRRTolkien

A queer half-knowing, half-humorous look came with a...

A queer half-knowing, half-humorous look came with a green flicker into his eyes. ‘For one thing it would take a long while: my name is growing all the time, and I’ve lived a very long, long time; so my name is like a story. Real names tell you the story of the things they belong to in my language, in the Old Entish as you might say. It is a lovely language, but it takes a very long time to say anything in it, because we do not say anything in it, unless it is worth taking a long time to say, and to listen to.

Source: The Lord of the Rings: The Classic Bestselling Fantasy Novel

Author: J. R. R. Tolkien

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B093KH5GSS&location=8750

#sciencefiction #technology #TheLordoftheRingsTheClassicBestsellingFantasyNovel #JRRTolkien

I am not altogether on anybody’s side, because...

I am not altogether on anybody’s side, because nobody is altogether on my side, if you understand me: nobody cares for the woods as I care for them, not even Elves nowadays.

Source: The Lord of the Rings: The Classic Bestselling Fantasy Novel

Author: J. R. R. Tolkien

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B093KH5GSS&location=8890

#sciencefiction #technology #TheLordoftheRingsTheClassicBestsellingFantasyNovel #JRRTolkien

They were come to the feet of the...

They were come to the feet of the Misty Mountains, and the long arms of Nan Curunír stretched down to meet them.

Source: The Lord of the Rings: The Classic Bestselling Fantasy Novel

Author: J. R. R. Tolkien

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B093KH5GSS&location=10374

#sciencefiction #technology #TheLordoftheRingsTheClassicBestsellingFantasyNovel #JRRTolkien

‘You do not know your danger, Théoden,’ interrupted...

‘You do not know your danger, Théoden,’ interrupted Gandalf. ‘These hobbits will sit on the edge of ruin and discuss the pleasures of the table, or the small doings of their fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers, and remoter cousins to the ninth degree, if you encourage them with undue patience. Some other time would be more fitting for the history of smoking. Where is Treebeard, Merry?’

Source: The Lord of the Rings: The Classic Bestselling Fantasy Novel

Author: J. R. R. Tolkien

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B093KH5GSS&location=10488

#sciencefiction #technology #TheLordoftheRingsTheClassicBestsellingFantasyNovel #JRRTolkien

Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions...

Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=389

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

In terms of useful connections to be made...

In terms of useful connections to be made in Britain before going out to Singapore, Sir James Brooke (1803–68) ranked high. Brooke, known colloquially as the ‘White Rajah of Sarawak’, had parlayed an enterprising form of private gunboat diplomacy into his own fiefdom, Sarawak, north Borneo. Brooke promised Wallace whatever assistance he might need in Sarawak and proved a pillar of support during the first phase of Wallace’s travels.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=493

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

Of all the eventful days of my life...

Of all the eventful days of my life my first in Alexandria was the most striking. Imagine my feelings when, coming out of the hotel (whither I have been conveyed in an omnibus) for the purpose of taking a quiet stroll through the city, I found myself in the midst of a vast crowd of donkeys and their drivers, all thoroughly determined to appropriate my person to their own use and interest, without in the least consulting my inclinations. In vain with rapid strides and waving arms I endeavoured to clear a way and move forward; arms and legs were seized upon, and even the Christian coat-tails were not sacred from the profane Mahometans. One would hold together two donkeys by their tails while I was struggling between them, and another, forcing together their heads, would thus hope to compel me to mount upon one or both of them; and one fellow more impudent than the rest I laid flat upon the ground, and sending the donkey staggering after him, I escaped a moment midst hideous yells and most unearthly cries. I now beckoned to a fellow more sensible-looking than the rest, and told him that I wished to walk, and would take him for a guide, and hoped now to be at rest; but vain thought! I was in the hands of the Philistines, and getting us up against a wall, they formed an impenetrable phalanx of men and brutes thoroughly determined that I should only get away from the spot on the legs of a donkey. Bethinking myself now that donkey-riding was a national institution, and seeing a fat Yankee … mounted, being like myself hopeless of any other means of escape, I seized upon a bridle in hopes that I should then be left in peace. But this was the signal for a more furious onset, for, seeing that I would at length ride, each one was determined that he alone should profit by the transaction, and a dozen animals were forced suddenly upon me and a dozen hands tried to lift me upon their respective beasts. But now my patience was exhausted, so, keeping firm hold of the bridle I had first taken with one hand, I hit right and left with the other, and calling, upon my guide to do the same, we succeeded in clearing a little space around us. Now then behold your friend mounted upon a jackass in the streets of Alexandria, a boy behind holding by his tail and whipping him up, Charles (who had been lost sight of in the crowd) upon another, and my guide upon a third, and off we go among a crowd of Jews and Greeks, Turks and Arabs, and veiled women and yelling donkey-boys to see the city. We saw the bazaars and the slave market, where I was again nearly pulled to pieces for ‘backsheesh’ (money), the mosques with their elegant minarets, and then the Pasha’s new palace, the interior of which is most gorgeous … You may think this account is exaggerated, but it is not; the pertinacity, vigour and screams of the Alexandrian donkey-drivers no description can do justice to.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=546

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

The great contrast between the two divisions of...

The great contrast between the two divisions of the Archipelago is nowhere so abruptly exhibited as on passing from the island of Bali to that of Lombock, where the two regions are in closest proximity. In Bali we have barbets, fruit-thrushes, and woodpeckers; on passing over to Lombock these are seen no more, but we have abundance of cockatoos, honeysuckers, and brush-turkeys, which are equally unknown in Bali, or any island further west. The strait is here fifteen miles wide, so that we may pass in two hours from one great division of the earth to another, differing as essentially in their animal life as Europe does from America.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=594

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

The standard ‘natural theological’ argument of the day,...

The standard ‘natural theological’ argument of the day, which saw evidence of divine design in nature, suggested that regions with matching climates should be inhabited by matching sets of plants and animals. ‘Design’ alone, then, could not account for what Wallace saw. Historical factors – both biological (evolutionary) and geological ones – must therefore play central rôles. Wallace’s conclusions have been resoundingly endorsed by modern geology: the Australasian and Asian regions are on different tectonic plates, which, previously widely separated, have converged. The proximity of Bali and Lombok is a geologically recent event; the biological discontinuity between them is thus the legacy of the ancient geological past.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=622

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

Bonaparte’s ‘Conspectus,’

Bonaparte’s ‘Conspectus,’

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=639

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

Wallace had recognized that change occurs in nature...

Wallace had recognized that change occurs in nature from generation to generation; what he still lacked was a mechanism that would entrain that change to produce adaptation – the fit of an organism to its environment.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=655

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

Wallace hoped that his short and strongly worded...

Wallace hoped that his short and strongly worded paper would stir up controversy in London. His heretical ideas would, he dreamt, elevate him in the eyes of his colleagues from mere collector to scientist. But he was to be disappointed. Even Darwin, who had already been working on his theory for more than fifteen years and was therefore perfectly positioned to appreciate the significance of Wallace’s paper, was initially unmoved. In fact, the first feedback Wallace received was from Stevens. ‘Soon after this article appeared, Mr. Stevens wrote me that he had heard several naturalists express regret that I was “theorizing,” when what we had to do was to collect more facts.’

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=657

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

Now, the new idea or principle which Darwin...

Now, the new idea or principle which Darwin had arrived at twenty years before, and which occurred to me at this time, answers all these questions and solves all these

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=700

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

The table showing the numbers of moths caught...

The table showing the numbers of moths caught in Borneo on nights of differing weather conditions illustrates this well. Wallace’s conclusion, ‘that on twenty-six nights I collected 1,386 moths, but that more than 800 of them were collected on four very wet and dark nights’, is unlikely to prompt a career change in the general reader.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=772

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

Collecting mores differed from our day. That a...

Collecting mores differed from our day. That a species was rare – in today’s language, endangered – was more of an inducement to collect it than the opposite. It is difficult, with our modern sensibilities, to read Wallace’s account of the brutal killing of a particularly resilient orang-utan.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=820

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

But insects were not the only problem.

But insects were not the only problem.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=853

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

That Wallace and his assistants succeeded in making...

That Wallace and his assistants succeeded in making any significant collections at all under the conditions is remarkable;

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=860

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

he was a weak swimmer.

he was a weak swimmer.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=877

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

The first edition of Wallace’s Amazon book included...

The first edition of Wallace’s Amazon book included an appendix of common words rendered phonetically in a dozen or so Amerindian languages

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=916

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

David Livingstone

David Livingstone

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1002

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

At early morn, before the sun has risen,...

At early morn, before the sun has risen, we hear a loud cry of ‘Wawk—wawk—wawk, wŏk—wŏk—wŏk,’ which resounds through the forest, changing its direction continually. This is the Great Bird of Paradise going to seek his breakfast. Others soon follow his example; lories and parroquets cry shrilly, cockatoos scream, king-hunters croak and bark, and the various smaller birds chirp and whistle their morning song. As I lie listening to these interesting sounds, I realize my position as the first European who has ever lived for months together in the Aru islands, a place which I had hoped rather than expected ever to visit.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1034

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

Wallace, by contrast, wrote from Sarawak in 1855...

Wallace, by contrast, wrote from Sarawak in 1855 that ‘The more I see of uncivilized people, the better I think of human nature on the whole, and the essential differences between civilized and savage man seem to disappear.’

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1128

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

lines of Horace,

lines of Horace,

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1134

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

green-winged Ornithoptera

green-winged Ornithoptera

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1229

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

One of the chief volcanic belts upon the...

One of the chief volcanic belts upon the globe passes through the Archipelago, and produces a striking contrast in the scenery of the volcanic and non-volcanic islands.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1265

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

It is certainly a wonderful and unexpected fact,...

It is certainly a wonderful and unexpected fact, that an accurate knowledge of the distribution of birds and insects should enable us to map out lands and continents which disappeared beneath the ocean long before the earliest traditions of the human race. Wherever the geologist can explore the earth’s surface, he can read much of its past history, and can determine approximately its latest movements above and below the sea-level; but wherever oceans and seas now extend, he can do nothing but speculate on the very limited data afforded by the depth of the waters. Here the naturalist steps in, and enables him to fill up this great gap in the past history of the earth.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1480

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

Few places are more interesting to a traveller...

Few places are more interesting to a traveller from Europe than the town and island of Singapore,

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1514

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

The government, the garrison, and the chief merchants...

The government, the garrison, and the chief merchants are English; but the great mass of the population is Chinese, including some of the wealthiest merchants, the agriculturists of the interior, and most of the mechanics and labourers.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1515

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

The native Malays are usually fishermen and boatmen,...

The native Malays are usually fishermen and boatmen, and they form the main body of the police. The Portuguese of Malacca supply a large number of the clerks and smaller merchants. The Klings of Western India are a numerous body of Mahometans, and, with many Arabs, are petty merchants and shopkeepers. The grooms and washermen are all Bengalees, and there is a small but highly respectable class of Parsee merchants. Besides these, there are numbers of Javanese sailors and domestic servants, as well as traders from Celebes, Bali, and many other islands of the Archipelago.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1517

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

The barbers have plenty to do, shaving heads...

The barbers have plenty to do, shaving heads and cleaning ears; for which latter operation they have a great array of little tweezers, picks, and brushes.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1537

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

All about the streets are sellers of water,...

All about the streets are sellers of water, vegetables, fruit, soup, and agar-agar (a jelly made of seaweed),

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1541

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

In the interior of the island the Chinese...

In the interior of the island the Chinese cut down forest trees in the jungle, and saw them up into planks; they cultivate vegetables, which they bring to market; and they grow pepper and gambir, which form important articles of export.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1544

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

I lived for several weeks at a time...

I lived for several weeks at a time with the missionary at Bukit-tima, about the centre of the island, where a pretty church has been built and there are about 300 converts.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1546

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

Here and there, too, were tiger pits, carefully...

Here and there, too, were tiger pits, carefully covered over with sticks and leaves, and so well concealed, that in several cases I had a narrow escape from falling into them.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1567

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

There are always a few tigers roaming about...

There are always a few tigers roaming about Singapore, and they kill on an average a Chinaman every day, principally those who work in the gambir plantations, which are always made in newly-cleared jungle. We heard a tiger roar once or twice in the evening, and it was rather nervous work hunting for insects among the fallen trunks and old sawpits, when one of these savage animals might be lurking close by, waiting an opportunity to spring upon us.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1570

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

The vegetation was most luxuriant, comprising enormous forest...

The vegetation was most luxuriant, comprising enormous forest trees, as well as a variety of ferns, caladiums, and other undergrowth, and abundance of climbing rattan palms. Insects were exceedingly abundant and very interesting, and every day furnished scores of new and curious forms.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1575

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

This exceeding productiveness was due in part no...

This exceeding productiveness was due in part no doubt to some favourable conditions in the soil, climate, and vegetation, and to the season being very bright and sunny, with sufficient showers to keep everything fresh. But it was also in a great measure dependent, I feel sure, on the labours of the Chinese wood-cutters. They had been at work here for several years, and during all that time had furnished a continual supply of dry and dead and decaying leaves and bark, together with abundance of wood and sawdust, for the nourishment of insects and their larvæ. This had led to the assemblage of a great variety of species in a limited space, and I was the first naturalist who had come to reap the harvest they had prepared.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1580

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

Birds and most other kinds of animals being...

Birds and most other kinds of animals being scarce at Singapore,

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1589

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

There would be in this place a much...

There would be in this place a much greater number of Portuguese if it were not for the inconvenience, and unhealthiness of the air, which is hurtful not only to strangers, but also to natives of the country. Thence it is that all who live in the country pay tribute of their health, suffering from a certain disease, which makes them lose either their skin or their hair.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1600

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

(Cymbirhynchus macrorhynchus),

(Cymbirhynchus macrorhynchus),

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1632

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(Megalæma versicolor)—fruit-eating

(Megalæma versicolor)—fruit-eating

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1636

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(Calyptomena viridis),

(Calyptomena viridis),

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1638

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rhododendrons

rhododendrons

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1695

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The tiger and rhinoceros are still found here,...

The tiger and rhinoceros are still found here, and a few years ago elephants abounded, but they have lately all disappeared. We found some heaps of dung, which seemed to be that of elephants, and some tracks of the rhinoceros, but saw none of the animals.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1710

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Sir James Brooke,*

Sir James Brooke,*

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1725

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Along these the bare-footed natives walk and carry...

Along these the bare-footed natives walk and carry heavy burdens with the greatest ease, but to a booted European it is very slippery work, and when one’s attention is constantly attracted by the various objects of interest around, a few tumbles into the bog are almost inevitable.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1736

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was at first kindly accommodated in Mr. Coulson’s...

was at first kindly accommodated in Mr. Coulson’s house, but finding the spot very suitable for me and offering great facilities for collecting, I had a small house of two rooms and a verandah built for myself. Here I remained nearly nine months,

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1741

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On one day I collected 76 different kinds,...

On one day I collected 76 different kinds, of which 34 were new to me. By the end of April I had more than a thousand species, and they then went on increasing at a slower rate; so that I obtained altogether in Borneo about two thousand distinct kinds, of which all but about a hundred were collected at this place,

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1761

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Flying frog

Flying frog

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1789

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Gymnurus Rafflesii,

Gymnurus Rafflesii,

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1792

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all these objects I succeeded beyond my expectations,...

all these objects I succeeded beyond my expectations, and will now give some account of my experience in hunting the Orang-utan, or ‘Mias,’ as it is called by the natives; and as this name is short, and easily pronounced, I shall generally use it in preference to Simia satyrus, or Orang-utan.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1795

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time, so I called them to accompany me,...

time, so I called them to accompany me, and started off, telling Charley to bring all the ammunition after me as soon as possible.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1897

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Mias did not wait for him to get...

Mias did not wait for him to get near, moving off to another tree, where he got on to a dense mass of branches and creepers which almost completely hid him from our view.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1924

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long-nosed monkey

long-nosed monkey

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=1993

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It is a singular and very interesting sight...

It is a singular and very interesting sight to watch a Mias making his way leisurely through the forest.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=2085

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The first of whom I inquired said: ‘No...

The first of whom I inquired said: ‘No animal is strong enough to hurt the Mias, and the only creature he ever fights with is the crocodile. When there is no fruit in the jungle, he goes to seek food on the banks of the river, where there are plenty of young shoots that he likes, and fruits that grow close to the water. Then the crocodile sometimes tries to seize him, but the Mias gets upon him, and beats him with his hands and feet, and tears him and kills him.’ He added that he had once seen such a fight, and that he believes that the Mias is always the victor.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=2116

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‘The Mias has no enemies; no animals dare...

‘The Mias has no enemies; no animals dare attack it but the crocodile and the python. He always kills the crocodile by main strength, standing upon it, pulling open its jaws, and ripping up its throat. If a python attacks a Mias, he seizes it with his hands, and then bites it, and soon kills it. The Mias is very strong; there is no animal in the jungle so strong as he.’

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=2121

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Sádong River,

Sádong River,

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=2174

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Sádong Dyaks, with whom he had traded. We...

Sádong Dyaks, with whom he had traded. We left

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=2175

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He lived in a large and well-built house,...

He lived in a large and well-built house, very dirty outside and in, and was very inquisitive about my business, and particularly about the coal mines. These puzzle the natives exceedingly, as they cannot understand the extensive and costly preparations for working coal, and cannot believe it is to be used only as fuel when wood is so abundant and so easily obtained.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=2177

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the ‘head-house,’—a circular building attached to most Dyak...

the ‘head-house,’—a circular building attached to most Dyak villages, and serving as a lodging for strangers, the place for trade, the sleeping-room of the unmarried youths, and the general council-chamber.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=2194

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the Dyaks with a great deal of their...

the Dyaks with a great deal of their food. The Mangosteen, Lansat, Rambutan, Jack, Jambou, and Blimbing, are all abundant; but most abundant and most esteemed is the Durian, a fruit about which very little is known in England, but which both by natives and Europeans in the Malay Archipelago is reckoned superior to all others.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=2320

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The Durian grows on a large and lofty...

The Durian grows on a large and lofty forest tree, somewhat resembling an elm in its general character, but with a more smooth and scaly bark. The fruit is round or slightly oval, about the size of a large cocoanut, of a green colour, and covered all over with short stout spines the bases of which touch each other, and are consequently somewhat hexagonal, while the points are very strong and sharp. It is so completely armed, that if the stalk is broken off it is a difficult matter to lift one from the ground. The outer rind is so thick and tough, that from whatever height it may fall it is never broken. From the base to the apex five very faint lines may be traced, over which the spines arch a little; these are the sutures of the carpels, and show where the fruit may be divided with a heavy knife and a strong hand. The five cells are satiny white within, and are each filled with an oval mass of cream-coloured pulp, imbedded in which are two or three seeds about the size of chestnuts. This pulp is the eatable part, and its consistence and flavour are indescribable. A rich butter-like custard highly flavoured with almonds gives the best general idea of it, but intermingled with it come wafts of flavour that call to mind cream-cheese, onion-sauce, brown sherry, and other incongruities. Then there is a rich glutinous smoothness in the pulp which nothing else possesses, but which adds to its delicacy. It is neither acid, nor sweet, nor juicy, yet one feels the want of none of these qualities, for it is perfect as it is. It produces no nausea or other bad effect, and the more you eat of it the less you feel inclined to stop. In fact to eat Durians is a new sensation, worth a voyage to the East to experience.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=2328

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If I had to fix on two only,...

If I had to fix on two only, as representing the perfection of the two classes, I should certainly choose the Durian and the Orange as the king and queen of fruits.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=2347

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Poets and moralists, judging from our English trees...

Poets and moralists, judging from our English trees and fruits, have thought that small fruits always grew on lofty trees, so that their fall should be harmless to man, while the large ones trailed on the ground. Two of the largest and heaviest fruits known, however, the Brazil-nut fruit (Bertholletia) and Durian, grow on lofty forest trees, from which they fall as soon as they are ripe, and often wound or kill the native inhabitants. From this we may learn two things: first, not to draw general conclusions from a very partial view of nature; and secondly, that trees and fruits, no less than the varied productions of the animal kingdom, do not appear to be organized with exclusive reference to the use and convenience of man.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=2353

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This method is constantly used in order to...

This method is constantly used in order to obtain wax, which is one of the most valuable products of the country.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=2397

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Nepenthes rajah,

Nepenthes rajah,

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=2421

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Sir James Brooke’s

Sir James Brooke’s

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=2453

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even in civilized countries half the population die...

even in civilized countries half the population die before the age of twenty-five,

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=2587

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Northern Celebes,

Northern Celebes,

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=2639

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Chandi Kali Bening,

Chandi Kali Bening,

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=2792

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trachytic rock,

trachytic rock,

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=2811

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The common jungle-cock (Gallus bankiva) was also obtained...

The common jungle-cock (Gallus bankiva) was also obtained here. It is almost exactly like a common game-cock, but the voice is different, being much shorter and more abrupt; whence its native name is Bekéko.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=2847

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Loriculus pusillus,

Loriculus pusillus,

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=2849

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A few days afterwards I went by steamer...

A few days afterwards I went by steamer to Batavia, where I stayed about a week at the chief hotel, while I made arrangements for a trip into the interior. The business part of the city is near the harbour, but the hotels and all the residences of the officials and European merchants are in a suburb two miles off, laid out in wide streets and squares so as to cover a great extent of ground. This is very inconvenient for visitors, as the only public conveyances are handsome two-horse carriages, whose lowest charge is five guilders (8s. 4d.) for half a day, so that an hour’s business in the morning and a visit in the evening costs 16s. 8d. a day for carriage hire alone. Batavia agrees very well with Mr. Money’s graphic account of it, except that his ‘clear canals’ were all muddy, and his ‘smooth gravel drives’ up to the houses were one and all formed of coarse pebbles, very painful to walk upon, and hardly explained by the fact that in Batavia everybody drives, as it can hardly be supposed that people never walk in their gardens.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=2863

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minivet flycatcher

minivet flycatcher

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=2910

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black and crimson oriole

black and crimson oriole

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=2911

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Royal Cowslip

Royal Cowslip

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=2966

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(Turdus fumidus).

(Turdus fumidus).

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=3019

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long-tailed parroquet

long-tailed parroquet

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=3062

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The road is divided into regular stages, of...

The road is divided into regular stages, of ten or twelve miles each, and, without sending on in advance to have coolies ready, only this distance can be travelled in a day. At each station there are houses for the accommodation of passengers, with cooking-house and stables, and six or eight men always on guard. There is an established system for coolies at fixed rates, the inhabitants of the surrounding villages all taking their turn to be subject to coolie service, as well as that of guards at the station for five days at a time.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=3066

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Lobo Raman

Lobo Raman

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=3107

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To illustrate these phenomena, let us suppose a...

To illustrate these phenomena, let us suppose a roaming Englishman in some remote island to have two wives—one a black-haired red-skinned Indian, the other a woolly-headed sooty-skinned negress; and that instead of the children being mulattoes of brown or dusky tints, mingling the characteristics of each parent in varying degrees, all the boys should be as fair-skinned and blue-eyed as their father, while the girls should altogether resemble their mothers.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=3137

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I purchased a small one, which had been...

I purchased a small one, which had been caught by the natives and tied up so tightly as to hurt it. It was rather savage at first, and tried to bite; but when we had released it and given it two poles under the verandah to hang upon, securing it by a short cord, running along the pole with a ring, so that it could move easily, it became more contented, and would swing itself about with great rapidity. It ate almost any kind of fruit and rice, and I was in hopes to have brought it to England, but it died just before I started. It took a dislike to me at first, which I tried to get over by feeding it constantly myself. One day, however, it bit me so sharply while giving it food, that I lost patience and gave it rather a severe beating, which I regretted afterwards, as from that time it disliked me more than ever. It would allow my Malay boys to play with it, and for hours together would swing by its arms from pole to pole and on to the rafters of the verandah, with so much ease and rapidity, that it was a constant source of amusement to us.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=3190

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Buceros bicornis,

Buceros bicornis,

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=3224

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Gymnurus rafflesii.

Gymnurus rafflesii.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=3289

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Although on the map Banca appears so close...

Although on the map Banca appears so close to Sumatra, this does not arise from its having been recently separated from it; for the adjacent district of Palembang is new land, being a great alluvial swamp formed by torrents from the mountains a hundred miles distant. Banca, on the other hand, agrees with Malacca, Singapore, and the intervening island of Lingen, in being formed of granite and laterite; and these have all most likely once formed an extension of the Malay peninsula.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=3338

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Argus pheasant,

Argus pheasant,

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=3369

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crested partridge

crested partridge

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=3370

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(Psittinus incertus),

(Psittinus incertus),

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=3370

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great gaper

great gaper

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=3371

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(Corydon sumatranus),

(Corydon sumatranus),

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=3371

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Crypsirhina varians,

Crypsirhina varians,

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=3399

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It was on the 13th of June, 1856,...

It was on the 13th of June, 1856, after a twenty days’ passage from Singapore in the ‘Kembang Djepoon’ (Rose of Japan), a schooner belonging to a Chinese merchant, manned by a Javanese crew, and commanded by an English captain, that we cast anchor in the dangerous roadstead of Bileling on the north side of the island of Bali.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=3418

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superb orioles

superb orioles

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=3480

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(Oriolus broderpii)

(Oriolus broderpii)

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=3480

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

Tropidorhynchus timoriensis,

Tropidorhynchus timoriensis,

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=3481

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

Labuan Tring

Labuan Tring

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=3490

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

(Megapodius gouldii),

(Megapodius gouldii),

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=3502

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

Halcyon fulgidus.

Halcyon fulgidus.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=3520

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

The most characteristic feature of the jungle was...

The most characteristic feature of the jungle was its thorniness. The shrubs were thorny; the creepers were thorny; the bamboos even were thorny. Everything grew zigzag and jagged, and in an inextricable tangle, so that to get through the bush with gun or net or even spectacles, was generally not to be done, and insect-catching in such localities was out of the question.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=3539

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

My principal piece of furniture was a box,...

My principal piece of furniture was a box, which served me as a dining-table, a seat while skinning birds, and as the receptacle of the birds when skinned and dried. To keep them free from ants we borrowed, with some difficulty, an old bench, the four legs of which being placed in cocoa-nut shells filled with water kept us tolerably free from these pests.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=3561

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At length, about an hour after noon, we...

At length, about an hour after noon, we reached our destination—the village of Coupang,

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=3655

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

Halcyon fulgidus,

Halcyon fulgidus,

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=3754

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

Zoothera andromeda.

Zoothera andromeda.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=3754

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

The aborigines of Lombock are termed Sassaks. They...

The aborigines of Lombock are termed Sassaks. They are a Malay race hardly differing in appearance from the people of Malacca or Borneo. They are Mahometans and form the bulk of the population. The ruling classes, on the other hand, are natives of the adjacent island of Bali, and are of the Brahminical religion.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=3758

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

The only money the natives will take for...

The only money the natives will take for their rice is Chinese copper cash, twelve hundred of which go to a dollar.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=3803

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

Oeassa,

Oeassa,

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=3958

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

Tropidorhynchus timorensis

Tropidorhynchus timorensis

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=3985

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

Cyornis hyacinthina;

Cyornis hyacinthina;

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=3987

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

thus we went up and down, over bare...

thus we went up and down, over bare hills whose surface was covered with small pebbles and scattered over with Eucalypti, reminding me of what I had read of parts of the interior of Australia rather than of the Malay Archipelago.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=4023

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

The Portuguese government in Timor is a most...

The Portuguese government in Timor is a most miserable one. Nobody seems to care the least about the improvement of the country, and at this time, after three hundred years of occupation, there has not been a mile of road made beyond the town, and there is not a solitary European resident anywhere in the interior. All the Government officials oppress and rob the natives as much as they can, and yet there is no care taken to render the town defensible should the Timorese attempt to attack it.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=4109

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

Gloriosa superba,

Gloriosa superba,

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=4140

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(Apis dorsata),

(Apis dorsata),

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=4150

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

yellow-headed weaver

yellow-headed weaver

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=4199

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

(Ploceus hypoxantha),

(Ploceus hypoxantha),

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=4199

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

(Copsychus amœnus),

(Copsychus amœnus),

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=4200

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

(Sturnopastor jalla),

(Sturnopastor jalla),

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=4200

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

Javanese three-toed woodpecker

Javanese three-toed woodpecker

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=4201

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

I do not think that Timor was ever...

I do not think that Timor was ever actually connected with Australia, because such a large number of very abundant and characteristic groups of Australian birds are quite absent, and not a single Australian mammal has entered Timor; which would certainly not have been the case had the lands been actually united. Such groups as the bower birds (Ptilonorhynchus), the black and red cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus), the blue wrens (Malurus), the crowshrikes (Cracticus), the Australian shrikes (Falcunculus and Colluricincla), and many others, which abound all over Australia, would certainly have spread into Timor if it had been united to that country, or even if for any long time it had approached nearer to it than twenty miles. Neither do any of the most characteristic groups of Australian insects occur in Timor; so that everything combines to indicate that a strait of the sea has always separated it from Australia, but that at one period this strait was reduced to a width of about twenty miles.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=4257

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

Some wine was then brought us, and afterwards...

Some wine was then brought us, and afterwards some detestable coffee and wretched sweetmeats, for it is a fact that I have never tasted good coffee where people grow it themselves.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=4371

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

Thousands of crows, rather smaller than our rook,...

Thousands of crows, rather smaller than our rook, keep up a constant cawing in these plantations; the curious wood-swallows (Artami), which closely resemble swallows in their habits and flight but differ much in form and structure, twitter from the tree-tops; while a lyre-tailed drongo-shrike, with brilliant black plumage and milk-white eyes, continually deceives the naturalist by the variety of its unmelodious notes.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=4391

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

Not a single person in the village could...

Not a single person in the village could speak more than a few words of Malay, and hardly any of the people appeared to have seen a European before. One most disagreeable result of this was, that I excited terror alike in man and beast. Wherever I went, dogs barked, children screamed, women ran away, and men stared as though I were some strange and terrible cannibal monster. Even the pack-horses on the roads and paths would start aside when I appeared and rush into the jungle; and as to those horrid, ugly brutes, the buffaloes, they could never be approached by me; not for fear of my own but of others’ safety. They would first stick out their necks and stare at me, and then on a nearer view break loose from their halters or tethers, and rush away helter-skelter as if a demon were after them, without any regard for what might be in their way. Whenever I met buffaloes carrying packs along a pathway, or being driven home to the village, I had to turn aside into the jungle and hide myself till they had passed, to avoid a catastrophe which would increase the dislike with which I was already regarded.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=4503

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

The reader who is familiar with tropical nature...

The reader who is familiar with tropical nature only through the medium of books and botanical gardens, will picture to himself in such a spot many other natural beauties. He will think that I have unaccountably forgotten to mention the brilliant flowers, which, in gorgeous masses of crimson gold or azure, must spangle these verdant precipices, hang over the cascade, and adorn the margin of the mountain stream. But what is the reality? In vain did I gaze over these vast walls of verdure, among the pendant creepers and bushy shrubs, all around the cascade, on the river’s bank, or in the deep caverns and gloomy fissures,—not one single spot of bright colour could be seen, not one single tree or bush or creeper bore a flower sufficiently conspicuous to form an object in the landscape. In every direction the eye rested on green foliage and mottled rock.

Source: The Malay Archipelago (Pocket Penguins)

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace and Dr Andrew Berry

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B00OR0SYHK&location=4704

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMalayArchipelagoPocketPenguins #AlfredRusselWallaceandDrAndrewBerry

The environments we create are often rich in...

The environments we create are often rich in resources for those that can exploit them. It might seem heretical to say this, but cities and farms provide some species with better habitat than anything natural, which they show by living in high densities. Like humans, brushtail possums, rainbow lorikeets and bluetongue lizards reach their peak densities in cities.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=70

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

One reason it is beneficial to focus on...

One reason it is beneficial to focus on this is that many Australians are dismissive of any environmental crisis because they see parrots and other bold native birds thriving in cities around them. When the conservation message sounds too much like ‘nature is suffering’, it is easily shrugged off as exaggeration. To bring more Australians on board, the environment movement needs to talk more about winners – to ensure that its messages about losers are considered credible.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=73

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

In the Australian Alps, kookaburras reaching higher altitudes...

In the Australian Alps, kookaburras reaching higher altitudes are preying on alpine lizards that fail to regard them as dangerous.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=87

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

The problems of climate change will very often...

The problems of climate change will very often come in the form of native species causing harm. The evidence for this is compelling: in Australia very few species have yet moved in response to warming but several are already problematic.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=93

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

white-chested white-eye

white-chested white-eye

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=121

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

We hear so much these days about wildlife...

We hear so much these days about wildlife dying out, as if nature en masse were sliding down the drain. The truth is more interesting. Many native things are thriving by riding on our coat-tails. Seagulls, ravens, magpies, red-back spiders and bulrushes have never known better times. Their futures brightened when people came to the great south land.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=195

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

Losers as well as winners are moving in...

Losers as well as winners are moving in with us. Sydney has an endangered frog that supposedly benefits from heavy metals. Our toilet flushings sustain great hosts of birds and fish. We have engineered the earth to meet our needs, and many other species find their needs met too.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=206

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

Nature is sold to us as something separate...

Nature is sold to us as something separate that lives far away from us in wild places, when really it’s all around us, engaging with us more than we guess. The wilderness begins right here where we live. The ‘new nature’ is really the story of animals and plants responding to the latest environmental challenge – us.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=214

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

Swallows keep on pushing the boundaries. They have...

Swallows keep on pushing the boundaries. They have bred inside Rockhampton’s railway station, operating the doors by hovering before the sensors. This is a true story, properly documented.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=231

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

How else do we explain the remarkable night...

How else do we explain the remarkable night roosts of rainbow lorikeets? I know of one busy Brisbane intersection where hundreds of lorikeets sleep in a few scrawny trees, unfazed by roaring traffic, glaring supermarket lights, and blaring music from a nearby bar.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=246

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

What are these examples showing? That nature is...

What are these examples showing? That nature is more opportunistic than we think; that animals aren’t always fixed in their ways; that they will exploit the opportunities we provide. This certainly holds true for the birds that use the things we make.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=282

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

David Collins, an officer with the First Fleet,...

David Collins, an officer with the First Fleet, learned of a trick deployed by Sydney Aborigines: ‘A native stretched himself on a rock, as if asleep in the sun, holding a piece of fish in his hand. The bird – hawk or crow – seeing the prey, and not observing any motion in the native, pounced on the fish; and in the instant of seizing it was caught by the savage, who cooked it quickly on the fire, making a meal that for enjoyment might be envied by an epicure.’

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=353

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

greater honeyguide,

greater honeyguide,

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=369

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

(Melomys rubicola),

(Melomys rubicola),

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=400

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

Nature is not a separate domain hiding away...

Nature is not a separate domain hiding away in the wilderness. Animals and plants live all around us and exploit us when they can.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=422

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

Graham Pyke of the Australian Museum calls this...

Graham Pyke of the Australian Museum calls this animal an ‘endangered weed’. Once abundant in New South Wales, it is now an endangered species that is found mainly in unnatural settings.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=432

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

He calls the frog a weed because it...

He calls the frog a weed because it behaves like one, appearing in large numbers where earth has been excavated.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=437

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

We left the paddock that day pondering its...

We left the paddock that day pondering its future. No-one has told the farmer that he owns one of the best remnants of grassland in southern Queensland. Probably no-one will. This is rural Australia. We don’t want him firing up his tractor and ploughing the past to dust.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=543

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

Hamilton’s remaining bandicoots are faring poorly. John Seebeek...

Hamilton’s remaining bandicoots are faring poorly. John Seebeek expects them to vanish soon. He blames certain urban trends – more cars and more houses on vacant land. ‘At Hamilton they’re also very heavily into tidy town-ness,’ he said. ‘So there’s not the ready availability of easy cover that there was.’ Gardens are becoming neater and the fringes of town less weedy.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=566

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

These days they depend upon incendiary devices spat...

These days they depend upon incendiary devices spat out of planes.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=621

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

Explorer Dirk Hartog summed matters up in 1616....

Explorer Dirk Hartog summed matters up in 1616. ‘This land is cursed,’ he wrote, ‘the animals hop, not run, the birds run, not fly, and the swans are black, not white.’

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=659

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

Nor did Bernard O’Reilly, much later in the...

Nor did Bernard O’Reilly, much later in the 1940s, invoke the romantic idea of wilderness to describe his beloved Lamington rainforest, though wilderness it surely

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=663

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

The wilderness push of the seventies really grew...

The wilderness push of the seventies really grew out of the New Left movement of the sixties, when university students rebelled against the materialism, conformity and technological optimism of the times.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=687

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

Tasmania’s south-west, the great wilderness mecca, is by...

Tasmania’s south-west, the great wilderness mecca, is by some criteria a biodiversity desert. Diversity of mammals, birds, reptiles, frogs, fish and plants is low. More reptile species (twelve) roam through my backyard than occupy south-west Tasmania, and my local creek, thick with weeds, supports many more kinds of rainforest tree, including an endangered myrtle.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=704

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

In two major wilderness areas – the Wet...

In two major wilderness areas – the Wet Tropics and Cape York Peninsula – endangered animals are losing out to vegetation change. Expanding rainforests in the Wet Tropics have swallowed up half the wet sclerophyll, killing off thousands of ancient eucalypts, and displacing the endangered tropical bettong.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=729

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

We are imprisoned by a paradox. Wilderness is...

We are imprisoned by a paradox. Wilderness is supposed to be the one environment we let alone and don’t manipulate. But manipulate we must.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=735

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

This grim conclusion shows how restrictive it is...

This grim conclusion shows how restrictive it is to define nature or wilderness in opposition to culture.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=773

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

The brown snake in my garden means more...

The brown snake in my garden means more to me than any reptile in a wilderness. We are neighbours, neither distance nor definition separating us.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=780

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

buffalo bream

buffalo bream

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=846

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

but many elders volunteered priceless ecological data. Burbidge...

but many elders volunteered priceless ecological data. Burbidge and colleagues recalled one meeting: ‘When all the different skins had been spread out on a hessian bag, a Ngaanyatjarra man said, “But you haven’t got the Kuluwarri there.” The Kuluwarri? This was our first clue that the enigmatic Central Hare-Wallaby, known to science from only a single skull collected by the explorer Michael Terry near Lake Mackay [in the Northern Territory] in 1931, had once actually lived in W.A.’ Kuluwarri was recalled as a soft furry being who dozed by day under spinifex and nibbled grass and seeds at night. He lasted in the deserts until the 1960s. All we know of him comes from elders at more than thirty remote stations.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=891

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

There’s even a big lizard in the spinifex...

There’s even a big lizard in the spinifex deserts that likes mosaic burning. The great desert skink (Egernia kintorei) is rare and declining, and survives mainly where Aborigines still burn the land. It’s another example, like the orange-bellied parrot, of a rare species in a remote place that depends on people. Nature is seldom as natural as we think.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=918

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

Australia has been shaped by a succession of...

Australia has been shaped by a succession of large engineers. Dinosaurs were followed by large mammals, then by people – first Aborigines, then Europeans and their livestock. Tim Flannery says, ‘We (Homo sapiens) are the last of Australia’s megafauna. We are the ecological equivalent of Diprotodon, Thylacaleo and all the rest.’ Some of our impacts have been comparable.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=921

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

Because birds have good colour vision but usually...

Because birds have good colour vision but usually no sense of smell, one can assume that big sombre fruits with alluring aromas evolved to attract large mammals.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=931

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

Watching where our wastes go is one way...

Watching where our wastes go is one way of discovering how important we are to wildlife; of seeing how other species exploit the opportunities we create.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=949

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Today’s silver gulls (the common species) dine in...

Today’s silver gulls (the common species) dine in our malls, parks, ports, tips, schools, abattoirs – wherever food is free. Like blowflies in bins, they multiply on our wastes. Our cities and towns are now seagull factories pumping out garbage-guzzling birds. Seagulls flourish on the effluents of affluence.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1046

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Sydney’s main airport had 158 gull strikes in...

Sydney’s main airport had 158 gull strikes in eight years. Problem gulls are sometimes fed hallucinogens to persuade them to leave.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1089

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Gulls all over the world are proving bothersome...

Gulls all over the world are proving bothersome to people and wildlife. They highlight the major theme of this book: that animals who benefit from us (winners) may go on to trouble other species. Stilts in the desert face no threat at all from humans, but we harm them indirectly by feeding their enemies.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1090

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The ibises feed mainly on mainland farms, the...

The ibises feed mainly on mainland farms, the gulls in Melbourne and Geelong, so if I toss a chip to a seagull in Fitzroy Gardens I may be fertilising a rare shrub growing 55 kilometres away.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1099

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One kite was seen dropping bread into a...

One kite was seen dropping bread into a river to lure fish and prawns to the surface; another was seen using potato chips.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1107

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(Lyngbya majuscula),

(Lyngbya majuscula),

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1135

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

camphor laurel

camphor laurel

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1142

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Many of the French fries doled out to...

Many of the French fries doled out to tatty pigeons end up by fattening these fierce birds of prey.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1187

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Landscapes today are shaped by people. We do...

Landscapes today are shaped by people. We do more than weather and tectonics to mould the land. Our structures – buildings, dams, roads, quarries – and the clearings we make exert a major influence on wildlife. They complicate the landscape, bringing resources together in useful combinations: land and water, food and shelter, clearing and thicket. Buildings and communication structures add height, which is important for birds. In every landscape time lowers and we raise. Animals are often adept at assessing our structures and using them for their own needs.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1196

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If you’re after snakes, don’t focus on logs,...

If you’re after snakes, don’t focus on logs, look for junk instead. Old roofing iron, fibro, slabs of concrete – snakes and lizards love this stuff. As reptile enthusiast Raymond Hoser pointed out in an article called ‘Australian Reptile Habitats – A Load of Rubbish!’ (1996): ‘Have you ever taken a good look at the habitat photos in a reptile book? Rarely is there any sign of human habitation or influence on the sites . . . And yet if you ask any Australian reptile person about good spots to find snakes and lizards, you’ll inevitably find out that many such spots are those littered with sheets of tin or other human rubbish.’

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1266

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The most profound change we make to the...

The most profound change we make to the landscape may well be the capture of water. So thirsty are we for water that Australia is now a land of dams. Huge amounts of liquid are brought to the surface, shunted around and captured in dams. Viewed from above in the late afternoon when every pool captures the setting sun, Australia can look as cratered as the face of the moon. The plains sparkle as though splattered by spots of silver. Flying over an area north of Melbourne, I counted a hundred farm dams in 10 per cent of my field of vision. Dams installed for cows and sheep, and reservoirs for our own water supplies, have incidentally created tremendous opportunities for many bird species.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1294

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Foodwebs change as new fish arrive. At Peak...

Foodwebs change as new fish arrive. At Peak Downs in 1994 Wayne netted four or five kinds of small fish. Three years later the pool was commandeered by much larger spangled perch, all emaciated and listless. They had eaten the smaller fish and were attacking each other. All the fish in a pit can sometimes die, succession beginning again when birds courier in more eggs.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1320

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‘Before European settlement,’ Jill noted, ‘most of the...

‘Before European settlement,’ Jill noted, ‘most of the interior of Australia was waterless for much of the time, except for the rare good seasons. There were the big river systems and then there were waterholes, but they were few and far between. Most of the land was dry. What this means is that grazing by kangaroos must have been restricted to places where water was available or just those seasons when water was widespread. Large parts of inland Australia were not grazed by large mammals for a large part of the time. Now almost everywhere is easily within reach of water for livestock, kangaroos and feral animals, goats in particular.’

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1340

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Ducks paddle in the paddies and also eat...

Ducks paddle in the paddies and also eat the rice, so farmers in New South Wales can get unrestricted licences to cull shelducks, wood ducks, black ducks, pink-eared ducks, whistling ducks, hardheads and teal. That’s a lot of ducks.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1367

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(Emex australis),

(Emex australis),

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1427

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orchard swallowtail

orchard swallowtail

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1431

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In Victoria’s grain belt long-billed corellas rely on...

In Victoria’s grain belt long-billed corellas rely on foreign plants for 90 per cent of their diet. After the summer oat harvest they feed on the stubble, switching over to onion-grasses (Romulea) in autumn when they consume millions of the weedy bulbs brought up where soil is tilled. This is all harmless, but when farmers sow their grain the corellas dig it up.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1486

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Norfolk Island green parrot

Norfolk Island green parrot

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1491

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In Western Australia little eagles moved into the...

In Western Australia little eagles moved into the south-west when rabbits arrived, then retreated after myxomatosis struck.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1514

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I later saw masked weavers stringing nests from...

I later saw masked weavers stringing nests from wattle stems. I must say that few images compare with a weaver on a wattle, the green and gold of one harmonising with the same hues on the other, creating a picture that is all the more striking because it was never meant to be.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1579

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the ‘canine zone’, the epiphytic community of algae,...

the ‘canine zone’, the epiphytic community of algae, mosses and lichens that colours trees where dogs cock their legs.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1605

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Sydney’s owls are known to take cats.

Sydney’s owls are known to take cats.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1660

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Fuscous honeyeaters,

Fuscous honeyeaters,

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1668

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In Britain, notes urban ecologist O.L. Gilbert, ‘suburban...

In Britain, notes urban ecologist O.L. Gilbert, ‘suburban gardens are believed to support the highest density of breeding birds of any habitat’. The blackbird population in Oxford reaches twenty times the density of woodland blackbirds. Garden birds, says Gilbert, are ‘mostly woodland birds which find the mosaic of habitats resemble the richest of wood margin ecotones’. That may be true here too.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1680

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There are cliff-dwelling peregrines, seashore seagulls, swamp frogs,...

There are cliff-dwelling peregrines, seashore seagulls, swamp frogs, rainforest insects, woodland birds and cave moths, all coming together in new combinations.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1709

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Rufous-banded honeyeaters in Darwin breed almost year round...

Rufous-banded honeyeaters in Darwin breed almost year round (compared to a four-month season in woodland), and achieve an exceptionally high nest success by eating garden insects and seed arils of earpod wattles (Acacia auriculiformes, a common urban weed).

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1741

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Another key trait is curiosity. Behaviourists speak of...

Another key trait is curiosity. Behaviourists speak of ‘neophilia’ to describe animals that readily approach new things, and ‘neophobia’ for the opposite.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1750

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Seagulls are masters of innovation. They pluck food...

Seagulls are masters of innovation. They pluck food from air, water and land. They follow boats, dolphins, and ploughs in fields. They take fish from nets, sit on pelicans, and feed under lights at night. They thrust their heads inside seal vaginas to gobble umbilical cords after birth.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1757

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Birds that do best on forest edges, surveys...

Birds that do best on forest edges, surveys show, include magpies, crows and singing honeyeaters. Edge-dwelling birds are often black and white, a scheme that offers easy recognition in open country.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1777

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One key point to make is that many...

One key point to make is that many species are both winners and losers, depending on where they live. Bush stone-curlews in Victoria are endangered, but further north they are common, found breeding in parks in Brisbane and strutting about on footpaths in Townsville.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1783

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Other examples of birds doing well in one...

Other examples of birds doing well in one city but not in others include bellbirds (Melbourne), choughs (Canberra), singing honeyeaters (Perth) and peaceful doves (Townsville). These examples suggest to me that localised learning can play a role in success.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1785

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In 1971, before these problems emerged, Taronga Zoo...

In 1971, before these problems emerged, Taronga Zoo obtained fourteen Healesville ibises to create its own wild flock. When the first wild-born chick was fledged in 1973 the zoo felt triumphant, issuing a self-congratulatory press release. ‘This successful hatching is regarded as a triumph for Taronga Zoo Bird keeping Staff: it is probably the only ibis hatched in Sydney environs for many, many years, and it confirms the success of an experiment to create a liberty flock.’ This ‘liberty flock’ roamed around Mosman each day after breakfasting with the flamingoes. ‘The experiment works wonderfully’, the press release crowed. But over the years the ibises multiplied and spread across Sydney. Now there are ibises patrolling parks and slinking down back alleys in Kings Cross. They raid bins and scare children. At a breeding colony in the Botany wetland rare Japanese snipe were displaced. Ronald Strahan, former zoo director, openly admits his zoo spawned Sydney’s ibis problem. ‘I can’t prove it, but I do have it on my conscience,’ he told me. The zoo-keeper (now retired) who freed the flock is also convinced.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1793

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On Christmas Eve 1995 the inevitable happened: a...

On Christmas Eve 1995 the inevitable happened: a Qantas airbus hit an ibis. An engine was ruined and a plane grounded at the busiest time of year, costing Qantas millions. An Ibis Management Coordination Group (IMCG) was then set up. The Gold Coast Council brought in ibis-proof bins, and birds at tips were harried with stock whips, slingshots, car horns, kites, balloons, ibis warning calls and taste deterrents, none of which worked.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1807

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The barriers between people and wildlife are weakening...

The barriers between people and wildlife are weakening as animals learn new tricks.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1827

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

Gilbert made no mention of ibises or spoonbills...

Gilbert made no mention of ibises or spoonbills around Perth, although five species occur there today. He saw no moorhens, galahs, darters, little egrets or crested grebes, all birds that live there now. Fourteen or more new birds have invaded the region since Gilbert’s day.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1851

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These kinds of changes distort our image of...

These kinds of changes distort our image of Australia. In The Fatal Shore Robert Hughes glories in the ‘exuberance of bird life’ that greeted colonists in Sydney in 1788, but – oops! – the galahs, corellas, and pink cockatoos he mentions weren’t there back then. Not until the 1940s could anyone around Sydney see galahs ‘passing against the opaline horizon’.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1865

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In another example, little egrets are currently listed...

In another example, little egrets are currently listed in Victoria as critically endangered, when a hundred years ago they weren’t found at all south of Grafton. Melbourne biologists worry about rainbow lorikeets stealing nest holes from red-rumped parrots but the latter are also invaders, though less recent ones.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1868

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The crested pigeon has done more than any...

The crested pigeon has done more than any other to spread its wings. It was once an Outback bird, not found east of Gunnedah or Goondiwindi and not within hundreds of kilometres of Perth. ‘The chasteness of its colouring,’ Gould wrote in 1865, ‘the extreme elegance of its form, and the graceful crest which flows from its occiput, all tend to render this Pigeon one of the most lovely members of its family, and it is therefore to be regretted that, owing to its being exclusively an inhabitant of the plains of the interior, it can never become an object of general observation’. Today crested pigeons are objects of general observation in Sydney parks,

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1892

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

In 1903 Lawson Whitlock spent several weeks around...

In 1903 Lawson Whitlock spent several weeks around Mogumber, a township north of Perth, and his list caught the eye of Dom Serventy and W. Loaring, who went there almost fifty years later, in 1950, to compare. I went there myself almost fifty years later still, in 1998. In Whitlock’s day there were no galahs, singing honeyeaters, white-fronted chats, crested bellbirds or regent parrots, all of which were seen in 1950. On my quick trip I didn’t see the last two birds but I did spot three newcomers: crested pigeons, straw-necked ibises and yellow-billed spoonbills. Whitlock saw no galahs in three weeks, Loaring and Serventy saw several in one week, and I saw many in a few hours.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=1913

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Swamp harriers are today New Zealand’s most common...

Swamp harriers are today New Zealand’s most common bird of prey. They float over fields and perch on posts as if farms were made to serve them.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=2002

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The status of pukekos and harriers as New...

The status of pukekos and harriers as New Zealand birds goes unquestioned by birdwatchers.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=2016

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so too the hardhead, a duck that lived...

so too the hardhead, a duck that lived there during the nineteenth century until it was wiped out by a volcano.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=2028

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We have weakened the barriers that separate Australia...

We have weakened the barriers that separate Australia from other lands. Birds are leaking in and out.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=2046

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Cattle egrets are handsome white birds that now...

Cattle egrets are handsome white birds that now feed around cows, grabbing grasshoppers flushed by their feet. A hundred years ago they were only found within Africa and South-East Asia; now they occupy Europe, the Americas, India, and many far-flung islands. Their ancestors probably fed around elephants and buffalo, but cow paddocks are now their main habitat. They entered Australia during the 1940s and now range right down to Tasmania, thousands crossing over to New Zealand each year but returning here to breed.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=2059

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New Zealand pied oystercatcher,

New Zealand pied oystercatcher,

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=2067

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Another new Australian butterfly, the painted lady (Vanessa...

Another new Australian butterfly, the painted lady (Vanessa cardui), has performed a feat that defies belief. Well known in England and also found in Africa and Asia, it turned up many years ago around Perth. How did it get there? Experts suspect it crossed the Indian Ocean from Africa, a journey of about 9000 kilometres. The little black caterpillars like to munch on thistles and nettles, and weeds in Perth probably abetted the invasion. Australia’s other long-haul, four-winged immigrant, the North American monarch (Danaus plexippus), eats foreign weeds and nothing else, and we made its conquest possible by importing African and American cottonbushes. Sighted first in 1871 after island-hopping right across the Pacific, it’s now one of our best-known insects, called the ‘wanderer’ here. We brought the leaves and the butterflies came.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=2089

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(Pandanus tectorius),

(Pandanus tectorius),

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=2179

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(Pterostylis dilatata)

(Pterostylis dilatata)

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=2237

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

If you take just five examples – Ross...

If you take just five examples – Ross River virus, redbacks, fruit-flies, Mucor fungus and pandanus planthoppers – hitchhiking adds up to a serious phenomenon; one that will create many new problems in future. In the ‘new nature’ of the future we’ll see many more animals, plants and diseases turning up somewhere new.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=2242

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In 1900 thirty swans were imported. This sounds...

In 1900 thirty swans were imported. This sounds implausible, inasmuch as black swans are emblems of Western Australia, but the slaughter of local swans was proving so relentless that extinction of a symbol was feared.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=2287

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Baron Ferdinand von Mueller.

Baron Ferdinand von Mueller.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=2293

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Rottnest Island, off Perth, was lucky to escape...

Rottnest Island, off Perth, was lucky to escape an extreme fate. A bird society in 1960 wanted koalas and ‘dozens of rare and colourful birds’ freed to create a ‘naturalist’s paradise’. The government scotched this plan, but even so, budgerigars, cockatiels and rainbow lorikeets were soon to be seen winging around the island, although they did not survive for long.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=2344

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Perth’s loudest birds, to be heard screeching from...

Perth’s loudest birds, to be heard screeching from date palms in the city centre, are feral rainbow lorikeets. Their numbers have grown since they were first noted in 1968. In his 1997 article ‘Rainbow lorikeets: an avian weed in the west’ David Lamont posited a population of one or two thousand spread across 30 kilometres. They squabble over the nectar of street trees, preferring eucalypts from interstate. Native birds are robbed of food and nest holes. ‘On several occasions they were observed dragging Australian ringneck nestlings from nest hollows and savaging them before dropping them to the ground,’ David noted.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=2369

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Freshwater turtles kept as pets in open ponds...

Freshwater turtles kept as pets in open ponds readily escape, and owners often free them deliberately. Ponds in Sydney’s Centennial Parklands are crowded with ex-pets from Queensland and the Outback. There are northern snapping turtles (Elseya dentata), broad-shelled turtles (Chelodina expansa) and vulnerable Mary River turtles (Elusor macrurus), although whether they are breeding remains a moot point. Streams around Sydney also carry Brisbane River short-necked turtles (Emydura signata) and sawshell turtles (Elseya latisternum), and the Hacking River boasts a recently discovered subspecies of Murray turtle (Emydura macquarii) – which some experts suggest is an import.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=2381

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

The core problem, one biologist said, is that...

The core problem, one biologist said, is that ‘every recreational fisher thinks he has a God-given right to catch a catchable fish in every body of water in Australia – and that’s just fundamentally ludicrous.’

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=2668

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

golden wreath wattle

golden wreath wattle

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=2723

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(Agonis flexuosa)

(Agonis flexuosa)

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=2733

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(Cyathea cooperi)

(Cyathea cooperi)

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=2743

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(Schefflera actinophylla)

(Schefflera actinophylla)

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=2762

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

If explorer Nicolas Baudin had claimed Western Australia...

If explorer Nicolas Baudin had claimed Western Australia for France, Geraldton wax in Sydney would count as an exotic (foreign) species. ‘Native’ as a biological category shouldn’t be defined by political boundaries. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) defines an alien (or exotic) species as one that is ‘introduced outside its normal past or present distribution’. This means that all the plants mentioned here are exotic in their new homes.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=2849

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American landscape architect Joachim Wolschke-Bulmahn is a fierce...

American landscape architect Joachim Wolschke-Bulmahn is a fierce critic of native gardening, which he links to racism. The Nazis wanted foreign garden plants banned. One of his articles shows Adolf Hitler greeting a leading landscape architect.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=2859

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

Yet only one of Australia’s twenty-seven exotic birds...

Yet only one of Australia’s twenty-seven exotic birds counts as a threat: the starling.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=2927

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

Venerable grasstrees (Xanthorrhoea) are dying in south-western Australia,...

Venerable grasstrees (Xanthorrhoea) are dying in south-western Australia, and birds are again to blame. Ornithologist Harry Recher showed me old grasstree crowns in Dryandra Woodland stripped back by ringneck parrots sharpening their beaks. Old grasstrees on farms are dying because ringnecks are thriving within the agricultural landscape. They also deform blue gums in plantations by nipping shoots and stripping bark – a growing problem. The galah is another tree-killer. They chew away bands of bark around their nest holes in Western Australia, sometimes ringbarking trees. ‘In some areas in the wheatbelt, the galah is a significant cause of tree death,’ wrote Denis Saunders and John Ingram in 1995. The wheatbelt a century ago was a galah-free zone.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=2944

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

No-one could have predicted that seagulls would attack...

No-one could have predicted that seagulls would attack stilts on Lake Eyre, or lyrebirds erode the Tasmanian wilderness.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=2949

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

Magpie-larks (peewees) are one example, implicated in bizarre...

Magpie-larks (peewees) are one example, implicated in bizarre attacks. Several were culled recently on the Cairns Esplanade for pecking at people’s eyes.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=2952

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

On the TV show Burke’s Backyard homeowners were...

On the TV show Burke’s Backyard homeowners were asked to place fake willie-wagtail nests (half a tennis ball baited with clay eggs) in their gardens. Nearly two-thirds of the 1803 nests were attacked, mainly by birds.2 Of the many attackers seen at work, half proved to be currawongs. Other egg-jabbers were magpies (13 per cent), noisy miners (10 per cent), wattlebirds (3 per cent), butcherbirds (2 per cent), and a few ravens, kookaburras, magpie-larks (peewees) and even silvereyes (1 per cent each).

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=2965

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

The currawongs were feeding rare petrel flesh to...

The currawongs were feeding rare petrel flesh to their young.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=2983

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

Gardeners around Port Stephens, merely by growing berry-laden...

Gardeners around Port Stephens, merely by growing berry-laden plants, were bringing doom to a bird that lives out at sea.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=2987

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

development, others have ventured deeper into the metropolis....

development, others have ventured deeper into the metropolis. In the 1990s bellbirds claimed the Royal Botanic Gardens. One colony is centred on the gardens’ cafeteria, another on the planted eucalypts by the nearby Shrine of Remembrance. The gardens’ bird list – published in 1991 and sold in the shop – doesn’t mention bell miners.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=3052

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

Bell miners appear to be multiplying in eastern...

Bell miners appear to be multiplying in eastern Victoria. They do well in farming belts where stressed trees attract lerps. By keeping birds away by day they probably benefit nocturnal lerp-eating animals. I spotlighted within a colony once and saw two sugar gliders and a tiny feathertail.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=3058

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

The brown-headed cowbird is the chief culprit. Once...

The brown-headed cowbird is the chief culprit. Once upon a time it fed upon prairie seeds and snatched up insects stirred by the hoofs of bison and deer. Now it feeds around cows and loiters at grain depots. Numbers have exploded. Cowbirds, like cuckoos, are brood parasites. Females sneak their eggs into other birds’ nests to be hatched and reared in absentia. By skipping the work of rearing, they have energy to lay prolifically – sometimes more than twenty eggs a season. And unlike cuckoos, they lay indiscriminately, their eggs appearing in the nests of more than 220 bird species, 140 of which have reared brown-headed cowbirds. These parasites are multiplying faster than any other American bird and their hosts are declining. Two birds of the host species have been pushed to endangered status.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=3138

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

‘To eat is to appropriate by destruction.’

‘To eat is to appropriate by destruction.’

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=3160

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

Conservation is one of those modern concerns that...

Conservation is one of those modern concerns that dates back to early convict days. Climate change emerged as a worry as far back as 1795, when magistrate Richard Atkins feared the weather was changing ‘in consequence of the country opening so fast’.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=3162

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

see ‘balance of nature’ as the overarching theological...

see ‘balance of nature’ as the overarching theological doctrine here, the one implying that native species must live together harmoniously.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=3204

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

‘Animal Liberation was the main opposition,’ Mr Anonymous...

‘Animal Liberation was the main opposition,’ Mr Anonymous said. ‘They were cutting the fences and coming in and vandalising places and taking off signs.’ The kangaroos are now under control, and the bandicoots have been reintroduced.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=3234

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

In 1993 seventy kangaroos were culled – and...

In 1993 seventy kangaroos were culled – and buried – in the grounds of Government House. In ever-growing numbers they were devouring ornamental shrubs, defacing ceremonial lawns and intimidating gardens staff.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=3237

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

Koalas. Are they endangered treasures or tree-killing pests?...

Koalas. Are they endangered treasures or tree-killing pests? Should we be cuddling them, or culling them? In Australia today these are hard questions that need careful answers.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=3302

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

But Environment Minister David Wotton was outraged. ‘Is...

But Environment Minister David Wotton was outraged. ‘Is South Australia going to be recognised as the state that permits the repeated shooting of koalas? That would be an international incident.’ Tour operators and the federal government agreed. Australia would lose face in America and Japan. But most South Australians accepted the idea; a poll found two-thirds of them in favour of culling. Statements of support came from the Conservation Council of South Australia, the Australian Academy of Science, the Marsupial Society of Australia, the Australian Institute of Biology, and Eco-Action Kangaroo Island.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=3355

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

That cull provoked no emotion, but times have...

That cull provoked no emotion, but times have changed. Plenty of culling still goes on, but it’s done surreptitiously by farmers to save their trees.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=3375

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

When Aborigines lost their lands, koalas were free...

When Aborigines lost their lands, koalas were free to increase. In 1844 both koalas and lyrebirds were said to be multiplying where tribes were declining. Harry Parris had the same idea in a later era. Growing up along Victoria’s Goulburn River in the 1880s, he remembered crying koalas stirring his childhood sleep. Then Parris learned of an earlier settler, in the 1850s, who went for three years before seeing a koala. Intrigued, he pored over old accounts of the district, beginning with explorer Major Mitchell. ‘I carefully read over twenty books and not one of those men saw a bear in the Goulburn country,’ he found.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=3388

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

Sometimes a foreign disease is culpable (Phytophthora and...

Sometimes a foreign disease is culpable (Phytophthora and Mundulla yellows), or rising salt, but often the culprit is native.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=3426

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

If you take eucalypt forest, add fertiliser and...

If you take eucalypt forest, add fertiliser and water and take out fire, you have the recipe for rainforest. The pittosporum invasion is really takeover by rainforest. Botanists call it ‘mesic shift’ – a switch to a wetter community.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=3512

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

Vegetation change poses conundrums for Australia. It’s very...

Vegetation change poses conundrums for Australia. It’s very difficult to manage, and it injects some uncertainty into our conservation goals. Do we preserve the landscapes created by Aboriginal fire, or do we help ‘nature’ revert to its ‘original’ state? Do we let coast tea-trees sweep inland, on the assumption that they were forced out by previous firestick farming, or do we imprison them in the landscape they occupied in 1788? Do we even know what Australia looked like in 1788? Are the shifts underway really due to fire and grazing, or are drought cycles and global warming (natural and human-induced) important too?

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=3607

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

An endangered plant can be found sprouting in...

An endangered plant can be found sprouting in the rainforest gloom along a few streams in south-west Tasmania. Kings holly (Lomatia tasmanica) is a spindly shrub whose reddish blooms never proceed into seed. Genetic work suggests that the three stands, found close together, grew from a single sterile founder. This holly is effectively a single plant, a clone that has spread slowly through the rainforest by sprouting hundreds of woody stems. Some of its fossilised leaves date back 43600 years. Given that Kings holly is evidently a non-reproducing triploid, the fossils imply great antiquity for this plant. Indeed, botanist A. Lynch has suggested to the scientific community that Kings holly may be the world’s oldest plant. Buttongrass plains have divided the clone into three separate stands. Past Aboriginal fires have destroyed perhaps half the colony. Fire suppression will help this plant survive.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=3670

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

Vegetation shift intrigues me. I can see it...

Vegetation shift intrigues me. I can see it going on out my window. The lush shrubs and trees growing in city gardens turn them into rainforest glades. Ringtails and rainforest butterflies feel at home. Added nutrients and freedom from fire allow wild rainforest plants to sprout. Birds in my garden keep dropping seeds of figs and white cedars, and gardens are now prime habitat for these enterprising trees. A brush-turkey comes by to scratch through my beds, never guessing that this slope once carried grassy woodland where bushfires crackled and kangaroos grazed. For urban turkeys vegetation shift is a boon, but for managers of reserves it’s a conundrum. It impresses me as one of the trickiest issues thrown up by the new nature.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=3686

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

A similar fate befell the grey-headed blackbird (Turdus...

A similar fate befell the grey-headed blackbird (Turdus poliocephalus poliocephalus) of Norfolk Island, a unique form of the widespread island thrush. It vanished in the 1970s. The English blackbirds that skip about on lawns there today don’t look quite right. They are sometimes pale where English blackbirds should not be pale. The young have pale heads. Hybrids? Experts think so. The native blackbirds were dying out (blame black rats again) and the last of their line must have paired up with English invaders. Grey-headed blackbirds aren’t entirely extinct, they are just hiding inside English blackbirds.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=3720

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

Underdominance and hybrid vigour may be affecting many...

Underdominance and hybrid vigour may be affecting many plants. Geraldton wax (Chamelaucium uncinatum) is now rare around Perth, and cultivated forms are stealing away from gardens and probably pollinating the last wild plants, which may either be setting less seed or begetting hybrids. With so many native plants grown in gardens and forestry plots the prospects for genetic rearrangement are endless. Darwin’s nurseries sell plenty of ‘local’ native plants but nearly all of their stock – of more than fifty species – comes from Queensland. The mat-rushes (Lomandra longifolia) grown along Victoria’s highways are also sourced largely from interstate.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=3776

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

Most of Perth’s galahs have red eye-rings marking...

Most of Perth’s galahs have red eye-rings marking them out as escapees from the east (western birds are grey-ringed).

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=3812

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

The problems with kangaroos, koalas and mesic shift...

The problems with kangaroos, koalas and mesic shift discussed earlier emerged in part because Aborigines were thrown off their lands.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=3828

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

She told me about one woman who, angered...

She told me about one woman who, angered by a neighbour’s loud dog, installed a frog pond against the fence for revenge. Brisbane City Council can’t act against frogs because they count as natural noise.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=3912

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

Some years ago he studied dying red wattlebirds...

Some years ago he studied dying red wattlebirds in Melbourne gardens, and the symptoms of head retraction, convulsions and anorexia suggested thiamine deficiency, a conclusion supported by blood tests. David believes wattlebirds traditionally migrated north in winter to feed on vitamin-rich insects, but now stay behind, seduced by sugary garden flowers to adopt a vitamin-poor and sometimes fatal diet. He published his findings back in 1983 but I’ve yet to see them mentioned in any wildlife gardening book. No-one wants to admit that maybe flowers can kill.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=3953

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

Carla Catterall is another conservation biologist who doubts...

Carla Catterall is another conservation biologist who doubts the value of gardening for birds. She surveyed gardens around Toohey Forest, the reserve we visited in the noisy miner chapter. Although plenty of native shrubs and trees have been grown, Carla found that gardens more than 50 metres from the forest carried only the usual garden regulars (magpies, butcherbirds and suchlike), not forest birds. Noisy miners, cats, dogs, roads, fences and noise conspire to keep them away. ‘You could make a bird garden on an average suburban block, with a wonderful vegetation structure with all the right heights, and with flowers and fruit, but the forest birds you would hope to see there would not come,’

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=3957

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

Seed-fed cockatoos regularly vandalise homes. Freed from the...

Seed-fed cockatoos regularly vandalise homes. Freed from the need to seek seed, they loaf on patios, sharpening their mandibles on timber fittings. Western red cedar is favoured for its soft (and pricey) wood. Ian Temby, Victorian government pest whiz, told me of $25000 worth of damage that was done to one house. One flock, pampered by an old lady, wrought thousands of dollars worth of damage to each of ten houses. The old lady refused to stop feeding her ‘pets’.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=3979

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

In Melbourne possums fed in parks are multiplying...

In Melbourne possums fed in parks are multiplying and stripping treasured elms. In Curtain Square, North Carlton, two dying trees had to be removed, and others were dressed in metal collars to keep possums away. A few possums were separated from their holes in the trees, outraging Animal Liberation, which dropped a road-killed possum on the doorstep of Yarra’s mayor.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=3995

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

bird-bludgers,

bird-bludgers,

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=4026

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

Housing estates are very destructive, and no amount...

Housing estates are very destructive, and no amount of tinkering in the garden can alter that. Most garden birds belong to species that thrive on destruction. People feed magpies, currawongs, noisy miners and crows. The losers from clearing – robins, whistlers, fantails, weebills – seldom come far into cities and never use food trays or bird boxes. We can’t really create genuine rainforests and wetlands up by the barbie – this is naïve. The real value of nature gardening is the contact it gives us with nature. We want birds and butterflies because they brighten up our lives. We don’t want grasshoppers and moths, not because they need conserving less, but because they don’t offer as much pleasure. Wildlife gardening, for most people, is more about personal gratification and flight from guilt than true conservation. We should not pretend that good deeds done in gardens atone for crimes committed elsewhere.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=4027

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

But it’s when a native animal needs controlling...

But it’s when a native animal needs controlling that complaints really fly. Kangaroo culls arouse controversy, and koala culls remain politically unacceptable. Yet many animals are already killed for conservation. I’ve mentioned kangaroos, wallabies, bellbirds (at Yellingbo), yellow-throated miners (in the mallee), currawongs (on Cabbage Tree Island), Australian ravens (on the same island), corellas (on Kangaroo Island), owls (on Lord Howe Island), silver gulls (at Lake Eyre), rosellas (on Norfolk Island), and crown-of-thorns starfish. Without culls, Gould’s petrel, and perhaps the helmeted honeyeater, would not exist. There is also illegal culling of koalas by farmers defending trees. Culling is the harsh reality of conservation management, but public awareness and acceptance lag well behind.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=4175

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

In another example of creative thinking, Owen Foley...

In another example of creative thinking, Owen Foley checked the route of a new cable Telstra was laying on the Darling Downs. Telstra’s plan – eminently sensible – was to bury the new line right by the old in the same bulldozed ground. But two rare plants, native hops (Dodonaea macrossanii) and a wattle (Acacia chinchillensis), had claimed the upturned earth, and neither grew in nearby bushland. To save these plants and extend their habitat, Owen had the cable repositioned to disturb more soil.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=4248

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

That’s what conservation management will be like in...

That’s what conservation management will be like in future – laced with irony. Old mines will be saved for bats, and pine plantations kept for endangered cockatoos. Experts will argue about the ecological value of weeds. There will be less clarity of purpose (do we recreate the past, preserve the present, or usher in the future?) and more potential for misguided actions. Intervention, after all, is more difficult than a hands-off approach. Expect to see plenty of blunders made, as reserves are burned when they should not be, and cows are let in for the wrong reasons. Conservation is intervention, and intervention isn’t easy.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=4252

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

In Sydney’s gardens I once sat by the...

In Sydney’s gardens I once sat by the giant red gum watching two cockatoos when a wood duck whirred up and dropped into the hollow trunk. It had a nest inside. One cocky went berserk, circling about, screeching, before dropping to the rim of the bole, leaning inside and screaming out its rage at ear-piercing volumes. Inner Sydney’s oldest real estate is still worth fighting over, still plays an ecological role.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=4288

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

In Melbourne a mistletoe (Muellerina eucalyptoides) hangs from...

In Melbourne a mistletoe (Muellerina eucalyptoides) hangs from a plane tree in Collins Street, between the Town Hall and City Square; another from a plane tree outside the Concert Hall.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=4298

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

finally saw meerkats on my third trip to...

finally saw meerkats on my third trip to Africa after rangers told me to go outside their national park to adjoining farmland. A cow walked right behind the meerkats while I was watching. Their burrow complex was strewn with cow dung.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=4306

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

Animals and plants respond to us in no...

Animals and plants respond to us in no consistent way. We can’t say ‘forest destruction threatens nature’, because something benefits no matter what we do. Nature’s many constituents react to us in millions of different ways.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=4319

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

The national park, cornerstone of conservation, is all...

The national park, cornerstone of conservation, is all too often portrayed as a timeless place where Australia remains in its original state. If only that were true! National parks matter enormously, but what they really conserve is not the past as such, but continuity with the past.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=4331

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

‘Change is what we should be conserving,’ says...

‘Change is what we should be conserving,’ says geneticist Neil Murray. ‘We should be managing the process of change.’ The ancient trees in our cities matter because they offer this continuity, serving as windows onto landscapes we will never see.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=4333

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

Andrew Bolt began an article with the statement...

Andrew Bolt began an article with the statement ‘Bats have always seemed evil.’

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=4384

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

Bat camps arouse fears because they challenge the...

Bat camps arouse fears because they challenge the assumption that in cities and towns, people are firmly in control. Bats can be remarkably difficult to evict unless trees are removed, and those that refuse to leave an urban park can be seen as an affront to human supremacy.

Source: The New Nature

Author: Tim Low

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N8XBW3L&location=4402

#sciencefiction #technology #TheNewNature #TimLow

He remembered taking a class in information theory...

He remembered taking a class in information theory as a third-year student in college. The professor had put up two pictures: One was the famous Song Dynasty painting Along the River During the Qingming Festival, full of fine, rich details; the other was a photograph of the sky on a sunny day, the deep blue expanse broken only by a wisp of cloud that one couldn’t even be sure was there. The professor asked the class which picture contained more information. The answer was that the photograph’s information content—its entropy—exceeded the painting’s by one or two orders of magnitude.

Source: The Three-Body Problem: Now a major Netflix series

Author: Cixin Liu and Ken Liu

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0BPCM5BL1&location=1569

#sciencefiction #technology #TheThreeBodyProblemNowamajorNetflixseries #CixinLiuandKenLiu

This was the theory of “contact as symbol”...

This was the theory of “contact as symbol” proposed by sociologist Bill Mathers of RAND Corporation in his book, The 100,000-Light-Year Iron Curtain: SETI Sociology. Mathers believed that contact with an alien civilization is only a symbol or a switch. Regardless of the content of the encounter, the results would be the same.

Source: The Three-Body Problem: Now a major Netflix series

Author: Cixin Liu and Ken Liu

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0BPCM5BL1&location=2446

#sciencefiction #technology #TheThreeBodyProblemNowamajorNetflixseries #CixinLiuandKenLiu

Back then, I thought of one thing: Have...

Back then, I thought of one thing: Have you heard of the Monte Carlo method? Ah, it’s a computer algorithm often used for calculating the area of irregular shapes. Specifically, the software puts the figure of interest in a figure of known area, such as a circle, and randomly strikes it with many tiny balls, never targeting the same spot twice. After a large number of balls, the proportion of balls that fall within the irregular shape compared to the total number of balls used to hit the circle will yield the area of the shape. Of course, the smaller the balls used, the more accurate the result.

Source: The Three-Body Problem: Now a major Netflix series

Author: Cixin Liu and Ken Liu

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0BPCM5BL1&location=2729

#sciencefiction #technology #TheThreeBodyProblemNowamajorNetflixseries #CixinLiuandKenLiu

can you tell whether the commander sides with...

can you tell whether the commander sides with the Adventists or the Redemptionists? Does the commander want humanity eliminated or saved?’

Source: The Three-Body Problem: Now a major Netflix series

Author: Cixin Liu and Ken Liu

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0BPCM5BL1&location=2884

#sciencefiction #technology #TheThreeBodyProblemNowamajorNetflixseries #CixinLiuandKenLiu

Von Neumann stared at Wang with wide-open eyes,...

Von Neumann stared at Wang with wide-open eyes, as though his question made no sense. “Using people, of course. Other than people, what else in the world is capable of performing calculations?”

Source: The Three-Body Problem: Now a major Netflix series

Author: Cixin Liu and Ken Liu

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0BPCM5BL1&location=2934

#sciencefiction #technology #TheThreeBodyProblemNowamajorNetflixseries #CixinLiuandKenLiu

The one-armed woman said, “There was a movie...

The one-armed woman said, “There was a movie called Maple recently. I don’t know if you’ve seen it. At the end, an adult and a child stand in front of the grave of a Red Guard who had died during the faction civil wars. The child asks the adult, ‘Are they heroes?’ The adult says no. The child asks, ‘Are they enemies?’ The adult again says no. The child asks, ‘Then who are they?’ The adult says, ‘History.’”

Source: The Three-Body Problem: Now a major Netflix series

Author: Cixin Liu and Ken Liu

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0BPCM5BL1&location=4257

#sciencefiction #technology #TheThreeBodyProblemNowamajorNetflixseries #CixinLiuandKenLiu

There’s a strange contradiction revealed by the naïveté...

There’s a strange contradiction revealed by the naïveté and kindness demonstrated by humanity when faced with the universe: On Earth, humankind can step onto another continent, and without a thought, destroy the kindred civilizations found there through warfare and disease. But when they gaze up at the stars, they turn sentimental and believe that if extraterrestrial intelligences exist, they must be civilizations bound by universal, noble, moral constraints, as if cherishing and loving different forms of life are parts of a self-evident universal code of conduct.

Source: The Three-Body Problem: Now a major Netflix series

Author: Cixin Liu and Ken Liu

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0BPCM5BL1&location=5580

#sciencefiction #technology #TheThreeBodyProblemNowamajorNetflixseries #CixinLiuandKenLiu

I just run. I run in a void....

I just run. I run in a void. Or maybe I should put it the other way: I run in order to acquire a void. But as you might expect, an occasional thought will slip into this void. People’s minds can’t be a complete blank. Human beings’ emotions are not strong or consistent enough to sustain a vacuum. What I mean is, the kinds of thoughts and ideas that invade my emotions as I run remain subordinate to that void. Lacking content, they are just random thoughts that gather around that central void. The thoughts that occur to me while I’m running are like clouds in the sky. Clouds of all different sizes. They come and they go, while the sky remains the same sky as always. The clouds are mere guests in the sky that pass away and vanish, leaving behind the sky. The sky both exists and doesn’t exist. It has substance and at the same time doesn’t. And we merely accept that vast expanse and drink it in.

Source: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: The book that made Harry Styles believe he could run a marathon

Author: Haruki Murakami and Philip Gabriel

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B005TKD8ZK&location=206

#sciencefiction #technology #WhatITalkAboutWhenITalkAboutRunningThebookthatmadeHarryStylesbelievehecouldrunamarathon #HarukiMurakamiandPhilipGabriel

Looking back now, I think the most fortunate...

Looking back now, I think the most fortunate thing is that I was born with a strong, healthy body. This has made it possible for me to run on a daily basis for almost a quarter century, competing in a number of races along the way. I’ve never had a time when my legs hurt so much I couldn’t run. I don’t really stretch much before running, but I’ve never been injured, never been hurt, and haven’t been sick once. I’m no great runner, but I’m definitely a strong runner. That’s one of the very few gifts I can be proud of.

Source: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: The book that made Harry Styles believe he could run a marathon

Author: Haruki Murakami and Philip Gabriel

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B005TKD8ZK&location=441

#sciencefiction #technology #WhatITalkAboutWhenITalkAboutRunningThebookthatmadeHarryStylesbelievehecouldrunamarathon #HarukiMurakamiandPhilipGabriel

Whenever I see students in gym class all...

Whenever I see students in gym class all made to run a long distance, I feel sorry for them. Forcing people who have no desire to run, or who aren’t physically fit enough, is a kind of pointless torture.

Source: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: The book that made Harry Styles believe he could run a marathon

Author: Haruki Murakami and Philip Gabriel

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B005TKD8ZK&location=498

#sciencefiction #technology #WhatITalkAboutWhenITalkAboutRunningThebookthatmadeHarryStylesbelievehecouldrunamarathon #HarukiMurakamiandPhilipGabriel

The most important thing we ever learn at...

The most important thing we ever learn at school is the fact that the most important things can’t be learned at school.

Source: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: The book that made Harry Styles believe he could run a marathon

Author: Haruki Murakami and Philip Gabriel

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B005TKD8ZK&location=500

#sciencefiction #technology #WhatITalkAboutWhenITalkAboutRunningThebookthatmadeHarryStylesbelievehecouldrunamarathon #HarukiMurakamiandPhilipGabriel

At any rate, that’s how I started running....

At any rate, that’s how I started running. Thirty-three—that’s how old I was then. Still young enough, though no longer a young man. The age that Jesus Christ died. The age that Scott Fitzgerald started to go downhill. That age may be a kind of crossroads in life. That was the age when I began my life as a runner, and it was my belated, but real, starting point as a novelist.

Source: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: The book that made Harry Styles believe he could run a marathon

Author: Haruki Murakami and Philip Gabriel

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B005TKD8ZK&location=516

#sciencefiction #technology #WhatITalkAboutWhenITalkAboutRunningThebookthatmadeHarryStylesbelievehecouldrunamarathon #HarukiMurakamiandPhilipGabriel

When I say letting it know in no...

When I say letting it know in no uncertain terms I’m speaking figuratively, of course. No matter how much you might command your body to perform, don’t count on it to immediately obey. The body is an extremely practical system. You have to let it experience intermittent pain over time, and then the body will get the point. As a result, it will willingly accept (or maybe not) the increased amount of exercise it’s made to do. After this, you very gradually increase the upper limit of the amount of exercise you do. Doing it gradually is important so you don’t burn out.

Source: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: The book that made Harry Styles believe he could run a marathon

Author: Haruki Murakami and Philip Gabriel

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B005TKD8ZK&location=550

#sciencefiction #technology #WhatITalkAboutWhenITalkAboutRunningThebookthatmadeHarryStylesbelievehecouldrunamarathon #HarukiMurakamiandPhilipGabriel

Sometimes people will ask me this: “You live...

Sometimes people will ask me this: “You live such a healthy life every day, Mr. Murakami, so don’t you think you’ll one day find yourself unable to write novels anymore?” People don’t say this much when I’m abroad, but a lot of people in Japan seem to hold the view that writing novels is an unhealthy activity, that novelists are somewhat degenerate and have to live hazardous lives in order to write. There’s a widely held view that by living an unhealthy lifestyle a writer can remove himself from the profane world and attain a kind of purity that has artistic value. This idea has taken shape over a long period of time. Movies and TV dramas perpetuate this stereotypical—or, to put a positive spin on it, legendary—figure of the artist.

Source: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: The book that made Harry Styles believe he could run a marathon

Author: Haruki Murakami and Philip Gabriel

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B005TKD8ZK&location=1007

#sciencefiction #technology #WhatITalkAboutWhenITalkAboutRunningThebookthatmadeHarryStylesbelievehecouldrunamarathon #HarukiMurakamiandPhilipGabriel

With my mind elsewhere I’m able to run...

With my mind elsewhere I’m able to run for a long while, keeping up a natural speed that doesn’t tire me out. Sometimes when I’m practicing a speech in my head, I catch myself making all kinds of gestures and facial expressions, and the people passing me from the opposite direction give me a weird look.

Source: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: The book that made Harry Styles believe he could run a marathon

Author: Haruki Murakami and Philip Gabriel

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B005TKD8ZK&location=1069

#sciencefiction #technology #WhatITalkAboutWhenITalkAboutRunningThebookthatmadeHarryStylesbelievehecouldrunamarathon #HarukiMurakamiandPhilipGabriel

Like Danton or Robespierre eloquently attempting to persuade...

Like Danton or Robespierre eloquently attempting to persuade the dissatisfied and rebellious Revolutionary Tribunal, I tried to talk each body part into showing a little cooperation. Encouraged them, clung to them, flattered them, scolded them, tried to buck them up. It’s just a little farther, guys. You can’t give up on me now. But if you think about it—and I did think about it—Danton and Robespierre wound up with their heads cut off.

Source: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: The book that made Harry Styles believe he could run a marathon

Author: Haruki Murakami and Philip Gabriel

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B005TKD8ZK&location=1147

#sciencefiction #technology #WhatITalkAboutWhenITalkAboutRunningThebookthatmadeHarryStylesbelievehecouldrunamarathon #HarukiMurakamiandPhilipGabriel

for a marathon to mean anything, it should...

for a marathon to mean anything, it should be fun. Otherwise, why would thousands of people run 26.2 miles?

Source: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: The book that made Harry Styles believe he could run a marathon

Author: Haruki Murakami and Philip Gabriel

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B005TKD8ZK&location=1392

#sciencefiction #technology #WhatITalkAboutWhenITalkAboutRunningThebookthatmadeHarryStylesbelievehecouldrunamarathon #HarukiMurakamiandPhilipGabriel

The other factor is fear. To get to...

The other factor is fear. To get to a decent bike path I have to ride through town, and the fear I feel when I weave in and out of traffic on my sports bike with its skinny tires and my bike shoes strapped tight in the straps is something you can’t understand unless you’ve gone through it. As I’ve gotten more experienced I’ve gotten used to it, or at least learned how to survive, but there have been many moments startling enough to put me in a cold sweat.

Source: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: The book that made Harry Styles believe he could run a marathon

Author: Haruki Murakami and Philip Gabriel

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B005TKD8ZK&location=1419

#sciencefiction #technology #WhatITalkAboutWhenITalkAboutRunningThebookthatmadeHarryStylesbelievehecouldrunamarathon #HarukiMurakamiandPhilipGabriel

The weather’s been strange in Japan this summer....

The weather’s been strange in Japan this summer. The rainy season, which usually winds down in the beginning of July, continued until the end of the month. It rained so much I got sick of it. There were torrential rains in parts of the country, and a lot of people died. They say it’s all because of global warming. Maybe it is, and maybe it isn’t. Some experts claim it is, some claim it isn’t. There’s some proof that it is, some that it isn’t. But still people say that most of the problems the earth is facing are, more or less, due to global warming. When sales of apparel go down, when tons of driftwood wash up on the shore, when there are floods and droughts, when consumer prices go up, most of the fault is ascribed to global warming. What the world needs is a set villain that people can point at and say, “It’s all your fault!”

Source: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: The book that made Harry Styles believe he could run a marathon

Author: Haruki Murakami and Philip Gabriel

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B005TKD8ZK&location=1435

#sciencefiction #technology #WhatITalkAboutWhenITalkAboutRunningThebookthatmadeHarryStylesbelievehecouldrunamarathon #HarukiMurakamiandPhilipGabriel

What I mean is, I didn’t start running...

What I mean is, I didn’t start running because somebody asked me to become a runner. Just like I didn’t become a novelist because someone asked me to. One day, out of the blue, I wanted to write a novel. And one day, out of the blue, I started to run—simply because I wanted to. I’ve always done whatever I felt like doing in life. People may try to stop me, and convince me I’m wrong, but I won’t change.

Source: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: The book that made Harry Styles believe he could run a marathon

Author: Haruki Murakami and Philip Gabriel

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B005TKD8ZK&location=1551

#sciencefiction #technology #WhatITalkAboutWhenITalkAboutRunningThebookthatmadeHarryStylesbelievehecouldrunamarathon #HarukiMurakamiandPhilipGabriel

At least Mensah and Arada had overruled the...

At least Mensah and Arada had overruled the ones who wanted to talk to me about it. Yes, talk to Murderbot about its feelings. The idea was so painful I dropped to 97 percent efficiency. I’d rather climb back into Hostile One’s mouth.

Source: All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries

Author: Martha Wells

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01MYZ8X5C&location=312

#sciencefiction #technology #AllSystemsRedTheMurderbotDiaries #MarthaWells

While my peers stayed up late and played...

While my peers stayed up late and played video games, I built good sleep habits and went to bed early each night. In the messy world of a college dorm, I made a point to keep my room neat and tidy. These improvements were minor, but they gave me a sense of control over my life.

Source: Atomic Habits: The life-changing million-copy #1 bestseller

Author: James Clear

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N5AX61W&location=132

#sciencefiction #technology #AtomicHabitsThelifechangingmillioncopy1bestseller #JamesClear

The backbone of this book is my four-step...

The backbone of this book is my four-step model of habits—cue, craving, response, and reward—and the four laws of behavior change that evolve out of these steps. Readers with a psychology background may recognize some of these terms from operant conditioning, which was first proposed as “stimulus, response, reward” by B. F. Skinner in the 1930s and has been popularized more recently as “cue, routine, reward” in The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.

Source: Atomic Habits: The life-changing million-copy #1 bestseller

Author: James Clear

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N5AX61W&location=188

#sciencefiction #technology #AtomicHabitsThelifechangingmillioncopy1bestseller #JamesClear

Your outcomes are a lagging measure of your...

Your outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits. Your net worth is a lagging measure of your financial habits. Your weight is a lagging measure of your eating habits. Your knowledge is a lagging measure of your learning habits. Your clutter is a lagging measure of your cleaning habits. You get what you repeat.

Source: Atomic Habits: The life-changing million-copy #1 bestseller

Author: James Clear

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N5AX61W&location=280

#sciencefiction #technology #AtomicHabitsThelifechangingmillioncopy1bestseller #JamesClear

Achieving a goal only changes your life for...

Achieving a goal only changes your life for the moment. That’s the counterintuitive thing about improvement. We think we need to change our results, but the results are not the problem. What we really need to change are the systems that cause those results.

Source: Atomic Habits: The life-changing million-copy #1 bestseller

Author: James Clear

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N5AX61W&location=390

#sciencefiction #technology #AtomicHabitsThelifechangingmillioncopy1bestseller #JamesClear

On any given day, you may struggle with...

On any given day, you may struggle with your habits because you’re too busy or too tired or too overwhelmed or hundreds of other reasons. Over the long run, however, the real reason you fail to stick with habits is that your self-image gets in the way. This is why you can’t get too attached to one version of your identity. Progress requires unlearning. Becoming the best version of yourself requires you to continuously edit your beliefs, and to upgrade and expand your identity.

Source: Atomic Habits: The life-changing million-copy #1 bestseller

Author: James Clear

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N5AX61W&location=526

#sciencefiction #technology #AtomicHabitsThelifechangingmillioncopy1bestseller #JamesClear

Decide the type of person you want to...

Decide the type of person you want to be. Prove it to yourself with small wins.

Source: Atomic Habits: The life-changing million-copy #1 bestseller

Author: James Clear

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N5AX61W&location=575

#sciencefiction #technology #AtomicHabitsThelifechangingmillioncopy1bestseller #JamesClear

What you crave is not the habit itself...

What you crave is not the habit itself but the change in state it delivers. You do not crave smoking a cigarette, you crave the feeling of relief it provides. You are not motivated by brushing your teeth but rather by the feeling of a clean mouth. You do not want to turn on the television, you want to be entertained. Every craving is linked to a desire to change your internal state.

Source: Atomic Habits: The life-changing million-copy #1 bestseller

Author: James Clear

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N5AX61W&location=693

#sciencefiction #technology #AtomicHabitsThelifechangingmillioncopy1bestseller #JamesClear

When they are in the wrong positions, it...

When they are in the wrong positions, it is nearly impossible. How to Create a Good Habit The 1st law (Cue) Make it obvious. The 2nd law (Craving) Make it attractive. The 3rd law (Response) Make it easy. The 4th law (Reward) Make it satisfying. We can invert these laws to learn how to break a bad habit. How to Break a Bad Habit Inversion of the 1st law (Cue) Make it invisible. Inversion of the 2nd law (Craving) Make it unattractive. Inversion of the 3rd law (Response) Make it difficult. Inversion of the 4th law (Reward) Make it unsatisfying.

Source: Atomic Habits: The life-changing million-copy #1 bestseller

Author: James Clear

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N5AX61W&location=748

#sciencefiction #technology #AtomicHabitsThelifechangingmillioncopy1bestseller #JamesClear

Whenever you want to change your behavior, you...

Whenever you want to change your behavior, you can simply ask yourself: How can I make it obvious? How can I make it attractive? How can I make it easy? How can I make it satisfying?

Source: Atomic Habits: The life-changing million-copy #1 bestseller

Author: James Clear

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N5AX61W&location=763

#sciencefiction #technology #AtomicHabitsThelifechangingmillioncopy1bestseller #JamesClear

Diderot Effect.

Diderot Effect.

Source: Atomic Habits: The life-changing million-copy #1 bestseller

Author: James Clear

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N5AX61W&location=985

#sciencefiction #technology #AtomicHabitsThelifechangingmillioncopy1bestseller #JamesClear

Many human behaviors follow this cycle. You often...

Many human behaviors follow this cycle. You often decide what to do next based on what you have just finished doing. Going to the bathroom leads to washing and drying your hands, which reminds you that you need to put the dirty towels in the laundry, so you add laundry detergent to the shopping list, and so on. No behavior happens in isolation. Each action becomes a cue that triggers the next behavior.

Source: Atomic Habits: The life-changing million-copy #1 bestseller

Author: James Clear

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N5AX61W&location=989

#sciencefiction #technology #AtomicHabitsThelifechangingmillioncopy1bestseller #JamesClear

The habit stacking formula is: “After [CURRENT HABIT],...

The habit stacking formula is: “After [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT].”

Source: Atomic Habits: The life-changing million-copy #1 bestseller

Author: James Clear

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N5AX61W&location=999

#sciencefiction #technology #AtomicHabitsThelifechangingmillioncopy1bestseller #JamesClear

I live in New York City. My apartment...

I live in New York City. My apartment is the size of a smartphone.

Source: Atomic Habits: The life-changing million-copy #1 bestseller

Author: James Clear

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N5AX61W&location=1213

#sciencefiction #technology #AtomicHabitsThelifechangingmillioncopy1bestseller #JamesClear

It’s like the brain of each animal is...

It’s like the brain of each animal is preloaded with certain rules for behavior, and when it comes across an exaggerated version of that rule, it lights up like a Christmas tree. Scientists refer to these exaggerated cues as supernormal stimuli

Source: Atomic Habits: The life-changing million-copy #1 bestseller

Author: James Clear

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N5AX61W&location=1349

#sciencefiction #technology #AtomicHabitsThelifechangingmillioncopy1bestseller #JamesClear

Humans are also prone to fall for exaggerated...

Humans are also prone to fall for exaggerated versions of reality. Junk food, for example, drives our reward systems into a frenzy. After spending hundreds of thousands of years hunting and foraging for food in the wild, the human brain has evolved to place a high value on salt, sugar, and fat.

Source: Atomic Habits: The life-changing million-copy #1 bestseller

Author: James Clear

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N5AX61W&location=1352

#sciencefiction #technology #AtomicHabitsThelifechangingmillioncopy1bestseller #JamesClear

orosensation

orosensation

Source: Atomic Habits: The life-changing million-copy #1 bestseller

Author: James Clear

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N5AX61W&location=1363

#sciencefiction #technology #AtomicHabitsThelifechangingmillioncopy1bestseller #JamesClear

One of the most effective things you can...

One of the most effective things you can do to build better habits is to join a culture where your desired behavior is the normal behavior. New habits seem achievable when you see others doing them every day. If you are surrounded by fit people, you’re more likely to consider working out to be a common habit. If you’re surrounded by jazz lovers, you’re more likely to believe it’s reasonable to play jazz every day. Your culture sets your expectation for what is “normal.” Surround yourself with people who have the habits you want to have yourself. You’ll rise together.

Source: Atomic Habits: The life-changing million-copy #1 bestseller

Author: James Clear

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N5AX61W&location=1561

#sciencefiction #technology #AtomicHabitsThelifechangingmillioncopy1bestseller #JamesClear

Istiklal Caddesi.

Istiklal Caddesi.

Source: Atomic Habits: The life-changing million-copy #1 bestseller

Author: James Clear

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N5AX61W&location=1645

#sciencefiction #technology #AtomicHabitsThelifechangingmillioncopy1bestseller #JamesClear

A craving is just a specific manifestation of...

A craving is just a specific manifestation of a deeper underlying motive. Your brain did not evolve with a desire to smoke cigarettes or to check Instagram or to play video games. At a deep level, you simply want to reduce uncertainty and relieve anxiety, to win social acceptance and approval, or to achieve status.

Source: Atomic Habits: The life-changing million-copy #1 bestseller

Author: James Clear

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B01N5AX61W&location=1681

#sciencefiction #technology #AtomicHabitsThelifechangingmillioncopy1bestseller #JamesClear

Finally, the black versus white backs of magpies,...

Finally, the black versus white backs of magpies, although the most dramatic and obvious of all differences (at least to the casual observer), may be a minor difference in terms of species designation (but not necessarily ‘minor’ for individual magpies).

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=534

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

One of the obvious and self-evident descriptors of...

One of the obvious and self-evident descriptors of a bird is that it has feathers and can fly,

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=629

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

integument.

integument.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=664

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

There are about 16 main designs of beak...

There are about 16 main designs of beak in birds, with a multitude of modifications and each form is congruent with the feeding niche that a species has evolved to occupy

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=673

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

unlike the beaks of ravens and of currawongs,...

unlike the beaks of ravens and of currawongs, magpie bills are more slender and more pointed at the tip

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=675

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

For a true ground feeder with extractive foraging...

For a true ground feeder with extractive foraging habits the beak is ideally suited for piercing the ground, also capable of driving a wedge into relatively hard soil.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=676

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

the nestlings need to be fed to the...

the nestlings need to be fed to the throat rather than to the beak.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=679

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

As an ‘all purpose’ beak, it has of...

As an ‘all purpose’ beak, it has of course more functions than this and reflects the fact that magpies use a variety of food types as shall be discussed in the next chapter.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=679

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

Melanin can also result in brown hues.

Melanin can also result in brown hues.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=693

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

In mammals, there are usually only seven cervical...

In mammals, there are usually only seven cervical vertebrae, while in birds they range from 11 to as many as 24 (in swans, for instance).

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=776

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

It appears that the magpie is the only...

It appears that the magpie is the only cracticid species that has developed as a fully bipedal walker, in the manner of shorebirds and waders. By contrast, all other species in this family predominantly hop.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=800

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

The brain of the magpie is noteworthy for...

The brain of the magpie is noteworthy for another reason. Magpies have large brains relative to body size and a large Wulst area, a trait apparently shared by most corvids but not as pronounced in other songbirds.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=881

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

The Australian sulphur-crested cockatoo and its close allies...

The Australian sulphur-crested cockatoo and its close allies and the New Zealand kea, as well as some of the South American macaws, top the list of brain sizes relative to body sizes in birds in the world.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=918

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

Several studies have shown that a novel stimulus...

Several studies have shown that a novel stimulus is more often viewed monocularly with the left eye rather than with the right eye.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=990

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In an experiment with free-ranging magpies, we supplied...

In an experiment with free-ranging magpies, we supplied the magpies with food by purposely throwing pieces of mincemeat in their direction and then scoring which eye they last used before taking and consuming it. Of 155 scores, 97% were left-eye dominant, meaning they involved left-eye viewing the moving target before food retrieval.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=1013

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in many areas of Australia, magpies forage for...

in many areas of Australia, magpies forage for scarab larvae, often known as Christmas beetles, a very destructive pest that causes damage to pastures during the larval stage, as well as to trees on emerging from the ground as flying beetles. Earlier research32 had shown that scarab larvae create no visual surface cues and that magpies are capable of detecting them by the sound they emit alone.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=1063

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

The larvae may pupate and emerge as beetles...

The larvae may pupate and emerge as beetles any time between November and March, i.e. larvae reach their full size at exactly the time when magpie offspring fledge (around September, sometimes earlier-depending on weather conditions) and make the greatest protein and food demands on the parent birds.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=1074

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

The researchers recorded the minute sounds of movements...

The researchers recorded the minute sounds of movements made by scarab larvae then, using very small speakers buried in the ground, they played back the recorded sounds. The magpies were able to detect the sounds, and locate and dig up the speakers!

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=1245

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

Innovative feeding may also open up new food...

Innovative feeding may also open up new food sources. For instance, currawongs and Torresian crows have been able to kill the poisonous cane toad and partly use as it as a novel food.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=1258

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

Red kite nest sites have been found to...

Red kite nest sites have been found to contain flags, handbags, magazine pages, tea towels, lottery tickets and socks

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=1339

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

They may get a little area in someone...

They may get a little area in someone else’s territory to rest and a daily pass within yet someone else’s territory to snatch a drink. I have seen such pairs in several geographical locations. The current ‘homeless’ pair has made one of the large palm pots on the balcony of our house their safe home base. They come and assess their pot every day, and the purpose of the visit is to check on their deposits and safeguard their cache. Indeed, since they have used this pot for storage for over a year now, it is probably best described as a larder.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=1379

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

Dunking may occur for very different reasons.39 The...

Dunking may occur for very different reasons.39 The deferment of gratification (not eating the bread crumbs given but waiting for something better), is one reason why dunking has become an interesting behaviour in the literature. In a few species (such as ravens and herons) a morsel of bread is taken but not consumed and instead moved to a waterway and dropped close to shore where it eventually attracts small fish which are then procured by the bird.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=1399

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

Another feeding innovation by magpies has recently been...

Another feeding innovation by magpies has recently been discovered by Colin and Suzie Fairclough from Noggerup, south of Perth, Western Australia, that so far, I believe, has not been described in the literature. They noticed that magpies were searching in the bushes of native fuchsias, not at ground but at magpie eye level. The fuchsias produce beautiful long and tubular bells in bright red. They obviously also produce nectar because these flowers are regularly frequented by introduced honey bees. The bells are so long that the bee has to crawl completely inside the flower and only a little of its abdomen remains visible. In that position, they are quite vulnerable and incapable of responding to a predator by flight. The magpies have learned to wait until the bee is completely enveloped by the flower and then catch it by the abdomen, slowly move it to the ground where they wipe off the sting and then consume it

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=1417

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

When speaking about foraging efficiency, there are at...

When speaking about foraging efficiency, there are at least four variables that are usually considered in research:42 (1) the time it takes to find and process food; (2) metabolic costs accrued for each foraging activity (foraging, processing, etc.); (3) the passage of time for one item to be processed and successfully dispatched and, (4) how nutritious the item might be and whether it warrants the energy expense. As a formula, the simplest form is:

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=1462

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The end result of a foraging activity should...

The end result of a foraging activity should be, of course, that there is an energy gain overall for each prey item secured. However, if it takes a long time to complete one transaction, for little energy gain, the bird might still be deficient in its energy uptake even if the bird has foraged for hours.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=1466

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

It seems that magpies are extremely efficient foragers...

It seems that magpies are extremely efficient foragers judging by the number of hours they spend roosting, preening, socialising, napping and playing. Indeed, outside the breeding season, we kept regular records of the birds’ time involvement in direct foraging acts and realised that magpies spend far fewer hours working to satisfy basic needs than their human counterparts!

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=1468

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

Interestingly, they also often forage together. Even if...

Interestingly, they also often forage together. Even if the magpies look as though they are singly foraging, at least a second one will be nearby. Indeed, pairs often set out on the day together (Fig. 5.5). Magpies belong to the few ground-feeders that forage socially.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=1496

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

In some groups, at particular times of the...

In some groups, at particular times of the year, magpie groups (at least half the group but often the entire group) start foraging together in a formation that is reminiscent of search and rescue missions in human emergency situations when, for instance, a child has gone missing in a park or wilderness and volunteers comb the area in close proximity to each other.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=1498

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

It is incorrect to believe that all magpies...

It is incorrect to believe that all magpies have territories. It is like human home ownership: while it may be desirable, only some achieve it and can retain it while many others miss out. The percentage of human home ownership is higher than that of magpie territory ownership but in both groups the percentage of the overall population claiming such a prized possession is declining and the properties are getting smaller.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=1664

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

Suffice it to say here that a description...

Suffice it to say here that a description of territory is intertwined with group size and the group’s social composition which has almost as many variations as exist in human society. Magpies live as couples, some males have affairs, some couples ‘divorce’, others stay together for life and some form rather large groups with adults and juveniles from previous years and possibly including even some unrelated adults.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=1681

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

a pair that was in the middle of...

a pair that was in the middle of raising two fledged youngsters, the male suddenly disappeared and the female was struggling on her own to provide food for the two fledged offspring. Very unexpectedly, the male that had disappeared flew in a week or so later with two females in tow and immediately began to assume authority over the territory and these two new females. The female parent was initially confined to a small area in the territory with her two fledged offspring but such a semi-truce only lasted for a few days. After continual harassment the female and her two offspring were forced to leave altogether, facing a very uncertain future, almost certainly condemning the fledglings to death.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=1688

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

I have seen adult male magpies sneak away...

I have seen adult male magpies sneak away from their natal territory, on foot (even looking over their shoulders), at early morning hours to visit a female in the next territory, observations that have since been confirmed by detailed genetic studies.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=1693

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

there was the utterly unlikely story of four...

there was the utterly unlikely story of four male magpies from different clutches that I had hand-raised together and who stayed together for life, after 10 years accepting one female into their group who then produced two offspring per year every year that were then raised jointly by all four males while the territory was extremely well defended against many incursions and birds of prey.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=1705

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

The other is a response to intruders and...

The other is a response to intruders and predators. Intruders may also be magpies that are not neighbours. It appears that white-backed magpies intruding into the territories held by hybrid or black-backed magpies are dealt with more severely than black-backed intruders,18 suggesting that plumage colour may play an additional role in territorial defence.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=1825

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

When a group is strong and has proved...

When a group is strong and has proved its mettle, it is usually sufficient, when having a neighbourly dispute, to voice a warning by a series of vocalisations referred to as carolling. One individual begins to emit the sounds and another one or two magpies join in chorus. The sound and structure of carolling is very distinct indeed (see Chapter 11). It has the sole function of proclaiming and confirming ownership of the territory and may also function as a reconfirmation of social bonds of the group.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=1830

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

The Kentucky Creek eventually consisted of just one...

The Kentucky Creek eventually consisted of just one waterhole, located in the central part of a territory belonging to one resident magpie family, which was known to have vigorously defended its territory over the previous five years. Two neighbouring groups now had no direct access to water. To my surprise, the magpies that had been so fiercely fighting for every inch of their territory over years suddenly stepped back and all the neighbouring groups were allowed to drink at the one remaining waterhole without the slightest conflict. It was a truce – the neighbours did not misuse the situation to gain more territory and the resident magpies made no single attempt to drive them away. All three residential magpie groups survived the drought years because of this ability to set aside normal rules applying at good times.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=1889

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

when I see princess parrots or budgerigars a...

when I see princess parrots or budgerigars a water source is a maximum of 10 km away, for zebra finches it is 2 km.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=1906

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

In a test case, male magpies that were...

In a test case, male magpies that were caponised (effectively the same as castrated) still retained their territory for years.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=2015

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

A sentinel choosing a vantage point. Note the...

A sentinel choosing a vantage point. Note the stretched neck and erect posture, typical for vigilance behaviour.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=2024

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

We do not readily appreciate how precious breeding...

We do not readily appreciate how precious breeding birds are until we learn from the statistics that most never breed.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=2062

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

It is often assumed that any bird reaching...

It is often assumed that any bird reaching sexual maturity will seek a partner and mate, raise offspring and do so year after year until some mishap or the reduction in reproductive ability stops that individual from reproducing. This is a myth. Evidence is plentiful that in some species over three-quarters of the individuals will not reproduce at all across a life span.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=2066

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

We do not even know how magpie pairs...

We do not even know how magpie pairs typically meet.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=2089

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

What is clear, though, is that some magpie...

What is clear, though, is that some magpie pairs may form long-lasting pair bonds and possibly even life-bonds and that some also appear to be monogamous, although evidence is mounting that high extra-pair mating rates occur regularly in magpies, in some places even at an astounding rate.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=2116

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

where magpies do not only engage in extra-pair...

where magpies do not only engage in extra-pair matings but the female may actually lay her eggs in another female’s nest.19 This behaviour, more akin to that of a cuckoo female, raises many new questions.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=2139

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

At different sites that I inspected, the depth...

At different sites that I inspected, the depth of some magpie nests led to additional occupancy by striated pardalotes, who dug a small tunnel into the lower part of the structure and lined it inside, thereby simultaneously achieving a safe and warm nest with roof. There was no attempt by the attending adult magpies to remove them and at no time during the breeding period did a magpie show any inclination to examine or intercept any of the pardalotes’ activities within the lower tip of their nest.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=2215

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

It is difficult to think of a context...

It is difficult to think of a context in which the magpie’s spectacular and conspicuous plumage could offer camouflage by day. It may be useful at night, however. The dappled light in trees hides a black bird well and perhaps particularly well if the shape is broken up by white patches that then may appear as pools of light.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=2288

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

Of late, however, the old incompatibility and compatibility...

Of late, however, the old incompatibility and compatibility hypotheses have given way to a slightly more open approach suggesting that some birds can actually like each other and are compatible for very individual reasons. As one recent study of zebra finch partnering behaviour found, coupling up pairs randomly (and without the birds’ consent and wish) had poor results.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=2323

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

Apart from extended attention to sun and water,...

Apart from extended attention to sun and water, as a rule of thumb, one of the most remarkable and sustained activities at times of leisure is singing.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=2952

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

Magpie songs not only have no obvious function,...

Magpie songs not only have no obvious function, at least none has been found to date, but song is not even sex specific, i.e. not a prerogative of the male.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=2955

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

The longest continuous song I have ever recorded...

The longest continuous song I have ever recorded was 6 hours long, without interruption or break.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=2965

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

Suffice it to say here that the melodious...

Suffice it to say here that the melodious song is for the singer, not for an audience or any obvious purpose. Of course, for any human eavesdroppers it is a free concert of the nicest kind.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=2997

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

One adult discovered our Hills Hoist washing line...

One adult discovered our Hills Hoist washing line and was hanging from one of the clotheslines and I discovered that I could push the hoist around while the bird was hanging on. It became a game we played and, evidently, the bird enjoyed the free rides and regularly came back for more.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=3031

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

Magpies belong to only a very select number...

Magpies belong to only a very select number of avian species so far known that engage in extensive play behaviour in all three categories as juveniles and even into adulthood. Parrots and cockatoos have an extensive social and individual play repertoire but there are few other avian species, apart from some corvids, with these traits.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=3056

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

More unusually, magpies may engage in cross-species play....

More unusually, magpies may engage in cross-species play. Hand-raised magpies may playfully engage with human adults. Playing games with shoelaces is a favourite sport and these get ‘attacked’ and pulled. Probably the most famous case is a YouTube video of a magpie playing with a Jack Russell and apparently doing so on a regular basis.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=3071

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

Intimidation encounters of this kind, and the range...

Intimidation encounters of this kind, and the range of responses available to the subordinate magpie, have also been described for magpies in New Zealand.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=3158

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

One man from the Canberra region rang to...

One man from the Canberra region rang to let me know rather excitedly that a group of magpies was ‘holding court’. He said that he had never seen anything like it and could not believe his eyes but the behaviour he was going to describe to me, he had observed once. He explained that a large group of magpies (between 10 and 20) gathered in a semicircle on the ground, all facing a single magpie at the middle of the diameter of the semicircle. The individual magpie, so he said, showed fear but did not attempt to fly away. Then magpies would start stepping forward individually one by one and peck the individual quite hard. One after the other did so and when everyone in the front row of the semicircle had had a peck at the singled-out individual they flew away, leaving the injured and defeated individual behind.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=3165

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

In the literature, this term is reserved for...

In the literature, this term is reserved for those events and species where proof exists that not only are birds other than the parents at the nest site of a new clutch but are actively helping in feeding them. In many magpie groups this is indeed the case and much has been written about the magpie brand of cooperative behaviour.27,28 Indeed, it was said before that, worldwide, less than 3% of songbirds are cooperative within this definition29 but, in Australia, that number jumps to 22% or 115 identified species.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=3209

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

‘Cooperative’ behaviour has been earmarked for reproduction but...

‘Cooperative’ behaviour has been earmarked for reproduction but cooperative behaviour in magpies is actually at its strongest and most consistent in territorial defence.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=3241

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

Basically, the question is: how do they do...

Basically, the question is: how do they do it?

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=3335

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

There has been little direct experimentation to test...

There has been little direct experimentation to test whether calls are learnt or not but some field observations might lead us to suggest that at least some calls are learnt – those that are used in communication.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=3499

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

In magpies, interaction with a parent or adult...

In magpies, interaction with a parent or adult group may make vocal copying possible but all indications are that copying from parents is suppressed and song practice has to take place when parents are well away from the nest (Fig. 10.7). Thus, unlike many songbirds, magpie youngsters do not learn directly from their parents and, for whatever inherent reasons, nestlings will not vocalise and practise until parents are well outside the visual field.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=3541

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

Magpies do not string their mimicked sequence along...

Magpies do not string their mimicked sequence along a fixed sequence as lyrebirds do but intersperse their own song with snippets in any manner possible.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=3615

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

Lyrebirds sounded elegant, loud, melodious and utterly convincing...

Lyrebirds sounded elegant, loud, melodious and utterly convincing to the human ear, including also to some local species such as kookaburras that actually often reply to passages of their song being mimicked.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=3625

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

a magpie had learned to use the name...

a magpie had learned to use the name of a dog on a property in New South Wales. The owners also had a cat that had tried everything to get rid of the magpie. When the cat approached, the magpie did not fly away but called out the name of the dog; the dog came running and chased the cat away. Calling the dog was not mimicry any longer but a most effective way to use the dog’s name.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=3658

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

The category that was most contentious, is now...

The category that was most contentious, is now well established. It is called intentional communication, i.e. expressing vocally an intention to inform others about something and something very specific. For both sender and recipient it means that the sender needs to have someone in mind and for the recipient to understand that the message may contain information of importance and may even require anticipatory thinking. Most often, this is studied in referential signals (discussed below).

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=3795

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

In magpies, feathers are used for subtle signals...

In magpies, feathers are used for subtle signals during very close interactions. Signals, issued

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=3834

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

Facial expression may also play a part in...

Facial expression may also play a part in communication. The idea of a bird having a ‘face’ may seem odd – a face is something usually reserved for humans, or at least mammals, and is usually denied birds, with some exceptions.10 Facial expression is achieved by independent positioning of feathers below or above the beak, on the flanks of the head, on top of the head (the crown), at the nape of the neck and, in some species, the feathers above the eyes can also move independently from other feathers. Magpies do not have a crest (as do cockatoos) but they can ruffle their flank feathers to express rising anger and possible attack.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=3844

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

Most auditory signals, however, are vocal and (as...

Most auditory signals, however, are vocal and (as most Australians are aware) the magpie is one of the most vocal species. Vocalisations occur all year round, are issued by any age group (post-fledging) and by both sexes. This is in stark distinction to most birds in the Northern Hemisphere where the woods may resound with the calls of songbirds in spring – especially when males sing their breeding songs – but they are nearly silent from late autumn and through the cold winters when birds either migrate or fall silent.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=3866

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

‘dear enemy’ hypothesis,

‘dear enemy’ hypothesis,

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=3892

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

Duetting is a specific form of communication in...

Duetting is a specific form of communication in which one bird initiates a call and another one answers. It usually refers to sequential calling rather than, as the term is used in human song, singing together – the latter is carolling.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=3921

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

A most unusual kind of duetting between

A most unusual kind of duetting between

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=3930

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

they estimated by extrapolation to the whole state...

they estimated by extrapolation to the whole state that New South Wales alone would claim ~7000 victims of native animals daily. Magpies and kangaroos were at the top of the list of road kills of birds and of marsupials respectively.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=4181

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

Apart from an oversupply in venomous creatures, Australia...

Apart from an oversupply in venomous creatures, Australia is truly blessed in that we can freely hike in the bush without a disgruntled bear, moose, leopard, lion or tiger going into attack mode.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=4229

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

Dealing with magpie mobbings

Dealing with magpie mobbings

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=4351

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

The main task of male magpies during the...

The main task of male magpies during the breeding season is to help feed the offspring and to defend the territory or, more specifically, the area around the nest site. The female also feeds but she has usually no time to take part in defending the nest site and, not surprisingly, research has found that 97% of all magpies swooping humans are male.

Source: Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

Author: Gisela Kaplan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B07RBQP734&location=4356

#sciencefiction #technology #AustralianMagpieBiologyandBehaviourofanUnusualSongbird #GiselaKaplan

humans. I mean, what other animal needs professional...

humans. I mean, what other animal needs professional help in deciding what it should eat?

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=101

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

Today in America the culture of food is...

Today in America the culture of food is changing more than once a generation, which is historically unprecedented—and dizzying.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=122

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

nutrition science that, depending on your point of...

nutrition science that, depending on your point of view, is steadily advancing the frontiers of our knowledge about diet and health or is just changing its mind a lot because it is a flawed science that knows much less than it cares to admit.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=125

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

it’s important to understand how we arrived at...

it’s important to understand how we arrived at our present state of nutritional confusion and anxiety. That is the subject of the first portion of this book, “The Age of Nutritionism.”

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=144

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

humans deciding what to eat without professional guidance—something...

humans deciding what to eat without professional guidance—something they have been doing with notable success since coming down out of the trees—is seriously unprofitable if you’re a food company, a definite career loser if you’re a nutritionist, and just plain boring if you’re a newspaper editor or reporter.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=148

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

Together, and with some crucial help from the...

Together, and with some crucial help from the government, they have constructed an ideology of nutritionism that, among other things, has convinced us of three pernicious myths: that what matters most is not the food but the “nutrient”; that because nutrients are invisible and incomprehensible to everyone but scientists, we need expert help in deciding what to eat; and that the purpose of eating is to promote a narrow concept of physical health.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=166

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

orthorexics:

orthorexics:

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=178

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

What’s more, the traditional diets that the new...

What’s more, the traditional diets that the new Western foods displaced were strikingly diverse: Various populations thrived on diets that were what we’d call high fat, low fat, or high carb; all meat or all plant; indeed, there have been traditional diets based on just about any kind of whole food you can imagine. What this suggests is that the human animal is well adapted to a great many different diets. The Western diet, however, is not one of them.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=203

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

Nutritionism is, in a sense, the official ideology...

Nutritionism is, in a sense, the official ideology of the Western diet and so cannot be expected to raise radical or searching questions about it.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=209

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

Epidemiologists had also observed that in America during...

Epidemiologists had also observed that in America during the war years, when meat and dairy products were strictly rationed, the rate of heart disease had temporarily plummeted, only to leap upward once the war was over.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=302

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

First, notice that the stark message to “eat...

First, notice that the stark message to “eat less” of a particular food—in this case meat—had been deep-sixed; don’t look for it ever again in any official U.S. government dietary pronouncement. Say what you will about this or that food, you are not allowed officially to tell people to eat less of it or the industry in question will have you for lunch.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=315

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

Notice how in the revised guidelines, distinctions between...

Notice how in the revised guidelines, distinctions between entities as different as beef and chicken and fish have collapsed. These three venerable foods, each representing not just a different species but an entirely different taxonomic class, are now lumped together as mere delivery systems for a single nutrient. Notice too how the new language exonerates the foods themselves. Now the culprit is an obscure, invisible, tasteless—and politically unconnected—substance that may or may not lurk in them called saturated fat.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=319

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

“Sorry Marge” looked at margarine as the ultimate...

“Sorry Marge” looked at margarine as the ultimate nutritionist product, able to shift its identity (no cholesterol! one year, no trans fats! the next) depending on the prevailing winds of dietary opinion.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=354

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

But expert help to do what exactly? This...

But expert help to do what exactly? This brings us to another unexamined assumption of nutritionism: that the whole point of eating is to maintain and promote bodily health.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=371

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

To a considerable extent we still have a...

To a considerable extent we still have a food system organized around the promotion of protein as the master nutrient. It has given us, among other things, vast amounts of cheap meat and milk, which have in turn given us much, much bigger people. Whether they are healthier too is another question.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=385

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

A backlash against protein arose in America at...

A backlash against protein arose in America at the turn of the last century as diet gurus like John Harvey Kellogg and Horace Fletcher (about whom more later) railed against the deleterious effects of protein on digestion (it supposedly led to the proliferation of toxic bacteria in the gut) and promoted the cleaner, more wholesome carbohydrate in its place. The legacy of that revaluation is the breakfast cereal, the strategic objective of which was to dethrone animal protein at the morning meal.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=388

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

With widespread lipophobia taking hold of the human...

With widespread lipophobia taking hold of the human population, countless cattle lost their marbling and lean pork was repositioned as “the new white meat”—tasteless and tough as running shoes, perhaps, but now even a pork chop could compete with chicken as a way for eaters to “reduce saturated fat intake.”

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=476

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

Yet as a general rule it’s a whole...

Yet as a general rule it’s a whole lot easier to slap a health claim on a box of sugary cereal than on a raw potato or a carrot, with the perverse result that the most healthful foods in the supermarket sit there quietly in the produce section, silent as stroke victims, while a few aisles over in Cereal the Cocoa Puffs and Lucky Charms are screaming their newfound “whole-grain goodness” to the rafters.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=500

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

lipid hypothesis—the idea that dietary fat is responsible...

lipid hypothesis—the idea that dietary fat is responsible for chronic disease.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=508

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

Only two studies have ever found “a significant...

Only two studies have ever found “a significant positive association between saturated fat intake and risk of CHD [coronary heart disease]”; many more have failed to find an association. Only one study has ever found “a significant inverse association between polyunsaturated fat intake and CHD.” Let me translate: The amount of saturated fat in the diet probably may have little if any bearing on the risk of heart disease, and evidence that increasing polyunsaturated fats in the diet will reduce risk is slim to nil.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=540

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

“a weak and nonsignificant positive association between dietary...

“a weak and nonsignificant positive association between dietary cholesterol and risk of CHD.”

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=544

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

Oddly, Americans got really fat on their new...

Oddly, Americans got really fat on their new low-fat diet—indeed, many date the current epidemic of obesity and diabetes to the late 1970s, when Americans began bingeing on carbohydrates, ostensibly as a way to avoid the evils of fat.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=626

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

We did reduce our consumption of saturated fats,...

We did reduce our consumption of saturated fats, replacing them, as directed, with polyunsaturated fats and trans fats. Meat consumption actually held steady, though we did, again as instructed, shift from red meat to white to reduce our saturated fat intake. Basically what we did was heap a bunch more carbs onto our plate, obscuring but by no means replacing the expanding chunk of (now skinless white) animal protein still sitting there in the middle.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=631

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

was easy for the take-home message of the...

was easy for the take-home message of the 1977 and 1982 dietary guidelines to be simplified as follows: Eat more low-fat foods.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=636

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

Nutritionism might be the best thing ever to...

Nutritionism might be the best thing ever to happen to the food industry, which historically has labored under the limits to growth imposed by a population of eaters that isn’t expanding nearly as fast as the food makers need it to if they are to satisfy the expectations of Wall Street.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=647

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

Nutritionism solves the problem of the fixed stomach,...

Nutritionism solves the problem of the fixed stomach, as it used to be called in the business: the fact that compared to other consumer products, demand for food has in the past been fairly inelastic. People could eat only so much, and because tradition and habit ruled their choices, they tended to eat the same old things.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=648

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

the FDA has just signed off on a...

the FDA has just signed off on a new health claim for Frito-Lay chips on the grounds that eating chips fried in polyunsaturated fats can help you reduce your consumption of saturated fats, thereby conferring blessings on your cardiovascular system.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=653

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

In this, nutritionism is a little like the...

In this, nutritionism is a little like the institution of the American front lawn, an unobjectionable, if bland, way to pave over our differences and Americanize the landscape.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=711

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

So if you’re a nutrition scientist you do...

So if you’re a nutrition scientist you do the only thing you can do, given the tools at your disposal: Break the thing down into its component parts and study those one by one, even if that means ignoring subtle interactions and contexts and the fact that the whole may well be more than, or maybe just different from, the sum of its parts. This is what we mean by reductionist science.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=756

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

It would be great to know how this...

It would be great to know how this all works, but in the meantime we can enjoy thyme in the knowledge that it probably doesn’t do any harm (since people have been eating it forever) and that it might actually do some good (since people have been eating it forever), and even if it does nothing at all, we like the way it tastes.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=790

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

(This is sometimes called parking-lot science, after the...

(This is sometimes called parking-lot science, after the legendary fellow who loses his keys in a parking lot and goes looking for them under the streetlight—not because that’s where he lost them but because that’s where it’s easiest to see.)

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=796

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

We eat foods in combinations and in orders...

We eat foods in combinations and in orders that can affect how they’re metabolized.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=806

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

The carbohydrates in a bagel will be absorbed...

The carbohydrates in a bagel will be absorbed more slowly if the bagel is spread with peanut butter; the fiber, fat, and protein in the peanut butter cushion the insulin response, thereby blunting the impact of the carbohydrates.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=806

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

Drink coffee with your steak, and your body...

Drink coffee with your steak, and your body won’t be able to fully absorb the iron in the meat. The olive oil with which I eat tomatoes makes the lycopene they contain more available to my body. Some of those compounds in the sprig of thyme may affect my digestion of the dish I add it to, helping to break down one compound or stimulate production of an enzyme needed to detoxify another. We have barely begun to understand the relationships among foods in a cuisine.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=808

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

The epidemiologist John Powles has suggested this predilection...

The epidemiologist John Powles has suggested this predilection is little more than a Puritan bias: Bad things happen to people who eat bad things.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=817

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

It’s worth keeping in mind that a far...

It’s worth keeping in mind that a far more powerful predictor of heart disease than either diet or exercise is social class.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=864

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

In one experiment, he showed the words “chocolate...

In one experiment, he showed the words “chocolate cake” to a group of Americans and recorded their word associations. “Guilt” was the top response. If that strikes you as unexceptional, consider the response of the French eaters to the same prompt: “celebration.” (Oh, yeah.) I think of Rozin as a kind of psychoanalyst of nutritionism.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=962

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

all this might be tolerable if eating by...

all this might be tolerable if eating by the light of nutritionism made us, if not happier, then at least healthier. That it has failed to do. Thirty years of nutritional advice have left us fatter, sicker, and more poorly nourished. Which is why we find ourselves in the predicament we do: in need of a whole new way to think about eating.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=984

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

Since leaving the bush some years before, all...

Since leaving the bush some years before, all ten had developed type 2 diabetes; they also showed signs of insulin resistance (when the body’s cells lose their sensitivity to insulin) and elevated levels of triglycerides in the blood—a risk factor for heart disease. “Metabolic syndrome,” or “syndrome X,” is the medical term for the complex of health problems these Aborigines had developed:

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=996

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

But during the decades before World War II,...

But during the decades before World War II, when the industrialization of so many aspects of our lives was still fairly fresh, the price of “progress,” especially to our health, seemed more obvious to many people and therefore more open to question.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=1088

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

“activator X,” a term of his own invention...

“activator X,” a term of his own invention that is probably vitamin K2. Almost everywhere he went, he noted the high value people placed on seafood, which even mountain-dwelling groups would go to great lengths to procure, trading with coastal tribes for dried fish eggs and such.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=1142

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

Foods that lie to our senses are one...

Foods that lie to our senses are one of the most challenging features of the Western diet.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=1213

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

Refined flour is the first fast food.

Refined flour is the first fast food.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=1251

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

In the 1930s, with the discovery of vitamins,...

In the 1930s, with the discovery of vitamins, scientists figured out what had happened, and millers began fortifying refined grain with B vitamins. This took care of the most obvious deficiency diseases. More recently, scientists recognized that many of us also had a deficiency of folic acid in our diet, and in 1996 public health authorities ordered millers to start adding folic acid to flour as well. But it would take longer still for science to realize that this “Wonder Bread” strategy of supplementation, as one nutritionist has called it, might not solve all the problems caused by the refining of grain.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=1270

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

The big money has always been in processing...

The big money has always been in processing foods, not selling them whole, and the industry’s investment in the reductionist approach to food is probably safe. The fact is, there is something in us that loves a refined carbohydrate, and that something is the human brain. The human brain craves carbohydrates reduced to their energy essence, which is to say pure glucose. Once industry figured out how to transform the seeds of grasses into the chemical equivalent of sugar, there was probably no turning back.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=1294

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

With the general availability of cheap pure sugar,...

With the general availability of cheap pure sugar, the human metabolism now had to contend not only with a constant flood of glucose, but also with more fructose than it had ever before encountered, because sugar—sucrose—is half fructose.∗ (Per capita fructose consumption has increased 25 percent in the past thirty years.) In the natural world, fructose is a rare and precious thing, typically encountered seasonally in ripe fruit, when it comes packaged in a whole food full of fiber (which slows its absorption) and valuable micronutrients. It’s no wonder we’ve been hardwired by natural selection to prize sweet foods: Sugar as it is ordinarily found in nature—in fruits and some vegetables—gives us a slow-release form of energy accompanied by minerals and all sorts of crucial micronutrients we can get nowhere else. (Even in honey, the purest form of sugar found in nature, you find some valuable micronutrients.)

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=1301

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

As one nutrition expert put it to me,...

As one nutrition expert put it to me, “We’re in the middle of a national experiment in the mainlining of glucose.” And don’t forget the flood of fructose, which may represent an even greater evolutionary novelty, and therefore challenge to the human metabolism, than all that glucose.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=1317

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

It is probably no accident that rates of...

It is probably no accident that rates of type 2 diabetes are lower among ethnic Europeans, who have had longer than other groups to accustom their metabolisms to fast-release refined carbohydrates: Their food environment changed first.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=1319

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

You may not think you eat a lot...

You may not think you eat a lot of corn and soybeans, but you do: 75 percent of the vegetable oils in your diet come from soy (representing 20 percent of your daily calories) and more than half of the sweeteners you consume come from corn (representing around 10 percent of daily calories).

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=1357

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

Why corn and soy? Because these two plants...

Why corn and soy? Because these two plants are among nature’s most efficient transformers of sunlight and chemical fertilizer into carbohydrate energy (in the case of corn) and fat and protein (in the case of soy)—if you want to extract the maximum amount of macronutrients from the American farm belt, corn and soy are the crops to plant.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=1359

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

You don’t need to spend much time in...

You don’t need to spend much time in an American supermarket to figure out that this is a food system organized around the objective of selling large quantities of calories as cheaply as possible.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=1413

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

A diet based on quantity rather than quality...

A diet based on quantity rather than quality has ushered a new creature onto the world stage: the human being who manages to be both overfed and undernourished, two characteristics seldom found in the same body in the long natural history of our species.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=1423

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

The sheer novelty and glamour of the Western...

The sheer novelty and glamour of the Western diet, with its seventeen thousand new food products every year and the marketing power—thirty-two billion dollars a year—used to sell us those products, has overwhelmed the force of tradition and left us where we now find ourselves: relying on science and journalism and government and marketing to help us decide what to eat.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=1549

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

Scientists can argue all they want about the...

Scientists can argue all they want about the biological mechanisms behind this phenomenon, but whichever it is, the solution to the problem would appear to remain very much the same: Stop eating a Western diet.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=1614

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

This sounds like a sensible rule of thumb...

This sounds like a sensible rule of thumb until you realize that industrial processes have by now invaded many whole foods too. Is a steak from a feedlot steer that consumed a diet of corn, various industrial waste products, antibiotics, and hormones still a “whole food”? I’m not so sure. The steer has itself been raised on a Western diet, and that diet has rendered its meat substantially different—in the type and amount of fat in it as well as its vitamin content—from the beef our ancestors ate. The steer’s industrial upbringing has also rendered its meat so cheap that we’re likely to eat more of it more often than our ancestors ever would have. This suggests yet another sense in which this beef has become an industrial food: It is designed to be eaten industrially too—as fast food.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=1645

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

Americans spend less than 10 percent of their...

Americans spend less than 10 percent of their income on food; they also spend less than a half hour a day preparing meals and little more than an hour enjoying them.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=1669

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

For most people for most of history, gathering...

For most people for most of history, gathering and preparing food has been an occupation at the very heart of daily life.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=1671

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

There are many reasons to avoid eating such...

There are many reasons to avoid eating such complicated food products beyond the various chemical additives and corn and soy derivatives they contain. One of the problems with the products of food science is that, as Joan Gussow has pointed out, they lie to your body; their artificial colors and flavors and synthetic sweeteners and novel fats confound the senses we rely on to assess new foods and prepare our bodies to deal with them. Foods that lie leave us with little choice but to eat by the numbers, consulting labels rather than our senses.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=1715

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

Because all plants contain antioxidants, all these studies...

Because all plants contain antioxidants, all these studies are guaranteed to find something on which to base a health oriented marketing campaign.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=1776

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

The American Heart Association currently bestows (for a...

The American Heart Association currently bestows (for a fee) its heart-healthy seal of approval on Lucky Charms, Cocoa Puffs, and Trix cereals, Yoo-hoo lite chocolate drink, and Healthy Choice’s Premium Caramel Swirl Ice Cream Sandwich—

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=1803

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

when you cook at home you seldom find...

when you cook at home you seldom find yourself reaching for the ethoxylated diglycerides or high-fructose corn syrup.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=1830

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

more than many other cultural practices, eating is...

more than many other cultural practices, eating is deeply rooted in nature—in human biology on one side and in the natural world on the other. The specific combinations of foods in a cuisine and the ways they are prepared constitute a deep reservoir of accumulated wisdom about diet and health and place. Many traditional culinary practices are the products of a kind of biocultural evolution, the ingenuity of which modern science occasionally figures out long after the fact.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=2007

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

The ancient Asian practice of fermenting soybeans and...

The ancient Asian practice of fermenting soybeans and eating soy in the form of curds called tofu makes a healthy diet from a plant that eaten almost any other way would make people ill. The soybean itself is a notably inauspicious staple food; it contains a whole assortment of “antinutrients”—compounds that actually block the body’s absorption of vitamins and minerals, interfere with the hormonal system, and prevent the body from breaking down the proteins in the soy itself. It took the food cultures of Asia to figure out how to turn this unpromising plant into a highly nutritious food. By boiling crushed soybeans in water to form a kind of milk and then precipitating the liquid by adding gypsum (calcium sulfate), cooks were able to form the soy into curds of highly digestible protein: tofu.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=2015

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

The French are better at this than we...

The French are better at this than we are, as Brian Wansink discovered when he asked a group of French people how they knew when to stop eating. “When I feel full,” they replied. (What a novel idea! The Americans said things like “When my plate is clean” or “When I run out.”) Perhaps it is their long, leisurely meals that give the French the opportunity to realize when they’re full.

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=2223

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

use glasses that are more vertical than horizontal...

use glasses that are more vertical than horizontal (people tend to pour more into squat glasses);

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=2232

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

Slow Food, the Italian-born movement dedicated to the...

Slow Food, the Italian-born movement dedicated to the principle that “a firm defense of quiet material pleasure is the only way to oppose the universal folly of Fast Life.”

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=2235

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

“artificial grill flavor”

“artificial grill flavor”

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=2254

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

tending a garden reminds us of our ancient...

tending a garden reminds us of our ancient evolutionary bargain with these ingenious domestic species—how cleverly they insinuate themselves into our lives, repaying the care and space we give them with the gift of good food. Each has its own way of announcing—through a change of color, shape, smell, texture, or taste—that the moment when it has the very most to offer us, when it is at its sweetest and most nourishing, has arrived: Pick me!

Source: In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating

Author: Michael Pollan

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI99LY&location=2287

#sciencefiction #technology #InDefenceofFoodTheMythofNutritionandthePleasuresofEating #MichaelPollan

A city-state with its own constitution, a border,...

A city-state with its own constitution, a border, laws, cops, everything.

Source: Snow Crash

Author: Neal Stephenson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI9KAE&location=545

#sciencefiction #technology #SnowCrash #NealStephenson

The Deliverator says nothing. Because he knows that...

The Deliverator says nothing. Because he knows that all of this is going onto videotape. The tape is being pipelined, as it happens, to CosaNostra Pizza University, where it will be analyzed in a pizza management science laboratory. It will be shown to Pizza University students, perhaps to the very students who will replace this man when he gets fired, as a textbook example of how to screw up your life.

Source: Snow Crash

Author: Neal Stephenson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI9KAE&location=610

#sciencefiction #technology #SnowCrash #NealStephenson

As the sun sets, its red light is...

As the sun sets, its red light is supplanted by the light of many neon logos emanating from the franchise ghetto that constitutes this U-Stor-It’s natural habitat. This light, known as loglo, fills in the shadowy corners of the unit with seedy, oversaturated colors.

Source: Snow Crash

Author: Neal Stephenson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI9KAE&location=767

#sciencefiction #technology #SnowCrash #NealStephenson

The earphones have some built-in noise cancellation features....

The earphones have some built-in noise cancellation features. This sort of thing works best on steady noise. When jumbo jets make their takeoff runs on the runway across the street, the sound is reduced to a low doodling hum. But when Vitaly Chernobyl thrashes out an experimental guitar solo, it still hurts Hiro’s ears.

Source: Snow Crash

Author: Neal Stephenson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI9KAE&location=772

#sciencefiction #technology #SnowCrash #NealStephenson

by way of the Army—back in the days...

by way of the Army—back in the days before it got split up into a number of competing organizations such as General Jim’s Defense System and Admiral Bob’s National Security.

Source: Snow Crash

Author: Neal Stephenson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI9KAE&location=778

#sciencefiction #technology #SnowCrash #NealStephenson

Since then, he’s been putting a lot more...

Since then, he’s been putting a lot more emphasis on his auxiliary emergency backup job: freelance stringer for the CIC, the Central Intelligence Corporation of Langley, Virginia.

Source: Snow Crash

Author: Neal Stephenson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI9KAE&location=791

#sciencefiction #technology #SnowCrash #NealStephenson

The business is a simple one. Hiro gets...

The business is a simple one. Hiro gets information. It may be gossip, videotape, audiotape, a fragment of a computer disk, a xerox of a document. It can even be a joke based on the latest highly publicized disaster.

Source: Snow Crash

Author: Neal Stephenson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI9KAE&location=792

#sciencefiction #technology #SnowCrash #NealStephenson

Millions of other CIC stringers are uploading millions...

Millions of other CIC stringers are uploading millions of other fragments at the same time. CIC’s clients, mostly large corporations and Sovereigns, rifle through the Library looking for useful information, and if they find a use for something that Hiro put into it, Hiro gets paid. A year ago, he uploaded an entire first-draft film script that he stole from an agent’s wastebasket in Burbank. Half a dozen studios wanted to see it. He ate and vacationed off of that one for six months.

Source: Snow Crash

Author: Neal Stephenson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI9KAE&location=800

#sciencefiction #technology #SnowCrash #NealStephenson

The number 65,536 is an awkward figure to...

The number 65,536 is an awkward figure to everyone except a hacker, who recognizes it more readily than his own mother’s date of birth: It happens to be a power of 2—216 power to be exact—and even the exponent 16 is equal to 24, and 4 is equal to 22. Along with 256; 32,768; and 2,147,483,648; 65,536 is one of the foundation stones of the hacker universe, in which 2 is the only really important number because that’s how many digits a computer can recognize.

Source: Snow Crash

Author: Neal Stephenson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI9KAE&location=835

#sciencefiction #technology #SnowCrash #NealStephenson

Hiro’s avatar just looks like Hiro, with the...

Hiro’s avatar just looks like Hiro, with the difference that no matter what Hiro is wearing in Reality, his avatar always wears a black leather kimono. Most hacker types don’t go in for garish avatars, because they know that it takes a lot more sophistication to render a realistic human face than a talking penis.

Source: Snow Crash

Author: Neal Stephenson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI9KAE&location=1023

#sciencefiction #technology #SnowCrash #NealStephenson

When Hiro learned how to do this, way...

When Hiro learned how to do this, way back fifteen years ago, a hacker could sit down and write an entire piece of software by himself. Now, that’s no longer possible. Software comes out of factories, and hackers are, to a greater or lesser extent, assembly-line workers. Worse yet, they may become managers who never get to write any code themselves.

Source: Snow Crash

Author: Neal Stephenson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI9KAE&location=1067

#sciencefiction #technology #SnowCrash #NealStephenson

handles it in a typically Hong Kong way,...

handles it in a typically Hong Kong way, with robots.

Source: Snow Crash

Author: Neal Stephenson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI9KAE&location=1162

#sciencefiction #technology #SnowCrash #NealStephenson

WorldBeat Security,

WorldBeat Security,

Source: Snow Crash

Author: Neal Stephenson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI9KAE&location=1163

#sciencefiction #technology #SnowCrash #NealStephenson

The MetaCops are taking it easy, cruising down...

The MetaCops are taking it easy, cruising down the middle lane, not above issuing a speeding ticket here and there as long as they’re in their jurisdiction. Motorists around them drive slowly and sanely, appalled by the thought of having to pull over and listen to half an hour of disclaimers, advisements, and tangled justifications from the likes of these.

Source: Snow Crash

Author: Neal Stephenson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI9KAE&location=1222

#sciencefiction #technology #SnowCrash #NealStephenson

cuts across the Hacker Quadrant, headed for Da5id’s...

cuts across the Hacker Quadrant, headed for Da5id’s table. He recognizes many of the people in here, but as usual, he’s surprised and disturbed by the number he doesn’t recognize—all those sharp, perceptive twenty-one-year-old faces. Software development, like professional sports, has a way of making thirty-year-old men feel decrepit.

Source: Snow Crash

Author: Neal Stephenson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI9KAE&location=1337

#sciencefiction #technology #SnowCrash #NealStephenson

condensing fact from the vapor of nuance.

condensing fact from the vapor of nuance.

Source: Snow Crash

Author: Neal Stephenson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI9KAE&location=1463

#sciencefiction #technology #SnowCrash #NealStephenson

when I have a programmer working under me...

when I have a programmer working under me who is working with that information, he is wielding enormous power. Information is going into his brain. And it’s staying there. It travels with him when he goes home at night. It gets all tangled up into his dreams, for Christ’s sake. He talks to his wife about it. And, goddamn it, he doesn’t have any right to that information. If I was running a car factory, I wouldn’t let workers drive the cars home or borrow tools. But that’s what I do at five o’clock each day, all over the world, when my hackers go home from work.

Source: Snow Crash

Author: Neal Stephenson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI9KAE&location=2284

#sciencefiction #technology #SnowCrash #NealStephenson

It’s like putting on crampons and trying to...

It’s like putting on crampons and trying to walk through a room full of puppies.

Source: Snow Crash

Author: Neal Stephenson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI9KAE&location=2361

#sciencefiction #technology #SnowCrash #NealStephenson

Recognizing his van is easy enough. It is...

Recognizing his van is easy enough. It is enormous. It is eight feet high and wider than it is high, which would have made it a wide load in the old days when they had laws.

Source: Snow Crash

Author: Neal Stephenson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI9KAE&location=4055

#sciencefiction #technology #SnowCrash #NealStephenson

deuteronomic school—

deuteronomic school—

Source: Snow Crash

Author: Neal Stephenson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI9KAE&location=4118

#sciencefiction #technology #SnowCrash #NealStephenson

WARNING. The National Parks Service has declared this...

WARNING. The National Parks Service has declared this area to be a National Sacrifice Zone. The Sacrifice Zone Program was developed to manage parcels of land whose clean-up cost exceeds their total future economic value.

Source: Snow Crash

Author: Neal Stephenson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B002RI9KAE&location=4225

#sciencefiction #technology #SnowCrash #NealStephenson

I’m unable to ask Mike about his intentions...

I’m unable to ask Mike about his intentions or anything else associated with his record year, because after Australia he moved on to South America where he was killed in Peru by Shining Path guerrillas. You may have thought I was jesting when I likened twitching to an extreme sport, but twitchers seem to place themselves in life-threatening situations in the pursuit of birds with alarming regularity. The area where Mike and his birding companion, Tim Andrews, were killed was in territory so dangerous even the CIA were reluctant to send in operatives. But despite warnings from the locals, the lure of potential new ticks for their world lists proved far greater than common sense. Most people would say it is not worth risking your life to see a bird. Plenty of twitchers would disagree.

Source: The Big Twitch: One man, one continent, a race against time - a true story about birdwatching

Author: Sean Dooley

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B003U2SKNO&location=478

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBigTwitchOnemanonecontinentaraceagainsttimeatruestoryaboutbirdwatching #SeanDooley

1 Only actual birds that are wild and...

1 Only actual birds that are wild and free flying can be counted. 2 All birds must be seen within a calendar year. 3 All birds must be seen within Australian Territory. 4 A species can only be counted in accordance with the official Australian Bird Checklist. 5 All species have to be seen well enough to establish their identity.

Source: The Big Twitch: One man, one continent, a race against time - a true story about birdwatching

Author: Sean Dooley

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B003U2SKNO&location=608

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBigTwitchOnemanonecontinentaraceagainsttimeatruestoryaboutbirdwatching #SeanDooley

I know one very reputable birder who for...

I know one very reputable birder who for years had Masked Owl on his list because one night he found a freshly road-killed specimen. He swears that as he picked it up the owl blinked – proof, he said, that the bird was still alive for that split second and therefore countable.

Source: The Big Twitch: One man, one continent, a race against time - a true story about birdwatching

Author: Sean Dooley

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B003U2SKNO&location=627

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBigTwitchOnemanonecontinentaraceagainsttimeatruestoryaboutbirdwatching #SeanDooley

When it comes down to it, just hearing...

When it comes down to it, just hearing a bird is not the same experience as when you see it, particularly when you see it well. To see some birds I would have to travel hundreds, even thousands of kilometres and expend a great deal of time and energy. A fleeting glimpse or hearing a snatch of a call is not exactly what I was after. I wanted the total experience of seeing a bird and that meant being able to recognise what the hell it was I was looking at. If I am walking through a gorge in the Kakadu National Park and a large, dark pigeon flies off, there will be little doubt the bird is anything but a Chestnut-quilled Rock-Pigeon. But if all I see is a brown blur, well it’s hardly a valid experience of the essence of the bird, of what makes it a unique creature. I won’t be satisfied putting it on my list until, at the very least, I have seen the diagnostic feature of the chestnut wing patch that makes it a Chestnut-quilled Rock-Pigeon. This will help me stand up to anyone who doubts I saw a Chestnut-quilled Rock-Pigeon but, more importantly, it means that I will be happy within myself that I truly experienced the bird. And ultimately, for me, that’s what counts.

Source: The Big Twitch: One man, one continent, a race against time - a true story about birdwatching

Author: Sean Dooley

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B003U2SKNO&location=693

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBigTwitchOnemanonecontinentaraceagainsttimeatruestoryaboutbirdwatching #SeanDooley

I have actually heard comments such as, ‘Bruce...

I have actually heard comments such as, ‘Bruce is a nice bloke but he couldn’t tell a Phylloscopus warbler from his elbow,’ in such a tone that brings into question Bruce’s legitimacy as a fellow human being.

Source: The Big Twitch: One man, one continent, a race against time - a true story about birdwatching

Author: Sean Dooley

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B003U2SKNO&location=760

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBigTwitchOnemanonecontinentaraceagainsttimeatruestoryaboutbirdwatching #SeanDooley

Thanks to the cultural shift that occurred in...

Thanks to the cultural shift that occurred in the Australian consciousness from the 1960s onwards, when we stopped trying to turn our homes into little patches of England and began planting indigenous species, many native nectar-feeders have returned to the suburbs – the White-plumed Honeyeater, Noisy Miner and the Red and Little Wattlebirds. But they are all aggressive little buggers and none more so than the magnificent Rainbow Lorikeet, a stunning burst of colour that now wheels about most Australian cities in raucous flocks. I have seen a British twitcher fresh off the plane weep at the beauty and abundance of these birds. They are now back in such numbers that even in the inner city they are giving the Common Mynas a run for their money.

Source: The Big Twitch: One man, one continent, a race against time - a true story about birdwatching

Author: Sean Dooley

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B003U2SKNO&location=861

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBigTwitchOnemanonecontinentaraceagainsttimeatruestoryaboutbirdwatching #SeanDooley

In this country we tend to ignore landscape...

In this country we tend to ignore landscape as a factor in developing our character. You will hear people banging on about how the boundless frontier forged the American sense of optimism, how the Mediterranean sun fuels the passions of those who live under its blazing influence, yet in Australia it’s as though we are ashamed of our landscape. Rather than embrace it we have for the most part of our short history denied the reality of the landscape like a shameful family secret, expending an awful amount of energy in European makeovers or simply willfully ignoring its existence altogether.

Source: The Big Twitch: One man, one continent, a race against time - a true story about birdwatching

Author: Sean Dooley

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B003U2SKNO&location=932

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBigTwitchOnemanonecontinentaraceagainsttimeatruestoryaboutbirdwatching #SeanDooley

To me the Hume is a four-lane song-line...

To me the Hume is a four-lane song-line with a burger stop every couple of hours, that sings of geological history, ice ages, Aborigines, explorers, bushrangers, politicians, disasters, courage and, especially, birds.

Source: The Big Twitch: One man, one continent, a race against time - a true story about birdwatching

Author: Sean Dooley

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B003U2SKNO&location=1078

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBigTwitchOnemanonecontinentaraceagainsttimeatruestoryaboutbirdwatching #SeanDooley

In 1996 the then Victorian State Government declared...

In 1996 the then Victorian State Government declared the former Chiltern State Park a national park. Its official title was to be The Box-Ironbark National Park, a name intended to placate the small but growing surge of voices demanding this habitat be saved. ‘Protect the Box-Ironbark? Of course we have. Look at that dot on the map. “The Box-Ironbark National Park”. There, problem solved – it’s protected.

Source: The Big Twitch: One man, one continent, a race against time - a true story about birdwatching

Author: Sean Dooley

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B003U2SKNO&location=1097

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBigTwitchOnemanonecontinentaraceagainsttimeatruestoryaboutbirdwatching #SeanDooley

This is a process called extinction debt, where...

This is a process called extinction debt, where the birds are essentially a kind of zombie, still existing in this world, but effectively the walking (or flying) dead.

Source: The Big Twitch: One man, one continent, a race against time - a true story about birdwatching

Author: Sean Dooley

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B003U2SKNO&location=1173

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBigTwitchOnemanonecontinentaraceagainsttimeatruestoryaboutbirdwatching #SeanDooley

I’ve always wondered what birders who work at...

I’ve always wondered what birders who work at BA do when a mega rarity turns up. For the rest of us we can just claim a sickie and head off to try and twitch the vagrant, but the BA worker is in a unique dilemma. If they skive off work then everyone else in the office will know damn well that they aren’t sick at all. And as many of the staff at Birds Australia are keen twitchers themselves, if something as crippling as an Emperor Penguin were to turn up, I imagine that the entire office would be deserted.

Source: The Big Twitch: One man, one continent, a race against time - a true story about birdwatching

Author: Sean Dooley

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B003U2SKNO&location=1252

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBigTwitchOnemanonecontinentaraceagainsttimeatruestoryaboutbirdwatching #SeanDooley

I’d been assured that the easiest method of...

I’d been assured that the easiest method of getting onto the parakeets was to hang out at the Botanic Gardens next to the cage containing the captive birds. Apparently wild birds would come in and have a bit of a chat with their captive mates.

Source: The Big Twitch: One man, one continent, a race against time - a true story about birdwatching

Author: Sean Dooley

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B003U2SKNO&location=1608

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBigTwitchOnemanonecontinentaraceagainsttimeatruestoryaboutbirdwatching #SeanDooley

Of the 705 birds on my wish list,...

Of the 705 birds on my wish list, the Red-necked Phalarope is one I was least confident of seeing. Not sighted in Australia until 1962, since then one or two seem to turn up somewhere every year, but not always. They are almost annual on Rottnest Island near Perth and are virtually guaranteed at the Port Headland Saltworks

Source: The Big Twitch: One man, one continent, a race against time - a true story about birdwatching

Author: Sean Dooley

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B003U2SKNO&location=1654

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBigTwitchOnemanonecontinentaraceagainsttimeatruestoryaboutbirdwatching #SeanDooley

Brisbane is the capital of Queensland and Australia’s...

Brisbane is the capital of Queensland and Australia’s third largest city. That’s about as much as most other Australians know of Brisbane. When they visit southeast Queensland they usually head to the holiday resorts of the Gold and Sunshine Coasts, immediately to the south and north, ignoring the city itself. Over the last decade much has been done to shake off Brisbane’s image as a sleepy country town with a bit of a seedy underbelly. In general it’s failed. Not at building a vibrant cultural and business hub, but in convincing the rest of the country that Brisbane is a place that matters.

Source: The Big Twitch: One man, one continent, a race against time - a true story about birdwatching

Author: Sean Dooley

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B003U2SKNO&location=1671

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBigTwitchOnemanonecontinentaraceagainsttimeatruestoryaboutbirdwatching #SeanDooley

If Christmas Island were to be invaded tomorrow...

If Christmas Island were to be invaded tomorrow I suspect that the only Australians who would bother trying to defend it would be the twitching community, who within minutes would be organising a strike force of angry nerds to protect their sacred soil.

Source: The Big Twitch: One man, one continent, a race against time - a true story about birdwatching

Author: Sean Dooley

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B003U2SKNO&location=1870

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBigTwitchOnemanonecontinentaraceagainsttimeatruestoryaboutbirdwatching #SeanDooley

This parochialism reached its ridiculous zenith when on...

This parochialism reached its ridiculous zenith when on one pelagic I commented to someone about the size of the shark liver being used as berley. Without a hint of irony, this person turned to me and boasted, ‘Yeah, I bet you don’t get shark liver that big down your way.’ I couldn’t believe it, he was actually using the ‘my shark liver’s bigger than your shark liver’ line.

Source: The Big Twitch: One man, one continent, a race against time - a true story about birdwatching

Author: Sean Dooley

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B003U2SKNO&location=2305

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBigTwitchOnemanonecontinentaraceagainsttimeatruestoryaboutbirdwatching #SeanDooley

In the Sydney region, the more remote sandstone...

In the Sydney region, the more remote sandstone outcrops still harbour examples of Aboriginal art, recording the lives and spirituality of the original inhabitants of this land. Today a new generation of settlers is adding to the cultural record, reaching out across the ages in an act of spiritual solidarity and understanding. Where Rock Warblers would once have foraged amongst galleries resplendent with images of kangaroos and goannas these days at Bomaderry they feed amongst rocks emblazoned with: ‘Mandy is a slut!’ ‘Bong on Australia’ and ‘F*** You’.

Source: The Big Twitch: One man, one continent, a race against time - a true story about birdwatching

Author: Sean Dooley

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B003U2SKNO&location=2355

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBigTwitchOnemanonecontinentaraceagainsttimeatruestoryaboutbirdwatching #SeanDooley

Because foxes never gained a foothold on the...

Because foxes never gained a foothold on the island, Tasmania is a sensational place for native mammals. Several species that have become extinct on the mainland survive here in good numbers and while looking for the owl I almost had to kick Eastern Barred Bandicoots, Southern Brown Bandicoots and Southern Bettongs, a very cute type of wallaby, out of the way.

Source: The Big Twitch: One man, one continent, a race against time - a true story about birdwatching

Author: Sean Dooley

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B003U2SKNO&location=2397

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBigTwitchOnemanonecontinentaraceagainsttimeatruestoryaboutbirdwatching #SeanDooley

Not that I’d been particularly malicious but I...

Not that I’d been particularly malicious but I did relay that they were nicknamed Sparks and Wildfires by locals because just before I arrived yet another of their prescriptive burns got out of control and set fire to half the park and neighbouring properties.

Source: The Big Twitch: One man, one continent, a race against time - a true story about birdwatching

Author: Sean Dooley

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B003U2SKNO&location=2885

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBigTwitchOnemanonecontinentaraceagainsttimeatruestoryaboutbirdwatching #SeanDooley

Santa Teresa

Santa Teresa

Source: The Big Twitch: One man, one continent, a race against time - a true story about birdwatching

Author: Sean Dooley

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B003U2SKNO&location=2931

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBigTwitchOnemanonecontinentaraceagainsttimeatruestoryaboutbirdwatching #SeanDooley

Aglebuckina Waterhole,

Aglebuckina Waterhole,

Source: The Big Twitch: One man, one continent, a race against time - a true story about birdwatching

Author: Sean Dooley

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B003U2SKNO&location=2962

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBigTwitchOnemanonecontinentaraceagainsttimeatruestoryaboutbirdwatching #SeanDooley

Collared Imperial-Pigeons,

Collared Imperial-Pigeons,

Source: The Big Twitch: One man, one continent, a race against time - a true story about birdwatching

Author: Sean Dooley

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B003U2SKNO&location=3313

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBigTwitchOnemanonecontinentaraceagainsttimeatruestoryaboutbirdwatching #SeanDooley

To rub it in, a few minutes later...

To rub it in, a few minutes later he pointed to a female Varied Triller in the bush in front of us. Ross and Jan Mullholland saw it immediately but I couldn’t. Eventually the whole party was onto it and I still couldn’t see it and this bush was only ten metres away. Either they were all in on an elaborate joke or I have a blind spot when it comes to trillers. I looked stupid either way.

Source: The Big Twitch: One man, one continent, a race against time - a true story about birdwatching

Author: Sean Dooley

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B003U2SKNO&location=3361

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBigTwitchOnemanonecontinentaraceagainsttimeatruestoryaboutbirdwatching #SeanDooley

I remember as a child, before I could...

I remember as a child, before I could read, staring at traffic signs and knowing that once I learnt to read I would never not be able to look at that sign without knowing what it said. (I was a far more profound child than I am an adult.) Birding had become like that for me. It is a language that, once learnt, I have been unable to unlearn. Everywhere I go I am automatically birding in my head whether I am conscious of it or not. Everywhere I go I am tallying up a bird list for that location.

Source: The Big Twitch: One man, one continent, a race against time - a true story about birdwatching

Author: Sean Dooley

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B003U2SKNO&location=3852

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBigTwitchOnemanonecontinentaraceagainsttimeatruestoryaboutbirdwatching #SeanDooley

Gunlom is a waterfall made famous by the...

Gunlom is a waterfall made famous by the first Crocodile Dundee movie. It is also known as Waterfall Creek but I prefer an earlier European name, UDP Falls. UDP stands for Uranium Development Project and it’s a lovely reminder of the past (and current) history of the area.

Source: The Big Twitch: One man, one continent, a race against time - a true story about birdwatching

Author: Sean Dooley

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B003U2SKNO&location=4573

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBigTwitchOnemanonecontinentaraceagainsttimeatruestoryaboutbirdwatching #SeanDooley

There are a million ways to occupy your...

There are a million ways to occupy your time on this planet. They’re all pretty much absurd if you analyse them too closely. I chose twitching, one of the more outwardly absurd of them all I suppose but really no more ridiculous than anything else, yet that year of absurdity has had a profound effect on my life since.

Source: The Big Twitch: One man, one continent, a race against time - a true story about birdwatching

Author: Sean Dooley

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B003U2SKNO&location=4898

#sciencefiction #technology #TheBigTwitchOnemanonecontinentaraceagainsttimeatruestoryaboutbirdwatching #SeanDooley

If one percent of the humans alive controlled...

If one percent of the humans alive controlled everyone’s work, and took far more than their share of the benefits of that work, while also blocking the project of equality and sustainability however they could, that project would become more difficult. This would go without saying, except that it needs saying. To be clear, concluding in brief: there is enough for all. So there should be no more people living in poverty. And there should be no more billionaires. Enough should be a human right, a floor below which no one can fall; also a ceiling above which no one can rise. Enough is a good as a feast—or better.

Source: The Ministry for the Future

Author: Kim Stanley Robinson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B08C5DWVRK&location=926

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMinistryfortheFuture #KimStanleyRobinson

hope to do some good, no matter how...

hope to do some good, no matter how fucked up you are.

Source: The Ministry for the Future

Author: Kim Stanley Robinson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B08C5DWVRK&location=998

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMinistryfortheFuture #KimStanleyRobinson

“Well, it has before. Pretty often in fact....

“Well, it has before. Pretty often in fact. It’s a common form of organization. Most unorthodox operations take place without their political heads knowing they exist. Certainly never the details, even if they’re aware in a general sense that such things exist. As I thought you might be.”

Source: The Ministry for the Future

Author: Kim Stanley Robinson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B08C5DWVRK&location=1721

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMinistryfortheFuture #KimStanleyRobinson

Their idea is to shape the discount rate...

Their idea is to shape the discount rate like a bell curve, with the present always at the top of the bell. So from that position, the discount rate is nearly nothing for the next seven generations, then it shifts higher at a steepening rate.

Source: The Ministry for the Future

Author: Kim Stanley Robinson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B08C5DWVRK&location=2022

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMinistryfortheFuture #KimStanleyRobinson

These efforts were awkward at best.

These efforts were awkward at best.

Source: The Ministry for the Future

Author: Kim Stanley Robinson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B08C5DWVRK&location=2190

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMinistryfortheFuture #KimStanleyRobinson

The Austrian and Chicago schools had run with...

The Austrian and Chicago schools had run with that opinion, and thus neoliberalism: the market rules because it’s the best calculator. But now, with computers as strong as they’ve gotten, the Red Plenty argument has gotten stronger and stronger, asserting that people now have so much computing power that central planning could work better than the market.

Source: The Ministry for the Future

Author: Kim Stanley Robinson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B08C5DWVRK&location=2504

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMinistryfortheFuture #KimStanleyRobinson

Extinctions and ocean warming can’t be fixed no...

Extinctions and ocean warming can’t be fixed no matter how much money future people have, so economics as practiced misses a fundamental aspect of reality.

Source: The Ministry for the Future

Author: Kim Stanley Robinson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B08C5DWVRK&location=2531

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMinistryfortheFuture #KimStanleyRobinson

The “structural adjustment programs” enforced by the World...

The “structural adjustment programs” enforced by the World Bank on the developing countries caught in the debt crises at the end of the twentieth century set the conditions for what became the world order in the twenty-first century. These SAPs were instruments of the postwar American economic empire, which was unlike the older empires in that it did not insist on ownership of its economic colonies; it only owned their debts and their profits, no more than that. The best empire yet, in terms of efficiency,

Source: The Ministry for the Future

Author: Kim Stanley Robinson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B08C5DWVRK&location=3108

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMinistryfortheFuture #KimStanleyRobinson

nat cat group. Natural catastrophes:

nat cat group. Natural catastrophes:

Source: The Ministry for the Future

Author: Kim Stanley Robinson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B08C5DWVRK&location=3651

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMinistryfortheFuture #KimStanleyRobinson

The Swiss presidents shivered collectively, shaking her off....

The Swiss presidents shivered collectively, shaking her off. They looked around the table at each other. Not happy. Not angry. Not panicked. Not dismissive. They were thinking.

Source: The Ministry for the Future

Author: Kim Stanley Robinson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B08C5DWVRK&location=4737

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMinistryfortheFuture #KimStanleyRobinson

Those poor animal murderers never had a chance....

Those poor animal murderers never had a chance. Actually quite a few of them stood their ground and shot a bunch of animals. Mostly deer, it turned out, as we had sent them out as scouts, poor guys. The first wave. Deer are the sad sacks of American wildlife, so beautiful, so defenseless, so numerous, so dim. Their chief predator is cars.

Source: The Ministry for the Future

Author: Kim Stanley Robinson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B08C5DWVRK&location=5343

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMinistryfortheFuture #KimStanleyRobinson

What was the trauma, what was the stress,...

What was the trauma, what was the stress, what was the disorder? No one knew. In the jungle of each mind a wandering went on ceaselessly, finding a clearing here, a pool there, all in the murky light of one’s sputtering thoughts, half awake, half asleep.

Source: The Ministry for the Future

Author: Kim Stanley Robinson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B08C5DWVRK&location=5770

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMinistryfortheFuture #KimStanleyRobinson

Hi, I am here to tell you about...

Hi, I am here to tell you about Argentina’s Shamballa Permaculture Project. We are representatives of Armenia’s ARK Armenia, happy to be here. Down in Australia we’ve connected up our Aboriginal Wetland Burning, Shoalwater Culture, Gawula, Greening Australia, How Aboriginals Made Australia, Kachana Land Restoration, One Acre Small Permaculture Project, Permaculture Research Institute, Purple Pear Farm, Rehydrating the Landscape, Regenerate Australia, and the Yarra Yarra Biodiversity Corridor. We’re a busy crowd!

Source: The Ministry for the Future

Author: Kim Stanley Robinson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B08C5DWVRK&location=6140

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMinistryfortheFuture #KimStanleyRobinson

We are all here together to share what...

We are all here together to share what we are doing, to see each other, and to tell you our stories. We are already out there working hard, everywhere around this Earth. Healing the Earth is our sacred work, our duty to the seven generations. There are many more projects like ours already in existence, look us up on your YourLock account and see, maybe support us, maybe join us. You will find us out there already, now, and then you must also realize we are only about one percent of all the projects out there doing good things. And more still are waiting to be born. Come in, talk to us. Listen to our stories. See where you can help. Build your own project. You will love it as we do. There is no other world.

Source: The Ministry for the Future

Author: Kim Stanley Robinson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B08C5DWVRK&location=6192

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMinistryfortheFuture #KimStanleyRobinson

The deal had come down from some UN...

The deal had come down from some UN agency called the Ministry for the Future, by way of the Feds and the Montana state government.

Source: The Ministry for the Future

Author: Kim Stanley Robinson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B08C5DWVRK&location=6327

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMinistryfortheFuture #KimStanleyRobinson

Making concrete was bad in carbon terms, so...

Making concrete was bad in carbon terms, so the price on new concrete was astronomical now, taxed to the point where anything else was cheaper, almost. Recycled concrete from decommissioned roads and old foundations of deconstructed buildings was a way to get rich, or at least do very well.

Source: The Ministry for the Future

Author: Kim Stanley Robinson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B08C5DWVRK&location=6364

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMinistryfortheFuture #KimStanleyRobinson

The clinic took the usual stupid amount of...

The clinic took the usual stupid amount of time, and in the end it was just the start.

Source: The Ministry for the Future

Author: Kim Stanley Robinson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B08C5DWVRK&location=6431

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMinistryfortheFuture #KimStanleyRobinson

It was so hard to imagine that a...

It was so hard to imagine that a mind could be gone. All those thoughts that you never tell anyone, all those dreams, all that entire pocket universe: gone.

Source: The Ministry for the Future

Author: Kim Stanley Robinson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B08C5DWVRK&location=7222

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMinistryfortheFuture #KimStanleyRobinson

Wild animals’ lives and deaths are being noted...

Wild animals’ lives and deaths are being noted by people. They mean something, they are part of a meaning. Not since the Paleolithic have animals meant so much to humans, been regarded so closely and fondly by we their cousins. The land that supports these animals also supports our farms and cities as well, in a big network of networks.

Source: The Ministry for the Future

Author: Kim Stanley Robinson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B08C5DWVRK&location=7260

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMinistryfortheFuture #KimStanleyRobinson

AI-assisted design was continuously working up better ships,...

AI-assisted design was continuously working up better ships, as with everything, and solutions were sometimes as counterintuitive as could be (kites? masts curving forward?), but of course human intuition was so often wrong. Foxing their own cognitive errors might be one of the greatest accomplishments of contemporary science, if they could really do it. As with everything, if they could get through this tight spot, they might sail right off into something grand.

Source: The Ministry for the Future

Author: Kim Stanley Robinson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B08C5DWVRK&location=7339

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMinistryfortheFuture #KimStanleyRobinson

Meeting in San Francisco over, retired in full,...

Meeting in San Francisco over, retired in full, Mary considered how best to get home to Zurich.

Source: The Ministry for the Future

Author: Kim Stanley Robinson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B08C5DWVRK&location=7444

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMinistryfortheFuture #KimStanleyRobinson

Mount Tamalpais

Mount Tamalpais

Source: The Ministry for the Future

Author: Kim Stanley Robinson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B08C5DWVRK&location=7449

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMinistryfortheFuture #KimStanleyRobinson

The great shock of their arrival was to...

The great shock of their arrival was to see that the ocean, clear of ice to the northern horizon, was yellow. Naturally this looked awful, like some vast toxic spill; in fact it was geoengineering,

Source: The Ministry for the Future

Author: Kim Stanley Robinson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B08C5DWVRK&location=7520

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMinistryfortheFuture #KimStanleyRobinson

the solar heating of the Arctic Ocean when...

the solar heating of the Arctic Ocean when there was no ice covering it might be enough all by itself to tip the world irrevocably into jungle planet.

Source: The Ministry for the Future

Author: Kim Stanley Robinson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B08C5DWVRK&location=7522

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMinistryfortheFuture #KimStanleyRobinson

The energy and heat savings in terms of...

The energy and heat savings in terms of albedo were huge—the albedo went from 0.06 for open water (where 1 was total reflection and 0 total absorption) to 0.47 for yellow water.

Source: The Ministry for the Future

Author: Kim Stanley Robinson

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B08C5DWVRK&location=7527

#sciencefiction #technology #TheMinistryfortheFuture #KimStanleyRobinson

‘An evolutionary arms race between KRAB zinc-finger genes...

‘An evolutionary arms race between KRAB zinc-finger genes ZNF91/93 and SVA/L1 retrotransposons’.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=419

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

Everyone sat forward as the data made the...

Everyone sat forward as the data made the case that these old, dead viruses found throughout the human genome aren’t dead at all. They have functioning genes, ready to make more viruses. Every cell in the human body is a potential virus factory, but something keeps these viral genes quiet. It turned out that they’re suppressed by other genes in the cell. The paper was saying that one part of our genome is constantly at war with another part. The implications of this were immediately obvious to everyone in a lab familiar with the nature of arms races.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=424

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

we’ve also moved into a new, parallel ecosystem,...

we’ve also moved into a new, parallel ecosystem, one with its own arms races that are powered not by the flow of energy, but by the flow of money. This is the new system of industrial food production.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=470

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The competition for that money, which drives increasing...

The competition for that money, which drives increasing complexity and innovation, occurs between an entire ecosystem of constantly evolving corporations, from giant transnational groups to thousands of smaller national companies. And their bait for extracting the money is called ultra-processed food, or UPF. These foods have been put through an evolutionary selection process over many decades, whereby the products that are purchased and eaten in the greatest quantities are the ones that survive best in the market. To achieve this, they have evolved to subvert the systems in the body that regulate weight and many other functions.fn2

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=472

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UPF has a long, formal scientific definition, but...

UPF has a long, formal scientific definition, but it can be boiled down to this: if it’s wrapped in plastic and has at least one ingredient that you wouldn’t usually find in a standard home kitchen, it’s UPF.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=480

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But ultra-processing also includes other, more indirect processes...

But ultra-processing also includes other, more indirect processes – deceptive marketing, bogus court cases, secret lobbying, fraudulent research – all of which are vital for corporations to extract that money.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=486

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commerciogenic disease – that is, a disease caused...

commerciogenic disease – that is, a disease caused by the marketing and consumption of addictive substances.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=531

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This is not a weight-loss book because first,...

This is not a weight-loss book because first, no one has yet devised a method that helps people safely and sustainably lose weight, and second, I don’t accept that you should lose weight. I don’t have a ‘correct’ body and I don’t have an opinion about what one would look like. I don’t have an opinion on the food you should eat; that’s up to you. I make choices that are not ‘healthy’ the whole time, whether it’s dangerous sports or eating junk. But I feel strongly that to make choices we all need accurate information about the possible risks of our food, and that we should be less exposed to aggressive, often misleading marketing.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=542

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But I do have one suggestion about how...

But I do have one suggestion about how you read this book. If you feel like you might want to quit UPF – don’t. Eat along. Let me explain. You’re a participant in an experiment you didn’t volunteer for. New substances are being tested on all of us all the time to see which of them are best at extracting money. Can a synthetic emulsifier be used instead of an egg? Can a seed oil replace a dairy fat? Can a bit of ethyl methylphenylglycidate be chucked in instead of a strawberry? By buying UPF, we’re continuously driving its evolution. We take the risk in this experiment while the benefits are handed to the owners of the companies producing UPF and the results are largely concealed from us – apart from the effects on our health. My proposal is that, for the duration of reading this book, you continue the experiment of eating UPF, but that you do it for you, not for the corporations that make it. I can tell you about UPF, but the stuff itself will be your greatest teacher. Only by eating it will you understand its true nature. I know this because I did the experiment myself.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=550

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I was reminded of Allen Carr’s best-selling book,...

I was reminded of Allen Carr’s best-selling book, The Easy Way to Stop Smoking. The book is unusual in the self-help genre in that it has actually been studied and the intervention it recommends is pretty good. The idea is that you keep smoking while you read about how bad smoking is. Eventually, the cigarettes begin to seem disgusting.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=566

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Paul’s speech is peppered with little phrases like...

Paul’s speech is peppered with little phrases like this – quotes, aphorisms – that seem to be shortcuts to deeper thoughts. It’s as if his brain works faster than his mouth can speak, so he has to reduce everything to the minimum number of words (although there’s still a lot of words). Asking Paul questions feels like uncorking a bottle under pressure. When I asked if we could have a chat, he sent me a five-page briefing.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=606

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Paul showed me a label with extravagant claims...

Paul showed me a label with extravagant claims about prebiotics, probiotics and omega 3, and explained that the yoghurt is nothing more than a vehicle to make claims about these other ingredients: ‘You lure the consumer in on the basis that some defect in their diet is going to be fixed by swallowing a yoghurt full of additives.’

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=612

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One of Paul’s first jobs at Unilever was...

One of Paul’s first jobs at Unilever was in an ice-cream development lab. He described the scale of the ambition there. The aim was to make blocks of foam that were stable at room temperature which could be distributed worldwide and then frozen onsite. If this could be achieved, the savings would be immense. In fact, many ice creams aren’t far off this goal now, as I had discovered in the park. ‘The only remaining problem,’ Paul told me, ‘is the bugs – bugs love ice cream. So, it does all still need to be frozen.’

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=645

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The secret to those ultra-processed ice creams, like...

The secret to those ultra-processed ice creams, like all UPF, is that they are constructed from the cheapest possible versions of those three essential molecules: fats, proteins and carbs.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=665

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Waxy potatoes like Jersey Royals have sturdy granules...

Waxy potatoes like Jersey Royals have sturdy granules of starch, meaning they stay firm when you boil them, and can hold their structure in a potato salad. Floury potatoes like russets, on the other hand, contain sugar-molecule chains that aren’t stuck together so well. That’s why, though they roast brilliantly, they have a mealy quality that makes them disintegrate in a potato salad, turning it into a mayonnaise mash. Then you have potatoes like Maris Pipers, whose starch hits a sweet spot between the other two, meaning they can be used for pretty much anything – it’s the UK’s most popular potato for a reason.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=682

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Chemists realised in the nineteenth century that by...

Chemists realised in the nineteenth century that by chemically modifying starch they could create the exact properties they required. Modified starches, which you will start to notice in so many UPF ingredients lists, can replace fats and dairy, hold water during freezing and bulk out any sauce.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=688

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Take palm oil, for example. When freshly pressed,...

Take palm oil, for example. When freshly pressed, it’s an almost luminous crimson, highly aromatic, spicy and flavourful, and full of antioxidants like palm tocotrienol.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=786

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Having solved the problems of cottonseed oil, P&G...

Having solved the problems of cottonseed oil, P&G began a large campaign marketing de-toxified oil as Crisco, an acronym for crystallised cottonseed

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=793

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And then we come to Group 4, ‘ultra-processed...

And then we come to Group 4, ‘ultra-processed foods’. It’s long, perhaps the longest definition I’d ever read of a scientific category: ‘Formulations of ingredients, mostly of exclusive industrial use, made by a series of industrial processes, many requiring sophisticated equipment and technology.’

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=856

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This is a pattern I would encounter throughout...

This is a pattern I would encounter throughout my diet. Ingredient lists, from pizza to chew bars, started to look the same.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=862

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products that subvert the body’s evolved mechanisms that...

products that subvert the body’s evolved mechanisms that signal when to stop eating might survive better in the marketplace.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=873

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The cereal is rich, complex and intensely chocolatey,...

The cereal is rich, complex and intensely chocolatey, far more so than I remembered. The texture of the first mouthful is extraordinary, some of the ‘pops’ becoming chewy almost instantly while others remain crisp, crackling on the tongue. But three spoons in, the joy was gone: what remained was a brown sludge, consumed only to relieve a craving. Lyra and I were drawn to our next mouthfuls just like smokers to the next drag. The experience of the first pull couldn’t be replicated, yet something about the cereal made us keep trying.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=930

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Nutrient Profile Model (or NPM 2004/5), which was...

Nutrient Profile Model (or NPM 2004/5), which was developed as a tool to regulate food advertisements targeted at children.fn7

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=965

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First, you award a score for the bad...

First, you award a score for the bad stuff: calories, saturated fat, sugars and sodium. These are called ‘A’ points. Second, you add up the points for the good stuff: fruit, vegetables, nuts, fibre and protein. These are called ‘C’ points. (By the way, you may need to pay for access to something like the NielsenIQ Brandbank nutritional database to gather all this information.) After you’ve calculated the A and C points, there are other rules to be factored in, like: ‘If a food or drink scores 11 or more A points then it cannot score points for protein unless it also scores 5 points for fruit, vegetables and nuts.’ Clear so far? Well, then you subtract the C points from the A points to calculate a score out of thirty. Any food that scores more than four is classified as HFSS. But, even if you do all that, it isn’t clear whether children should eat these HFSS foods, or in what amounts. The designation determines only whether a food can be marketed to children at particular times and in particular ways.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=969

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Sometimes the observational data feel very science-y: measurements...

Sometimes the observational data feel very science-y: measurements of the movement of celestial objects, or numbers read out from a fancy machine like a linear collider. But other times a dog walker finds a dead goose in a park and it’s the first data point in a bird flu pandemic.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=1130

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In the real world, part of the processing...

In the real world, part of the processing is that packaging and the adverts, which are nearly universally for UPF. You almost never see an ad for beef or mushrooms or milk, and there are no health claims on their packaging. But you do see cartoon characters and vitamin-enriched claims printed all over UPF.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=1254

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Increasing intake of UPF by 10 per cent...

Increasing intake of UPF by 10 per cent was associated with a 25 per cent increase in the risk of dementia and a 14 per cent increase in the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=1338

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International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center

International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=1395

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It was while researching all of this that...

It was while researching all of this that I started to understand these corporations as organisms in an ecosystem powered by money. Railing against the companies that are the direct descendants of the regime feels futile: shame and outrage are clearly inadequate to limit the survival of companies that are complicit in atrocities. And the ecosystem idea seemed to explain why: their behaviour changes only when the flow of energy, the money, is diverted. Shame may interrupt the flow of money, but if it doesn’t it will serve no practical function to limit corporate behaviour.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=1534

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economists use the same set of equations to...

economists use the same set of equations to describe corporate survival in economic arms races as ecologists use to explain the survival or extinction of species in biological arms races.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=1539

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I feel like there is another more slippery...

I feel like there is another more slippery idea about the effect of making food from coal, or indeed through any industrial synthetic process. It destroys the meaning of food beyond the ability to sustain life (however temporarily in the case of coal butter and the U-boat sailors). Food must become a technical substance, without cultural or historical meaning – nutritionism at its most extreme.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=1542

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I contain just under 5g of iron –...

I contain just under 5g of iron – a small nail’s worth to turn my blood red and my snot green

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=1666

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Because it’s a mistake, as Eddie pointed out,...

Because it’s a mistake, as Eddie pointed out, to think that cows and other herbivores just eat grass and not much else. Instead, by copying their mothers and trialling small quantities of different plants, herbivores build up an extraordinarily diverse

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=1684

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Valerate is found in the medicinal plant valerian...

Valerate is found in the medicinal plant valerian and used as a food additive to produce meat flavour.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=1713

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humans were the only cucinivores

humans were the only cucinivores

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=1732

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The second age continues all around us. You...

The second age continues all around us. You can shop at a supermarket and continue being a second-age organism, by buying meat, fruit and vegetables – although of course it will be expensive and time consuming. Most of the humans in the UK and the US have entered what I call ‘the third age of eating’, in which most of our calories come from food products containing novel, synthetic molecules, never found in nature.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=1740

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In industrialised countries like the UK, each of...

In industrialised countries like the UK, each of us ingests 8kg of food additives per year.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=1769

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For the whole of the second age of...

For the whole of the second age of eating, children of all mammals had eaten more or less what adults ate. There might have been some extra mashing and softening, and perhaps a little less spice, but there was no ‘baby food’ – just milk, then food.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=1789

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Once they were at the table, they devoted...

Once they were at the table, they devoted themselves steadily to eating for fifteen or twenty minutes, then ate intermittently, ‘playing a little with the food, trying to use the spoon and offering bits to the nurse’. The night after I read this, I was at the table feeding Sasha and noticed that, just like Davis’s kids, she often offers me a chunk of food, even as I feed her.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=1845

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All the infants succeeded in managing their own...

All the infants succeeded in managing their own diets, and all met their nutritional requirements as if they’d been reading all the latest textbooks.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=1852

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By contrast, even hunter-gatherer human populations have body...

By contrast, even hunter-gatherer human populations have body fat percentages of around 21 per cent in women and 14 per cent in men.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=1903

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Several members of the Ptolemaic dynasty, which ruled...

Several members of the Ptolemaic dynasty, which ruled Egypt from 305 to 30 BC, were purported to be obese to such an extent that their breathing was disrupted at night. Alexandrians gave Ptolemy VIII the nickname ‘Physcon’, meaning ‘large bubble’.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=1911

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But this idea – that weight is regulated...

But this idea – that weight is regulated externally by the supply of food – would make weight an exception among physiological parameters. Consider, for example, the amount of water in your body. It may feel like it’s under your conscious control and indeed you can choose to have or delay a drink, but over the course of your life the amount of water in your body, and thus the concentration of the hundreds of thousands of dissolved chemicals that make you up, is precisely controlled internally, even as you drink, sweat and pee. The conscious control of fluid balance is temporary at best and largely an illusion. And the case of breathing is more obvious still if you try to stop doing it. Food intake is under little more conscious control than breathing or drinking, and this is why it is nearly as hard to limit food intake as it is to limit water or oxygen intake. What, when and how we eat is determined by complex systems that operate far below our conscious level.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=1929

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We now know that one of the signals...

We now know that one of the signals that told the rats to stop eating is a hormone called leptin, which is produced in the fat tissue and detected by the hypothalamus in the brain.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=1959

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The model emphasises that powerful signals inside and...

The model emphasises that powerful signals inside and outside the body influence food intake and energy balance far, far below the level of consciousness, involving slippery related ideas like salience, wanting, motivation and reward. We smear a conscious layer over all this, but eating is far less of a choice than it appears.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2018

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Gary Taubes is probably why you’re aware of...

Gary Taubes is probably why you’re aware of the idea that carbs are the problem.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2033

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That doesn’t, however, mean that sugar is healthy....

That doesn’t, however, mean that sugar is healthy. It simply means that our diets are so terrible that buying your own sugar to make your own sweet food at home is healthier than buying pre-made industrial UPF with sugar added at source.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2185

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

tooth decay is the most common reason that...

tooth decay is the most common reason that children in the UK have a general anaesthetic.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2208

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

In England, more than 10 per cent of...

In England, more than 10 per cent of three-year-olds, and a quarter of five-year-olds, have tooth decay. Almost 90 per cent of hospital tooth extractions among children younger than five are due to preventable tooth decay, and tooth extraction is the most common hospital procedure in children aged six to ten.19 The most common operation we do in children – ahead of fixing bones broken on trampolines, hernia repairs and appendix removals – is for rotten teeth.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2210

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

Nowhere on any can of fizzy drink anywhere...

Nowhere on any can of fizzy drink anywhere in the world is there a warning about the risks of oral disease and the risk of early death. I can’t see any argument why Nestlé, Coca-Cola, Pepsi or any of the others selling sugar-sweetened beverages (or anything with a high proportion of added sugar) should not be forced to put a warning on the packet about tooth decay.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2221

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

There are several explanations for this under-reporting, and...

There are several explanations for this under-reporting, and they’re all very well evidenced. First, studies show that people living with obesity misreport on questionnaires, and then, if they lose weight, they stop misreporting and admit to their previous inaccurate responses.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2317

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

Fifth, the portion sizes of our foods are...

Fifth, the portion sizes of our foods are bigger, and their energy higher, than the reference databases say they are. The British Heart Foundation found that, in the twenty years between 1993 and 2013, individual shepherd’s pie ready meals have doubled in size, while a portion of crisps from a family pack has increased by 50 per cent.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2329

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Snowdon’s ‘Fat lie’ article misunderstood the data: calorie...

Snowdon’s ‘Fat lie’ article misunderstood the data: calorie consumption isn’t in decline – it has been increasing for a long time.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2341

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

I’d always imagined that I burn around 2,000...

I’d always imagined that I burn around 2,000 calories just loafing around breathing and maintaining basic cellular functions, and that any physical activity, whether it’s jogging or mining, gets added to the total number of calories I burn in a day. But it turns out that, if we are active, our bodies compensate by using less energy on other things, so that our overall energy expenditure stays the same. This is especially true when we look at longer timeframes of several days or weeks. In the case of the Hadza, when they rest, they really rest. And it’s true for athletes and everyone else who is active too. We can be very active for a period of time, but we claw back that energy debt later. It’s this reduction of energy usage in other ways inside the body that may explain why exercise is associated with improved physical health, even if it doesn’t lead to weight loss.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2370

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Since we’re not spending that energy on walking,...

Since we’re not spending that energy on walking, we spend it elsewhere, on things like being stressed.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2385

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The sugar industry has an interest in promoting...

The sugar industry has an interest in promoting the narrative that inactivity, rather than food, is the problem.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2404

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

In 2015, Coca-Cola published a ‘transparency’ list of...

In 2015, Coca-Cola published a ‘transparency’ list of experts and projects it funded, but it proved to be less than transparent. For every author Coke disclosed, there were another four whom they didn’t.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2427

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

If, like me, you’re surprised by the idea...

If, like me, you’re surprised by the idea that doing more won’t allow you to eat more calories, it may be because the opposite idea, that you can burn off excess calories, has been promoted by companies like Coke all the way from the scientific papers through to policy initiatives like Exercise is Medicine. It took me some time to accept that, despite having a medical degree, part of the way that I have understood my body and its energy requirements has come from the Coca-Cola Company.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2468

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

While almost everyone living with obesity will have...

While almost everyone living with obesity will have genetic risks, some people who live at a so-called ‘healthy weight’fn3 also have genes for obesity, which could suggest that they are exerting willpower over their genes. However, that is not the case. The difference between people with the same genes and differing weights is the environment they live in, not their willpower. Again, I know this from personal experience.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2491

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

Anyway, food swamps of the type Xand found...

Anyway, food swamps of the type Xand found himself in are similar to food deserts. Fresh food may be available, but it is submerged in a swamp of fast-food outlets selling UPF.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2508

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

The teenagers showed me their bus tickets, which...

The teenagers showed me their bus tickets, which are also vouchers for McDonald’s.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2520

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

The only products advertised to young people like...

The only products advertised to young people like the ones I met in Leicester are UPF. This is for a simple reason: UPF is proprietary, so its manufacturers can generate a lot of money. People will pay a lot for a KitKat relative to its cost of production. No one else can really make KitKats, because Nestlé owns the recipe and the trademark and everything that creates the KitKat’s unique barcode that keeps bringing us back.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2542

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

Stress, from any source, but especially the chronic...

Stress, from any source, but especially the chronic stress of poverty, has dramatic impacts on those hormones that regulate appetite, increasing the drive to eat. The exact mechanisms aren’t clear, but when you’re stressed you secrete more of the hormone cortisol; this seems to drive increased intake of calorie-dense UPF through effects on many of those hormones involved in the energy-intake regulation system. Cortisol may also lead to fat accumulation around organs, known as visceral fat, which is associated with worse health outcomes.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2571

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

They have shown that body-fat percentage is highly...

They have shown that body-fat percentage is highly heritable – up to 90 per cent.12 But, depending on the group you study, heritability can also be as low as 30 per cent.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2588

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

She and her colleagues found that, in families...

She and her colleagues found that, in families with secure incomes and high levels of food security, the heritability of their body weight was around the 40 per cent mark. But in households with the lowest incomes and the highest levels of food insecurity, it jumped to over 80 per cent.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2592

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

She was right that such weight loss takes...

She was right that such weight loss takes incredible willpower (increasing amounts with each effort), but could Rachel have even more willpower still?

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2610

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

the marshmallow test may well be simply a...

the marshmallow test may well be simply a test for poverty.fn6

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2671

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

I would come off a phone call to...

I would come off a phone call to an expert in France or Brazil and then sit down to a banquet of UPF. I’d often eat during the call. It was like reading about lung cancer while smoking a cigarette,

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2707

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

Grenade Carb Killa Chocolate Chip Salted Caramel Bar

Grenade Carb Killa Chocolate Chip Salted Caramel Bar

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2734

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

As I ate these snack bars made from...

As I ate these snack bars made from cow tendons,

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2740

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

This may seem like a small point, but...

This may seem like a small point, but it isn’t. The foods around the margin of UPF are used by the UPF industry to rubbish the whole concept. First, a harmless-seeming common food is found that contains a single additive that means it technically meets the definition of UPF. Then the argument is made that this means the UPF definition must be rubbish, or that those who think the NOVA system is useful want to treat Special K or baked beans like cigarettes or heroin.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2783

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

So, as a solution, some scientists have proposed...

So, as a solution, some scientists have proposed that food addiction is ‘behavioural’.13 This is one of the two broad categories of addiction. There’s substance addiction – defined as a ‘neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by a recurring desire to take a drug despite harmful consequences’ – which covers tobacco, alcohol, cocaine and so on. And then there’s behavioural or non-substance addiction, which covers things like eating, pathological gambling, internet addiction and mobile phone addiction.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2876

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

But when it comes to loss of control...

But when it comes to loss of control of eating and binges, UPF products are almost always the substances used.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2906

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

An addictive behaviour is my problem, hard to...

An addictive behaviour is my problem, hard to regulate or protect against. An addictive substance being marketed with a monkey to my three-year-old is a regulatory failure.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2938

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

UPF is pre-chewed

UPF is pre-chewed

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2953

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

Anthony Fardet

Anthony Fardet

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2954

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

The fibre that gives an apple crunch and...

The fibre that gives an apple crunch and solidity makes up just 2.5 per cent of the apple’s weight. The other 97.5 per cent is juice. The way the fibre is arranged around the cells and the fluid – that’s the matrix.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2962

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

Sourdough bread should have just water, salt, wild...

Sourdough bread should have just water, salt, wild yeast and flour as the ingredients, but even products claiming to be sourdough in supermarkets are often in fact ‘sourfaux’, with up to fifteen ingredients, including palm oil and commercial yeast.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=2996

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

Hovis Multigrain Seed Sensations.

Hovis Multigrain Seed Sensations.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=3000

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

However, you won’t get jaw fatigue with UPF...

However, you won’t get jaw fatigue with UPF bread, and the fact that it takes so little chewing may explain many of our contemporary dental problems. In the UK and the USA, around a third of twelve-year-olds have an overbite – a jaw that’s too small for their face – which is why so many children today need orthodontic work. I had my right lower wisdom tooth removed for the same reason. Looking through the UPF papers, I realised this is a common problem of modern life. Evidence from skulls shows that pre-industrial farmers who were eating increasing levels of carbohydrate have plenty of cavities and dental abscesses, but fewer than 5 per cent have impacted wisdom teeth, compared with 70 per cent of modern populations.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=3009

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

The speed at which you eat is partly...

The speed at which you eat is partly to do with what you eat: foods that take longer to process in the mouth make you feel fuller.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=3057

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

Cigarette manufacturers tried very hard over the years...

Cigarette manufacturers tried very hard over the years to process their cigarettes to make them less dangerous. They added little ventilation holes, so smokers got less smoke, but then smokers simply sucked harder.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=3096

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

‘It’s called “reverspective”,’ Barry explained. ‘We don’t know...

‘It’s called “reverspective”,’ Barry explained. ‘We don’t know why it works.’ Barry then told me about convergent gaze, subtended visual angles, parallax and the tension between the brain’s information about depth perception and what happens to be near or far. The painting is a good representation of his expertise – how little our conscious experience of the world has to do with physical objective reality. Barry himself is constantly creating illusions: he gossips without gossiping, jokes while he’s serious, makes you understand things you can’t understand. And he used to help companies make UPF. He was an expert ultra-processor, advising food companies on how best to exploit the relationships between our senses (which aren’t all as distinct as we once thought) and how we use them to enjoy the food we eat.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=3114

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

Vanilla, technically a molecule you smell, when added...

Vanilla, technically a molecule you smell, when added to ice cream will make it seem sweeter, even without adding more sugar.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=3122

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

‘If you go into the freezer for an...

‘If you go into the freezer for an ice cream bar, as you rip open the packet, it won’t smell of anything, because it’s too cold. So, lots of companies add a caramel scent in the ribbing of the wrapper we tear open.’

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=3137

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

The words ‘taste’ and ‘flavour’ are used interchangeably...

The words ‘taste’ and ‘flavour’ are used interchangeably to describe the unified perceptual experience of a food. But in scientific terms, flavour is both taste and smell, and flavour molecules are detected by receptors in the nose as well as by taste receptors in the mouth and throat. So, scientifically speaking, two boiled sweets with the same amount of sugar but different ‘flavours’ may taste identical (sweet), but smell distinct.fn2

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=3146

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

Smell instead acts like a barcode, which, without...

Smell instead acts like a barcode, which, without effort, we link to our previous experience of eating a food. It’s a very precise way of labelling something so we can seek it out, or avoid it, next time.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=3182

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

Food should vary – fruit and whole foods...

Food should vary – fruit and whole foods change every day, and crops taste different according to the season and weather. There are good batches, bad batches, odd textures and flavours and differences. Not so with UPF. Adding flavourings (tastes and smells) in precise amounts allows for complete consistency.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=3208

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

The Dorito Effect,

The Dorito Effect,

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=3211

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

‘Suddenly, several of the normally docile cows surrounded...

‘Suddenly, several of the normally docile cows surrounded him, tore a bag of mineral from his arms, chewed open the bag, and greedily consumed every bit of the mineral, the bag, and even some mud and muck where the mineral had spilled out.’

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=3251

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

Taste is important for omnivorous animals, whereas more...

Taste is important for omnivorous animals, whereas more specialist eaters have lost tastes. Cats have lost their sweet taste receptor; pandas have lost a savoury receptor. Sea lions seem to have very little taste at all – much of their prey is swallowed whole – but they can still smell. Whales and dolphins meanwhile seem to have lost the sense of smell entirely. Animals get rid of things that are not evolutionarily helpful to them anymore.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=3348

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

Let’s use Coca-Cola as an example, because it’s...

Let’s use Coca-Cola as an example, because it’s the most popular cola, although any cola would do. When it was invented, the aim was to make a drink to perk people up, and the original formula contained extract of coca leaves – probably a small amount of cocaine, although it’s hard to be surefn4 – and caffeine.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=3363

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Modern Coca-Cola still has caffeine bitterness, enhanced by...

Modern Coca-Cola still has caffeine bitterness, enhanced by an extreme sourness that comes from added phosphoric acid. Together, they allow a huge amount of sugar to be smuggled past the tongue.fn5

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=3373

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Good cooks can enhance flavours and tastes by...

Good cooks can enhance flavours and tastes by combining them, but I think UPF is the nutritional equivalent of speedballing. In the world of illegal drugs, speedballs are typically a mixture of a sedative, like heroin, with a stimulant, like crack cocaine. One puts you to sleep (opioid overdoses cause death by stopping breathing) while the other wakes you up (crack overdoses cause death by driving the blood pressure so high that patients have strokes). By mixing the two, users can take more of both. People also do this more benignly (but still frequently with deadly consequences) with caffeine and alcohol: an espresso martini or a vodka and Red Bull are entry-level speedballs – the stimulant caffeine offsetting the sedative effects of the alcohol. This wonderland approach to drug use is a theme of UPF tastes.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=3378

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Her papers are not the easiest to read...

Her papers are not the easiest to read – ‘starting to eat’ is phrased as ‘initiation of consummatory acts’ – and the conclusions in the lab are hard to draw out to the real world.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=3448

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Then there are all those gums. Xanthan gum...

Then there are all those gums. Xanthan gum is one that we constantly consume. It’s an exopolysaccharide: a sugary slime secreted by the bacteria Xanthomonas campestris, which forms black rot on vegetables. The gum is used as a thickener, but it has a remarkable property: when shaken or squirted, it becomes temporarily thinner, so will pour easily. Once at rest again, it thickens and clings. It’s used in toothpaste, in drinks for people who have difficulty swallowing and to thicken drilling mud in the oil industry, since it keeps solids suspended in mud (and salad dressing) so that they can be pumped out of an oil well more easily.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=3702

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I worry that these arguments are unlikely to...

I worry that these arguments are unlikely to bring about real change, because the response from industry is to do yet more processing. They do this already: if emulsifiers damage the microbiome, let’s add some probiotics. If the food’s too soft, add more gum. If it’s too dense in energy, add artificial sweeteners. Their solution to ultra-processing is hyper-processing, also known as reformulation.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=4428

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This requirement to satisfy the consumer was underlined...

This requirement to satisfy the consumer was underlined by everyone within the industry. While the public health perspective is that industry are forcing products on people, within the industry it feels much more like they are catering to demand.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=4556

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‘commerciogenic malnutrition’ – malnutrition caused by companies.

‘commerciogenic malnutrition’ – malnutrition caused by companies.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=4694

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The marketing budget of the formula industry is...

The marketing budget of the formula industry is almost incomprehensibly large at around $3–5 billion dollars per year – comparable to the entire annual operating budget of the World Health Organization.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=4716

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One of the most concerning statistics is that...

One of the most concerning statistics is that the market isn’t just increasing because more children are being formula-fed. This increase in sales is because each child is drinking more. In 2008, a child drank on average 5.5kg per year, but now they are drinking almost 8kg, an increase of more than 40 per cent.18 This is due either to marketing or to new ingredients which make formula hyperpalatable.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=4729

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Bob Boyle is a paediatric allergy consultant at...

Bob Boyle is a paediatric allergy consultant at Imperial College London. He studies allergies in children and has a side-line in investigating claims made on packets. According to the UK Food Standards Agency,23 The Japanese Society of Allergology,24 the Australasian Guideline,25 and The American Academy of Paediatrics,26 there is no evidence that specialist formulas prevent allergy, and yet Danone Nutricia used one of Boyle’s studies to claim that their prebiotic supplemented formula was ‘clinically proven’ to reduce eczema by over 50 per cent in babies with a family history of allergy, despite the fact his study found the opposite.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=4741

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Yale Food Addiction Scale

Yale Food Addiction Scale

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=4922

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be sceptical of opinions from chocolate company scientists.

be sceptical of opinions from chocolate company scientists.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=5013

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we have never proved causation when it comes...

we have never proved causation when it comes to cigarettes and cancer.fn4

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=5051

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

Limit sugary drinks, fatty, sweet, salty and ultra-processed...

Limit sugary drinks, fatty, sweet, salty and ultra-processed foods. Avoid giving ultra-processed products to under-threes. Avoid giving commercial baby foods and ready meals to under-threes. I especially love this quote from the French guidance: ‘Pour varier les goûts et les textures, le fait maison a tout bon … Plus de goûts, plus de textures, plus de miam!’, which translates roughly as ‘To vary tastes and textures, home-made food includes everything good … More tastes, more textures, more yum!’

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=5148

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There is no need to buy food made...

There is no need to buy food made especially for children and babies.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=5153

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

No company wants to go toe-to-toe with government...

No company wants to go toe-to-toe with government lawyers over the research showing the stuff they want to put in your food makes rats swell up and die.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=5175

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

Manufacturing of factory-processed ice cream accelerated in the...

Manufacturing of factory-processed ice cream accelerated in the USA from the 1850s as a use for waste milk that would otherwise be thrown away. People, after all, can only drink so much fresh milk, and it goes off quite quickly. Turning waste milk into ice cream not only extends the shelf life, it also shows how processing adds value. As we will repeatedly see, repurposing waste is a crucial part of UPF, and is another reason, alongside cheapness, why the advent of UPF has in part been seen as a positive development rather than a problem.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=8159

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Modified starches became nearly universal in the early...

Modified starches became nearly universal in the early UPF of the 1950s, but they were also useful in mining and oil drilling, in which starches are used to adjust the viscosity of drilling muds so they aren’t too thick or too thin to be pumped or screwed to the surface.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=8163

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‘The bizarre and racist history of the BMI’

‘The bizarre and racist history of the BMI’

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=8237

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You can now say sagely to people, ‘Life...

You can now say sagely to people, ‘Life is nothing but an electron looking for a place to rest,’ a quote from the Hungarian Nobel prize winner Albert Szent-Györgyi.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=8285

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Atkins was a controversial figure, not least because...

Atkins was a controversial figure, not least because he seems to have had at least one heart attack and when he died after a fall he weighed 117kg (more than 18 stone) according to the Wall Street Journal and a leaked medical examiner’s report.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=8351

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The critiques have, however, sometimes kept him awake...

The critiques have, however, sometimes kept him awake at night. I’m always curious about why people are up at 4am, because I’m often awake at this hour, fretting. ‘In the small hours I try to say to myself, “Don’t take any of this too seriously,”’ Taubes told me. ‘I like to joke that some Jews evolved to be awake at 4am worrying. Many in Europe who survived the twentieth century, after all, would have been the ones who were awake, ready to leave in the middle of the night, when the knock came on the door

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=8354

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There’s also a long history in commercial honey...

There’s also a long history in commercial honey manufacturing of feeding bees high-fructose corn syrup if the hives are in a place without enough wild nectar.15 This raises the question of whether much – or even most – commercial honey is in fact UPF made by bees.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=8365

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

The Institute for Fiscal Studies used these data...

The Institute for Fiscal Studies used these data to do some modelling and produced a simple example. If an average-sized man in a sedentary job works a forty-hour week, he’ll burn about 30kg fat per year. If he worked in a strenuous job, he’d burn almost 70kg of fat. To compensate for the sedentary job, this man would have to jog an extra 10.6 hours a week, not far off the time commitment to exercise of Olympic marathon runners.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=8409

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

Maryland Minis Chocolate Chip Cookies

Maryland Minis Chocolate Chip Cookies

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=8466

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Wanting and liking were first separated in an...

Wanting and liking were first separated in an experiment using rats, conducted by Roy Wise and Kent Berridge. Rats share much of our brain circuitry, especially for things like motivation. Wise and Berridge first suppressed dopamine in the rats with a drug and then destroyed the dopamine pathway with a neurotoxin. They were expecting the rats to experience less pleasure from sugar (Berridge was an expert in detecting pleasure in rats). Instead, they found that, although the rats wouldn’t move to eat and were no longer motivated, when sugar was placed on their tongues they seemed to like it just as much as before.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=8469

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

Gü Hot Pud Chocolate Melting Middle

Gü Hot Pud Chocolate Melting Middle

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=8475

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Baby food is mainly puréed fruit and for...

Baby food is mainly puréed fruit and for the same reason has very high levels of sugar and is expensive and unnecessary.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=8505

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Vanilla is sweet smelling in the West, where...

Vanilla is sweet smelling in the West, where it tends to be mixed with sugar, but it smells salty to southeast Asians, in whose cuisine vanilla is often mixed with salt and fish.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=8555

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Birds have lost their sweet taste, but because...

Birds have lost their sweet taste, but because hummingbirds drink nectar they have repurposed their umami receptors. Barry Smith thinks about this a lot: ‘As a philosopher of the senses, I of course want to know if nectar tastes sweet or savoury to a hummingbird.’ Hummingbirds hate aspartame but like sugar water. No one knows why toucans like fruit. Not even Barry.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=8589

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken

By the way, the phosphoric acid in your...

By the way, the phosphoric acid in your food is not extracted from fruit or vegetables. It’s made by burning phosphorus-containing rocks in an arc furnace with coal. It’s also used in semiconductor processing and to modify road asphalt. Colas were originally called phosphate sodas. They’re early UPF. The phosphoric acid doesn’t just rot teeth and disguise the sugar. It also may leach minerals out of bones.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=8596

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My own lawyer suggested that I should probably...

My own lawyer suggested that I should probably avoid having a view on whether a specific product is addictive, but in the case of Pringles the marketing team seem comfortable with the implication: ‘Once you pop you can’t stop.’ It’s a legal grey area, but nonetheless, in May 2009, an article in the Guardian got away with describing Pringles as ‘crack in a cardboard tube’.

Source: Ultra-Processed People: The Definitive #1 Bestseller You Need to Understand Ultra-Processed Food

Author: Chris Van Tulleken

Link: kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0B1TRPQCT&location=8626

#sciencefiction #technology #UltraProcessedPeopleTheDefinitive1BestsellerYouNeedtoUnderstandUltraProcessedFood #ChrisVanTulleken