Tag: society
Being a Quaker?
I think I'm a Quaker? It's the best way I can describe my relationship to my faith. I say I 'think' I'm a Quaker because I'm not a member of any meeting. I've worshipped (sporadically) for the last few years in an online meeting organised by Woodbrooke, but even that isn't a 'real' meeting. Technically, it is a worship sharing group.
For those complaining about the high costs in restaurants and coffee bars
picture from Caffenation blog There is a lot of complaining about high prices for food and driinks outdoor. But at the same time we see business struggling to survive or being forced to stop. Recently owners of restaurants and coffee bars have been opening up about their costs. In this article in The Guardian you...
Retired
Made a little Linkedin post to share my retirement. A lot of very warm comments followed. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7472654929187241986
Avondvierdaagse
Fun to see The Guardian write about this Dutch tradition
Q & A with American Association for Nude Recreation Candidate for President Linda Weber
On May 16 Clothes Free Life hosted an AMA with Linda Weber current president and candidate for re-election of the American Association for Nude Recreation on our Fluxer community. The small group of participants engaged with Weber for over an hour but there was no transcript. With a few days of voting left we asked...
Dear Men, We Only Have Men to Blame
From what I understand of certain narratives our there, the decline of men in the workplace is because of the rise of women and immigrants. I’ve always known that to be bullshit, but it’s a simple story, and our innate bias in using observational data (I see brown people working where white people used to, etc.) acts as confirmation. It’s all wrong. Completely wrong.
The Claude Code Leak
What the accidental Claude Code source code leak tells us about the real value of code, product market fit, and why integration is what actually makes software great.
AI isn’t people
"Treating people as things can begin in many ways, but I think one of them is the idea that things can be people. The motivated muddling of categories so prevalent in writing and thinking about AI, beginning with the very name 'artificial intelligence', is intentional and serves the narrative that this software can and will...
The Claude Code Moment
The sudden adoption of Claude Code by non-technical people represents an important moment in time — and one that will have a lasting impact on the way we work.
Where Do the Children Play?
"In physical space, Western children are almost comically sheltered. But in digital space, they’re entirely beyond our command; and increasingly, that’s where children spend most of their time."
The Optical Illusion of Prosperity
"We have created a system where the only way to survive is to be destitute enough to qualify for aid, or rich enough to ignore the cost. Everyone in the middle is being cannibalized."
Waarom We Politiek Niet Alleen Aan Politici Kunnen Overlaten
Het wantrouwen in de politiek neemt toe, terwijl politiek een onderwerp blijft waarover veel mensen niet willen praten. Toen ik Waarom We Politiek Niet Alleen Aan Politici Kunnen Overlaten bij de boekenwinkel heb gezien, dacht ik: "oh, dat klinkt interessant".
When we get komooted
"Digital enclosure is the continuation of the physical enclosure of land. This sophisticated form of digital extraction is so common that it’s almost unremarkable. But there’s a wrenching contradiction here between Komoot’s stated mission of 'enabling access' to public land while privatizing and exclusively profiting from those very movements. They take our most meaningful encounters...
Family zoning actually means something cool
Forget San Francisco - I wish every single US city would do this. We're too car-dependent, too isolated, too unhealthy. (Honestly, European mixed-use development should be the model.)
How extreme car dependency is driving Americans to unhappiness
[Oliver Milman in The Guardian] Car culture isn't just physically bad for us, it affects us mentally too: "The car is firmly entrenched as the default, and often only, mode of transport for the vast majority of Americans, with more than nine in 10 households having at least one vehicle and 87% of people using their cars daily. Last year, a record 290m vehicles were operated on US streets and highways. However, this extreme car dependence is affecting Americans’ quality of life, with a new stu
Welcome to the Vibellion
It’s wild to type this out as both a record and a commentary at the same time. I am recording for posterity a chaotic situation that is in rapid flux. There’s a lot of background information that needs to be known and understood as this post exists in the middle of “something.” How will this post stand the test of time, especially online time as digital records disappear? If you read this in the present or the future, and have no idea what I am going on about, I apologize. I hope all the related records stand the test of time.
The War on Poverty Is Over. Rich People Won.
[Annie Lowrey at The Atlantic] This older interview with Matthew Desmond is doing the rounds again, and I discovered it for the first time. If you haven't read his books Evicted, and Poverty, by America, you owe it to yourself to do that. They're revealing, important works that shed light on the lived experience of many, many Americans. On why American poverty is different, Desmond says: "It’s different because it’s so unnecessary. We have so many resources. Our tolerance for poverty is very
Waffle House Index labels Hurricane Milton red, closes stores
[Ben Kesslen at Quartz] "Waffle House, the iconic American restaurant chain with over 1,600 locations known for cooking up Southern breakfast food, has developed an advanced storm center FEMA consults with." Stores in the path of Milton were closed in advance of the storm, which is rare for Waffle House, which is often the last store standing. It's been sophisticated about storm predictions and response since Katrina: "The chain also developed the Waffle House Storm Index, which was started
Why does moral progress feel preachy and annoying?
[Daniel Kelly and Evan Westra in Aeon] "Many genuinely good arguments for moral change will be initially experienced as annoying. Moreover, the emotional responses that people feel in these situations are not typically produced by psychological processes that are closely tracking argument structure or responding directly to moral reasons." This is a useful breakdown of why arguments for social progress encounter so much friction, and why the first emotional response may be to roll our eyes. It
The Society and the Objects
Presently, the people love the objects. Sometimes, more than they love the people. Is this good? Or not?