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Thinking about

Herbert J. Gans, 97, Dies; Upended Myths on Urban and Suburban Life

April 23, 2025 by sergneri Leave a Comment

Herbert J. Gans an eminent sociologist who studied the communities and cultural bastions of America up close and shattered popular myths about urban and suburban life, poverty, ethnic groups and the news media, died on Monday at his home in Manhattan. He was 97. For “The Urban Villagers” (1962), Dr. Gans immersed himself in Boston’s … [Read more…]

Posted in: Ethical and green living, Faits Divers, Obituaries, Politics, Racism, Science, Thinking about Tagged: economic problems, Herbert Gans, Herbert J. Gans, highbrow and popular cultures, Kerner Commission, liberal activist, Nixon, nostalgia for the rural past, race relations, The Urban Villagers

What can the global left learn from Mexico

April 21, 2025 by sergneri Leave a Comment

In the 18-APR-2025 Guardian: How to beat the far right – Mexico

Posted in: History, Politics, Thinking about, Trump Tagged: Andrés Manuel López Obrador, far-right, far-right politics, leftwing, López Obrador, Morena, Politics, progressives

James C. Scott and the Art of Resistance

April 18, 2025 by sergneri Leave a Comment

James C. Scott and the Art of Resistance The late political scientist enjoined readers to look for opposition to authoritarian states not in revolutionary vanguards but in acts of quiet disobedience. By Nikil Saval New Yorker April 7, 2025 Some books: The Moral traditional societies of the Peasant: Rebellion and Subsistence in Southeast Asia (1976) … [Read more…]

Posted in: Environment, Ethical and green living, Faits Divers, History, Obituaries, Politics, Racism, Science, Slavery, the Anthropocene, Thinking about Tagged: Authoritarian, authoritarian states, Autonomy, Dignity, disobedience, infrapolitics, James C. Scott, Meaningful Play, Meaningful Work, New Yorker, political scientist, Resistance, revolutionary vanguards, Seeing Like a State, Southeast Asia, traditional societies

Pluralistic: Machina economicus (14 Apr 2025)

April 15, 2025 by sergneri Leave a Comment

Pluralistic: Machina economicus (14 Apr 2025) Arguably, we do live in the shadow of such modern demons: we call them “limited liability corporations.” These are (potentially) immortal colony organisms that treat us fleshy humans as mere inconvenient gut flora. These artificial persons are not merely recognized as people under the law – they are given … [Read more…]

Posted in: Environment, Ethical and green living, Faits Divers, Finanace, Future of Work, IT Failures, Politics, Racism, Science, Slavery, the Anthropocene, Thinking about Tagged: AI, antitrust, artificial intelligence, Cory Doctorow, enshittification, Homo economicus, IP laws, limited liability corporations, mass layoffs, regulatory capture, Yochai Benkler

Cory Doctorow plurasitic

March 5, 2025 by sergneri Leave a Comment

When I get picky and need something unusual to read, I often go to Cory Doctorow’s blog, plurasitic.net. As an example, tonight I was reading about his March 3rd 2025 entry “Trumpism is our oil crisis” in which he vilifies Milton Friedman (rightly so) and delivers a new twist to my understanding of Friedman’s history. … [Read more…]

Posted in: Arts, Content, Ethical and green living, Finanace, Future of Work, IT Failures, Politics, Racism, the Anthropocene, Thinking about, Trump Tagged: Augusto Pinochet, Bill Clinton, Margaret Thatcher, Milton Friedman, New Deal, Norman Jewison, oligarchy, organized labor, Rollerball, Ronald Reagan, social justice movements, technofeudalism, the Gilded Age, Tony Blair

Why some chaos-seekers just want to watch the world burn

February 25, 2025 by sergneri Leave a Comment

Stealing (copying) directly from Science News: Why some chaos-seekers just want to watch the world burn This article is an interview with political scientist Kevin Arceneaux of the research university Sciences Po in Paris, France. In it, he and the author Sujata Gupta discuss this very relevant aspect of human behavior. Arceneaux helps us understand … [Read more…]

Posted in: Ethical and green living, History, Politics, Racism, Science, the Anthropocene, Thinking about, Trump Tagged: chaos, DEI, dissatisfaction, Donald Trump, globalization, Hugo Chavez, Inequality, Kevin Arceneaux, misinformation, populism, rebuilders, Science News, status loss, Sujata Gupta

Olive Flowers Magnified

February 19, 2025 by sergneri Leave a Comment

The twig of olive flowers I found in the backyard, courtesy of my neighbor and a high wind: This stacked image of an olive flower was made with low magnification.

Posted in: Content, Photography, Science, Thinking about Tagged: February 2025, microscope, olive flower, stacked images

Civil rights leader Rev. James Lawson Jr. dies at 95

June 10, 2024 by sergneri Leave a Comment

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/06/10/lawson-obit-civil-rights-martin-luther-king-00162585 Civil rights leader James Lawson Jr. dies at 95 The pastor was a close adviser to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and an advocate of nonviolent protest. By Associated Press 06/10/2024 05:44 PM EDT The Rev. James Lawson Jr., seen here in California in 2019, taught Gandhian principles to young civil rights activists … [Read more…]

Posted in: Ethical and green living, History, Obituaries, Racism, Thinking about Tagged: African Americans, boycotts, civil disobedience, Civil Rights, civil rights activists, Diane Nash, Gandhi, John Lewis, nonviolent, nonviolent protest, picket lines, protest, Rev. James Lawson Jr., Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., segregated, sit-ins, Voter Registration

In praise of failure : four lessons in humility by Costic? Br?d??an, 2023.

May 26, 2024 by sergneri Leave a Comment

In praise of failure : four lessons in humility by Costic? Br?d??an, 2023. I just finished this quirky little book (273 p) and am left with more than a few things to think about – birth, death, humility, human frailty, hubris, genocide, madness, disease, senility, poverty and wealth to name a few. He uses the … [Read more…]

Posted in: Faits Divers, History, Obituaries, Politics, Sea Stories, Thinking about, What I Read Tagged: birth, books, Death, disease, Emile Cioran, failure, genocide, Hitler, hubris, human frailty, humility, madness, Mahatma Gandhi, Osamu Dazai, philosophy, poverty, Seneca, senility, Simone Wiel, Stalin, Yukio Mashima

20 years ago on 9/11/01

April 28, 2024 by sergneri Leave a Comment

On September 11, 2001, my wife and I were living in Switzerland, having moved there in November of 1999. At the end of August of 2001, my sister Theresa and nephew Thomas joined us, they arrived from Seattle, we met them in Zurich and brought them home to Neuchâtel. We celebrated my 50th birthday, it … [Read more…]

Posted in: Faits Divers, History, Politics, Thinking about, Uncategorized Tagged: 2001, Geneva, Lamporo, Neuchatel, Senigallia, September 11, Switzerland, the Trade Center
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