how Vienna became the world’s most livable city
Place marker for this Guardian article on the city owned communal buildings, January 10, 2024. how Vienna became the world’s most livable city
Thinking about
Transatlantic slavery continued for years after 1867
In The Guardian, an essay on recent findings of historian Hannah Durkin showing the arrival of slave ships in Cuba as late as 1872. Historians have generally assumed that the transatlantic slave trade ended in 1867, but it actually continued into the following decade, according to new research. Dr Hannah Durkin, an historian and former … [Read more…]
White Holes – Carlo Rovelli
This is a small book, in the genre of possible science. Rovelli has his ideas about the existence of “white holes” and explains the development of the theory in a rather charming way, citing Dante most of the way through the process. While I was able to follow along with his reasoning I wasn’t … [Read more…]
The Dawn of Everything, A New History Of Humanity” by David Graeber and David Wengrow
Non-fiction Finished the 524 pages of “The Dawn of Everything, A New History Of Humanity” by Davids Graeber and Wengrow. A challenging book, well written and somewhat academic in tone, both authors are professors at their respective British schools, Graeber of economics and Wengrow of comparative archeology. The authors propose that there were actually few … [Read more…]
The deepest map : the high-stakes race to chart the world’s oceans by Laura Tretheway
Tretheway, like Elizabeth Rush, is a very good nature writer. I had some experience working on mapping vessels back in my youth and it was very interesting to “go back out” albeit in my arm chair with much newer vessels and equipment. She builds up the background of ocean mapping, how little we really know, … [Read more…]
Elizabeth Rush – “The Quickening”
October 23, 2023 I just read Elizabeth Rush’s new book “The Quickening” in which she reports on a research cruise to Thwaites Glacier in 2018/19. Seems the first time the thinning sea ice would let ships get anywhere close was in 2017-2020 so there was some very good data gathered in those years. We are … [Read more…]
Loosed upon the world : the Saga anthology of climate fiction edited by John Joseph Adams.
Comment on the genre of “climate fiction,” which now, in late 2023 is pretty well defined, this entry suggests it has been around for centuries but gained momentum around 2010. Cli-Fi (Climate Fiction) The Wikipedia entry for Climate Fiction contains this: “Technologies such as climate engineering or climate adaptation practices often feature prominently in works … [Read more…]
Out of Bounds: Japanese Women Artists in Fluxus
A review of a Fluxus retrospective from the New York Times. Through Jan. 21 at Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street, Manhattan https://www.japansociety.org/arts-and-culture/exhibitions/kazuko-miyamoto
Tribute to the late Rose Gaffney of Bodega Bay – June 1974
Eulogy for Rose (Editor’s Note: Ina Draper DeFoe, Columbia poetess, wrote this tribute to the late Rose Gaffney of Bodega Bay, a unique citizen of the Redwood Empire. It is edited for today’s Medley.) Our family knew Rose Gaffney back before there was anything to threaten her ownership of Bodega Head. One weekend my youngest … [Read more…]
Video tape wrapped bamboo pole installed – 10/01/2023
I have had this very long bamboo pole for almost two years, I’d estimate it at just under 30 feet. Today, I wrapped it in video tape and attached two long streamers. The video tape was from one of the old style 8 hour video cassettes and there was still about 1/4 of the reel … [Read more…]