A third trip to the doctor this year feels like a lot, but I went again for routine, preventative stuff and they took my vitals again. I don’t have a good picture like last time, so I can only show a screen shot of the email, but here they are from last week: Blood pressure 99/63 looks normal. Back to a pulse of 47 beats per minute, and that was[…] Keep reading →

I forgot to post that I just started my third year with my fridge unplugged, the last year and a half with the whole apartment unplugged. Why did I forget? Because it’s a non-event. Last summer was challenging as I had never made it through a summer without a fridge and I was worried things would go bad faster. I knew then that all humans who ever lived didn’t use[…] Keep reading →

I read this week: Cobalt Red, by Siddhart Kara: Of all the books I’ve recommended lately, I recommend Cobalt Red the top. If you believe imperialism, colonialism, and slavery are things of the past, you’re in for more than a rude awakening. You are funding it, especially if you like electric vehicles. I often clarify that solar and wind are not clean, green, or renewable since they require fossil fuels[…] Keep reading →

I was looking up indigenous cultures from New Guinea and stumbled on this video. It looks like it’s showing a lovely, diverse place to expand your horizons if you’re a wealthy American or European. Every bit of of it destroys the cultures and environment it purports to celebrate. It’s the insouciance I described in colonial cultures in Insouciance, colonialism, and sustainability. The travel the woman in the video presents is[…] Keep reading →

First some context: When I challenged myself to avoid flying for a year, I expected the worst year of my life—my family disowning me, running out of money, etc. Instead, after a couple months I unexpectedly found the experience rewarding enough to go for another year. Then each year led to another. At some point I figured I’d never fly again. It’s easy enough not to get on a plane.[…] Keep reading →

I closed my account with Con Ed since I wasn’t using their power, but apparently Americans are too entitled and can’t stop themselves. They’re complaining and unhappy. I wish I could help them enjoy life more, but the technology they thought brought them comfort and convenience seems to have made them less resilient, happy, healthy, or safe and more addicted, dependent, and petulant. I prefer freedom to addiction, which I[…] Keep reading →

The United States has a Bill of Rights in its Constitution guaranteeing several freedoms around religion, speech, the press, bearing arms, search and seizure, speedy trials, and a few others. Imagine you woke up to headlines that for some technicality no one had noticed for over two centuries, the Bill of Rights had been improperly processed and turned out it was invalid. That is, imagine the Bill of Rights didn’t[…] Keep reading →