While writing up a longer piece on my experiment going off the grid, I looked up when I bought the solar panels and battery. Going through my old records, I think I only bought five or ten things besides food in about a year or so, all from Craigslist or thrift stores, used. I don’t keep meticulous records, so I may have missed some things. Going backward, a couple weeks[…] Keep reading →

Yes, I shifted my lifestyle a bit and did things not everyone can, but for the overwhelming majority of people living in cities and rich cultures minor compared to that I’m not living in the woods or separate from society. I lived in Manhattan, maintained a professional lifestyle and used zero electricity from the grid to my apartment for a month with minimal planning and only a portable solar panel[…] Keep reading →

The end of today marks the end of one month off the electric grid in Manhattan. Like the experiments before it, including avoiding packaged food for a week, avoiding flying for a year, and unplugging my fridge, before starting, I didn’t think I would make it, I thought it would worsen my life, and I didn’t know what challenges I’d face. Also like those experiments, I enjoyed the results and[…] Keep reading →

I’m in the middle of trying my first month disconnected from the electric grid. I started that month on May 22, so it only half affected my most recent bill: May 6 to June 7. Sixty-two cents plus fixed charges: My average so far this year: 11.8 kWh per month ($1.162 per month + fixed costs)

Before the pictures of the fate of democratizing technology, for context, let’s remember that humans lived and thrived for hundreds of thousands of years without even the wheel. Despite our erroneous projections of our fears of what life outside society would be like, our best evidence from history, anthropology, and archaeology tell us they lived with comparable of often higher signs of Health Mental health Diet Stability Equality Longevity Resilience[…] Keep reading →

This post is me trying to express the sadness I feel seeing litter everywhere, increasing, imagining the beauty Manhattan island once held before we paved it over; seeing how doof covers over beauty of the human body with disease and excess. My sadness runs deeper than that lost beauty. I lament the abdication and capitulation of responsibility. At least half the people I see walking the streets of this city[…] Keep reading →

Podcast guest Dr. Michael Greger, M.D. FACLM did a video on doof, which he calls ultraprocessed food, junk food, or ultraprocessed junk food. He’s a multiple time number one bestselling author and host of Nutritionfacts.org. Experience shows me that using the word food confuses people into thinking it’s food when it isn’t. Just because something fills your belly when you’re hungry doesn’t mean it’s food. Heroin would make the hunger[…] Keep reading →

As an author who reads a lot, I’ve long posted reviews of books I’ve read and felt deserved five stars on Amazon. I can’t any more because of Amazon’s new policy. They had a problem with fake reviews. They addressed the problem by requiring accounts to spend at least fifty dollars per year to be allowed to post reviews. I don’t think I’ve spent a penny there in ten years.[…] Keep reading →

Today, April 20, in 1964, Nelson Mandela, on trial for sabotage with about a dozen other men, for which they would be found guilty, instead of a defense, spoke for almost four hours, closing with the words entitling this post. Here is the full text he read from. I recommend taking a moment today to review the story. Here is one video among many others and the Rivonia Trial Wikipedia[…] Keep reading →