Monday Poem: Rapunzel
Think what it must have been like for her, cagedin her tower, the small window cut into darkstone, the hours it took to brush and untangle her hair, waiting for
Phytomining: Using Plants to Mine Valuable Metals From the Soil With Their Roots
By Edd Gent at Singularity Hub: The renewable energy transition will require a huge amount of materials, and there are fears we may soon face shortages of some critical metals.
Continue readingPhytomining: Using Plants to Mine Valuable Metals From the Soil With Their Roots
From Boom to Bust: 3 Graphs of Interest
How things were going for Pakistan during the period 1960 thru 1991 (30 years). And what happened over the next 30 years (1991 thru 2022). 3 graphs below–out of the
What We Gain by Recognising the Role of Chance
Mark R Rank at Psyche: On 18 August 1913, at a casino in Monte Carlo, a roulette wheel was spun, and the ball fell on black. This is not unusual.
Continue readingWhat We Gain by Recognising the Role of Chance
Everyone Wants a Piece of Kafka
Benjamin Balint at the NYT: In his novella “The Prague Orgy,” Philip Roth has a Czech writer say: “When I studied Kafka, the fate of his books in the hands
Vichch Pulase (Which Place)
Habib Khan, Quetta: More than twenty years ago, I was returning from a short trip to Nairobi. I had to check out early in the morning, and my flight was
Sunday Poem: Early Morning in Your Room
It’s morning. The brown scoops of coffee, the wasp-likeCoffee grinder, the neighbors still asleep.The gray light as you pour gleaming water–It seems you’ve traveled years to get here. Finally you
A Theoretical ‘Case Against Education’
Scott Alexander at Astral Codex Ten: There’s been renewed debate around Bryan Caplan’s The Case Against Education recently, so I want to discuss one way I think about this question. Education isn’t
Fish Around the World are Shrinking
By Devika Rao in The Week: The world’s fish supply is getting smaller, physically. A study published in the journal Science said that body size trends “varied across communities,” but
What If Trump Is Right About America?
Jonathan V. Last at The Bulwark: It’s time to ask some hard questions about ourselves. 1. Donny from the Bronx One of the Trump campaign’s beliefs about 2024 is that
Nigeria: ‘Corrupt Leaders Have No Tribe But United By Common Greed’
By Greenbarge Reporters: Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukayode, has said that corrupt political leaders have no tribe, religion but are bound together by their
Continue readingNigeria: ‘Corrupt Leaders Have No Tribe But United By Common Greed’
Saturday Poem: Another Night in the Ruins
1In the eveninghaze darkening on the hills,purple of the eternal,a last bird crosses over,‘flop flop,’ adoringonly the instant. 2Nine years ago,in a plane that rumbled all nightabove the Atlantic,I could