Extinction Rebellion Protests
Live coverage of protests in the UK today: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lgrfiaZdfXg
What are you doing to stop the climate emergency? Or are you magically exempt from responsibility and the effects?
With all the rain we've had recently the creek is flowing really well. My favorite place to stop and be still. These are the best moments in my simple, slow life. Learning to be content in a smaller radius and with as little external fossil fuel input as possible.
Really nice trail ride today. Lots of wild flowers. Hypoxia hirsuta, common goldstar, one of those that's currently blooming.
Finally getting around to trying out Stable Diffusion via the Draw Things app on the iPad. The original photo taken on one of my gravel rides in southern Missouri. One image in the style of Van Gogh and another in the style of Thomas Hart Benton.
The current rate of extinctions compared to the geological norm is now several thousandfold faster, making this the sixth great mass extinction event in Earth’s history, and thus the start of the Anthropocene in its clearest demarcation, which is to say, we are in a biosphere catastrophe that will be obvious in the fossil record for as long as the Earth lasts.
It’s taken me far too long but I’m finally reading The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson. In the paragraph before the quote above, he provides a list of recently extinct species, from that list: Saudi gazelle
Some nice trail rides in recent days. Always a treat to observe the woods wake up in the early days of spring.
An excellent video of Roger Hallam of Extinction Rebellion. Stark, difficult, plain, honest. The response of the crowd seems to be somewhere between terrified and disbelief.
Climate change is going to cause a slow grind, much like an ever increasing tax, where it costs agriculture more to output the same amount. It’s easy for humans to ignore the changes within the habitats of other species. However, in our own habitat, the first area we will see indicators in is agricultural products. Which we are beginning to experience now.
Where damaging weather patterns don’t interrupt the crop cycle, the supply chain will.
Why There Is A Growing Global Food Shortage & What It Will Look Like | by Martin Knapp
As we inch closer and closer to the precipice of a climate apocalypse, a new film, “How to Blow Up a Pipeline,” lands with a rageful conviction about the necessary obliteration, by any means, of the greedy systems that may soon kill us all. When Xochitl aptly explains that “this is an act of self-defense,” what she is so vehemently protecting is the chance at a collective future. Their fight then is just as much our fight.
'How to Blow Up a Pipeline' review: Eco-thriller is rousing - Los Angeles Times
In 2021, a Texas intelligence command center disseminated a bulletin warning its law enforcement partners about activists interested in sabotaging fossil fuel infrastructure. The report detailed no specific threat, but instead linked to an interview with Andreas Malm, a Swedish professor of human ecology, on a New Yorker podcast in which he advocated for the destroying or “neutralizing” new fossil fuel projects like pipelines using nonviolent methods.
“How to Blow Up a Pipeline” Poses Terror Threat, Kansas City Intel Agency Claims
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) synthesis report recently landed with an authoritative thump, giving voice to hundreds of scientists endeavouring to understand the unfolding calamity of global heating. What’s changed since the last one in 2014? Well, we’ve dumped an additional third of a trillion tonnes of CO₂ into the atmosphere, primarily from burning fossil fuels. While world leaders promised to cut global emissions, they have presided over a 5% rise.
IPCC's conservative nature masks true scale of action needed to avert catastrophic climate change
Dish soap is one of the last plastic packaged items I've had to purchase but I've found an alternative. There are a few dish bar soaps so I'm trying one of those. I've also used Dr Bronner's bar soap for dishes. It's not great but it works. This new dish specific bar soap does seem better.
There are radical, yet pragmatic, solutions to our crises. But fear of what will happen if we don’t act is imprisoning people in a mindset that makes alternatives seem unthinkable. I am frequently told my solutions are unrealistic and will never happen; that people would rather fight each other in wars than adapt to share food and land, for instance. We make our own future, even if it’s hard to see the process. So let me try to make the case for hope.
The US already has all the technology needed to rapidly bring down carbon emissions. The trouble is finding enough people to install it all.
The Inflation Reduction Act, passed last summer, allocates $370 billion toward energy security and climate action….
The solar industry could grow from 230,000 to 400,000 employees this decade and will have to exceed 900,000 by 2035 to reach the Biden administration’s goal of 100 percent clean electricity…
Drastically reduce emissions first, or carbon dioxide removal will be next to useless.
Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is what puts the ‘net’ into ‘net zero emissions’. All pathways to limit global warming to 1.5–2 °C above pre-industrial levels that have been assessed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change require rapid decarbonization to start now. But they also require the removal of CO2 from the atmosphere because we won’t be able to eliminate carbon emissions entirely…
Carbon dioxide removal is not a current climate solution — we need to change the narrative
Moft Snap Case and Snap Float Stand Review
Several months ago I decided to try out a couple of iPad accessories from Moft. They have a series of products called the Snap System that are designed to work together. I bought the Snap Case and the Snap Float Stand. The various items can be purchased separately or in bundles. Their website is a little confusing when trying to create bundles.
Of the various iPad accessories I’ve tried over the years I think this pair is my favorite. While I spend some time at a desk I’m often on a futon/beanbag and this combination works great in both places. In both situations it works well to be propped up at various angles in the horizontal or portrait positions. The float stand is also a kickstand that can be used in so many different orientations that it is basically without limit. And it’s very stable on a pillow in my lap.
A fairly typical configuration over the course of a day:
iPad propped up in horizontal position, Pencil attached at bottom. This is nice as it keeps the bottom of the screen up off of the pillow and accessible for swiping.
Flipped, the pencil on top.
iPad propped up in horizontal position, Pencil attached at top
iPad propped up in portrait mode
I find that with this case and stand I’ve been using the iPad as a tablet far more because I like having it propped up but without a keyboard in the way. If I want a keyboard I can just reach over and grab it. If I want a keyboard/trackpad I can attach it to the Magic Keyboard which is also nearby.
Because the stand and case are magnetic the stand pulls away easily. I did find that the embedded magnets in the Snap Case were not as strong as I wanted them and I was getting accidental detachments when readjusting the stand angles. Moft includes an extra sticky metal plate with the stand so I attached that to the case as it provides a much stronger connection that never comes off accidentally.
The Snap Case is really thin and Apple’s Magic Keyboard attaches just fine to the Snap Case and closes too though it bulges a bit with the added thickness. That said, because the case is so thin it’s not going to provide much protection in a fall though it does provide a bit protection in terms of daily wear along the edges and back-side.
A few last notes. First, the case also has a convenient spot for the Pencil. If you have a Pencil and like keeping it close by this is a nice addition. It also serves as an extra place to hold the iPad. Second, while the case provides access to the 3 buttons on the outer edges of the iPad it makes it fairly difficult to actually press those buttons.
In terms of durablity, I’ve been using the stand for most of the past 7 months and it’s held up very well. The hinges are as solid as the day I started using it.