“Character, for Kant, is a rationally chosen way of organizing one's life, based on years of varied experience—indeed, he believed that one does not really develop a character until age forty.”
From DAILY RITUALS by Mason Curry.
“Kant rose at 5:00 A.M., after being awoken by his lifelong servant, a retired soldier under explicit orders not to let the master oversleep. Then he drank one or two cups of weak tea and smoked his pipe.
“After this period of meditation, Kant prepared his day's lectures and did some writing. Lectures began at 7:00 A.M. and lasted until 11:00. His academic duties discharged, Kant would go to a restaurant or pub for lunch, his only real meal of the day. He did not limit his dining company to his fellow academics but enjoyed mixing with townspeople from a variety of backgrounds. As for the meal itself, he prepared simple fare, with the meat well done, accompanied by good wine. Lunch might go until as late as 3:00, after which Kant took his famous walk and visited his closes friend, Joseph Green. They would converse until 7:00 on weekdays (9:00 on weekends, perhaps joined by another friend). Returning home, Kant would do some more work and read before going to bed precisely at 10:00.”
What a delightful existence.
#reads
No context THE SOLAR GRID.
And that is exactly what I'll be doing most of today, no turkey for me.
#work #comix #TheSolarGrid #ResistDystopia #nocontextTSG
$5.19 croissant, plain.
How much does a croissant cost where you live?
#htx #journal
Restaurant menu archive at the NYPL
Molly Crabapple on the Jewish Heretics podcast speaking about her research on the Jewish Labor Bund, “the brass-knuckle socialists of Eastern Europe who rejected Zionism from the start, foreseeing the tidal wave of blood it would entail, and instead insisted on their right to stay in their European homes.”
Skull Whistles: “In digging up ancient Aztec graves dating from the years 1250 to 1521 AD, archaeologists have found many examples of small whistles made of clay and formed into the shape of a skull. These whistles still work today as they did when they were buried next to a person in a grave. They produce sounds most often described as a scream of sorts.”
Inbox zero, now for the RSS.
#Radar #status
Do I know anyone between Venice and Pordenone?
Sending this out into the ether because it looks like I'll be attending a comix-exhibition opening at the Palazzo del Fumetto in Pordenone (featuring work from THE SOLAR GRID) around mid-December and it would be delightful to connect with anyone I know who might be out there.
#journal #travel
The Great American Nuclear Weapons Upgrade – Undark: “In the plains of western South Dakota, about 25 miles northeast of Mount Rushmore, the Ellsworth Air Force Base is preparing to receive the first fleet of B-21 nuclear bombers, replacing Cold War-era planes. Two other bases, Dyess in Texas and Whiteman in Missouri, will soon follow. By the 2030s, a total of five bases throughout the United States will host nuke-carrying bombers for the first time since the 1990s.”
The Outer Limits of Optimism – Heather Parry: “In 2009, an 81-year-old man named Orville Richardson died, having been a member of Alcor with a view to preserving his head after his death; he had paid a lump sum lifetime membership fee. His brother and sister, who were his co-conservators, evidently did not agree with his plan for cryopreservation... they had him buried. Two months after his death, the relatives demanded a refund of the lifetime membership fee, which seems to have annoyed the company; Alcor subsequently sued to be allowed to exhume Richardson’s body, and though they lost initially they won on appeal. The Iowa Court of Appeals then ordered the Richardson family to dig up their late sibling, cut off his head and give it to Alcor, so they could freeze it.”
Bluesky raises $15M series A – Tech Crunch: “The Series A round is led by Blockchain Capital with participation from Alumni Ventures, True Ventures, SevenX, Darkmode’s Amir Shevat, and Kubernetes co-creator Joe Beda. The presence of a crypto-focused firm might alarm skeptics, especially since CEO Jay Graber used to be a software engineer for a crypto company, Zcash...”
Now that the newsletter is out of the way, finally catching up on email (inbox: 165) and RSS (653). I loathe that it has gotten so out of hand.
#radar #journal
A new edition of RESTRICTED FREQUENCY is finally upon us, and this is how it starts: “James Baldwin was accused by Richard Wright of being a tool of the CIA. This accusation did not emerge from a vacuum; 'I'm going to destroy you,' Baldwin once told him to his face at a Parisian cafe. He then proceeded to do just that by writing a series of not-so-veiled character assassinations in a variety of magazines.”
Extensive reading and quite a bit of research went into this one and writing it consumed me. Hence the lateness and off-schedule release. I didn't think it would be right to wait until next Saturday to release it, but then again I'm not entirely sure anyone cares. In any case, it's out now. This is where it lives online, and this is where signing up for future newsletters is possible.
#journal #newsletter
