Ganzeer[dot]com is currently down, something to do with the fuckery involved in the forced transfer from Google Domains to Squarespace following their sale. Will attend to soon, I'm rather web-ignorant when it comes to this stuff.
Namibia Watering Hole – 24/7 lives stream of a watering hole in the Namibian desert, where a variety of animals come to quench their thirst. First time I popped in, I caught what I think is a hyena (it was night time) taking a little sip. You also catch much delightful out-of-frame wildlife sounds.
Decade of Danger – “the United States expended almost 10 million tonnes of ammunition during the Vietnam War, doing so at a pace of nearly two million tonnes per year during peak efforts in 1968 and 1969.[5] The roughly four million 155mm artillery shells the U.S. and EU have supplied to Ukraine over nearly three years of war would altogether weigh only about 180,000 tonnes. The American defense industrial base is still far from ready for sustained industrial war, and with history suggesting 12-to-24-month lead times being the norm for scaling up production even under emergency conditions, prudence counsels for accelerating the process (Figure 1). Billions of dollars spent on extra stockpiles during the Decade of Danger pales in comparison to the humanitarian costs and trillions of dollars in losses that conflict could bring.” They're calling this the “Decade of Danger” now?
Switch-Lit – Collaborative story-writing app for the collective imagination.
Not sure why big bulky A3-sized printer/scanner/fax workstations are far more easy to come by than straight up A3 flatbed scanners. I've looked everywhere since arriving and couldn't find a single one, so I had no choice but to get me the HP OfficeJet Pro 9730 Wide Format. Big bastard of a thing. Twisted by ankle hauling it down the stairs to the studio last night, almost fell over but caught myself, stood my ground, and landed with all that weight on said twisted ankle instead.
I am now incapable of standing. Getting old sucks.
Via Dense Discovery #333:
WE HAVE NEVER BEEN WOKE: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite by Musa al-Gharbi
“Musa al-Gharbi argues that the rise and influence of ‘wokeness’ in contemporary discourse is often overstated and misunderstood. With data and historical context, al-Gharbi challenges common assumptions about social progress, activism and political identity, offering a nuanced perspective on the limits and contradictions of what he calls ‘symbolic capitalists’. 'In education, media, nonprofits, and beyond, members of this elite work primarily with words, ideas, images, and data, and are very likely to identify as allies of antiracist, feminist, LGBTQ, and other progressive causes. Their dominant ideology is ‘wokeness’ and, while their commitment to equality is sincere, they actively benefit from and perpetuate the inequalities they decry.'”
Adding to my tbr, because it sounds spot on.
“Compared to other animals, humans are born prematurely, when many of their vital systems are still under-developed,” writes Yuval Noah Harari in his widely-celebrated book SAPIENS: A Brief History of Humankind. “A colt can trot shortly after birth; a kitten leaves its mother to forage on its own when it is just a few weeks old. Human babies are helpless, dependent for many years on their elders for sustenance, protection and education.”
This could at first glance be taken as a disadvantage, but actually it seems to have forced us to evolve in different ways.
“This fact has contributed greatly both to humankind's extraordinary abilities and to its unique social problems. Lone mothers could hardly forage enough food for their offspring and themselves with needy children in tow. Raising children required constant help from other family members and neighbors. It takes a tribe to raise a human. Evolution thus favored those capable of forming strong social ties.”
Therefore, one can consider the “nuclear family” to be a kind of human devolution.
After a bit of a [accidental] hiatus, the newsletter is back with issue #221: Because Cairo.
Digital Degrowth: Technology in the Age of Survival by Michael Kwet
RUIN ME, new single from Max Fractal.
Papeer – Curate a media feed from RSS, websites, and substacks and sync with your e-reader!
Bruce Sterling's Shelfie, in Ibiza!
And I finally have internet.
No fiber optics in my neighborhood, so I had to apply for a phone line. Once that was finally installed, I applied for a wired DSL connection, once I got that up and running, it became apparent that having a connection isn't so different from not having one at all. It's that bad.
But an electrician who was here to work on something else entirely pointed out to me that all the phone wires in the building were aluminum!
So until I get those replaced with copper, I went ahead and got myself a 5G wireless DSL. It's capped at 140 GB a month, but it's smooth as butter and I'm no longer isolated. Installing it is also a breeze. You just go to the store, pay for it, bring it home with you and plug it in. Wish I'd done this from the get-go.
I haven't read a word, touched a pencil, or even looked at email since getting here. All I've been doing is getting the place in just enough of a working order to be able to sleep, shit, shower and work. Still no kitchen installed, still unclear when that'll happen, as there's a whole bunch of plumbing and wiring that needs getting redone first.
I imagine I should be able to get back to the drawing board in a couple days regardless.🤞