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Category Archives: natural world
Suicide, Significant Life Experiences, Dwight (Eisenhower) and Capitalism
So this, from an article called “Why parents should leave their kids alone” by Jay Griffiths, In 1960, the American psychiatrist Herbert Hendin was studying suicide statistics in Scandinavia. Denmark (with Japan) had the world’s highest suicide rate. Sweden’s rate … Continue reading
Posted in natural world, politics
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Plenty more fish not in the sea
This is very very interesting and depressing stuff. http://www.hogsalt.com/wp-hogsalt/2013/04/the-stades-last-stand/ The tl;dr. We trash the joint. Then invent new technologies to trash new joints. See also Marvin Harris’ “Cannibals and Kings“. And Charles Tilly’s “Coercion, Capital and European States 990 to … Continue reading
Posted in apocalypse, death, economics, fear, natural world
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Of futility: allotments, hoses, and leakage
At the allotment yesterday* I got a strong whiff of the futility of it all. This stuff actually happened, pretty much as I recount it below, with merely a soupcon of poetic license. There was a visitor just checking out … Continue reading
Posted in a little self-knowledge, activism, climate, competence, death, fear, narcissism, natural world
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Abba, anomie and apocalypse
The song starts out thus – I was at a party and this fella said to me “Something bad is happening, I’m sure you do agree People care for nothing, no respect for human rights Evil times are coming, we … Continue reading
Posted in activism, apocalypse, climate, death, framing, natural world
Tagged Abba, On and On and On, Transactional Analysis
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Neologism: Solastalgia – “the homesickness you have when you are still at home”.
When they pave paradise and put up a parking lot – when the Telegraph Road gets made – when the March of the Giants marches on – then it hurts… And now there’s a word for it… I experienced the … Continue reading
Posted in framing, natural world
Tagged anomie, economie, homelessness, nulture, solastlagia, technocracy
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Aggression “natural” dominance “human nature” blah blah blah yadder yadder yadder
I am so unbelievably sick of the “just-so” stories that are propagated as means of justifying the crappy things we either do or allow to be done. From the Catholic Church and its “original sin” to the lunatic right and … Continue reading
Posted in death, economics, fear, natural world
Tagged aggression, babboons, hierarchy, pecking order, Stan Goff
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Leopard-food doesn’t change its maladaptive spots
Puny, largely defenceless bipeds on the savannah. Easy pickings for any passing leopard with hunger pangs, or the odd peckish hyenna. Rocks, spears, fire, safety in numbers. That’s about it, versus claws and fangs and muscle. And I reckon, warnings … Continue reading
Posted in death, fear, natural world, politics, reading list
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“Hey, Einstein” – fantastic cartoon
Sheer genius.
Posted in humour, natural world, politics
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Ecological Modernisation? You can bank on it.
The bank in question being these clowns, who go back (the clue is in the name) almost as far as the Opium Wars. Our new drug of choice is, of course, our technological imaginary. It turns out that you can … Continue reading
Posted in Financial Times, framing, natural world, politics
Tagged ecological modernisation, nulture
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