Their Toll

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4 minutes

“A mammal never forgets a bad scare; and they were mammals.”

― Kim Stanley Robinson, The Ministry for the Future: A Novel

I hope everyone is doing ok out there. It seems the psychic stresses of 2020 are starting to take their toll on many. Fraying threads are appearing at the edges of my wider friendship group.

I wonder what sort of long term mental health effects Covid-19 is going to have on the population here in the west. Neoliberalism is over, were moving into the beginnings of state capitalism, but I hope/suspect that that its just an interregnum. You would think that the experiences of this year might make folks more sympathetic to others caught by the wild adversary elsewhere int he world but I some how doubt it.

I do know that my neighbours who are the most apolitical ‘give a shit’ people I’ve ever met. Are absolutely done with the whole thing. God knows what there reaction to the unfolding shit show is going to be we go into winter. Plus Brexit is still to come.

Be kind to others, manage what you can control, forget about the rest. Get of social media. Let the news come to you.

Been going for walks with a mate who’s been having a tough time of late. Here’s the Thames yesterday.


In blog news, I’ve been trying to think of a good way of s doing smaller daily observations, maybe a category so I can post photos that I would have put on instagram in another life. Less official than things like these weeknotes, come internet with me and the podcast. There are so many people subscribed by email these days, that I feel like it might get a bit onerous. The ‘don’t send this post to subscribers‘ tick box is still languishing in Automattics backlog. I was thinking I’d have a rule that was ‘if the post doesn’t need a header image, it doesn’t go out via email’ but I can’t really do that without the tick box. Disabling the subscription module every-time is slow.

Come Internet With Me – T.X. Watson Searches ‘Zettelkasten Method’

This week on Come Internet With Me I was joined by Tiktok-ker and vigilante for academia public relations T.X. WATSON!!

Permanently Moved

Going Soapless

In the abstracted hell world of 2020 it is more important than ever that we all reconnect with our bodies. Consider going soapless.

I did tweet this out, but i’ll add it here: I cut a rather important line in the audio edit “Of course I wash my hands after going to the bathroom, or before preparing food. Because I’m not a maniac.”

Update From The Island

Eve completely re-did her living room. So I sat an watched TV by myself in her house in the dark the other night.

The new bathroom has some real forest spa vibes going on. Nice

Hadn’t spoken to island services team in a while, so I thought I’d show them some encouragement.

Meanwhile in Sims 4 Eve and I have apparently been living in our replica flat without a roof for the last few months. So since eve got the seasons expansion everything has got wet every time it rained. lol

The Ministry Of My Own Labour

Been on thing after another this week. I’ve pushed a lot of projects forward some of which are nearing completion. But this week has also been the week when I feel of the wagon with my to do list. I can’t actually even remember what I’ve done or been up to.

Dipping the Stacks

Seasons & Longevity of Community Tokens

Defining, Identifying, and Measuring Narrative Change on Vimeo

How a Climate Corps Could Put Youth to Work in Greening America – Yale E360

New Research: Listeners Synchronize Brain Activity With Musicians

Reading

 I’m still reading KSR’s Ministry for the Future. The audio book is like 20 hours long 0_o. Its.Amazing tho. I’m about 70% of the way through. MfTF is exactly the book that we all need right now. Its a fictionalised policy document in many ways. Vertical slice policy story telling at its best.

Also … this arrived from Rough Trade Books:

Music

I posted the HEALTH collabo with FULL OF HELL back in August. I’m always excited for a new HEALTH album, DISCO 4:: PART I came out yesterday. A few tracks have been out for awhile (BODY/PRISON, CYBERPUNK 2.0.2.0 etc). This album is a deep feast of collaborations. Obviously the 100 Gecs collab is a highlight.

HEALTH created something really special in 2015 with their 3rd album DEATH MAGIC. I listened to that album over and over – Stonefist is a track you can’t unhear. Vol 4 last year was great too.

DISCO 4:: PART I sounds like its from the fucking future.

Remember Kids

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