@homesteading
The possession of a cow or two, with a hog, and a few geese, naturally exalts the peasant. . . . In sauntering after his cattle, he acquires a habit of indolence. Quarter, half, and occasionally whole days, are imperceptibly lost. Day labour becomes disgusting; the aversion increases by indulgence. And at length the sale of a half-fed calf, or hog, furnishes the means of adding intemperance to idleness. –taken fromthis page My favorite YouTube watch of the month was this series on constructing an earthbag building out in the Nevada desert.
@Links
In favour of about one citizen in five hundred, who, by education or practice in scribbling, has acquired a tolerable style as to grammar and construction, so as to bear printing; or who is possessed of a press and a few types. This five hundredth part of the citizens have the privilege of accusing and abusing the other four hundred and ninety-nine parts at their pleasure; or they may hire out their pens and press to others for that purpose.
@homesteading
Here are my favorite self-sufficiency blogs, along with links to content I particularly enjoyed. Note that I continue to expand this list whenever good articles hit my RSS reader. Last updated 06/26.
+ Other Notes on Entrepreneurial Expertise
I’ve been going through the second edition of the Cambridge Handbook of Expertise after reading the first years ago, and was delighted to find the new edition has a chapter on excellence among entrepreneurs.
@Links
Any point of a rhizome can be connected to anything other, and must be.
–Deleuze and Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus
Who fucked up the most in human history? Dr. Thomas Midgley. “He was an ambitious scientist who had the idea to put lead in fuel before we knew how bad it was. Then he created CFCs for refrigerators that we later learned are responsible for eating through the ozone layer.
Surprisingly, no one has published homeschooling rates per capita for different states, so I’ve mashed together some census data to figure that out. Unfortunately, only about half of the states publish how many homeschoolers there are in their state.
Initially I tried using an estimate for the other states but the results didn’t feel plausible, so I’ve decided to stick with the states I have actual data for.
Location % Children 0-18 # Homeschoolers Tot Pop % Homeschooled Alaska 0.
@Links
File this under “everything you believe about yourself is lie”: “Surveys of the psychological literature suggest that perception of skill is often only moderately or modestly correlated with actual level of performance.”
What country is the best for expats?
“The misperception that political spending drives electoral outcomes is reinforced every campaign season by sensational media coverage, post-election debriefs from losing candidates and the exaggerated rhetoric of professional reform advocates.
@Links
“Several studies have indicated that, for men, regular blood donation results in a massive reduction in heart attack.” New idea for reducing heart disease: introduce vampires into the population.
Google’s targeted advertising is dumber than you expect. According to that page, my main interests are banking and makeup, which makes it sound like I’m planning a heist.
“there is a negative correlation between trading profits and the superstition index.
They sift the human storm for souls, eat flesh of reason, fill tombs with sinners. They frenzy forth… Such are the autumn people.
–Ray Bradbury
It’s October, which implies more links. Last month’s links are here.
I’ve corresponded with the smartest man alive, sort of — Terrence Tao answered one of my questions. (I am unreasonably proud of this.)
Peter Thiel on the great stagnation: “Is the iPhone 5, where you move the phone jack from the top of the phone to the bottom of the phone really something that should make us scream Hallelujah?
@Cognitive Science
The hero of our tale, Jason Padgett. (Content note: this is an example of what I send out to email subscribers. You can sign up to receive more like it on any of the many forms scattered throughout the website, like the one at the bottom of this post.)
In 2002, Jason Padgett got into a fight. It was the fight of the decade, maybe the century. Not because Jason trounced his two assailants (he didn’t), and not because it was a fair fight — it wasn’t — but because of what happened the next morning.
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