Folks like to blame the internet for everything, and I’m the first to say Technofeudalists, tech companies, and especially tech billionaires are a real and present danger, but we didn’t get to this stage of society breakdown overnight or even in the last eight years. Neoliberalism and cowboy conservatism have corrupted the culture for decades before the internet. “Greed is… Read More
Microplastics: Reduce Your Exposure
If you’ve been paying attention at all, you’ve seen articles with increasingly horrifying information about how much our world is swimming in pollution, PFAS, chemicals of all kinds, and in particular, microplastics (and nanoplastics). We now have a plastic spoon’s worth in our brains and that’s up 50% in the last eight years, rising with increasing plastic in the environment:… Read More
The Story You Tell Matters
Dammit. My kid had to evacuate from the Palisades fire at 2am last night. They’ve been on red flag watch all week at the edge of the fire and the drop in winds I guess backdrafted the fire toward their apartment. They’re safe in a hotel but my god I hate this. They say everyone will eventually have first-hand experience… Read More
Backup Power for Air Filters + Water
Learning From Climate Disasters I try to learn something out of every climate disaster (sadly, there’s no end of supply of those), but this fire in LA is particularly rough because my kid is like 1/2 mile from the evacuation zone (they’re safe and now that the fire’s maybe being contained, I’m less freaked out). I grew up in CA… Read More
Investing in Better Social Media
We all know social media has changed us: in the best case, it lets us connect with people we would never meet and stay in touch with those we already have. But the dark side is fully manifesting and so we need to evolve. I’ve been giving conscious thought for years to the question of HOW? How do we escape… Read More
Friends, Backup Your Backups
Friends, back up your stuff! This is my semi-regular PSA to make sure you’re backing up all that data you would be miserable if you lost. After several hard drive failures in succession in the early 2010s, I put together a triple redundant backup system that I use to this day to make sure I don’t lose irreplaceable things —… Read More