This past week I was reading an older book on the trauma of living within our culture and had another run-in with the theory that everything went to hell when humanity decided to farm. This book is old enough that the arguments against agriculture were still novel when it was written, so I forgave the… Continue reading The Daily: 26 June 2023
Category: Polemics & Rants
The Daily: 21 June 2023
Summer Solstice Today is the solstice; today, the sun stands still. Well, actually, if you've read much of anything I've written, you know that it's been standing still for a few days now, and it will continue to do so for a few more days. From 17 June to 25 June, day length is 15… Continue reading The Daily: 21 June 2023
The Daily: 20 June 2023
Tonight is the shortest night of the year. Of course, you'd be hard-pressed to note the difference even with a very flat horizon that reveals the exact moment of sunrise. Exact moments are difficult to catch even when you have fine-scale time notation and more than one set of eyes on the task, one for… Continue reading The Daily: 20 June 2023
The Daily: 19 June 2023
Juneteenth Today is Juneteenth. Specifically, today is the second anniversary of Juneteenth becoming a federal holiday and the 158th anniversary of the reading of General Order No. 3 by Union Army general Gordon Granger. This was the order which served as the Texas version of the Emancipation Proclamation, a full two years after President Lincoln and… Continue reading The Daily: 19 June 2023
The Daily: 7 June 2023
In the last few years I’ve seen a wide variety of people arrive at the conclusion that what we need as a society to avert self-destruction — self and everything else, that is — is a new religion. I’ve encountered novelists and sociologists (who might be predisposed), economists (who probably are not), celebrity chefs and… Continue reading The Daily: 7 June 2023
The Daily: 24 May 23
I was listening to a recent Frankly with Nate Hagens as he talked about the Beyond Growth conference and the degrowth movement generally. Leaving aside that maybe these aren't the same things — it's possible to be 'beyond growth' and yet not embrace the need to shrink, or 'de-grow', our economic activities — I was… Continue reading The Daily: 24 May 23
The Daily: 17 May 2023
Religious, Not Especially Spiritual A Way of Life for Earth Bodies (an EarthCraft repost) In my continuing examination of life and meaning and ways of being in this world, I have determined that I am the inverse of “spiritual but not religious”. I am religious, but I am not particularly spiritual. Or at least I… Continue reading The Daily: 17 May 2023
The Daily: 16 May 2023
You may have noticed a few reposts creeping in to The Daily. I'm absorbed in planting season and several family issues, so I don't have time to write fresh every day right now. Plus, I feel that some things were initially lost in my usual torrent of postings and would like to share them again.… Continue reading The Daily: 16 May 2023
The Daily: 9 May 2023
Home Soil We need more geology in school. Or perhaps ecology. Probably both. If we are to survive, we need to understand who and what we are, and for that we need to understand this world that made us. We are earthly beings. We are small parts of a small planet on an average star… Continue reading The Daily: 9 May 2023
The Daily: 5 May 2023
The Greenleaf Moon is full at 1:34pm today. There is a penumbral eclipse with this full moon. In this type of eclipse the moon is in Earth's penumbra, so there is a dimming of the Moon, but no shape or color change like in a partial or total eclipse. This one is visible from large… Continue reading The Daily: 5 May 2023
