Attention Collection


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Interesting long read about cryptography: arstechnica.com/features/…

Reading about accessibility: Against Technoableism

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This post is my live journal of what I’m learning from a new book by Ashley Shew called Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement. It was published in late 2023, and I found out about it through a podcast called Factually, hosted by Adam Conover. (I really recommend this episode.)

I’m trying to learn more about disability. And although I have a chronic illness and know some things about what makes my own life easier, this is a massive topic. Follow along with me if you’re curious about what disability is, how disabled folks are treated, what barriers they face, and how access can be improved. 

Notes

Chapter 1: Disabled Everything

“Ableism is more than just bias: it’s the entire idea that anything can or should be perfect in this universe of entropy and chaos, applied at the level of human bodies and ways of being."

Chapter 2: Disorientation

“...disability is a social construct – a mismatch between the self and a world that was designed to cater to normative bodies and minds. Disability is a made up category."

Chapter 3: Scripts and Crips

”No amount of smiling at a flight of stairs has ever made it turn into a ramp.” – Stella Young

Chapter 4: New Legs, Old Tricks

”Technology cannot transcend the meatsack.” – Ashley Shew (p. 74)

One of the core ideas that keeps coming up in this book is that “Disability is inherent in the human condition.” It’s a thought that helps me re-frame what disability actually means as I do a little volunteer work on a local accessibility committee.

Sometimes disability is a technical or medical challenge. But the ways disabled people suffer needlessly also have a lot to do with the social problem: the world is set up to exclude them.

Chapter 5: The Neurodivergent Resistance

"Not only is it a fact that we have variation in how people think and process information, but we should value this diversity of thinking/processing/experience and make space for the existence of us all."

Chapter 6: Accessible Futures

”Technology cannot transcend the meatsack.” – Ashley Shew (p. 74)

THE END (finished Feb 11, 2024)

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TIL the New Zealand Dept of Conservation has an entire page of bird calls in the public domain. Was searching “tui bird call public domain” while producing a #podcast episode.

www.doc.govt.nz/nature/na…

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📚Excited to start reading this book that just arrived today.

Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement by Ashley Shew #accessibility

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About to be currently reading: The Tatami Time Machine Blues by Tomihiko Morimi 📚

I picked this book of the library shelf along with 3 other thin hardcover novels or story collections: It’s Getting Dark by Peter Stamm My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson The Invention of Sound by Chuck Palahniuk

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Currently reading: My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson 📚

📚 First 3 books of 2024

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The Invisible Kingdom by Meghan O’Rourke – Memoir about experiences navigating overlapping chronic illnesses and the Western medical system that is utterly unprepared to help people with ME/CFS and similar conditions, pushing many people to try unconventional and sometimes more holistic healing methods.

Survival of the Richest by Douglas Rushkoff (audiobook) – Entertaining non-fiction about late-stage capitalism and the mindset adopted by its modern god-emperors.

Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia – A story of horror films and occultic magic set in 1990s Mexico.

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Grateful to the volunteer crew of guys who came over to help push the piano across the yard, uphill, and into the house.

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Finished Baldur’s Gate 3 today. Incredible game, 10/10

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A monster list of mostly sustainable and regenerative actions happening in the travel industry: www.cntraveller.com/article/b…

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Apparently gondolas are a transit option for airports in some places:

crux.org.nz/crux-news…

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TIL ammonia production is a low-carbon, scalable way to store and transport hydrogen as energy.

cen.acs.org/business/…

The EU is counting up their scope 3 maritime emissions

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TIL the EU has an Emissions Trading System and that in 2024, it’ll include the maritime transport industry.

The interesting part is in one of the details:

“50% of emissions from voyages starting or ending outside of the EU and 100% of emissions from voyages between two EU ports and when ships are within EU ports.”

source: climate.ec.europa.eu/eu-action…

In other words, the EU is accounting for some scope 3 emissions. This seems like good news.

Aviation-wise, it only covers flights “within the European Economic Area and departing flights to Switzerland and the United Kingdom.” Not accounting for intercontinental emissions just yet. Maybe one day soon.

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Mailchimp: Send now? y/n

Me:

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8 ways life in the EU is becoming greener

An interesting page about how the EU is trying to cut net GHG emissions by 55% by 2030.

www.consilium.europa.eu/en/8-ways…

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Learning about email spam filters today.

Whenever you need to feel insignificant, contemplate the number of email messages that are sent every day.

Every message that reaches its recipient is a miracle.

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Currently reading: The Invisible Kingdom by Meghan O’Rourke 📚

A few chapters in, she’s writing about her experiences with her autoimmune illnesses and their interactions with Western medicine.

“Allostatic load” is a concept I hadn’t heard before. The higher your load, the more likely you are to develop an autoimmune disease, the theory goes.

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🎶 Listening to an ambient track by Nils Frahm: “The Dog With 1000 Faces”

music.apple.com/ca/album/…

Climate's "front page paradox"

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This article asks: Why is there not enough political will to move with urgency?

www.outrageandoptimism.org/blog/what…

And points out that renewables are seeing exponential growth. This is the decade of change in energy.

rmi.org/the-energ…

…we should be discussing how we do this, not whether it ought to be done.

and:

For all the complexities of climate change, the big picture of what we need to do is not rocket science:

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Project Drawdown has a whole video series about climate solutions based in different places and neighbourhoods. There might be some good examples of local-focused actions.

www.youtube.com/@ProjectD…

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Had a nice beach walk with the dog today. Felt good to get outside after a stressful few days.

Btw I’ve left behind my NaNoWriMo novel… for now.

Getting ready for a piano gig next week that will take most of my extra energy.

Short history of independent publishing

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An interesting and thorough account of the evolution of independent publishing and the current sponsorship-driven model.

Same same for the music biz:

“The ratio was something like 1:10,000. Meaning that for every one person you could convince to subscribe, donate, become a member, or support you on Patreon … you would need 10,000 visitors to make the same amount from advertising. Or to put that into perspective, with only 100 subscribers, I could make the same amount of money as I used to earn from having one million visitors.”

baekdal.com/newslette…

"Tourists are like bees"

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From an article on responsible real estate reporting in luxury travel destinations by Naka Nathaniel:

“Tourists are like bees: I don’t want a bunch of them circling around me, but I also don’t want them to disappear. It’s a delicate balance,” she wrote. “Tourists stick out and may not observe local norms, which can inspire petty grumblings and genuine anger from locals. But they’re a sign that the city is doing something right. Show me a city without tourists, and I’ll show you a city in decline.”

www.civilbeat.org/2023/11/n…

The source of Naka’s quote is “New York Is To Expensive to Even Visit”

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/arc…

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🎶 listening to Naya (Unmastered, LP 2021) by Dawuna

dawuna.bandcamp.com/album/nay…

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The tide was at swing level today. Rainy, sunny, a good dog walk.