[Falling Down]

Alastair McIntosh on XR and Spiritual Activism. https://theecologist.org/2019/jul/22/doom-and-dharma

[Falling Down]

A manifesto from Rupert Read (XR) for the Autumn https://medium.com/@rupertjread/truth-and-its-consequences-eb2faa5eb458

[Johnny Brown]

Repost from the Science thread cos FD might enjoy: Jonathan Raban, Second Nature - The de-landscaping of the American West

Not new but a good 'un.

[Falling Down]

I have a day off work to recover and rest from a therapy workshop.  That was perfect - thanks JB.

[Falling Down]

JR's latest essay . Thankfully largely (but not quite) free of "unnecessary" quote marks and exclamations !!'s.

[Steve R]

Anyone else enjoying Tim Urban's timely series of articles on humans, societies and politics?: The Story of Us
Thought the last chapter, 'Political Disney World' was brilliant. 

[Falling Down]

The London Review of Books archive is un-paywalled until Mid Jan - loads of amazing articles from over the years.

https://www.lrb.co.uk

[andy popp]

The London Review of Books archive is un-paywalled until Mid Jan - loads of amazing articles from over the years.

https://www.lrb.co.uk

Where to begin?

[largeruk]

This is a great story for anyone who's not familiar with it about Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious creator of Bitcoin - https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v38/n13/andrew-o-hagan/the-satoshi-affair.

Andrew O'Hagan's back catalogue is well worth a peruse (https://www.lrb.co.uk/search-results?search=andrew+o%27hagan) as is that of another regular contributor, John Lanchester (https://www.lrb.co.uk/search-results?search=john+lanchester).

[seankenny]

I really enjoyed this three parter on an obscure Soviet/post-Soviet intellectual...

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v37/n15/perry-anderson/one-exceptional-figure-stood-out

David Runciman, James Meek and Pankaj Mishra also worth checking out.

[Falling Down]

Will read that later Sean - thanks.

One of my fave tweets of the year (or last - whenever it was) was when the airport drone thing was going on and some bright spark posted “Looking forward to the 60,000 word Andrew O’Hagan on the Gatwick Drone in the LRB” 

[Falling Down]

A good one for Christmas.  Terry Eagleton’s absolutely savage takedown of Richard Dawkin’s “The God Delusion” https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v28/n20/terry-eagleton/lunging-flailing-mispunching.

Merry Christmas to you all 

[Fiend]

So far it seems to be a review of slackline!

[jwi]

https://www.economist.com/news/2020/01/28/trapped-in-iran

I was paying my bill at the hotel when they came. There were seven of them, stiff and formal in plain-clothes. “Mr Pelham?” asked the shortest one and presented me with a hand-written document in Farsi. “It’s been signed by a judge,” he said. “It entitles us to detain you for 48 hours.” He paused to allow the information to register on my face. “It might be less,” he added. “We just need you to answer a few questions.”

Over the course of several days the men spent most of their time glued to phone-screens, watching Bollywood films, or American or Chinese schlock full of street fights, which they accessed through virtual private networks to evade the censorship they were supposed to enforce. They ordered kebabs, pizzas and watermelon and never cleared up. Each morning, I would wash their plates, scrape the leftover watermelon rinds, pizza crusts and kebab gristle into the bin and make tea. I would sigh audibly, like a father despairing of his unruly kids. “Thank you,” they apologised.

With the exception, perhaps, of Tel Aviv, I had visited nowhere in the Middle East where people read as voraciously as Tehran. “The Handmaid’s Tale”, Margaret Atwood’s dystopian fable of women enslaved to a theocratic caste, is a particular favourite, the owner of one bookstore told me.

[jwi]

https://www.1843magazine.com/features/trapped-in-iran for those who've run into the 5-articles paywall

[jwi]

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/2020/02/the-problem-with-colin-obrady/

“The history of exploration is basically predicated on taking a man or woman’s word for what they did,” explains David Roberts, a dean of American adventure writers and one of the first from the adventure community to publicly criticize O’Brady’s claim. “But then people like this come along and by violating the code they make everybody subject to skepticism and doubt.”

[cowboyhat]

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/2020/02/the-problem-with-colin-obrady/

“The history of exploration is basically predicated on taking a man or woman’s word for what they did,” explains David Roberts, a dean of American adventure writers and one of the first from the adventure community to publicly criticize O’Brady’s claim. “But then people like this come along and by violating the code they make everybody subject to skepticism and doubt.”

As Danny Dyer might say, 'TWAT'

I good reminder why its ok to be a cynical cunt, I've never got this type of stuff.

[cowboyhat]

Food for thought

https://vittles.substack.com/p/the-hyper-regional-chippy-traditions

[Anti]

Food for thought

https://vittles.substack.com/p/the-hyper-regional-chippy-traditions

Wait, you don't do gravy/curry sauce much in London? Weirdly despite a lot of time there I've never been to a chippy so never knew this. Bonkers. What do you put on your chips?

[tomtom]

Food for thought

https://vittles.substack.com/p/the-hyper-regional-chippy-traditions

Wait, you don't do gravy/curry sauce much in London? Weirdly despite a lot of time there I've never been to a chippy so never knew this. Bonkers. What do you put on your chips?

Zhoug, and quinoa sprinkles. Ensuring first your cod was caught by fair trade affiliated Inuit Hunter gatherers wearing vegan sealskin clothing.

Or a pickled egg.

[Johnny Brown]

Disappointing lack of babby's yed floating, pey wet etc.

[cheque]

God I’m hungry now.

I thought I was going to get all the way to the end without mention of the “Parmo” that my mate from Middlesbrough talks about but it did get a mention in the last paragraph. 

[seankenny]

Food for thought

https://vittles.substack.com/p/the-hyper-regional-chippy-traditions

Wait, you don't do gravy/curry sauce much in London? Weirdly despite a lot of time there I've never been to a chippy so never knew this. Bonkers. What do you put on your chips?

Fifteen years living here and I’ve been to a chippy a handful of times, and have found only one worth eating from. There are more Japanese restaurants within a half-hour walk of my house than there are fish and chip shops in the entire northern seaside town I originally hail from.

[Falling Down]

Thankfully we’ve got two really good chippies near us.  Mr Fish in QP and Micky’s on Goldborne Rd.  Neither have Quinoa or avocado on anything. Just standard, proper chippy fare.  W is a big fan which is great. Sean, I’ll treat you one day. 

[tomtom]

How much Ben? Regular cod and chips?

The place up the road from us in Didsbury is £7:40 (😱) and around the corner from my house is £4.55 (£2.75 mon - weds)

Anyone else? I’m always interested in the geographical spread of cost of things like this!