{ "version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1", "title": "Short posts on jabel", "icon": "https://avatars.micro.blog/avatars/2021/97100.jpg", "home_page_url": "https://jabel.blog/", "feed_url": "https://jabel.blog/feed.json", "items": [ { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/06/11/me-anytime-i-have-a.html", "content_html": "

Me, anytime I have a cold brew coffee. Rachel has listened to an unusually large amount of talk from me this morning.

\n\"\"\n", "date_published": "2026-06-11T09:07:50-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/06/11/me-anytime-i-have-a.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/05/15/the-rich-and-powerful-used.html", "content_html": "

The rich and powerful used to pose with a hand inside their waistcoat, like Napoleon. Now they pose with thumbs up, like Trump.

\n", "date_published": "2026-05-15T06:22:22-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/05/15/the-rich-and-powerful-used.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/05/11/pete-at-just-a-few.html", "content_html": "

Pete at Just a Few Acres Farm is signing off YouTube. I’m genuinely sad to see him go. Also, unsurprised: being a human being and not an influencer, he’s struggled with the perversities of the platform for years. I’m thankful for the hours of pleasure he’s given us. I’ll keep watching re-runs.

\n", "date_published": "2026-05-11T10:14:39-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/05/11/pete-at-just-a-few.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/05/06/a-company-man-for-usa.html", "content_html": "

“A company man for USA, Inc.” I had an old draft that ended with that line but apparently I deleted it a couple of nights ago. Oh well! Feel free to use it for a folk protest song.

\n", "date_published": "2026-05-06T08:22:43-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/05/06/a-company-man-for-usa.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/05/02/pimento-cheese.html", "title": "Pimento cheese", "content_html": "

Made pimento cheese for a gathering of friends tonight. I’ve always loved pimento cheese but this is the first time making it. So simple.

\n\n

Mix together and chill for at least 30 minutes. Eat with Ritz crackers. Or with bread. Or by the spoonful. I ain’t your boss.

\n", "date_published": "2026-05-02T13:30:07-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/05/02/pimento-cheese.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/04/30/wonderful-episode-of-the-emerald.html", "content_html": "

Wonderful episode of The Emerald: “Carry That Weight: On Mythic Burdens and Cosmic Supports.” If you’re feeling the weight of the world—and you’re open to an animist view of the world—I cannot recommend it highly enough.

\n", "date_published": "2026-04-30T19:21:23-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/04/30/wonderful-episode-of-the-emerald.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/04/28/great-segment-from-john-oliver.html", "content_html": "

Great segment from John Oliver on the continuing dangers of AI around mental health, suicide risk, and plain old delusion–and the absolutely sociopathic responses of the AI CEOs.

\n", "date_published": "2026-04-28T08:26:39-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/04/28/great-segment-from-john-oliver.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/04/27/a-really-interested-tidbit-from.html", "content_html": "

A really interested tidbit from Joel Salatin about how North America before the Europeans actually produced more food than it does today, even with the various chemicals.

\n", "date_published": "2026-04-27T13:36:53-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/04/27/a-really-interested-tidbit-from.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/04/23/its-clean-sweep-week-here.html", "content_html": "

It’s clean sweep week here in town—the time of year when the city will, free of charge, pick up anything you put on the curb. Rachel said she’s already seen a couple of pickup trucks roaming the neighborhood trying to beat the city to some treasures. That will absolutely be me someday.

\n", "date_published": "2026-04-23T16:00:44-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/04/23/its-clean-sweep-week-here.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/04/20/excellent-quote-on-todds-blog.html", "content_html": "

Excellent quote on Todd’s blog on how the rich (and genAI users!) are harmed by lack of pushback.

\n", "date_published": "2026-04-20T10:27:15-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/04/20/excellent-quote-on-todds-blog.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/04/20/robin-sloans-magic-postcards-are.html", "content_html": "

Robin Sloan’s magic postcards are cool. I’ve always thought QR codes are a great technology for the interface of physical and digital. Once I homebrewed a beer and attached a label with a QR code linking to this hidden page on my site and gave them to friends. Turns out no one noticed!

\n", "date_published": "2026-04-20T09:19:47-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/04/20/robin-sloans-magic-postcards-are.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/04/20/economic-theory-tells-us-the.html", "content_html": "

Economic theory tells us the stock market is a future earnings prediction machine. But have you ever seen anything more wildly distractable as the stock market? If it was actually pricing the future, it would not flail about with every bit of breaking news.

\n", "date_published": "2026-04-20T08:59:34-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/04/20/economic-theory-tells-us-the.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/04/13/nate-hagens-has-put-out.html", "content_html": "

Nate Hagens has put out an excellent three video series on the role oil plays in our modern world system, and how this might play out into the future. 1 | 2 | 3

\n

Rachel and I aren’t preppers but at this point it’s looking like good sense to stock up on some staples.

\n", "date_published": "2026-04-13T13:05:27-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/04/13/nate-hagens-has-put-out.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/04/09/you-know-drinking-straight-milk.html", "content_html": "

You know, drinking straight milk kefir isn’t bad. As an adult I’ve never been a milk drinker (though I’ve been called one in Skyrim) because I don’t care for the aftertaste. Milk kefir just tastes like a drinkable, tangy yogurt.

\n", "date_published": "2026-04-09T10:56:56-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/04/09/you-know-drinking-straight-milk.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/04/02/ive-put-nasas-artemis-blog.html", "content_html": "

I’ve put NASA’s Artemis blog into Inkwell so I can keep up with the mission. I didn’t think I would pay much attention but I felt my heart strangely warmed watching the launch last night.

\n", "date_published": "2026-04-02T08:21:27-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/04/02/ive-put-nasas-artemis-blog.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/03/30/cnbc-over-a-decade-ago.html", "content_html": "

CNBC:

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\n

Over a decade ago, Meta – then known as Facebook – hired social science researchers to analyze how the social network’s services were affecting users. It was a way for the company and its peers to show they were serious about understanding the benefits and potential risks of their innovations.

\n

But as Meta’s court losses this week illustrate, the researchers’ work can become a liability. Brian Boland, a former Facebook executive who testified in both trials — one in New Mexico and the other in Los Angeles — says the damning findings from Meta’s internal research and documents seemed to contradict the way the company portrayed itself publicly. Juries in the two trials determined that Meta inadequately policed its site, putting kids in harm’s way.

\n

… With AI now getting outsized attention for the harmful effects it’s having on some users, those companies must ask if it’s in their best interest to continue funding research or to suppress it.

\n
\n

Ignoring the possible social effects of your world-changing technology is literally sociopathic.

\n", "date_published": "2026-03-30T09:05:52-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/03/30/cnbc-over-a-decade-ago.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/03/28/a-simple-breakfast-kefir-bowl.html", "content_html": "

A simple breakfast kefir bowl:

\n\n

Stir together and refrigerate overnight. The next morning, let sit for a few minutes to take the chill off; heating would negate the benefits of the kefir. Stir in your favorite toppings: seeds, nuts, fresh/dried fruit, sweetener.

\n", "date_published": "2026-03-28T07:52:02-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/03/28/a-simple-breakfast-kefir-bowl.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/03/27/to-do-this-weekend-make.html", "content_html": "

To do this weekend:

\n\n", "date_published": "2026-03-27T10:34:23-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/03/27/to-do-this-weekend-make.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/03/26/im-trying-to-remember-a.html", "content_html": "

I’m trying to remember a few lines of some piece of Christian devotional writing that has a structure like “[some bad or difficult thing exists] therefore we are saved by [Christian virtue].” I feel like one line ends “therefore we are saved by hope.” It’s driving me crazy. Halp!

\n", "date_published": "2026-03-26T08:45:43-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/03/26/im-trying-to-remember-a.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/03/26/the-future-is-invisible-we.html", "content_html": "

The future is invisible; we will find our way along the way.

\n", "date_published": "2026-03-26T05:53:43-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/03/26/the-future-is-invisible-we.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/03/22/file-this-under-i-want.html", "content_html": "

File this under “I want to believe”: How AI Slop will Spark the Next Human Renaissance (YouTube video). He references another person’s video (also worth watching) that predicts this renaissance will happen in the 2030s. But this will be counter-productive if human-made becomes a “luxury good.”

\n", "date_published": "2026-03-22T16:31:38-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/03/22/file-this-under-i-want.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/03/19/memory-verses-for-localists-and.html", "content_html": "

Memory verses for localists: “And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; that ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.” (1 Thess 4:11-12)

\n", "date_published": "2026-03-19T06:40:12-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/03/19/memory-verses-for-localists-and.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/03/16/ive-had-generals-cedar-pointe.html", "content_html": "

I’ve had General’s Cedar Pointe pencils on hand at home for years now, but today I’ve started using them at work, mostly so I can use them more regularly. No idea where I first heard about them. I like the texture, the black eraser, and–above all–the scent.

\n", "date_published": "2026-03-16T10:36:03-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/03/16/ive-had-generals-cedar-pointe.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/03/13/who-else-imagines-peter-thiel.html", "content_html": "

Who else imagines Peter Thiel corrupting the normally ethically-bound Claude AI into a Pentagon murder machine, like Morgoth torturing elves into orcs?

\n", "date_published": "2026-03-13T08:53:39-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/03/13/who-else-imagines-peter-thiel.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/03/10/these-ginger-bran-muffins-from.html", "content_html": "

These ginger bran muffins from the Old Farmer’s Almanac are good. You could even crank up the ginger a bit if you love it like I do. It’s gotten me thinking about making my own crystallized ginger.

\n", "date_published": "2026-03-10T21:11:19-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/03/10/these-ginger-bran-muffins-from.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/03/08/principles-of-the-prohuman-ai.html", "content_html": "

Principles of “The Pro-Human AI Declaration”, signed by a wide range of people and organizations:

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  1. Keeping Humans in Charge
    2. \n
  2. Avoiding Concentration of Power
    3. \n
  3. Protecting the Human Experience
    4. \n
  4. Human Agency and Liberty
    5. \n
  5. Responsibility and Accountability for AI Companies
    6. \n
\n", "date_published": "2026-03-08T07:42:47-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/03/08/principles-of-the-prohuman-ai.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/03/07/theres-a-lot-to-like.html", "content_html": "

There’s a lot to like about this post: honesty about what life is like out here in the hinterlands, a recognition of the effect of geography on people, a broad-mindedness that seeks understanding between flyover country and the coastal elites. A unique (in my experience) argument worth considering.

\n", "date_published": "2026-03-07T19:40:00-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/03/07/theres-a-lot-to-like.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/03/06/there-was-a-robin-singing.html", "content_html": "

There was a robin singing his heart out at 3am today. I guess he’s excited about a break in the rain too!

\n", "date_published": "2026-03-06T07:32:41-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/03/06/there-was-a-robin-singing.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/03/04/if-youre-looking-for-americanmade.html", "content_html": "

If you’re looking for American-made jeans, I’m happy with a pair from Dearborn Denim. I buy secondhand clothes where I can and then pay a bit more for items that are durable and/or repairable, e.g., jeans, boots. American made is a plus, since it’s generally better for workers and the environment.

\n", "date_published": "2026-03-04T13:28:15-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/03/04/if-youre-looking-for-americanmade.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/03/03/the-mortise-and-tenon-folks.html", "content_html": "

The Mortise and Tenon folks have signed onto Writers Against AI: “The Prompt is not the Craft.” They’ve also created a site in support of the effort. I found a couple new writers to follow via the Voices section of the site.

\n", "date_published": "2026-03-03T19:56:25-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/03/03/the-mortise-and-tenon-folks.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/02/26/in-negotiations-with-the-us.html", "content_html": "

In negotiations with the US military, Anthropic is attempting to limit the uses of its technology. Too late. Genies cannot be put back into bottles and yet these tech bros keep rubbing every damn lamp they can get their hands on.

\n", "date_published": "2026-02-26T11:16:48-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/02/26/in-negotiations-with-the-us.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/02/23/kingsnorth-writers-against-ai.html", "content_html": "

Kingsnorth: Writers against AI

\n\n\n", "date_published": "2026-02-23T10:30:31-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/02/23/kingsnorth-writers-against-ai.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/02/22/i-love-this-robert-s.html", "content_html": "

I love this Robert S. Duncanson painting “Landscape with Cows Watering in a Stream.” It caught my eye as the cover image for Radiance of the Ordinary.

\n\"Auto-generated\n", "date_published": "2026-02-22T10:02:25-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/02/22/i-love-this-robert-s.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/02/19/one-of-our-senators-is.html", "content_html": "

One of our senators is talking about a new national crisis: Americans being killed by illegal immigrant drivers. Dang straight! I’m surrounded by red-blooded American drivers who can do that job just fine, thank you very much.

\n", "date_published": "2026-02-19T14:41:43-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/02/19/one-of-our-senators-is.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/02/16/i-was-reminded-today-of.html", "content_html": "

I was reminded today of Alan Jacobs’ review of the final Harry Potter book. Calling the series “the greatest penny dreadful ever written” was just spot-on; I’ve thought of that several times over the years. It also reminds me that I’ve been reading Jacobs for something over twenty years!

\n", "date_published": "2026-02-16T17:19:42-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/02/16/i-was-reminded-today-of.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/02/14/remember-the-recent-article-about.html", "content_html": "

Remember the recent article about young men watching hours of porn per day? We all understand that is deeply disordered. But how different is it from those who bathe themselves in political anger? Both anger and sexual pleasure are good things when channeled appropriately; they are terrible masters.

\n", "date_published": "2026-02-14T16:16:46-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/02/14/remember-the-recent-article-about.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/02/11/this-second-issue-of-robin.html", "content_html": "

This second issue of Robin Sloan’s pop-up newsletter on AI offers a series of helpful metaphors around the limts of AI. Essentially, AI is blocked by the air gap between it and the real world. If your work is entirely within the digital “symbols in, symbols out” then your work is in trouble.

\n", "date_published": "2026-02-11T09:53:01-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/02/11/this-second-issue-of-robin.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/02/06/philip-k-dick-famously-said.html", "content_html": "

Philip K Dick famously said, “The symbols of the divine show up in our world initially at the trash stratum.” Equally true: nearly all of the good in the world is happening in small acts, at a local level. If you never attend to the small and local, you will think the world is worse than it is.

\n", "date_published": "2026-02-06T15:41:18-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/02/06/philip-k-dick-famously-said.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/02/01/a-question-for-christians-how.html", "content_html": "

A question for Christians: how would you square a belief in the inherent dignity of honest work with the idea that hard work was the curse of God on Adam? This isn’t a gotcha. I’m genuinely interested.

\n", "date_published": "2026-02-01T15:17:08-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/02/01/a-question-for-christians-how.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/02/01/i-love-this-series-of.html", "content_html": "

I love this series of three haying videos from Just a Few Acres Farm:

\n\n

There are a lot of reasons to love the series, but right now, on this cold day, it’s because I can almost feel that warm, bright sun as I watch them.

\n", "date_published": "2026-02-01T12:11:08-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/02/01/i-love-this-series-of.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/01/31/a-farm-winter-with-jerry.html", "content_html": "

“A Farm Winter, with Jerry Apps” What a wonderful storyteller! Well worth your time. I hadn’t heard of him before but turns out he’s a known Wisconsin treasure. His books can be found here.

\n", "date_published": "2026-01-31T07:37:30-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/01/31/a-farm-winter-with-jerry.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/01/28/despite-being-a-good-speller.html", "content_html": "

Despite being a good speller, I can never, never, never remember how to spell Cincinnati. Cincinatti. Ciinncciinnaattii. Sensenattea.

\n", "date_published": "2026-01-28T11:24:15-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/01/28/despite-being-a-good-speller.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/01/28/they-should-have-kept-the.html", "title": "They should have kept the name", "content_html": "

According to Steven Nolt in A History of the Amish, the split between the tradition-minded Old Order Amish and the change-minded Amish Mennonites happened around 1865, though gradually and not due to any single event. Among the Amish Mennonites there was a bishop named Henry Egly who had a powerful conversion experience during an illness in the 1840s. Whether the influence of American evangelicalism and revivalism on him came before or after this experience is not clear from the text. In any case, he came to insist that this sort of emotional experience was necessary for salvation, which brought him into conflict with his Amish Mennonite fellows. He refused to baptize people who did not have such an experience. He even refused to discipline one member, insisting that since she had never had a conversion experience, she wasn’t a member anyway.

\n

About half of his church eventually left with him and came to be known as Egly Amish. I wondered what became of them so I looked them up online. Turns out, they’ve changed names over the years:

\n\n

At this point they have 46 churches, over half of which are in Illinois and Indiana. But the point of this whole post is I wanted to tell you that there was a group at one point in history that had the extremely cool name of Defenseless Mennonites.

\n", "date_published": "2026-01-28T06:04:40-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/01/28/they-should-have-kept-the.html", "tags": ["Short posts","Amish and other Anabaptists"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/01/26/matt-stansberry-asks-what-does.html", "content_html": "

Matt Stansberry asks, “What does success look like in this situation?” For me, one measure will be that I do not close my heart to the suffering around me in a vain attempt at self-preservation. I will neither bathe myself in it, nor turn away from it. I will keep pursuing the hard path of love.

\n", "date_published": "2026-01-26T10:42:56-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/01/26/matt-stansberry-asks-what-does.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/01/24/one-of-the-southern-indiana.html", "content_html": "

One of the southern Indiana electric companies asked people to conserve energy over the next couple of days to prevent outages. The comments are full of people telling them to turn off the data centers and I love it.

\n", "date_published": "2026-01-24T20:24:20-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/01/24/one-of-the-southern-indiana.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/01/21/grown-in-the-hoosier-hill.html", "title": "Grown in the Hoosier hill country", "content_html": "

There’s a turn of phrase in Colter Wall’s “1800 Miles”: “we don’t got these kinds of cliques where I was grown.”

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We don’t normally talk about humans being “grown.” Maybe we should? Tell me about your terroir.

\n
\n

Because I have never separated myself from my home neighborhood, I cannot identify myself to myself apart from it. I am fairly literally flesh of its flesh. It is present in me, and to me, wherever I go.

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\n

(Who else?)

\n", "date_published": "2026-01-21T19:25:38-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/01/21/grown-in-the-hoosier-hill.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/01/16/i-deleted-a-quick-frivolous.html", "content_html": "

I deleted a quick, frivolous post this morning when I realized why it bugged me after posting it: it was another example of the tedious irony that is the lingua franca of social media. Like “gotcha” political argumentation, it’s laziness that mistakes itself for cleverness.

\n", "date_published": "2026-01-16T10:41:36-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/01/16/i-deleted-a-quick-frivolous.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/01/13/after-readerjohn-linked-this-excellent.html", "content_html": "

After @ReaderJohn linked this excellent piece by Teddy Macker, I went in search for more. This on Walt Whitman and the problem of American politics is challenging and hopeful. Maybe impossible. As Fox Mulder would say, I want to believe.

\n", "date_published": "2026-01-13T13:04:02-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/01/13/after-readerjohn-linked-this-excellent.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/01/10/this-is-cool-a-device.html", "content_html": "

This is cool: a device for stirring natural nut butters.

\n", "date_published": "2026-01-10T09:52:13-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/01/10/this-is-cool-a-device.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/01/08/donny-quotes-william-e-pannell.html", "content_html": "

Donny quotes William E. Pannell discussing his crisis of conscience after the 1963 Birmingham church bombing. It strikes me that now such young deaths are common—barely newsworthy, and certainly don’t cause any crises of conscience. Doing nothing after Sandy Hook was a turning point for us.

\n", "date_published": "2026-01-08T19:25:27-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/01/08/donny-quotes-william-e-pannell.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/12/30/opening-line-of-a-book.html", "content_html": "

Opening line of a 2015 book: “It is becoming undeniably clear that Western civilization has entered a post-Christian age.” That didn’t age well. There seems to be a revival in America of both (on a large scale) nationalistic pseudo-Christianity and (on a smaller scale) more serious, engaged Christianity.

\n", "date_published": "2025-12-30T08:43:45-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/12/30/opening-line-of-a-book.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/12/27/christopher-schwarz-making-his-woodworking.html", "content_html": "

Christopher Schwarz making his woodworking books freely downloadable really is an extraordinary thing.

\n", "date_published": "2025-12-27T07:28:15-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/12/27/christopher-schwarz-making-his-woodworking.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/12/23/electric-vehicle-demand-is-collapsing.html", "content_html": "

Electric vehicle demand is collapsing with the expiration of the tax credit.. While EVs were never going to be the silver bullet, it is remarkable how–its appears to me–that the mainstream conversation around climate change has evaporated. Or maybe I’m just missing it.

\n", "date_published": "2025-12-23T10:22:49-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/12/23/electric-vehicle-demand-is-collapsing.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/12/23/going-to-be-an-usually.html", "content_html": "

Going to be an usually wet and warm Christmas week. Should be pretty quiet here at work–a good time to catch up on some documentation and clarify plans for upcoming work.

\n", "date_published": "2025-12-23T08:31:48-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/12/23/going-to-be-an-usually.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/12/18/everything-is-so-charged-now.html", "content_html": "

Everything is so charged now that CPE classes for CPAs are now prefaced with a reminder that while policy will be discussed, politics (and, weirdly, even religion!) should be left out of any discussions.

\n", "date_published": "2025-12-18T08:37:41-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/12/18/everything-is-so-charged-now.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/12/05/chatgpt-has-a-tv-ad.html", "content_html": "

ChatGPT has a TV ad showing a young farmer, working her multi-generational family farm, asking ChatGPT what’s wrong with her soybeans. But … but … sigh … never mind.

\n", "date_published": "2025-12-05T07:37:35-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/12/05/chatgpt-has-a-tv-ad.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/12/02/a-good-article-about-the.html", "content_html": "

A good article about the current penny shortage. It’s unsurprising, I suppose, that this administration simply stopped minting pennies without providing any guidance on how the shift should be handled.

\n", "date_published": "2025-12-02T16:36:59-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/12/02/a-good-article-about-the.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/11/30/this-indian-pudding-cornmeal-custard.html", "content_html": "

This Indian pudding (cornmeal custard) is really good! Some historical background in this video.

\n", "date_published": "2025-11-30T17:27:08-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/11/30/this-indian-pudding-cornmeal-custard.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/11/21/this-video-series-on-suzanne.html", "content_html": "

This video series on Suzanne Lupien just keeps on giving. The latest episode is about her half-century of spoon carving.

\n", "date_published": "2025-11-21T07:11:19-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/11/21/this-video-series-on-suzanne.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/11/19/reminding-myself-after-failure-having.html", "content_html": "

Reminding myself after failure: Having An Opinion is not your task. Your task is small, local, centered on your family. Your task is to live in right relationship, work faithfully, and do what good you can. Use fewer and fewer words, until they become unnecessary.

\n", "date_published": "2025-11-19T14:13:02-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/11/19/reminding-myself-after-failure-having.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/11/14/so-this-stuff-is-crazy.html", "content_html": "

So this stuff is crazy, obviously. But could it not be the case that we’re in a fad period and everyone will be slightly embarrassed by it in a few years? Don’t people mostly return to a sane baseline? That’s not to say it won’t cause real destruction, but does it seem likely to redefine humanity?

\n", "date_published": "2025-11-14T15:46:55-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/11/14/so-this-stuff-is-crazy.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/11/12/as-your-accountant-i-dont.html", "content_html": "

As your accountant, I don’t recommend a fifty-year mortgage.

\n", "date_published": "2025-11-12T16:26:57-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/11/12/as-your-accountant-i-dont.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/11/09/dumbing-down-my-iphone.html", "title": "Dumbing down my iPhone", "content_html": "

There are a few signs that my iPhone is nearing the end of its life, so I’ve been thinking about the Light Phone lately. Today I was discussing it with Rachel and she suggested turning my iPhone into something like a Light Phone to see how it goes. I took her advice.

\n

Turns out, I didn’t end up with exactly a Light Phone equivalent, but it is drastically different than it was. No email, no YouTube, no browser, no micro.blog app. I did keep: Bandcamp, podcast app, craft, library apps for reading, and a variety of utilities that are actually helpful day-to-day but aren’t time wasters (reminders, Venmo, Walgreens).

\n

The “time waster” apps are now only available to me on my iPad—and therefore slightly less accessible than a smartphone. My phone is now theoretically more a useful tool than an entertainment device. We’ll see how that works out this week.

\n", "date_published": "2025-11-09T20:05:42-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/11/09/dumbing-down-my-iphone.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/11/08/my-worldview-is-more-aesthetic.html", "content_html": "

My worldview is more aesthetic than rational—and I’m fine with that, since no one is looking to me for answers about anything.

\n", "date_published": "2025-11-08T15:26:30-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/11/08/my-worldview-is-more-aesthetic.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/11/08/adam-kotsko-that-time-i.html", "content_html": "

Adam Kotsko: “That time I unexpectedly stopped ruining my own life” I’ve found Kotsko’s writing helpful for many years now—but I was never a fan of his relentless sarcasm. I’m glad he’s getting over that. It’s depressing how many good, intelligent folks are ruining their lives with social media.

\n", "date_published": "2025-11-08T13:15:29-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/11/08/adam-kotsko-that-time-i.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/11/07/reading-this-by-alan-jacobs.html", "content_html": "

Reading this by Alan Jacobs brought back to mind a question that occurred to me as I was reading Kingsnorth: why haven’t we seen something like the Timber Wars or Luddite machine breaking over data centers? I’m sure the answer is complicated. I wonder if leftists aren’t as worried about Big Tech?

\n", "date_published": "2025-11-07T13:42:48-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/11/07/reading-this-by-alan-jacobs.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/11/07/james-bridle-points-out-that.html", "content_html": "

James Bridle points out that solar panels are getting cheap enough that they’re being used as fencing in places. I still worry about Michael Moore’s argument that renewable energy is just as resource intensive as fossil fuel energy. It will be interesting to see where this goes.

\n", "date_published": "2025-11-07T08:11:24-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/11/07/james-bridle-points-out-that.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/10/23/universally-beloved-iu-football-coach.html", "content_html": "

Universally beloved IU football coach Curt Cignetti just signed a massive new contract, one clause of which stipulates that if universally hated IU president Pamela Whitten is not in her job, Cignetti’s buyout is cut in half. Keeping her job by holding the football team hostage. Classy.

\n", "date_published": "2025-10-23T17:27:01-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/10/23/universally-beloved-iu-football-coach.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/10/10/thich-nhat-hanhs-teaching-on.html", "content_html": "

Thich Nhat Hanh’s teaching on helping hungry ghosts is very good. Finding a way to compassion for your parents when the relationship has not always been good truly is as important as he says.

\n", "date_published": "2025-10-10T05:01:36-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/10/10/thich-nhat-hanhs-teaching-on.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/10/03/the-confidence-with-which-people.html", "content_html": "

The confidence with which people tell others what to do, think, etc., just astonishes me. I had that sort of reckless confidence up until my mid-twenties. What happened (or maybe didn’t happen) to these other folks?

\n", "date_published": "2025-10-03T11:02:09-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/10/03/the-confidence-with-which-people.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/10/02/webinar-speaker-all-i-can.html", "content_html": "

Webinar speaker: “All I can say is stablecoins are here to stay.” Ah, the argument from inevitability, the last refuge of all technologists. But we know that all this is the result of the choices of those with power. If they cared about something more than money, all of this could end tomorrow.

\n", "date_published": "2025-10-02T11:50:38-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/10/02/webinar-speaker-all-i-can.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/10/02/gonna-give-kagi-news-a.html", "content_html": "

Gonna give Kagi News a try for a while. I like that it’s updated only once a day, and you can choose which categories of news you get. Comes from a variety of sources. The format is also cool: you can just read the story summary, or you can read further with all of the sources and background.

\n", "date_published": "2025-10-02T07:10:11-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/10/02/gonna-give-kagi-news-a.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/09/27/nietzsche-argued-that-christianity-is.html", "content_html": "

Nietzsche argued that Christianity is a slave morality—an argument best exemplified by Chik-Fil-A. 😄

\n", "date_published": "2025-09-27T11:40:54-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/09/27/nietzsche-argued-that-christianity-is.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/09/27/remember-the-video-i-shared.html", "content_html": "

Remember the video I shared about Suzanne Lupien a few days ago? Well, there’s also one about her bread baking that is even more beautiful.

\n", "date_published": "2025-09-27T06:19:17-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/09/27/remember-the-video-i-shared.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/09/26/im-proud-to-be-an.html", "content_html": "

🎵 I’m proud to be an American / where I know there’ll be a fee 🎵

\n", "date_published": "2025-09-26T10:42:33-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/09/26/im-proud-to-be-an.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/09/22/beautiful-video-suzanne-lupien-a.html", "content_html": "

Beautiful video: “Suzanne Lupien, a solo 70-year-old homesteader, uses draft horses, compost, and traditional tools to grow food for 20 families.”

\n", "date_published": "2025-09-22T06:52:40-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/09/22/beautiful-video-suzanne-lupien-a.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/09/09/listening-to-the-first-episode.html", "content_html": "

Listening to the first episode of the Newkirks’ series on mediumship. Turns out there is an active Spiritualist camp in Indiana with a very colorful history. I know the destination of my next road trip!

\n", "date_published": "2025-09-09T13:15:02-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/09/09/listening-to-the-first-episode.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/08/29/quoting-myself-from-two-years.html", "content_html": "

Quoting myself from two years ago:

\n
\n

Two ecosystem services provided by humans: gratitude and awareness.

\n
\n", "date_published": "2025-08-29T20:08:09-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/08/29/quoting-myself-from-two-years.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/08/28/good-article-on-the-fake.html", "content_html": "

Good article on the fake personality of chatbots—in part because of lack of persistence through time. (Via @ayjay) As I’ve been using Claude more, I’m finding that it’s best at amplifying my own ideas and spinning them in new directions, not generating anything new or even factual.

\n", "date_published": "2025-08-28T09:06:56-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/08/28/good-article-on-the-fake.html", "tags": ["Short posts","Music"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/07/28/good-episode-of-the-emerald.html", "content_html": "

Good episode of The Emerald podcast: “Reimagining our Ancestors.

\n", "date_published": "2025-07-28T10:43:07-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/07/28/good-episode-of-the-emerald.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/07/27/adam-kotsko-on-how-the.html", "content_html": "

Adam Kotsko on how the post-literate AI world will kill God

\n", "date_published": "2025-07-27T14:09:55-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/07/27/adam-kotsko-on-how-the.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/07/23/well-see-how-committed-to.html", "content_html": "

We’ll see how committed to the truth the Democrats are when Bill Clinton gets implicated in the Epstein affair.

\n", "date_published": "2025-07-23T16:02:47-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/07/23/well-see-how-committed-to.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/07/22/really-good-essay-from-jaheppler.html", "content_html": "

Really good essay from @jaheppler on 19th century Americans bringing bison near to extinction.

\n", "date_published": "2025-07-22T07:33:26-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/07/22/really-good-essay-from-jaheppler.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/07/19/john-michael-greer-is-never.html", "content_html": "

John Michael Greer is never boring. In this interview, the (eventual) focus is on Trump and American politics. It’s good to hear a political commentator that takes seriously the idea of time as a cycle rather than a straight line. That idea opens up new possibilities, and maybe tames some anxieties.

\n", "date_published": "2025-07-19T08:06:44-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/07/19/john-michael-greer-is-never.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/07/17/the-prime-directive-of-localism.html", "content_html": "

The prime directive of localism as a political and religious commitment is the tending and feeding of one’s own home and the life in which it is situated.

\n", "date_published": "2025-07-17T06:50:50-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/07/17/the-prime-directive-of-localism.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/07/11/the-free-version-of-the.html", "content_html": "

The free version of The Morning Dispatch gives me about all of the news I want in a day. I hardly ever click the links because I’d hit a paywall anyway. But their summaries make me aware of what’s going on, and I can follow up if something piques my interest.

\n", "date_published": "2025-07-11T08:13:04-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/07/11/the-free-version-of-the.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/07/01/this-is-a-love-letter.html", "content_html": "

“This is a love letter to generous neighbor Corn.”

\n", "date_published": "2025-07-01T08:14:38-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/07/01/this-is-a-love-letter.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/06/29/talking-head-says-apocalyptic-beliefs.html", "content_html": "

Talking head says “apocalyptic beliefs based on biblical prophecy should have no bearing on Middle East policy” and, well, sure, okay, but everyone has an apocalyptic belief nowadays. This is the problem with the supposed “view from nowhere”: it can’t see the nose in front of its face.

\n", "date_published": "2025-06-29T13:38:21-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/06/29/talking-head-says-apocalyptic-beliefs.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/06/28/a-post-of-mine-from.html", "content_html": "

A post of mine from three years ago today: “Life within limits”

\n", "date_published": "2025-06-28T12:33:23-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/06/28/a-post-of-mine-from.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/06/28/the-penny-dropped-for-me.html", "content_html": "

The penny dropped for me this morning: Indiana removed some wetlands protections a year or so ago. Then I read recently that a huge Amazon data center in northern Indiana is trying to concrete over a wetland on their 1200 acres. Convenient, huh?

\n", "date_published": "2025-06-28T09:14:53-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/06/28/the-penny-dropped-for-me.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/06/25/excellent-post-by-brian-miller.html", "content_html": "

Excellent post by Brian Miller on lessons from his father. I truly, truly wish for more men like this today.

\n", "date_published": "2025-06-25T12:14:36-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/06/25/excellent-post-by-brian-miller.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/06/20/the-real-heroes-of-our.html", "content_html": "

The real heroes of our time will not be any culture warriors, either left or right–and certainly not any keyboard warriors. The real heroes will be those who can keep their hearts free of hate, anger, and fanaticism.

\n", "date_published": "2025-06-20T08:26:59-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/06/20/the-real-heroes-of-our.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/06/20/this-is-a-good-video.html", "content_html": "

This is a good video exploring the geography of Indiana and why it is the smallest of the Great Lakes states. Repeated mispronunciations of place names and even shudder “Hoosier” make me wonder if it’s a AI generated essay instead of one based on individual study. Seriously, mispronouncing Hoosier?

\n", "date_published": "2025-06-20T07:36:49-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/06/20/this-is-a-good-video.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/06/07/in-a-few-years-when.html", "content_html": "

In a few years, when fully automated, unfailingly polite AI customer service is installed, we’ll miss the Soup Nazis of the world.

\n", "date_published": "2025-06-07T10:49:03-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/06/07/in-a-few-years-when.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/05/30/outside-of-work-i-try.html", "content_html": "

Outside of work, I try to live according to what I’ve learned from Wendell Berry and Ivan Illich. My preference is for the proven and slow. At work, though, the train is headed straight for me. AI tools are coming this year and I’m already experimenting. Continuing to live the contradiction.

\n", "date_published": "2025-05-30T08:41:55-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/05/30/outside-of-work-i-try.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/05/28/recommended-radical-neighboring-sand-river.html", "content_html": "

Recommended: “Radical Neighboring”

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\n

Sand River Community Farm is an experiment in gift economy and community building. Ever since farmer Adam Wilson was offered $500K from a community member to take this piece of land off the market, the food from this place has been offered as a gift to the neighbours and strangers who find their way here. Welcome to the farm where nothing is for sale.

\n
\n", "date_published": "2025-05-28T18:02:48-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/05/28/recommended-radical-neighboring-sand-river.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/05/23/rune-hjarn-rasmussen-has-a.html", "content_html": "

Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen has a new video following up on his earlier video on Trump as trickster. Relatedly, check out the episode of The Emerald on the trickster which I linked here.

\n", "date_published": "2025-05-23T10:32:21-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/05/23/rune-hjarn-rasmussen-has-a.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/05/20/the-free-world-realized-in.html", "content_html": "

The free world realized in the twentieth century that gulags couldn’t break the human spirit. So it invented traffic.

\n", "date_published": "2025-05-20T15:18:57-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/05/20/the-free-world-realized-in.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/05/18/take-kent-rollins-two-ingredient.html", "content_html": "

Take Kent Rollins’ two ingredient biscuit recipe, add a half cup of raisins and two teaspoon of cinnamon (maybe some powdered sugar icing if you’re into that) and you have cinnamon raisin biscuits better than Hardee’s had back in the day.

\n", "date_published": "2025-05-18T05:10:08-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/05/18/take-kent-rollins-two-ingredient.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/05/16/austin-kleon-the-computer-used.html", "content_html": "

Austin Kleon:

\n
\n

The computer used to mean the world to me. The computer was a portal to the world I wished to be in. Times change, and I no longer wish to be in contact with much of the world that’s in my computer.

\n
\n

I feel this. The internet of 1995 to 2010 changed my life. It opened up the world to me in wonderful ways. I loved blogging. And even though Twitter killed blogs, early Twitter was a lot of fun. I made some good online friends and we had fantastic conversations. And while everything has changed, I’m thankful for my great little circle here on micro.blog.

\n", "date_published": "2025-05-16T07:47:33-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/05/16/austin-kleon-the-computer-used.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/05/13/to-my-surprise-it-doesnt.html", "content_html": "

To my surprise, it doesn’t look like I’ve ever urged you to listen to John Lithgow’s reading of The Monkey’s Paw. Allow me to urge you now.

\n", "date_published": "2025-05-13T05:59:37-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/05/13/to-my-surprise-it-doesnt.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/05/12/long-live-the-weirdos.html", "content_html": "

Long live the weirdos.

\n", "date_published": "2025-05-12T07:18:09-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/05/12/long-live-the-weirdos.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/05/07/were-living-in-the-age.html", "content_html": "

We’re living in the age of Trickster—and The Emerald podcast has re-issued an episode on that subject that is worth your time. As discussed in the episode, when Trickster is not ritually recognized as a necessary renewing force, he shows up in more destructive ways. The repressed returns as symptom.

\n", "date_published": "2025-05-07T16:04:20-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/05/07/were-living-in-the-age.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/05/07/the-meditation-app-headspace-has.html", "content_html": "

The meditation app Headspace has added an AI therapist to help you process your emotions. And, again, we see promoters of these services saying they should be used “with care”–as it rolls right along. My employer provides a subscription to Headspace and it’s a cheap way not to cover therapy.

\n", "date_published": "2025-05-07T07:37:27-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/05/07/the-meditation-app-headspace-has.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/05/06/dismay-at-irrational-human-behavior.html", "content_html": "

Dismay at irrational human behavior is a mistake rooted in two false beliefs:

\n\n", "date_published": "2025-05-06T17:22:54-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/05/06/dismay-at-irrational-human-behavior.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/05/02/french-chicory-as-a-decaf.html", "title": "French chicory as a decaf coffee substitute", "content_html": "

I love coffee. I could easily be one of those people drinking pot after pot, but I limit myself to one or two (large) mugs per day. On the two-mug days, I can tell that it makes me a little buzzy; probably not good for me. I started buying decaf but heard that there may be health concerns with the chemical used in decaffeination.

\n

Recently I bought a bag of French chicory, which is often touted as a naturally caffeine free coffee alternative. The first time I tried it, I used the same proportions as coffee and found it a bit too strong. Today I reduced the chicory, added a touch of oatmilk and that worked well. I wouldn’t say it tastes like coffee but it definitely has coffee’s bracing bitterness. So I recommend it. On those days when I want a second mug of coffee, I plan to drink chicory.

\n\"Auto-generated\n", "date_published": "2025-05-02T08:56:20-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/05/02/french-chicory-as-a-decaf.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/04/29/a-footnote-in-the-book.html", "content_html": "

A footnote in the book I’m reading led me to The Myth of Disenchantment: Magic, Modernity, and the Birth of the Human Sciences, an academic work currently on sale in Kindle format for $3.99. I hate reading on Kindle but if the subject matter interests you, it’s hard to pass up that deal.

\n", "date_published": "2025-04-29T09:37:47-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/04/29/a-footnote-in-the-book.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/04/26/it-is-a-wellestablished-pattern.html", "content_html": "

It is a well-established pattern with advocates of new technology to answer all critiques with an acknowledgement of the need for careful implementation alongside an insistence on its inevitability. In every case, the implementation moves forward unchecked, because inevitability abolishes consent.

\n", "date_published": "2025-04-26T10:51:24-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/04/26/it-is-a-wellestablished-pattern.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/04/05/one-thing-i-learned-from.html", "content_html": "

One thing I learned from my fundamentalist upbringing, which has served me well: I have never expected or needed the world around me to live by my values.

\n", "date_published": "2025-04-05T09:01:29-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/04/05/one-thing-i-learned-from.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/04/04/erik-davis-has-a-worthwhile.html", "content_html": "

Erik Davis has a worthwhile piece on the supposed trend of a Silicon Valley Christianity. He calls it Christian transhumanism. When I read things like this, I feel that same discombobulation I felt when I first learned of The Church of the Papal Mainframe in Doctor Who.

\n", "date_published": "2025-04-04T15:15:02-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/04/04/erik-davis-has-a-worthwhile.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/04/04/in-the-course-of-a.html", "content_html": "

In the course of a tariff discussion with friends in a group text, I threw out this statement of political priorities and, on reflection, I do think it captures most of what I care about at the moment:

\n
\n

In any case, my preferred outcome is not on the table: managed degrowth of the economy; discrediting and banishing the American dream of increasing consumerism and reliance on personal debt; and breaking up Big Tech and fundamentally slowing and limiting technological advancement.

\n
\n", "date_published": "2025-04-04T12:47:04-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/04/04/in-the-course-of-a.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/03/30/we-have-some-severe-weather.html", "content_html": "

We have some severe weather headed our way so we’ve been watching Max Velocity live on YouTube. His coverage is so much better than traditional media. It’s strange, watching this shift to new media. And sometimes it really is an improvement.

\n", "date_published": "2025-03-30T14:50:24-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/03/30/we-have-some-severe-weather.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/03/29/i-used-kent-rollins-recipe.html", "content_html": "

I used Kent Rollins’ recipe for homemade tortillas and quesadillas. I’m sure a Mexican grandma would look on my tortillas with pity, but it turned out pretty good. 😄 (That emoji is for you, John.)

\n", "date_published": "2025-03-29T13:25:18-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/03/29/i-used-kent-rollins-recipe.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/03/26/post-from-two-years-ago.html", "content_html": "

Post from two years ago: The Tao makes no effort at all, yet there is nothing it doesn’t do

\n", "date_published": "2025-03-26T12:40:02-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/03/26/post-from-two-years-ago.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/03/22/we-were-trying-to-remember.html", "content_html": "

We were trying to remember Pete’s method for pork chops on the grill. Eventually I found the video. Bonus: his reminiscence of working with his grandfather, which puts a touch of melancholy in me.

\n", "date_published": "2025-03-22T08:08:20-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/03/22/we-were-trying-to-remember.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/03/20/business-idea-hardware-store-with.html", "content_html": "

Business idea: hardware store with a spot in the corner for pie and coffee. Black coffee only. We’ll stock little creamers and sugar packets for the weak willed. Smoking preferred.

\n", "date_published": "2025-03-20T14:21:50-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/03/20/business-idea-hardware-store-with.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/03/19/are-we-sure-theres-a.html", "content_html": "

Are we sure there’s a “masculinity crisis”? Or maybe the problem is that we’re looking to pop culture or internet influencers to understand what it means to be a good man? It doesn’t need to be hard. No need for a set of rules. What qualities do you admire in the good men you know? Be and do that.

\n", "date_published": "2025-03-19T18:23:58-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/03/19/are-we-sure-theres-a.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/03/17/spring-break-this-week-for.html", "content_html": "

Spring break this week for most folks at work, which means a slower pace. Fewer meetings. It’ll be a nice time to catch up on some neglected work.

\n", "date_published": "2025-03-17T07:27:50-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/03/17/spring-break-this-week-for.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/03/15/feeling-drawn-back-to-some.html", "content_html": "

Feeling drawn back to some OG anti-war journalism today. Subscribed to Chris Hedges’ substack and Democracy Now’s daily digest.

\n", "date_published": "2025-03-15T16:56:11-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/03/15/feeling-drawn-back-to-some.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/03/13/i-bought-an-accusharp-sharpener.html", "content_html": "

I bought an AccuSharp sharpener on the recommendation of Megan Fitzpatrick and it did a good job on my kitchen and pocket knives. An affordable, no-fuss solution for those cases.

\n", "date_published": "2025-03-13T09:06:09-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/03/13/i-bought-an-accusharp-sharpener.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/03/12/i-know-no-one-in.html", "content_html": "

I know no one in power gives a shit about the health of the planet, especially not the so-called experts traveling the globe to talk about it. But then you read something like this and it shocks even my bitter self.

\n", "date_published": "2025-03-12T09:58:01-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/03/12/i-know-no-one-in.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/03/04/someone-said-recentlyand-i-agreethat.html", "content_html": "

Someone said recently–and I agree–that the time for new projects, clearing the decks, etc., is the spring, not the new year. That makes far more sense with the rhythms of the world and the body. In winter, your body is working on survival, just getting through. Spring is the time for renewal.

\n", "date_published": "2025-03-04T09:07:42-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/03/04/someone-said-recentlyand-i-agreethat.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/03/03/im-making-my-way-through.html", "content_html": "

I’m making my way through some links Ted Goia provided on a possible new romanticism. This, however, I had to come back and recommend right away. I could quote several passages but instead I’ll just say you need to read the whole thing.

\n", "date_published": "2025-03-03T15:00:29-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/03/03/im-making-my-way-through.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/03/02/ive-prepped-cornmeal-mush-for.html", "content_html": "

I’ve prepped cornmeal mush for frying in the morning. I’m following Kent Rollins’ recent video. We’ll see how it goes!

\n", "date_published": "2025-03-02T18:56:34-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/03/02/ive-prepped-cornmeal-mush-for.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/02/27/fascinating-post-by-ted-goia.html", "content_html": "

Fascinating post by Ted Goia: The New Aesthetics of Slop. At the same time, perhaps it would be wise to balance it by recognizing the revitalization of handicrafts. Humans, bless them, will never fully give themselves over to vulgarity.

\n", "date_published": "2025-02-27T06:39:03-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/02/27/fascinating-post-by-ted-goia.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/02/11/take-it-from-someone-who.html", "content_html": "

Take it from someone who used to sell beard oil: you don’t need to buy beard oil. Making your own is easy and cheap. Fill a dropper bottle with a base oil and add five or so drops of scent oil. I use sesame seed oil as the base because I read somewhere it was a fairly green option.

\n", "date_published": "2025-02-11T12:57:26-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/02/11/take-it-from-someone-who.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/02/08/i-agree-with-this-guys.html", "content_html": "

I agree with this guy’s assessment of February. Via Austin Kleon.

\n", "date_published": "2025-02-08T08:35:21-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/02/08/i-agree-with-this-guys.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/02/06/good-post-from-manuel-moreale.html", "content_html": "

Good post from Manuel Moreale on the ways in which we label people. Individuals over identities, every time. Labels are only good for statistics and ideology–neither of which are good for anything.

\n", "date_published": "2025-02-06T15:35:01-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/02/06/good-post-from-manuel-moreale.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/02/06/im-finally-getting-a-little.html", "content_html": "

I’m (finally!) getting a little better at noticing the mundane causes of my mood. Today I feel extremely bitter and uncaring. Eventually, I realized that I also feel very tired, and then remembered that I went to sleep later than usual, and in a bad mood. A midday nap will fix a good deal of this.

\n", "date_published": "2025-02-06T11:01:30-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/02/06/im-finally-getting-a-little.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/01/28/a-border-collie-running-an.html", "content_html": "

A border collie running an agility course is a being happier than which none can be conceived.

\n", "date_published": "2025-01-28T15:41:40-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/01/28/a-border-collie-running-an.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/01/26/prayer-before-a-fire-stealing.html", "content_html": "

Prayer before a fire (stealing lines from both Gandalf and Gordon White):

\n

I am a servant of the secret fire,
\nThe fire of creation.
\nAll fires are the one fire,
\nAnd blessed be its flame.

\n", "date_published": "2025-01-26T19:08:50-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/01/26/prayer-before-a-fire-stealing.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/01/26/i-finally-read-that-kingsnorth.html", "content_html": "

I finally read that Kingsnorth essay “Against Christian Civilization” and, yeah, it’s a banger.

\n", "date_published": "2025-01-26T13:35:42-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/01/26/i-finally-read-that-kingsnorth.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/01/25/rebecca-solnit-very-effectively-satirizes.html", "content_html": "

Rebecca Solnit very effectively satirizes a prominent model of online activism.

\n", "date_published": "2025-01-25T09:20:35-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/01/25/rebecca-solnit-very-effectively-satirizes.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/01/24/wisdom-from-gabor-mat-on.html", "content_html": "

Wisdom from Gabor Maté on healthy anger, and how to process unhealthy rage.

\n", "date_published": "2025-01-24T19:11:54-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/01/24/wisdom-from-gabor-mat-on.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/01/22/omnipresent-ai-cameras-will-ensure.html", "content_html": "

“Omnipresent AI cameras will ensure good behavior, says Larry Ellison.” General Ludd, we need you now more than ever.

\n", "date_published": "2025-01-22T12:20:10-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/01/22/omnipresent-ai-cameras-will-ensure.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/01/16/it-feels-sometimes-that-critics.html", "content_html": "

It feels sometimes that critics of euthanasia laws–see the closing paragraphs here–expect everyone to die like Christ on the cross. Why should we force people to endure a death that can only be endured gracefully by saints and martyrs, but which is slow torture to regular mortals?

\n", "date_published": "2025-01-16T08:57:16-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/01/16/it-feels-sometimes-that-critics.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/01/15/ive-been-enjoying-the-axe.html", "content_html": "

I’ve been enjoying the Axe and Anvil blacksmithing YouTube channel, though he doesn’t seem to be active there anymore. I found out about him because he’s teaching an upcoming Mortise and Tenon course.

\n", "date_published": "2025-01-15T17:37:06-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/01/15/ive-been-enjoying-the-axe.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/01/15/what-is-it-you-plan.html", "content_html": "

“What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” Apparently, give too much attention to one of the people least deserving of such attention.

\n

Does anyone else feel like they–along with most Americans–are subject to some strange bewitchment? Is it some kind of New Thought glamor magic that compels so many of us to obsess over him? Is it some kind of magnetism generated by an uninhibited narcissism?

\n\"\"\n

What if we just didn’t? What if we just stopped clicking on news stories about him and trust that if something is important enough, it will find its way to our attention? What if we just nope out of voluntarily surrendering to a man so deeply desirous of having all eyes on him?

\n", "date_published": "2025-01-15T16:50:55-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/01/15/what-is-it-you-plan.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/01/14/video-about-the-meaning-of.html", "content_html": "

Video about the meaning of Gandalf’s speech to the Balrog. “Servant of the secret fire.” I’m putting that on my business card.

\n", "date_published": "2025-01-14T17:44:57-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/01/14/video-about-the-meaning-of.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/01/13/austin-kleon-mentioned-the-book.html", "content_html": "

Austin Kleon mentioned The Book of Building Fires in a recent newsletter and, of course, I’m interested. Good book so far. I finally got my order of dried guajillo peppers, which means it’s time to make beans again.

\n", "date_published": "2025-01-13T14:22:16-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/01/13/austin-kleon-mentioned-the-book.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/01/04/there-were-a-couple-of.html", "content_html": "

There were a couple of us in line to fill up our kerosene tanks in advance of tomorrow’s winter storm. Around here, it seems, only the smallest and dingiest stations have kerosene. The shiny, new ones never do. I wonder why that is?

\n", "date_published": "2025-01-04T14:30:56-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/01/04/there-were-a-couple-of.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/12/31/any-recommendations-for-reduction-in.html", "content_html": "

Any recommendations for reduction in blue light exposure? I wear prescription glasses but I think adding those flip down lenses to my existing glasses would look a bit goofy. I’ve switched my laptop and phone to night mode all the time. I will likely attach a filter to my laptop screen.

\n", "date_published": "2024-12-31T08:12:04-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/12/31/any-recommendations-for-reduction-in.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/12/30/ive-listened-to-two-episodes.html", "content_html": "

I’ve listened to two episodes of “The Telepathy Tapes” and my brain is melting. It’s a podcast series that explores the clear evidence of telepathic (and other remarkable) abilities of some non-speaking people with autism. It’s astonishing–and it pretty clearly breaks scientific materialism.

\n", "date_published": "2024-12-30T08:25:13-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/12/30/ive-listened-to-two-episodes.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/12/24/its-okay-if-you-dont.html", "content_html": "

It’s okay if you don’t like Christmas. Take this as your official permission. 😄 It’s the year’s most potent mix of guilt, obligation, and expectation. Simplify your way out of it wherever you can. And where you do find ways to simplify, utterly refuse the guilt that will try to undo your work.

\n", "date_published": "2024-12-24T10:32:43-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/12/24/its-okay-if-you-dont.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/12/21/rune-hjarn-rasmussens.html", "content_html": "

Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen’s speech on renewing relationship with fire, given before the Yule fire ceremony he’s been working to re-establish. This is the guy who inspired me to light today’s fire with flint and steel.

\n", "date_published": "2024-12-21T15:07:17-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/12/21/rune-hjarn-rasmussens.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/12/20/darcy-works-at.html", "content_html": "

Darcy works at Bath and Body Works and she reports that–five days before Christmas–there is an influx of men who clearly know nothing about their wives and are looking for the sales clerks to tell them what to buy for the women they have sworn to love and honor for the rest of their lives.

\n", "date_published": "2024-12-20T14:50:46-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/12/20/darcy-works-at.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/12/16/united-health-by.html", "content_html": "

United Health by Jesse Welles 🎵

\n", "date_published": "2024-12-16T20:31:23-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/12/16/united-health-by.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/12/14/openai-whistleblower-found.html", "content_html": "

OpenAI whistleblower found dead by “suicide”

\n", "date_published": "2024-12-14T08:31:28-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/12/14/openai-whistleblower-found.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/12/11/i-do-wonder.html", "content_html": "

I do wonder (especially after reading Dopamine Nation) if we are living in an age of widespread, low-key addiction. Do I think this because everyone tends to think their time is unique in some way—or are we really in the middle of a genuine crisis?

\n", "date_published": "2024-12-11T15:48:43-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/12/11/i-do-wonder.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/12/10/resist-the-enclosure.html", "content_html": "

“Resist the enclosure of the human psyche.”

\n", "date_published": "2024-12-10T08:22:22-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/12/10/resist-the-enclosure.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/12/07/there-are-many.html", "content_html": "

There are many powers in this world. Which ones am I feeding with my time, attention, money, energy?

\n", "date_published": "2024-12-07T11:33:48-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/12/07/there-are-many.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/12/05/cheap-mans-mocha.html", "content_html": "

Cheap man’s mocha: half a mug brewed coffee, half a mug milk (I used oatmilk), 1 tablespoon cocoa, 1 tablespoon sugar.

\n", "date_published": "2024-12-05T08:42:48-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/12/05/cheap-mans-mocha.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/11/27/jamie-dimon-says.html", "content_html": "

Jamie Dimon says AI will lead to shorter work weeks. We’ve heard this one before. Screw you, Jamie Dimon.

\n", "date_published": "2024-11-27T10:35:17-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/11/27/jamie-dimon-says.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/11/16/ferdinand-in.html", "content_html": "

Ferdinand, IN

\n\"\"\n", "date_published": "2024-11-16T16:48:46-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/11/16/ferdinand-in.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/11/14/claire-carlson-rural.html", "content_html": "

Claire Carlson, “Rural America Did not Push Donald Trump to Victory in 2024”:

\n
\n

This data speaks for itself: Trump won because Democratic turnout in the core counties of major cities crumbled. Yet the urban resentment toward rural America is back.

\n
\n

Also, see this.

\n", "date_published": "2024-11-14T13:21:57-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/11/14/claire-carlson-rural.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/11/11/this-is-an.html", "content_html": "

This is an excellent, excellent post by Donny. The Jonah Goldberg piece he links to is also worth your time. What we need is some sympathetic imagination. Maybe it’s too soon to ask for it, but we’ll need to get around to it quickly. The lack of it is one of the sources of our present troubles.

\n", "date_published": "2024-11-11T17:58:55-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/11/11/this-is-an.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/11/10/i-could-go.html", "content_html": "

I could go on a rant about these crap junction boxes, which we tried to work on at my mom’s house today. Suffice it to say that it’s yet another example of building with no regard to future repairability. It’s mind boggling, especially when a simple 2x4 instead of that metal bar would be far better.

\n", "date_published": "2024-11-10T20:14:07-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/11/10/i-could-go.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/11/10/worth-your-time.html", "content_html": "

Worth your time: An hourlong documentary covering four seasons in the life of a 76 year old horse logger. That channel has several good videos on traditional skills, if you have an interest in that.

\n", "date_published": "2024-11-10T07:30:29-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/11/10/worth-your-time.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/11/08/theres-nothing-like.html", "content_html": "

There’s nothing like having your preferred candidate unexpectedly trounced for making you re-evaluate your news sources. Some recent posts from people doing such a re-evaluation:

\n\n

I already don’t consume a lot of news and I don’t plan to start now. It’s tempting to have my employer pay for an Economist subscription under the guise of keeping up to date on financial news–but I doubt I would read it. But if you’re looking to take the periodicity route, don’t forget your local library. I stopped in at mine this morning to see what newspapers and magazines they have available. Of the ones I have any interest in, they only had The Atlantic. Still, it’s a small town library; yours may have more options.

\n", "date_published": "2024-11-08T11:06:44-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/11/08/theres-nothing-like.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/11/07/dont-miss-dwalberts.html", "content_html": "

Don’t miss @dwalbert’s woodcarving sale from now until November 17. Some truly beautiful work available.

\n", "date_published": "2024-11-07T08:53:07-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/11/07/dont-miss-dwalberts.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/11/06/worth-your-time.html", "content_html": "

Worth your time: “The Abandoned Americans” by Peter Savodnik.

\n", "date_published": "2024-11-06T18:42:43-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/11/06/worth-your-time.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/11/02/a-few-folks.html", "content_html": "

A few folks have been talking about Dougald Hine’s book here recently so I looked back to see what I had posted while reading it. Of continuing interest:

\n
    \n
  1. A timely bit about voting
    2. \n
  2. Our necromantic power
    3. \n
\n", "date_published": "2024-11-02T13:25:33-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/11/02/a-few-folks.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/10/31/thumbs-up.html", "content_html": "

thumbs up

\n\"\"\n", "date_published": "2024-10-31T14:11:39-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/10/31/thumbs-up.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/10/28/i-dont-know.html", "content_html": "

I don’t know what mailing list I got put on, but I’ve now received several free issues of Architectural Digest and Bassmaster.

\n", "date_published": "2024-10-28T12:55:30-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/10/28/i-dont-know.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/10/25/cool-story-of.html", "content_html": "

Cool story of how Paul Sellers was commissioned in 2008 to make credenzas for the White House cabinet room with only a month lead time. As you’d expect from him, the result was beautiful.

\n", "date_published": "2024-10-25T07:50:24-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/10/25/cool-story-of.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/10/23/really-good-ted.html", "content_html": "

Really good TED talk on humanity’s relationship with fire and how (as an animist might say) we have fallen out of right relationship with it. Pyne also has written a related book that looks interesting.

\n", "date_published": "2024-10-23T06:36:51-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/10/23/really-good-ted.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/10/18/audit-is-officially.html", "content_html": "

Audit is officially over as of today. I’m started to feel normal after a weeklong cold. I’m off work next week. Things are looking up!

\n", "date_published": "2024-10-18T13:05:31-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/10/18/audit-is-officially.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/10/18/will-there-still.html", "content_html": "

Will there still be old men sitting in restaurants at 6am drinking coffee and talking about nothing in particular by the time I’m old enough to join them?

\n", "date_published": "2024-10-18T06:36:23-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/10/18/will-there-still.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/10/15/good-list-of.html", "content_html": "

Good list of eight ways of connecting from Ted Goia. Some of these I was already doing okay with and some still need a lot of work. The two I’ve been working on the most recently are:

\n\n", "date_published": "2024-10-15T12:07:16-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/10/15/good-list-of.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/10/08/this-morning-i.html", "content_html": "

This morning I heard a bit from The Wayfinders by Wade Davis, a book about the Polynesian open ocean navigators. Astonishing. Not only the volume of knowledge required to do such navigation, but the types of information used–observations in minute detail gathered over centuries–is amazing.

\n", "date_published": "2024-10-08T07:49:04-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/10/08/this-morning-i.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/10/07/to-all-the.html", "content_html": "

To all the folks complaining about how popular Halloween is among adults today, I offered this as my considered reply:

\n\"\"\n", "date_published": "2024-10-07T11:25:17-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/10/07/to-all-the.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/10/06/thinking-about-the.html", "content_html": "

Thinking about the research I did yesterday, what will future researchers do, given the demise of local newspapers? Even the silly society pages gave me valuable information. Now such things are on social media sites, behind subscriptions, with terrible search capabilities.

\n", "date_published": "2024-10-06T06:15:32-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/10/06/thinking-about-the.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/09/25/we-are-five.html", "content_html": "

We are five days from “pencils down” on the audit. It’s been a tough one. No problems, just a lot lot lot of detailed questions and follow-ups. My plan is to have a few four day weeks followed by a week off in October. Then we replace our general ledger about a month from now. Shew.

\n", "date_published": "2024-09-25T08:19:41-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/09/25/we-are-five.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/09/22/righteousness-is-a.html", "content_html": "

Righteousness is a hell of a drug.

\n", "date_published": "2024-09-22T11:21:13-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/09/22/righteousness-is-a.html", "tags": ["Short posts","Aphorisms"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/09/19/ray-bradburys-story.html", "content_html": "

Ray Bradbury’s story of meeting Mr. Electrico is wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.

\n", "date_published": "2024-09-19T07:32:33-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/09/19/ray-bradburys-story.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/09/09/the-old-farmers.html", "content_html": "

The Old Farmers Almanac says that late summer drought conditions can lead to an early shutdown of the trees and a less colorful fall. It’s been dry here for weeks.

\n", "date_published": "2024-09-09T08:18:05-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/09/09/the-old-farmers.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/09/01/we-just-watched.html", "content_html": "

We just watched “Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre” (1996) and it was very good. I read the novel many years ago so I don’t recall details well enough to know how faithful it was to the book. But now I want to watch other adaptations. Recommendations?

\n", "date_published": "2024-09-01T20:09:10-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/09/01/we-just-watched.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/08/30/ive-thought-about.html", "content_html": "

I’ve thought about this video shared by Denny several times over the past couple of days. Our cultural expectations of what constitutes a good life can blind us to the possibilities found by others. I’m trying–haltingly and inconsistently, to be sure–to extricate myself from that worldview.

\n", "date_published": "2024-08-30T08:29:21-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/08/30/ive-thought-about.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/08/24/i-like-the.html", "content_html": "

I like the “On this Day” feature here at micro.blog. Today it brought up a thought experiment about consciousness from last year. Still seems like an interesting possibility to me, combining something like panpsychism with something like reincarnation.

\n", "date_published": "2024-08-24T10:31:26-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/08/24/i-like-the.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/08/21/my-newsletter-subscriptions.html", "content_html": "

My newsletter subscriptions are shifting in the right direction: less cultural criticism, more woodworking.

\n", "date_published": "2024-08-21T11:42:14-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/08/21/my-newsletter-subscriptions.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/08/19/picked-up-an.html", "content_html": "

Picked up an unusual (to me), older nativity set today. The images are decals/stickers, not painted. Nevertheless, it caught my eye and it was inexpensive at $15.

\n\"\"\n", "date_published": "2024-08-19T20:35:16-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/08/19/picked-up-an.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/07/30/more-on-the.html", "content_html": "

More on the signs of the reversal of technological progress: it’s interesting that Goia frames it as a reversal of progress. The signs he discusses are evidence that high technology is worsening as a tool. If high tech was actually being dismantled, I’d be happy. But it’s just increasingly bad.

\n", "date_published": "2024-07-30T09:42:46-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/07/30/more-on-the.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/07/30/im-kinda-glad.html", "content_html": "

I’m kinda glad I’m not a subscriber and can only see about a quarter of the 52 reasons to fear that technological progress is reversing

\n", "date_published": "2024-07-30T09:21:40-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/07/30/im-kinda-glad.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/07/11/the-adam-and.html", "content_html": "

The Adam and Eve story has always been a fruitful (heh) one for me. Two times I reflected on it: here and here.

\n", "date_published": "2024-07-11T20:06:27-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/07/11/the-adam-and.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/07/09/jon-stewart-on.html", "content_html": "

Jon Stewart on why “get on board or shut the f* up” is not exactly a pro-democracy rallying cry.

\n", "date_published": "2024-07-09T07:10:17-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/07/09/jon-stewart-on.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/07/07/steve-robinson-on.html", "content_html": "

Steve Robinson on the death of his father. I know what this kind of conflicted memory is like. I’m grateful to him for honestly expressing it.

\n", "date_published": "2024-07-07T07:48:39-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/07/07/steve-robinson-on.html", "tags": ["Memories","Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/07/03/tom-johnsons-repair.html", "content_html": "

Tom Johnson’s repair of this table leg is a joy to watch.

\n", "date_published": "2024-07-03T20:39:46-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/07/03/tom-johnsons-repair.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/06/28/this-from-over.html", "content_html": "

This, from over a year ago, still pretty much summarizes my outlook on the election. We’re living out the ending of a world; the characters are merely playing their part.

\n", "date_published": "2024-06-28T08:29:22-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/06/28/this-from-over.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/06/27/sad-coal-mining.html", "content_html": "

Sad coal mining song from Kathy Mattea. Of course it’s sad. There aren’t any happy coal mining songs.

\n", "date_published": "2024-06-27T08:26:38-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/06/27/sad-coal-mining.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/06/25/this-termfrom-bloggings.html", "content_html": "

This term—from blogging’s heyday—popped into my head this morning. Anyone else remember this?

\n\"\"\n", "date_published": "2024-06-25T06:19:36-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/06/25/this-termfrom-bloggings.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/06/18/charles-brooks-takes.html", "content_html": "

Charles Brooks takes photographs of the interior of various instruments and the results are amazing. (via Mortise and Tenon Magazine)

\n", "date_published": "2024-06-18T12:12:30-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/06/18/charles-brooks-takes.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/06/15/everybody-makes-fun.html", "content_html": "

Everybody makes fun of “prepper Jeremy” until the water main breaks. Now I’m sitting here having my coffee while others are rushing to Walmart. 😄

\n\"\"\n", "date_published": "2024-06-15T06:28:26-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/06/15/everybody-makes-fun.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/06/14/this-documentary-about.html", "content_html": "

This 1975 documentary about a Kentuckian chairmaker is worth watching.

\n", "date_published": "2024-06-14T20:05:21-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/06/14/this-documentary-about.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/05/24/another-good-one.html", "content_html": "

Another good one from Cory Doctorow: Red Lobster was killed by private equity, not Endless Shrimp

\n", "date_published": "2024-05-24T10:30:09-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/05/24/another-good-one.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/05/22/adam-savages-lathe.html", "content_html": "

Adam Savage’s lathe display (source)

\n\"\"\n", "date_published": "2024-05-22T19:58:24-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/05/22/adam-savages-lathe.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/05/20/it-all-started.html", "content_html": "

It all started with a post from Alan Jacobs about that Apple ad, which pointed me to this post by L.M. Sacasas, which led me to his post on Albert Borgmann, which led me to this pdf chapter from Borgmann’s book. This is a rich vein. I don’t recall why I unsubscribed to Sacasas, but error corrected.

\n", "date_published": "2024-05-20T09:02:44-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/05/20/it-all-started.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/05/18/cory-doctorow-ais.html", "content_html": "

Cory Doctorow: “AIs and self-driving cars are the new jetpacks”

\n

I don’t know if this will prove to be true but it’s an interesting provocation.

\n", "date_published": "2024-05-18T03:51:12-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/05/18/cory-doctorow-ais.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/05/13/wonderful-ten-minute.html", "content_html": "

Wonderful, ten minute documentary about the Zuni Map Project—an art project to “depict the topography of myth, memory, and prayer embedded in the land, returning a tool of power to a space of connection.”

\n", "date_published": "2024-05-13T05:36:32-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/05/13/wonderful-ten-minute.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/05/07/wow-testimony-of.html", "content_html": "

Wow! Testimony of Paul Robeson before HUAC in 1956. Audio is a reenactment by James Earl Jones but the words are from the hearing itself. More about Paul Robeson.

\n", "date_published": "2024-05-07T16:59:23-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/05/07/wow-testimony-of.html", "tags": ["Short posts","Books"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/05/01/rachel-and-i.html", "content_html": "

Rachel and I have been complaining about these “whole body deodorant” commercials (which of course target women). You know what? You’re a biological organism interacting with the real world of heat and microorganisms. You’re gonna smell a little funny. It’s fine. Don’t believe marketing bullshit.

\n", "date_published": "2024-05-01T05:39:12-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/05/01/rachel-and-i.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/04/29/i-dont-subscribe.html", "content_html": "

I don’t subscribe to that many newsletters/substacks/etc. but it’s clearly too many, judging by the unread email in my inbox. New rule: if I don’t consistently read it immediately (or at least want to), unsubscribe.

\n", "date_published": "2024-04-29T14:28:17-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/04/29/i-dont-subscribe.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/04/25/we-were-meant.html", "content_html": "

We were meant to be inspired when Business Leader said his rule was, “better than yesterday, not as good as tomorrow.” My rule, on the other hand, is this: become increasingly useless to people like Business Leader.

\n", "date_published": "2024-04-25T11:50:49-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/04/25/we-were-meant.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/04/21/lovely-video-from.html", "content_html": "

Lovely video from Pete Larson on the rhythms of life.

\n", "date_published": "2024-04-21T19:22:31-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/04/21/lovely-video-from.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/04/19/replace-bradford-pears.html", "content_html": "

Replace Bradford pears with dogwoods. Now that’s a campaign idea we can all believe in.

\n", "date_published": "2024-04-19T08:43:34-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/04/19/replace-bradford-pears.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/04/14/apropos-of-nothing.html", "content_html": "

Apropos of nothing, I’m thinking this morning about how a series of ironclad mutual defense agreements marched everyone into WW1.

\n", "date_published": "2024-04-14T09:29:52-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/04/14/apropos-of-nothing.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/04/12/it-is-always.html", "content_html": "

It is always better to pray for peace than for the defeat of your enemies because there is no standpoint from which you can definitively answer the question, “Are we the baddies?”

\n", "date_published": "2024-04-12T11:21:50-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/04/12/it-is-always.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/04/09/my-employer-says.html", "content_html": "

My employer says they will be celebrating National Deskfast Day this Friday by supplying coffee and donuts.

\n
\n

Deskfast was a term coined in the early 2000s when it was discovered that more and more employees were eating breakfast at their desks.

\n
\n

This feels like a thing to be mourned, not celebrated.

\n", "date_published": "2024-04-09T15:26:13-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/04/09/my-employer-says.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/04/09/beautiful-short-film.html", "content_html": "

Beautiful, short film about 85 year old Helen Dew:

\n
\n

For Helen, a key element in building personal and community resilience is in building quality soil. From making biochar for her compost to petitioning the local council to create a natural burial park, she has worked tirelessly in so many ways to contribute to her community and to the planet. She is truly Something Beautiful for the World!

\n
\n

And the poem she wrote–which she reads in the film–is not to be missed.

\n", "date_published": "2024-04-09T09:44:12-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/04/09/beautiful-short-film.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/04/02/nearly-every-time.html", "content_html": "

Nearly every time someone mentions Eclipse Day (which I always imagine with capital letters), I think of this from Neil Gaiman.

\n", "date_published": "2024-04-02T07:20:30-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/04/02/nearly-every-time.html", "tags": ["Memories","Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/03/24/pete-larson-why.html", "content_html": "

Pete Larson: “Why I Farm.” This is different from Pete’s usual videos, which are typically recordings of him working on his farm. This is almost like a manifesto for small, community-centered farms—and a damn fine manifesto at that.

\n", "date_published": "2024-03-24T17:00:51-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/03/24/pete-larson-why.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/03/20/i-published-my.html", "content_html": "

I published my blogroll as a page using Manton’s plugin.

\n", "date_published": "2024-03-20T09:09:30-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/03/20/i-published-my.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/03/20/world-central-kitchen.html", "content_html": "

World Central Kitchen:

\n
\n

During this sacred month of Ramadan, World Central Kitchen is working to provide 92,000 food boxes—4.7 million meals—to Palestinians in need. Support from around the world fuels our efforts and 100% of donations from our Ramadan campaign go directly towards feeding families in Gaza.

\n
\n", "date_published": "2024-03-20T08:16:06-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/03/20/world-central-kitchen.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/03/18/good-post-from.html", "content_html": "

Good post from DC: our energy “needs” are skyrocketing due to the demands of cloud computing, AI, EVs, and bitcoin mining. All this at a time of rolling environmental crises. Yet the growth-obsessed powers-that-be never talk about reducing our energy usage.

\n", "date_published": "2024-03-18T14:51:00-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/03/18/good-post-from.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/03/11/worth-reading-here.html", "content_html": "

Worth reading:

\n\n", "date_published": "2024-03-11T07:58:41-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/03/11/worth-reading-here.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/03/09/still-the-funniest.html", "content_html": "

Still the funniest video on the internet. Rachel and I think of this every few months and laugh ourselves silly watching it over and over.

\n", "date_published": "2024-03-09T20:36:22-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/03/09/still-the-funniest.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/03/02/lost-art-press.html", "content_html": "

Lost Art Press is having a sale on their book Anarchist’s Tool Chest. Also, they have a great FAQ on what they mean by anarchism: individualist, non-revolutionary, and no bombs. Which fits nicely with my own anarchism.

\n", "date_published": "2024-03-02T10:23:48-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/03/02/lost-art-press.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/03/01/new-use-for.html", "content_html": "

New use for chatbots: having it rewrite a blunt statement into a more professionally acceptable sentence. Example:

\n
\n

We have too much slack in the budget. If you need new funds, please reallocate from your existing budget.

\n
\n

Rewritten by Microsoft Copilot as

\n
\n

Our budget currently has excess flexibility. If you require additional funds, kindly consider reallocating from your existing budget.

\n
\n", "date_published": "2024-03-01T14:59:44-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/03/01/new-use-for.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/03/01/pretty-colors-across.html", "content_html": "

Pretty colors across the street this morning.

\n\"\"\n", "date_published": "2024-03-01T07:13:12-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/03/01/pretty-colors-across.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/02/28/this-is-so.html", "content_html": "

This is so good.

\n

“Welcome to the future. Sabotage it.”

\r\n
\n", "date_published": "2024-02-28T08:52:40-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/02/28/this-is-so.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/02/27/despite-an-unusually.html", "content_html": "

Despite an unusually warm February, there doesn’t seem to be any early wildflowers in the woods so far. Mostly wild garlic and garlic mustard.

\n", "date_published": "2024-02-27T18:35:50-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/02/27/despite-an-unusually.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/02/27/ted-goia-has.html", "content_html": "

Ted Goia has a good follow-up post on his dopamine culture piece. In the follow-up, he focuses on ritual as one of the resistances to dopamine culture.

\n", "date_published": "2024-02-27T08:16:54-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/02/27/ted-goia-has.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/02/22/first-pro-bike.html", "content_html": "

First pro bike race of the spring Cobbled Classics, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, in 48 hours! I will be continuing my completely cheesy tradition of marking the occasion with waffles and Belgian beer. (Yes, at 8am. It makes for a interesting morning.)

\n", "date_published": "2024-02-22T07:03:39-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/02/22/first-pro-bike.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/02/21/so-whaddya-say.html", "content_html": "

So whaddya say, folks, should we just start sending zines to each other through the mail? (via @jaheppler)

\n

I think about this a lot, actually. I don’t have time for it now but maybe, sometime?

\n", "date_published": "2024-02-21T11:52:04-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/02/21/so-whaddya-say.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/02/17/i-always-look.html", "content_html": "

I always look forward to the spring ephemerals.

\n", "date_published": "2024-02-17T13:10:59-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/02/17/i-always-look.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/02/16/were-expecting-a.html", "content_html": "

We’re expecting a bit of snow today but OFA says it’ll be an early spring. Warmer-than-average temperatures and lower-than-normal rainfall here in the Ohio Valley.

\n", "date_published": "2024-02-16T08:18:21-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/02/16/were-expecting-a.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/02/09/is-there-any.html", "content_html": "

Is there any way to get the “new post” page on the web interface to remember (instead of having to click the option every time) to show categories? @help

\n", "date_published": "2024-02-09T16:27:22-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/02/09/is-there-any.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/02/08/this-from-rebecca.html", "content_html": "

This from Rebecca Solnit (via @sod) feels like a dispatch from a foreign war correspondent. “Do people really live like this? How is this madness possible?”

\n", "date_published": "2024-02-08T15:27:21-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/02/08/this-from-rebecca.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/02/07/interviewing-candidates-today.html", "content_html": "

Interviewing candidates today for a newly created financial analyst position. I’m comfortable interviewing for straight-up accounting positions but this one will be something new for me. I’m actually a bit nervous!

\n", "date_published": "2024-02-07T10:43:34-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/02/07/interviewing-candidates-today.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/02/06/anyone-know-of.html", "content_html": "

Anyone know of a way to see a list of posts that haven’t been categorized? Ideally, within the micro.blog site itself where I can assign categories to them.

\n", "date_published": "2024-02-06T10:34:42-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/02/06/anyone-know-of.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/02/04/ive-taken-a.html", "content_html": "

I’ve taken a notion to post occasional videos. Hikes, gardening, woodworking projects, poetry—whatever. I wanted to use micro.blog’s video capability but the max limit is about one minute. I may create a YouTube account and use their unlisted option, unless anyone knows of an easy non-google way.

\n", "date_published": "2024-02-04T10:37:44-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/02/04/ive-taken-a.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/02/04/i-was-delighted.html", "content_html": "

I was delighted to be reminded of Malcolm Guite this morning when I came across his YouTube channel. Here he is reading an essay on pipe smoking.

\n", "date_published": "2024-02-04T06:18:37-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/02/04/i-was-delighted.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/02/02/around-here-candlemas.html", "content_html": "

Around here, Candlemas means crêpes by candlelight (even if it is the middle of the day).

\n\"\"\n", "date_published": "2024-02-02T16:30:47-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/02/02/around-here-candlemas.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/02/01/i-love-this.html", "content_html": "

I love this Imbolc essay from Rhyd Wildermuth.

\n", "date_published": "2024-02-01T08:27:14-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/02/01/i-love-this.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/01/29/not-only-is.html", "content_html": "

Not only is memorizing Dune’s “Litany Against Fear” during childhood not silly, I commend it as a solid practice for an adult. I did it in my early forties and I’m not even much of an SF reader. And I have a button on my backpack.

\n\"\"\n", "date_published": "2024-01-29T17:51:43-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/01/29/not-only-is.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/01/27/either-ive-gotten.html", "content_html": "

Either I’ve gotten trapped in a “woodworking + Maine” algorithm or there seems to be a high per capita ratio of woodworkers in Maine.

\n", "date_published": "2024-01-27T10:39:20-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/01/27/either-ive-gotten.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/01/26/technology-is-a.html", "content_html": "

Technology is a program of control. Within certain limits, this is good & necessary. Outside those limits, it is a rejection of reality. Living in an increasingly artificial time (AI, AR), we must embrace the contingency of reality by being vulnerable, open, & sincere–a hard, countercultural task.

\n", "date_published": "2024-01-26T15:42:18-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/01/26/technology-is-a.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/01/24/a-company-offers.html", "content_html": "

A company offers free access to the Headspace meditation app, yoga classes, blood pressure monitors, and wellness coaching to help their employees cope. What if–stay with me here, I have a crazy idea–they just didn’t put as much pressure on people?

\n", "date_published": "2024-01-24T08:10:36-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/01/24/a-company-offers.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/01/23/i-like-ted.html", "content_html": "

I like Ted Gioia’s seven heretical questions about progress. But, being the animist, agrarian(?), anarcho-primitivist(?), whatever-the-hell that I am, I would edit his statement:

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\n

Progress should be about improving the quality of life and human flourishing. We make a grave error when we assume this is the same as new tech and economic cost-squeezing.

\n
\n

As follows:

\n
\n

Progress should be about improving the quality of our ecosystems and ensuring the mutual flourishing of all life. We make a grave error when we assume this is the same as new tech and economic cost-squeezing.

\n
\n

We must–absolutely must–start thinking beyond the merely human. Gioia may well agree with this, but we need people to start saying it explicitly.

\n", "date_published": "2024-01-23T14:37:52-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/01/23/i-like-ted.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/01/23/were-in-the.html", "content_html": "

We’re in the “path of totality” for the solar eclipse on April 8. I found out this morning that IU is cancelling classes across the state and holding an event with William Shatner. I find this hilarious and adorable.

\n", "date_published": "2024-01-23T09:44:10-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/01/23/were-in-the.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/01/18/is-there-a.html", "content_html": "

Is there a mechanical need for motorcycles to be revved or are these men who feel like their voices are not being heard?

\n", "date_published": "2024-01-18T05:07:07-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/01/18/is-there-a.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/01/17/why-returntooffice-mandates.html", "content_html": "

“Why return-to-office mandates fail”

\n

Remote work can be productive if managers are willing to adapt. Problem is, too many managers are unwilling to do so. (Can’t remember where I came across this article, so apologies if I’m not giving one of you credit.)

\n", "date_published": "2024-01-17T08:30:28-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/01/17/why-returntooffice-mandates.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/01/11/in-the-barber.html", "content_html": "

In the barber shop today, the person before me and the person after me were having their mullets cut off. May ever more poor souls come to see the light.

\n", "date_published": "2024-01-11T15:54:35-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/01/11/in-the-barber.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/01/10/well-worth-reading.html", "content_html": "

Well worth reading: “Dancing in the Theatre of my Enslavement: Reflections on turning forty as a female, and forty things I know.”

\n", "date_published": "2024-01-10T09:37:41-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/01/10/well-worth-reading.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/01/10/im-going-to.html", "content_html": "

I’m going to have to make this pine needle soda. Easy and, according to Old Farmers Almanac, more vitamin C than orange juice.

\n", "date_published": "2024-01-10T08:23:09-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/01/10/im-going-to.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/01/08/there-arent-many.html", "content_html": "

There aren’t many videos on the Daoist Foundation’s YouTube channel but I was impressed by the one I watched over the weekend: Lundao 1: The Daoist Tradition. I plan to make my way through the rest. Their site also has a lot of good resources.

\n", "date_published": "2024-01-08T19:41:57-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/01/08/there-arent-many.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/01/02/my-wired-headphones.html", "content_html": "

My wired headphones went through the washer AND dryer and still work. And even if they didn’t I’d only be out $20. Take that, AirPods!

\n", "date_published": "2024-01-02T20:14:11-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/01/02/my-wired-headphones.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/01/02/skillful-use-of.html", "content_html": "

Skillful use of music in movies can heighten the mood to such an intense degree. Aren’t you glad your life doesn’t have a soundtrack? Allows for a certain obliviousness…

\n", "date_published": "2024-01-02T09:34:53-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/01/02/skillful-use-of.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/12/30/i-love-tom.html", "content_html": "

I love Tom Johnson’s antique restoration channel. This video is one of my favorites because of his range of skills and meticulousness.

\n", "date_published": "2023-12-30T09:53:39-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/12/30/i-love-tom.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/12/28/i-never-tire.html", "content_html": "

I never tire of opening a new bar of Dr Bronner’s hippie soap and seeing “All-One!” stamped across it.

\n\"\"\n", "date_published": "2023-12-28T10:00:40-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/12/28/i-never-tire.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/12/15/just-received-a.html", "content_html": "

Just received a shipment of coffee that a neighbor recommended to me.

\n\"\"\n", "date_published": "2023-12-15T12:36:58-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/12/15/just-received-a.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/12/13/some-of-us.html", "content_html": "

Some of us have been saying to upset Christians for years that “Happy Holidays” does not exclude Christmas. Then the HR dept at work puts up signs that say “Happy Hanukkah” and “Happy Kwanzaa” but not “Merry Christmas.” Folks, you’re not helping. Also, should I complain that there’s no Yule sign? ;)

\n", "date_published": "2023-12-13T16:27:50-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/12/13/some-of-us.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/12/08/amazing-story-via.html", "content_html": "

Amazing story (via @ayjay) on newly discovered ways that redwoods survive fire. We went on Tom’s Muir Woods walking tour in 2022. He told us that redwoods are practically immortal, if only humans would stop screwing things up.

\n", "date_published": "2023-12-08T09:07:09-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/12/08/amazing-story-via.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/12/07/thank-god-for.html", "content_html": "

Thank God for “thought leaders” who help us “pre-solve” problems.

\n", "date_published": "2023-12-07T10:14:14-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/12/07/thank-god-for.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/11/20/so-the-lesson.html", "content_html": "

So the lesson from this weekend’s hullabaloo at OpenAI appears to be that not even the board of directors of the world’s most prominent AI company can stop “progress” over concerns about the technology moving too fast. Duly noted.

\n", "date_published": "2023-11-20T17:54:38-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/11/20/so-the-lesson.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/11/20/daniel-immerwahr-via.html", "content_html": "

Daniel Immerwahr, via @tinyroofnail:

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\n

If small, rugged farms have not filled the countryside, what has? … For the past century, rural spaces have been preferred destinations for military bases, discount retail chains, extractive industries, manufacturing plants, and real-estate developments.

\n
\n

Yup, about right. The small town I live in depends economically upon a Navy installation, a GM plant, a cement plant, and Indiana University. The Ford/Visteon plant closed in 2007, and its space was filled with defense contractors. There are seven Dollar Generals within a ten minute drive.

\n", "date_published": "2023-11-20T13:06:53-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/11/20/daniel-immerwahr-via.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/11/20/if-theres-a.html", "content_html": "

If there’s a new Romanticism on the horizon, I’m here for it.

\n", "date_published": "2023-11-20T12:52:27-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/11/20/if-theres-a.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/11/09/thankfully-most-of.html", "content_html": "

Thankfully most of my CPA continuing education can be done via webinar—but today’s is on the north side of Indianapolis, requiring ninety minutes of driving in heavy traffic to listen to an eight hour talk in a drab office park about what’s new in accounting. sigh

\n", "date_published": "2023-11-09T05:54:10-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/11/09/thankfully-most-of.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/10/19/it-appears-that.html", "content_html": "

It appears that the president will be making a case for more war funding tonight. Remember: he may be on death’s payroll but you don’t have to be.

\n", "date_published": "2023-10-19T08:36:27-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/10/19/it-appears-that.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/10/19/so-ive-been.html", "content_html": "

So I’ve been using Kagi for search and I like it. Unfortunately you can’t make it your default search for Brave so I thought I’d try Orion, Kagi’s own browser. It’s too buggy for me. Freezes a lot. Switching between tabs doesn’t always work. So back to Brave for me.

\n", "date_published": "2023-10-19T05:40:16-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/10/19/so-ive-been.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/10/18/hopefully-ill-get.html", "content_html": "

Hopefully I’ll get back to the “These Weird Times” series at some point soon. When I said a few weeks ago that I was about to do my annual post-audit reboot, this one ended up being more extensive than usual. I’m working on some personal issues that have me doing some very useful exploring–and the more theoretical exercise of something like “These Weird Times” would be too tempting to use as an escape from the more emotional and spiritual work that I need to focus on for now. I don’t know how much I’ll write about that work but hopefully I’ll come through the other side a bit more integrated than I have been. Sacrifices of goats to chthonic deities welcome–or whatever is more your style.

\n", "date_published": "2023-10-18T13:52:39-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/10/18/hopefully-ill-get.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/10/16/once-you-decide.html", "content_html": "

Once you decide that you are on the side of life, you suddenly have a lot more clarity about thorny issues. Problem is, the side of life is manifestly out of power right now. The powerful–rather, the Powers and those aligned with them–are bent on blood and domination.

\n", "date_published": "2023-10-16T09:53:34-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/10/16/once-you-decide.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/10/04/started-using-kagi.html", "content_html": "

Started using Kagi as my search engine after @JohnBrady recommendation and I’m already getting more fruitful search results on something I’m researching.

\n", "date_published": "2023-10-04T09:54:32-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/10/04/started-using-kagi.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/09/24/indiana-persimmonstraight-off.html", "content_html": "

Indiana persimmon—straight off the ground and warm—an absolute delight.

\n", "date_published": "2023-09-24T11:58:22-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/09/24/indiana-persimmonstraight-off.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/09/20/made-it-through.html", "content_html": "

Made it through a thing today that had been giving me anticipatory stress. Also, two days from substantially complete financial statements and nine days from official issuance. Fresh start coming soon!

\n", "date_published": "2023-09-20T20:03:17-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/09/20/made-it-through.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/09/13/nine-days-from.html", "content_html": "

Nine days from the final draft of audited financial statements. Almost there! The bad thing about the busiest time of the year falling in summer means that summer goes by way too quickly.

\n", "date_published": "2023-09-13T07:40:06-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/09/13/nine-days-from.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/09/07/cory-doctorow-calls.html", "content_html": "

Cory Doctorow calls tools like ChatGPT “plausible sentence generators.”

\n", "date_published": "2023-09-07T13:52:58-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/09/07/cory-doctorow-calls.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/09/07/we-have-reached.html", "content_html": "

We have reached that point in the annual audit that I feel like an old-timey telephone switchboard operator during a gossip emergency.

\n", "date_published": "2023-09-07T12:57:04-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/09/07/we-have-reached.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/09/07/well-look-at.html", "content_html": "

Well look at this: actual newsprint. From Heartwood, a forest protection org. Newsprint, by the way, is far more compostable than the full color glossy magazine you might get from the more bougie environmental groups.

\n\"\"\n", "date_published": "2023-09-07T11:06:51-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/09/07/well-look-at.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/09/07/added-sketches-of.html", "content_html": "

Added “Sketches of the Goat God in Albion” by Gyrus to my collection of sources on Pan. Excellent essay with some good stories to tell.

\n", "date_published": "2023-09-07T06:53:21-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/09/07/added-sketches-of.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/09/04/to-be-involved.html", "content_html": "

To be involved in the economy is to be materially implicated in corruption, destruction, and any number of evils. There are no morally pure enterprises. Follow the money long enough and you will find the corruption.

\n

There is no standpoint of purity. What you can do, however, is keep your conscience alive. You will still be implicated in evil, but you will at least face the fact and do what you can. While it will never feel like enough, it’s better to struggle than to become one of the herd animals.

\n", "date_published": "2023-09-04T08:19:29-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/09/04/to-be-involved.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/08/31/lovely-post-from.html", "content_html": "

Lovely post from Elizabeth Oldfield on “the ordinary grandeur of the ways we love each other”

\n", "date_published": "2023-08-31T07:27:25-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/08/31/lovely-post-from.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/08/26/taoist-and-buddhist.html", "content_html": "

Taoist and Buddhist shrines in China. Shinto shrines in Japan. Catholic shrines all over Europe. These all fascinate me. Not a lot of shrines in southern Indiana. I want a landscape filled with shrines. I’m not even particular about which gods or spirits. And, no, Walmart and Starbucks don’t count.

\n", "date_published": "2023-08-26T08:38:50-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/08/26/taoist-and-buddhist.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/08/19/look-im-glad.html", "content_html": "

Look, I’m glad people are re-discovering HP Lovecraft but some of us have been living in fear of malevolent gods from the briny deep for a while now.

\n", "date_published": "2023-08-19T11:57:01-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/08/19/look-im-glad.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/08/13/a-friend-invited.html", "content_html": "

A friend invited me to take what I wanted from a stack of old records he inherited. Some good stuff, especially a stack of Frank Sinatra. But the thing I love most is this absolutely metal cover art on a Jerry Falwell recording. I’ll throw out the record but I want to do something with this cover.

\n\"Purple\n", "date_published": "2023-08-13T15:16:41-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/08/13/a-friend-invited.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/08/07/viktor-frankl-idealists.html", "content_html": "

Viktor Frankl: Idealists are the true realists.

\n", "date_published": "2023-08-07T20:04:12-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/08/07/viktor-frankl-idealists.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/08/07/dont-forget-to.html", "content_html": "

Don’t forget to subscribe to @dwalbert’s substack, where he will be writing about section hiking the Mountains-to-Sea Trail.

\n", "date_published": "2023-08-07T15:34:51-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/08/07/dont-forget-to.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/08/07/wonderful-tv-interview.html", "content_html": "

Wonderful TV interview with Jung. One bit to point out: both in regards to advice to older people and the interviewer’s question about the collectivization of humanity, Jung says that life always behaves as if it will go on indefinitely and will resist any effort to nullify it.

\n
\n

When I think of my patients, they all seek their own existence and to assure their own existence against that complete atomization into nothingness and meaninglessness. Man cannot stand a meaningless life.

\n
\n", "date_published": "2023-08-07T09:09:21-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/08/07/wonderful-tv-interview.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/07/31/im-thankful-that.html", "content_html": "

I’m thankful that the heat wave seems to have broken. It’s a beautiful morning out there right now.

\n", "date_published": "2023-07-31T08:08:31-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/07/31/im-thankful-that.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/07/28/a-good-article.html", "content_html": "

A good article on working with the Five Remembrances

\n", "date_published": "2023-07-28T06:22:57-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/07/28/a-good-article.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/07/26/theres-a-secret.html", "content_html": "

There’s a secret government program that has recovered nonhuman “biologics” and is working on reverse engineering nonhuman technology, according to a Pentagon intelligence officer testifying before Congress today.

\n", "date_published": "2023-07-26T17:18:17-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/07/26/theres-a-secret.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/07/26/theres-been-a.html", "content_html": "

There’s been a lot of talk about discovering other users on micro.blog lately, so I’ve reworked my bio to include my most frequent topics: “I’m Jeremy. I typically write about gardening, environmental issues, animist spirituality, woodworking, and whatever I’m reading at the moment.”

\n", "date_published": "2023-07-26T16:01:08-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/07/26/theres-been-a.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/07/24/children-of-ted.html", "content_html": "

“Children of Ted: Two decades after his last deadly act of ecoterrorism, the Unabomber has become an unlikely prophet to a new generation of acolytes”

\n

I feel the same way reading this as I did watching If a Tree Falls: I understand the feeling, even if there’s no way I can endorse the conclusion.

\n", "date_published": "2023-07-24T18:24:57-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/07/24/children-of-ted.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/07/24/walmarts-grocery-pickup.html", "content_html": "

Walmart’s grocery pickup app now allows you to bring your own reusable bags instead of store-supplied plastic bags. (And if you’re wondering why I shop at Walmart you’ve obviously never lived in small town whose local economy was obliterated by Walmart thirty-some years ago.)

\n", "date_published": "2023-07-24T08:20:35-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/07/24/walmarts-grocery-pickup.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/07/23/good-talk-by.html", "content_html": "

Good talk by Lyla June, a Diné woman and scholar, presenting the lessons her ancestors have to teach us about living with the land. Her crucial point: humans were meant to be a part of this world. We evolved here; we and all the species of the world are children of the same Mother. The solution to our environmental problems is continually bringing together humans and the natural world. Indigenous people around the world have living traditions handed down by ancestors who flourished alongside other beings. Let’s listen to them.

\n", "date_published": "2023-07-23T16:43:17-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/07/23/good-talk-by.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/07/19/chai-update-after.html", "content_html": "

Chai update: after making Chetna’s recipe and finding it lacking in flavor (which could very well be my fault!), I got a package of Tazo organic chai, which isn’t any better. (By the way, the chai at Anyetsang’s Little Tibet in Bloomington is wonderful.) Next up: Black Lotus Chai.

\n", "date_published": "2023-07-19T07:25:24-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/07/19/chai-update-after.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/07/10/my-mom-told.html", "content_html": "

My mom told me about a creepy guy who came to her door and I want to say, “Why are you answering your door?” I never go to the door at some random knock. If you want me to open the door, text me first. Rachel and I are always quoting Moss on this subject.

\n", "date_published": "2023-07-10T13:42:22-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/07/10/my-mom-told.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/07/07/anyone-have-a.html", "content_html": "

Anyone have a good chai recipe for a newbie? I tried this one from Chetna of Great British Bake Off fame using Darjeeling tea but it tasted a bit thin. I wanted something fuller and more flavorful. (Or maybe I’m expecting the wrong thing because I’m an American coffee drinker?)

\n", "date_published": "2023-07-07T10:04:29-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/07/07/anyone-have-a.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/07/05/i-received-my.html", "content_html": "

I received my micro.blog sticker today and I’ve added it to the side of my laptop shelf.

\n\"Stickers\n", "date_published": "2023-07-05T11:47:32-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/07/05/i-received-my.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/07/05/i-have-a.html", "content_html": "

I have a shameful lack of knowledge about the history–and ongoing story–of Native Americans. Anyone have some documentary film recommendations?

\n", "date_published": "2023-07-05T07:50:49-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/07/05/i-have-a.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/06/28/this-is-a.html", "content_html": "

This is a good example of my favorite type of Rhyd’s writing, and why I’m a paying subscriber. His political theory stuff is interesting enough, but I love it when he goes full-on pagan weird with stories from his life.

\n", "date_published": "2023-06-28T09:43:47-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/06/28/this-is-a.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/06/24/i-encountered-gary.html", "content_html": "

I encountered Gary Snyder’s phrase “we are the primitives / of an unknown culture” this week and it gave me that mind-opening feeling. I’ve left a tab open to do some digging into its context and meaning.

\n", "date_published": "2023-06-24T08:18:39-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/06/24/i-encountered-gary.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/06/21/a-little-solstice.html", "content_html": "

A little Solstice berry gathering along the Milwaukee Trail

\n\"\"\n", "date_published": "2023-06-21T18:27:23-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/06/21/a-little-solstice.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/06/19/so-id-like.html", "content_html": "

So I’d like to visit some area cemeteries this summer and I’d like to mark them on a map app and maybe make notes. I’d also like for the app to be somewhat privacy oriented (which I know means “not free”). Any recommendations?

\n", "date_published": "2023-06-19T11:20:54-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/06/19/so-id-like.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/06/13/samuel-and-let.html", "content_html": "

2 Samuel 5:24:

\n
\n

And let it be, when thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself: for then shall the LORD go out before thee, to smite the host of the Philistines.

\n
\n

As a kid I always loved that phrase “the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees” and I still think of it every summer evening when the wind is blowing in a storm—as it is tonight.

\n", "date_published": "2023-06-13T16:51:50-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/06/13/samuel-and-let.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/06/08/and-then-as.html", "content_html": "

And then, as if to prevent me from getting too carried away in my praise of Memories, Dreams, Reflections, comes the travel chapter. I think Jung was really trying to learn from non-Europeans but there’s way too much talk about savages to make for comfortable reading.

\n", "date_published": "2023-06-08T05:57:07-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/06/08/and-then-as.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/06/07/purchased-for-the.html", "content_html": "

Purchased for the car. I can’t tell if I’m getting wiser or crazier as the days go by.

\n\"\"\n", "date_published": "2023-06-07T11:05:08-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/06/07/purchased-for-the.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/06/07/finally-getting-some.html", "content_html": "

Finally getting some rain! It’s been about a month since our last significant rainfall. Hopefully it will last for a while today.

\n", "date_published": "2023-06-07T09:09:54-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/06/07/finally-getting-some.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/06/07/today-i-learned.html", "content_html": "

Today I learned that “archeology” is an alternate spelling for “archaeology.” And the strange thing is that one website says the former is the American spelling while the latter is the British. As far as I can recall, I have never seen the former spelling used until today. What about you?

\n", "date_published": "2023-06-07T07:48:54-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/06/07/today-i-learned.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/05/29/rachel-and-i.html", "content_html": "

Rachel and I went on our first foraging expedition today and came home with a bagful of wood sorrel, which we added to green smoothies.

\n\"\"\n", "date_published": "2023-05-29T16:47:32-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/05/29/rachel-and-i.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/05/26/really-good-weird.html", "content_html": "

Really good Weird Studies episode on dreams, the underworld, and James Hillman. Appropriately enough, I listened to most of it during today’s walk in the cemetery.

\n", "date_published": "2023-05-26T14:48:21-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/05/26/really-good-weird.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/05/19/this-is-cool.html", "content_html": "

This is cool: collage artist turns a corner store into an art experience. Things like this can only happen with local shops. Walmart and Dollar General will never do this.

\n", "date_published": "2023-05-19T07:04:42-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/05/19/this-is-cool.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/05/19/been-playing-with.html", "content_html": "

Been playing with the bird sound identification feature of Merlin Bird ID this morning. We’re in town so we have a bit more limited variety of birds. It’s correctly identified the usual cast of characters:

\n\n", "date_published": "2023-05-19T06:32:44-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/05/19/been-playing-with.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/05/16/if-youre-still.html", "content_html": "

If you’re still holding out hope that renewable energy is the future, you might want to read this.

\n", "date_published": "2023-05-16T16:08:52-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/05/16/if-youre-still.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/05/04/dougald-hine-the.html", "content_html": "

Dougald Hine:

\n
\n

The fossil economy breaks the possibility of such a cycle [of human reciprocity with other living things]. How many million years of dying in the forests and seas of the ancient world go into one generation of living the way we have been doing around here lately? How could our lives ever be worthy of so much death? What could we possibly give back? And what would giving back even mean, when all that dying happened in the deep past of geological time? Committed to dependence on these vast underground reserves of death, the only response that remains is to silence such questions, to extinguish the ways of living which embody them, to make them unthinkable.

\n
\n

It’s as if we’ve discovered some powerful necromancy and we now we need a taboo on the practice. How is such a taboo established? How is it taught and enforced?

\n", "date_published": "2023-05-04T07:02:46-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/05/04/dougald-hine-the.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/04/13/re-this-goia.html", "content_html": "

Goia says, “I’d pay more for trust.” What about those without discretionary income? Also, the trust crisis with regard to the tech companies means they have too much power. Nobody should have so much power that their ability to distort reality represents a crisis.

\n", "date_published": "2023-04-13T07:42:45-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/04/13/re-this-goia.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/03/01/following-up-on.html", "content_html": "

Following up on my previous post, it’s worth noting that he regards this as a counsel of perfection on the order of “love one another”, that is to say, ideals to be striven after even if never fully attained. Counsels of perfection, of course, bring monastic vows to mind. A lot to think about here.

\n", "date_published": "2023-03-01T10:26:45-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/03/01/following-up-on.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/03/01/the-heart-of.html", "content_html": "

The heart of Jeffers’ Inhumanist philosophy is the turn away from the human, toward the nonhuman. A shift in the locus of value and attention. From his preface to Double Axe:

\n
\n

Turn outward from each other, so far as need and kindness permit, to the vast life and inexhaustible beauty beyond humanity. This is not a slight matter, but an essential condition of freedom, and of moral and vital sanity.

\n
\n", "date_published": "2023-03-01T10:16:41-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/03/01/the-heart-of.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/02/28/the-sun-is.html", "content_html": "

“The Sun is Alive, and Why That Matters” by Charles Eisenstein. Interesting case for the aliveness of the sun, without making “aliveness” an extra-material property.

\n", "date_published": "2023-02-28T08:45:28-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/02/28/the-sun-is.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/02/03/a-fantastic-essay.html", "content_html": "

A fantastic essay from Paul Kingsnorth that captures so much of my own feeling. It even turns on a poem by blessed Robinson Jeffers. I’ll warn you: it’s a bit gloomy, so if you’re feeling pretty good about the state of the world then you might not want to read it.

\n", "date_published": "2023-02-03T10:22:27-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/02/03/a-fantastic-essay.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/01/27/the-argument-against.html", "content_html": "

The argument against conceptual clarity with regard to Ultimate Things:

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\n

The Tao that can be told is not the true Tao;

\n

Names that can be named are not true names.

\n
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-27T18:26:05-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/01/27/the-argument-against.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/01/24/keep-asking-yourself.html", "content_html": "

Keep asking yourself: What sort of person do I want to be? You may fail to reach your goal. No one may ever notice your efforts. What you must not do, however, is allow others to steer your life, thoughts, decisions in directions that are in their—not your—interests.

\n", "date_published": "2023-01-24T13:16:35-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/01/24/keep-asking-yourself.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2023/01/19/ted-gioias-eight.html", "content_html": "

Ted Gioia’s eight techniques for evaluating someone’s character. A solid list. Perhaps the most interesting to me is his first: “Forget what they say—instead look at who they marry.” Also, his second and fifth are common enough ideas but I believe that’s because they are indeed revealing.

\n", "date_published": "2023-01-19T08:32:30-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2023/01/19/ted-gioias-eight.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/12/21/todays-solstice-celebration.html", "content_html": "

Today’s solstice celebration food: Swedish meatball soup and pistachio drop cookies. Both highly recommended!

\n", "date_published": "2022-12-21T18:25:16-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/12/21/todays-solstice-celebration.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/12/19/ten-theses-on.html", "content_html": "

“Ten Theses on Intergenerational Stewardship” by Prince Michael zu Salm-Salm, a German aristocrat committed to long-term care of the land. I don’t hold with aristocracy but this is worth reading.

\n", "date_published": "2022-12-19T21:41:53-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/12/19/ten-theses-on.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/12/13/you-know-those.html", "content_html": "

You know those paragraphs of SEO pablum on recipe sites these days? Annoying. But a garlic bread recipe flavored with leftist politics? I’ll take it.

\n", "date_published": "2022-12-13T10:40:51-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/12/13/you-know-those.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/11/08/dont-obsess-over.html", "content_html": "

“Don’t obsess over politics”—click through to read a good quote posted by Patrick Rhone. It’s not healthy for people to think about politics as much as they do. And I understand why: too much is at stake. That’s the problem. Too few people hold too much power. Literally world-changing power. That is the province of the gods, not humans. Our governments and corporations have long since abandoned human scale, and our anxieties have increased accordingly.

\n", "date_published": "2022-11-08T21:08:17-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/11/08/dont-obsess-over.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/11/06/walking-through-my.html", "content_html": "

Walking through my neighborhood, seeing so many people living on small city lots using leaf blowers powered by electricity or gas. Our wiser descendants will reach for hand tools for tasks like this, reserving energy usage for work that is beyond human strength.

\n", "date_published": "2022-11-06T17:09:52-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/11/06/walking-through-my.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/10/27/i-have-no.html", "content_html": "

I have no idea if the internet is already over, but this is a glorious essay. Via @joshua

\n", "date_published": "2022-10-27T17:47:14-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/10/27/i-have-no.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/10/23/regenerative-agriculture-like.html", "content_html": "

Regenerative agriculture (like what you see in “Biggest Little Farm”) is animism in action.

\n", "date_published": "2022-10-23T10:12:59-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/10/23/regenerative-agriculture-like.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/10/11/intro-music-for.html", "content_html": "

Theme music for Spooked podcast makes me happy every time.

\n", "date_published": "2022-10-11T18:24:39-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/10/11/intro-music-for.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/09/20/the-death-of.html", "content_html": "

The death of the queen has some people pining for the Great Chain of Being. I’m also not a fan of the acid bath of modernity and capitalism, but the re-sacralization of the world will not be accomplished through bad models.

\n", "date_published": "2022-09-20T07:17:10-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/09/20/the-death-of.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/09/14/douglas-rushkoff-was.html", "content_html": "

Douglas Rushkoff was invited to speak to a group of tech billionaires about the future of technology, only to find out that what they were really interested in was how to survive a collapse of their own making. He’s written a book about it. /via Cory Doctorow

\n", "date_published": "2022-09-14T15:49:17-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/09/14/douglas-rushkoff-was.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/09/13/interesting-page-on.html", "content_html": "

Interesting page on permacomputing, a.k.a., “radically sustainable computing.” Plenty of links. This is way out of my league but some of you may find it valuable.

\n", "date_published": "2022-09-13T17:48:35-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/09/13/interesting-page-on.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/09/04/alan-moore-i.html", "content_html": "

Alan Moore:

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\n

I worship a second century human headed snake god called Glycon, who was exposed as a ventriloquist’s dummy nearly 2000 years ago.

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\n

For more see here and here and the video below

\n\n
\n \n
\n\n", "date_published": "2022-09-04T06:35:17-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/09/04/alan-moore-i.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/08/19/how-to-be.html", "title": "How to be a good ancestor", "content_html": "

Roman Krznaric’s TED talk:

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\n

It’s time for humankind to recognize a disturbing truth: we have colonized the future. In wealthy countries, especially, we treat it like a distant colonial outpost where we can freely dump ecological damage and technological risk as if there was nobody there.

\n
\n

We have colonized the future because we are leaving our ecological and technological problems for future generations to solve. We burden them with our problems and constrain their ability to create their own future. And our descendants have no way of fighting this colonization; they are obviously not physically present and we have granted them no rights.

\n

How do we de-colonize the future? We must stop short-term thinking. Here is a helpful infographic from Krznaric’s site. See also his book, which I plan to read.

\n

\"\"

\n", "date_published": "2022-08-19T06:20:53-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/08/19/how-to-be.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/08/16/daily-dracula-has.html", "content_html": "

Daily Dracula has been such a fun way to read the novel. And now the action is building up as we approach Halloweentide! Halloweentide begins, in our house, the day after Labor Day. Also, I know that it’s called Allhallowtide in the Christian tradition but this is our personal holiday. 😄

\n", "date_published": "2022-08-16T08:57:21-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/08/16/daily-dracula-has.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/07/26/monarch-butterflies-have.html", "content_html": "

Monarch butterflies have been put on the endangered list. Folks, plant that milkweed!

\n\"\"\n", "date_published": "2022-07-26T09:22:50-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/07/26/monarch-butterflies-have.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/07/20/i-got-a.html", "content_html": "

I got a great bit of mail from @aa recently! The color of the leather coaster is beautiful. Check out his products here. He even has a snail mail list. Thank you, Aaron!

\n\"\"\n", "date_published": "2022-07-20T12:47:15-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/07/20/i-got-a.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/07/07/one-of-the.html", "content_html": "

One of the perks of working remotely for the last couple of years: watching the Tour de France live. I got into watching cycling via the spring classics and they’ll always be special for me. But the Tour is really fun when you’re able to keep up with it live. 🚲

\n", "date_published": "2022-07-07T07:43:16-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/07/07/one-of-the.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/06/25/spotted-at-a.html", "content_html": "

Spotted at a local greenhouse: tiny iridescent frog nestled inside a tiger lily.

\n\"\"\n", "date_published": "2022-06-25T14:01:26-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/06/25/spotted-at-a.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/05/30/ted-goia-on.html", "content_html": "

Ted Goia on fourteen signs that you are living in a society without a counterculture. This is true. It is, however, ironic that the article takes the form of a listicle consisting of screenshots of tweets. As Cory Doctorow says, the internet has become “five websites, each consisting of screenshots of text from the other four.”

\n", "date_published": "2022-05-30T07:03:19-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/05/30/ted-goia-on.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/05/25/clive-thompson-on.html", "content_html": "

Clive Thompson on the words he has never spelled correctly. Likewise. I’m a good speller but words with double consonants—especially pairs of double consonants—get me every time.

\n", "date_published": "2022-05-25T07:25:37-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/05/25/clive-thompson-on.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/05/04/i-believe-the.html", "content_html": "

I believe the amount of anger in the world could be reduced if everyone had the freedom to take short naps as needed. And yeah that’s funny but I’m also serious.

\n", "date_published": "2022-05-04T14:18:36-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/05/04/i-believe-the.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/04/30/it-appears-we.html", "content_html": "

It appears we have ourselves a holy fool skating along the boardwalk in San Diego: “Slomo: The man who skated right off the grid”

\n", "date_published": "2022-04-30T06:18:26-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/04/30/it-appears-we.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/04/27/patrick-rhone-the.html", "content_html": "

Patrick Rhone: “The first approximation of others is ourselves.” Along these same lines, the most (the only?) profound thing I have ever heard in a corporate training session is that we always, always fail to realize how differently other people see the world.

\n", "date_published": "2022-04-27T08:42:25-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/04/27/patrick-rhone-the.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/04/23/i-picked-up.html", "content_html": "

I picked up The Zombies on picture disc for Record Store Day. Meanwhile, at home, a squirrel is monitoring Rachel’s activities outside.

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\n", "date_published": "2022-04-23T07:47:33-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/04/23/i-picked-up.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/04/15/plans-for-our.html", "content_html": "

Plans for our family vacation this summer are starting to come together. I was initially trying to include too much and it was complicating the logistics. We’ve all talked it over and we’re settling on a couple of days in San Francisco, including a visit to Muir Woods, and then the rest of the week in Carmel and Monterey. Let me know if you have any suggestions.

\n

My reading has also started honing in on California. I was already reading Robinson Jeffers’ poetry (who lived in Carmel and whose home I plan to visit). I’ve had High Weirdness: Drugs, Esoterica, and Visionary Experience in the Seventies on my to-read list for a long time and I’m finally getting around to it. The events covered by the book center on California. Finally, I decided I was long past due to read some John Muir. I picked up a collection of his writing titled Essential Muir: A Selection of John Muir’s Best (And Worst) Writings - which interested me because it attempts to balance out his status as a green icon with a frank admission of his racism.

\n", "date_published": "2022-04-15T06:51:51-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/04/15/plans-for-our.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/04/02/its-as-if.html", "content_html": "

It’s as if people respond better to a welcoming - as opposed to punitive - environment: “New York City Libraries End Late Fees, and the Treasures Roll In”. I think something similar is going on with two local Humane Society locations. One is perpetually struggling while the other has people stopping in just for the hell of it. The employees at the former are notoriously grouchy, charge fees for everything, and their location has all the charm of a medieval dungeon; the latter has a friendly staff and an open, airy, bright place where you can interact with the animals.

\n", "date_published": "2022-04-02T11:51:50-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/04/02/its-as-if.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/03/18/last-night-i.html", "content_html": "

Last night I was walking through Donaldson Woods, one of the few remaining stands of old-growth forest remaining in Indiana, and thought to myself, “What’s new with pantheism?”

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So once I regained cell phone reception, I found this book by Mary Jane Rubenstein. Also, this video of her is well worth a few minutes of your time: “Why We Need Pantheism”.

\n", "date_published": "2022-03-18T04:54:34-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/03/18/last-night-i.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/03/17/from-david-cain.html", "content_html": "

From David Cain:

\n\n", "date_published": "2022-03-17T08:30:13-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/03/17/from-david-cain.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/03/14/after-reading-this.html", "content_html": "

After reading this post on canonical address books by @annahavron, it occurred to me that something like a physical record of important information that could be referenced by someone upon our deaths would be a great idea. I mentioned this to my wife Rachel and she said she saw something like that at our local bookstore and - after some searching - we found I’m Dead. Now What?, an organizer built for this very thing. We’ve ordered one for ourselves and one for our in-laws. I feel like Caitlin Doughty would be proud.

\n", "date_published": "2022-03-14T09:02:02-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/03/14/after-reading-this.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/03/09/this-is-a.html", "content_html": "

This is a great post that I needed to read today. “My point isn’t that we’re not living in a Diet Dystopia, because I believe we are, but that my cynicism isn’t at all helpful. All it does is make me bitter and unpleasant, like a Caffeine Free Diet Coke.”

\n
I Welcome Your Performance hypertext.monster
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-09T12:12:49-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/03/09/this-is-a.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/03/06/that-there-is.html", "content_html": "

That there is a fun ride.

\n\"\"\n", "date_published": "2022-03-06T17:02:32-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/03/06/that-there-is.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/02/26/its-beer-and.html", "content_html": "

It’s Beer and Waffles Day! The first race of the season is one of my high holy days. 🚲

\n\"\"\n", "date_published": "2022-02-26T09:05:39-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/02/26/its-beer-and.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/02/16/looking-for-writing.html", "title": "Looking for writing app recommendations", "content_html": "

I’m having a hard time finding something that meets all my needs. I’m looking for a writing app that:

\n\n

From what I can tell, Ulysses, Obsidian, and ia Writer do not have web apps. Craft does not appear integrate with micro.blog. I’d really love to be able to do all my writing and note-taking in one synced application but on whatever device I’m using at the time. Of the ones I mentioned, I really like Ulysses but I can’t use it on my work computer.

\n

I am grateful for any recommendations.

\n", "date_published": "2022-02-16T10:25:49-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/02/16/looking-for-writing.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/02/10/im-on-a.html", "content_html": "

I’m on a sixteen day streak with Day One. I’ve never been able to maintain a daily journaling habit but Day One is helping me do that. I had never heard of it before I saw several people on Micro.Blog talking about it, so thanks y’all.

\n", "date_published": "2022-02-10T21:14:10-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/02/10/im-on-a.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/02/09/this-is-an.html", "content_html": "

This is an excellent video on how Amazon can afford to offer free shipping to Prime members. Basically, it hides the cost of shipping by raising prices across the internet. And that, folks, is monopoly power.

\n", "date_published": "2022-02-09T10:25:51-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/02/09/this-is-an.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/02/05/now-reading-the.html", "content_html": "

Now reading: “The dropout: a history” at Aeon. I’ve been in a sort of project of disconnection for several months now. Specifically, disconnecting in order to re-connect in a more healthy way. This article provides an enlightening history of the cultural concerns (and paranoias!) underlying the “turn on, tune in, drop out” movement. It’s easy to see parallels in the present day.

\n", "date_published": "2022-02-05T13:15:04-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/02/05/now-reading-the.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/02/04/ive-been-making.html", "content_html": "

I’ve been making notes about the influences on my life. I noticed a surface-level contradiction between these two, which is resolved at a deeper level.

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Malcolm X: for the way he learned and changed in public

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Bernie Sanders: for his moral clarity and stability over time

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I value Malcolm for his willingness to change and Bernie because he hasn’t. But change isn’t really the issue, is it? I value them both because they found true north and did not deviate from their course - whatever it cost them in terms of popularity and misunderstanding. It is a rare and valuable thing to find someone who has found and followed their deepest convictions.

\n", "date_published": "2022-02-04T17:04:46-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/02/04/ive-been-making.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/02/02/austin-kleon-recommends.html", "content_html": "

Austin Kleon recommends studying something you love in depth - and it just so happens that I’m reading through the collected poetry of Robinson Jeffers. I’m keeping notes in Craft and hope to turn those notes into occasional posts. There are themes running through his work that very much interest me.

\n

I’d also love to do something like this for the albums of Over the Rhine, or blog through the Tao Te Ching. Blogging through books (in the style of blockquote followed by commentary) was very common on the blogs I used to read fifteen years ago. I miss that sort of amateur scholarship.

\n", "date_published": "2022-02-02T19:54:44-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/02/02/austin-kleon-recommends.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/01/26/robinson-jeffers-standing.html", "content_html": "

Robinson Jeffers, standing beside Tor House and Hawk Tower, his handmade stone outpost on the Pacific Ocean. (Image source)

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“I am building a thick stone pillar upon this shore, the very turn of the world, the long migration’s / End” (Jeffers, “The Torch-Bearers’ Race”)

\n\"\"\n", "date_published": "2022-01-26T09:18:00-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/01/26/robinson-jeffers-standing.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/01/25/the-irs-will.html", "content_html": "

The IRS will require you to use ID.me to access your taxes online. Last year, ID.me was locking people out of their unemployment benefits due to facial recognition failures. I had to set up an ID.me account to opt out of the child tax credit advance payments and it was indeed a cumbersome, annoying process. What really bothered me, though, was giving so much critical information to a third party contractor.

\n", "date_published": "2022-01-25T13:27:31-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/01/25/the-irs-will.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/01/11/austin-kleons-latest.html", "content_html": "

Austin Kleon’s latest (subscriber-only) newsletter issue is about the creative seasons. Two things:

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    \n
  1. It contains a pdf version of a zine he wrote on the subject. I know some people around micro.blog have recently been talking about zines and other ideas for analog delivery of writing. This is an interesting way of doing that: digitally delivering a pdf of something meant to be printed and folded.
    2. \n
  2. I am definitely a person who goes through creative seasons. In the past, late-winter and early-spring are when I’ve started more creative projects. This latest round has been a bit of an anomaly since it started in early winter - but I think that was driven in large part by my attempt to resist Big Tech and seeking out other ways of communicating.
    3. \n
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-11T10:28:04-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/01/11/austin-kleons-latest.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/01/11/a-russian-farm.html", "content_html": "

A Russian farm has given its dairy cows virtual reality headsets in a bid to reduce their anxiety. All comparisons to Zuckerberg’s metaverse aspirations should be avoided in order to keep the herd calm.

\n", "date_published": "2022-01-11T08:46:36-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/01/11/a-russian-farm.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/01/07/amazon-prime-is.html", "content_html": "

“Amazon Prime is an economy distorting lie” by Matt Stoller. Really good explanation of how Prime actually raises prices across the internet - and why it’s a key part of the DC Attorney General’s antitrust case against Amazon.

\n", "date_published": "2022-01-07T10:53:00-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/01/07/amazon-prime-is.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/01/05/this-article-on.html", "content_html": "

This article on the yin-yang role of gorse in the ecological concept of succession reminded me of this video showing that process in action. Essentially, leave the land the hell alone and it will “manage” itself into a complex, wonderful ecosystem. “Land management” as it is currently practiced in state DNRs and US National Forests is management toward the end of profit maximization. (In case you didn’t know, in the United States logging is permitted in national forests. In order to be fully protected, an area has to be declared a national park. This seems to me to be some deceptive nomenclature.)

\n", "date_published": "2022-01-05T11:18:02-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/01/05/this-article-on.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/01/04/great-article-on.html", "content_html": "

Great article on the current legal fight over recognizing the legal personhood of Happy, an elephant in the Bronx Zoo. Also includes some really interesting history.

\n", "date_published": "2022-01-04T10:13:26-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/01/04/great-article-on.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/01/04/austin-kleon-cultivate.html", "content_html": "

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Austin Kleon: Cultivate a willingness to be bad

\n", "date_published": "2022-01-04T09:13:36-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/01/04/austin-kleon-cultivate.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2021/12/30/useful-distinctions-from.html", "content_html": "

Useful distinctions from Erich Fromm’s book On Disobedience

\n\"\"\n", "date_published": "2021-12-30T14:55:23-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2021/12/30/useful-distinctions-from.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2021/12/28/fascinating-piece-by.html", "content_html": "

Fascinating piece by Nicholas Carr on GPT-3, an AI tool for generating text. It has been fed mountains of human-written text and, in turn, has generated some startling text of its own. Carr:

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It is drawing on a vast corpus of human expression and, through a quasi-mystical statistical procedure (no one can explain exactly what it is doing), synthesizing all those old words into something new, something intelligible to and requiring interpretation by its interlocutor. When we talk to GPT-3, we are, in a way, communing with the dead.

\n", "date_published": "2021-12-28T15:07:37-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2021/12/28/fascinating-piece-by.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2021/12/28/when-it-comes.html", "content_html": "

When it comes to crypto assets, I lean skeptical but I hold that opinion loosely - since I won’t be investing in them I don’t have sufficient motivation to spend time learning more. I’m a CPA so I have some professional interest in it as a financial instrument. On the other hand, I have basically zero understanding of the technology. In any case, Stephen Diehl has written some good, skeptical commentary. I find this argument particularly compelling:

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If there is any innovation in crypto assets it’s not in software engineering, but in financial engineering. We’ve created a new financial product like an option contract on a startup potentially building something real, but in case they don’t you can always exercise it early by simply dumping the stock on the public to cash out completely untethered to the company’s success. You don’t need to file a S-1 or have a coherent prospectus about attracting customers or business or revenue. Hell, the company doesn’t even have to have a business model at all, and in fact the best performing crypto assets are the ones that literally don’t do anything at all. They just need to tell a good story.

\n", "date_published": "2021-12-28T09:47:00-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2021/12/28/when-it-comes.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2021/12/28/john-halstead-has.html", "content_html": "

John Halstead has written an thoughtful post on prayer from a non-theistic perspective. (John believes that the threat of climate change is going to lead to civilizational collapse but you don’t need to have any opinion on that subject to read this.) I had similar negative feelings about petitionary prayer for a long time after leaving Christianity. I’m still not a person who prays - because, thankfully, I’ve not had any great personal upheavals in the past few years - but I’ve developed an attitude toward prayer similar to John’s. The post is also interesting for its incorporation of the thought of SF writer Octavia Butler.

\n", "date_published": "2021-12-28T09:19:01-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2021/12/28/john-halstead-has.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2021/12/17/ive-been-reading.html", "content_html": "

I’ve been reading a bit about surveillance capitalism (Privacy is Power and a couple hundred pages thus far of The Age of Surveillance Capitalism) so I’ve been trying to disentangle myself from some of the worst offenders. My Facebook account was permanently deleted a few days ago. I’ve switched email from Gmail to ProtonMail. I’ve moved all my files from Google drive to Dropbox. Here’s where my question comes in: Dropbox is fine but I would like something privacy-focused with the ability to edit documents on my iPhone (as with the Google apps). Is anyone aware of something like that?

\n", "date_published": "2021-12-17T19:02:19-05:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2021/12/17/ive-been-reading.html", "tags": ["Short posts"] } ] }