Brian Beach @bwbeach@social.cleverlibre.org

Evolution doesn’t look how it’s depicted in pop culture. We often picture the famous “March of Progress” illustration where a series of apes stand in line leading to a modern human.

But evolution is not linear. It branches & divides without an intended direction or endpoint through natural selection.

Illustration by @keesey #science #history

Well, to some extent, the whole society is partying in the dessert as though it never rains there.

9 states restoring universal free lunch: good.

ALL kids, nationwide, having guaranteed meals: BETTER. MUCH BETTER.

Make universal free lunch nationwide.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/03/these-states-are-restoring-pandemic-era-free-school-meals-for-all-kids.html

“… And sin, young man, is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That’s what sin is.”

“It’s a lot more complicated than that.”

“No. It ain’t. When people say things are more complicated than that, they means they’re getting worried that they won’t like the truth. People as things, that’s where it starts.”

– Terry Pratchett

Community member 'Kat Allison' made a post about the deepest of deep dives into the history of a seemingly trivial phenomenon: a footbridge over a suburban freeway south of Minneapolis. At the same time, an amazing piece of citizen research and reporting on a bit of pre-internet local history.

www.metafilter.com/200490/I-just-published-a-wildly-over-researched-article

#bloomfieldbridge #bridge #citizenresearch #footbridge #history #minneapolis #minnesota #reporting

I miss written tutorials. I hate how every tutorial is a YouTube now. I don’t want to watch 15 minutes and forget to pay attention for the second that has the detail that I am missing or it just doesn’t show. Even short tutorials are 3 minutes when it could have been a ten second read. I want to skim a page and go directly to the point. Has writing really become that hard to do?

U.S. government poster, 1942

We often think of #memes as popular photos, videos, or phrases online. 

But the term “meme” was coined by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins to describe a behavior, style or idea as a unit of culture that can spread or disappear. From social movements to religion to Grumpy Cat.

Even though most folks may not be aware of it, we’re sharing a popular concept from #science, every single day, across #socialmedia.

A newly released collection of maps show how much land in US cities is used as parking lots.

According to The Parking Reform Network, Wichita KS is 35% parking lot while Las Vegas, NV is 32% and San Bernadino, CA is a brain-melting 49% parking lot.

Imagine the possibilities if people decided to take back most of that land from empty parked cars and use it for housing and green space instead? 🌳 🚶‍♀️ 🚴 👨‍👩‍👦 🌲

https://thehill.com/changing-america/resilience/smart-cities/4162455-paved-paradise-maps-show-how-much-of-us-cities-are-parking-lots/

-----
#urbanism #sustainability #green #cities #environment

Wow! Amazed that Hawaiian independence from the US is directly promoted in this NBC news article with multiple actual Native Hawaiians quoted on the topic!
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/hawaiian-sovereignty-undeniable-context-maui-fires-rcna100972

Global oceans are MUCH hotter now than at any time in recorded history.

This is definitely not normal. It's not 'natural'. It is a direct result of capitalism and consumerism, of human industry pumping nearly two trillion tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

That's the big picture. And there are other contributing factors as well, including sea ice loss and changes in the amount of air pollution, all of which is nicely explained in this article --

"The Ocean’s Fever"
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-21/ocean-tempertature-records-2023/102701172

#Science #Ocean #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency

SOURCE OF GRAPH -- https://climatereanalyzer.org/clim/sst_daily/

Here’s the story of how a 37-follower Twitter account seeded a propaganda narrative about Hawaii that made headlines around the world, thanks to a network of right-wing influencers — and amplification by both Russian and Chinese state media.

My latest — a very deep dive into a coordinated campaign:
#socialmedia #disinformation #propaganda
https://open.substack.com/pub/weaponizedspaces/p/russia-amplifies-right-wing-influence?r=1aupz&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post

Signs of collapse and signs of an ecological society emerging coexist right now, in my opinion. The news covers the scary parts, and we need to know, and not look away. But lets not miss the little shoots of a saner more connected ecological-social-economic system either. What's a hint of a life-sustaining society emerging you've seen of late?

I like to make sure almost every line of code I write is under a commercially friendly OS license (usually Apache 2) for genuinely selfish reasons: I never want to have to solve that problem ever again, so OS licensing my code now ensures I can use it for the rest of my life no matter who I happen to be working for in the future

Bike-friendly infrastructure goes hand in hand with public transit, which can and should be wheelchair accessible, much more than taxis or private cars. And then e-bikes add a whole class of people who can’t comfortably ride a regular bike but aren’t ready to use a mobility scooter to the group of people who can zip around the city independently. I’ve seen so many disability accommodations on bikes here, even bikes driven by arm power as well as recumbent and tricycle bikes.

I was thinking about Blue Zones. If you don't know what they are, they are areas in the world where people traditionally live longer than average. People tend to focus on the diets of these people trying to suss out the secret of their longevity. Their diets are full of vegetables, beans, lean protein, whole grains, and healthy fats (you know, that crazy stuff our doctors are always talking about, when we mention some new fad diet), but it's only part of the picture. The Blue Zones are Okinawa, Ikaria, Sardinia, Nicoya Peninsula, and Loma Linda. What truly set them apart is they live in surroundings that nudge them toward good behaviors. The streets are built for people, not cars, they naturally move every hour, eating is more communal, slower, with conversation. They have fewer mechanical conveniences, this promotes more activities as a community. Being alone isn't the same option as it is in most modern lives. The Community is necessary to thrive. Health and longevity is about so much more than what you eat. But most of us don't live in communities like this, so how do we change this?

Glasgwegians are proud to welcome so many athletes to the city for the UCI Cycling World Championships, but Shell’s Greenwashing is certainly not welcome here.

XR Glasgow highlighted its disgust at the ongoing relationship between oil giant Shell and British Cycling, the UK’s main governing body of cycle sport.

Shell shouldn’t have anything to do with cycling, and we feel for any competitor having to bear the dirty shell on their shoulder.

"Anything that can't go on forever will eventually stop." When the reckoning finally reaches the wealthy, when the accounting eventually arrives for the plutocrats, when the people finally force the klept to pay up, they will say here is where that reckoning began.

@pluralistic details the Sackler's brazen bankruptcy:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/11/justice-delayed/#justice-redeemed