D&F 9/8/24
It’s Tinker Tailor time in this house. I’ve been on a Le Carré book and movie kick recently after buying his entire bibliography earlier this year. There’s something delightfully autumnal about English spy novels, so really I’m just preparing for October. With my Japan plans made, and my bike fitness largely back, things are looking up.
Today, Rory and I took our friend Jonathan on his first (nearly) 100k ride, and he survived—even putting in some fast times near the end while Rory and I were relaxing in the back. It’s fun to see a friend get deep into a hobby, which means J’s move from ebike to acoustic (he bought an old one of mine) as he races past my climbing times on various courses is rad.
Links
On the topic of Japan, Craig Mod wrote about another Japanese town, and hopefully sent Japanese tourism skyrocketing, just like Morioka. I love these little towns and how Craig tells their stories. One of the best things about visiting Japan is getting to see many of these places as the slowly move from dying shutter-town to younger art and coffee-filled retreats from the grind of Tokyo. We will visit many of these towns on the upcoming bike ride.
I’m pretty sure this is the best thing anarchists have done since maybe Spain? Being able to make life-saving and life-changing drugs for yourself or community while disrupting the profits of the ghouls of big pharmaceutical? Count me in. I’m trying to convince all my chem and bio friends to get into anarchic DIY drug manufacturing ASAP.
Talking about how cars fucked-up our cities in America is a habit of mine, so you’ll excuse me if I indulge again, this time vicariously. Nolan captures all the high points of this topic well, and while it’s not exactly hopeful, he douse see a slow change coming wherein we no longer drive every damn where.
Never will they “walk” to a “corner store.” Always will they drive to a Target. If there were ever any beautiful nature along the way, now there is only highway and billboards and shredded semi truck tires on the side of the road. Sad.
At XOXO Molly talked about making a different web again. By creating independent blogs and websites we can create content for each other that isn’t dependent on advertisement and hockey-stick growth. There’s a lot of fun out there that comes from sharing our hobbies, interests, and knowledge online outside of the gatekeepers like Facebook and X. Perhaps it’s nostalgic as she states:
It may be that we are, at least in part, yearning for the days when logging on to the internet was less likely to mean going to work or paying a bill and more likely to mean playing Runescape or hoping that the green circle on AIM would light up next to the name of our crush after school.
But whether it’s nostalgia or a much-needed return to form, I love reading my friend’s newsletters, and blog posts as often as the release them. If you don’t have on yet, there are a lot of easy ways to create a home on the web you own and can simply write and update at your will.
Closing
For now, I’m back to my spy movie and giving much-needed attention to Snorri after being gone all day, poor guy. He’s currently standing on my chest and stomach while I attempt to write around him so I know it’s time to wrap things up. Find a home online, get to cycling, and make drugs in your basement, space cowgirls~