Been a student. Been a clerk. Been a salesperson. Been a manager. Been a teacher. Been an expatriate. Am a husband, father, and chronicle.
From my review:
"This is one of those rare books that changes what I think a book can be.
“A beautiful meditation on the human condition as coupled to the — so-called — “Overwatch Effect.” It took me a while to catch the rhythm of the book, but once I was in, I was in.”
I read it just after it won the Booker Prize. But, I didnt know it had won the Booker Prize when I read it.
Someone handed me Gravity’s Rainbow after finding out I’d read Blood Meridian. He said the words, “only you” after handing me the book as he was leaving the country.
I tried. Fuck me I goddam tried.
That really is too bad. Dukat is an excellent antagonist.
Character: Frank Underwood
Actor: Kevin Spacey
He really was just playing himself. Power is the only language they speak.
Character: Wonder Woman
Actor: Gal Godot
A cold, invulnerable, classic beauty whose persona screams “I’m better than everyone.” Not sure whether I’m talking about Diana Prince or Gal Godot.
Finally…
As much as Rogan annoys me, I encountered his character on NewsRadio before I encountered him on the podcast. He was supposed to be a blunt object to contrast the others’ as radio personalities, businesspeople, and reporters.
A question, then. To whom were enslaved persons being sold? Within Africa, it was expensive in terms of time and resources. No plantations, no national- or international-scale socioeconomic reinforcing the institution.
The biggest slave traders were from Africa
That, my friend, was not on an industrial scale until the Europeans created a transnational market for it.
Yes, slavery is a part of many histories. Prisoners of conflicts, poverty, inter-family disputes, etc. led to people being enslaved. It was also normal, to the point of socially reinforced, to free slaves. This was known as manumission.
The transatlantic trafficking in humans, and the perpetual enslavement of their descendents was on a scale unlike anything before. They were the “biggest” slave traders only if/when you neglect all the descendents born into bondage. That is a virtually unique stain on human history.
Further, in virtually every society on earth, it was not “race-based” bondage. It was debt-bondage or honour-bondage as an alternative to being killed in battle. There was a path to freedom, and a comparatively short one compared to institutionalized slavery.
This is monstrous, but the first Europeans going to Western Africa to enslave people. It must have been clumsy, awkward, brutal, violent, and coercive. In short, one of humanity’s most callous, idiotic moves.
If I could interact (using modern tech), I’d sink every one of those ships with mines and drones. I’d monitor boats from space. I’d send a few of the slavers back knowing — and telling — only that enslavement will destroy them and Africa is not theirs to exploit.
The rest who survive would be taken care of, taught the strengths of diversity, other cultures, and West African ways of living. They would be the welcome wagon for any Europeans to return. Their tasks: stave off invasion, disrupt slaving activity, open negotiations with Europe. Undo the scourge of that institution and the attendant supremacy that followed.
Then, I’d set the same protections for the Americas. Unfortunately, Asia is accessible over land and contact predates my selected moment.
IDGAF if — as consequence — it sets human development back by 400 years of labour, resource exploitation, and “progress”. It’s worth it.
If you really want some solid Graeber, who tag-teamed with archaeologist David Wengrow, read The Dawn of Everything.
The cake is a lie and hierarchy is horseshit. Humans have left exploitative social structures (read: empires, Capitalism) and reorganized society before and we can do it again. There is physical evidence for thousands of years.
Number 11 is my fave. But, still, number 8 was perfect.
I’m only 100 pp. in, about 30%. Ill try to remember to reach back out as I cross that threshold.
Oo boy, I may have bitten off more than I can chew this week. Let’s see here:
Anthropause by Stan Cox — rationale for gearing economies for degrowth.
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin — needs no introduction in this place.
Into the Blue by Emma Brodie — my partner’s request and my current audiobook
The Art of War by Sun Tzu — a re-read of this 2500 year old field guide.
Not that I’m aware of. However, there was that one giraffe, Gracie, who escaped in Texas. Fortunately she was found, weeks later. Then, someone took it upon themself to dig into the story.
"Sometime during the day on June 12, she “put on her rock climbing shoes,” said Johnson, and scampered across the cliff face to freedom.
"Gracie’s natural camouflage perfectly suited the area’s dense mix of cedars and brush.
"Then, fifteen days after her disappearance, Gracie was spotted, “fat and happy,” a few miles from her home—first on a neighboring ranch’s game camera and then by helicopter. So began the hard work of capturing and relocating her. As Johnson put it, “You don’t just push a giraffe into your pickup.”
"She was **lightly sedated from the air via tranquilizer dart. ** The team then attached a halter line, eye mask, muzzle, and earplugs (befitting her “rounded ears,” which became a fascination to those following online) and loaded her into the trailer, which was carefully towed by a Jeep through goat trails, rivers, and ravine crossings and under low-hanging branches cut by the team as they drove. Once loaded onto the main giraffe trailer, she made it back to Cedar Hollow, her odyssey complete.
“Jones called me the morning before with the news that Gracie’s owner had stepped in. This owner “has never told me how to run this ranch,” explained Jones, but when they heard a writer was coming out, they instructed Jones to proceed with “extreme caution,” seemingly due to the overwhelming attention recently heaped on Cedar Hollow.”
I admit I’m cherry-picking. But, still.
All I’m saying is that if I was Gracie, in that situation, I’d want the option. Being bagged and tagged in Texas, imprisoned in a place that heaps tragedies, held captive in a country not my own, one that deports its refugees with glee… yeah. No thanks. As a theee-year old giraffe I’d want out.
Even permanently.
I’m just impressed that Im not the only one who’s seen this movie. I own one of the (probably) few remaining DVDs.
No, I was talking about the timing.
Sounds like you know something about this giraffe’s troubles.
Early in YouTubeland (circa 2008-2010) there was a user called AntiConsumer. Content was all taken down and the profile disappeared.
I’d love to know where to find some of that material now. There were clips from documentaries, ads, lectures and more. Might have seen my first bits of Michael Parenti there. Im pretty sure that my firat exposure to Wesley Clark’s “7 countries in 5 years” talk was from there.
Its never a good time for this joke. That said, some jokes are told so people start to pay attention.
Pay attention now.
When Ms. Rachel jumps in and speaks on it, you know what time it is.
Black people are being lynched in America. Again.
This is indicative of America’s rot; capitalizing on its moral superiority while, simultaneously, engaging the base, grotesque trappings of power and wealth. Racial, sexual, and national categorization guiding policy. It ends in lynching. Then, as now.
America was forced, from within, three times, to end this conduct: the disregard for BIPOC people as people.
Lynching of free Black Americans began with the end slavery. From day damn 1. With varying frequency, throughout US history, Black people are murdered in public. “And justice for all” rings hollow. The promise of American freedom perverted.
Free Americans murder subsets of Americans. It perverts freedom and denies justice.
In 1864, a slaver (hard R), could destroy any of his own property. Including enslaved humans; property under law. The Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 meant to remedy this. Texas finally received General Order No. 3 on Juneteeth, 1865.
On 21 June 1964, a mob (made mostly of male good ol’ boys) police-Klansmen could hunt and kill a Black person and his two Jewish friends. It was then up to law-men; police, Sherrifs’ departments, district attorneys, and governors to determine whether investigations would proceed against lynchers. Mississippi burned.
The US Civil Rights Act of 1964, changed this, 3 231 days after the "the last classical lynching (as recorded by the Tuskegee Institute)."¹ 12 days after the last lynching for which convictions were obtained. Is it a crime if none are ever convicted?
Sidebar: there is a Federal statute, the Emmitt Till Antilynching Act, on the books in the US. Guess when it was passed. 29 March 2022.
In 2014, Officer Daniel Pantaleo choked Eric Garner to death in Staten Island, NY. The Grand jury declined to indict. This police killing is often cited alongside the police killing of George Floyd on 25 May 2020.
Is it a crime when there is no conviction?
George Zimmerman. Not convicted. Kyle Rittenhouse. Not convicted. How many killings makes a pattern? 100? 1 000? 1 000 000?
I bet there’s a website with 100. Found it.
Picture this: An America that sends badges to hunt immigrants. En masse. An ever expanding, ever voracious prison system seeking inmates, convicts, and victims. Police with qualified immunity. Many bad apples. Many broken people. Many violent acts. An America always vigilant against attack.
When ‘Stand Your Ground’ and vigilance meet, there are problems.
Now, what qualifies as a lynching? Exercising State power is excused; from Presidents all the way down the chains to police officers. There is a classical form. A spate of black people hanging from trees since 2025 isn’t lynching. Right?
Right?
Pay attention.
¹https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynching_in_the_United_States. Accessed 20 August 2026.
Indian food is right up there in my food heaven with Thai, Chinese, Korean, Mediterranean (Turkish, Lebanese, Greek) and Jamaican breakfasts, beef patties, roti, and jerk everything.
Why do you suppose humans aren’t well equipped to deal with negative emotions? Also, why do you suppose people have so many more negative emotions than we did in the past?
I’m nearing the half century mark. I work in education. I used to work in sales and retail. I’ve traveled to most corners of the planet. I read widely. I can attest, humans aren’t well equipped to deal with negative emotions and people have so many more negative emotions than we did in the past. This is the Internet.
Also, I’m not shitting on therapy. Therapy is keeping the wheels on this bus I’m riding. That said, therapy often fails at addressing underlying causes precisely because the dreck we exist in — and are forced to wade through — drives us back to therapy.
“It is no measure of health to be well-adjusted in a profoundly sick society.” ~ attributed to Jiddu Krishnamurti
It is the kind of work environment that attracts people just itching to use the terms “war”, “woke”, and “pansies” in the same sentence.
Not saying anything about you, in particular. Just identifying the accuracy of your characterization.
I think those who want to be part of a professional military are not primarily interested in the use of force, wars of choice, or projecting power. They are interested in deterrence, discipline, and a duty to protect.
I’ll not give a source, but on good authority, they’re very fed up with the very stupid approach of this administration. They refuse to call it, “the Department of War.”
In the same conversation, my source said that they were happy in 2021 because, “the adults were back in charge.”
I got 200 pages into Gödel Escher Bach, meaning to pick it up again. And yet, still, it sits on my shelf daring me to read it.
It’s been 11 years.