Status:
This quarter’s Rabbiting On from the RWAF arrived which is always a pleasure and I spent the afternoon flicking through it. As I’ve mentioned before it’s a mix of rabbit care advice and really gruesome veterinary photos, all wrapped in a graphic design that looks like a magazine for kids who are obsessed with cute fluffy bunnies. In many ways it perfectly reflects the rabbit community: deadly serious advocacy from the sort of people who enjoy talking in baby voices to silent prey animals. I love the magazine but even after all these years – and it’s been years – I remain fascinated by it.
Otherwise a rest & restore day after the yesterday’s excitements. Weather was surprisingly warm so we put the big sail shade over the dome, and I caught up with a neighbour who hadn’t been out in her garden for a while. She gave me a leftover tonne-sack. Nice.
Reading:
- Our cities are choked by cars – here’s how experts would fix them — Nothing particularly new here but always nice to have a plain-language list of the basics available to share.
- Why do Oregon farms plant red clover every spring? — Not specific to Oregon, clover is a great way to not only get nitrogen into the soil but also prevent erosion out of season by ensuring there are live roots holding the soil together.
- Litter in hedgehog nests — Plastic and other anthropogenic materials might not be a problem but more research is needed. Research which is being done by Katie Crawford who not the same person as AI researcher Kate Crawford.
- What is Birmingham’s political future? — Short answer, nobody knows, but this is a nicely concise explainer as to why nobody knows. (One correction though, not all of the independents are aligned with the Workers Party, so there’s potential wiggle room.)
- What happens when a ‘paper candidate’ actually wins — A good friend of ours does this for the LibDems in our ward. He stands no chance of winning but it allows the party to say they have candidates across the region. We were joking that given the splits and uncertainty this year he might accidentally win. He came fifth, much to his relief.
Listening:
- Empire: Liberator of Latin America pt 2: Napoleon & The Legions of Hell — One thing I’ve been surprised about when listening to history stuff is how wrong I am about when Napoleon was doing his thing. While I know that the French and American revolutions happened in the same generation and shared a few actors, I always think of Napoleon as being before all that, which is utterly nonsensical. Maybe it’s because he looks pre-modern with his horse and sword? Anyway, spoiler that the Legions of Hell are not controlled by Napoleon, they’re a different thing.