Kind: Reads

Read Community of Gardens (CJ Eller)

Part of the Blogging Futures course blogchain. Feel free to participate! The garden metaphor is a compelling vision for what a blog can …

Reading CJ Eller’s quick thought on a community of gardens. The idea is that to a small degree we might be responsible for the upkeep of others’ sites, such that our digital gardens are not quite so fenced off from each other. It sounds like something more than simply commenting on others’ posts. It’s a nice phrase, kind of a form of networked learning.

The garden metaphor is a compelling vision for what a blog can be. It implies that our thoughts can grow over time with the right kind of nurturing care.

[…] But sometimes it feels as though these gardens are enclosed. Sure, a blog might allow comments, but this feels as though we are operating on a layer above the soil. Are others planting anything new, tending to the weeds in our garden, or are they talking to us from the fence that separates our garden from them?

– Community of Gardens — CJ Eller

A community of gardens

Read Coronavirus Is the Perfect Disaster for ‘Disaster Capitalism’ (Vice)

Naomi Klein explains how governments and the global elite will exploit a pandemic.

Heritage Foundation met and came up with a wish list of “pro-free market” solutions to Katrina. We can be sure that exactly the same kinds of meetings will happen now— in fact, the person who chaired the Katrina group was Mike Pence.

Disaster capitalism is how private industries spring up to directly profit from a crisis.  The article doesn’t really give much examples here, but a couple we’ve seen already are the attempt to profit from vaccine patents, and medical equipment manufacturers hiding behind patents to keep schematics closed.

Disaster capitalism and coronavirus

Read Protect the planet with these sustainable and repairable phones (Android Central)

A modular phone lets you connect accessories to add new features make it even better. Here are the best choices right now.

Good article on ethical/repairable options for smartphones.  Of course the most ethical phone is the one you already have, but… good to see some interest in the repairability of newer phones.  Teracube is interesting with their very reasonable flat fee for repairs for 4 years.

https://www.androidcentral.com/best-sustainable-repairable-phones

Repairable phones

Read The Circular Economy Blueprint paves the way for a Right to Repair in Europe by Chloé Mikolajczak (repair.eu)

The European Commission’s Circular Economy Action Plan unveiled today hits all the right notes to make ‘right to repair’ a reality in Europe. Promises will now need to be matched with concrete initiatives.

Right to Repair was included in the European Commission’s Circular Economy Action Plan.  This is great news – first steps towards making repair commonplace in Europe (again…)

https://repair.eu/news/circular-economy-action-plan/

Circular Economy Action Plan

Read Fixers Know What ‘Repairable’ Means—Now There’s a Standard for It (ifixit.com)

Last week, three years of arguing with industry finally paid off, as the European standard EN45554 was published. This official document with an unexciting name details ”general methods for the assessment of the ability to repair, reuse and upgrade energy-related products.” In plain English, it?…

A standard for measuring how easy it is to repair stuff. Accepted as a European standard.

If products were labelled with it, you could make an informed choice on buying a product that will be easy to repair when it breaks.

https://www.ifixit.com/News/35879/repairability-standard-en45554

#RightToRepair

Repairability standard

Read New report! How ecodesign & energy labelling can prevent premature obsolescence of laptops (ECOS – European Environmental Citizens Organisation for Standardisation)

The proliferation of electronic devices which are difficult to repair and whose lifespans are shortening, contributes to one of the fastest growing waste streams in the EU.

Long live the machine – a great policy paper on things that the EU could do to force manufacturers to make laptops last longer.

https://ecostandard.org/news_events/new-report-how-ecodesign-energy-labelling-can-prevent-premature-obsolescence-of-laptops/

Long live the machine

Read Arise, Sir Food Bank by Frances Ryan (tribunemag.co.uk)

Knighting Iain Duncan Smith – the man responsible for Universal Credit, the bedroom tax and ‘fit for work’ tests – shows just how much contempt the establishment has for ordinary people.

What a stitch-up. Man who has presided over the significant worsening of many people’s lives – here, have a knighthood.

https://tribunemag.co.uk/2019/12/arise-sir-food-bank

#shitesoftherealm

Shite of the realm

Read In Defence of Salford by Ronan Burtenshaw and Marcus Barnett (tribunemag.co.uk)

The Murdoch press has started its attacks on Rebecca Long Bailey and her Salford ‘mafia’. It’s not hard to figure out why – Salford is a proud and radical working-class community that points the way forward for the Labour Left in 2020.

Nice little article about Salford, socialism and Rebecca Long Bailey – obviously Tribune’s pick for next Labour leader. She’s already being hammered by the right-wing press.

Interesting description of Salford as “somewhere between the Manchester metropolis and the surrounding Lancashire towns” – obviously geographically, but politically too, hadn’t really thought about it like that before.

https://tribunemag.co.uk/2019/12/in-defence-of-salford/

Salford, socialism and Rebecca Long Bailey

Read Autonomous by Annalee Newitz ( )
I finished the book Autonomous by Annalee Newitz a couple of weeks back.

It was pretty good. Fun and easy to read and keeps you turning the pages. Interesting themes of free culture, here focused on open sourcing / reverse engineering pharmaceuticals. And the lengths to which those in control of intellectual property rights will go to enforce them.

Interesting side story of human / robot romance and gender identity.

Read Autonomous by Annalee Newitz