- Rick Roderick (youtube). Late Texan philosophy professor. This video is start of a series about finding personal meaning in contemporary life. Interesting for many reasons, not the least of which is his thick texan drawl, which busts my stereotype of what a philosophy lecturer sounds like.
- I’ve also been enjoying John Vervaeke’s massive youtube series Awakening From The Meaning Crisis. The first 25 episodes or so are a meaning-oriented tour through the history of philosophy, religion, and science, primarily in the West. Feels like Vervaeke’s doing important work, and he’s clearly well read and researched.
- Congress passed the huge IRA bill, which spends a lot on solar and American industrial production of renewables. Lots of money to households as well.
Explainer of household savings, and video explainer of the bill overall.
- The Case For Nationalizing American Fuel Industries Right Now (2021). Not sure about this, given solar is already below the cost per kWh of coal or natural gas.
- A Chemical Hunger. Huge blog series about the potential causes of obesity. Touches on many subjects, and drives hard towards a theory of environmental toxins explaining a huge amount of the modern obesity endemic. The series points to three likely contaminants: animal antibiotics, PFAS, and lithium. We don’t know what kinds of toxins we’re producing and consuming in a lot of cases. There’s a role for responsible government regulation of industry to protect all of us.
- What Causes Chronic Disease. Taking a different stance and focusing on diseases other than obesity, this research points towards vegetable oils as a primary culprit.
- Drapetomania. Samuel A. Cartwright (c. 1850s) believed slave life was so pleasant, that only the mentally ill would want to run away. Cartwright also vocally opposed germ theory. So, wrong on at least two counts.
I quite like Jake Seliger’s ‘links’ posts on his blog, and intend to attempt something similar. Here we go!
Viraj's Notebook 