The Root Simple 2016 Holiday Gift Guide

...ted landscapes. Along with Taleb and Kat Anderson’s Tending the Wild, this book should be on the bookshelf of all gardeners and permaculturalists. A New History of Western Philosophy If, like me, you managed to get through school without a shred of philosophical training, do yourself a favor and take a stab at this book. Kenny writes clearly, though I won’t say that the whole book is easy going. But just grasp a fraction of the content of this boo...

Read…

Little Library Walks

...urse, find many more unofficial libraries out in the wild. I seldom take a book and usually regret when I do. You can often guess why a book no longer “sparked joy” in the owner’s life and ended up in a Little Free Library. Case in point: Aziz Ansari’s book of dating advice. But I have, occasionally, found some really interesting books such as a catalog of the works of the artist Gordon Matta-Clark and a guide to Los Angeles’ dive bars. I also had...

Read…

Reader Feedback About Facebook

...id, as is not surprising for a homesteading blog, many have never used Facebook or have pulled the plug on Facebook entirely. An anonymous commentor said, I’ve never used Facebook in any real way. At one point about 10 years ago I created a fake account with random profile answers for those rare occasions when I was forced to log in to view something specific. I deleted that some time ago. Once in a blue moon I might still visit a page to look up...

Read…

Saturday Linkages: Grains, Collapse and Mangoes

...la.com/2014/03/bulletin-board-new-little-free-library-in-silver-lake-seeks-book-donations/ … What if Everything You Knew About Grains Was Wrong? http://shar.es/B37xj Pot grow light interferes with HAM radio bands: http://www.arrl.org/news/view/arrl-to-fcc-grow-light-ballast-causes-hf-interference-violates-rules … Granjas urbanas ganan terreno en Los Ángeles http://tinyurl.com/ozxeley How sustainable is digital fabrication? http://www.lowtechmagazi...

Read…

Dystopia Report: The I-710 Corridor Aesthetic Master Plan

...reeway builder’s utopian promise of speed and liberty delivers, instead, exurban sprawl, congestion and waves of urban decay and gentrification. That utopian vision of Freeway building is personified in mid-century figures like Robert Moses and the city fathers of early 20th century Los Angeles. But Jameson goes on to question, “does anyone believe in progress any longer? . . . are the architects and urbanists still passionately at work on Utopian...

Read…