Go to bed early and save coal.
Author Archives: swany
Modern Mechanix: “Harvest time is approaching on the Black River at Carthage, where the New York Railroad cuts an annual crop of natural ice. It will cool next summer’s milk cars, passengers’ drinking water, and be used in cabooses for the convenience of freight-train crews.”
Guide to the Future
According to an illustrious rocket scientist of the post-von-Braun era, in the future we can:
EXPECT MORE: Reading; story-telling; gardening; connection with nature; community; fishing; whittling; lemonade; sitting on the front porch; cross-breezes; seasonal adjustment; blankets; wool socks; sweaters; connection to sunrise/sunset; local governance; mom & pop stores; crafts; goats and chickens; bicycles; train rides; pies cooling on the sill; music; singing and playing musical instruments; rain catchment; canning; craftsmanship; repair; durable goods.
EXPECT LESS: Waiting for airplanes; commuting; abstract/meaningless jobs; Wal-Mart; fast food; strip malls; four-car families; climate change; dominance of banks; capital gains; disposable junk; junk mail; species extinction; minibar charges; traffic jams; identity theft; freeway noise; advertisements; consumerism; faddish gizmos; cheap plastic crap; outsourcing; industrial effluent; credit card debt.
Famine Foods
Purdue University: “Plants that are not normally considered as crops are consumed in times of famine.”
Rocky Mountain High
“Everything that makes the town tick is in danger of unraveling. The ski industry can’t possibly survive the eventual effects of peak oil, and the collapse of commercial aviation will put an end to the conveyer belt of tourists.”
— James Kunstler, referring to Aspen, Colorado
Réseau Express Régional
Video of a ride on the Paris transit system, heading from downtown along the Seine towards Issy les Molineaux. Cast: Three siblings (two in reverse) and the gesticulating mate of one.
Why scratch?
Crusty scalp, itchy rectal irritations, externally caused pimples. The very model of a modern major general. And he was an orphan boy.
Tunnel Mountain
View northeast towards the town of Banff from Sulphur Mountain, reminiscent of the waning eons of the last Ice Age.
Small arms
Cyber-heritage. Why the military budget is so high.