Venus Bivar
@vbivar.bsky.social
🇨🇦 Historian of capitalism, pollution, Marseille, farming, land use, plastics, climate, and economic growth; misanthrope; hockey player; expert baker; amateur gardener; works at St Anne's College at Oxford; lives in York (the old one).
Polycrisis with @70sbachchan.bsky.social and @katemac.bsky.social have launched a podcast and it is so so very good. Nice and short 30-minute episodes on the New Electric World Order. thepolycrisis.org/tag/podcasts/
Podcasts - The Polycrisis
thepolycrisis.org
Anyone among my followers able to recommend a book about the prehistory of Malta?
My plum tree just snapped under the weight of its fruit. I was too greedy 😥 Meanwhile @agatafijalkow.bsky.social is posting about her plum jam. Clearly she had better sense when thinning the fruit.
My hiatus was wonderful. Now I'm back to work and I'm here to report that there is nothing quite so depressing as opening the Zotero file for your current research project and realising that the ratio between books read and books yet to read is way way off ...
Sad Cartoon Character Sitting
ALT: Sad Cartoon Character Sitting
static.klipy.com
I need an internet break. The doom-scrolling is getting to be too much. If you need me, go old-school, and shoot me an email. I'll be at home with my dog, my garden, and my mister, working on my Marseille book.
This is kind of an incredible website: Why your stuff stopped lasting, who profited, and what's still built right.
Worse on Purpose
The brands you trusted quietly gutted quality to protect margins. Investigative essays on corporate enshittification. Free newsletter.
worseonpurpose.com
Check it out @johnmunro.bsky.social and @davidho.bsky.social: the train station in Marseille has a vending machine full of bike accessories.
Sebastien Hebray@paysagiste.bsky.social · 3w agoIl faut que je vois ça de plus près… un distributeur de matos 🚲 ! Gare Saint Charles #Marseille
This is glorious. You will laugh very hard.
Marit 👹@maritstensby.bsky.social · 2w agoWhat is it with dogs and sticks! 🐕😂
Oh hi Marseille. 10 o'clock and it only *just* dipped below 90 degrees (32 celsius). It's going to be a tough few days ... Good thing this city is a beauty.
We've known Baba and Marcy (the couple in this article) for around 20 years. They lost their home and all their belongings in the Eaton Fire in Altadena, CA, and are battling insurance companies to pay what they're owed. Please share widely www.latimes.com/california/s...
Fire survivors were finally ready to rebuild homes. A new barrier is leaving them 'demoralized'
Fire survivors in Altadena and Pacific Palisades say they're running into another rebuilding roadblock: mortgage lenders delaying or denying insurance funds that have been allocated for their construc...
latimes.com
So much for England's 'green and pleasant land'. Climate change has made it brown and crispy. Took this at the dog park last night.
« Climate tipping, therefore, will manifest as a period of increasingly dramatic weather volatility, rather than a sharp shift in average conditions. »
Prof. Anders Levermann, PhD@alevermann.bsky.social · 3w agoI think we, climate physicists, have overlooked something with respect to climatic instabilities... their effect on weather variability... I believe this will be the main problem for our society and economy for the next three generations to come... at least... www.nature.com/articles/d41...
I like going home to Canada, but my god, the red-eye back to England, followed by a long train ride, is just so so painful.
Sleepy Baby Wakes Up Crying
ALT: Sleepy Baby Wakes Up Crying
static.klipy.com
Anyone out there using the Zettelkasten method? Someone just told me about it and I just researched it, and it sounds cool, but also sounds like it will take ages to learn it and I could write an entire chapter in that time....
Great Derangement indeed. I just can't understand why people are using AI to plan holidays, write emails, and generate recipes while experiencing the hottest summer on record. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Datacentres drive up big tech’s carbon emissions to a third of those of France
Microsoft, Amazon and Google say they still aim to achieve net zero output despite construction boom
theguardian.com
Well this is a beautiful read. Tag an adult friend: @eldrclaire.bsky.social, @momoulton.bsky.social, @olegb.bsky.social, @danceoldvinyl.bsky.social, @fredrikjonsson.bsky.social, @samwetherell.bsky.social, @ajoykelly.bsky.social, and everyone else I forgot! Pick up the phone! Call me out of the blue!
Jean Beaman@jean23bean.bsky.social · 4w agoGreat piece from @70sbachchan.bsky.social and @katemac.bsky.social: "Heat waves tend to attract less attention than the charismatic megafauna of climate disasters—the floods, storms and wildfires—in part because they cause less property damage and are thus less obviously financially costly."
Scorched Earth - Phenomenal World
Programming Note: In addition to this monthly newsletter, Kate and Tim are regularly publishing dispatches and putting out podcasts, which you can find at thepolycrisis.org. This summer’s heat waves h...
phenomenalworld.org
Somehow in my relocation to Canada I missed the Count Binface thing and while I know it is related to Farage and the money and the by-election, I don't know what it is. Presumably this is not a real person? Can someone explain in a short skeet?
Has the world yet invented an e-reader for PDFs that allows aging eyes to make said PDFs bigger?
Last night I dreamt that I was giving a response to @adamtooze.bsky.social on economic growth, in a very large lecture hall, and after fumbling my opening, I rambled on for a bit and then just wrapped up and left, berating myself for not having better prepared. Friends. It's time for term to end.
I just started the Pitt and why is Dr. Robby riding a motorcycle without a helmet????? Even worse, said helmet is attached to the back of the bike.
I was just told by @rpanchasi.bsky.social that 'You have to use your down time to stay down'. And grrrrl this is wisdom right there.
Historians: Did Ranke say that archives are a virgin? I imagine he did not. But am having a hard time fact checking this with the internet. Seems like maybe he said that virgin archives were exciting, but that's it for the virgin metaphor?
I am not following the football, but more of this Mbappé please.
Resign, Carney. ⚜️@lalegault.bsky.social · last mo.Why Kylian Mbappé is the kind of role model that sports desperately needs right now. This is on top of his refusal to take any sports betting companies’ sponsorship deals. He leads by example and France 🇫🇷 is lucky to have him.
'As such' as an incorrect substitute for 'As a result' is my new impact as a transitive verb. Lord help me.
My wrists are toast. Voice recognition software recs please. Must work with MacBook and Word. Bonus if I can use it for web browsing as well.
Froid: Arthrite de la main
ALT: Froid: Arthrite de la main
static.klipy.com
Well this was super interesting - a comparison of Amazon and Costco, as well as a meditation on what does and does not work for the social good. @samwetherell.bsky.social you might like this given your interest in infrastructure! phenomenalworld.org/analysis/the...
Benjamin Fong | The Anti-Amazon
Costco's model and the future of retail
phenomenalworld.org
