Tag: defensible spaces
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Not convinced it’s better
After one week with this new Win 11 computer, I’ve managed to work around SOME of the stupid shit, but it’s still a worse machine in every way than the old Win 7 computer. Every program starts slower, runs slower, and places more obstacles in my path. Linux is not the answer. My most important…
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Compete by tradition, not by innovation
People who should know better are pushing Innovative Disruption. Each city and country “must” compete to enrich Sam Altman and destroy civilization. NO. Competing to make Sam Altman richer will make you poorer and lose everything that makes you special. If you want to improve your OWN city or country, boost and expand your OWN…
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Sorting out
Spokane News asked if people feel safe downtown. Sorting out the usual FB cacophony: People who are accustomed to dealing with violence feel safe there. Others don’t feel safe. There’s a GENUINE change in the last few years. I’m not tough at all, but I used to enjoy being downtown. I worked downtown in the…
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Printed before written
I linked this story of the Cherokee syllabary in previous item. It’s worthwhile at the current moment, so reprinting it from 2023. = = = = = START 2023 REPRINT: Okie blogger K. Latham posted an interesting brief feature on the Cherokee Advocate, a weekly paper in Tahlequah that was first founded in 1844. I…
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Vector fields
Vector fields are a math tool used in graphing and understanding sets of forces or complex patterns. Vector fields have proved useful with brain networks. Older forms of measurement were also vectorial, with complex measures like metes and bounds forming vector fields to measure farm fields. A vector is an arrow representing a movement and…
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Farm focus to the next level
Many stations in rural states focused on farming. WIBW in Topeka, my nighttime companion in the 50s, devoted most of its mornings to agriculture and timeshared the frequency with KSAC, the all-ag station at K-State. WEKZ in Monroe, Wisconsin took farm focus to a new level. They owned and operated a farm right next to…
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A GREAT hero has died.
Via the TV station where he spent his career, Gary England has died. He saved more lives than most politicians and CEOs have killed. He was the first weatherman to use doppler radar, and spent his life educating and organizing people about tornados and severe weather. If there’s a heaven, Gary England is now in…
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Storefrontizing
I doubt this is a specific policy, but it’s still an interesting development. Via Enid Buzz, the county district attorney is moving into the old Anthonys department store on the downtown square. Anthonys was the only department store where I enjoyed shopping. I still use a kitchen knife bought there in 1974. Anthonys was ruthlessly…
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Post office podcast
The Postal Service has a long series of podcasts. They’ve been producing these half-hour programs for 4 years; I just now heard about it. Great listening for an analog fan and an FDR fan. The post office is one of the best parts of the mainly fucked federal government, true to the FDR spirit. It…
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What the web lost
Yesterday I was discussing the web’s GAIN of available information compared to the pre-digital age. There are also LOSSES in functionality compared to the digital pre-web era. Today’s courseware work reminds me again of what we lost when programs switched from Windows to the web. The text’s author wants me to bring back part of…
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Opposite options
Carney starts this speech with all options are on the table. He’s using the phrase oppositely from US leaders. When we say all options, we’re preparing to attack an innocent country that tried to be friendly. Trump is continuing the classic US mode with his attack on Canada. Canada hasn’t attacked us since 1812, and…
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Happy Blogday 20!
This month is the 20th anniversary of Polistra’s Mill. In the earlier years I marked each anniversary. The first entry was dated March 1, 2005. I started writing at Blogspot on March 14, and imported the previous two weeks from a brief attempt at blogging on LiveJournal. The tenth year seems to be the last…
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Brutalist typography
This 1970s film is teaching journalism students about proper design. It’s unapologetically brutalist, in the same denaturing spirit as Corbusier in architecture or Cage in music. Remove all beauty. Remove all decorations. Remove all variation and improvisation. Only stark colorless rectangles are allowed. Replace it with squared-off type masses… Short words, short sentences and short…
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Long overdue
In previous item I noted that CKWX in Vancouver was using a British Anglia truck for its remote broadcasts in 1953. Canada was still close to the Commonwealth. In 1965 the first “free trade” treaty began the process of dismantling Canadian sovereignty and pulling Canada away from the Sovereign. Here’s the CKWX truck in 1966:…
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Amazingly good
Trudeau’s response to Trump’s pointless lunacy is pretty damn good. He starts with a history of Canada and US working on the same side in wars and crises. He actually understated Canada’s WW2 contribution, since Canada started fighting a year earlier. Then he talks about the shared economy, missing the earlier period when Canada was…
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