Temple Grandin – in a Q&A with Grist – calls out the danger of inexperience with skills constrained by physicality. We’ve got to figure out sensible things to do. The thing that worries me on a lot of these issues is that we’ve got more and more people getting involved who have never done anything practical, because schools have taken out all the cooking, sewing, woodworking, and art. And in the real world of practical things, nothing can be perfect.

I just started reading Manuel DeLanda’s new book, Philosophical Chemistry, last night. I could tell from just the opening paragraph that this is exactly the book I want to be reading right now: There is no such thing as Science. The word “Science” refers to a reified generality that together with others, like Nature and Culture, has been a constant source of false problems: are controversies in Science decided by Nature or Culture?

Here’s a machine-generated oddity to start the day: Little Blue Trick filtered through iOS 8 voice dictation. Little blue truck him down the road deep set blue to a big green toad toad said winter but little blue truck went rolling by sheep Seppa cow said moo poinsettia 80 beep said blue clock set a chicken and a chick said he Mussetta go to blue hockey all the dump

Sage Sharp, The Gentle Art of Patch Review: […] I propose a three-phase review process for maintainers: Is the idea behind the contribution sound? Is the contribution architected correctly? Is the contribution polished? You can compare these contribution review phases to the phases of building a new house or taking on a remodeling project. The first phase is a simple yes or no on the architectural diagram, the big idea of the contribution.

There is a quote from Steve Jobs that I return to, over and over: I think one of the things that really separates us from the high primates is that we’re tool builders. I read a study that measured the efficiency of locomotion for various species on the planet. The condor used the least energy to move a kilometer. And, humans came in with a rather unimpressive showing, about a third of the way down the list.

An interrupted monarch butterfly migration ends on Dellarobia Turnbow’s Tennessee farmland, instead of the Mexican mountains where the monarchs are adapted for the winter. A novel of the tangible effects of climate change, the economic reality of working class families, and being awakened from a dormant life by looking reality in the eye.

An overview of the benefits of widespread cycling for day-to-day transporation, rather than as sport. I got a few chapters in and realized it was very much preaching to the choir. Wrong for me, but probably a reasonable choice if you are looking for a layperson’s survey of health-and-safety data about cycling. I want memoir and stories, not studies — I’m here for romanticism about bikes, not rationalism.