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Bonnie Raitt on activism, making men cry and 38 years of sobriety

May 1, 2025 by sergneri Leave a Comment

‘Do something with your actions. Don’t just write a cheque’: Bonnie Raitt An interview with Bonnie Raitt, May 1, 2025, The Guardian. Which artists inspire you today? onemoreseason If you like Little Feat, great soul singing and great slide, really knocking my socks off lately is the Bros Landreth out of Winnipeg, Canada – a … [Read more…]

Posted in: Arts, Content, Ethical and green living, Faits Divers, Feminism, Modern Music, Pandemic Tagged: Allen Shamblin, Angel from Montgomery, BB King, Bros Landreth, Bukka White, Courtney Barnett, Fred McDowell, Jason Isbell, Joey Landreth, John Lee Hooker, John Prine, John Raitt], Little Feat, Lola Young, Lowell George, Maia Sharp, Mike Reid, Oliver Mtukudzi, Olivia Rodrigo, the Grammys

Herbert J. Gans, 97, Dies; Upended Myths on Urban and Suburban Life

April 23, 2025 by sergneri Leave a Comment

Herbert J. Gans an eminent sociologist who studied the communities and cultural bastions of America up close and shattered popular myths about urban and suburban life, poverty, ethnic groups and the news media, died on Monday at his home in Manhattan. He was 97. For “The Urban Villagers” (1962), Dr. Gans immersed himself in Boston’s … [Read more…]

Posted in: Ethical and green living, Faits Divers, Obituaries, Politics, Racism, Science, Thinking about Tagged: economic problems, Herbert Gans, Herbert J. Gans, highbrow and popular cultures, Kerner Commission, liberal activist, Nixon, nostalgia for the rural past, race relations, The Urban Villagers

What can the global left learn from Mexico

April 21, 2025 by sergneri Leave a Comment

In the 18-APR-2025 Guardian: How to beat the far right – Mexico

Posted in: History, Politics, Thinking about, Trump Tagged: Andrés Manuel López Obrador, far-right, far-right politics, leftwing, López Obrador, Morena, Politics, progressives

James C. Scott and the Art of Resistance

April 18, 2025 by sergneri Leave a Comment

James C. Scott and the Art of Resistance The late political scientist enjoined readers to look for opposition to authoritarian states not in revolutionary vanguards but in acts of quiet disobedience. By Nikil Saval New Yorker April 7, 2025 Some books: The Moral traditional societies of the Peasant: Rebellion and Subsistence in Southeast Asia (1976) … [Read more…]

Posted in: Environment, Ethical and green living, Faits Divers, History, Obituaries, Politics, Racism, Science, Slavery, the Anthropocene, Thinking about Tagged: Authoritarian, authoritarian states, Autonomy, Dignity, disobedience, infrapolitics, James C. Scott, Meaningful Play, Meaningful Work, New Yorker, political scientist, Resistance, revolutionary vanguards, Seeing Like a State, Southeast Asia, traditional societies

Pluralistic: Machina economicus (14 Apr 2025)

April 15, 2025 by sergneri Leave a Comment

Pluralistic: Machina economicus (14 Apr 2025) Arguably, we do live in the shadow of such modern demons: we call them “limited liability corporations.” These are (potentially) immortal colony organisms that treat us fleshy humans as mere inconvenient gut flora. These artificial persons are not merely recognized as people under the law – they are given … [Read more…]

Posted in: Environment, Ethical and green living, Faits Divers, Finanace, Future of Work, IT Failures, Politics, Racism, Science, Slavery, the Anthropocene, Thinking about Tagged: AI, antitrust, artificial intelligence, Cory Doctorow, enshittification, Homo economicus, IP laws, limited liability corporations, mass layoffs, regulatory capture, Yochai Benkler

‘Parkinson’s is a man-made disease’

April 15, 2025 by sergneri Leave a Comment

‘Parkinson’s is a man-made disease’ – Europe’s flawed oversight of pesticides may be fueling a silent epidemic, warns Dutch neurologist Bas Bloem. His fight for reform pits him against industry, regulators — and time. politico.eu

Posted in: Climate Change, Environment, Ethical and green living, Politics, Science, the Anthropocene Tagged: Air pollution, Bas Bloem, Bayer, carcinogenic, disease, European Food Safety Authority, Farmer, glyphosate, herbicide, industrial solvents, intensive agriculture, Monsanto, MPTP, multiple sclerosis, neurologist, neurotoxic, Paraquat, Parkinson's, pesticides, Radboud University Medical Center, Ray Dorsey, Roundup, stroke, substantia nigra, Syngenta, William Langston

Brad Holland, 81, Dies

April 13, 2025 by sergneri Leave a Comment

Brad Holland, 81, Dies Brad Holland drew the 1971 illustration “Mouths to Feed” ” “Outcast” (1974) was one of many images of Richard M. Nixon that Mr. Holland created “

Posted in: Ethical and green living, Faits Divers, Obituaries Tagged: Brad Holland, Francisco Goya, Hunter Thompson, illustrate, illustrations, Jean-Claude Suares, New York Times, Op-Ed, Playboy, Ralph Steadman, Ribald Classics, Richard M. Nixon, Screw magazine, The East Village Other, The New York Review of Sex and Politics, Thomas Nast

‘Yoda’ for scientists: the outsider ecologist whose ideas from the 80s just might fix our future

April 10, 2025 by sergneri Leave a Comment

‘Yoda’ for scientists: the outsider ecologist whose ideas from the 80s just might fix our future The Guardian – April 10, 2025 John Todd’s eco-machine stunned experts by using natural organisms to remove toxic waste from a Cape Cod lagoon. Forty years on, he wants to build a fleet of them to clean up the … [Read more…]

Posted in: Climate Change, Environment, Ethical and green living, Faits Divers, Politics, Science, the Anthropocene Tagged: Bill McClarney, biological intelligence, Cape Cod, eco-machine, John Todd, microorganisms, Nancy Todd, New Alchemy Institute, pollution, sewage, toxic waste, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute

The Failed Ideas That Drive Elon Musk – Jill Lepore

April 10, 2025 by sergneri Leave a Comment

The Failed Ideas That Drive Elon Musk President Trump has reportedly told cabinet members that Elon Musk may soon leave the administration. If and when he goes, what will he leave behind? Mr. Musk has long presented himself to the world as a futurist. Yet, notwithstanding the gadgets — the rockets and the robots and … [Read more…]

Posted in: Uncategorized

Fatale by Jean-Patrick Manchette

March 28, 2025 by sergneri Leave a Comment

Fatale, (1977,) by Jean-Patrick Manchette, is my first French noir novel. Translated by Donald Nicholson Smith and published by the New York Review of Books, I borrowed this slim volume from our county library. I read it in two sittings, wondering, after the first, if I wanted to finish it and I still wonder. There … [Read more…]

Posted in: Faits Divers, What I Read Tagged: Donald Nicholson Smith, Fatale, French noir, Jean-Patrick Manchette, New York Review of Books, novel
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