The gentle art of pottering — That’s Not My Age


May is the unofficial start of the pottering season. For the uninitiated, pottering involves wandering aimlessly around the house or garden in a pleasingly disassociated meditative state, straightening pictures, wiping plant leaves, or de-bobbling jumpers.

Weeknotes 14


The author imitates a publication. Featuring the usual suspects: interesting internet links, enjoyable media, some art. New this time: a poetry section!

Beauly Elm - 3D model by Historic Environment Scotland (@HistoricEnvironmentScotland) [bf14d2b]


Beauly Priory is one of three priories founded in Scotland in about 1230 for monks of the Valliscaulian order. The area around Beauly, meaning ‘beautiful place’, includes several mature trees, including this ancient elm in the graveyard. It is thought to be around 800 years old, making it one of the oldest Wych Elms in Europe and a piece of heritage in its own right. Sadly, the tree has been suffering from Dutch elm disease in recent years and very little of its fabric is living material. To learn about visiting Beauly Priory, go to our website. Rae Project - Beauly Elm - 3D model by Historic Environment Scotland (@HistoricEnvironmentScotland)

the internet

Surrounded by dreck, the digital citizen is discovering that the best way to find what she used to get from social platforms is to type a URL into a browser bar and visit an individual site.

The Revenge of the Home Page (newyorker.com)

slow > the internet

Heat Death of the Internet

Enumerating all the ways the internet currently sucks. Example:

You buy a microwave and receive ads for microwaves. You buy a mattress and receive ads for mattresses.

No one wants this.

The article does end on a positive note:

You read the Wikipedia entry and there is a lot of useful information supplied by a community. One of the sources cited is a non-fiction book. You go to your local library’s website and although they don’t have the exact book, they do have others by the same author. You place a hold on two of them, then go get your shoes on.

/via Chris Glass

Heat Death of the Internet - takahē

You want to order from a local restaurant, but you need to download a third-party delivery app, even though you plan to pick it up yourself. The prices and menu on the app are different to what you saw in the window. When you download a second app the prices are different again. You ring

civic > tech > slow

How a Connecticut middle school won the battle against cellphones (🎁 link)

Gabe Silver, another eighth-grader, echoed that sentiment. When the pouches first arrived, “everyone was miserable and no one was talking to each other,” he said. Now he can hear the difference at lunch and in the hallways. It’s louder. Students are chatting more “face to face, in person,” Gabe said. “And that’s a crucial part of growing up.”

I know there has been pushback against The Anxious Generation’s use of research, but I tend to agree with Zoë Schiffer from Platformer. Too much phone time (for kids or adults) just feels bad:

At the same time, we shouldn’t set aside the lived experiences of so many everyday smartphone users. For many of us, constant connectivity feels bad, and doomscrolling can heighten feelings of anxiety and depression. Meanwhile, getting outside and spending time with loved ones face to face can be the antidote to despair. I’m sympathetic to researchers who call attention to that dynamic, even if disputes remain about which claims are grounded in unassailable evidence.