It’s mind-boggling how much various kinds of AI slop add to our cognitive loads: texts on the web, videos on YouTube, interactions on social media, etc. Finding content has become easy—determining if it’s any good has become difficult.
Our way of thinking brought us environmental pollution and now digital pollution. The desire for a quick buck makes life more difficult for everyone.
“EuroVelo is a network of 17 long-distance cycle routes that cross and connect Europe.”
https://en.eurovelo.com/about-us
Related video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ7-cQjjwas
The retail industry is switching from bar codes (1D) to QR codes (2D)—a project called “GS1 Sunrise 2027”: https://www.keyence.com/blog/gs1-sunrise-2027-explained-requirements-timeline-and-preparation.jsp
For a while, products will have both QR and bar codes.
Benefits of QR codes:
• Customers: They can look up product information with their cell phones.
• Shops etc.: better tracking of products
https://www.gs1us.org/industries-and-insights/by-topic/sunrise-2027
One of the beautiful things about #permaculture is learning that a farm doesn't have to be separated from #nature. We create a farming system where plants, animals, insects, birds, and people can all have a place.
Our bananas are not only for us. 🐒
Monkeys and birds sometimes come to enjoy the fruits too and we see that as part of being in touch with #nature
Permaculture teaches us to work with nature, not against it. When we create diverse and healthy ecosystems, the farm becomes more than a place to grow food it becomes a living #environment.
Farming with nature means making room for nature.
#Permaculture #FarmingWithNature #RegenerativeAgriculture #Agroecology #Biodiversity #SustainableFarming
There was the show “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee”. Urban planners prefer different vehicles, so a new YouTube channel is called “Urbanists on Bakfiets Talking Cities”.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpMDERAipGhm007fY3X1pUg
Doing laundry: I recently couldn’t completely get the smell out of my towels. I experimented with adding baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and it worked! I’ve seen a recommendation of 30g (two table spoons) per wash load online, but I used 50g (because that’s how much was in each of the collection of sachets I bought).
Caveat: Only use for robust fibers such as cotton.
The U.N. backs a new world map where the relative areas of continents and countries correspond more closely to the real world.
• Image 1: I’m mostly familiar with the (old) Mercator projection.
• Image 2: Looking at the (new) Equal Earth projection, it’s remarkable how large South America and Africa are and how small the northern and southern ends of the globe are. Note that Europe is nearly the same size as in the Mercator projection.
https://www.npr.org/2026/09/04/nx-s1-5958611/africa-world-map-un-vote
I’m surprised we are still having discussions about what a “real man” is. I don’t find that idea very useful.
In my opinion, the best thing you can do for yourself is figuring out who you really are—not who you should be.
You may have many stereotypically male traits, but you may also have stereotypically female traits. Both are strengths!
The candles of an advent wreath can be reused the following year if they are lit in the opposite order.
“A thousand people voluntarily buried their cotton underpants for two months […] as part of a citizen science project to map out soil health in 25 countries around the world.”
“Our results show that how soil is managed can significantly affect both soil life and soil quality.”
“Soil health is critical for agriculture and, by extension, food security, not to mention a healthy global ecosystem, but it has been declining worldwide [...]”
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/08/why-did-1000-swiss-citizens-bury-their-underpants/
#Deutsch: “@VCDeV stellt Konzept für fahrgastfreundliche Bahnsanierungen vor – monatelange Vollsperrungen sind überflüssig”
https://www.vcd.org/service/presse/pressemitteilungen/vcd-stellt-konzept-fuer-fahrgastfreundliche-bahnsanierungen-vor-monatelange-vollsperrungen-sind-ueberfluessig
Kernidee: Mit Provisorien während der Sanierung erhöhen sich die Kosten zwar leicht, dafür sind dann nur noch zwei Vollsperrungen für jeweils maximal 4 Wochen nötig – am Anfang und am Ende. Das ist ein wertvoller Dienst am Fahrgast.
“The (overdue) collapse of bullsh*t companies [=consultants]”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohCAPyqlJpo
The comments are also interesting.
Upcoming documentary: “How To Live On Earth”
“Presented by Benedict Cumberbatch. A visionary feature documentary about how humans are learning to team up with nature to solve our biggest challenges.”
“Coming to select cinemas from 26 June 2026.”
“Releasing globally on YouTube later this year.” [not free, probably]
Pollution levels in London after 10 years of advancing sustainable transport.
For those that keep saying wind turbines can't be reused or recycled need to read this
"The analysis found a total 99.9% material recovery – calculating that 79.5% of the wind farm’s components were recycled and 20.4% were reused or retained as spare parts, keeping nearly all material out of landfills."
100% of the recycling and component retention took place in the UK, supporting domestic green jobs and at least 10 supply chain companies.
Phoenix, Arizona is deploying “cool pavement”: “While pavements in the city of Phoenix that were treated with cooling technology had significantly lower surface temperatures compared with conventional pavement, the cool pavement also increased the thermal stress a person standing on the surface would experience at midday […]”
https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/news/phoenix-cool-pavement-study-technology-tradeoffs/731183/
“The onus is on everyone,” Tilbrook says, to help preserve the night sky.
No matter whether you work or live in a city high-rise or have a suburban backyard there is something you can do.
#rewilding #nocturnal #bats #moths #wildlife #nightsky
https://www.rewildingmag.com/why-and-how-to-rewild-the-night/
“How Could the Fastest-Charging eBike Become a Reality in the Future?”
https://himiwaybike.com/blogs/news/how-could-the-fastest-charging-ebike-become-a-reality-in-the-future
“A realistic future target might therefore be something like:”
“1,000Wh battery: 10% → 80% in approximately 20–30 minutes.”
“That would fundamentally change how riders think about eBike range.”
When using public transport for a longer trip, I’ve started to add a screenshot of the list of connections (usually via Google Maps) to my photos.
Why? It guarantees that I can quickly look up the essentials. Apps don’t always persist what was last displayed in them and retrieving the data again takes time.
The increasing use of cargo bikes (for grocery shopping, by parcel services, etc.) creates an interesting dilemma:
• On bike lanes, they can crowd out normal bikes.
• On normal roads, they are not completely safe due to fast-driving cars.
One solution may be to limit all vehicles to a maximum of 30 km/h in cities. Then cargo bikes can more easily drive on normal roads(?)