Interesting Links for 28-07-2020

[andrewducker]

How We'll Forget John Lennon (on the two stages by which society forgets cultural artefacts)

(tags:society art music history )

Lothian Bus driver shortages revealed as major contributor to Edinburgh's bus congestion hell last summer

(tags:buses transport edinburgh )

The Inescapable Whiteness of Avatar: The Legend Of Korra, and its Uncomfortable Implications

(tags:race avatar TV writing society )

How "Lord of the Rings" Chainmail Was Transformed Into an Innovative Architectural Mesh

(tags:architecture materials lotr )

Offshore wind in Europe won't need subsidies much longer

(tags:windpower GoodNews )

Not an Amazon Problem

(tags:Amazon capitalism )

Comments

[calimac]

Cultural forgetting is a real thing, but I'd want a survey of more than one person before declaring that 20-year-olds don't recognize "Imagine." That song gets played, in context, a whole lot. As it is, it sounds a lot like the 1980s joke, "Did you know that Paul McCartney was in another band before Wings?"

[anna_wing]

The architectural chainmail stuff is very cute! The article doesn't say anything about cleaning or maintenance to keep it looking like that, though. And it's probably only suitable for a really dry climate as is. Though if it is strong enough, it looks as if it might be a nice support for a natural plant wall. Those little crevices would be perfect for moss, fungus, small wind-blown plants, bird's nests etc. You could leave it and then just let it gradually accumulate its own little ecosystem. It could make a great living fence too, if you don't want the accumulated moisture eating into your house.



I don't have a lot of patience with Asians (not westerners of Asian descent, who aren't relevant to me in this particular context) complaining about the occidentricity (I know it's not a word, I have made it up) of western-created stuff. People have the right to make what they want about their own societies. These are consumer products. Don't like, don't buy. Cultural diversity doesn't mean that everything has to be something that you like or agree with. It's not as if modern Asian cultures and societies don't produce massive amounts of art and music and literature of their own. It's like someone from the US complaining that there aren't enough blacks or whites or Latinos in your average Bollywood drama, or a Chinese citizen complaining that there aren't any Chinese in a Nigerian soap opera.

[danieldwilliam]

I think I would watch a soap opera about a Chinese family moving to Nigeria.

[ninetydegrees]

Re: Korra

I quote :
"But Korra isn’t a wholly new setting intentionally based on the intersections of between Asian and EuroAmerican culture, it is written to be a sequel to The Last Airbender and as such is building on the foundations of being without a EuroAmerica in its world."

I don't have a lot of patience with western-created stuff which plays with Asian-inspired worlds when and how it pleases them only to as the OP said "suggest that Americana is the inevitable future of all worlds. That is no other possibility for modernity and progress. That westernisation is inevitable even in fantasy worlds without a “West.”"

"That Americana is the inevitable future of all worlds" reminds me of the awfulness that was the new Battlestar Galactica (and countless other shows tbh).

[anna_wing]

By all means. All I'm saying is that I see no reason why anyone needs to get upset about how foreigners choose to entertain themselves.

I was a big fan of the first Battlestar Galactica in my distant youth, mainly because everyone was so pretty, but I don't think I got beyond the first episode of the remake.

[ninetydegrees]

So this has nothing to do with Korra or Asians in particular? You don't believe there's anything wrong with cultural appropriation or using another culture however you see fit? (Sincerely trying to understand your position, not put words in your mouth :)

[anna_wing]

I don't know exactly what you mean by "cultural appropriation", sorry. If a Japanese company wants to decorate its clothes with random roman alphabet text, or a French restaurant wants to use Chinoiserie in its decor, I see no reason to care either way.

Legend of Korra

[claudeb]

Turned out I knew that blogger already! Very insightful.

Buses

[danieldwilliam]

So I think the bus driver shortage chain of logic runs

1) Lothian buses not treating people adequately

2) Lower recruitment and retention

3) Shortage of drivers

4) Lost time and miles - disrupted service

5) More pressure on drivers

rather than congestion.

That hangs together

Offshore Wind

[danieldwilliam]

If offshore wind is on the cusp of being subsidy-free cost competative with fossil fuels than I think the energy transition is pretty much done. Not in the sense that the energy sector is de-carbonised but in the sense that it will just happen as a simple process of supply and demand. Also, it gives northern states some access to cheap renewables without having to do deals with unsavoury regimes and build big cables to the Saraha and Arabian deserts.

Next step will be the practicallity and cost of floating wind-turbines which gets round the limitations of depth and footings.

And then a gentle decline in the cost of energy driving prosperity and economic growth.

Not An Amazon Problem

[danieldwilliam]

I would like to see a 21st Century version of the Bullmoose Republicans - some centre-right support for decent living standards and pro-market rather than pro-incumbent business policies like trust busting.