Recent Reading: Solnit, Pogue Harrison, Adams

 Rebecca Solnit: Orwell's Roses

Not really a biography, but an exploration of certain aspects of Orwell's

Friday Links: German Expression, Knife Sharpening, a Recipe, and Atlanta

I know that the principles of this knife sharpener are sound, I don't know if this version works well. At this price I'm tempted to try. A company called "Wasabi" has been selling the same thing at a multiple of this price.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002806278575.html?spm=a2g0o.detail.100009.1.6013e215hW2M1i&gps-id=pcDetailLeftTopSell&scm=1007.13482.271138.0&scm_id=1007.13482.271138.0&scm-url=1007.13482.271138.0&pvid=5946f051-089f-46be-8974-ac65ec5f40bc&_t=gps-id:pcDetailLeftTopSell,scm-url:1007.13482.271138.0,pvid:5946f051-089f-46be-8974-ac65ec5f40bc,tpp_buckets:668%232846%238108%231977&pdp_ext_f=%257B%2522sku_id%2522%253A%252212000025558963981%2522%252C%2522sceneId%2522%253A%25223482%2522%257D&pdp_pi=-1%253B30.8%253B-1%253B-1%2540salePrice%253BUSD%253Brecommend-recommend

A varenyky recipe. I think this is too much sour cream but I haven't tried it yet. Let me know if you do!

https://www.allthingsukrainian.com/Recipe/Varenyky/VarenykyRecipe.html

Did you know? One German near-equivalent to "painting the town red" is [literally] "letting the sow out."

https://de.wiktionary.org/wiki/die_Sau_rauslassen

Here are some good local writers and reporters making their suggestions for improving Atlanta. I am in strong agreement with Andisheh's.

https://austinlouisray.com/#/how-id-fix-atlanta/

What I'm Listening To, Early March 2022

 Trippy, gentle, relaxing: Panda Bear's "Boys' Latin."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prBaZzYmQrI

Alan Watts + beats: INZO's "Overthinker."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luQSQuCHtcI

Alan Watts + beats: "Alan Watts Chillstep Mix."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbu-OTEHnf8

Enough with the mellow! Hyperstimulation for the ADHD brain:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Vd2nyk-4Lo

Link: Research on Calorie Restriction in Humans

 We've known for decades that calorie restriction prolongs the life of lab rodents. There's also correlation between a low-calorie (but nutritious) diet and longer life in some human populations, Okinawans being the most frequently mentioned example. This recent summary of NIH-sponsored work starts to hint at what the mechanism might be:

https://directorsblog.nih.gov/2022/03/08/biology-of-aging-study-shows-why-curbing-calories-counts/

Random Friday Links: FAO Blacksmithing Manual

 An FAO publication: Agricultural Engineering in Development: Basic Blacksmithing: A Training Manual. Might be worth getting a hard copy of this one.

https://www.fao.org/3/ah637e/AH637E00.htm

Friday Links: Diet for a Small Planet at 50, Scythe Resource, Farm Tractors in Forestry

 Diet for a Small Planet is being issued in a new 50th-anniversary edition: 

https://www.dietforasmallplanet.org/

I have unexpectedly become interested in working with a scythe. I own two, a heavy one for brush and a very light and slim one for grass. Turns out you can still buy all the parts and maintenance tools, and there are modern-day experts ready to train you. This seems to be one of the good sites for both:

https://www.baryonyxknife.com/scac.html

And here's an English translation of a Swedish government publication about using a small farm tractor in the woods. There are still forestry winches being made for tractors, so this is all of interest to me:

https://www.maine.gov/dacf/mfs/publications/general_publications/farm_tractor_in_the_forest.pdf

Friday Links: an Onion Video Series, Axolotl Husbandry, a Woodworking Blog of Note

 Amusement:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0C7941B0228E0240

Axolotl information:

http://www.axolotl.org/

Jack Plane's sister blog, Orson Cart, is building a vardo (house on wheels):

https://orsoncartatlarge.wordpress.com/2020/12/07/a-vardo-part-one/