dangerousmeta!, the original new mexican miscellany, offering eclectic linkage since 1999.

McSweeney’s Internet Tendency: Our Tiny Home is Revolutionizing How My Wife and I Fight.

“So is it worth all the money you saved? Well, let me put it this way… when I look into the eyes of my spouse as she does dishes in our bathroom-kitchen hybrid and I see the eternal look of resentment on her face, well, you can’t put a price tag on that.” Trouble in tiny paradises?

Discover: The Root of Gravity.

It’s amazing to me that we still haven’t sussed gravity. I was digging around this subject just the other week.

NPR: Should We Be Having Kids In The Age Of Climate Change?

“Back at James Madison University, Travis Rieder explains a PowerPoint graph that seems to offer hope. Bringing down global fertility by just half a child per woman ‘could be the thing that saves us’, he says.” Broadcast this one, far and wide.

Guardian.UK: Can we feed 10 billion people on organic farming alone?

“In a study published this year, researchers modeled 500 food production scenarios to see if we can feed an estimated world population of 9.6 billion people in 2050 without expanding the area of farmland we already use. They found that enough food could be produced with lower-yielding organic farming, if people become vegetarians or eat a more plant-based diet with lower meat consumption. The existing farmland can feed that many people if they are all vegan, a 94% success rate if they are vegetarian, 39% with a completely organic diet, and 15% with the Western-style diet based on meat.” Birth control. Use it.

NY Times: Why We Need to Pick Up Alvin Toffler’s Torch.

“In many large ways, it’s almost as if we have collectively stopped planning for the future. Instead, we all just sort of bounce along in the present, caught in the headlights of a tomorrow pushed by a few large corporations and shaped by the inescapable logic of hyper-efficiency — a future heading straight for us. It’s not just future shock; we now have future blindness.” Another one, very worth your time.

Boston Globe: At this tech startup, age is an asset.

YES!

nakedcap: Preparing to Collapse in Place with Permaculture.

“The way to avoid the rush is simple enough: figure out how you will be able to live after the next wave of crisis hits, and to the extent that you can, start living that way now.” Not really a source I’d go to for permaculture advice, but interesting nonetheless.

Medium: Being A Developer After 40.

Fantastic. Read o’ the week. Big thanks to BillSaysThis!

SciAm: Blue Origin Launches and Lands Rocket for the Third Time.

“SpaceX, however, has not yet reused a Falcon 9 rocket stage ...” Less flash and dash, Blue Origin, yet fulfilling its engineering goals beautifully.

Buzzfeed: Two College Degrees Later, I Was Still Picking Kale For Rich People.

Very much worth the read.

naked cap: Trump’s Neofascism Isn’t Going Away, Even if Trump Does.

“What is worrisome about Trump is two things. First, what should be clear about politics is that the public desperately wants a full employment economy. Trump is promising that. And second, Trump is building institutional links with at least one natural conservative force that hasn’t until recently been considered particularly political: the police.” Oh baby Jesus. And you know I’m no conspiracy theorist. Read “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.” Seriously. Let’s hope Trump will, in his short-attention-span lifestyle, just abandon his political career. Greater concern - other elements have surely noticed. And have started planning, I’m sure.

NPR/TED: Jae Rhim Lee - Is There A Better Way To Be Buried?

Buried in a ‘mushroom suit.’

Guardian.UK: Global oil glut sends US stock markets plummeting.

They cost us at the pump, they cost us in our retirement accounts and investments. Not fair.

NY Times: America’s Best Days May Be Behind It.

“Americans like to think they live in an era of rapid and unprecedented change, but this kind of comparison — pitting the momentous changes of the mid-20th century against the seemingly more modest progress of our present era — raises a critical question about the nation’s future prosperity.” Feels like we’re doing a lot of flailing sometimes.

Guardian.UK: Meat eating could save the planet.

Interesting arguments I’ve not heard before.

NY TImes: ‘Childhood’s End,’ a Syfy Adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke’s Chillin

Sounds decent!

Guardian.UK: Earth has lost a third of arable land in past 40 years, scientists say.

This is going to be like an axe to forehead of anti-GMO folks. Yields have to increase on available land, faster.

Swash 10-Minute Clothing Care System.

Saw this via another site. Looks pretty nifty, if just a smidge too much like a Keurig for your clothes ...

Archaeology News Network: Rebuild the Colossus!

Yes. This must be done.

DYT: A 19th-Century Vision of the Year 2000

Need a steampunk storyline, you’ve got loads of inspiration right here.

Daily Beast: Sex In 2050 - More Robots, Less Humans.

“It is hard to predict what sorts of sex AIs will invent for their own amusement, but likely they will do so. [snip] This is another area we’ll need to protect from hackers.” The things we find to worry about ...

Mashable: Mercedes-Benz’s self-driving semitruck takes to public roads.

“If a self-driving truck sounds like the beginning of a sequel to the 1978 film Convoy, don’t worry; a person has to remain behind the wheel. However, they will be a very relaxed person. That’s because as soon as Actros crosses the onramp threshold onto the freeway, it displays the ‘Highway Autopilot On’ message, alerting the driver that it is ready to take over control of the truck. The driver accepts the offer with the push of a button and Actros does the rest.” Well, there has to be a transition period.

CNet: Stephen Hawking says nomadic aliens might crush us.

Nick Bostrom also had an interesting take on this subject. His contention: if we’re not contacting aliens, there must be some challenge, some barrier that advancing civilizations hit, that rubs them out. The fact we’ve survived this long, means our greatest test is before us, not behind us. Worthy of many an hour of contemplation, that. Is it even possible to prepare effectively for an unknown extinction-level event?

Wired: The Bizarre, Bony-Looking Future of Algorithmic Design.

“Explicit design is when ‘you have an idea in your head and you draw it,’ he says. ‘Generative design is when you state the goals of your problem and have the computer create design iterations for you.’”

Economist/Buttonwood: Many unhappy returns.

“What is true of American pension funds is true of anyone planning for their retirement: they will need to save more. But the average payment into a defined-contribution pension scheme (from employer and employee combined) is just 10% of salary. That is not going to pay for any world cruises.”