A recent survey confirms that most older drivers are not prepared for the inevitable day when they have to hang up the car keys. And with the demographic time bomb that's coming, there are going to be millions of them. lloydalter.substack.com/p/many-older...

Cars and cows converge in the cornfields, consuming 75% of the entire crop. They dominate almost every planetary boundary. lloydalter.substack.com/p/our-planet...

A writer I follow says, "Are you going to say toilets are a luxury? They are not. Modern sanitation saves millions of lives per year.” Separating water from waste saved lives, but the toilet is fundamentally flawed. A look at the problem of poop:

I think @ambermac.bsky.social misses the message from the 1920s and the car. Motordom acted like promoters of AI today: organized campaigns to neutralize the opposition, pass jaywalking laws, take away our streets, accept death and maiming as part of life. The lesson is to fight now and fight hard.

A survey concludes that homebuyers want "wellness," but what does that mean? The builders think spa-like bathrooms, but dig into the survey, and it is all about safety, comfort, and efficiency, the kind of things #passivhaus delivers. lloydalter.substack.com/p/what-homeb...

We have been measuring ultrafine particles (PM0.1) by weight when they weigh almost nothing; we should be instead measuring by their numbers, which are huge. UFPs could be the cause of many of our health problems, and we are not even counting them.

@mattgurney.bsky.social says Doug Ford should kill Ontario’s bottle deposit system. I say we should put deposits on everything, from bottles to Mcdonalds wrappers to cigarette butts. open.substack.com/pub/lloydalt...

At the recent Passive House Institute | iPHA conference in Essen, Wolfgang Feist mentioned Nansen’s Fram as a Passivhaus precedent. It’s much more than that; Its hull was an ingenious use of mass timber and it had wind-powered electric light.

I used to blame Julia Child for the popularity of kitchen islands but after seeing a picture of Dick van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore, I wonder if theirs is the most influential kitchen of the last 60 years. open.substack.com/pub/lloydalt...

Many older people worry about their financial security; They should also worry about thermal security. We need structural as well as financial preparedness. lloydalter.substack.com/p/why-your-r...

All the news about the recent Trump changes to refrigerants talk about groceries and supermarkets but the change to the rules about refrigerated trucks will mean a lot more climate-unfriendly refrigerants will leak. Follow the money here open.substack.com/pub/lloydalt...

I am the 370th Wikipedia editor to sign up declaring solidarity for the Wikimedia staff union: meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Wo... ✊ (Disappointed that this is even needed.)

Postdoctoral position at @uni.lu ‼️ My colleague Marten Düring is hiring for a postdoctoral position in Digital History. The candidate will contribute to the fantastic Impresso — Media Monitoring of the Past project. Apply before July 1 www.uni.lu/en/jobs/post...

CAST job alert: We are hiring for a Research Associate at our centre hub, the University of Bath, to contribute to a major new research programme funded by a philanthropic organisation, on People-Centred Climate Resilience (PCR) 📣 Find out more and apply now: cast.ac.uk/cast-careers/

1850s Damascus Traditional clay plaster and roof ventilation, probably displaying traditional construction methods, not much different to those built a millennia earlier.

Hello Hedgewatch Team 😻 Today is World Dracula Day and Brock's planned a special trip to Whitby with Baby Rupert and his woodland pals to enjoy the beautiful weather. Tell us what you're doing today and show us your best teethy grin and help yourself to snacks. 😹🌳 #hedgewatch

Ultimately this is the most important story in British politics and much of the world - the Iran war is putting pressure on real wages, which people will blame on the incumbent government.

Three solar cells above 28% now - these are 26% modules

I am looking for someone fab to join me at Strathclyde on a funded PhD studentship on the history of unorthodox health activism. If you are that person, or know someone who is, there's a month left to apply! #HistMed www.strath.ac.uk/studywithus/...

some medieval high dukes of Poland, ranked from most to least unhinged name: Mieszko IV Tanglefoot Władysław III Spindleshanks Władysław I the Elbow-high Bolesław II the Horned Bolesław III Wrymouth Mieszko II the Fat Bolesław IV the Curly Bolko I the Strict Bolesław II the Bald Mieszko III the Old

"At a time when worsening climate vulnerabilities require an urgent phase-out of fossil fuels, AI and its data centres are causing a devastating increase in polluting fossil-fuel use." - Prof Jennie C Stephens, @icarus-maynooth.bsky.social www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

The contradiction at the core of big-money environmental giving. www.vox.com/climate/4894...

Painted bike lanes force mobility modes to clash, leading to dangerous and inefficient situations. But with separated bike infrastructure and floating bus stops, transit and bikes can coexist side-by-side without conflict.

"The number of office-to-apartment conversions in the U.S. pipeline at the start of 2026 grew to 90,300 units, a 28% increase from a year earlier." www.wsj.com/real-estate/...

Design for a new apartment building in Saman, Iran Love the combination of terracotta and turquoise! By Sahar Kamaluddin and Nima Safdari

Public information should be public. Demand your local authorities make emergency information available to everyone.

Housing for Borsalino employees, Italy, 1952 A slim plan, with two apartments per core. This allows all four living spaces to be dual aspect and access cross ventilation Architect: Ignazio Gardella

Reflections on the importance of service (especially now), including what I learned at this week's trip out to visit EarthCorps in Seattle. @au-cece.bsky.social danarfisher.com/2026/05/23/s...

“In the wake of attacks on CEOs, a nationwide protest movement targeting data centers, and increasing concerns about AI job replacement, federal intelligence agencies and domestic law enforcement are circulating reports with a new domestic target in mind: anti-technology extremists.”

A crucial article by the great @rachelshabi.bsky.social . To defeat the monster of antisemitism we must also defeat the monster of Islamophobia, and all forms of racism and hate. substack.com/home/post/p-...

One thing it’s doing that I find especially insidious is promising solutions to problems that capitalism has caused. Too busy to write your best man speech? Let AI do it. Frazzled nerves from late stage capitalism? Let AI be executive function. It’s stealing the joyful work of being human.

The Justice Department is moving up the court hearings for hundreds of immigrants and scheduling them for mass hearings. If they don't show up, they could be ordered deported. n.pr/3Q0eove

NAC at UFRPE plants agroecology with peasant hearts 🌱, weaving permaculture, food sovereignty, and sustainability into every root. Discover the future they grow: https://agroecologymap.org/l/178 #Agroecology #Permaculture #FoodSovereignty #Sustainability

At Podbukovc, every seed is a promise 🌱—a web of roots, rain, and renewal that restores the soil and feeds the soul 💚 https://agroecologymap.org/l/441 #agroecology #permaculture #sustainability

Dancing with the forest, 16 hectares of agroforestry bloom in Quilombola lands 🌱🌳. Agroecology, permaculture, food sovereignty—woven into life. Nature restored, communities empowered. 💚 https://agroecologymap.org/l/451 #Agroforestry #Sustainability #Quilombola #EcologicalRestoration

“Why are women less bullish overall on AI than men” is not actually that mysterious of a question

This is such a simple way to put it but it’s true. The e-bike should be just like a washer and dryer or microwave. electrek.co/2026/05/18/w...

First tiny flush of yellow oysters, only in the spot where the sun falls on the big dead tree

Erin Brockovich’s website that has a map of major AI data centers in the U.S. that are either operational or under construction.

New report from IRENA confirms that "in prime solar and wind regions, hybrid solutions combined with storage deliver round-the-clock power at lower costs than fossil fuels." Renewables+storage = round-the-clock power, cheaper than fossil fuels, in an ever-widening set of geographies. Pretty cool.

#blueskymonday #blue #photography #eck

This sunset tonight

Some days this world is a nightmare filled with pain and terror and tragedy so do whatever you can to love whoever you love and who loves you and to make all that even a little more bearable, until we can all lift it up and get out from under it, together

Biggest comeback in history? 999: Icelanders convert to Christianity & ditch Norse myth↩️ 1200's: Snorri Sturluson uses the power of euhemerism to make Norse myth biblical↩️ 1930's: a very Catholic Norse scholar pilfers the edda for character names↩️ 2026: Pope quotes a character called Gandalf 🇮🇸👑

Y’all, if you’re reading this, we really need your help all this week! Help us save the US Forest Service! It’s SMOKEY’S HOME! We gotta!! 🌲🪾🌳🧸🏕️ #SaveUSFS #SaveSmokeysHome #USDA #USFS @altusfs.altgov.info

If you've ever wanted to dip into my Tasmanian cozy murder mystery series (under pen-name Livia Day) the 1st book in my most popular series is FREE on Kobo today. www.kobo.com/au/en/ebook/...

I know people don’t say this anymore but: protect this girl at all costs

Up with sentiment.

Doughty [DOW-tee] (adj.) - Able; strong; brave; spirited; valiant; redoubtable. Used in a sentence: “Beneath the ceaseless thunder of artillery, the doughty young lieutenant carried the wounded to safety until he himself could scarcely stand.”

I’d be willing to settle for this design, especially on 1st Ave.