“If one does not examine the megatechnic bribe too circumspectly, it would appear to be a generous bargain. Provided the consumer agrees to accept what megatechnics offers, in quantities favorable to the continued expansion of the whole power system, he will be granted all the perquisites, privileges, seductions, and pleasures of the affluent society. If only he demands no goods or services except those that can be organized or manufactured by megatechnics, he will without a doubt enjoy a higher standard of material culture—at least of a certain specialized kind—than any other society has ever achieved before.” Mumford, The Myth of the Machine
People: Lithuania happiness. Young adults and scams. Small archives, lai see, .. How to play any mental game. Hanseatic league. The Sit Clubs. Middle aged men trading cards.
Planet: Travel advice to US changing, with France, Britain and Germany. Cult of the american lawn. Peter Pan cane toads to fight cane toads.
Tech: New LEDs. Cosmic dust. F-35 aaS. RAF and exploding tea cakes.
Art: Dark crystal prequel.
AR: 3D capture from pictures and lidar, photogrammetry boosted.
Life: non breathing animals. Mixodectes pungens, 62m y ago.
AI: and crawlers. LLM code as particleboard. Hungary and facial recognition.
The AI is a vibe. Use of AI in OSINT kills critical thinking (PDF).
New hires vs AI - hire only if an AI can’t do the job.Rabbit hole: New Civil Engineer on infrastructure resilience- airports, data centers, urbanisation and floods.
Digital Dreams and Neighborhood Legends
Morrison had long believed that true power lay in the hands of those who could turn the unseen into the seen, and in the quaint yet cluttered town of Staines-on-Thames, his efforts were about to pay off—quite literally. Armed with a comprehensive understanding of urban development, he had single-handedly convinced the local council that a sprawling data centre filled with perovskite LEDs could save them from the impending doom of groundwater flooding. The decision hinged not on whether it was feasible, but if it would look good on paper (and of course, the occasional brochure) in their quest to maintain the town’s aesthetic charm.
“Perovskite!” he would shout at council meetings, his eyes gleaming like a contestant on a game show, “Think cheaper, longer-lasting lights with vibrant colors! And, much to our delight, if we replace those pesky gold materials with, oh, let’s say copper, the environment will cheer too!”*^1 His colleagues' approval was as instantaneous as a cat's disdain for taking a bath.
Yet, what he hadn’t anticipated was that along with LEDs, the data centre needed an expansive online infrastructure—as vast as the ocean—to operate efficiently. He was duly informed that aggressive AI web crawlers, resembling lumbering dinosaurs of the digital world, left SourceHut engineers scrambling like panicked ants. The very data he needed to showcase his project had been relentlessly scraped away. “Much like a hen trying to lay an egg without a bulldozer around,” he pondered aloud at his cluttered desk.
But Morrison had an idea: leveraging reality capture techniques to transform their entire development plan into a 3D digital wonderland. With a few clicks and a plethora of 360-degree camera images, Staines could become the poster child of future urban resilience. He envisioned drone tours whirling above his town while tourists gazed upon virtual models—once they turned off the sound from their own handheld devices, of course—filming uncomfortably close views and hoping to catch that perfect angle of the town hall.
While he spun digital fantasies, the realities of climate change loomed closer. The town had seen eras of uninvited “temporary” flooding, causing Morrison to realize how ill-equipped they were. The same borough council that once resisted his requests due to 'aesthetic reasons' now stood on the brink of fencing their gardens against the tides of climate discontent. “Unfortunately, the growth of lovely fauna,” he fumed at the council’s latest memo, “may not be as sustainable as your new block of perfectly uniform lawns!”*^2
Simultaneously, a whisper of bureaucracy caught him unawares. Steeped in tradition like the exquisite art of origami, the local homeowners’ association had started resurrecting the archaic debates surrounding lawn shapes. “All at a time when we should be debating sustainable landscaping, not illustrations of conformity!” Morrison lamented. If the town was to survive both climate change and overzealous regulations, it had to evolve faster than bureaucratic inertia could allow.
Thus, amid his aluminum foil hats and good intentions, Morrison began tapping into local archives. He was inspired by a recent layer of humor cut from neighborhood lore, collecting lai see from jubilant festivals that capture the beauty of community—a vivid tapestry of history highlighting community resilience over the aesthetics of singularity. It all fell into place until he proposed a small gathering of neighbors at which they could sway the courts of public opinion while indexing the town’s unique heritage.
Yet, just as Morrison began to re-engage with the wave of his past presented before him, a brief moment led him to question: was it possible that if one collected enough memories—like those tiny lai see envelopes—they could potentially archive a future worth saving? And in this mix of troubled waters, various physical and digital elements, bridging the chasms of their present challenges, would they inadvertently cultivate Staines’ own patch of biodiversity amid manicured grass lawn wars?
As he peered through his 3D glasses, ready to embrace the potential of a ridiculous yet real future, he smiled, “Let's see what memories we can build, shall we?” The laughter and chaos from his neighbours echoed back against the noise of an overburdened digital age, and perhaps just beyond that, a faint spark of hope emerged, shimmering like a perovskite LED in the dark.
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*^1 Can you hear the environment cheering? It sounds suspiciously like a flock of angry sparrows demanding attention.
*^2 An ego trip for lawns—traditional habitats of ants and the occasional confused cat, perhaps?