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Independence Day

I understand liberty to mean: you don’t have to do what someone else is trying to impose on you. It is a sort of negative liberty.

Negative liberty is what the American colonists fought for in the War of Independence.

Nowadays, there are endless disputes about liberty even though they hide as hot-button topics such as Trans and LGBTQA+ rights, global warming and what to do about it, personal health decisions like abortion rights, and the particularly American issues like the right to bear arms and the right to unfettered expression.

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Each story features Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson as they go about Victorian England solving crimes and mysteries, often in parallel with the incompetent Scotland Yard. 

They are light, quick to read stories but for today’s audience, I think their main attraction comes from their historical insight into a society with much more obvious class barriers than that of ours today. 

Parking Lot Sprawl

Bikes over Cars – 9 Ways to Effect a Cultural Shift

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This is the second of two articles that argues for prioritizing bikes instead of cars. The first gave six reasons biking is better than driving. This article will describe 9 small adoptable policy/community actions we can introduce to upend society’s nasty transportation default.

On Fire

On Fire

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On Fire combines a dire environmental backdrop that underscores why the book is important to read, truth-to-power statements about which political parties and multinational corporations are at fault, and a seam of hope that makes you feel empowered and inspires you to get active in the climate fight. 

Bringing Up Bébé

Bringing Up Bébé

Overall, French child-raising seems more civilized than the American model that Druckerman describes, that being the “helicopter parent.” I don’t fully recognize it from my childhood. But if that is what mainstream American child raising is nowadays, the French method is way less fatiguing for parents and results in better-behaved, happier children.

Confusion

Confusion

There are two main storylines.

One: Where Jack comes out of third-stage syphilis delirium and leads a diverse rascal band of former galley slaves on a wild quest to steal a boat-load of silver, then return with it back to Europe via the Pacific.

And Two: Where Eliza faces her own troubles in the French court of Louis XIV at Versailles.

3-speed Bike

Bikes over Cars – 6 Reasons to Dust off your Bike

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As a bike commuter, I reflect on bike and car culture every day. Biking instead of driving seems obvious. Unfortunately, I’m one of very few in my family, workplace, or friend groups who have adopted this healthy habit.

In this article, I will argue for greater bike use and a diminished reliance on cars, advocate for an active lifestyle and healthy environment, and encourage economic thrift and self-sustainability.

So Good They Can't Ignore You

So Good They Can’t Ignore You

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So Good They Can’t Ignore You is Cal Newport’s response to the recent cultural assumption that there’s a mysterious, perfect job out there waiting for you and that all you have to do is find it. 

Instead, Cal Newport argues that the best way to find a fulfilling job is to develop rare and valuable skills and to apply yourself deliberately.

Ariadne

Ariadne

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Ariadne gives a point-of-view perspective to pivotal events of Ariadne’s life and does the same with Ariadne’s younger sister Phaedra. Ariadne and Phaedra are shaped and moved by other mythological figures such as Theseus, Minos, Pasiphae, the Minotaur, Daedalus, and Dionysus.