Weeknotes: 2022, week 31

[1–7 Aug]

We took a few days off work and joined our family out of Madrid: drowsy village life, barbecues and basking in the sun in my sister-in-law's garden, bathing in the reservoir, the kids running around in the nude, an industrial-grade refrigerator stuffed with drinks… all that is good, really.

This week I learnt about Tyre Extinguishers, a loose collective with the stated goal of “[making] it impossible to own a huge polluting 4x4 in the world’s urban areas” that encourages “deflating the tyres of these massive, unnecessary vehicles, causing inconvenience for their owners”. I immediately felt ambivalent about it, and mentioned that on Mastodon. The ensuing conversation with my followers pushed me a bit closer to the “that is wrong, man” point of view.

“Humanity went from thinking that the sun was a hummingbird-shaped warrior god requiring human sacrifice to using solar radiation pressure to power interplanetary spacecraft. We credit most impressive achievements like that to science, and some to Al Gore.”

I like the summer in Madrid city — scorching, deserted, quiet and lovely:

Toot of the week: