Reasonable Questions, ASCII art, smoked tofu, everybody must get stoned

Jacques Ellul was a weird Christian anarchist. His writing is hit-or-miss in my experience but I’ve also heard that attributed to some of his works being more competently translated. No par les vous frances so maybe that’s that. Anyway. I once took a course entitled “media ecology,” the idea being it was a study of how various media shape society, our minds, etc. I was assigned the Playboy interview of Marshall McLuhan which remains the most readable and accessible explication of his “medium is the message” thesis. Give it a read and you too can tell people you read Playboy “for the articles.” Back to Ellul. In the same course I was assigned this list entitled “76 reasonable questions to ask about any technology” attributed to Ellul. I've seen the list reproduced with or without subheaders, arranged in slightly different orders, and numbered both "76" and "78" and has never to my knowledge been included in a pornographic magazine. Too bad. I think about these questions often and now maybe you will too. Here is the list in its entirety, unnumbered: 

What are its effects on the health of the planet and of the person?
Does it preserve or destroy biodiversity?
Does it preserve or reduce ecosystem integrity?
What are its effects on the land?
What are its effects on wildlife?
How much, and what kind of waste does it generate?
Does it incorporate the principles of ecological design?
Does it break the bond of renewal between humans and nature?
Does it preserve or reduce cultural diversity?
What is the totality of its effects, its “ecology”?
Does it serve community?
Does it empower community members?
How does it affect our perception of our needs?
Is it consistent with the creation of a communal, human economy?
What are its effects on relationships?
Does it undermine conviviality?
Does it undermine traditional forms of community?
How does it affect our way of seeing and experiencing the world?
Does it foster a diversity of forms of knowledge?
Does it build on, or contribute to, the renewal of traditional forms of knowledge?
Does it serve to commodify knowledge or relationships?
To what extent does it redefine reality?
Does it erase a sense of time and history?
What is its potential to become addictive?
What does it make?
Who does it benefit?
What is its purpose?
Where was it produced?
Where is it used?
Where must it go when it is broken or obsolete?
How expensive is it?
Can it be repaired? By an ordinary person?
What values does its use foster?
What is gained by its use?
What are its effects beyond its utility to the individual?
What is lost in using it?
What are its effects on the least advantaged in society?
How complicated is it?
What does it allow us to ignore?
To what extent does it distance agent from effect?
Can we assume personal, or communal responsibility for its effects?
Can its effects be directly apprehended?
What ancillary technologies does it require?
What behavior might it make possible in the future?
What other technologies might it make possible?
Does it alter our sense of time and relationships in ways conducive to nihilism?
What is its impact on craft?
Does it reduce, deaden, or enhance human creativity?
Is it the least imposing technology available for the task?
Does it replace, or does it aid human hands and human beings?
Can it be responsive to organic circumstance?
Does it depress or enhance the quality of goods?
Does it depress or enhance the meaning of work?
What aspect of the inner self does it reflect?
Does it express love?
Does it express rage?
What aspect of our past does it reflect?
Does it reflect cyclical or linear thinking?
Does it concentrate or equalize power?
Does it require, or institute, a knowledge elite?
It is totalitarian?
Does it require a bureaucracy for its perpetuation?
What legal empowerments does it require?
Does it undermine traditional moral authority?
Does it require military defense?
Does it enhance or serve military purposes?
How does it affect warfare?
Is it massifying?
Is it consistent with the creation of a global economy?
Does it empower transnational corporations?
What kind of capital does it require?
Is it ugly?
Does it cause ugliness?
What noise does it make?
What pace does it set?
How does it affect the quality of life (as distinct from the standard of living)?

You can ask these questions about an air fryer, secondhand Shetland Wool sweater, bicycle, basketball, Cadillac Escalade, hellfire missile, spork, claw hammer, pornographic magazine, instagram reels, GPS navigation, pizza boxes, plastic squeezable water bottle, a stick carved to have a pointy end, phone charger cable, rubber flip flops, steel colander, self-serve gas station stall, aerosol can of spray paint, elevated interstate highway, glass bong, eyeglasses, charcoal smoker. There’s technology all around you and now you have some reasonable questions to ask about it.

...

Is there a name for the breaks that are not chapter breaks in a book but are frequently marked by ellipses or a subtle decorative motif?

===

I could use equal signs. Is that better than dots?

—>x<=>x<=>x<—

Or some decorative series of characters like so. When I was a little kid my dad had a Commodore 64 in the basement and I would turn it on and make pictures with letters, numbers, and punctuation marks, sometimes for hours at a time. 

Here’s another wikipedia page for you to learn about the noble artistic tradition I was unwittingly a part of. 

⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠿⠿⠿⠿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠟⢁⣴⣾⣿⣷⣦⣌⠙⢿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠟⢁⣴⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⡈⢻⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠟⢁⣴⣿⣿⠟⠋⣉⠙⢻⣿⣿⣿⣷⠀⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠟⢁⣴⣿⣿⠟⢁⣴⣿⣿⡷⢀⣿⣿⣿⡿⠀⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠟⢁⣴⣿⣿⠟⢁⣴⣿⣿⡿⠋⣠⣾⣿⣿⠟⢁⣼⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠟⢁⣴⣿⣿⠟⢁⣴⣿⣿⡿⠋⣠⣾⣿⣿⠟⢁⣴⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠟⢁⣴⣿⣿⠟⢁⣴⣿⣿⡿⠋⣠⣾⣿⣿⠟⢁⣴⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⠟⢁⣴⣿⣿⣿⣿⣶⣿⣿⡿⠋⣠⣾⣿⣿⠟⢁⣴⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⠁⣴⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠋⣠⣾⣿⣿⠟⢁⣴⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⠀⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠋⣠⣾⣿⣿⠟⢁⣴⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣧⡈⠻⢿⣿⡿⠋⣠⣾⣿⣿⡟⢁⣴⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣶⣶⣶⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿

…

The following segment was written days ago and has not been edited. Feels wrong to edit it because it represents a certain mental space but also feels wrong to delete it. 

^v^v^v^v^v

Sometimes I get stoned and read a bit of the Good Book, the B-I-B-L-E, yes that’s the book for me. Such a time is now. Here’s my working soteriological mental framework: Universal salvation as dialectic. Salvation for all damns all who seek salvation in superiority. Liberation for all is hell to those whose faith and hope is in salvation as dominance over the damned. It’s true. To see people you resent thrive is to suffer. The damned god is the one we have damned. Our battle is not against flesh and blood. The joy of all debts forgiven is horrible news to those who held our debts. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. What does it look like for your enemies to be truly free? I think if we figure that out we could be free.

I don’t know if any of that’s a picture of something true and neither do you. I don’t want to conceive of myself within a cosmology in which some must be made to suffer for others to be free. I need us all free. 

I sincerely recommend reading the Bible stoned. It’s a sort of medication-assisted lectio divina. Let the words wash over you. See what happens. Sometimes nothing.

…:.:.:.:.:.:..:..:..::::..:::::..:..:..:.:.:.:.:.:…

OK back to editable stuff. There’s something to the adage, “Write drunk, edit sober.” Let those inhibitions loose, make weird connections. A day later look at it and ask, “wtf was I on about?” and see what’s left when you edit out the nonsense/noise/stupid. Often something I mightn't have come up with had I not sifted through the wordvomit of chemically-altered yester-me. High you might surprise clear-headed you. Send future sober you a little letter.

…

In a 2012 Rolling Stone interview with Bob Dylan, the interviewer asked him, "Do you ever worry that people interpreted your work in misguided ways? For example, some people still see “Rainy Day Women” as coded about getting high."

Bob Dylan said, "It doesn’t surprise me that some people would see it that way. But these are people that aren’t familiar with the Book of Acts."

(.)(.)(.)(.)(.)(.)

There is a creature with so much body hair its doodoo gets tangled up in its ass hair. That’s right: a sheep. How much of a premium would you pay for a wool sweater that comes with the assurance that the sheep whose shorn wool was used to make it was not taken to slaughter in its old age but was treated with care, affection, and respect until it died of normal barnyard illnesses or old age? I’d pay a hefty premium. 

Imagine your barber is selling your hair. That’s what it’s like to be a sheep.

<><><><><>

...

It should be called a “social medium app.” “Media” is plural. Tiktoks are one medium. Ergo, the Tiktok app is a social medium app. It would be better if we just said “mediums” instead of “media.” Effective immediately this blog’s official style policy is that “media” is correctly pluralized as “mediums.” Social mediums. Mixed mediums. Mass mediums. Multimediums. 

.:iI|Ii:..:iI|Ii:..:iI|Ii:..:iI|Ii:..:iI|Ii:.

The segments that don't mention being high were probably written stone-cold sober and have survived the rigorous editorial cuts of the Ben Wildflower Blog editorial team. (I looked at them later and deleted the dumber half of what I'd written.)

...

The New York Times used to seem to me like a liberal institution that made great efforts to soothe and appease the wealthy conservatives it was culturally and financially beholden to. I now realize it’s an essentially conservative capitalist institution that has suckered well-meaning liberal consumers into thinking it’s on their side.

It’s a capitalist institution selling bigotry and war. 

Here’s the New York War Crimes project. The NYT aids and abets the apartheid state of Israel's ongoing genocide. 

Here’s the Trans News Network piece on the NYT consciously embracing anti-trans bigotry to make more money. Rich bigots can get richer by being bigots. Perhaps we should arrange society in such a way that bigotry is not profitable. What do I know.

I long for major news outlets to be the liberal institutions they claim to be, holding the light of truth to those pulling the levers of power. They’re not. Makes me sad. It takes a large well-funded institution to do the work that NYT ought to be doing. Journalism is some of the labor I respect and value most. Too bad a bunch of journalists are working for nincompoops. 

…:::…

Beloved public figure Calvin Jones is retiring. He does the instructional videos for Park Tool. The videos are pedagogical excellence.

I think a lot about power and authority and how and when they should or must be used, especially in parenting. I’m still talking about bicycle maintenance how-to videos. David Graeber once said as an anarchist he has no problem with authority so long as that authority is wielded to make itself obsolete. To teach, to demystify something, to empower someone else to gain competence in a craft or body of knowledge, is a beautiful act of destroying your own power over them. Being a good teacher is being good at destroying power. 

I know there are bike shops and cycling subcultures full of gatekeepers and condescension. I'm blessed to have not stumbled into that world of bicycles. Bicycles for me have been a joyful communal DIY info-sharing experience in pursuit of a real freedom. It's exciting to fix bikes rather than a chore to fix bikes, thanks in large part to people like Calvin from Park Tool. 

Thanks for teaching us so much, Calvin from Park Tool. May your retirement be full of peace, relaxation, and bicycles. 

Youtube tip: Watch in browser such as Firefox or Orion with the uBlock Origin extenstion. No ads that way. How does anyone tolerate unskippable ads? You only have so many minutes of attention to give in this life. Don’t give your attention to advertisements!

Honorable mention to RJ the Bike Guy who tragically has not posted in a long while. Absolute legend. 

…

ICE and DHS were formed in 2002. “Abolish ICE” is a reasonable moderate centrist position for an institution less than 25 years old that shoots civilians and rounds people up without due process to be deported or placed in concentration camps. 

Abolish ICE. Abolish DHS.

…

Smoked tofu is delicious. Here’s how to make some:

Visit Spring Garden Market. Today their roll-up gate was broken at opening time so they let me in through the seafood counter back door and I got to look at the crabs, lobsters, et cetera awaiting their fates. Like an aquarium but free. Or like a prison for crustaceans. Idk. Buy a reasonable quantity of made-in-the-neighborhood tofu.

Drain the tofu. I like to give it a rinse and squeeze, wrap a whole layer of blocks of tofu in a towel or two, place on cutting board, stack various cast iron atop baking sheet atop swaddled tofu, and shove a wooden spoon under the cutting board so the drips go in the sink. 

Make a dry rub. I used sugar, brown sugar, coarse sea salt, red chili powder, paprika, cumin, black pepper. I don’t measure. If I did I would have to wash the measuring implements.

Light the charcoal, sit and wait. 
Sit and wait some more. There’s a lot of sitting and waiting. Do some dishes?
When tofu seems adequately pressed/drained/wrung/smooshed or you have grown impatient toss it in the dry rub and arrange on the smokin’ racks. Spoon a little extra rub on top of them if you have extra. 

Toss those wood chips on and around the white-hot coals. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. 

Wait more. Go inside and put on a record? Put on a sweater, sit outside and listen to what birds you can hear? Be unproductive. 

Occasionally add wood chips. If it’s not hot, light some more coals and toss em in. If it’s not smoky add more wood chips. Easy. 
 Repeat steps 8 and 9 all day long. 

When the sunset starts, let the coals die. The tofu is smoked. It’s great sliced on sandwiches, munched on whole, chopped and served alongside other wee snackables on a cheese board. Options abound. 

This how-to presented with gratitude to my friend DJ who introduced me to smoked tofu.

…

This is a nice picture of Stephen and Erik. Stephen turned 40. Halfway to 80! Old! We rode our bicycles to Tonewood Brewery then rode back to Philadelphia and had a fire.

Erik in fog:

Here’s the only other picture I took:

The fog rolled into the pier heavily. The temperature rose even as the sun set. Wild what all the water and air swirling around this marble can do. Not much in this world nicer than riding bicycles with good company then drinking beer around a fire. Society should be arranged to make activities like this easier. 

…

Trump on Greenland: 

“I love maps. And I always said: ‘Look at the size of this. It’s massive. That should be part of the United States,’” (from this dumb article.)

What a fucking idiot. 

At the time of this writing the United States has not yet attempted to annex Greenland. 

I am always saying how bad the Mercator projection is. Obviously the primary problem here is the imperialist buffoon being quoted, not just a bad representation of a spherical object on a flat rectangle. 

I spent my formative years on the second-biggest island in the world. It’s about half the size of Greenland. Bigger than Texas, smaller than Alaska. Ask an American how big they think New Guinea is and they’ll say either: 1. New what? or 2. Maybe Connecticut or a similarly sized state. 

I think about globe projections every time I peel a clementine. My daughter is a clementine enthusiast so that's something I think about pretty much every day now. I usually get the skin off in one piece then I look at it and think, “This would be a funny map projection.”

Best flat projection of our spherical home: Dymaxion. It looks broken which I think is a necessary part of a good projection.

It’s a bunch of triangles. You can arrange them however you like. It’s an aesthetic and political choice what you center, what you make “upside down.” Do you break the oceans? The continents? Where? 

None of them are “upside down”. We are on a rock in outer space spinning around a flaming gas ball and there are lots of ways to draw its surface on paper. Maybe we shouldn’t represent Greenland so deceptively large when the fascist casino magnate real-estate developer covering his pallid half-dead flesh orange clown make-up has been placed in charge of enough nuclear weapons to destroy said space rock. 

We are doing a bad job at taking care of this little planet, the only one we can live on. Mostly we are destroying it so rich fuckwads can feel powerful during their 80 years on this 4.5 billion year old planet.  

I blame the proliferation of sincere flat-earthers on the Mercator projection as well. 

Mercator is the map for imperialists. 

True Ben Wildflower Dot Com Blog fans will comment with their favorite three global map projections ranked. 

My list: 
1. Dymaxion
2. Wiechel
3. Boggs eumorphic

List subject to change. More than one way to skin a clementine. 

~ ~ ~

Go in peace.