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You know who’s a great guide to our social-media landscape? David Hume, I say. I also have another forthcoming piece on how Hume explains our political divisions.
Paul Wood writes about trees in cities.
I usually don’t post super-serious things here, but this post by Freddie is profound.
A photo essay on “the last wild river in Europe,” the Vjosa.
I’ve been reading the Library of America 2-volume boxed set Reporting World War II, and it’s absolutely extraordinary. Harrowing, heart-rending, fascinating. It’s expensive, but worth every penny if you can spare the cash. And right now it’s on sale!
In March of 1968, in Ottawa, Canada, a musician named Jimi Hendrix introduced himself to a singer/songwriter named Joni Mitchell. He noted that they were signed to the same record label (Reprise) and asked her if she might allow him to record her concert at a coffee house that evening. She agreed, and he arrived early and planted himself at the foot of the stage and recorded her whole show. Those recordings were lost for fifty years – but were discovered, in a private collection, in 2021. Here’s one song from the set. Jimi could’ve been a pretty good recording engineer if he hadn’t had other things to do. After the show he told his diary that he loved the show and enjoyed making the recording. “Fantastic girl with heaven words,” he wrote.