Matt Johnson
@mattjohnsonhtx.bsky.social
| Architecture, Environment, Infrastructure |
| Assoc Prof of Architecture https://www.uh.edu/architecture/
| Houston Genetic City https://actar.com/product/houston-genetic-city/
| Assoc Prof of Architecture https://www.uh.edu/architecture/
| Houston Genetic City https://actar.com/product/houston-genetic-city/
Weird that EVERY amendment passed, even when they were at cross-purposes. Amendment free for all.
November 5, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Weird that EVERY amendment passed, even when they were at cross-purposes. Amendment free for all.
None of the articles I've read indicate what those "ideological differences" are. His bio seems solid and basically apolitical.
October 21, 2025 at 4:59 PM
None of the articles I've read indicate what those "ideological differences" are. His bio seems solid and basically apolitical.
The new earnestness: tasteful cringe, hygge hopepunk.
October 19, 2025 at 9:54 PM
The new earnestness: tasteful cringe, hygge hopepunk.
I think the issue is: how much damage are Mills and Platner willing to do to each other in the eight months before the General?
Because as you know, most effective role for paid consultants is in destroying others' credibility in bad faith, not in building their own candidate up.
Because as you know, most effective role for paid consultants is in destroying others' credibility in bad faith, not in building their own candidate up.
October 14, 2025 at 4:52 PM
I think the issue is: how much damage are Mills and Platner willing to do to each other in the eight months before the General?
Because as you know, most effective role for paid consultants is in destroying others' credibility in bad faith, not in building their own candidate up.
Because as you know, most effective role for paid consultants is in destroying others' credibility in bad faith, not in building their own candidate up.
I think the bigger point is that 98% of these encounters are entirely avoidable, and “fafo” guys end up inviting a lot of chaos, pain, and inexplicable hostility into their lives by constantly being primed for a fight that never has to happen.
October 13, 2025 at 11:59 PM
I think the bigger point is that 98% of these encounters are entirely avoidable, and “fafo” guys end up inviting a lot of chaos, pain, and inexplicable hostility into their lives by constantly being primed for a fight that never has to happen.
It's also possible, I think, to create many Gemeinschafts within Gesellschaft. Communities of practice, subcultures, neo-tribes. But it doesn't work the other way.
October 7, 2025 at 10:54 PM
It's also possible, I think, to create many Gemeinschafts within Gesellschaft. Communities of practice, subcultures, neo-tribes. But it doesn't work the other way.
Especially important at a moment when the veil of ignorance seems to have been shredded, in favor of a situation where all political rules are designed to favor one’s own position.
October 6, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Especially important at a moment when the veil of ignorance seems to have been shredded, in favor of a situation where all political rules are designed to favor one’s own position.
An umbrella under an umbrella. Canada needs its own, smaller one to protect against the big umbrella.
October 1, 2025 at 1:40 AM
An umbrella under an umbrella. Canada needs its own, smaller one to protect against the big umbrella.
It's weird that the loudspeakers seem engineered specifically to be undecipherable—and yet are still constantly blaring.
September 19, 2025 at 3:13 PM
It's weird that the loudspeakers seem engineered specifically to be undecipherable—and yet are still constantly blaring.
I think it's because many of them find the medium itself uncouth, beneath them, low culture. They're not necessarily wrong, but that's now where public discourse happens.
September 18, 2025 at 2:26 PM
I think it's because many of them find the medium itself uncouth, beneath them, low culture. They're not necessarily wrong, but that's now where public discourse happens.
The Boss SD-1 is a far better pedal using a similar circuit.
September 14, 2025 at 8:07 PM
The Boss SD-1 is a far better pedal using a similar circuit.
Incidentally, I find that anthropology is an interesting place to look for this kind of thing. Anthropologists contemporize and spatialize history in a way that historians sometimes don't.
Gunel, Appadurai, Clifford, Hannerz, Auge, and many others....
Gunel, Appadurai, Clifford, Hannerz, Auge, and many others....
September 13, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Incidentally, I find that anthropology is an interesting place to look for this kind of thing. Anthropologists contemporize and spatialize history in a way that historians sometimes don't.
Gunel, Appadurai, Clifford, Hannerz, Auge, and many others....
Gunel, Appadurai, Clifford, Hannerz, Auge, and many others....
But these are pretty straightforward. You might look at
History of the Barricade, by Hazan
Autonomous City, history of squatting, by Vasudevan
History of the Barricade, by Hazan
Autonomous City, history of squatting, by Vasudevan
September 13, 2025 at 3:48 PM
But these are pretty straightforward. You might look at
History of the Barricade, by Hazan
Autonomous City, history of squatting, by Vasudevan
History of the Barricade, by Hazan
Autonomous City, history of squatting, by Vasudevan
I just happened to read this so it's on my mind: "The Terror: The Merciless War for Freedom in Revolutionary France," David Andress.
Carl Schorske's Fin De Siecle Vienna.
William Cronon, Nature's Metropolis.
Raymond Williams, Country and the City.
And almost anything by Mike Davis and James Scott.
Carl Schorske's Fin De Siecle Vienna.
William Cronon, Nature's Metropolis.
Raymond Williams, Country and the City.
And almost anything by Mike Davis and James Scott.
September 13, 2025 at 3:06 PM
I just happened to read this so it's on my mind: "The Terror: The Merciless War for Freedom in Revolutionary France," David Andress.
Carl Schorske's Fin De Siecle Vienna.
William Cronon, Nature's Metropolis.
Raymond Williams, Country and the City.
And almost anything by Mike Davis and James Scott.
Carl Schorske's Fin De Siecle Vienna.
William Cronon, Nature's Metropolis.
Raymond Williams, Country and the City.
And almost anything by Mike Davis and James Scott.
All bangers in this list.
September 9, 2025 at 2:59 PM
All bangers in this list.
Musk’s mad because he’s resigning? What am I missing?
September 7, 2025 at 11:53 PM
Musk’s mad because he’s resigning? What am I missing?
It's the Iraq playbook all over again. Set up a flimsy pretext, where the real reason is control of Venezuelan oil fields.
September 5, 2025 at 6:17 PM
It's the Iraq playbook all over again. Set up a flimsy pretext, where the real reason is control of Venezuelan oil fields.
Trusting the experts is in fact the *central feature* of both science and democracy. Neither function without verifiable data. Where does that data come from? From research, done by experts.
(This shouldn't have to be said.)
(This shouldn't have to be said.)
August 30, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Trusting the experts is in fact the *central feature* of both science and democracy. Neither function without verifiable data. Where does that data come from? From research, done by experts.
(This shouldn't have to be said.)
(This shouldn't have to be said.)
He appears to have already been there....
August 28, 2025 at 6:57 PM
He appears to have already been there....
I sense that the working theory in the admin is: "if we're not able to control it, destroy it instead." I don't know that they've succeeded in controlling the vast US bureaucracy, but they've certainly succeeded at breaking it in crucial areas. And once broken, I assume things are easier to control.
August 28, 2025 at 4:58 PM
I sense that the working theory in the admin is: "if we're not able to control it, destroy it instead." I don't know that they've succeeded in controlling the vast US bureaucracy, but they've certainly succeeded at breaking it in crucial areas. And once broken, I assume things are easier to control.
This possibly? In addition to everything else?
August 27, 2025 at 11:22 PM
This possibly? In addition to everything else?
What is his actual argument about wind power? That the turbines interrupt views? That seems to be the entirety of it.
August 26, 2025 at 4:28 PM
What is his actual argument about wind power? That the turbines interrupt views? That seems to be the entirety of it.