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Links: Questioning assumptions
Jul. 4th, 2026 05:05 pmFrom the Plantation to the Thicket: Juneteenth, Black Freedom, and ‘Marronage’ in Texas by DaLyah Jones.
Problematic Authors: Can We Separate the Art from the Artist? by Naomi Jacobs. "In chronological order here is what we know about these problematic writers." Content note: Some of your favorite authors might show up on this list.
How playgrounds reinvented childhood by Frank Jacobs.
A solar farm was built to make energy, but the ground beneath the panels quietly began doing something no one planned for by Carlos Albero Rojas.
Language learning methods that actually work #1: The binge.
Kruunuvuorensilta, the new icon of Helsinki.
[P]rior to 1865, many Afro-Texans reclaimed their sovereignty and autonomy well before the federal government acknowledged their basic humanity, though there’s a dearth of centralized information about Black placemaking in Texas from this time. This reclamation was called “marronage”—a term borrowed from French for this act of antebellum self-emancipation.
Problematic Authors: Can We Separate the Art from the Artist? by Naomi Jacobs. "In chronological order here is what we know about these problematic writers." Content note: Some of your favorite authors might show up on this list.
How playgrounds reinvented childhood by Frank Jacobs.
Playgrounds helped transform childhood from participation in public life into preparation for adulthood. From now on, childhood would be supervised and sanitized, zoned into a designated area and limited to a sandbox. No more pirate play on the Mississippi — for better or worse.
A solar farm was built to make energy, but the ground beneath the panels quietly began doing something no one planned for by Carlos Albero Rojas.
These two sites were different by design. Instead of bare gravel or closely mown grass, the panels were raised higher off the ground, leaving room underneath for something to grow.
Then the builders did something unusual. They carefully chose native grasses and wildflowers and planted them right under and around the rows, hoping to rebuild the habitat that used to be there and to hold the soil and water in place.
Language learning methods that actually work #1: The binge.
Speaking as a linguist who has read the literature on second language acquisition and understands 4 languages, I’ve always maintained that Duolingo is a trap; it will keep you spinning on wheels and feeling as if you’re learning a language, but you can spend infinite hours on it and fully gold a tree and you’ll get nowhere. [...]
When in reality, what you should have been doing is to spend all day browsing memes on French Instagram, or playing Animal Crossing in French.
Kruunuvuorensilta, the new icon of Helsinki.
The new Kruunuvuorensilta bridge connecting Korkeasaari and Kruunuvuorenranta is the longest, tallest and longest-standing bridge in Finland – and it is also globally exceptional as bridges of this size have not been built for the sole use of public transport, pedestrian traffic and cycling. The bridge thus becomes an interesting attraction not only due to its size, but also due to the advanced traffic thinking behind its design.
