#Doug Bierend

[389]

by Doug Bierend

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

[fettesans]

Top, Anselm Kiefer, The Breaking of the Vessels (Chevi- rat ha-kelim), glass, lead, mixed media, about 280 x 380 cm. This iteration made for the exhibition Falling Stars at Grand Palais, Paris, May 30 – July 8, 2007. Via. Bottom, performance by Murakami Saburo, Passing Through, series of Japanese shōji「障子」paper screens lined up in the form of a passageway during the 2nd Gutai Art exhibition, 1956. Photograph by Kiyoji Otsuji, printed in 2012. Via.

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The way (SimCity creator Will) Wright sees games, players occupy and explore what he calls “possibility spaces.” Simply put, possibility spaces are all the potential arrangements a system (or game) might find itself in. The whole tree of possible movements of pieces on a chessboard, or the countless ways you might reach a destination in Grand Theft Auto, each are a kind of possibility space.

These spaces often intersect along numerous dimensions — in the Sims, for example, the interplay between social success and professional success created a jointed set of possibility spaces that a player could work to maximize (the game was designed around an ideal, not unlike in real life, that lay in achieving a balance between the two).

The intersecting choices faced by a player of SimCity include the aesthetic priorities, economic models, level of environmental concern, and other more subjective dimensions of the city. Depending on the player, a city might be a green oasis or a Koyaanisqatsi-esque nightmare; some might try to make the most visually pleasing city they can, or simply have fun wreaking havoc. Their decisions in these spaces—which can be measured, by the way—are often a reflection of their own values and sensibilities.

“Players right off the bat were forced to sit down and in fact pick their goals,” Wright says. “They had to first of all decide what their values were, what kind of city would they like to live in. That was part of it, and the other part of it was that at some point, invariably, the people who played it enough would start arguing with the assumptions of the simulation. They would start saying, ‘I don’t think mass transit’s that effective, I don’t think pollution really would drive away that many residents.’ At that point, they’re also having to clarify their internal model of the way a city operates … all of a sudden your assumptions become clear to you.”

Doug Bierend, from SimCity That I Used to Know - On the game’s 25th birthday, a devotee talks with creator Will Wright, for Medium, October 17, 2014.

[shubalohmatyi]

#art#photography#cave#sitting#nature#Doug Bierend#u#vladivostok #zarya

Blaze

1 142 заметки

[ugh-leigh-nb]

May 10th 2024 Library Haul

Listed Alphabetically:

Non-Fiction:

"Canada Rocks: the Geologic Journey" (2nd ed) by Nick Eyles and Andrew Miall[This book would make a fun blunt weapon]

"Cooking Vegetarian: Healthy, Delicious, and Easy Vegetarian Cuisine" (2nd ed) by Joseph Forest and Vesanto Melina

"Cultish: the Language of Fanaticism" by Amanda Montell

"Gory Details: Adventures from the Dark Side of Science" by Erika Engelhaupt [THE COVER GLOWS IN THE DARK!!!!]

"In Search of Mycotopia: Citizen Science, Fungi Fanatics, and the Untapped Potential of Mushrooms" by Doug Bierend

"Making Bags, a Field Guide: Supplies, Skills, Tips,& Techniques to Sew Professional-Looking Bags; 5 Projects to Get You Started" by Jessica Barrerea & Sallie Tomato

"No Apologies: Ditch Diet Culture and Rebuild Your Relationship with Food" by Niamh Orbinski

"Pie is Messy: Recipes from the Pie Hole" by Rebecca Grasley w/Willy Blackmore

"Pretend Play Workshop for Kids: a Year of DIY Craft Projects and Open-Ended Screen-Free Learning for Kids Ages 3-7" by Caitlin Kruse & Mandy Roberson w/Emma Johnson, M.S.

"Rare Air: Endangered Birds, Bats, Butterflies, & Bees" by Sarah Kaizar w/A. Scott Meiser

"Strong, Sweet, and Bitter: Your Guide to All Things Cocktails, Bartending, and Booze from Behind the Bar" by Cara Devine

"Traditional Jewish Baking: Retro Recipes Your Grandma Would Make… If She Had a Mixer" by Carine Goren

Manga:

"Alice in the Country of the Joker: Circus and Liar's Game" vol 1 by QuinRose

"The Ancient Magus' Bride Supplement 1" by Kore Yamazaki [I didn't realize this was a supplement, so I'll return it until I can find the og manga to read. I LOVE the idea of supplements though!!!]

"Black Rose Alice" vol 1 by Setona Mizushiro

"A Devil and Her Love Song" vol 1 bt Miyoshi Tomori

"Himouto! Umaru-Chan" vol 2 by Sankakuhead [accidentally got vol 2 instead of one]

"Interviews with Monster Girls" vol 1 by Petos

"Juana and the Dragonewts' Seven Kingdoms" vol 1 by Kiyohisa Tanaka

"Mandalorian: the Manga" vol 1 adapted by Yusuke Osawa

“Monster Musume: Everyday Life with Monster Girls” vol 2 & 3 by Okayado

"Ms. Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles." by Naru Narumi

"My Brain is Different: Stories of ADHD and Other Developmental Disorders"

"New Game!" vol 1 by Shotaro Tokuno

"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" adapted by Mikio Tachibana

"Unmagical Girl" vol 1 by Ryouichi Yokoyama

"Witch Hat Atelier" vol 1 by Kamome Shirahama

Excited to read a lot of these!

[weggebobble]

tagged by @halo--hall ty i love an ask game

last song listened to:

currently watching: all the old dunes - dune (1984, dir david lynch), dune (2019, dir denis villeneuve), & jodorowsky's dune (2013, dir francis pavich) in preparation for 2une (which i am worried about and suspect may be bad)

currently obsessed with: apart from dune(s) i am on a big mycology kick (as per). just finished rereading entangled life (2020, merlin sheldrake) and just started mycotopia (2021, doug bierend). also reading a lot of anarchist utopian fiction (as per). just finished a country of ghosts (2014, margaret killjoy) which is in a very leguinian mode so it's making me want to reread the dispossessed.

tagging any and all mutuals who would like to share a little bit about their interests xoxoxo

[nedsecondline]

Listening tips: fungi and mushrooms

Recently I’ve shared a bit about one of my special interests – fungi and mushrooms – in the book review of Doug Bierend’s book “In Search of …Listening tips: fungi and mushrooms

[provokedgoalie]

Get To Know Me!

last song: ok it was a fob song but I couldn't tell you which one because I heard it from a spongebob edit lmao (I did reblog the post if you wanna know hehe)

currently watching: nothing, but my mom keeps playing suits & I'm glancing at it every now and then. (marvey owns my ass btw)

currently reading: in search of mycotopia: citizen science, fungi fanatics, and the untapped potential of mushrooms by doug bierend

current obsession(s): reading (not that I was never obsessed with it lol but lately I've been reading more than I have last yr), mushrooms, pins/buttons

tagged by @lovelyteuvo ❤️ I forgot I had this in the drafts & never posted it *smacks forehead*

tagging no one because I'm quite lazy.. soooo if you wanna do this just say I tagged ya 🤙🏽

[teddiemush]

What is your current special interest? Mine is Saxon/Norman archaeology (specifically stone circles), and Legend of Zelda, specifically Linked Universe AU.)

hi!!! thanks for asking this question! my current special interests are mycology (i just finished reading In Search of Mycotopia by Doug Bierend, highly recommend if you like mushrooms/fungi) and a podcast called Ologies hosted by Alie Ward! each episodes highlights a science (or “ology”) and features a scientist from that field to talk about it!!! it’s really cool and everything 10 year old me could ask for as i spent countless afternoons after school combing the internet for hyper-specific “ologies” to learn about.

saxon/norman archaeology sounds dope. i took an archaeology class in college once and really liked it! and one day i will finally play a legend of zelda game!!!! i have breath of the wild on my switch but have yet to play it 😬 one day.

[noodledesk]

Technology under capitalism has largely served that ideological purpose; its “advances” have been predicated on a process of increasing atomization and disconnection from nature, a phenomenon now revealing itself in population studies, as well as in in films and other cultural expressions. Such disconnection is collectively taken as the necessary price of progress, narrowly defined. Hence even as contemporary technology facilitates more and more “interconnectivity,” there is nonetheless a growing recognition of social, ecological, and psychological alienation. The rift is deep enough that many people unironically and unconsciously  speak of “escaping” to nature, as if nature does not exist everywhere we go. 

Doug Bierend, "Entangled Intelligence"

[bookstand]

Not My Review: The Way Through the Woods by Long Litt Woon and In Search of Mycotopia by Doug Bierend

Not My Review: The Way Through the Woods by Long Litt Woon and In Search of Mycotopia by Doug Bierend

[389]

by Doug Bierend

[ultra-greenmojo-me]

The Untapped Potential of Mushrooms

[fettesans]

Top, screen capture from La bête (The Beast), directed by Bertrand Bonello, 2023. Via. Bottom, photograph by Doug Bierend (no title and no date found). Via.

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Roblox is an online platform that allows users to create games and play those designed by others. A self-described “ultimate virtual universe,” it is hard to pinpoint exactly what Roblox is: Is it a game? Is it social media? Is it a place to create content or consume media? Is it a place to shop or sell? Is it a metaverse? Or simply a platform? How do we even understand what Roblox is? And does it matter?

Roblox is a multiplayer game world where users create their own singular avatar and move through immersive experiences built by other users. On Roblox, users can move through approximately 40 million different experiences to play, shop, converse and consume media. (...)

Roblox was released in 2006 by co-founders David Baszucki and Erik Cassel, and its popularity dramatically increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, it generated revenue of US$2.7 billion and is currently valued at about US$25 to $30 billion. This makes it one of the world’s largest virtual economies; the platform’s GDP is as large as that of some countries.

Similar to YouTube, Roblox doesn’t create content — instead, it hosts what the company refers to as “immersive experiences.”

Roblox is a new category of communication and entertainment, at the nexus of internet technologies and game engines, with social media and entertainment brands. Roblox describes itself as a “medium of shared experiences.”

It differs from legacy media such as television with shows and commercials, or even Web 2.0 games like Neopets or Webkinz where players engage with prebuilt game worlds. Instead, Roblox is part of a new iteration of the internet, one that is built on game engines, blockchain technologies and token-based economies.

Natalie Coulter, from The growing influence of virtual gaming platforms like Roblox on how we interact online, July 1, 2024.

[queerpyracy]

Behold the (mostly) hidden kingdom of life. Its members number approximately 2.2 to 3.8 million species, the vast majority of which have not yet been described or named. Some are invisible, buried under the earth and inside rotting trees. Some grow above ground. Others appear and disappear. Some taste great; others can kill you.

Despite their mysterious nature, fungi—a category that includes molds, mushrooms, yeasts, lichens, mycorrhiza, and mildews—are essential to human life and play crucial ecological functions. They have also been shown to help people solve a wide range of problems, from oil spills to clinical depression to food insecurity. Yet they are vastly understudied and misunderstood.

Journalist Doug Bierend spent five years exploring fungi and the emerging subcultures that have formed around them for his new book, In Search of Mycotopia: Citizen Science, Fungi Fanatics, and the Untapped Potential of Mushrooms.

Civil Eats spoke with Bierend about fungi’s under-recognized status, their role as a catalyst in emergent social movements, and what it takes to grow and forage for mushrooms while furthering the ideas they inspire.

[Continue Reading]

[moodboardinthecloud]

The Fool is The Spore

 Here is the Fool. Joyful. Gem-eyed. Striding forth. Young. In the original Italian decks, he was most often called Le Mat/Il Matto which means the Madman, indicating that his enthusiasm exists outside patriarchy. It is the wild laughter of the Green Man whose home is in the woods, whose feral presence calls our own hygienic, house-bounded ruts into question. He is typically illustrated as a minstrel or vagabond, and is barefoot in some of the earliest versions of the card. Animals follow after him, nipping at his legs. And he is in the process of leaping from solid ground. The Fool is always on the precipice. His most dominant trait to me is kineticism. His head is raised, his arm outstretched. And he is stepping into the void, straddling air and land, the solidity of the known and the unknown. Will his secret parachute bloom? Will he grow wings? Or is the drop below into soft moss? Where will he land? Into the Tarot itself, into the shape and pace of a fresh journey. As the Zero, the first and unnumbered card of the Tarot, the Fool stands outside of linear time. Some have posited that the Fool is the whole deck, an image of pleroma, the zero acting less as a nullity and more as an embrace for the other 77 cards.  In my attempt to “root” the Tarot in ecology, I always think of the Fool as a spore. Mushrooms reproduce through the release of spores, scintillas of dust mostly invisible to the human eye. When the right alchemical blend of temperature, water, and nutritional matrix is available, the spores germinate and begin to probe outwards with hyphae, inquisitive single-celled threads. Mycologist David Arora estimates that some fungi can liberate up to 30 billion spores a day, amounting to an output of over 5 trillion a year. Mushrooms can release spores with enough force that they can land many inches away from their origin. It has been estimated that the force with which mushrooms eject spores is 25,000 g’s, or 10,000 times the force undergone by astronauts as they exit the gravitational pull of Earth’s orbit. Spores also float on the air currents, sometimes, inconceivably, traveling hundreds of miles to other ecosystems. They hitch a ride in the fur of animals and the hair of human beings. They nestle into the guts of owls, the feathers of birds, that fly from forest to forest, scattering these genetic kernels into the moist undergrowth. Insects carry spore covered material back to their hives and colonies.   These germinating spores fuse hyphae to form an initial “dikaryon��, vibrating with multiple outcomes: mycelial mats form dense interconnected hyphae, mycorrhizal fungi can spread across a forest, acting like a nourishing lace of starlight between plants and trees. Saprophytic fungi lands in refuse and begins to liberate minerals and nutrients, creating a layer of fertile soil. And of course, invisible spores can perform that magic trick of matter, producing something huge and obvious out of an “empty hat”: obvious, often edible, mushrooms. The spore is a zero of possibility, a pleroma of genetic ingenuity and life force, something Robin Wall Kimmerer explains is called Puhpowee by the Potawatomi nation to describe the energy with which mushrooms emerge overnight and the unseen energies that animate everything. If the Fool represents anything to me it is Puhpowee. Happiness is an act of bravery. To tell a new story, we must jump off the cliff of an old one. The Fool shows me that I’m not wedded to one option. I can practice multiplicity, and ride each of the 30 billion spores to a different narrative, a different possible future. The Fool is the glitter bomb of spores from a mushroom that is wildly, devotedly, betting on the world’s ability to provide a womb, a home, an embrace for fungal offspring.  Further References: Mycelium Running by Paul Stamets, Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake, In Search of Mycotopia by Doug Bierend.

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