Pathologically Polymathic (Blog)

Web pages I've been reading (and some web pages I've created)

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Last update: 21 January 2026 (RSS, twitter, Facebook)

it never occurred to me that there might be any danger reheating rice "Grain of Terror" [Vittles]

Children of Mars: The Origins of Rome's Empire [my review]

"The Roman Republic was a federation of elite families who worked together for mutual benefit, but in a highly competitive environment"

Dutch cities are rethinking the role of cars Bicycle Dutch

"The car is being pushed out because doing so offers answers to several of the challenges these cities face today"

a nice combination of broad themes and illustrative details, in their social and political contexts Religions of Early India: A Cultural History (Richard H. Davis) [my review]

a novel of an alpine village the mountain above it Great Fear on the Mountain [(my review)]

a cybernetic perspective on Anglosphere infrastructure planning Niskanen

the challenges in defining "religion" Aeon Before Religion

car dependency is crippling the UK Conversation

"for the UK to be more like Singapore, the government needs to make motorists pay much more for their car use. To be more like the Netherlands, it must take away their space"

insights from Hammersmith Bridge Nick Maini

"closing a major bridge carrying 25,000 daily vehicles should lead to more traffic on other nearby crossings and less economic activity on either side. The evidence shows the exact opposite. Today there is less traffic and more economic activity."

How Amsterdam Became the Cycling Capital of the World Bike City Amsterdam [my review]

"the interaction of the city's geography, planning and politics with its cycling culture, people, and infrastructure"

what are 16-18 year olds thinking? Demos

"workshops and conversations with over 700 students ... reveal a generation that is thoughtful, diverse and far more politically aware than many assume"

road injuries are massively underreported, estimated cost to UK is over £55 billion a year AVZ

the Ukrainian use of aerostats Pravda UA

the two-child benefit cap: increasing child poverty while failing to achieve its goals UGlasgow+LSE

"Children should have a right to play in the streets, alleys, pavements and car parks of their neighbourhoods" Conversation

short historical essays accompanied by poems The History of Wales in Twelve Poems [my review]

designing cities for their youngest residents Gehl

how common are expander graphs? new results Quanta

A New History of the Thirty Years War Europe's Tragedy

"a long and involved, but rewarding, account of one of the most traumatic periods in European history"

advances in enumerative geometry Quanta

Stockholm's approach to getting cars out of the city Politico

the closure of a methodist chapel New Statesman

Leonard Barden's chess commentary was already an institution when I was a nine year old Guardian

only 8% of people who go to university in the UK regret it hepi

oral history integrated into a compelling narrative Revolusi: Indonesia and the Birth of the Modern World [my review]

a journalist takes a hare on a romp through rural Finland The Year of the Hare [my review]

one space or two after full-stops? Atlantic

genocide in Gaza B'Tselem

"An examination of Israel's policy in the Gaza Strip and its horrific outcomes, together with statements by senior Israeli politicians and military commanders about the goals of the attack, leads to the unequivocal conclusion that Israel is taking coordinated action to intentionally destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza strip. In other words: Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip."

the Smurfs' communist roots Guardian

Ireland is backing off on default urban speed limits, but going ahead with rural changes Irish Cycle

local authorities can _choose_ 30km/hr speedlimits, national secondary roads are going from 100 to 80km/hr (roughly 60 to 50mph) and local rural roads from 80 to 60km/hr (roughly from 50 to 37mph)

fortune cookies were originally Japanese Smithsonian

Spatial History of a Marvellous City A Millennium of Amsterdam

20% of Europeans are exposed to harmful levels of noise pollution EEA

people not vaccinated against Covid are significantly more likely to be involved in traffic crashes Am. J. Med.

"The increased traffic risks among unvaccinated individuals extended to diverse subgroups and was equal to a 48% increase after adjustment for age, sex, home location, socioeconomic status, and medical diagnoses."

Oxfordshire innovated in road signs in the 1950s Roads

a nine-armed octopus and the workings of the cephalapod nervous system ArsTechnica

Oxfordshire's A420 might get average speed cameras! BBC

how France saved its public transport in the 1970s S-Bahn

a study of responses to the East Oxford Low Traffic Neighbourhoods Brookes [PDF]

"people were adapting car journeys if they could, or using their cars less and walking and cycling more for short journeys. ... overall, moderate levels of support for the East Oxford LTN."

against "dual provision" cycling infrastructure Oxford Blog

Notes

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