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Simon Morden @comrademorden.bsky.social · 5h

Residents will be shocked how different the view looks when it's all on fire.

Simon Morden @comrademorden.bsky.social · 5h

Yes, entirely representative. The 13th century saw enclosures and yearly cropping of arable land across much of the prime wheat growing belt (roughly Dorset to Lincolnshire, including and especially East Anglia).

There were repeated famines from 1300 onward.

Simon Morden @comrademorden.bsky.social · 5h

Except that it did limit population growth. Grain yields from 1100 were broadly similar(or higher) to yields in 1700. Efficiencies in labour (horses instead of oxen eg) don't trump what the lamd can produce.

Simon Morden @comrademorden.bsky.social · 7h

Essentially, higher grain prices in 1250- led to an erosion of the 2/3 field system as landowners chased profits over established fallow and manuring techniques that had been followed since Saxon times. By 1300, yields were falling due to lack of nitrogen and phosphate.

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Simon Morden @comrademorden.bsky.social · 8h

Making a Living in the Middle Ages: The People of Britain, 850-1520 (New Economic History of Britain) (The New Economic History of Britain Series) by Christopher Dyer. Yale University Press (2009)

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Simon Morden @comrademorden.bsky.social · 9h

Literally halved the population. Didn't recover in numbers until the 18th century.

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Simon Morden @comrademorden.bsky.social · 9h

Nothing you've said there contradicts anything I've said.

Population growth was significant at times - between 1100 and 1300 for example. But the neglect of crop rotation and fallow fields were already causing problems before 1348. Yields were down, as was population.

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Simon Morden @comrademorden.bsky.social · 13h

I am reminded that the stable population of the UK from 1100 to around 1750 was 2-4 million.

That's literally the limit of pre-industrial Britain, with most of the available land under the plough or grazing.

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Reposted by Simon Morden

mtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · 22h

You're living through one of the biggest technological transformations in world history and it has nothing to do with AI

Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · 1d

Grid scale batteries are changing our electricity system. Excellent new visual story on batteries in FT today shows just how far this technology has evolved.

Fasten your seatbelts, this is just the beginning.

ig.ft.com/mega-batteri...

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Simon Morden @comrademorden.bsky.social · 17h

*on

Simon Morden @comrademorden.bsky.social · 17h

Cyclists make the judgement that the cycling infrastructure on offer is more dangerous than riding on the road.

I'm with you know the lights, mind...

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Simon Morden @comrademorden.bsky.social · 17h

Cyclists (after horse riders) are uniquely vulnerable on the roads. I can be lit up like a Christmas tree or in plain sight on a summer day, and drivers will still look straight through me.

Forcing HGVs to stop before making left turns? Disruption to the flow of traffic, but fewer dead cyclists.

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Simon Morden @comrademorden.bsky.social · 1d

tbf, this isn't a 'grim new reality' but an ongoing issue since land was reclaimed in the middle ages.

What has changed is the rate of erosion, which now acts faster than memories are lost.

Simon Morden @comrademorden.bsky.social · 1d

The Border Beevers

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Simon Morden @comrademorden.bsky.social · 1d

We're on Tyneside, so it's a very recent arrival!

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Simon Morden @comrademorden.bsky.social · 1d

(Hopefully this will work)

Was out in the back yard doing some woodwork, and I could hear what I thought was a whole bunch of bees buzzing away.

Turned out to be a whole bunch of bees buzzing away, collecting pollen from the ivy flowers as the afternoon sun hit them.

(sound up!)

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Simon Morden @comrademorden.bsky.social · 1d

Go see live bands. Buy CDs. Put actual money in the hands of artists rather than fascist trchbros.

Ben Hart, Gender Archivist @pavlovforgoths.com · 1d

Found out that Spotify is running ICE recruitment ads, if you need another reason to quit using it.

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Simon Morden @comrademorden.bsky.social · 1d

Is this the one where three coked-up blokes droned on incessantly to each other about how brilliant their business strategies were and left the rest if the customers to enjoy a quiet pint in peace?

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Simon Morden @comrademorden.bsky.social · 2d

“Breathtaking in scope; an intricate science fiction masterpiece” – Adrian Tchaikovsky

He's talking about this book: www.newconpress.co.uk/info/book.as...

The History of the World, Simon Morden - Books - The History of the World

NewCon Press is a multiple award-winning independent publisher specialising in science fiction, fantasy, dark fantasy and horror.

www.newconpress.co.uk

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Simon Morden @comrademorden.bsky.social · 3d

It's that time of year when I try and fail to play the correct rhythm to Harvest Samba. Or, in fact, any identifiable rhythm at all.

(I don't know why - it should be straightforward, but no matter how hard I listen to tutorials and try and replicate it - I've not nothing. Nothing at all.)

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