in truth there are only atoms and the void

Hi,

here are a few:

General History and Economics

"The World that Trade Created" by Kenneth Pomeranz and Steven Topik: Explores the global economic networks, commodities, and shipping logistics that shaped the 19th-century world.

"Empires of the Sea" or general works on maritime trade networks detail how steamships and iron hulls transformed global finance and cargo movement.

"Clyde-Built: The Blockade Runners, Cruisers and Armoured Merchantmen of the First World War" by Eric Graham: Illustrates the peak of 19th/20th-century ship manufacturing economics in Scotland.

Ships and Technology

"The Line Fleets" and general histories of the great ocean liner companies (White Star, Cunard, Hamburg America Line).

"The Sail and Steam Navy List" by Rif Winfield: Documents the complex transition period from wooden sailing warships to steel steamships in the 19th century.

"The Maritime History of the World" volumes detailing the shift from wind power to coal and oil engines.

Maritime Law and Governance

"Grotius and the Law of the Sea" (and related modern legal histories on 19th-century prize law and neutrality).

"Law of the Sea" histories focusing on 19th-century British Admiralty courts, salvage rights, and the regulation of international shipping lanes.

"The Freedom of the Seas" historical analyses regarding how imperial powers enforced or bent maritime laws during the age of steam.

Culture and Life at Sea

"Two Years Before the Mast" by Richard Henry Dana Jr.: A classic 1840 memoir detailing the brutal, gritty reality of life as a common sailor on a 19th-century merchant brig.

"The Mirror of the Sea" by Joseph Conrad: A deeply reflective cultural and psychological look at ships, sailors, and ports in the late-sail/early-steam era.

Instagram is full of first-person videos of men harassing women in public. They follow a similar script: A man walks up to a woman or group of women in a store, sitting outside a cafe, or walking home from a bar, and delivers a pickup line. The women almost always nervously laugh, react with barely-veiled disgust, or say "fuck off" while he stalks her or refuses to walk away. The men recording these videos capture them with Meta's smart glasses, which are designed to discreetly capture interactions like these and upload the videos to Meta's platforms where the women in the videos are turned into content for "pickup artist" accounts.

New research reveals this ecosystem works, and how pickup artists (PUA) influencers are using Meta's products, including its smart glasses and social media platforms, to perpetuate a culture of harassment against women.

[...]

the anonymous main character is a radicalized shut-in teenage boy obsessed with filmed rape and mutilation but terrified of human bodies, finding his way on a fictional recreation of early 2010s 4chan. very harrowing to read but not at all unfamiliar, as someone who had once been 14, peeking into the other boards after mass downloading albums from /mu/ sharethreads; how they goad each other into acts of terror, mostly against the most accessible women in their lives (relatives), the evidence only shown to us as gloating Storytimes and filenames (the violence in red rooms is never shown to us, either). if you can handle reading through that kind of casual cruelty i recommend reading it. it's short and very well-written and i won't spoil more.

meanwhile, some snippets of red rooms interviews describing our lady of shallot, (locked away in a tower and cursed to see the world through a screen)'s motives, why she forces her way into such circles...

groomed