I mean, he was a career farmer (and writer and teacher) not a homesteader. He had his pet issues with technology but he never advocated for isolating oneself from society.

I wouldn't call it LARPing if someone just figures out the life he wants to live and then does it for 90 some-odd years.

I grew up on a farm about 100 miles from where this guy lived. I have never heard of him until now. The type of farming he did wasn't used on working farms since before he (1930s) was born. And there aren't any working farms along the Kentucky river. So yes, he was a LARPer.

PS Its distilleries that are along the river and the land there is far too hilly to grow row crops.

Funnily enough, in 2022 he spoke against a 25-warehouse bourbon campus being built nearby, saying the land was being sacrificed to “tourism and whiskey.” Weird way to support local industry (and his local community) in Kentucky!

Berry was much more concerned with the health of small-scale family farms and the land than supporting a 600-acre tourism complex.

Berry, besides actively having a farm in Henry County, raised money, provided education and resources for local farmers in the community + around the region via The Wendell Berry Center / Our Home Place Meat, others. To say he wasn't practicing what he preached is disingenuous. He did a lot of great work.

I think he'd be offended by the title of celebrity, but I know exactly what you mean. There was a documentary done on him several years ago, in part driven by Nick Offerman, in which Berry agreed to participate only if they didn't show his face.

I assumed they were referring to market crashes caused by irresponsible levels of risks and deceptive practices like we saw in 2008, and/or government-funded bailouts

That was not caused by trading. It was caused by irresponsible lending and deceptive securitisation of that debt.

Trading can bring down a bank (e.g.Barings) but is not a big systemic risk.

Is lending not a trade? Two parties exchange money for terms of repayment/debt.

The trading occurring on the Bloomberg terminal is of bonds, equities, and commodities.

Sure, this subthread was about finance people in general, the big short in 2008, and other government-funded bailouts.

If you look at ancestors there are repeated references to trades and trading, not to finance or banking.

Unless you're trading physical goods for other physical goods, ie. bartering, then it's finance.

I appreciate this non-judgmental description of what it's like to approach a topic/technology from a newcomer's perspective. Thanks!

My experience as well. Out of curiosity, do you experience endorphins after heavy exercises?

I don't know shit about farming but I still don't think there is a single true statement in what you've said. Why would a farmer not be expected to work a 40 hour week? What farmer doesn't have targets, goals, deadlines, constraints, expectations? You think agricultural workers don't depend on, use, and abuse drugs?!

This reads like, "My job is very complicated, yours is very simple."

That's awesome! Love that stubborn boldness.

Agreed. I believe the special sauce Calvinism added was equating those values with moral success/failure, and therefore spiritual salvation. It gave "not working hard enough" an eternal consequence. It may not have been the first, but Calvinism certainly made it mainstream in the west. See also: how frequently critiques of the poor slide into moral judgements.

Oh what I wouldn't give for a copy of simfarm...

You're in luck

https://archive.org/details/msdos_SimFarm_1993

Just hearing the music takes me back...

And while you're at it, #2