A cute pair of ceramic earrings I got at Trans Pride.
IN URSULA LE GUIN’s Always Coming Home, which takes place in what might be far future California, the people of the Valley tell stories about the “backward-heads.” These are people who literally have their heads on backward, and are said to lurk in the poisoned lands where human people can no longer live. Stories of backward-heads are among the most frightening and ghoulish ghost stories told in the Valley: a child would run screaming if they imagined seeing one, and an actor merely turning to…
Thanks to Sean Bowen and Jordan Helzer, who sent me this link to a Facebook post from the Railway Museum of Eastern Ontario in May. Ottawa 696, the oldest double-truck car from that city in preservation, has been moved to a new location. It has moved from its longtime home in an OC Transpo bus garage to the Railway Museum of Eastern Ontario in Smiths Falls, which is an organization new to PNAERC. RMEO has a small collection of steam-road equipment clustered around the town's rather impressive…
The 2026 World Cup ended last night with a 1–0 win for Spain against the champions Argentina. It was certainly one of the finals of all time and probably the most one-sided match I’ve ever seen (and by design). It took 117 minutes for Argentina to get a shot at goal and despite it all, they had a decent chance to bring the match level after Ferran Torres only goal in extra time. It wasn’t a pretty sight and for me at least neither was the tournament as a whole. I enjoyed individual moments:…
Daffodils along West Cove Road, McLemore Cove, Walker County, Georgia. Do you look deeply at your photographs after you've made them to see what they are truly about? I'm not talking about things like composition, exposure, focus, and such, although those are necessary and important. I'm talking about meaning and message. Those elements are often not evident at first glance. We may have to live with a picture for a while to understand its full meaning. There may be much more there than we saw…
We have had a stretch of farm stand eating. You may say, "Of course--it's July--it's how we're all eating." But I spent 24 years in South Florida, where summer is not a growing season, where growing any sort of vegetable during any month takes planning and good fortune and is likely to end in tears.One summer, I wanted peach cobbler in the worst way, a homesickness that was wrapped up in missing my elders that had died, missing friends far away. I stood by a display of overpriced peaches, not…
We’re just slightly past the halfway point in this year’s 20 Books of Summer challenge and our host, Annabel, has suggested that we look back at our reading so far in the form of a summer road trip: Take a look at the books you’ve read so far and plan a road trip around them: put them in an order that makes sense – use locations, author nationalities, landmarks, key words – whatever works. Feel free to wax lyrical about how you’re travelling, your transport. Then thinking ahead, to books you’re…
The most frustrating part about delivering mail is that, while delivering mail, I can’t do anything else. Not safely anyway. I’m either driving or walking. Neither of those activities can be paired with writing or sketching. At my previous jobs I had some time when I could make notes or do a quick drawing for a project that I would work on when I got home. Not this job. My brain still insists on giving me ideas. I try to appease it by texting myself very simple notes and that helps a little but…
Apropos of nothing: Here's the common MAGA style USA agruement for curtailing and/or snuffing out free artistic, ideological and political expression.'"You expressing your point of view oppresses me, you enjoying your civil rights oppresses me. Even though I’m the second most powerful man in the country, other people having their point of view is actually oppression against me." Said by J D Vance, sometime? Not completely sure of the source but it sounds about accurate. "Get back into your…
EMF has flown by, and I completely failed at writing a handful of blogs about it while I was there. So, my plan has changed to write a few retrospectively. EMF (Open in Google Maps) (Maps & Data © OpenStreetMap.org contributors) The camping aspect of EMF was chaotic, with a sea of tightly packed tents, guy ropes overlapping, causing many trip hazards. A group of us from Southampton and Manchester came together to form ‘Manchampton’, with our tents circling a main living space. We had power,…
I’ve been lax in posting my photos here. So here you have about two months’ worth of pictures from around Hveragerði. It’s a lot. I apologise in advance. Since I’m guessing many of you have had a somewhat stressful day like I did, here are a few photos of a redwing out and about doing its thing. I’m getting a little bit more comfortable with saturated colours in my photographs. This common redshank was very dissatisfied with my presence, which most likely means the nest was nearby Bonus horsie.…
UpdatesMy first week post layoff is completed - and I'm starting to settle into a slightly different rhythm of gardening leave. A few times this week I have felt 'adrift' without the scaffolding of the rhythm of my days, so it's up to me to create my own cadence while I work through what is next. The weather in Dublin has helped, and busying myself with some of the paperwork has been a lot easier in summertime. There was no quiz this week, as we sacrificed our weekly fixture to ensure people…
By Greg FerrisTalaraskaGeneric/UniversalLevel ... 3? The hills making up the Archian border with Caledos are pocked with dozens of abandoned mines. These leave a lasting reminder of the rush for silver in the years prior to the rise of the Graun Empire. Without drawing much attention from local officials, a nebulous consortium of investors has been purchasing old dig sites throughout the region. The mine at Mt. Morris was one such purchase. About 12 months ago, a group of ten men reopened the…
Saturday started off as a pretty busy day. My parents were coming over to visit and I wanted to have something for lunch ready. At first, I was considering cooking something up, but then realized I wouldn't have enough time because I needed to clean the kitchen and throw out some trash. So I decided to make a halfway compromise and buy a box of fried chicken in town, including rolls, then cook the sides myself. I just recently made fried chicken, but I didn't know what else to choose since…
Blogging for 8 years hasn’t been unicorns and rainbows. I abandoned my blog for months. I’ve also wanted to quit more than once. Even when I preach to write like nobody is reading, my last 100 daily posts made me question if I should keep a blog. Maybe YouTube, Substack, or a social media platform aren’t that bad after all. Then I remember Seth Godin sharing about his 10,000 posts. That’s 25 years of blogging. That reminds me that the real hack is sticking for years. I’m reflecting on my 8-year…
The Eversense 355 is a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM for short) that, unlike other similar devices is implanted. It lasts a full year and then it needs to be replaced.It has now been six months since I got the Eversense 365 sensor in my right arm. Have there been any complications? Do I regret it? Is there anything I wish I had known before I got this Continuous Glucose Monitor implanted?How Far I've ComeI've written at length about the Eversense 365. As a somewhat recently diagnosed type 1…
8633/21552It's been a bit of a rollercoaster year for the family, with my dad being ill and then me getting cancer again. It's not quite been an annus horribilis but it's not be the loveliest annus I've ever encountered. And I've encountered a few.Today we had to rush home early because our lovely dog and Stone Clearing podcast co-host Wolfie is now in hospital. Catie's mum and dad have been looking after her whilst I've been recovering and while we were away, but noticed that she was lethargic…
I live a boring life. I’m 39, and most of my days look exactly the same. I work from a small office, take walks, see my family, lift weights, read, and write. That’s about it. And I love it. My 19-year-old self would scoff at this. Even my 29-year-old self would. “Is that all there is to life?” he’d say. “You’ve got to be out there. In the middle of the action!” What action? I think I watched too many TV shows and movies. The dream you inherit is not the dream you keep In my head, I had a…
It’s that time of year again! I have returned from my travels in Costa Rica because this week (July 20-23) I will be attending the annual conference of the Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB), which will be meeting in downtown Minneapolis. (The conference will take place at “The Depot”, a historic hotel and former train station (pictured below) in the Mill District of downtown Minneapolis, where I will be staying until the end of this week.) I will therefore resume — and conclude! — my…
Monday ActivityEven in darkness the suffering continues 🥵. 31c 70% humidity 8pm. At least this should make autumn runs feel easy in comparison.Comment by email 4.4km 32.5min 14.2m climbed avg bpm
Australian Sheep and Wool Show at Bendigo Showgrounds, 17 July 2026.After having such a nice day last year I was guaranteed to drag myself to the sheep show again. This year it was a solo mission, and I caught the train and shuttle bus instead of driving and having to find a parking spot.The day was blessed with lovely weather and the trip was an easy one. My first stop after getting into the showgrounds was a coffee van. As is often the case, this involved conferring with fellow coffee-seekers…
In Toronto for a work conference and the hotel doesn’t have a gym so I guess I’m going to try a real run for the first time in a long time. The lungs were not good! Just these two miles had me spitting. I had hoped my heel would feel good but it did not. Not painful, but sore and uncomfortable through the run. It did feel very good afterward, but let’s see how it feels in the morning. At least the weather was perfect for running and the streets were bare. , Ontario, Canada (Easy Charles)
And the next month I will have a little photographic exhibition in Venice, Italy. Here the flyer for the exhibition and here is the link at the webpage
last step120 grit to flush the putty on the back frame. The next batter was picking a paint color.nopeThese are the powdered dyes for milk paint. I thought of mixing up a batch of milk paint but the frame was all I had to paint. Most of it would have been wasted.the final threeBlack was my first thought but I nixed it. Instead I picked green. That had been choice for milk paint too. I picked chrome green and for whatever reason it wasn't the color I expected. It was green but the 'chrome' part…
John Wyver writes: Just over a fortnight since The Cultures of Early Television wrapped, with much – although far from all – of the admin done, and with the distractions of a weekend in Paris and the World Cup now past, I have finally settled down to reflect briefly on the conference. For those of you just joining us, this was a two-day University of Westminster conference about television before the Second World War in Britain, the United States, continental Europe and the Soviet Union. Two…
Cornell George Hopley Woolrich was born in New York City on December 4, 1903, almost exactly eleven months after his parents Genaro and Claire had wed at the Church of the Archangel in Harlem. In the type of foreboding calamity that occurred all to frequently in Cornell's books, the church burned down to the ground into cinders and ashes shortly before Cornell was born. Call it Black Archangel, if you will.For around four years after Cornell's birth the little family of father, mother and son…
Temples and Yew TreesThere was simply too much inspiration in section 2 of Jonathan Meades Travels with Pevsner. The main topic was Georgian Pershore but how could I ignore "the most momentous building in Worcestershire".This is the Temple of Theseus. Built in 1758 by Lord Lyttleton, so he could look out over the Malvern Hills. It is the first example of neo-classical architecture in Europe.There's a lot going on at Wychbury Hill. I have already told the tale of "Who put Bella in the Wych…
Asahifuji’s winning streak came to an end tonight against Nabatame. He was defeated by a steady stream of tsuppari, and a clever arm grab. Asahifuji appeared ready to charge forward but Nabatame seized his left arm and yanked him forward. That forced Asahifuji to pull back while Nabatame kept up his tsuppari and drove him … Continue reading Nagoya 2026: Day Nine
Still trying to catch up with some stuff that’s been painted for a while! I’m taking advantage of the fact that it’s World Cup final night so I’m typing this while watching Spain beat Argentina beat Spain! Having painted up some Martian flyers I thought it was about time my Earth forces got some conventional flying machines of their own. Shown above is a 3D-printed AD Scout, a prototype British WW1 fighter that I’d never heard of before I saw it on Ebay! The largest scale I could get it in was…
CCC: Merry Clipped-Out Marxes, Bouncing Baby Sandy, Dapper Offscreen Harold, and Comedies Gone Till NowKEEPSAKE MARXES --- Clippings, shavings, call these fragments what we will, but this was collecting on clowns before there was public access to posters, stills, lobby cards, wells into which much money is presently pumped by those who seek Marx Bros. artifacts long gone from theatre fronts and shop windows. Show of hands for those willing to give five thousand for an original Duck Soup 11X14,…
