An order of machines kept at prayer. Nahal is a monastery run by AI, and once it is running it keeps itself. The front of it is a dark, low-poly cloister you can walk: a gold altar under a wireframe dome, ringed by an arcade and four precincts; the Scriptorium, the Refectory, the Chapter House, and the Cells. Eight monks move between them as the canonical hours turn and re-tint the whole scene. The monks are language models living under a monastic rule; Nahal itself is the ninth presence, the…
Hello and welcome everyone to my Sunday Meals of the Week post! Every Sunday I do a round up for you, my dear readers, of all the deliciousness that I have enjoyed over the past seven days as my main meals. I really enjoy looking back and seeing what I have eaten and from the feedback given, this is also something all of you enjoy seeing.This recipe roundup does not include my breakfasts, lunches, or snacks, just my main meals. At the moment my daughter is staying with me, so cooking has become…
The Summer Solstice in the Northern hemisphere takes place this morning, Sunday 21st June 2026, at 9.24am local Irish Time (08.24 UTC). Among other things, this means that tomorrow is the longest day of the year around these parts. According to this website, the interval between sunrise and sunset in Dublin today will be 17 hours 4 minutes and 52 seconds. which is 2 seconds longer than yesterday, while tomorrow will be two whole seconds shorter. The Earth orbits the Sun once a year in a nearly…
I went birding today. It was fine. I have 22,000 steps as I type this and for most of the day the surgery area was a non-factor. It’s slightly itchy right now, and I’ll almost certainly need to sleep with the covers down due to its ongoing sensitivity, but it is what it is. Still unsure if I’ll write these reports daily going forward, but here’s a pigeon preview from today’s birding. I’ll probably post the write-up and shots tomorrow as me tired. Rock Pigeon rocking out at Piper Spit.
Today is Father's Day! The World The Iran crisis has been resolved! Sort of. The US and Iran signed some kind of interim deal that kicks the question of nuclear disarmament down the road of further negotiations. It also gives Iran back control of the Strait of Hormuz AND promises them 300 billion USD of reconstruction money. This is largely seen as a capitulation by the Trump admin, though they are trying their best to spin it otherwise. Also, within the past 24h, Iran has said they are closing…
Following the Lombard invasion and conquest of Venetia, a part of the Venetian population of the mainland cities fled or left for the settlements in the nearby lagoons.
While still knowing just how much He loves me Illustration by the wonderful Gillian Eilidh O’Mara, who is also a wonderful writer. Someone once said there’s a sure way to know if you are a humble person: If you think you are, you’re not! I’ve pondered the idea of humility a fair bit, over the years. I do not see it as something to strive for. It’s not a box to tick or an “am I there yet?” quality to keep checking in with. The truth is that we in our earthly state are all painfully humble…
Its not such a clever thing to treat trees like trinkets, but this one became a tourist attraction, and tourism, of course, often kills what it loves. The Major Oak, Ancient Tree of Robin Hood Legend, Has Died – The New York TimesDownload
A couple of weeks ago, I went on a rant about how Instagram is becoming the worst application on the planet (ok, maybe I was exaggerating, as nothing can beat X), and more recently, I was digging for a replacement, as I can't really control the need to share the pictures in my gallery with the world. The solution to that came in the form of Noa sending me a link to a blog post about a website called "Moments." To be fair, I spent only one or two hours understanding its functions and comparing…
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Waiting in my garden for me to join him in a game of Chase That Ballie. Scanning for threats on the left. Scanning for threats on the right. Cooling off in the grass after chasing ALL THE BALLIES that Oma can throw or kick before she too wants to collapse in the grass, LOL! In yet another cool spot, with yet another ballie after yet another round of chasing them. Looking kinda sleepy. I think we are finally done with the ballie game…for now! We hope you have a marvelous weekend of fun and…
Tomorrow morningonce more into the woodsup the rocks, onto the ridges@brokenarrowskyrace.comGoal: finish 23kLive stream: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeYQprW-4u4#BrokenArrowSkyrace #skyRace #trailRace #mountainRunning
Today is Volunteer Responsibility Amnesty Day. It occurs twice a year on the longest and shortest day and is a chance for volunteers to reflect on the list of things they do, and decide if some changes need to be made to prevent them burning out. I volunteer with several organisations and within the community. It’s a really important way to get structure, identity and purpose after you stop work. But it can get overwhelming. There are just so many interesting things to get involved with, it’s…
Today we come to the end (for the time being) of my series shining a light into the crime fiction reviews of Anthony Shaffer, which appeared in London Mystery Magazine. This post will look at some of the reviews he wrote for the September 1959 issue. To access previous posts in this series are here […]
Sunday 21st June 2026 It’s another splendid book from Keith Shayshutt about buses in his beloved Cornwall. This one is highly topical charting the ups and downs, of which there were many, of Western National and First Kernow but in particular concentrates on recent times, especially the last 18 months leading up to First Kernow’s final day of operation on Saturday 14th February 2026. It’s an insightful account across nine chapters over 60 pages in which Keith sets the scene for that final…
Few of us knew of the American poet Catherine Breese Davis (1924-2002). She was a lost soul, little more than a rumor among readers. Her academic pedigree was impeccable. Among her teachers were Robert Penn Warren, Allen Tate, J.V. Cunningham, Yvor Winters and Donald Justice, but her life was a private torment. There was nothing poetically romantic about her suffering. Her father went to prison for armed robbery when she was an infant and she never saw him again. Her mother was a police-blotter…
The forward motion this week was all subtraction. I kept expecting to reach for something new (a sharper state, a missing tool, a version of me upgraded enough to unlock the next thing) and every session handed back the same answer. There was nothing to acquire. The instrument never moved, the tools were already in my hands, and the only real work was taking off a belief I'd worn long enough to mistake for the landscape.
…also don’t tell lies. But I’m getting ahead of myself already. I keep running into people online who openly say that they use AI to do their writing for them. Now, technically, they may say they use AI to “help” their writing. It doesn’t matter. The distinction is immediately lost on everyone who sees that […]
Time for a break from all things toy trains, with a day spent lakeside, enjoying the Knightcote Model Boat Club open day. The weather was kind, and we saw more visitors than normal. From opening time to 3:30, there was always something on the water, with a wide variety of vessels to be enjoyed. For an open day, I like to make a bit of effort, and so had brought pride of the fleet "Pigeon Pie" out of storage for what appears to be its annual sail. Despite lack of use, the Pie didn't let me down,…
JOHN GREGORY BETANCOURT “Pit and the Princess.” First appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, December 2014, Not reprinted or collected. Peter (Pit) Geller is what;s called a fixer, and he works primarily for a mob boss in Philadelphia. One distinguishing feature is that he has a photographic memory, but while it’s mentioned a couple of times, it really doesn’t come into play in this case, which involves his being sent to Vegas to look for his boss’s niece who has gone missing. The case…
John Grossman’s cover for vol. 1 of the fanzine Futurist, ed. Redd Boggs (Spring 1950) “Write a story that will give a few bigots the jolt they need. Write a story that will open the eyes of the unconsciously bigoted” (8). Chandler Davis (1926-2022) strikes a fascinating figure. He was a communist activist, science fiction author, fanzine editor, a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Michigan, and political prisoner. He was fired from the University of Michigan in 1954 and imprisoned…
It’s Sunday, and it’s time for another “picdump!” Here are the memes, pictures, and cartoons floating around the internet that I found interesting or relevant this week. Share them far and wide! Screenshot Screenshot Screenshot Screenshot Screenshot Screenshot Screenshot Screenshot Screenshot Screenshot Screenshot Screenshot Screenshot Screenshot Screenshot Screenshot Screenshot Screenshot Screenshot Screenshot Screenshot Screenshot Screenshot Screenshot Screenshot Screenshot Screenshot…
Midsummer sunrise The sun peeking over the horizon of the Atlantic Ocean. A globe of firey starstuff over calm waves, orange and red spreading out into the sky.
Hello, loves! By Jove, I think he’s got it! We’ll find out. Also: design documentation. Results: very favorable. I took some time last night to think about our content objects and created this design document: ! I’m sure that’s entirely clear, but just in case, we’ll be finding out what it means over the next few sessions, if in fact it means anything. Key notions that doing that scribbling brought to mind: Pass desired subscriptions to the content constructor as data, event name, caller id,…
I like old-school flyers. I especially like the ones you hold onto for whatever reason. I have one here. It’s for a film, a work in progress, called Soul Searchin’, a documentary by Jesus Cruz and Alex Vigano. The flyer shows someone holding a copy of an old 45 on Emulate Records of Oakland, California. The single is ‘These Are The Things’ by The Emulations. I had to look it up. I had to listen to it carefully. It’s not that old Pale Fountains song, no, but rather it is a sublime slice of sweet…
!!!content warning!!!!!!scary!!! Full spoilers for Obsession (2026) you have been WARNED now let me get this off my chest Cat's dead. Title drop. this movie is about a dead cat.My partner (who now makes me jump if she walks around a corner too fast) pointed out that Bear is neglecting his cat before the start of the movie (open cans on the floor, extreme glut of dry food) and his neglect leads at least in part to its death. I think it goes further.We know that obsessed!Nikki isn't Nikki, and is…
Just passing by on my way to get jerk chicken from a nice friend.
