Here's a story of curiosity and exploration and enjoying where it took me.I was (orig. AmE) fooling around with a corpus interface (in preparation for teaching students how to use it), and I asked it for adjectives that go after the adverb altogether. I don't know why I chose that word, but I did. And I noticed something: in the British National Corpus (BNC), the word was followed by adjectives that struck me as strange. Things like: altogether happy, altogether lovely, and altogether…

2026-11-01Hello!This is less technical than my last article on the shiny silver camera that is only a month old. I'm still not making recommendations, but I want to drive home the point that lenses matter more than the camera body.Because they do! Barring few exceptions, any conventional camera body can fit any conventional use case. My decade-old kit can be (and is being) used for professional work, but I need the right lenses to get me there.If a lens is too heavy to carry around (or too long…

Pleasant Sunday morning for a walk. No breeze, just clear and crisp fall weather. I decided to add a little bit to my "workout." At the end of my walk, I usually pick up to 35-pound dumbbells and carry them down to the road and back up. That's about 70 rather short paces, so maybe 50 yards. It's downhill toward the road and uphill on the way back. I do that three times. Usually by the last set my heart rate is hitting in the 150s. I want to increase the weight to 40 pounds each after the first…

Ibn al-Faqīh, Mukhtaṣar Kitāb al-Buldān, ed. M.J. de Goeje (Leiden: Brill, 1885), p. 1, tr. in Islam from the Prophet Muhammad to the Capture of Constantinople. Edited and Translated by Bernard Lewis, Vol. II: Religion and Society (1974; rpt. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), p. 198: Men are divided into four classes: kings, raised up by their right to rule; viziers, distinguished by understanding and judgment; upper classes, raised up by affluence; and middle classes, linked with them…

We know our books costs good money (we think they are worth it). But we’ve held prices at current levels for more than four years now. And today we are offering free shipping on all domestic orders for the month of November. There is no code to copy. No special link or back-door access. Just free shipping on everything big and small in our online store. Take a look at our store here. — Christopher Schwarz

On 1 November 1848, the first WH Smith bookstall opened at Euston station. In 1792 Henry Walton Smith and his wife Anna had opened a small newsvendor in Little Grosvenor Street, Henry died soon after and Anna went into partnership with Zaccheus Coates. When Anna died the business transferred to her two sons, one being William Henry Smith and taking advantage of ‘railway mania’ the Euston outlet opened. On 1 November 1604 Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello was performed for the first time by the…

My feed is mostly designers talking about AI, and the temperature of all of it is the same: Something is coming. You need to get out in front of it. You need to be the one doing the changing rather than the one being changed. I don’t disagree with most of the individual advice. But read enough of it in one sitting and what surfaces underneath is competition — ordinary competition, of the kind that has always been there. The worry takes two shapes. Either the client no longer needs a designer,…

Two of the coned yarns I bought at a destash/downsizing sale earlier this year were ~100g each of laceweight alpaca-silk from Valley Yarns in Peach Blossom and French Blue. They seemed like the perfect thing for some plated rib, so I made a quick swatch. Fresh off the machine, it was very sproingy… But after a bath and pinning out to shape, it dried flat, drape-y, and oh so soft. I did the math and knit a whole scarf, swapping the colours for about four inches at each end… …and then I pinned it…

As I confirmed in my recent post, Stop / Go, I am going to do at least one more year of my jobs newsletter – albeit on a slightly more limited schedule. I’m going to aim for 20-25 editions in 2027 rather than the 40-50 from recent years. Sending fewer emails does not lead to paying less for the privilege though. The current platform cost for the coming year is US$756 (which currently is about £565) not to mention the annual £150 I spend on the .jobs domain (but that is my own fault! Nobody was…

Together Board: A shared cork board for you and the people you love.

Wow. I almost missed my favorite time of year. I know, I know. How does a person accidentally miscalculate October 31st? Halloween. It’s not exactly a movable holiday. It’s been on the calendar for centuries. And yet, somehow, here I am. I was genuinely prepared to mourn the loss of spooky season. Another year gone. Another opportunity to celebrate all things creepy, crawly, and unnecessarily covered in fake blood squandered. And then… I remembered. The universe hasn’t abandoned me. It hasn’t…

YouAbove all else and above any other and all other things.You I can see you looking back at me. I can tell. I can I know your secrets.I know why you struggle to look at yourself when seeing the mirrors you pass. I know why it hurts you to see old pictures from when you were out of sort. And, I know what comes over you when you recognize yourself in photos.You can see this too.You can tell how you felt something was off and out of place.Or, maybe it was you who was off and out of place.Am I…

over the years i have been using all kinds of read-it-later app or service. what i found it that it is never later, it is just never. what ever i kept in the read it later is something i think it is nice to keep. it is a dumpling ground, like the a consumable gl account.

🗝️ First day of Locking. Autumn has been truly special this year in Ontario. Weather has been spectacular (mostly warm sunny days). The colours have changed gradually. The leaves have definitely not all fallen (probably another 2-3 weeks at least left). Interestingly enough we have not turned on our heating since we came to the new house. Locking has things to look forward to. The build up to Ryan’s birthday. Christmas prep will begin soon enough (always too soon for my liking). The heavier…

Not a huge photographic month for me, but I'm still pleased with these, albeit for different reasons.2nd Runner UpI saw this, clicked the camera, and moved on. It's only when I started editing it that I realized it looked like a painting. I've no idea how I did that.1st Runner UpThere's a bit of a trick to getting a starburst effect, intentionally, where you want it. I'll admit to it taking a few tries to get it right.Image of the MonthI can hear you saying, 'A swamp? You took a photo of a…

Agincourt and the Illusory Universality of Military Art— Interesting read on why Agincourt was different, and not just because of the longbows. Super Menu — New, very handy, macOS app from Sindre Sorhus Winners of the 2026 IFComp — I can't wait to play my way through these Interactive Fiction stories/games. Of course, first I must sort through the various interpreters to find my fave. Of course. Paperlesspaper's Open Paper devices — Open source eink display. This looks amazing and I want one!…

Newark Showground - NG24 2NY - Doors Open From 1815, Talks from 1930. Just a few days left now until the gala and a night where a few hundred people will get to hear me talk all about Barbel and my 40 Rivers Challenge, a challenge that you guys in blogger land are very familiar with, however there are a lot of anglers who don't know anything about it or very little, so it gives me a great platform to further get my challenge out there and reaffirm to those who know of me that I am mad and a few…

“Teeth are a vitally important part of an actor’s equipment. I have over 30 toothbrushes at home and always keep a good supply at the studio.” ~ Peter Cushing Of course it would be far better for our purposes if the above quote were from the screen’s greatest Dracula, Christopher Lee, rather than from the […]

Sleep, kodlama ajanlarına gözden geçirilebilir bir bellek döngüsü kuruyor. Gözlemleri yakalar, geçici bellekte konsolide eder, kalıcı olanı sadece insan onayıyla sabitler. T0'dan T1'e, T1'den T2'ye.

Sleep gives coding agents a reviewable memory cycle. It captures observations, consolidates them into provisional memory, and only promotes what a human approves. T0 to T1 to T2.

Morning folks - hope everyone is doing well.You know, there's a famous quote from the philosopher Heraclitus, which has been quoted on here a fair bit. To paraphrase it: No man can step in the same river twice, because it is not the same river and he's not the same man. That's a fairly long-winded version of the original which is sort of made up of several parts.Here's what the

While not a life bird (a bird reported for the first time), I was thrilled to return to Kensington Metropark in Milford, Michigan this week to see an American bittern. A small heron that breeds in our area, it’s very secretive and rarely seen in the open (it forages for food in cattail marshes). The American bittern gave dozens of local photographers and birders terrific views as it foraged for crayfish and other small fish in a protected cove on Kent Lake. When I took this photo, I had no idea…

LOTS of good stuff this month! Books 📕 La mascella di Caino (Torquemada): Italian edition of "Cain's Jawbone", and this is one of the reasons I dropped it. If you don't know anything about the book, it's basically a 100-out-of-order-pages puzzle in which you have not only to determine the order, but also the names of murderers and victims of three different crimes. I got it for 2 euros at a used books market, and my brother considered it "impossible", so of course I was up for the challenge!…

The idea of a ghost in the machine stemmed from the concept that the mind and body were two separate systems. Today, this doesn’t hold much water. Yet we rebuilt it. What I’m interested in is a system with two minds, where one of them belongs to everyone. That’s where I feel we are now. I see it with the off shoring of thought to a datacenter residing hundreds of miles away. Your mind posits the question, the thinking machine returns an answer. Maybe it even returns its own questions. The…

Don’t Trust Any Politician, Ever Lies Money Feedback Media Strategy Other Seeing the Future The Woke Mob Babysitting Vote, Plus Ah, yes, election season has come to the United States again, with Election Day on Tuesday, for those who haven’t voted early already. The Sun shines a little brighter. The fruit tastes a little sweeter. Everybody acts somewhat kinder to each other. OK, none of that actually happens. Where I live, we have crossed the boundary to less than ten-and-a-half hours of…

October 27, 2026 - we have had some stunning sunrises lately!Elections in the US prior to 2016 felt to me more like a sporting match - important, but not life-threatening. Those were the good old days. Now I find my stress - or maybe it’s the collective stress - rising as we approach each one. I recognize the signs in my body. Increased tension, neck and shoulder pain, headaches, increased forgetfulness, and an increase in “bad habits.” Elections make me want to run away like my cootie…

In the evenings after work, I will often sit out back on the porch and do some phone rotting. That usually takes the form of me just flipping through reels on Instagram, allowing the algorithm to take me where it may. I usually pair this with a healthy tumbler of rum or bourbon. I'm turning my brain off after work, and I'm just having a good time on the internet. The kids might call it dopamine maxxing? Hell, I don't know. Who gives a shit about what those assholes would call it? Yes yes, I'm…

It's that time again for my weekly update, which includes a short collection of noteworthy finds, posts that inspire, as well as a few reflections from the past week or two. I'll aim to land these in your inbox by the weekend, in time to pair with your morning coffee (or your preferred cup of inspiration).The Latest Drippings ☕️Patrick Stewart, 'Star Trek' Captain and 'X-Men' Superhero, Dies at 86. This was the gut-punch of the week for me; Sir Patrick Stewart passed away this past Wednesday…

I came across a photograph supposedly showing Camille Monfort, a nineteenth-century French opera singer known as the “Vampire of the Amazon.” It has everything needed to stop someone scrolling: a beautiful woman, an elaborate hairstyle, aged photographic texture, and a sensational story. It also looked manufactured, which turned out to be a reasonable suspicion. The supposed historical figure traces back to modern gothic fiction. The portrait came from a different fictional work by Philipe…

Mongolian Base CampSomewhere in the immense stretch of time before familiar shells, claws and skeletons, our earliest animal ancestors began their evolutionary adventures. Finding out when they appeared is another matter entirely.How do you find the beginning of a story when its opening pages may never have been preserved?A study published in Science Advances on 2 October 2026 brings that