Even with the frenzy panic of PHP running the web site and the mostly departure of folks who bother to make their own digital art, the DS106 Daily Create still marches on every single day, non-stop since 2012. Open on the web. No paywalls. No tracking do-hickeys. No ads. I still do them fairly regularly and also try to pop a few into the mix (you can too). I have to give a big tail wagging hat tip to Kevin Hodgson aka @dogtrax who is not only one of like the 4 remaining participants, but who…

Detail of a disused grain elevator near Downtown Prosper, Texas. The post Abstracted Elevator appeared first on 75CentralPhotography.

(It’s Halloween Week on Unsung, where we’re sharing scary, spooky, and creepy stories.) In 2018, users of the still relatively-new Amazon Echo devices would occasionally hear their Alexa… laughing. It felt completely unprompted, and creepy as hell. There are so many memes and exaggerations that it is hard to find the genuine recording of the synthesized laughter, but I think this video from WTNH News8 captures what it genuinely sounded like: There’s not much to the mystery, so I’ll jump to…

People who eat in restaurants and walk out without paying come in all varieties, though it would seem they are more likely to be men than women. They fit into a number of categories that I have begun to think of as the scammers, the larkers, the dissatisfied, the accidental, and some whose motives are unclear. If you search on Google you will find that a study that claimed overall about 5% of contemporary restaurant patrons leave without paying, most often because they are dissatisfied in some…

Jason Snell: In researching the Designed in California series, I was struck by just how quickly the iPod’s importance was overshadowed by the iPhone. There are barely more than five years between the launch of the iPod and the launch of the iPhone. While both products took time to grow into their markets, I think it’s still the case that the true “iPod era” was only a handful of years long, and it’s been entirely overshadowed by the product that came after it. That’s a shame, in a way, because…

Stevie Case and John Romero early in their courtship. This article tells part of the story of John Romero. Note that there is a sexually suggestive image below that may be Not Safe For Work! In the badlands of what used to be Texas, rumor has it that John Romero has thrown himself out the window of Ion Storm’s penthouse offices. Apparently Romero had finally finished Daikatana, only to have the Y2K bug destroy the gaming rigs of the world mere seconds later, thus rendering the last three years…

Petronius, Satyricon 45.2-4 (Echion speaking; tr. J.P. Sullivan): "First it's one thing, then another," as the yokel said when he lost his spotted pig. What we haven't got today, we'll have tomorrow. That's the way life goes. Believe me, you couldn't name a better country, if it had the people. As things are, I admit, it's having a hard time, but it isn't the only place. We mustn't be soft. The sky don't get no nearer wherever you are. If you were somewhere else, you'd be talking about the pigs…

A character wants something they can’t have, and they do everything within and even beyond their capacity to get it. That’s the core of dramatic narrative, and we’ve all read it and seen it countless times. In life, though, the “can’t have” often wins. You can dream of traveling the world chasing love or food or surf or supervillains, but most of us choose to stay home and handle our business. In fiction, if characters like that are seen at all, they’re side players, operating as plot devices…

(It’s Halloween Week on Unsung, where we’re sharing scary, spooky, and creepy stories.) There aren’t very many YouTube videos that talk about user interfaces of specific programs. I shared one long ago covering the Apple Music app, and this review by Tantacrul (a.k.a. Martin Keary) of music notation software Finale is so much better and more fun, and I wish there were more like it: It’s not just a cutting critique of the user interface of a badly-aged app. It’s also a great introduction to the…

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As I was putting together posts to go along with the Mojave 3 reissues this Summer, I came across this video session that Neil Halstead did for French cinéma-vérité music documentarians La Blogothèque in June 2006 – a performance which isn’t listed on their website anymore, but still lives on their YouTube channel designated as […] The post Neil Halstead @ La Blogothèque – June 2006 appeared first on Space Echo.

I dressed very nicely yesterday at an alumni afterwork thanks to a brand new shirt I got on Vinted for about 4€. It was great. I recommend second-hand clothing, especially if you’re plus-sized. I also recommend going to alumni meetings. I didn’t expect to enjoy this so much! Now I’m going out so yes, today’s entry is very short. Sorry! The man next to me was saying something very, very interesting.

Read the full post at - 7 Notes on Visiting Georgia Veterans State Park My family and I are on a project to visit every state park in Georgia. For each one, we’ve either stayed in a cabin, camped, or spent some significant time exploring. Georgia Veterans State Park kept getting pushed to the back of the list. Ever since the pandemic, the park has had to tear down or rebuild a lot of its accommodations – including the lodge. So there wasn’t much reason to plan a trip around it.* *also, it’s one…

The first thing to say about American artists Franklyn and Brendan Connor, commonly known as the Connor Brothers is that they are neither brothers, nor named Connor. They're not even American.Rather, James Golding and Mike Snelle are British, although the show the influence of American paperbacks in most of the artwork that was recently on display at the Out of Line exhibition. You can see the

17-10-26 Second last day of sunshine in this three day spell of high pressure. Also the second last butterfly of the year I got close to*, barring any outliers which can happen right into the first week of November. Feeling tired from all the activity of yesterday's trip to Errol, I took it easy with just another wander along to the Botanics with Mary. It was perfectly pleasant although it felt a little frustrating due to a distinct lack of insects (and birds) to photo despite the sunshine.…

So during "home samu" today, I finally organized some unsightly cables, made a setzu, and kind of stumbled upon a better organization of my bathroom and water closet while trying to figure out how to increase the ventilation. I'm disproportionately proud of all this. It really doesn't take much for me these days, folks.

The iconic Battlestar Galactica board game, originally published by Fantasy Flight in 2008, is to be reprinted by Ghost Galaxy Games, with funding to be sought by a crowdfunding campaign in the New Year.The game was launched during the early stages of the big board game revival scene of the late 2000s and most of the 2010s. It cast players as members of the Colonial Fleet attempting to escape the pursuit of the Cylons, with the caveat that one or more of the players were secret Cylon agents…

TIME TRAVELER MICRONAUTS (PALISADES) Welcome to Friday everyone! We made it! Hooray! And I’m here to talk about Micronauts, for a second time in the same week! Is that even legal? We’ll find out, I guess. Here’s a second look at the Time Traveler! Mego’s Micronauts line of the ‘70s was never a super huge hit, and it was definitely overshadowed by the many toys first toylines of the ‘80s, but it does still have something of a cult following. This cult following helped get the line a relaunch in…

In the Newsletter this weekElsewhere this week: HS1 stations, and Praha - MünchenAnalysis: Timetable Change 2027 Part 1: lines (re-)openingBullshit Meter: Heuro to run Paris - Amsterdam trains in 2030Good week: Other European railways step up to help Ukraine (a bit)Good week, perhaps: Rīga Airport Line will get trains, but the wrong gauge and to the wrong destinationsAlso a good week: France gets more Swiss tramsBetter than nothing this week: Renfe starts to realise compulsory reservation on…

As you can tell, I'm, clearly behind on my G.I. Joe: Classified Series reviews. I'm working to catch up, though, as it's been my favorite active toyline since the line debuted in 2020, so now I'm checking out a release from way back in June: Destro with his Iron Grenadier Despoiler. I absolutely remember getting the vintage version of this figure back in 1988 and being quite thrilled with the opportunity to have a Destro in my collection as I was too young to be into the line when the original…

Prose Over PlotWhat is Weird Fiction? What is New Weird Fiction? What is New Weird Horror? What is New Weird Lit or New Weird Science Fiction or New Weird Other and do any of these distinctions mean anything and/or is that the whole point of the genre?There are some types of weird fiction that we call weird because they truly are kind of incomprehensible (M. John Harrison) or at least wildly strange (China Miéville). But not every beautifully incomprehensible work gets called…

Many freelancers get paid per hour, or per day. Some have standard rates for typical tasks. Journalism is rarely typical. And usually, we’re paid per word. I’ve had many friends whose first thought is how easy that must be to exploit. Often they remember a story about a writer like Charles Dickens or Victor Hugo padding their books with digressions to up their pay. Those stories probably didn’t happen, and these days, that method is even less likely to work. When I pitch a piece, the editor and…

Well, OK, half sister 😉.And, before I go any further, apologies to The Hollies for the butchered lyrics I've used as the title of this post. While writing, I'm aware that the title is an important consideration in attracting readers … but I'm also easily swayed by cheap gags, poor puns, and clever wordplay. This one isn't particularly clever (or anything else), but it is appropriate, as I'm going discuss to worker flights and load-carrying.Foragers are the packhorses of the colony.They—…

Every day brings new predictions that the so-called “AI buildout” is unsustainable, a bubble, or a crisis waiting to happen. The argument is that the US economy is being held hostage by AI spending, invoking the usual metaphors of a house of cards or a Ponzi scheme that will come crashing down. A few examples from 2026: The biggest gamble in the U.S. economy is starting to look riskier — The Washington Post, July 31. AI’s Wobbly House of Cards Puts Markets and US Economy at Risk — Bloomberg,…

It does what the title says: thousands of Amazon Prime and Starbucks boxes were murdered to create this film.

For the past five years I have worked at a high-end residential interior design firm. The cost clients pay for everything from custom sofas and drapes to lighting to cabinet hardware are staggering to say the least. Over the years I have seen some incredible things and as someone who loves fabrics I got my fix regularly. When I fell madly in love with a fabric that a client had ordered I asked the designer how much it was per yard. “More than you can afford,” she told me and we both laughed…

“The Ides of March” persists in popular memory due to its association with the assassination of Julius Caesar. Every month on the Roman calendar had Ides. The Ides of October would have been October 15, 2026 on the ancient Roman calendar. I published an article on inflatable Jack-’o-lanterns I captured on the Ides of October. But my Brooklyn (tasteful) Halloween decoration photo journey continued after the Ides rested. Out were the Ides of October; in were the Eyes of October. For example, see…

You have spoken. (Thank you, Peter.) The experiment continues. Did Trans Fat Have Its Tobacco Moment? The answer is yes, although perhaps the question should be Did nutrition science ever have its tobacco moment? Jessica Fanzo charts the change, from a 1990 feeding study to the first ban, in Denmark, in 2003, and later restrictions and bans in various of the United States and around the world. The results showed up quite quickly in hospital admissions and resulted in a Federal ban in 2018.…

I've been back from Gamehole Con for a few days and am now preparing to attend another, local convention, CleriCon. I attended for the first time last year and had a great time. I'll be running a couple of games there, as well as playing in a couple. I'll give a full report of my exploits at both conventions next week, when I've had a chance to catch my breath.

23 Oct 2026 Claude Projects decoded: agents aren’t allowed to type anymore, and a brand new hearthbot MCP Anthropic recently launched Projects in Claude Code - a way to run multiple tasks on the same repo in parallel. I was trying it out on a fairly complicated repo, and at one point asked Claude: Okay so what do i do now? next steps? It came back with 4 steps. Step 1 was to merge a PR. So I merged it. About 10 seconds later, step 1 got crossed out. Same message, with “(edited)” underneath.…