Jack insisted on showing me around the Safari Park last weekend. We have season tickets, and he knows the place so well that I spent the day being marched from one attraction to the next. We visited most of the animal enclosures, including the Dinosaur paddock where Jack made sure I stood in just the right spot for a dinosaur to squirt water at me! He’s so cheeky and thought it was utterly hilarious of course as 4-year-old boys are wont to do. After that we stopped in the BBQ area, which…
In Paris I sit on a balcony and watch the sun rise. It’s the kind of cliche wonderful that one would expect, the whole city bathed in the first bright light of a summer day, low puffy clouds and the metal roofs looking like nowhere else I’ve ever been. For a week it’s a great view, brought to me by our nanny and jet lag. In the daytime we go to climbing gyms that would feel good as our local, with co-working spaces, showers, and problems set in a huge variety of styles for a huge variety of…
It’s Saturday again so it’s time for another update of activity at the Open Journal of Astrophysics. Since the last update we have published a further seven papers, bringing the number in Volume 9 (2026) to 136 and the total so far published by OJAp up to 584. I will continue to include the posts made on our Mastodon account (on Fediscience); these announcements also show the DOI for each paper. The first paper to report this week, published on Monday 29th June, is “Analysis and implications of…
Jo Malone (brand) has done it again – launched another quirky limited edition, the Brit Veggie Collection, that consists of three fragrances – Carrot Blossom, Velvety Butternut and Scarlet Beetroot – in unique, colorful bottles. Saturday Question #301: Jo Malone Brit Veggie Collection – Should We Even Bother? Did you try these perfumes? […]
Happy July 4th to my readers in the USA, and I hope you enjoy the 250th anniversary celebrations. This week, I wrote More Fear Moves in Daggerheart Combat, and the top reads on the blog (besides the new post and newsletter) were Playing the Social Game, Running Red Dragon’s Tale, Dolmenwood Resources for you, Prepping Myths in Mythic Bastionland and A Dolmenwood Retrospective. As always, if you want this newsletter in your inbox every Saturday, subscribe using the button. Table of Contents…
This review may contain spoilers. Tap or click to view.Was actually quite well done with not much (effectively just one on-camera actor). But I found the plot too constructed and a little incoherent, which made it less spooky than it could’ve been. Next event: The Haunted on July 24, 2026, 20:00 at Turock, Essen.
The first Weekend Reading of every month can be read by anyone on the Monevator website. Subscribe for free to our email newsletter or become a member to ensure you get the rest. A few years ago, my co-blogger The Accumulator argued that fears for the future of the state pension were overblown, writing: Governments stay in power by racking up achievement points with their supporters, neglecting those they cannot court, winning the spin wars, avoiding catastrophe, appearing more credible than…
I experience a sense of grief every time a great TV series ends. The sadness that there isn't going to be any more of it, the irrational feeling that there's never going to be anything as good, and the sensation of emptiness inside. It's a strong emotional response, not very different from losing someone you love, with the obvious differences in intensity. I don't like things becoming other things, or going away suddenly. When I find something I'm content with, I want that thing to stay the…
How long a pole can you get through a dungeon corridor?
It keeps happening. I can't control it. Sometimes, I feel nostalgic for some old piece of tech, and before I know what's happening, I'm already browsing eBay looking for one. That's how I ended up with an old Thinkpad from 2004 recently. And now it happened again, and so I'm now the proud owner of a Sony Cassette Walkman. Despite not having any tapes anymore.... Ok, so I got nostalgic for Walkmans (Walkmen?) and tapes recently, and as I was browsing eBay I found this one, sold as not working,…
Further to yesterday’s post, here’s Dickon Edwards (in his diaries) on work: I’ve tried Normal Life on so many occasions. By which I mean, doing a job you utterly feel at odds with purely for the money. It seems to work for many people, and I admire them immensely. But for me it’s living a lie to the point of nausea. I feel a trespasser. A fraud. The World Of Work doesn’t like me very much. It brings out all my most useless qualities, though they make for quite good reading in a diary. It’s my…
Happy 250th America Source unknown. Overview - Rule of Law What is the Rule of Law?
On July 4th, 2026, Duncan Rawlinson photographed the Independence Day fireworks bursting over Boldt Castle on Heart Island in Alexandria Bay, New York. Shot during the last minutes of twilight, the display filled the sky with gold, crimson, and violet while the fading sunset still glowed along the horizon behind the castle. Dozens of spectator boats gathered on the St. Lawrence River, their lights scattered across the water and the reflections of the show shimmering between them. This is an…
Dutch travelog, part 7. Read part 6 here. We decided leave the apartment together with Mozzarella. Thus, he made us a light and delicious veggie omelette for lunch. (I just had a banana for breakfast). View from the living room window. "Father, may I have some lööps oatmeal?" He gave us some tips on how we could spend our day, so we decided to take his advice and do a loop along the canal that encircles the city center of Utrecht. STOPS: The Railway Museum ⇣A quick look Centraal Museum ⇣Miffy…
This week’s edition is dedicated to our readers in America. Happy 250, with love & courage from your friend in Paris. 1. One of America’s most recognisable corporate buildings is for sale Nearly three decades after it opened as the headquarters of the Longaberger Company, one of America’s most recognisable pieces of corporate architecture has returned to the market.
According to Haudenosaunee tradition, the Earth was once entirely covered by water. One day a muskrat swam to the bottom of the great sea and surfaced with a tiny clump of mud. This mud was placed on the back of a giant turtle, where it grew until it became the earth.This is just one of dozens of creation stories that you can explore on the Origin Myth Map, an interactive atlas of the myths that
A week or two ago I made an aborted attempt at following the trail along the Ashuelot River. I had forgotten to put on bug spray and the mosquitoes turned me back. On this day I remembered the bug spray and tried again. We’d had thunderstorms during the week and the river was high. That meant I probably wouldn’t be seeing ducks or herons fishing the shallows because there were few shallows. Even the low water over in the little cove to the right, a favorite gathering place for Canada geese, had…
I’ve been getting into The Brain again. I’m currently liking it more than Obsidian for my work notes. I like that relationships become more visible and tangible.
July 4th may be "Independence Day" in America, but it's Impossible Day at Hawkworld! Let's take a look at the Thanagarian tradition that first appeared in The Brave and the Bold No. 44 (November 1962). In issue No. 42, Shayera has begun to get homesick. Even the festive Independence Day celebrations at Midway City don't cheer her up, so Katar suggests they do the traditional Impossible Day instead. In this issue, we find out a few things about Thanagar.*Shayera's ancestor is Rhon Dhu, a former…
Yeah, so a philosophical zombie is somebody who behaves like a normal human, they can walk around and have a conversation and react normally to stuff, but they're not conscious. Which means something like, they don't have subjective experience. What is subjective experience? One way it's defined is being able to experience "qualia". Like, if you look at this brick wall, it's red. From a physical perspective you can analyze this as like, it looks red to you because it's light of a specific…
Once again, RAYE shined last night at Montreux Jazz Festival. She was the star of the opening of the 60th anniversary of the festival, and had carte blanche to organise the evening.
You can't be derivative if you don't create at all
It’s the first Saturday of the month which means it’s time for another Six Degrees of Separation, hosted by Kate of Books are my Favourite and Best. The idea is that Kate chooses a book to use as a starting point and then we have to link it to six other books of our choice to form a chain. A book doesn’t have to be connected to all of the others on the list – only to the one next to it in the chain. This month we’re starting with Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke. I haven’t read it, but here’s…
PleasantKenobi published a clickbaity video titled “House Rules Don’t Work For Magic” in which he argues that people should not do house rules. It’s clickbaity because in the video he lists some house rules that he actually likes. More about that later. I commented on the video with “My hot take on house rules: if you don't like them, don't use them.” I wanted to expand on my thoughts and comment on a bunch of points he made in his video. House rules in tabletop gaming Let’s start by talking…
I grabbed the set of Kala Mandala zines after the Hey Centaur shop went online. These are great zines of the old school OSR glory days - easily earning their shelf space beside any of the greats. We get a great setting in the Playbook and two Art Research zines, further expanded by three juicy adventures - all site exploration with a twist for each. Six books existing in the core set at time of writing: Kala Mandala Playbook - 42 pages, system Stirring the Hornets Nest at Het Thamsya - 26…
I'm sleepy, and everyone knows the best decisions made with money happen when it's very late, and you're tired, and should really be asleep. To be fair, while I shouldn't have spent the money, it isn't the most expensive thing. I went ahead and ordered myself a proxy of the Secret Lair DanDan deck because I've always wanted a DanDan deck and I keep telling myself eventually I'll get one, so today (or tonight?) is that day (or night?)! While the deck was sold with the stupid FOMO model and is…
If you’re visiting Center Parcs in the UK anytime soon, here are a few quick tips that may help you out, based on my own experience. My last visit was 2026, so are relevant at that time. Since 2001, Center Parcs in the UK has been a separate company from the original Center Parcs business. Therefore, I’m not going to assume that anything in the UK model of their holiday village is representative of the wider European model. Install the Centre Parcs app and use it in advance to plan your time.…
4th July 2026 A republic, if they can keep it – as Franklin said * Today is the 250th anniversary of the declaration of independence by a group of people who took land from one group of people and enslaved another group of people. All in the name of liberty. Still, it was a step in the right direction, if not really a stride. In principle, a republic is better than a monarchy, and a federal system is generally better than a unitary state. And the theory of a separation of powers, with checks…
Photo: © Stan B.I can pass (in a crowd), and am no doubt considered some kinda Arab when in Europe (hell, most Americans ain't sure what a Puerto Rican is)- but this is indeed interesting! Meanwhile, this is as borderline Genius, as this is hilariously obvious. And as to further round out our nation's great history... Enjoy the day!
Happy Fourth of July! I hope you have a nice picnic lunch with hotdogs, potato salad, and corn on the cob.I decided to pay tribute to Vintage Los Angeles today - for the heck of it - with two nice old views. This first scan is from "sometime in the 50s", looking North on Vine Street in Hollywood (Sunset Blvd. is behind us). There's the old NBC Studio to our right. Other fun details, ABC/KXCA Studio to the left (CBS was just around the corner on Hollywood Boulevard), the Santa Fe offices, and if…
