Probably his most famous work, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as the critics do. It sounds insane to criticise hemingway’s writing but I found his stacatto sentences offputting e.g: I wanted to go to Austria without war. I wanted to go to the Black Forest. I wanted to go to the Hartz Mountains. Where were the Hartz Mountains anyway? They were fighting in the Carpathians. I did not want to go there anyway. It might be good though. I could go to Spain if there was no war. The sun was going down…
Tammy Roe was absolutely certain that the whole country was celebrating her birthday. She lived up the street from us on South Bend’s south side in a neighborhood the families called Rabbit Hill. 31 children had been born along our street within a few years of me, and on the evening of July 4, 1976, all of us were out at once — sparklers going up and down the hill, somebody’s dad setting off bottle rockets in his front yard, fireworks popping against the setting sun. Tammy stood in the thick of…
The Norfolk Broads is the only place you are likely to see native Swallowtail butterflies in the UK today. There has, for many years, been a suggestion that it is distinct from its various European counterparts. A paper from Nabholz et al. discusses the genetics of this wonderful creature. Co-author Mark Collins (erstwhile President of the Swallowtail and Birdwing Butterfly Trust) tells me the main conclusion is that “We have confirmed beyond doubt the clear separation of our British…
Over the past few months a recurring theme has emerged in my inbox, as well as within the community channel, and it is one that I have been chewing on for a while now. Several of you have, kindly and very politely, told me more or less the same thing, which is that even though the topics I write about are interesting enough, the posts themselves have grown so long and so dense that actually getting through one of them has turned into something of a commitment rather than the casual read it…
To my North American readers, happy 4th of July! In my previous post, we saw Adam Smith’s scathing critique of farm subsidies. (This critique appears in Additions #8 and #9 (pp. 10-12) of his 1784 pamphlet.) As it happens, the Scottish customs commissioner — recall that Smith had been serving as a royal customs official in Edinburgh since 1778 — picks up right where he left off in Addition #10 (p. 13). Here, Smith makes two further points about subsidies (“bounties”). First off, Smith launches…
It's a bit frustrating rewatching Wonder Woman knowing that everything around it kind of fell apart in the end. For me, this is the template for how DC should be approaching their movies. Wonder Woman feels standalone and, while Diana appears in plenty of future movies, this movie does not rely on future revelations to make it a worthwhile viewing experience. I'd much prefer if this was the approach going forward - a focus on standalone movies that don't need to connect to a greater universe.…
The tramshed at the edge of the villageThere's an old tramshed near our house in Saltaire. I've walked past so many times over the past 25 years — and I've always noticed the archive photos dotted around the area of trams and trolleybuses gliding along roads that now carry buses and cars.This week I got some background into the old trams and trolleybus system, at Bradford Literature Festival talk The Lost Tramways and Trolleybuses of Bradford, given by Andy Feather, a former overhead linesman…
So there's this whole thing now about how under-16s aren't meant to be allowed on social media, and this is supposed to be enforced through technical means using Zero-Knowledge Proofs, or something. Here is my proposal. Let's disregard the declaration of the independence of cyberspace for a moment and assume that actually we changed our mind and we do want the government to be mandating age verification on the web, and let's say we don't mind the fact that enforcing "no social media for…
In June, hundreds of people showed up at a DoubleTree hotel in Lawrence, Kansas, to watch the bus carrying the Algerian soccer team arrive. Lawrence, Kansas is a college town of a hundred thousand people in the middle of the country. The whole town had decided that the Algerians were their team now and intended to make sure they knew it. The Algerians got off the bus to a crowd of cheering strangers. Then they checked in and the hotel gave each of them a warm chocolate chip cookie, because that…
Celebrating Independence Day and America 250 with this penny postal greeting sent to my husband's family in Cleveland, Ohio, 119 years ago today. What a colorful Uncle Sam!
If you’re a bit of a geology nerd you can’t go wrong with Saltwick Bay. Just one mile east of the famous town of Whitby, Saltwick Bay is a beautiful sandy bay hemmed in by towering cliffs. On its northern side is Saltwick Nab, a headland separated from the rest of the cliffs that juts out into the North Sea. It was here that Alum was quarried. Alum was mainly used to clean water, because it helps gather together dirt and tiny particles so they can be easily removed. It’s also commonly used in…
So is it more garden tat or the grave marker of an unknown Celtic warrior who we believe was killed during the Battle of the Binks in 975AD (approx)? You choose (please do so wisely and afterwards maintain a strict and respectful silence). We have made peace with all the local ghosts - apart from that poor monkey who was once held captive next door.
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.
