An Essay About Lessons through Games and Miscarriages Spoiler WarningThis essay talks about key moments in the following games. If you haven't played them and wish to do so unspoiled, what are you waiting for?Go play them! I'll be here. Journey by thatgamecompany Outer Wilds by Mobius Digital Tunic by Isometricorp Games Pierce Brown, Light Bringer"To those who wrote that we might read, to those who fell so we might walk, to those who came before so we might come after, gratitude." There's a…
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So I just got done writing about how Elon Musk's xAI data centers outside of Memphis feature 57 largely-unregulated gas turbines pumping pollutants and toxic chemicals into black neighborhoods that already see disproportionate levels of pollution-triggered illnesses among local minority children.This synopsis was from a recent lawsuit by civil rights groups pointing out Musk's Colossus 2 AI data center is openly violating the Clean Air Act:xAI’s power plant in Southaven has the potential to…
Tun-huang by Yasushi Inoue, translated by Jean Oda May, preface by Damion Searls (New York Review Books, 2010) Damion Searls, in his preface to Yasushi Inoue's 1959 historical novel Tun-huang, grouped the novelist's fiction into four genres: historical fiction, love stories, postwar sociopolitical fiction, and autobiographical writings. Of these, I've sampled only two. Chronicle
One of the reasons salmon are so desired.
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book. Previous contributors include Jesmyn Ward, Lauren Groff, Bret Easton Ellis, Celeste Ng, T.C. Boyle, Dana Spiotta, Amy Bloom, Aimee Bender, Roxane Gay, and many others. Kevin Powers’ novel Children of the Wild is a profound exploration of friendship and love. Kirkus wrote of the book: “The author, himself a Virginian and a combat veteran, skillfully weaves threads of…
by Kaye Dee A Triumph and a Tragedy It’s just a few hours until publication, and I’m finishing this article at the last minute, so I can bring you the most up to date information on the tragic loss of the Soyuz-11 crew. These are the first deaths to actually occur in space, and their … Continue reading [July 2, 1971] The Silent Touchdown (Loss of the Soyuz-11/Salyut-1 Crew) → The post [July 2, 1971] The Silent Touchdown (Loss of the Soyuz-11/Salyut-1 Crew) appeared first on Galactic Journey.
My mother clucked her tongue when I had my neck stretched on my twentieth birthday. If she could have forbidden it, she would have. Not under my roof. Well, good thing I have my own place and my own money. When I came for Sunday dinner after having my skin sandpapered until it was soft and nearly translucent, she didn’t say a word. Her eyes traced the newly visible lines of the blue-black veins that webbed my collarbone and she choked down her protein substrate in silence. By the time the meal…
OBI-WAN KENOBI — NABOO STAR WARS: EPISODE I (HASBRO) “The young Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi and his mentor, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, help Queen Amidala and her forces in their attempt to liberate the planet Naboo from the overwhelming onslaught of the Trade Federation.” On we march with this Phantom Menace—oh, sorry, Episode I thing, apparently. It does sort of feel like the next natural point after Power of the Force wrapped up, I suppose. I’ll admit, it’s a bit more of a limited selection as…
When the US government took down its climate science site a group of scientists put all the material back online at Climate.us Dave Snowden has been at his favourite knowledge management conference and offers blog posts with many reflections that caught my eye on intergenerational management cultures (older workers attend to contexts; younger workers to rules), the inability to preserve implicit knowledge through compression, the fundamental question of what is lost between wisdom, knowledge…
The Minnesota Fringe Festival schedule was just announced, but if you want a preview of the sort of adventurous, inventive, outside-the-box art you will see in August, check out In the Backroom by Michael Torsh at the Southern Theater this weekend. A new show on a holiday weekend? That's right, and that's intentional. From the press release: "This performance considers the complicated nature of celebrating America's 250th anniversary, the effects of imperialism on the individual, and how we…
Yes, it’s hot. No, I do not do well in the heat. I live in New England for a reason, I’d rather be too cold than too warm, so this 100+ garbage can eff right off. Apologies in advance for my mood. Also not helping my disposition is the ol’ day job, which is a […]
“What belongs to the sea will always return to the sea.” Author Clara Ward has always been drawn to the ocean, spent time teaching others about the ocean, and now has featured the ocean in their newest novel, Dream the Deep. Dive into their Big Idea to see how deep the water goes. CLARA WARD: Science tells us cephalopod arms use decentralized neural processing. I changed things up by adding a human dreamer to the mix. My first challenge in writing Dream the Deep was to create a human…
Finally checked out an NTW show this weekend in Taoyuan with one of my buddies. My first live wrestling show of 2026! What a show! Lots of solid matches and gimmicks, and even a little warmth when one of the wrestlers shouted out his grandma who was sitting in my row. The main event was an international triple threat with Syan Syan from Taiwan vs. Succubus from the UK vs. Alexis Lee from Singapore. The second pic above is my buddy and I with Alexis Lee following her successful title defense. I…
All the things that I wrote below were written on the first day of my holiday. A holiday that I took to solve some personal issues and refresh my mind a little bit. I'm better now, but I wanted to post this anyway because someone might be feeling the same way and probably a few days away might help you. I'm just tired, there's nothing else I want to say. I am kinda tired. I noticed that a few weeks ago when a lot of stuff that I had to handle was thrown at me. By that I mean personal stuff…
Back to the Bluebell for a the little trains. But first a brief report on the ESNG meeting on July 1. I missed part of the meeting to visit the dentist, and also watched the England game on my laptop. We had a very respectable eight members present, but they tended to come and go (like me.) No pictures, except one of still life, and one of Neil taking Farish multiple units apart! Meanwhile, back at the Bluebell, photos of some of the layouts. Good to see Surrey Arms (EM) on show. A very compact…
Canada’s big wooden automobile safety head reminds us about safe driving on the July 4th weekend. If you drive the speed limit (or slightly below to save gas) and avoid tailgating (the most stupid thing drivers do) your chances of getting home safely are far increased. If you speed and/or tailgate you are a fool. Speeding typically only saves you about 2 to 3 minutes over a 15-mile drive, and tailgating saves you zero seconds. In fact, following too closely doesn't shorten your travel time; it…
There’s been a lot of bad news lately, from Rockstar trying to push the cost-of-a-game envelope even further, to Bandcamp firing most of their engineers only a few months after pledging to ban any and all music that even so much as hints at the existence of AI (whose got money on Bandcamp running AI internally as a replacement for their engineers?), and to Sony announcing that physical discs will be discontinued entirely… I find myself continually slipping into nostalgia for the early 2000s.…
We had missed them in Shetland and Norway, they kept eluding Capsula on the water, and here they were just there, at touching distance, seemingly unbothered by all these humans taking pictures of them. as if nothing happens Just as we were about to question their Icelandic behaviour, we met them again, on the island of Grimsey. Hundreds of puffins had colonized the cliffs and the water beneath them. As expected, as we came within 200 metres, they took flight. So we kept our distance and just…
Let's do some Julyreply shall we?? Photo unrelated, here's a sick-ass sunset from the other day As Junited has come to an end, its originator reached out about this little thing called JulyReply that sort of acts like a "yes, and" for blog posts throughout the month and like, you know me. I'm nothing if not down for monthly projects. There are no real rules in the traditional sense other than: Make a blog post that is a reply to another person's blog post Deal. Eeeasyy. For my inaugural…
Nobody planted this. Gardeners call these volunteers: seeds that show up, pick a crack, and commit.
I’m impressed by Iris, an elegant and clever Mac app that does a bunch of delightful things. I have an array of photos sources: Two Photos libraries from different eras of Mac and pre-Mac computers; more than a decade of flat file storage that make up my Lightroom libraries; and a big file tree of imported mobile phone photos from prior to when I began syncing everything through iCloud Photos. Until using Iris, these have been separate catalogs, technically unifiable by dumping absolutely…
My childhood was spent in Long Beach, Indiana, on the south shore of Lake Michigan. In the summer months, we occupied our time at the baseball field in the morning and the beach in the afternoon. Our home was on the beachfront. I had a brother and two sisters, and a half-sister through my father’s prior marriage. I am the oldest in my parents’ family. My older half-sister visited during the summers. The period I’m describing is from 1965 to 1973. The cultural vibe was intense. Hippie…
I got an email from a blogger taking part in JulyReply, explaining that he's new to blogging. He wrote that this event might just be the inspiration needed for what's been postponed for ages: to actually start blogging. It made me so happy to read! It's exactly this I'm hoping for with the gentle challenges I'm running. A friendly little nudge to get you started or back on track. Even the order of events is with this in mind. First Junited, where you share others' posts. Then JulyReply, where…
New Post for the New Month It’s heatwave summer in the city. There’s at least one song mashup to pursue in that statement but unless it offers reprieve from the current state of things, I can’t see how it’s worth the effort. As we near the 250 years milestone of our Declaration of Independence, it’s difficult to muster much enthusiasm for the festivities, such as they are. Here in New York there will be Tall Ships and fireworks and surely more celebration. Broadly speaking, we’ve had a good…
"Show Us Your Shelf: Library Special," Antigone (June, 2026).
You can influence how you feel. As Derek Sivers writes, “You choose your reaction. Not the first one, but the next.” When you learn to pause, even just for a few seconds, you can influence how you behave after your first reaction. Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional. Your thoughts lead to feelings, and your feelings lead to thoughts. If you choose to feel proud when you save money, you will feel shame when you spend it. Needing to deal with an unexpected fee may stir up a strong emotion…
Yes, late pictures are late. It happens. For the last couple of years Lyssa and I have gone back to DC to spend Thanksgiving with her family (my in-laws), and one of the things we do is see a hockey game while we're there. In 2024 it was Washington Capitals vs. New York Islanders and somehow (I don't quite know how) my brother in law managed to score box seats for the game. Here are the pictures I took from the box.
Nota bene: This is the next installment of my multi-part review of Adam Smith’s 1784 pamphlet Additions and Corrections to the First and Second Editions of Dr. Adam Smith’s Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Addition #6 (pp. 6-9) consists of nine paragraphs and is the fourth longest addition in Smith’s pamphlet. Here, Smith demonstrates his personal knowledge of one specific corner of Britain’s complex web of trade laws: drawbacks. A “drawback” is a refund or rebate of…
Dependabot is on fire, the model yells, the meeting says add TLS. Fine. Is this stopping an attacker, or feeding a checklist?
