Terence Eden recently published a post titled This blog is written in en-GB. Before I even read the post, I knew what it was going to be about, and that I had to make that change myself too, for the same reasons as I'd guessed he was going to explain. Terence expresses those reasons very well, so I won't try to reproduce them here. I'm in strong agreement with him and those reasons resonate with me. This is my blog, I string all the words together, in my own style, on the topics I choose, with…
I’ve been lining up banner photos for the remaining months of the year, all of which are from last year (like almost all of the others so far); this month’s is from Sanna in Ardnamurchan, which I’ll be seeing again in a couple of weeks. I’m two camping trips behind on my Ardnamurchan photos, and have got way too many other photos from the past few years of travel around the UK (and one trip beyond it) that I still haven’t posted here. Before getting to those, I’ve been dealing with some old…
Sure, that's what happens in the book, but that's not really what it's about. By the time I got to high school, Fahrenheit 451 and the other dystopian classics weren't a meaningful part of the curriculum anymore. This fact really seems to accentuate the entire point of the book. The main character is a fireman, yes. In this mildly sci-fi future, the traditional firemen we think of today are obsolete, because buildings are now generally fireproof. Now, instead of putting out fires, the firemen…
June 21st, 2026 — After my coffee, a thought came to mind: I hope that one day I can see the countryside from a double-decker bus. It’s a small wish. It may never happen but I hold onto the thought any way.I stood at the bus terminal today thinking that it was only a few weeks ago I had wished to go on a double decker bus. Today, it happened: a most delightful surprise.I arrived at the bus early enough that I had my pick of seats. I sat on the top deck in the front seat, where I had almost…
A fun (and funny!) 9-minute video from Linternet User about designing a perfect onscreen lever with the right amount of juice: Love seeing real work in progress like that, plus it ends up in a place I didn’t expect. It was also great to see “delay and snap” action elucidated so clearly. It feels like a variant of rubberbanding (or, elastic scrolling) where you intentionally disconnect an object from the cursor or finger dragging it.#above and beyond #hardware #interface design #youtube
Probably not. I bought one anyway. Figured I’d write some of my memories surrounding it growing up, as well as how I set-up my own. Some memories The Nintendo 3DS was one of those consoles that I mostly admired from a distance. There are a few moments in time, sparsed throughout my youth where I interacted with one, an uncommon endeavor compared to my love for the PSP or even the older Game Boy Advance. When it came out I was too poor to even consider it, it was super expensive when it…
John Gruber has been dropping some bangers this week. On Claude’s awful desktop app (funnily enough, I only deleted it last week after realising it was 800mb, which is stupid): “It’s like wondering why all the screws in a building were hammered into the walls, and then finding out that the guy who oversaw construction founded and co-owns the world’s biggest hammer manufacturer” And my favourite, on Meta (rolls eyes): “Meta has always been a bad company. Now it seems like a bad company that’s…
The sea of World Cup revelers parted for the afternoon on Sunday, offering the opportunity for Dr Funk to hold their quarterly Rum Asylum rum club meeting. The featured rum this time was Worthy Park from Jamaica, one of our favorites. The session included tasting seven of Worthy Park’s expressions, including the recent 12 year bottle that is by no means inexpensive so that was a true treat. We also had a nice presentation from a couple Worthy Park reps and some informative Q&A. Each Rum Asylum…
I don't think I did justice to how pretty the Moon looked that night Personal My health was finally good enough this week to return to the gym, felt nice to be back in the swing of things. Hopefully the weather does not screw me over and I can work up to my old schedule again. Reading I’ve been ramping up my reading so I can hit my self imposed 24 books a year goal. I finished reading the 3rd book of the Chaos Walking trilogy, Monsters of Men. On Amogh’s recommendation, I’ve now started the…
Post last updated 16 minutes ago It's been about two months since I got my first "real" camera, a Fujifilm XT30 III, so I thought it might be a good moment to write my impressions on it. You can click on the photos for the captions. The first few daysAs it happens when doing something for the first time, I was blasted with a ton of information, both about my camera in particular and photography in general. Aperture, focal length, proper exposure, shutter speed, film simulation, film recipes and…
I was happier than usual when I clocked out yesterday afternoon.I suppose it's time to let you off the hook after last week's little cliffhanger.The Kindle survived. Well... it survived by not being bought.Instead of giving my love a conventional birthday present this year, I had one of those impulsive brainwaves that somehow make far more sense once you've already committed to them.So rather than bringing home another gadget, I brought us here.We are, quite literally, in the middle of…
Search for split kb continues
Got up about 9.30. Again wind still cold. The gang came for tea. Gave Jane a swing but too cold to stay out very long. Went for a drink at night.
Picked up a load of wood from the Amish farm today. Ol’ Green struggled a bit under load on the hills between here and Buddha Bypass Road but we made it. The farm was, as I suspected, open despite the holiday. What to the Amish is your Fourth of July? 😉
Opinion | Birthright citizenship overreach by the Supreme Court ends term - The Washington Post: A more modest ruling, relying on those statutes, would have left the constitutional issue for a future court to consider if and when Congress deliberates on the issue and decides to change the rules. I use to pay for a WaPo subscription, but their takeover by rightwing extremists ruined it. Imagine wringing hands because SCOTUS made a ruling based on a plain reading of the Constitution.
I’ll be honest, I was a bit surprised that I knew anyone who would buy a pair of Meta AI glasses. Sure, they are readily available, and presumably heavily advertised, but most of the people with whom I spend time - online or offline - are not the kind of people who would buy them. I’ve got friends who use Facebook. I’ve got friends who use WhatsApp. But the glasses just - to me, anyway - feel rather different. Nevertheless, a friend did buy a pair, and was happy to chat about them. My friend -…
Earlier this year we had a rather unfortunate incident involving our 25-year-old stand-up freezer, in which the condenser failed while the thing was full of frozen things, which quickly became rather disgustingly unfrozen. The clean-up was stinky and terrible and no fun at all. Also, we needed to get a new freezer. Krissy got that new freezer a couple of days ago, and you can see it here, next to the drinks fridge we have in our garage — the drinks fridge being, as the name implies, an extra…
America at 250, America at 50 On July 4, 2026, the United States will celebrate a special Independence Day marking the 250th anniversary of America’s independence on July 4, 1776. While much attention will be on America’s 250th, this article will focus on the 200th anniversary of America’s 50th anniversary of its independence, better known as the American Jubilee or the July 4, 1826 semi-centennial. Of all of America’s full and half-centennials, the American Jubilee was unique in that three of…
Tree Shadows on the Park Wall, Roundhay, Leeds (1872) by John Atkinson Grimshaw. • “In many cases, the rules of physics that apply in a real scene appear to be optional in a painting; they can be obeyed or ignored at the discretion of the artist to enhance the painting’s intended effect.” An extract from The Visual World of Shadows by Roberto Casati and Patrick Cavanagh, in which the authors examine some of the rule-breaking that takes place when artists are dealing with shadows in paintings. I…
For my wife's birthday last weekend I ran her and her friends a D&D one shot. My brief was thus: level eleven a more classic dungeon crawl dragon There were six of them. I had no clue how to balance six level eleven characters where four of these players I'd never played with before and two of the four haven't played all that much. Balancing not just in terms of encounters but time. So I winged it, basically. Which is what I think has to happen mostly anyway, in any game. Flexibility. Their…
Monday “Do you do this every week?” There’s trash in the open grass and trash by the bench. But there’s also a man on the bench admiring the view. As I didn’t want to disturb him, I was heading for the trash in the open first. I say sort of, and walk over. He tells me he usually picks stuff up from here himself and puts it in the bin, and we both turn to look. “I mean, it’s right there.” I shift a brick with my foot and lift out a glut of crushed cans stashed beneath it. Seems like freeing a…
Didn't bring my big camera to the track because I was so annoyed about yesterday.37 words · 1 image
Today is independence day.Tomorrow will also beindependence day.I wave the flag of the present moment.I listen to the robinand watch the swallowstreak across the twilit sky. The deer, the stray dog, the heart-wounded veterandon't need to hear loud noisestonight.Just the gentle explosionof peonies in my garden.Watch the sun setand greet whoever you meetwith a breath of peace.Something in your
Source Drought has pushed the Rio Grande river past the breaking point – in Albuquerque, it has completely dried up. For the third consecutive year, a combination of record-low winter snowpacks, warming spring temperatures, and persistent drought has left the Rio Grande completely dry through Albuquerque. This ecological crisis has arrived earlier and stretched further north than in previous years, leaving the river’s fragile ecosystem in jeopardy. Reservoirs across New Mexico are hovering at…
I did a terrible job taking pictures today.38 words · 1 image
Fireworks are for those with the training, the appropriate equipment, and the appropriate location (and conditions). If you don't have all three — just don't, and leave it to those who do. Big-screen TVs make that a lot easier than when I grew up, when black-and-white console TVs were about the best thing there was… But I'm perfectly willing to give this King the finger (symbolically,
We arrived at Silverstone and I made pizza. It was pretty good - the dough turned out great.18 words · 1 image
Last night, I learned that we lost Belghast, a truly special individual and a pillar of the gaming/MMO community. His blog, Tales of the Aggronaut, has stood tall since April 2009 (based on blog archives), and his tenacity at blogging and podcasting in the gaming realm is legendary.
The CaretakerEverywhere at the End of Time2019History Always Favours The Winners(part of Resident Advisor's 2000-2025 Best Albums) Memories are ghosts inside your mind; samples are ghosts extracted from records and trapped in forever loops. Starting from these premises, The Caretaker takes snippets of maudlin balladry from pre-World War II crooners like Al Bowlly and subjects them to escalating levels of erosion, simulating the stages of dementia. These nostalgic wisps of decaying music…
