Habitat maps My plan was to do a semi-global run this week, but to get there I ended up with a stack of small steps towards that which instead took up the time. OSM downloads to Overpass Up to now I've been accessing OpenStreetMap (OSM) data by doing region specific downloads from Geofabrik. Obviously I could just scale this up and download ALL TEH REGIONS!, but instead I turned to another option. Colleague Anil Madhavapeddy has been setting up a local OSM mirror with Overpass server so we can…

Off to get my flushot! Just wish they’d let people who don’t qualify for the (very) limited list of approved conditions get the covid vaccine too 😭

A provocation.

While I’m writing this, I’m enjoying Cannonball Adderley’s Fiddler on the Roof (1964) which matches Adderley’s alto with Charles Lloyd’s tenor saxophone. Lloyd is in fine form and his solos on sex and flute and Nat Adderley’s on sometimes muted cornet really stand out. Joe Zawinul joins them on piano, Sam Jones on bass, and Louis Hayes on drums. This won’t rock your world or make you hear in color, but it’s pretty great. I like JD Allen albums and I particularly love his two albums called…

I was reading an interview with an elderly Russian woman. It must have been a month or so ago, so, quite recent (in Le Monde newspaper). The interviewer kept in the background – not one of those who presume Russian people can speak openly anywhere at any time, to anyone – and let her speak.Or edited the exchange properly. I have tied to explore ideas, attitudes, responses, here.Fiction writers will I think recognise the tactic of using the real to explore the fictional ‘Her closing remarks have…

Little things I noticed in ISLE OF THE DEAD on recent reviewing. An October post. Leigh Harline, who also scored 7 FACES OF DR. LAO, quotes from the famous death mass so beloved of Kubrick. I didn’t notice any of Rachmaninoff’s synonymous piece, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t there. I recommend it! This is […]

This is the report on new and revised entries at online philosophy resources, new reviews of philosophy books, new podcast episodes, recently published open access philosophy books, and more. . (If we missed something, let us know.) Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy New: Friedrich Engels by Matt Shafer. The Genotype/Phenotype Distinction by Michael Dietrich and Marina DiMarco. Revised: Identity by Harold Noonan and Ben Curtis. Proclus by Christoph Helmig and Carlos Steel. Dante Alighieri by…

Cheap agents, alumni shirts, and Elias Thorne. “AI” killing us all isn’t what I’m worried about; “AI” further polluting everything with more junk because they can externalize the costs onto the rest of us and maybe make a few quid here and there is what I’m depressed about. How to stop having ideas I think (maybe I hope) that I spend almost as long caveating any ideas or proposals that I have at DoES Liverpool with “this is just my idea of it” as I do explaining the idea or suggestion; because…

I love this tree. Was planning to take black and whites for a while.48 words · 1 image

Statues of lions flanking entryways are not unusual in New York City public and private spaces. The two most famous are probably Patience and Fortitude, the beloved lions guarding the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue (and named by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia to inspire strength during the Depression). But panthers? One ferocious pair stands watch over the Third Street entrance to Prospect Park. They’re the creations of Alexander Phimister Proctor, an animalier who gained fame in the late…

8704/21623My crazy, funny, (usually) incredibly sweet boy turned 9 today. He was incredibly excited to receive a plastic flintlock pistol, a viking shield, some fossils and a couple of solid gold (maybe) necklaces. I don't know if he will grow up to be an archaeologist, a pirate or a pimp (or the job that combines all three- a comedian), but it was lovely to see him so thrilled. It is rare as an adult that you squeal with joy when opening a present. That's a shame.

Walking back last night; I do love a good bus stop.54 words · 5 images

Today I spent the day starting to set up basic things on my new CachyOS installation, and while this part is always a bit long, it's also a nice to take inventory of what I'm using, especially since some of those choices were made before I decided to go FLOSS as much as possible and think about information privacy. Just said good bye to a lot of browser extensions, changed out Thunderbird for Betterbird and we'll see what's next!

Jonathan Larson’s Rent carries a huge reputation, a piece that opened in 1996 immediately after the death of its creator, adding greater resonance to this story of a small community of Bohemian artists in the 1980s dealing with love and HIV. Based on Puccini’s opera La Boheme – where the characters face tuberculosis instead – […]

Every day is all there is — Joan Didion

For the Love of Trains: Celebrating 200 Years of British Railways by Paul Routledge A mix of rail history and stories of the author’s life and journeys. An okay light read but either topic is better served elsewhere 3/5 The Bigger Picture: My Blockbuster Life & Lessons Learned Along the Way by Jan Landau Memoir of a film producer (Titanic etc). I think the early parts tend to work better with the last third being less interesting. But in general worth reading. 4/5 My Audiobook Scoring System…

Good morning from the Florida panhandle! This was literally a last-minute trip we just decided to take last week. Susan got her work schedule and through a quirk – they left her off for this week. She came home from work last week asking if we could head to Destin, FL for a mini-vacation. She […]

There’s a special breed of internet weirdo who spends so much time staring at a screen that their brain has completely turned to mush. To them, the entire world is on fire 24x7. There is no middle ground, no nuance, and no sense of proportion whatsoever. Someone having an annoying opinion on a blog isn't just someone being a bit of a twat; it’s an existential crisis that requires a boycott, a campaign website, and multiple days of frantic keyboard warrior activism. Everything is connected in…

Grief is a persistent little bugger. It never really goes away, just changes shape. Well after my last book came out without the fanfare I’d hoped for, I’m revisiting a version of grief that I hadn’t known existed, and that’s still with me. It’s no long a dart; I’d say it’s more a smattering of dust motes. But there it is, still hanging around. This is how I thought about it when it first hit me. My dad died last year at age 94, his death a blessing for him and, while immensely sad, a relief…

Hey there, everyone! Check out the September playlist below. We’ve got two hours’ worth of mostly new music for you to enjoy. Artists with multiple songs on this playlist: Scarves (3), Perennial (2), My Pet Fossil (2), Name Names (2), The Tubs (2), Asher White (2), Deady (2). Here is where you can listen to the playlist on various streaming services: Spotify (missing three songs), Tidal (missing two). Be sure to check out previous playlist posts if you’ve enjoyed this one, or visit the site…

I’ve owned two Argus A2Bs, bought five years apart. The first one, I liked okay — it wasn’t a stellar performer, and it was fiddly to use, but it didn’t put me off. The second one, substantially the same camera, I didn’t like using at all. The A2B belongs to the Argus A series, one of the first cameras built to take advantage of the 35mm cartridge Kodak introduced in 1934. Kodak’s own Retina got there first, but at a price most people couldn’t touch. Argus’s original A, introduced in 1936 for…

I’m leading a singing workshop tomorrow. I know I will have 35 singers, seven of whom are men. Five of those are tenors. That means that I can choose song arrangements accordingly. But what happens when you’ve no idea in advance which voice parts you’ll have? Usually I would expect most of the men at my workshops to be baritones, with a few basses. I rarely get many tenors. So it’s great to be forewarned about tomorrow. When I lead a workshop open to the general public, I will only know how…

I complained a while back that I needed a project but I couldn’t find a good theme. A project gives direction and meaning to your photography and I had the feeling that I was flapping about without a clear goal. The project Recently, it hit me: At the end of this week I’ll be 52. I’m half the age of my grandmother. If I live as long as she has so far (she’s still going), I’m half way through my life. Then I realised that 52 is also the number of weeks in a year. So why not start a project over…

two things that rub me the wrong way representatives need to get votes. but getting votes and running a country are two different skill sets someone without expertise can cast a vote. but mostly we don’t know but democracy is the best of the worst forms of government, one might say that doesn’t mean i have to support it

Red warbler near Tepoztlán, Mexico (photo from Wikimedia) 5 October 2026, WINGS Veracruz: Migration is a Moving Experience: Day 6, the highlands around Xalapa and Cofre de Perote In the lowlands we saw many familiar northern-breeding birds within the migration corridor, but now we’re in montane pine-oak and fir forests at 4,000 to 11,500 feet (1200m to 3500m), both pictured below. Pine-oak forest in southern Sierra, Oaxaca, Mexico (photo by Mario E. Fuente Cid via Wikimedia) Fir forest at Cofre…

Looking southeast from Langer Eugen on the UN campus in Bonn, past the Post Tower (DHL headquarters) and the Rhine, toward the Siebengebirge rising above morning fog. Autumn mornings along the Rhine often trap mist in the valley while the hills stay clear. Looking out from Langer Eugen just before eight with a low fog across the Rheinaue and the river and the peaks of the Siebengebirge rising out of the mist. It's worth getting in early.

Elizabeth Jolley is not an author I’ve ever come across before, but when I saw The Well on NetGalley I decided to give it a try. It sounded intriguing and suitably dark for the RIP XXI challenge. Originally published in 1986, the book has recently been reissued by Virago with a new introduction by Alice Slater. I saved the introduction until the end in case of spoilers, but it’s definitely worth going back and reading it. The novel opens late at night with two women driving home from a party.…

River pirates, sneak thieves, pickpockets, confidence men—New York City in 1896 was grappling with rising rates of relatively new crimes that threatened the safety of Gilded Age Gotham. But tthe city’s police force, led by robust crimefighter Theodore Roosevelt, decided to crack down on another troubling offense: discarded banana peels on public roadways. No, it wasn’t a gag invented by vaudeville theater and silent films. People in the turn of the century city really did used to slip on banana…

And so, the 2026 holiday season begins. Stores have had Halloween decorations up since July. Christmas decorations started appearing in late July and early August and are in full swing now.I’m the holiday decorator in our household… big surprise! And because I do the decorating (and no one else much cares), I’ve established a set of rules for decorating. Of course, I’m the only one who has to follow them, so they can be altered or modified at will. For instance, Halloween decorations cannot go…

What Trades Told: Paramounts on Parade, Frank Wants Back In, and Adults Only PleaseRe Broadway's legendary Paramount Theatre (interior above), how’s addressing sheer vast of the place, a closest millions came to entering a king’s palace, let alone as welcome guests, not sweeping ash but treated like royals manor born. I personally never stood in a so-called “movie palace,” crumbled remnants of a few, yes, a more sad than satisfying experience. Ever visit such ruins? They're like Pompeii after…