I mentioned that I was going to reproduce my article in The Land 37 here. Well, it’s coming right up below (it was published in The Land with the title ‘Rentiers Redux’). The article is essentially a review of Nick Bano’s book Against Landlords, albeit with some wider analysis and context. I’ll probably sketch in a bit more of that context, either in the comments section below or in a follow-up post. Meanwhile, to update another semi-regular feature of this blog, here’s my current/recent…

People Recent events meant that the Conservative leadership contest all but disappeared into a new black hole -- the only sign being that some other bald person is now pontificating in a blue tie. I was reminded of the only time I met a Conservative in person. I was at a small but perfectly formed Waterstones, and who should be there signing copies of his memoirs, but Michael Heseltine. I could tell it was him, because amid his agent, bookshop rep and security guard, not a soul was around.…

P. Cair. Masp. I 67097 v F, tr. Leslie S. B. MacCoull: I want always to dance, I want always to play the lyre. I strike up my lyre to praise the solemn festival with my words. The Bacchae have cast a spell on me. . . . When I drink wine, my cares go to sleep. What do I care for pains and groans, what do I care for troubles? I love a young soldier, a Herakles with longing eyes, a lion tamer; ever one to save our cities. ἀεὶ θέλω χορεύειν, ἀεὶ θέλω λυρίζμιν. γεραρὴν λόγοις ἑορτήν ἀνα[βάϊλλομαι…

I divide my officers into four classes as follows: the clever, the industrious, the lazy, and the stupid. Each officer always possesses two of these qualities. Those who are clever and industrious I appoint to the General Staff. Use can under certain circumstances be made of those who are stupid and lazy. The man who is clever and lazy qualifies for the highest leadership posts. He has the requisite and the mental clarity for difficult decisions. But whoever is stupid and industrious must be…

Last year I ran an experiment to test the ability of modern LLMs to correctly answer a relatively straightforward question. Every single one of them got it wrong. Some missed information, some made up false statements, none were right. Of course the fanbois variously claimed that I was holding it wrong, my prompts were shit, I should have chosen better defaults, and - my favourite - that it would be better next year. Well, next year is now. 365 days after the original experiment, let's see if…

Anyone who had put money on Bonta for Governor might want to visit their Polymarket account. It's generally bad for their political careers when crusading attorneys general humiliate themselves by completely folding on their biggest case. From the Hollywood Reporter.That’s All? Team Paramount Nabs Warner Bros. With Only Minor Concessions to StatesErik Hayden After all of that sound and fury, that’s it? “I don’t think these two companies should merge,” said California attorney general Rob Bonta…

"Only by living completely in the world can one learn to believe. One must abandon every attempt to make something of oneself— even to make of oneself a righteous person." Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote this in a letter from prison a year before the Nazis hanged him for resisting Nazism and plotting to assassinate Hitler. Page 171, Andy Dillard, For the Time Being Abandon all hope of fruition. Slogan number 28 from the Lojong

Interest in food (and beverages) exploded in the late 20th century because the artisanal, farm-to-table, locavore, slow-food ethos of the food world is an antidote to the globalized, time-compressed, impersonal, highly-administered, constantly disrupted corporate world in which most of us work. The romance of food and wine was an escape from that world. The digital revolution was part of this world of post-industrial capitalism—the loss of a sense of the local, the hands-on, and the…

“We become ready only when we have to be.” | Katara, Avatar: The Last Airbender Truth

Saint Mary’s Glacier and glacial lake, Colorado, August 2017 (photo from Wikimedia) 22 September 2026 St. Mary’s Glacier in Clear Creek County, Colorado is gone. The photo at top showed what it looked like nine years ago as seen from the shore of its glacial lake. Here’s how it looked in Google satellite view. screenshot of Google satellite map of St. Mary’s Glacier, Colorado taken on 22 Sept 2026 By late last week, 17 September 2026, it was gone. video embedded from Fox31 Denver on YouTube…

Build c7ea4ea9Uppercase is a really fun game I built specifically for The Bryant Review. I released it about two weeks ago and folks seem to have really taken to it!I've spent my free time over the last few days working on a new build. What's new in the latest version of Uppercase? Great question!Interactive TutorialThe biggest addition here is the Interactive Tutorial. This was something I had intended on building before I released the game... but my schedule was quite pressed for time over…

Poet, Artist, ProphetOne thing leads to another - The The make an astonishing comeback album Ensoulment. Talk about enhancing, rather than destroying a legacy. Track 2 is "Some Days I Drink My Coffee By The Grave Of William Blake".Which leads me to want to know more about who William Blake is. This book will almost certainly be my book of the year 2026. Increasingly complex ideas and theories introduced to a man who left behind an incredible body of work. The art looks more suited to 1970s prog…

What does the metalhead do on their day off and why is it ambient? I listened to all the “black ambient” releases from the 90s to find out. If you were to press me on a pithy definition of metal, I would say it’s music written through the organisation of riffs. This means it can choose to bypass the traditional verse/chorus structure, but doesn’t always do so. This focus on the riff makes it distinct from equivalent genres that eschew the traditional song format such as jazz, which does so…

Last Sunday was another day at the Fremont Sunday Market. We’re still figuring out how to display the art in the most attractive way. We get a little closer each time. We add a little more art each time as well. My goals for the next two(ish) weeks until the next Market are to print and put together 20 copies of the Mighty Nizz comic, finish coloring and print the Zaz comic and put together a bio poster for the Sarah and myself. If Sarah gets the rewrite finished we’ll also be debuting the…

The vibeA little worn out, but glad to be getting settled.I am ready for the part where living in the new house means enjoying it without constantly thinking about what still needs to come out of a box. We are getting there, slowly but surely. Having some of the familiar comforts back helps, even if my stomach decided to make the week more difficult than it needed to be.Highlights🔎 Work was pretty interesting last week. I investigated an unauthorized ScreenConnect session on a client…

Tissue in the washing machine.

I was thinking the other day how much I missed StumbleUpon.

When we first acquired our little section of the syndicate stretch, I can fully understand why the landowner only gave us one bit of river to play with initially. After all, there’s no point handing over several hundred yards of prime Warwickshire Avon to a collection of complete strangers who may immediately erect bivvies, fell half the woodland, install a three-course kitchen and generally behave as though they’ve been given planning permission for a small caravan park with fishing rods.The…

From before 1916, “Entrance to Central Park at 5th Avenue and 59th Street, New York City”: and the somewhat hyperbolic description on the back: The plaza (for which the Plaza Hotel is named) consists of two roughly equal pieces, north and south of 59th Street. The north half takes a small bite out of the park, the south half cuts off the end of the block between 58th and 59th Streets. In the postcard photo, the south half is missing, with just an open paved area. The memorial fountain dedicated…

Jay Maisel (1931-2026). Photograph by Randy Duchaine (Fair Use)Noted photographer Jay Maisel died on August 20, 2026. He was 95 years old. The photography world lost a giant. As one would expect, there have been many tributes and accolades about his work and life. I have been an admirer of his work for decades. Recently, I read as well as watched some interviews with him and feel as though some of the things he said about photography, his philosophy and how he worked would be of interest to…

I participated in a mid autumn festival event on Sat 19 Sep 2026. This was not a boardgame specific event, but several Malaysian game designers and retailers were invited to showcase and sell their games. The event was in Pandamaran, Klang, which is an hour drive west of Kuala Lumpur. The event was 5pm to 10pm, and we were asked to come set up booth by 3pm. I had something else on that day which

Last week, Sony released Marvel's Wolverine for the Playstation 5 and PC. Created by Insomniac Games, the folks behind Marvel's Spiderman and Spiderman 2 games, the game was a highly anticipated release this fall season. But prior to its release, the internet turned on the game. Fueled by the vocal minority's anger regarding the elimination of a disc drive in the unreleased Playstation 6, folks began nitpicking footage from the game, it's budget, it's writing, etc. I had minor clips of dialogue…

God calls you where you are. For the Apostle Matthew, he was a publican (a tax collector). What emotions come up when you think of an IRS agent? What about tax season? “Unfortunately, you owe X dollars this year?” Now, imagine if God publicly called a person to be in his inner circle of twelve?? … Continue reading From Tax Collector to Apostle: Embracing God’s Unexpected Call to Redemption The post From Tax Collector to Apostle: Embracing God’s Unexpected Call to Redemption first appeared on…

Every new Ina Garten book gets a release day recipe and for Cook Like A Pro it was Chicken Thighs with Creamy Mustard Sauce – a dish that instantly was added to the regular rotation. With Simply Ina less than a month out, it felt like the right time to enjoy this again! (I have fun plans for the countdown, but this should hold you over until then.) To get that super-crispy, golden skin, Ina starts the thighs skin-side down in a hot cast-iron pan and doesn’t touch them for the first 15 minutes.…

Sleep in until 8:00. Less rain and wind than I expected overnight. Breakfast with hot chocolate. Overcast and gusty. Heavy rain arrives at 9:00. 9:45 a cold south wind arrives, put on the wool sweater. Rain gone and light wind after 12:00, then strong gusts at 3:00. More rain comes with the evening.

It’s here! It’s new! It’s my book. This has taken some time, some patience, and some swearing, but it’s now here, and available from Lulu.com The cover image is from Yolanda Christoffersson, from her own WordPress blog, and granted me with much generosity. For her blog, see:https://mittprivatakrig.com * Some earlier versions of pieces in the book have appeared here, on my page. But altogether they add up to far more than those seemingly random pieces. History to me has always been about how we…

I like long reads and deep dive educational videos. I wanted to list the youtubers that provide value in my life. I’ve never been a short video person, it hurts my brain. I use uBlock Origin to ban the shorts section of YouTube when they push it on me, buh bye. Here are some amazing long content educational YouTubers out there that I think are worth your time. Climate PBS Terra Shoutout to Maiya and her ‘Weathered’ series for covering the climate crisis. She discusses how it impacts local…

Wake in the company of schooners, including LAZY JACK, just after 6:00. Tuck away the sleeping gear and strike the boom tent. I walk up to one cafe to find a line already formed, waiting much too long as each customer seemed to have very specific instructions for frothed this, whipped that, not too much cinnamon but certainly more nutmeg and much sure you steam the milk just right for a nice layer of microfoam. I surrender and walk down the street to the deli where I get a blueberry muffin and…

done cookingI was a good boy last night and after dinner I went back and glued the two other sides. I didn't feel like it - I was feeling tired and if I sat for more than ten minutes I nodded out. I did it so I could keep working on it in the AM first thing.flushing the topsI used the scrub plane first to knock down the majority of the proud. Found the LN big boy plane (60 1/2) was easier and quicker than using the #4.hmm......There was a wee bit of daylight under Mr Starrett that I couldn't…

Staff at Goldsmiths University of London remain on strike as the new academic year starts. The dispute is fundamentally about job cuts but escalated as management responded to lecturers boycotting part of their role by cutting their pay completely. This has now been going on for four months. There are pickets outside the main building on Lewisham Way SE14 from 8:30 am to 1:00 pm, Monday to Friday. Watch out for 'teach outs' and other sessions. For instance, the School of Art are offering a…