Personal blogs

I first came across Tim Exile at Music Tech Fest about ten years ago. He builds really interesting generative music tools and communities. There was a time where I regularly missed my tube stop playing …

I'd like to think I've become a better person over the last ten years. Although I fully expect Alphabet = Google = Blogspot to pull the plug at short notice and cast The Blob into …

I spent a lot of time in TV studios in my yoof. My dad was a sound engineer, and I took any opportunity I could to bunk off school or use the holidays to go …

Sean will be the Grand Marshall of Dothan’s 10th anniversary Mardi Gras parade! Come join the fun and watch the parade! Time and other details to be added…. The post Grand Marshall–Dothan, Alabama appeared first …

A simple recipe for making soft pretzels. (vegan but not gluten-free.)

Micropayments, microbilling, microtransactions, call it what you will; it is one of those ideas people say they want but actually do not. In particular, micropayments are not a viable replacement...

Sunday afternoon and the rain has just set in. In land, hopefully, this will fall as snow, but here on the edge of the North Sea, it will just be cold rain. I’ve spent the …

OK, I built a new PC last year, and it’s been generally awesome. Except for one little thing. I put a NZXT Kraken Z53 in it. The Z53 is a nifty dual-fan all-in-one water cooler, …

Our social world is ruled by the affect heuristic: what feels good seems true, and what feels bad we distance ourselves from and reject. We judge what’s true or false based on it if makes …

Man, I have learned so much about the surgery my orthopedist recommended to me over the last 24 hours since the internet discovered the Twitter profile image of the accused UnitedHealth CEO assassin included an …

A few years back a little small-goods store opened down the road. They had pricey hams and smoked meats, fancy cheeses and an array of handmade artisanal stuff in jars. The absolute star of the …

As a Cherry Tree fan club member, I receive live recordings from The National each year, but the new Rome public release stands out, capturing the fizz and occasional chaos that surprises first-timers. They’re forever …

writing code on TRS-80 like it's 1983 (sort of)

Sometimes, when we’re just hanging out having fun, I’ll tell Kim, “I need you to add something to my urn.” Like ‘he sure could make a sub!’ or ‘he was a friggin’ genius!’ Sure. I …

Deep beneath the A1058 in Newcastle lies a subway decorated with twelve mosaics. These were installed in 1979 in anticipation of the 900th anniversary of the city’s founding, celebrated the following year. Each panel was …

This paragraph from Peter Coy's essay in the (paywalled) New York Times opinion section is just great. Computer scientists are continually surprised by the creativity displayed by new generations of A.I. Consider that lying is …

Why write a blog post somewhere nobody has published in five years, in a new WordPress interface where you recognize… yeah, nothing? Where somehow you can’t even upload a JPG or PNG file you downloaded …

I get up, get dressed, and meander into the kitchen rubbing the sleep from my bleary eyes while the morning sun reflects off sides of buildings. I grab the portafilter from the espresso machine, give …

All caps, bold: MOVIE All caps, bold, asterisk: SHORT* All caps: TV SERIES Italics: Book Quotation marks: “Play” Italics, quotation marks: “Short Story” 01/01 BELOW DECK, PRINCE ANDREW THE MUSICAL, THE BEST OF COMEDY 2022 …

I turned on the TV a few nights ago and up popped The One Show, and there was Andrew Ridgley on the couch talking about “Last Christmas”. Were they trying to Whamageddon three million viewers …