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Barry Hughart (his surname is pronounced hew-gert) died in 2019 at the age of 85. His career as a writer of fantasy was short-lived, but his work was acclaimed. His first novel, Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was (1984), was the co-winner of the 1985 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel (along with Mythago Wood, by Robert Holdstock), and it won the 1986

The city of Kyoto was the only great city of Japan to be spared serious bombing during World War II, despite being among the top targets preferred for the atomic bomb, thanks to the unprecedented and extraordinary efforts by the Secretary of War, Henry L. Stimson, to protect it. I have written at length on this, and why I have come to think that the issue of Kyoto is actually …

The Old Setup To properly appreciate the upcoming network shenanigans I’ll have to give you a bit of context on my current setup first. You see, there is a server VLAN at home where everything is hosted, using normal, local IPv4 addresses. Traffic comes in via a Hetzner VPS which runs a reverse proxy (Caddy), that reverse proxy talks to the local network via a WireGuard VPN between VPS and …

I wrote about AI already, but that was about how we’re all going to die. Since then, the conversation has become more nuanced. Now I’m encountering more subtle ideas I think are totally wrong. So because I know better, here’s why. “AI is already here.” ChatBots are good at figuring out what comes next when you start a sentence with, “The capitol of Antigua is…” That’s pretty cool. We didn’t …

Learn how to use CollectRows, RowToStructByName, CollectOneRow, RowToStructByPos and ForEachRow

Anyone who takes up bouldering will, sooner or later, hear about Fontainebleau. I have heard it said that it’s proof that a) God exists and b) he’s a climber. I don’t believe in God and Wikipedia says that in fact the forest is littered with thousands of sandstone boulders due to the erosion of an ancient sea bed. Handily, my middle sister has a holiday house about an hour’s drive …

If you have been following the news recently, you may have seen that we've been doing specialist imaging on the draft manuscripts of William Camden's Annals of the Reign of Elizabeth I, with sensational results. This research has been undertaken by Helena Rutkowska, a collaborative DPhil student in partnership between...

It’s 1967 in Ballygar, a community in Dublin, where three friends of three different generations gather to mourn the death of one of their own. Lily (Maggie Smith), Eileen (Kathy Bates) and Dolly (Agnes O’Casey) soon come face to face with the friend’s daughter, Chrissie (Laura Linney), who fled Ballygar for the United States and hasn’t been back in nearly four decades. When the church wins a contest for a …

The Untourists The Untourists - Travel Blog - Discovering the beautiful world we live in. Often called the ‘melting pot’ of Indian cultures and cuisines, Mumbai never really had a North East India food scene. Until now. The North East of India has a super vibrant culture, languages, textiles, art and a food scene. Now we can explore a part of the food scene, with some amazing north east dishes, …

After 1,187 different stories, I’m sorry to say that this, the 1,188th, will be the last piece published on The Charlton Champion. We have now closed. Thank you for your custom. There’s a bit more to say than that, of… Continue reading →

My next project will be a “natural metal” finish on a 1/72 scale kit. But WHICH kit??? Let me know if you have an opinion by posting your preference below in the comments… PLEASE choose one from this list, otherwise I will completely ignore you. Monogram P-36 (RETRO ACTION!!) Fujimi MiG-21PF Hasegawa CF-104 ESCI F-104 Tamiya P-51D I’m not going to be counting “votes” exactly. This will be more fair. …

On 11 July, BBC Media Action – the BBC’s international charity – will say goodbye to their CEO of 14 years, Caroline Nursey OBE, upon her retirement and welcome Simon Bishop as their new CEO. BBC Media Action’s head of communications, Carolynne Wheeler, sat down with Caroline and Simon to hear their reflections on the charity’s achievements, and on the challenges and opportunities ahead. Caroline, Simon, thank you for joining …

Sweet diatoms You make me smile Algal atoms Too small to see But for my eye Peering microscopically Your fiddly frames Of filigree silica Seem big to me

I put out the flag and read some poetry this morning: Rowan Ricardo Phillips, Dean Young, Claudia Rankine, Terrance Hayes. As battered and damaged as we are, I have to think there’s some slight hope for democratic ideals. And I let Malcolm stay up late last night to watch the neighborhood’s homemade fireworks displays. Literal squeals of delight. Here’s some Tony Hoagland that maybe captures a bit of the feeling. …