Recently updated blogs

Open Academic Publication Posted 10/28/2023 I’m currently at a workshop on open practices across disciplines, and one topic of discussion is how to change the academic publishing process to be more accessible to both authors and readers. I’ve also had a few friends outside of academia ask me how publishing research papers works, so it’s a good opportunity to write a post about the messy world of academic publishing. The …

Before there were cocktails (as we know them), there were punches; lots and lots of punches. Big bowls of swirling booze and fruit juice ladled out by the cupful to an anxious party of imbibers. When Jerry Thomas, the great-granddaddy of modern mixology, came to publish his book, “The Bartenders Guide,” he had already thought of distilling the contents of the punch bowl down to a single serving glass. One …

The Valencia Street center bike lane is finally open and ready for use in San Francisco. Finally those annoying “Bike Lane Closed” signs are no longer blocking the bike lane (that was ridiculous) and you can look down the Valencia Street bike highway. I have my own set of pros and cons, but let’s reserve judgement until we figure out how to use it properly, and only then can we …

WelcomeYesterday we played our final headline show of 2023. No one was particularly quick off the mark yesterday morning. I didn’t leave the house until 12:30pm and when I headed out the door everyone was enjoying the luxury of a slow start, drifting into the lounge and watching tv with cups of tea and whatever hodgepodge breakfasts they had assembled. Tristan had recommended a particular spot in Crown Heights where …

The following piece was written months ago, right after the “We Are Developers World Conference” took place in Berlin. So far I have not been reached out to for providing feedback to the conference, and I am not expecting it will ever happen, so I am going to publish this (unedited) here on my blog instead. There are some (at least one) swearword in here, for those of you who …

I help maintain a couple of projects and one aspect I find surprising — and a bit troubling — is how often people ask for features without explaining their problem. Maybe it’s already in the name, “Feature request”. Despite asking for a feature, often it’s not what’s needed. What’s needed is a solution to a problem and many problems have more than one solution.

A much delayed report.... On May 7th we gathered for gaming in our own corner of the Warhammer 40k universe in two different scales. Being CSW, we didn't use Games Workshop rules for either, opting instead for Grimdark Future for the 28mm game and our own slight modification of the "Panzer 8 Sci-FI" rules for those gaming in 6mm. 6mm On the Panzer side we didn't get too many pictures, …

How Spotify's expanding catalog reflects 2023's musical frontier

I have been working on moving a collection of about 20-30 AWS accounts from two different AWS Organizations into a new AWS Organization with Control Tower enabled. During the process I have run into a number of different blockers and issues which have not always had the most obvious solutions due to cryptic errors that the AWS Control Tower enrollment process shows. This blog post lists out some of the …

Once upon a time on Twitter: I was on the road and groggy with cold meds when this conversation happened, so I told my friend Rushkoff I’d get back to him when I was home and rested up. I thought that would be a week or so later. It’s been 2 months and I haven’t stopped thinking about it, in fact I’m still not entirely sure how to answer it. …

Now is Better by Stefan Sagmeister, soft-cover book and slipcase (Phaidon Press, 2023). The book continues Sagmeister’s life-long interest how design can best speak to people and improve their lives. Initially conceived in 2020 as the world entered a global pandemic, Now is Better looks at quality of life issues through collected statistics and information. WOMAN I, from Now is Better. Percentage of countries in which women have the right …

An installation at Kunthaus Zurich on the theme of media history, education, and the technology of attention. Some time ago, I was commissioned to write an essay about children’s media and the capture of attention by the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy at McGill University. You can read that essay in full, but here’s an excerpt, which concerns the research done by the Children’s Television Workshop (CTW) in the …

Before this poster was created hardly anyone had seen the word "Fitzrovia" in print and virtually nobody would have recognised "Fitzrovia" as the name of a London neighbourhood.The origins of Fitzrovia's name begin in the late 1700s when Charles Fitzroy began developing family land in Fitzroy Square and surrounding streets. The Fitzroy Tavern, took its name from Charles Fitzroy's developments. It became popular with the artistic and literary crowd that …

Léelo en español Years ago, I grew Stylidium debile in California. After a long period of not growing any carnivorous plants, a friend gave me this division, which just began to flower. Yes, yes, this is the most common Stylidium species in cultivation, and yes, it is exceedingly easy to grow. While that may reduce its cache with certain horticulturalists, it a pretty little plant. It features glandular carnivorous or …

The post Dieter Rams Braun Product Colour Palettes by Chad Ashley appeared first on Smithographic℠ All Original Content © 1996 – 2022 Smithographic.uk | Chad Ashley @cgpov has created these beautiful images of colour palletes created by Dieter Rams for the Braun product collection. Those colour buttons are just begging to be pushed, they are so yummy. ♡ Via: Present and Correct The post Dieter Rams Braun Product Colour Palettes …