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After an incredible final that saw the return of their fierce Paso Doble and beautiful American Smooth the couple also performed an incredible Showdance to a Jennifer Lopez mega mix. The Judges awarded them their first 40 of the competition for their American Smooth, however their scores were just for guidance, the votes were down to you the viewers at home. After being awarded the coveted Glitterball Trophy Ellie said... …

The oceans have always been eyed up greedily by humankind. Transport by boat was crucial for emergence of empires and economies over the few hundred years, and remains so today. Shipping routes aren’t the only thing to be jostling for; what’s in (and under!) the oceans are crucial too, from oil to food. Our jobs are much easier nowadays with fossil fuel powered, enormous ships, not to mention highly accurate …

Hi there. Long time no see. I’m not really sure how to start this, so I guess we’ll just start. 2023 has been an interesting year full of… Life changes? Life adjustments? Life somethings. A few of these life somethings has been really cool, and what have made good blog posts, but maybe at the time I wasn’t sure how I wanted to talk about them, or which parts of …

The first time I ever presented publicly about cybernetics and sorcery was at the Ekstasis! seminars (“Magical Seminars for the Postmodern Mind”) hosted by the Illuminates of Thanateros in 2007. It was during my research for that presentation, “Re/Considering the Cybernetic Model of Magic,” that I first encountered conceptual blending theory via Jesper Sørensen’s A Cognitive Theory of Magic. Since then, the basic ideas of conceptual blending have contributed significantly …

Today I’d like to show you a small pen set that once belonged to my grandmother. For me it’s very special because of the stories […] Source

The Sodium extension in PHP 8.4 now supports `AEGIS-128L` and `AEGIS256` Authenticated Encryption ciphers. They are significantly faster than `AES-GCM` and `CHACHA20-POLY1305`. This article benchmarks them and explains how to securely encrypt and decrypt data using `AEGIS-128L` and `AEGIS256` on PHP.

Two giant clams near Eilat in the Northern Red Sea. To the left is the small giant clam, Tridacna maxima, and to the right is a mature individual of the rare endemic giant clam Tridacna squamosina, only found in the Northern Red Sea. You are what you eat, and clams are too. We’re made of atoms, which come in “flavors” called isotopes, relating back to the mass of the atoms …

The BL Labs team provided support to the Living with Machines team at critical points in the project. If you’re inspired to contribute to the future of BL Labs, now’s your chance! LwM Co-Investigator Maja Maricevic is recruiting for the British Library Labs Technical Lead, and has shared some information about the post. (And this […]

CIA produced a fantastic book during the peak of World War 2 called Simple Sabotage. It laid out various ways for infiltrators to ruin productivity of a company. Some of the advice is timeless, for instance the section about “General interference with Organizations and Production”:

“Shall we walk back the way we came?” There had been, as Constance reflected later, no possible argument against Xander’s suggestion — not that she felt disposed to argue with Xander. Lunch at the pub — a busy old place in the village next to the one in which they were staying — had been as long, cosy and convivial as either of the two might have wished. Under the …

An afternoon at Big Trees Dear Reader, I am happy to report that Calaveras Big Trees State Park sits a scant three miles past the town of Arnold, California and is home to two groves of Giant Sequoias. I am delighted to tell you that ample, affordable, highway-close parking makes them the most accessible in the Sierras. I am elated to let you know that being a state park translates …

Yes, I’m crazy about winter white coats. And if you’ve been around here long enough, you know that I already have one! Still there’s something about them that I can’t resist. I also have a fascination with the capote, a traditional handmade coat made from a Hudson Bay blanket. The candy striped ones are my favorites. I had actually put away a LL Bean knockoff blanket years ago, thinking that …

Retro Puzzle Maker is an amazing little free game engine. It’s a web-based tool that allows you to make Sokoban style games that output as playable NES ROM files. The engine is code-free and any beginner can use it, and while means that while you can’t change much in terms of the type of game … Continue reading "Retro Puzzle Maker: The easiest way to make an NES game!"

I have now had the opportunity to complete the Healthy Bees Academy modules created by Menter a Busnes to help … Completing the Healthy Bees Academy Modules Read More »

Eldiario.es, an independent online newspaper based in Madrid, has just published a remarkable data-driven story about how inequality perpetuates itself (perhaps we should say that it's inflicted upon people) in Spain.Notice the combination of different types of charts —dot maps, scatter plots, stacked bar graphs,— the effective annotations and highlights that emphasize the main points of the narrative, the use of color, and the addition of individual stories to exemplify …