Recently updated blogs

Seventeen years ago my copy of Richard Ford's The Lay of the Land was delayed in the post and arrived long after the novel had been reviewed in all the big newspapers so, instead of riding the wave of publication, I was dragged under by its backwash. I had to answer a question not one of the reviews asked: Why is Frank Bascombe writing this?However, one question my readers might …

I remembered the National Transit Database a bit earlier this year, so here are the top hitters for 2022, and we can see the ridership recovery already. The four companies earning a profit from 2021 (Bay State, Trans-Bridge, Hampton Jitney and Hyannis Harbor) are joined by New York Waterway and the Chattanooga incline. Broadway Bus dropped from breaking even to earning just 23 cents on the dollar, and Peter Pan …

I have spent many thousands of hours trail running. In those thousands of hours, I have fallen victim to my own stupidity on more than one occasion. This post will detail some of my personal (uncoventional) tips for trail runners. Don’t expect tips for enhancing your running performance or form. These are focused more on avoiding embarrasment and unfortunate situations on the trail. Avoid caffeine mishaps Have you had caffeine …

When I started blogging again in 2020, I was using my work computer as my home computer was non-operational. Recently work appropriately increased security on the computers (which I fully endorse) so that I can no longer upload photos from that computer onto my blog. I received a Mac air iPad which is replacing the one I had been using since 2012 which really couldn’t do much. As such, I …

On the 1,729th workout without a rest day I completed a personal record squat set of 185 pounds for 76 reps. This post describes the process I employed to achieve that set and many others along the way. I hope you find this post helpful so that you too can achieve rep max personal records in any lift of your choosing. Watch it now if you haven't seen it. One …

There have been recent controversies and scandals in higher education in the United States. Many contributors and readers of this blog have (Irish) university connections. Is there a discussion needed about the relevance, or not, to Ireland of these issues, which concern the question of free speech, variously interpreted? Probably so, since free speech does not defend itself, our history is hardly one of free speech, and our new (so-called) …

Back in May, Eugen announced that I’d joined the team at Mastodon gGmbH, to look after Developer Relations. I was helping out in different ways, and getting to know the community across different Fediverse projects, since the start of the year; it was great to be able to spend a small portion of my freelance time working on something that I personally believe in, that I’m excited about, and where …

Image: a solar panel with charge controller and lead-acid battery. Photo by Marie Verdeil. Readers have told me they like to build small-scale photovoltaic installations like those that power Low-tech Magazine’s website and office. However, they don’t know where to start and what components to buy. This guide brings all the information together: what you need, how to wire everything, what your design choices are, where to put solar panels, …

I publish this blog post with some nervousness, as I’m not a historian or musicologist. This is something I feel strongly about though, and as ever am very happy to receive feedback and corrections in the comments, either on this post, or on the fediverse or facebook. Luigi Russolo was an Italian painter and composer who wrote the Art of Noises manifesto in 1913, which has become influential particularly in …

Colour is more important than you could ever imagine # Red is the colour of hatred, anger, power, aggression, adrenaline, worry, jealousy, murder, blood; faux-love, hearts, strawberries, stress, lust; and Mario. In theory, red is not my colour. My skin is olive undertone. Tall, dark with brooding thoughts, ever cogitating. Autumnal, exuberant and fiercely loyal. I have no raw red. Not mainlining it in any case. My mind is orange …

I bought my mother a MacBook Air for Christmas. About a year back, I’d switched to a secondhand iPhone, but my family is all on Android. I have her email saved in her contact information on my phone, and that email is now associated with her Apple ID, which is now associated with a device that supports iMessage. My texts to my mother therefore switch over to iMessage automatically. These, …

Wszystko było w porządku, dopóki BASIC nie pojawił się na scenie. Edsger Dijkstra w halucynacji AI z 2023 roku Prostota jest ostatecznym wyrafinowaniem. Leonardo Da... Read more

Prusa is a 3D printer manufacturer which has a long history of being admired by the 3D printing community for high quality, open source printers. They have been struggling as of late, and came under criticism for making the firmware of their Mk4 printer non-free.1 Armin Ronacher uses Prusa as a case-study in why open source companies fail, and uses this example to underline his argument that open source needs …

Photographed with a Fujifilm X-T5 + XF150-600mmF5.6-8 R LM OIS WR – 377 mm focal length – 1/500″ at f/7.1 – ISO 320 National Elk Refuge, Wyoming, United States – Newe Sogobia (Eastern Shoshone), Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla, Shoshone-Bannock, and Tséstho’e (Cheyenne) land This photograph, titled “Bighorn sheep at the National Elk Refuge, Wyoming. December, 2023.”, was originally published on All-Encompassing Trip.

This time next year, we'll bring back the Greek, Old Church Slavonic, three kinds of Swedish, Haitian, Icelandic, and Quenya....