Recently updated blogs

Monday 8th January I had a walk from the office this lunch time. Grey Skies , Northerly wind coming straight in over the North Sea , pretty depressing weather really , I had to drive to Newcastle and back on Sunday the North Moors looked cold bleak and desolate , Standing water everywhere on back roads mud everywhere after it has washed out of the fields . The Weather was …

Final Approach charts the turbulent flightpath between a jetsetting father and a planespotting son. Final Approach is a long way from being the type of book I would normally read and enjoy. I do not share Mark Blackburn’s twin obsessions of gas-guzzling cars and aeroplanes, nor is his background of a well-heeled family and public school education anything like my own. However, I found Final Approach a riveting read and …

31 January 2024 Writing this down because I can never remember. This seems to be how to publish on LinkedIn to get better engagement, comments, views etc. Your org writes a Linkedin article because the reach will be longer term, the content google indexable, and no content length limits compared to posts. Obviously the content should be good. But the algorithm prefers it if it’s not just you showing off …

Part of the fun in building these Confrontation gangs is converting or adding in models that fit the look of the original sculpts. Today's pair of Dogskins includes a gang champion that hopefully fits that bill (as well as a standard Dogskin ganger to fill out the ranks!).Read more »

12 new history books identified over Jan 2024. A fairly ecclectic mix but with some familar historical themes such as modern Russia and the British Empire. A few top picks highlighted below! Click the book covers to see a zoomed in image and links to Amazon if you like to buy your books there. ✕ book cover [title] [by author] [publish date] Our Review Amazon UK Amazon US A couple …

Nestled in the heart of Atlanta, the Fernbank Museum stands as a captivating fusion of natural wonders and historical treasures. Stepping into the lobby, Mia found herself amongst some of the world’s largest dinosaurs. The… The post Amongst the Giants of the Mesozoic appeared first on Mia Rabbit.

The Ware for January 2024 is shown below. I picked up this little gizmo at a junk shop in Akihabara. I actually have no idea what the original purpose was, so I’m curious to see if anyone can convince me as to what this thing did, presumably for many years and millions of times. I got it mostly because it was a great price for a linear guide plus associated …

It was only a few years ago that China seemed to be in the grip of piano mania: tens of millions of children taking lessons, hundreds of thousands of pianos sold (something like 80 percent of the entire world market for pianos). But if this report, originally published in the Chinese-language Singaporean newspaper Lianhe Zaobao, is true, the Chinese piano bubble is bursting: “Weak market demand, worsening inventory pressure, declining …

5/5 golden merles The Palestine Solidarity Compilation is one of the most stacked comps of the era and for the cause eating at the conscience of the world. Just look at the list for many favorites of this portal: Billiam, Busted Head Racket, Rude Television, Cool Sorcery, Gee Tee, Cherry Cheeks, and the many and the more, 27 tracks of playful and cursed invention. Further good news, all the included …

Twelve years ago I published my first article on this site, and it's still alive (is it?). Writing # I haven't published anything in the last year. Last year I thought I will come back to writing again, but it didn't happen. Maybe I will get back to writing again here, but I just don't know. Social # I'm also not really active anymore on social media. I do browse …

This enormous ghostsign for Stamford Veneers, high up on a Kingsland Road stables building facing the Overground Line at Hoxton has recently been overpainted. Pic credit: by StockCarPete – see his full image hereIt had been visible since the mid-1940s. My pics below, taken from the railway track, show the sign in October 2019 and earlier this month (Jan2024):It’s beyond me why whoever did this wasted so much time and …

easternmind:Visual narratives in Japanese game packaging: before and after.Ramen: Ore no Ryouri - Argent, 1999Bento: Hanjuku Eiyuu 4: 7-Nin no Hanjuku Eiyuu - Square Enix, 2005Kincho: Ka 2 Rettsugō Hawai - Zoom, 2003Shashin: Cardcaptor Sakura: Tomoyo no Video Daisakusen - SEGA, 2000Eirian: UFO: A Day in the Life - Love-de-Lic, 1999 Bāgā: Burger Burger - Rythmics - 1997

First language updates from 2024 I have written several times on this site about new language and novel forms of expression generated by Generation Z and about how evolving attitudes, fashions and social behaviour among younger cohorts translate into a multimodal mix of verbal and visual on platforms such as TikTok. I have argued that older generations should not ignore or deride the unfamiliar and often baffling messaging practised by …

If anything looks wrong, read on the site! Talking about the newly released Arc Search, Ben Werdmuller says: A world where everyone uses an app like this is a death spiral to an information desert. We built the world’s most incredible communication and knowledge-sharing medium, rich with diverse perspectives and alternative ideas; let’s not sanitize it through a banal filter that is designed to strip it of its humanity. Ben …

Happy 2024! I had been hoping to have a year-in-review for 2023 ready by now, but a combination of illness and travel bushwacked me in January. So instead of that, we’ll go with regular programming for today and return to that later.Brief housekeeping notes: one, if you like BAM, you’ll enjoy an interview I did with Tyler Cowen. Two, I’m sketching out the year both for BAM and other professional …