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Hardscrabble; or, The Fall of ChicagoMajor [John] RichardsonNew York: Pollard & Moss, 1888113 pagesA forgotten novel about forgotten bloodshed, Hardscrabble isn't about the fall of Chicago because at the time there was no Chicago. It does concern an April 1812 assault on a farm, Hardscrabble, which was located south of the South Branch of the Chicago River. Winnebago warriors killed two men, while two others escaped.And so the fiction begins. …

Entering the Wall Street IRT subway station on Lower Broadway at Trinity Church can feel like going into a time warp. That’s because of the cast iron hoods that cover the stairwell as you descend underground. Decorated in a leaf pattern, the curved hoods date back to the station’s 1905 opening. The hoods mesh well with the elegant lamp posts and green bulbs on top. I’ve never seen anything like …

"Advantage" and "disadvantage" are fantastic improvisational tools for 5e GMs. They give you incentives and discouragements to steer things towards the fun. Always remember that you have the ability to assign advantage and disadvantage in your toolbox to make the game more fun. Many situations in the game already apply advantage or disadvantage. Being invisible or being unable to see applies such effects. Attacking someone within 5 feet who is …

I have started mapping pet-friendly places in and around Bengaluru. I am considering the newer areas like Devanahalli, Hosakote, Nelamangala, Anekal, etc. Hence, the area I am mapping is bigger than the city of Bengaluru. For mapping pet-friendly places, there are two competing tags. pets and pets_allowed. Given that Pets is used a lot, I am going with it. I am also additionally adding the "dog" tag. Pets tag says …

• Tickets, please! You may not like the name, but you’re welcome on London’s Windrush line (The Guardian) • Northern using AI to trial British Sign Language announcements on trains (Rail UK) • Europe Train Routes Threatened By Climate Change, But Resilience Is Expensive (Bloomberg) • How China built an e-bus juggernaut with over 95% of global market (BBC) • The Second Beck style Sydney Rail Map has been discovered …

Short one this week, short and late. It was a bit of a meh week, but there's nothing worse than looking back a few years from now and having gaps.I finally managed to catch The French Dispatch. I have to be in the right mood for Wes Anderson, but when he hits, he hits.There was another evening hanging out with Ted. Always a good time. Pull! I loved Dan Hon's …

Budokan ready!I discovered NEMOPHILA last year (2023), around mid-August, and it quickly became one of my favorite bands. NEMOPHILA is a Japanese Heavy Metal band that was formed in Tokyo in 2019, just before the pandemic.During the pandemic, the band focused on releasing covers on YouTube, this allowed them to gain an audience without releasing original works. NEMOPHILA's first video on YouTube was a cover of Iron Maiden's "The Trooper":Several …

The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Mudville nine that day… but then they decided to do something about it and attack the umpire. Extremely loose adaptation of the famous poem. Home Media Availability: Stream courtesy of the Library of Congress. The Strike Out Casey at the Bat doesn’t need an introduction to most American readers, […]

My English pronunciation can be improved — a lot. But now I can use Microsoft’s Reading Coach. This is a new AI tool for practicing reading (in English). It’s still in preview, but I gave it a quick try and I like the idea. The AI generates a story and then you have to read it out loud and the tool evaluates your pronunciation and shows you words to improve …

Your browser does not support the audio element. Recording from a performance at Fruityspace venue in Beijing. Sun Yizhou: hard drives, mechanical devices. Axel Powrie: bass guitar, amplifier, ground loop. mixed and mastered by Sun Yizhou

Out of the bosom of the Air, Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken Over the woodlands brown and bare, Over the harvest-fields forsaken, Silent, and soft, and slow Descends the snow. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Snow-flakes” (1863) Yesterday … Continue reading →

I have been behind on documenting my sculpture work. Here are the latest.

What? Another excursion into cinema? Afraid so. Once again I take a look at 30YW set motion pictures."Alatriste" is a Spanish language epic, starring that well known Spanish actor Viggo Mortensen. Mortensen plays the eponymous hero, Captain Alatriste, a C17th Spanish Sharpe type character.The film condenses a number of novels into just one story. It starts during the Dutch Revolt, returns to the Netherlands for the Siege of Breda, terminating …

Have you ever come across or even said one or both of these two quotes? It’s a marathon, not a sprint! and I’m juggling so many different things at the moment! I have heard these over and over again and I’m pretty sure there were a few occasions, especially in a professional context, we’re I’ve uttered them myself without really thinking about it. I think it’s interesting which phrases make …

A few years back I shared the Universal NPC Roleplaying Template that I’d developed for recording NPCs in my campaign in a way that both (a) focused prep on the essential elements for running a great character and (b) organized that information into a format that makes it easy to pick up the NPC during a session and play them with confidence. (And also to rapidly swap between multiple NPCs …