Recently updated blogs

Heather Knight and Amy Qin report for the NY Times (archived) on a problem that I wouldn’t have thought of but that’s obvious once pointed out: In San Francisco, where more than a fifth of residents are of Chinese descent, politicians have long taken a second name in Chinese characters. And any serious candidate knows to order campaign materials in English and in Chinese. But the city’s leniency for adopted …

I’m thoroughly convinced that email can be a meaningful method of communication, relationship, community, and entertainment in the future. I’ve always been proud of what my friend @[email protected] is making at @podnews.net so reading this article by Guy Tasaka encourages me in my little prophetic thought. I have a deep appreciation for newsletters. They say everything old is new again. Today, with an almost overwhelming amount of information we must …

Big thanks to Pher Engi of Australia for sending this along! Just spent a couple minutes researching koya gurih. It seems like it is a fried cracker which is pulzerized and then added to soups. I’ve run across this before – years back. Let’s give it a go! Indomie Rasa Soto Spesial – Indonesia Detail of the packaging (click to enlarge). Looks to be meat free but check for yourself. …

Do these real meaning? I have no idea. This is our current rankings for the US in our categories. Our other podcasts don’t rank as high. Usually I look at these to see who is spending on promotion and to get a sense of what other people are working on. These ranking also illustrate that there are very few independent producers left.

Video games come in many genres, with their own established rules. We know what a puzzle platformer is, what a rougelike is, what an open world game is, and so on. But increasingly, genres are being combined together. An open world game is likely to also be an action-RPG, for instance. But occasionally we get that rare game that combines elements from a whole bunch of genres together into one, …

Apparently, crispy potato corn dogs have been around for a while. Geez, all the crispy potato corn dogs I could’ve eaten all this time. (Spotted by Robbie at Costco.) If you’re out shopping and see new products, snap a picture of them, and send them in via an email ([email protected]) with where you found them and “Spotted” in the subject line. Also, if you want to send in photos and …

Smog over London. Pic: PA Residents in Hackney and Tower Hamlets will now be able to monitor air pollution levels in their area using a new app. Air Aware was jointly developed by the two councils for the boroughs along with neighbouring Newham Council and involved talking with local people over the past six months to find out what information they wanted to know most about the air quality and …

You good, bro? Are you gonna lower your voice and leave my friends alone, or are we gonna have to take this outside, where the crisp, late-autumn air carries the sweet scent of decay, and in that decay, memories are held? I swear, if you take one more step toward me, I’ll have no trouble taking this outside. I have absolutely no problem catching the final golden shimmers of the …

How can you find the biggest free square in a 2D map with obstacles? Biggest square Problem statement I just got a call from the President of Portugal. Portugal recently mapped out the Atlantic Ocean to the West of our coast. They want to build a sea platform to study the ecosystems of the Ocean. They need my help to figure out where to build that platform. To show you …

A slight frost again last night but thawing all day. Car washing H.A.K.S.B.Mc. making 31 to date. Saw Mr Muir. Suspected fowl pest on the place.

On a recent October morning, Rob Kirby stood in front of a roomful of mathematicians and told them not to feel bound by the way he’d done things in the past. For the past half-century Kirby, 85, has been a central figure in low-dimensional topology, the study of deformable shapes. In addition to important research contributions, in 1978 he published the first version of what came to be known as... …

Like Johnny Thunder, we are stuck in the 1950s. Let's read some more 1956 stories recommended by Judith Merril, this time by authors whose names start with the letter "R." Last time we did this we had to slog through some overly long stories deploring human greed written by people whose names begin with the letter "P," but maybe today will be our day."The Executioner" by Frank Riley Riley has …

Simon Willison has been playing with the video processing capabilities of the new Gemini Pro 1.5 model from Google, and it’s really impressive. Which means a lot of scary new video prompt injection attacks. And remember, given the current state of technology, prompt injection attacks are impossible to prevent in general.

The MBTA will suspend Red Line service for 2 days this weekend, from Saturday, February 24th to Sunday, February 25th, between Harvard and Broadway stations to conduct maintenance work. This suspension will take place for crews to perform inspections of the Red Line tunnel infrastructure and engage in power and signal work along the Red Line as well as station improvements (i.e., new lighting, painting, tiling, and power washing). Here …

The Paint Explainer, who previously put forth a comprehensive list of logical fallacies, propaganda techniques, and political ideologies, presented an unbiased explanation of all 27 Amendments to the Constitution of the United States in eight informative minutes.