Recently updated blogs

Nicholas Blake was the penname for Cecil Day-Lewis, and I don’t think it is stretching credulity too much to regard today’s mystery under review, as a story which was rooted in or at least inspired by Blake’s own experiences. He was a publications editor in the Ministry of Information during WW2 and this setting is replicated in the story under the name of Ministry of Morale. Moreover, in this book, …

The humble LEGO sausage element (33078) has been around since 1998. But is there still untapped yumminess there despite being so long-lived? Personally, it’s one of my favorite oddball parts with a wide variety of uses. Yet, I don’t think I ever actually used it as a sausage, hot dog, or other tubular meat stick of your choosing. I find it so much more interesting. At its heart, it’s really …

It’s been a while since I’ve visited, but I think back on my three campaigns in the world of Sleeping Gods with nothing but fondness. I could probably sketch a rough map of the Wandering Sea: that ivory hive on the map’s edge, the ancient spires stacked like dominoes rising from the seabed, the far-flung deserts. Ryan Laukat’s vibrant brushstrokes establish an adventurous tone, giving the world a sense of …

Hopefully no one saw that minute of f.ink downtime caused by me crashing the server after trying to browse to the end of the accounts list . . .

London, 2019.

In his seminal piece “The Market For Lemons”, renowned web crank Alex Russell lays out the myriad failings of our industry, focusing on the disastrous consequences for end users. This indignation is entirely appropriate according to the bylaws of our medium. Frameworks factor highly in that equation, yet there can also be good reasons for front-end developers to choose a framework, or library for that matter: Dynamically updating web interfaces …

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 …