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Link: https://tenacity.readthedocs.io/en/latest/When writing code or tests in Python, one issue I had was when the code would fail due to random things like network issues or external peripherals not responding in time. Just rerunning the tests would make them pass. The unreliability wasn't in the code but in things out of my control, like network issues.So I had to add extra code to retry the code, but this added unnecessary …

Reluctant to wait for the first translations of Mircea Cărtărescu’s latest novel to start coming out in the second half of 2024, I taught myself enough Romanian to read it in the original. This “pseudo-historical novel”, as the author prefers … Continue reading →

As I am en route to see my first total solar eclipse, I was curious how hard it would be to compute eclipses in Python. It turns out, ignoring some minor coordinate system head-banging, I was able to get something half-decent working in a couple of hours.

This post was inspired by the Turba philosophorum lecture on the 4th Feb 2022 An athanor is an alchemical furnace, but what exactly does it mean in practise? And I really do mean practise because there is copious evidence for early modern alchemists building and using furnaces for their work even if we do not have such good evidence for earlier times. (The problem here as well is that translations …

[This post has been auto-deleted several times, presumably at the request of Carla Rossi, and every time it is reviewed, Google reinstates it quickly ... again and again]A couple of weeks ago I said on social media that I would blog about the very earliest origin of the plagiarism accusations against Carla Rossi, so here it is.In several of her many attempts at self-defence, Rossi says that the only basis …

This will be the new home of my blog Georneys. I’ll be moving all of my posts here from the AGU blogosphere – and starting some new blogging in 2024. Stay tuned!

In 1989, Konami released an arcade game based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. Everything about it was tailored to the source material. In the cartoon, there are four ninja turtles, who usually fight together as a team, so it was a four-player co-op game, even though this required a larger-than-standard cabinet. The turtles frequently fight their way through masses of faceless goons, so it was a scrolling brawler. …

The Untourists The Untourists - Travel Blog - Discovering the beautiful world we live in. We have always felt Indian food is best had in a home. There is no, not one restaurant which serves the amazing tastes and varieties of Indian home food. And what does Indian Food even mean? Last time I checked there were 28 states and 8 union territories. Each of them have a completely different …

“I want to make beautiful things, even if nobody cares.” — Saul Bass The Art of the Title – That’s Saul, Folks!Psycho. Vertigo. North by Northwest. Goodfellas. Casino. You’ve seen his work, but do you know his name? Beginning in May 2024, Art of the Title is pairing with Hot Docs Cinema in Toronto to present That's Saul, Folks!, a film series dedicated to famed graphic designer Saul Bass. Hosted …

I don't love how this painting turned out, but I enjoyed every moment of creating it. (I did the best I could on the photography with a tripod, my phone, and my office lights.) I absolutely adore how the background turned out, and I'm sure I'll use some of those techniques in the future (texturing with paper, diluted paint splatter). However, I don't love how the really experimental parts turned …

It's time. After 12 years of writing about cities with a Rust Belt perspective on this platform, I'm closing it down. And no, this is not an April Fool's joke. I'm moving on to a new platform with a new name: petesaunders.substack.com.It's got my name for now but that may change. It also has the more than 800 articles I've written since 2012 archived and available for viewing. As you …

Nature is all about life - and death.As lovers of the natural world, we delight in the abundant, thriving, humming life all around us, which is at no time of the year more apparent than during the spring season of growth and rebirth. As the world breaks free from the grip of winter, we revel in a season of renewal and resurrection.But remember that in the natural world, it is …

I have a story set in the modern day with supernatural traces, with three characters: a young boy, his bio dad, and his adoptive dad. The boy and his bio dad are Indian, the adoptive dad is Chinese. The bio dad is one of the few people in the story with powers. He put his son up for adoption when he was a child because at the time he was …

There is a space between renting woes and property sales that is often unseen. On the one hand, we read stories of students renting places with black mould and being taken to the tenancy tribunal for supposedly causing damage to their under-maintained properties. On the other hand are the first home buyers being priced out of the property market, and the novelty articles about people in their 20s beating the …

Findlater’s Corner – a prominent site on the western approach to London Bridge railway station – was restored to its original glory by The Arch Company, working with Benedict O’Looney Architects, in 2022. The result is impressive. Important aspects of the building’s history, however, have been misunderstood. This landmark site is named after the wine and spirit dealer, Findlater, Mackie, Todd & Co., which moved into new premises beneath the …