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Short post for you all today. Notes on Lancelot (T.H. White) Fifteen Questions and Ten Principles (Dieter Rams) 128 Things about the City (Edwin Heathcote) What Every Kid Should Be Able to Do by Age Sixteen (Audrey Sutherland) The Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowlege (Borges) The Catalogue of Ships (Homer) 250 Things an Architect Should Know (Michael Sorkin) Reading lists. Bibliographies and syllabi in general Joan Didion’s packing list Vignelli’s …

Kamakura, where I lived from 2020 to 2024, is a beautiful coastal town less than an hour south of Tokyo. Its temples, gardens, and beaches attract tourists from across Japan and the world, but what became evident even in the short time there is that development is concreting over much of the green space that makes it so attractive. Source This is not a new phenomenon; a substantial reduction in …

I tried some absolutely outstanding ice cream yesterday that reminded me of yet another reason I feel lucky to be part of Generation X: We are living in the golden age of ice cream. In the 1970s, we had a few basic flavors to choose from: vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, chocolate chip, mint chocolate chip, and rocky road. There were a few shops like Baskin Robbins that marketed some scary stuff …

I can't remember how I first came across these near-ultrasonic 'beacons' ubiquitous in PA systems. I might have been scrolling through the audio spectrum while waiting for the underground train; or it might have been the screeching 'tinnitus-like' sensation I would often get near the loudspeakers at a local shopping centre. Whatever the case, I learned that they are called pilot tones. Many multi-loudspeaker PA systems (like the Zenitel VPA …

Often when we are researching new tours, an unexpected nugget of information will pop up its head. Michael Duncan had just such an experience while researching his new walking tour Aldwych – before and beyond. You can join Michael for his tour in 16th June at 10.30 am, booking details are here. When I was researching my new walk exploring the Aldwych, I came across a long lost London drink …

I was driving to Birmingham - that’s Birmingham in the middle of England, not in Alabama. I stopped for a rest, got some bad coffee, clicked up Facebook on my phone. A post from Lindsay Hutton: RIP Scott Cornish. My first thought was that this was not possible, but that was wrong, because with Scott anything was possible. I was swept up in a jumble of thoughts and emotions. One …

[Taken From Tunwéya‘s notebooks:] The time we spent in the Modron outpost has proven extremely valuable, and – while I still need to review some of the information provided by The Historian in order to bring it up to something like publication standard, I think it is fair to say that the expedition was ultimately a success. (Memo: rather pleasant to be able to say something has been a success …

This zine is for anyone interested in 'love tokens', both historic and contemporary, and capital as theoretical subjects. The author uses key cultural studies critique from political and psychoanalytical theories in order to analyse and compare the two subjects.Both these theories cover, amongst many other things, the way objects are fetishised and hence how they are removed from their ‘true’ origins. Here the author looks at desire (sex/romance) and capitalism …

As leadership, Q+A serves several important functions. The first, obviously, is to answer questions people have. No matter how well we communicate (and let’s be honest, how well do we really communicate?) there will always be questions that haven’t been addressed. Often there are questions you never even imagined. Q+A is an escape hatch as a leader for not being perfect. The second is to cultivate a culture of engagement. …

In my last post, I debunked the myth of the "reserve pool" of British workers. In this post, I discuss three more labour force myths that refuse to die: the myth of the "tide of unskilled immigration"the myth of the falling participation rate, and the myth of the "workless yoof". There's also an update about my charity walk in the Lake District last Saturday, and a couple of pics. Read …

For the reading enthusiasts and father figures in your life.

I noticed recently that I was having trouble moving around in less. I could arrow up and down, but that took a lot of work. I could hit space to go a whole screen down, but unlike in a web browser, shift-space also scrolls down. How could I scroll up a screen? On some terminals, Page Up and Page Down work, but not in others. It's a confusing mess. So, …

Photographing a total solar eclipse is a special experience. On April 8, 2024, my friend Kevin and I set out to capture the eclipse from Perryville Regional Airport in Missouri. This was my second time seeing a total solar eclipse, and it was even better than I expected. Previously I had been in North Carolina and only saw a sliver of the sky from the woods. For this experience since …

Read / Listened: Taming Big Techification? The European Digital Markets Act Digital Markets Act The EU has no homegrown Big Tech companies of its own

Several major technology companies provide cloud AI services, offering a range of tools and platforms for developing, deploying, and managing AI applications. Here are some of the most popular vendors of cloud AI.