Recently updated blogs

Superhero shows are a weird subgenre of sci-fi. The super-powers and how the superheroes use them in pursuit of their world-saving goals are often the point, and so often skimp on the sci part of sci-fi. The Amazon original The Boys is no different, where the core novum is a chemical (compound V) that gives people superpowers. I love the show. Though it’s definitely for adults with its violence and …

8 months post-ice, it's time for something new!

The precursor to today’s Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario was Lakehead Technical Institute, established in 1946 in response to urgent need for higher education in the province’s northwest region. Lakehead became a university through royal assent in 1965 with Senator Norman McLeod Paterson as fist chancellor. The library rises over the eclectic elements of the Lakehead University campus. Hugging a small lake among the deciduous trees of the boreal …

The Fiscal Theory of the Price Level has been percolating among monetary theorists for over three decades: Eric Leeper being the first to offer a formalization of the idea, with Chris Sims and Michael Woodford soon contributed to its further development. But the underlying idea that the taxation power of the state is essential for the acceptability of fiat money was advanced by Adam Smith in the Wealth of Nations …

This is an adaptation of an internal doc I wrote for Anthropic. Recently I’ve been having a lot of conversations about how to structure and staff teams. One framework I’ve referenced repeatedly is to break down team leadership into a few different categories of responsibility. This is useful for a couple reasons. One is that it helps you get more concrete about what leading a team involves; for new managers, …

This year's Lone Pine Film Festival, coming up Oct. 10-13, 2024The tiny town of Lone Pine, Calif., is the site of some of the most spectacular filming locations around, and each year in October the town honors its place in movie history by hosting one of the country's top film festivals. The picturesque Alabama Hills, just outside of Lone PineThis year we'll be taking a deeper dive into the Lone …

I know! It’s been awhile. Things have gotten a bit busy here At Home. My hope is that in the fall I will be able to give more love to Jessie At Home, and update and release patterns. In the meantime, I’m having a 50% off sale on Ravelry!!!! Use the code Summer and get 50% off any and all of my patterns! The code expires on July 31st, 2024 …

Well, I said I'd be back with something soon. And how has that turned out? Have I come up with something that you want?I hope so. My new blog "Everybody's Number One To Someone" focuses on all the tracks which reached number one in the NME indie charts, from 1981 onwards. It's over here, comes with complete Spotify playlists (of absolutely everything that charted within their Top 30 each year). …

For a few years now I've been using leger stems for my eel fishing. I know full well that when the line is tightened they don't stand upright, but once the line is out of the clip they do, which might help the line flow more freely. The way I've been making them is quite simple and so far has withstood casting using two ounce leads. I've tried pulling them …

An update on two projects I’ve been working on—one new and one old—based on some development oversights I’ve made in the past that I’d like to prevent going forward. Howdy folks! It’s been a little while since my last post. I think I gassed myself out a little bit after posting every day during May, but I’ve still been keeping busy working on a couple of projects. eleventy-cache-webmentions v2.1.0 Beta …

Coming up for air. What happened is: I lined up the Next Thing (as mentioned at the end of last quarter’s worknotes), and then it promptly proceeded to entirely consume my time and brain for the next quarter. Which is good, from an income-and-labour perspective, but was somewhat to the detriment of the content strategy here, where I’d hoped to be able to write smaller, spikier pieces of content between …

A rare poster by Oskar Altherr For more about the extraordinary story of Oskar Altherr, click the links below. Part onehttps://mikedempsey.typepad.com/graphic_journey_blog/2010/02/mountain-man-part-one.htmlPart twohttps://mikedempsey.typepad.com/graphic_journey_blog/2010/03/mountain-man-part-two-.htmlPart threehttps://mikedempsey.typepad.com/graphic_journey_blog/2010/04/mountain-man-part-3.html

Roll up, roll up, roll up and welcome to the two hundred and twenty ninth Carnival of Mathematics! 229 is a prime number, and that in itself is interesting. Its the “elder” of a set of twin primes. 229 is in fact the smallest prime, that when you add it’s mirror (922) to it you get another prime! It is also the minimum number of crossings you get for the …

I've returned with an exciting new edition to my classic film book round ups. Every time I curate these lists I worry that this will be the one that disappoints. But they never do. I really like this selection of memoirs, coffee table books, scholarly texts, reissues and paperbacks. There is really truly something for everyone here.Are you new to my list? Here are the details. The books include biographies, …

Not movie related but… TRANSGESSIONS, my latest collection of short stories is out now as an eBook and paperback. You can order your copy here. If you like it please consider leaving a review on Amazon and Goodreads.