Recently updated blogs

Creative incoherence – human and penguin Twenty years ago I wrote about the intriguing imaginary ‘language’ spoken by the much loved cartoon character Pingu, a charming animated penguin. In August 2024, in a short but comprehensive video documentary, France Culture reviewed almost the entire history of the creative use of gibberish (in French ‘charabia‘), also known as ‘Grammelot’ or ‘Macaronic Language’, in performances on stage, in public, in poetry and …

The latest issue of Henry and Glenn has some nostalgic and/or cursed images for punk rock and/or Dell Comics fans:

Back in the late 80s, my mom bought me a 386sx 16MHz computer equipped with a 2400 baud modem. It was my first computer that enabled me to connect to an online world. Back then, there was large behemoths like AOL and CompuServe but there were also independent services called bulletin board systems, aka BBSs. A BBS was somewhat of a one-to-one connection. Most independent BBSs had only one or …

Photo by Bob Hines/NASA – flickr.com, Public Domain A misconception has been circulating in news and on social media for weeks that the NASA astronauts who flew the Boeing Starliner -named Calypso- to the International Space Station are “stranded in space”. It’s easy to make comparisons with airline passengers stranded mid-itinerary in unfamiliar airport terminals. But it’s wrong. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore, Suni Williams. – Image: NASA 1. Not Like …

A reader writes: I’ve been following you for about five years now. Am retiring next summer and setting off in May 26 for a ride to Bali. I currently live in Bolton so it was Bolton to Bali but I’m moving when I retire to Lincoln where my son is based in the RAF. So I’ve rebranded – Lincoln to Lombok! My question is about malaria. What’s needed in terms …

A cartoon coded in CSS from comiCSS.

#1 Nota di Viaggio (Rites de Passage) The opening is pure Italian apothecary chic – a veritable cacophony of brackish herbs, aged citrus, and homemade toothpaste underscored by a streak of medicated foot powder and ye olde throat pastilles. Not unpleasant per se, but a jumbled up wall of smell that I associate with many of the openings of Italian artisanal perfumery, like Mem and Noun from Bogue, Lafeogrigio or …

Here’s a round-up of some activities from a busy August. Building noiseboxes At the beginning of the August, a friend asked if I would build them a noisebox for an upcoming film project they were composing for. Whilst I was aware of these instruments, I had never attempted to build one before, so I was honoured to have my friend’s faith placed in my ability to produce something that might …

I recently read an article by Samantha Edmonds, The Shattered Novel: Rules of Fragmented Fiction. I’ve always been tantalised by the idea of writing a novel made of fragments, something that might even accrete from the sort of microfictions I write. For me, fragmented fiction does a better job of describing the world that we live in than the traditional novel. Social media is the most popular form of narrative …

♫ G Song, Terry Riley

Every year on the 24th October I've written a reflection on the last year of my independent consulting. This would have been my 10th issue, but is instead a special issue, for reasons that will become apparent.

Paul Graham’s Founder Mode essay, based on a recent talk from AirBnB founder Brian Chesky, has been getting quite a lot of attention over the past few days. It has prompted many a quote tweet, and founders, such as Bryan Cantrill of Oxide Computer, have started contributing their own thoughts to what founder mode means to them. Having held positions of influence at a few companies, but never having been …

I found myself in great agreement with the advice in this crisp essay on why you should quit your job, particularly a good job, and encourage productive leisure. Quit Your Job

I have a new piece out on Gandhi for Aeon. It’s free to read here:https://aeon.co/essays/on-the-varna-system-gandhis-plan-to-empower-the-workers