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Bell & Ross, known for crafting timepieces that blend high-end watchmaking with practical design, has launched the limited edition BR-X5 Racing. This watch, limited to 500 pieces, draws inspiration from motorsport, offering a combination of performance, precision, and modern aesthetics. Design Rooted in Motorsport The BR-X5 Racing features a design that mirrors the functionality and form of racing car dashboards. Its central seconds hand boasts a checkerboard pattern for precise …

For authors, one of the (these days, increasingly few) positives of social media is connecting with other authors. Especially if no one else in your family/social circle is involved in the arts (raises hand), it’s great to be able to find a community where you can discuss craft, business, the ups and downs of querying, the challenges of self-publishing–both sharing your own experiences and learning from others’. But…what if that …

1. This robot arm can do your tidying up. TidyBot, a research “mobile manipulator” from Princeton, successfully puts away 85.0% of objects in real-world test scenarios. It uses large language models to quickly learn preferences (e.g. shirts on the shelf vs in a drawer). Instruction following used to be one of the great challenges for home robots. LLMs solved that problem at a stroke. I have previously speculated about portable …

I've never come across a YouTube classic synth video I didn't love. One of my favorite channels belongs to the legendary Anthony Marinelli, and I was really happy he picked a Madonna classic here.

Before moving to the US, I attended the Gelfand seminar and took some pictures. I was a regular participant and have some bittersweet memories from that time. I’ve written about my experiences in several blog posts related to Gelfand, who was my advisor. The year was 1990, and I just acquired my first camera. I was about to leave the USSR for the US and took a bunch of pictures …

A truly impressive paper was published this week with a new reconstruction of global temperatures over the last ~500 million years. There is something tremendously satisfying about seeing a project start, and then many years later see the results actually emerge and done better than you could have imagined. Especially one as challenging as accurately tracking half a billion years of Earth’s climate. Think about what is involved – biological …

Photographed with a Fujifilm X100VI – 23 mm focal length – 1/900″ at f/8 – ISO 125 Teton Pass, Wyoming, United States – Newe Sogobia (Eastern Shoshone), Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla, Shoshone-Bannock, and Tséstho’e (Cheyenne) land This photograph, titled “Weather inversion over Jackson Hole, as seen from Teton Pass. September, 2024.”, was originally published on All-Encompassing Trip.

Rapido Trains UK have announced a range of generic pre-grouping coaches, with the new 00 Gauge 48’ ‘Evolution’ Bogie Coaches. There is such a variety of coaching prototypes in the pre-grouping era that it has been difficult for the industry to justify making 100% accurate models for all of them. Rapido Trains UK are filling this gap with a selection of generic 48’ bogie coaches, including SECR, LBSC and SDJR, …

In 1986, after the space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds into its flight, the eminent physicist Richard Feynman was called in to find out what had gone wrong. He later demonstrated that the “O-ring” seals, which were meant to join sections of the shuttle’s solid rocket boosters, had failed due to cold temperatures, with catastrophic results. But he also discovered more than a few other... Source

I probably should wait a bit before writing these notes – I had my diabetes eye screening this morning which includes the demon drops that leave my vision even more compromised than usual. I am fully Mr Magoo-ing it at the moment but this is the window I put aside to write so I’ll persist….and hope for the best! I had a bit of a bumpy return from Hamburg – …

iSelection: One for Juan (J. Heath) https://londonjazzcollector.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/heath-brothers_one-for-juam_-the-heath-brothers-paris-76_srlp29_sam-records-fr_kevin-gray_ljc.mp3 . . . Track List A1 One For Juan (J. Heath) 13:11A2 Watergate Blues (P. Heath) 6:14B1 Smilin’ Billy (J. Heath) 22:36 Full Production Credits (including essential detail omitted from the hype sticker): “Recording of The Heath Brothers “Jazz Vivant” radio show performance before a live audience at Studio 104, Maison de la Radio, Paris, on April 16, 1976, Original stereo master tapes …

In the second season of Ancient Apocalypse, Graham Hancock focuses his search for a lost ancient civilization on the Americas. The presentation is, if anything, even slicker than in the first season. The cinematography looks amazing, the music is inspiring, the editing is masterful. I am sure it will be a stunningly beautiful travelog. Right from the first few seconds of the trailer though, Hancock gets into some conceptual trouble. …

Before the election, Labour promised to make broad changes to the standards regime. Yet two months after the election, progress on many aspects of their plans has been slow, and the new government has already been accused of ‘cronyism’ and other ethical missteps. Peter Riddell argues that urgent action to create new safeguards (including legislation) is required, and that ministers cannot brush aside criticism on the grounds that their intentions …

If you have followed this site for very long, you know there are two things that I don’t do very much of – interviews and breaking news. This is more of an opinion site. I let others do the interviews and the reporting. Then I sort of take it all in, let it digest and […]

Reading Time: 33 minutes I ought to be in Slovenia right now, hanging out with nice internet people and thinking about nice internet things, but instead I am in my kitchen in London, in my pants, a bit tired and hungover and generally feeling quite resentful at the fact that things like ‘needing to earn money to eat’ have prevented me from travelling to Naive Yearly. To all those of …