Recently updated blogs

This week, I was disturbed to see that Stef O’Driscoll’s new production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream has been cancelled by Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre. Nice eh? The reasons given were that the show included the phrases “trans rights” and “Free Palestine” in a rap performed by one of her actors. She says that her production, set in the rave scene of Manchester, “expressed solidarity with trans people and the …

Every problem at every company I’ve ever worked at eventually boils down to “please dear god can we just hire people who know how to write HTML and CSS.” This UX is awful? That UI looks old? Accessibility busted? Performance bad? Design team can’t ship stuff? Customers annoyed by tons of bugs? Everything takes too long to build? No time for small usability improvements? Hire. HTML. And. CSS. People.

After writing last month’s post about Tamara Andreeva, I’ve discovered a few new details about her life both in China and in the US, which I’ll share soon. But today I’d like to post a poem by Taisia Bazhenova (1900-1978), who, like Andreeva and Mary Custis Vezey, came to California after getting a literary start in Harbin in the 1920s. Like Andreeva, Bazhenova largely abandoned poetry a few years after …

Antique Folk Art Whirligig. A simple abstracted bird original paddles. Circa 1940 or so. Collection Jim Linderman / Dull Tool Dim Bulb

An interesting expedition. Wiki.Book on the subject here

Irvin Yalom’s (b. 1931) The Spinoza Problem: A Novel (Basic Books 2013) intertwines history and philosophy, offering a fresh perspective on two distinct but connected lives. Yalom masterfully blends historical fact with fiction, crafting a narrative that explores profound philosophical questions through the lives of two men separated by three centuries. The novel centers on the intriguing “Spinoza problem,” weaving together the stories of Nazi officer Alfred Rosenberg (1893-1946), who …

This summer, I emptied our small, above-ground swimming pool twice and used the water on my vegetables and fruit trees. What were the results? Thus far, I haven’t observed any response in any plant that indicates the water was harmful. Swimming pool water has the potential to damage plants and soil because of the chemicals […] The post Using swimming pool water on vegetables and fruit trees appeared first on …

The original: Non ha l’ottimo artista alcun concetto c’un marmo solo in sé non circonscriva col suo superchio, e solo a quello arriva la man che ubbidisce all’intelletto. Il mal ch’io fuggo, e ’l ben ch’io mi prometto, in te, donna leggiadra, altera e diva, tal si nasconde; e perch’io più non viva, contraria ho l’arte al disïato effetto. Amor dunque non ha, né tua beltate o durezza o fortuna …

We’ve a bonus blog post for you this week. Earlier this month Cardi B welcomed her third child. In today’s post, pulled from the pages of Ma’Chell M. Duma’s 33 1/3 on Cardi B’s Invasion of Privacy, we look at how rap is becoming more matriarchal and the expectations placed on mothers in popular music. Excerpt from Cardi B’s Invasion of Privacy, by Ma’Chell M. Duma One of the principle …

American Pellitory (Parietaria pennsylvanica) is a common edible weed with an affinity for walls and sidewalk cracks sometimes called pellitory of the wall. As common as it is, the fact that it's edible isn't well known among foragers. Although it probably won't change your life, its pleasant taste of cucumber might surprise you. Today we'll... Read More The post Pennsylvania Pellitory: An Edible Weed That Tastes Like Cucumber appeared first …

The 2024 field season was our 41st, from the glaciers perspective it was the fourth consecutive year of exceptional mass loss, leading to thinning, retreat and glacier loss. Below are images from the field season and reflections on each from the varied perspectives of our field team and field partners. Coleman Glacier, Mount Baker at the golden hour as we just finished work. Cal Waichler: This season I ask what …

How 12,000 tons of food waste transformed a barren landscape (via Mefi). A skyscraper-sized tsunami vibrated through the entire planet a year ago and no one saw. Apparently there had been a cruise ship in the fjord the day before it happened. Turns out the soft cell was around long before the early 1980s. How and why sauces break (via Mefi) prompted me to try the flourless cheese sauce recipe—warm …

Tischlein, deck dich! While waiting for its first sitters, this table set for three enjoys the late afternoon sun.

If you are a fellow aficionado of cheap and cheerful Northern Soul compilations you will know one of the downsides is that certain tracks crop up again and again, which is often a price worth paying to get unexpected or lost gems. One of the repeat offenders is Laura Greene’s ‘Music, Moonlight and You’, which is fine by me as I am incredibly fond of the spoken introduction, where Laura …

Dina comes home beaming with new pictures of grey seals. We wonder why she keeps photographing what she has already successfully photographed.“Why go to the trouble of a long strenuous walks to photograph what you photographed many times before?” Siri asks cheekily.Dina: “Because I enjoy it. And I never know what I’ll meet out there.”Siri ...