Recently updated blogs

Thoughtful and actionable paper from Johan Allspaw about engineering resilience—with principles and tactics applicable to other kinds of work, I think. Importantly, resilience as defined here depends on a number of different behaviors, including open and honest communication, reciprocity, and a lack of judgment. What I find notable about this framing is the sense that resilience is a collective, rather than individual, attribute. That is, it depends on sharing information, …

On 19 September 2021, the island of La Palma, one of the Canary Islands off the northwestern coast of Africa, saw its first volcanic activity after about 50 years of dormancy. The eruption lasted about 3 months and created a new volcanic cone, named Tajogaite, amid the island’s Cumbre Vieja volcanic ridge. It released large plumes of ash and gas, as well as roughly 200 million cubic meters of lava …

[They might leak out of your phone.] With iOS 18, iPhones have finally gained support for RCS, the text message replacement for SMS and MMS. Android devices, meanwhile, have supported RCS for years. The two platforms are doing things a little differently, though, and it could lead to some conflicts.Link: https://www.androidauthority.com/rcs-apple-ios-group-chat-name-android-3483387/

If you like little apps here’s The Economist telling you which 500 books you should spend the rest of your life reading (no doubt behind a paywall however). Their app is derived from Shane Sherman’s Greatest Books website which is based on a comparison of mentions on 343 different lists of great books, so is presumably meant to have the virtues of impartiality. Still, any list of best books which …

I’ve been on a bit of a 12th-century kick lately, mainly because it’s one of

In August, a bunch of my friends, acquaintances and some new faces got together for the third annual Saint Paul Nut Roll, a social bike ride themed around St. Paul’s most delicious export, Pearson’s Salted Nut Roll. This year, nearly 60 people rode with us, cruising across the city, eating Salted Nut Rolls and getting to know one another. Saint Paul Nut Roll participants pose in front of the Pearson’s …

It’s a claim you will find repeated in dozens – possibly hundreds – of places: that the so-called “Hymn to Ninkasi”, a poem in the Sumerian language to the goddess of beer, at least 3,900 years old, known from three fragmentary clay tablets found in and around the ancient city of Nippur, which stood between the Euphrates and the Tigris, is “effectively a Sumerian recipe for brewing beer”, “the oldest …

Today, I have the Bauche Stargazer Carina Nebula in for review. It’s a new watch from a new brand, set to make its debut on October 18 on Kickstarter, and… The post Bauche Stargazer Carina Nebula appeared first on The Time Bum.

Wirehead Instruments Basilisk is a new hybrid bassline Synthesizer with digital oscillators, an MS-20-style analog filter, and a generative sequencer. In recent years, many small synthesizers from independent companies have come onto the market designed [...] The post Wirehead Instruments Basilisk, hybrid generative bassline Synthesizer appeared first on SYNTH ANATOMY.

Artist Talk with Krista Svalbonas Artist Consultation with photographer Michael James Hillman Founder and Curator: Douglas Marshall Marshall Gallery Current Exhibition Heidi: How long have you been doing portfolio reviews? Douglas: Well, I’ve been doing reviews overall close to a decade now I guess. I’ve done many of the review festivals around the country as well as looking at countless portfolios in the galleries over the years. But for the …

Previously: Part 1 We’ve just finished the second week of my undergraduate Axiomatic Set Theory course, in which we’re doing Lawvere’s Elementary Theory of the Category of Sets but without mentioning categories. This week, we covered the first six of the ten axioms: notes here. The data to which the axioms apply is as follows: some things called sets; for each set XX and set YY, some things called functions …

Happy (belated) Equinox! In honor of Fall Equinox, I've made an updated list of popular lights. Days are getting shorter in the northern hemisphere. It might be time for a new flashlight. The best flashlight There is no best flashlight, so this is an amalgamation of what enthusiasts have been buying and recommending to others lately along with the author's arbitrary preferences and biases. Please take note that prices and …

WowHaus 1960s modern house in Mapperley Park, Nottingham 1960s modern house in Mapperley Park, Nottingham (image credit: Holden Copley) This one isn’t a time capsule, but this 1960s modern house in Mapperley Park, Nottingham, is a very cool home. (image credit: Holden Copley) It was built in the sought-after part of the city back in 1968. The current owners are selling it after living there for the last twenty years …

While listening to the recent episode of Abnormal Mapping on Final Fantasy XI, host Jackson Tyler and special guest Austin Walker talked about how the number next to “mainline” Final Fantasy games doesn’t really mean a whole lot. They talked about how it was preposterous that games like Final Fantasy Tactics or Bravely Default weren’t numbered Final Fantasy games despite absolutely being Final Fantasy games in spirit, and how the …

The USPTO refused to register the mark shown below left, for "Back packs; fanny packs; tote bags" and for "“Clothing, namely, aprons, t-shirts, sweatshirts, and hats," finding confusion likely with the registered mark shown below right, for, inter alia, backpacks and t-shirts. The goods are in-part identical and those goods presumably travel in the same trade channels to the same classes of consumers. But what about the marks? How do …