Recently updated blogs

Despite better judgement I decided to code a basic HTML parser. Not the full HTML spec but enough to create a tree of nodes and attributes. I’ve already written a streamable XML parser that has been working for my podcast web app.Parsing (most) HTML isn’t as complicated as it sounds. Look for a less-than sign < and see if a valid tag like <div> follows. If that node is a …

“The good troubleshooter is cost conscious, and aware that down time and equipment replacement are factors of serious concern to the Haigh Company.” Haigh Company Employee Handbook By the Book, The Worlds of Frank Herbert, 1971

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Here’s Part 2 of our deep dive into benzene contamination in your products. In Part 1, we talked about whether the experiments were “realistic” (no), and whether the cancer risk was described accurately (also no). This time, we’ll be discussing the wider issues around the private lab behind these findings, Valisure. This is adapted from the video version (which works ... Read more Source

Most of these photos were taken on a training run with coach Mary on the 24th Sept. But they are a part of the bigger picture which is to do a bit more serious running. Even going out without a camera! (Someone must have had a camera here though!?) And focussing on the training. I don't always enjoy the training aspect but I'm always glad I did it. You can …

Without getting into too many details, the last year has been tough for me. As a mental health public speaker, I have resolved to be honest about my mental health challenges, in an effort to encourage people to not be ashamed of their illness. As I began writing this, the sale of my former house was about to close and my family had already settled safely into our new home. …

Greetings! Will it ever stop raining? I hope so, because I’m riding in the PMC Unpaved this weekend in the Berkshires. If you see a rider with pink handlebar tape on a black gravel bike, that’s me—riding for a good friend. It’s not too late to join this year’s campaign, and I’d be grateful, as would the many who will benefit from your generosity. ICYMI – new Bellwether work on …

Across the country, beekeepers are experiencing the first unpleasant withdrawal symptoms of going 'cold turkey' ... the start of the not beekeeping season. After the hustle and bustle of the late summer honey harvest, followed by feeding and treating, there's suddenly nothing to do.Well, perhaps not nothing, but certainly very little compared to the height of the season which was just a few short weeks ago.Suddenly weekends appear a lot …

Last year, in Scooter Saga Part IV: How to buy a new scooter in Taiwan, I wrote:In Taiwan, you must hold a driver’s license before buying a vehicle. For this reason, many elderly people—who are unlicensed because they didn’t learn to read and write—drive scooters that are registered in their children’s names. “Watch out for grandpa” is a phrase I’ve heard many times, for good reason.Fortunately, I got my license …

Porteus is a modular, light-weight, and fast Linux distribution that runs on new and old computers, but it has some bugs and a moderate learning curve.

There’s a lot of hype around large language models, the foundational technology behind services like ChatGPT. Representatives of OpenAI have stated that, in a few years, these models might have “PhD-level intelligence“. On the other hand, at the time, ChatGPT couldn’t count the number of letter “r”s in the word “strawberry”. The model and the setup around it has improved, and GPT-4o1 apparently now gets the correct 3 “r”s…but I’m …

Pleased to announce a cassette release from GUE: edited improvisations from Laurel Uziell, Jacken Elswyth and myself for banjo, melodica, electronics and other instruments, recorded in London in 2022 and 2023, and expertly mastered by Angel Hair Studio. Many thanks to David of Blue Tapes.Now available on Bandcamp and for pre-order (released October 25th): link here. Also cassette-related: last year Ben Hall’s cassette label Ornette Coleman Fiend Club put out …

This October there are more than seven dozen calls for submissions. All of these are paying markets, and none charge submission fees. As always, every genre, style, and form is wanted, from short stories to poetry to essays.I post upcoming calls for submissions shortly before the first day of every month. But as I am collecting them, I post them on my page, Calls for Submissions. You can get a …

Consumer culture, entertainment, marketing, and social media increasingly infiltrate the field of art: fashion brands drop artist collaborations, luxury products claim to have artwork status, and immersive lightshows blend classical art history with spectacular marketing. Influencers populate the social media feeds of established art institutions, while museum goers are on the hunt for an instagrammable experience. As a result, to remain connected via live streaming and viral trends, institutions are …