Recently updated blogs

Setting up an 1825 game with all the Units has been an arduous task. I hoped to make it a yearly tradition in 2019, but then Covid-19 happened. After that, every attempt has failed somehow. Today, one of our players got stranded in Berlin, but as we had four players present, we made it. This time, we used 18xx.games as a moderator. This speeded up the game greatly. With the …

In 1596, Kepler claimed that the planetary orbits would only follow “God’s design” if there were two more planets: one between Mars and Jupiter and one between Mercury and Venus. Later folks came up with the Titius–Bode law. This says that for each n there should be a planet whose distance from the Sun is 0.4 + 0.3 × 2ⁿ times the distance between the Earth and Sun. • For …

If WordPress is to survive, Matt Mullenweg must be removed Let’s not leave unspoken the irony that the guy who basically is WordPress.com, and WordPress.org, and the WordPress Foundation, wants you to think the name “WP Engine” is confusing. Curious about the WordPress vs. WP Engine drama? This is a good rundown of the situation.

Perhaps the best reason to raft the Grand Canyon is to hike its side canyons, and our trip hit most of the classics. They’re classic for reasons, a major one being that they’re the ones you can hike in summer without dying of heatstroke (we also did one that did not quite meet this qualification, but that’s for a future post). Fortunately, the qualities which make them hikeable also make …

Luke Owen of Death Is Not The End just recently put out a really interesting release: Making Records: Home Recordings c. 1890​-​1920 - a collection of DIY home recordings, transferred from blank and repurposed brown and black wax cylinders, dating back to the early years of widespread phonographic technology, from the late 1890s and first couple of decades of 20th Century. In the words of David Giovannoni, whose collection is …

I tend to forget about my photos once too much time had passed, so today I deliberately dug into the archive from my korea trip a couple months ago. It is an interesting experience: trying to curate a set of photos – what is the criteria for my selection? I don’t have a concrete idea myself. Perhaps it is some intuitive algorithm of interestingness that exists in my mind. I …

We recently received an attitude indicator for the F-4 fighter plane, an instrument that uses a rotating ball to show the aircraft's orientation and direction. In a normal aircraft, the artificial horizon shows the orientation in two axes (pitch and roll), but the F-4 indicator uses a rotating ball to show the orientation in three axes, adding azimuth (yaw).1 It wasn't obvious to me how the ball could rotate in …

(1921) Directed by Victor Sjöström; Written by Victor Sjöström; Based on the novel by Selma Lagerlöf; Starring: Victor Sjöström, Hilda Borgström, Tore Svennberg, Astrid Holm and Concordia Selander; Available on Blu ray and DVD Rating: ****½ stars “No living soul rides in that carriage. By the time I arrive, it’s too late for a doctor. You know full well that I am no longer among the living. But worst of …

Cars turning off from a grade crossing onto the tracks are a perennial problem for Caltrain, often resulting in multi-hour cascading delays or worse, dangerous collisions. The statistics are shocking: from 2020 through 2023, there were 183 recorded incidents of "vehicle track incursions," of which more than half occurred at just five crossings as shown in the Caltrain bar chart at right.Caltrain has tried mightily to take measures against this …

Last days on Everest. A personal journey. Posted by heavywhalley.MBE Everest Boys down safe Before the storm Ted The huge North Col The yaks Top of North Col My heroes Mingma and the boys At ABC 21000 feet Last camp on Everest Our team. In 2001 I was lucky to be part of an Everest Expedition from Tibet. It was made up of purely RAF Mountain Rescue Troops and the …

Nils Lofgren - one of the critics's pet artists of the 1970s. On both sides of the Atlantic. Tasty licks. Rockin' - but not heavy. A guitar hero - without all the phallic strut and willy-symbol wand-waving. Intelligent - but not overtly prog or sophisto. Praised to the heavens by Greil here in Creem - compared to Buddy Holly - but oddly absent from the 'greatest records of all time' …

Album of the Week, September 28, 2024 Miles’ Second Great Quintet took a while to gel, and the hardest position to settle was the second horn. Miles had worked with John Coltrane in the first quintet, and whether through conscious comparison to that titan’s stature or by some other means, the saxophonists—including Hank Mobley and George Coleman—who joined the quintet would leave without making much of an impact. It took …

As nimble and charming a theatrical entertainment as one might hope to enjoy, Pride and Prejudice – an Adaptation in Words and Music enhances a staged reading of Jane Austen’s classic novel with lovingly played musical accompaniment. Adapted by Austen expert Gill Hornby for the original 2017 UK season, the breathlessly brisk edited reading of Pride and Prejudice is at the heart of this delightful performance. A novel that has …

The Stranglers Aural Sculpture Get It At DiscogsWhat an out and out shock. The Stranglers have gone sensual, sounding sincere, serene, and sensitive (and philosophically introspective). And it's perfect. It took 'em nine years, but they're at their peace now. Which isn't to say that this is preferable to putting on their first couple albums and early singles and rocking out to the sheer unrepentant, harsh rock of greats like …

I'm not sure "autumnish" is a word, or if it is a word, if it is spelled correctly, but I do what I want here. After an absurdly hot first three-quarters of September, we're finally enjoying the southwest Michigan start of autumn we moved here to enjoy. The days are warm and the nights are cool. Rain comes and goes each week and there is still a lot of life …