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Could 2024’s hype beer, cask Bass, ever replace the traditional hazy, hoppy keg pale ales British drinkers have enjoyed for years? Its fans, a small group of contrarian hipsters, seem to think so. They share intelligence on the internet and trek to obscure out-of-town pubs to find it. And they boast about drinking it on social media and in blog posts. It seems to be as much about bragging rights …

Criterion did a giallo series and I went straight for the John Saxon movie. Nora is a young “New Yorker” visiting Rome (Letícia Román, also of a Russ Meyer erotic comedy and an Elvis flick). Her Aunt Ethel was being cared for by Dr. Saxon, dies almost instantly after he leaves, then Nora runs outside for help and is immediately mugged – tough town. She has a Blow-Up fever dream …

Books On Main, Friendship, WI (Like The Indie Bob Spot on Facebook and follow The Indie Bob Spot on X)Even now, over 600 bookstores into my journey, I continue to enjoy new experiences with the owners I meet. They come to their ownership with a wide range of backgrounds and talents. Jean B, the owner here at Books On Main has a talent and interest in an activity that I …

Streaming is a great way to listen to classical music. You have to ignore essentially all algorithmic recommendation features, which are generally oriented around tracks and playlists, but this isn't a terrible general policy anyway. Find the music you want to hear, and listen to it. If there are tools that help you find stuff, that's great. If there are tools that are supposed to help you find stuff, but …

Ah, Xcode Previews. The absolute best, worst thing Apple has ever shipped for developers. When it works, which for me is around 90% of the time, it’s absolutely essential to my workflow. Other times? It crashes, spins, indexes and loads for an eternity — and I end up sitting there and waiting for it to work again out of nothing else but pure, unadulterated spite. And, as I launch my …

Pnårp discovered a novel way to keep the voluminous amount of trash blowing about his front yard under control.

Online readingFirst, novelist Thea Lim on the many harms of algorithmic systems and the stultifying context their corporate owners want us all to be stuck in, where “every notification ping holds the possibility we have merit”:If there’s an off-duty pursuit you love—giving tarot readings, polishing beach rocks—it’s a great compliment to say: “You should do that for money.” Join the passion economy, give the market final say on the value …

Florrie Butterfield has cherished her independence all her life, so losing a leg in her mid-80s was devastating. Forced to leave the cottage she loved, she found a residential community in Oxfordshire that accepted people in wheelchairs, Babbington Hall. But just as Florrie has settled in, things start to go wrong. When the story begins, she is mourning Arthur Potts, a friend who fell out a window and died four …

The Session goes through periods of getting spammed with automated sign-ups. I’m not sure why. It’s not like they do anything with the accounts. They’re just created and then they sit there (until I delete them). In the past I’ve dealt with them in an ad-hoc way. If the sign-ups were all coming from the same IP addresses, I could block them. If the sign-ups showed some pattern in the …

I recently learnt the sad news that Walter Neumann just passed away. Although I don’t think I have seen him in person for over 25 years, Walter was a pretty significant influence in my mathematical life. Here are some of … Continue reading →

In How and why to write letters to voters I discussed Vote Forward, my favorite way for those of us who aren’t in swing states to reach out to voters in swing states. The site works really well for adopting batches of voters, and downloading packets of form letters. As I close in on 1000 letters, though, I’m finding it isn’t great for tracking progress at scale. Here’s how my …

A24’s trailer for Jane (WE’RE ALL GOING TO THE WORLD’S FAIR) Schoenbrun’s I SAW THE TV GLOW had me all prepared for an IT FOLLOWS-esque suburban curse flick crammed into a Candle Cove repressed memory nineties nostalgia taco shell. While there certainly are sharp slivers of horror spiking this poetic, fluorescent fish aquarium-toned ode to outsiders and their dependence on media for a social life, it’s more of a coming …

Last week, I hesitantly soft-launched a new paid section on my email blog. That same day, six people signed up to become paid subscribers to my blog, and I almost fell out of my chair. This morning, I woke up to two more paid subscribers(!!!). I'm simultaneously ecstatic and terrified that people are supporting my blog financially, and I hope I don't disappoint you! I put so much thought, effort, …

Just prior to the pandemic I bought a new car. During the process of dealing with reams of forms—and the classic “Give me a minute and let me see what I can do for you by talking to my boss”—at some point or ten I had to provide my email address. (You sometimes hear people say, “I thought we were promised flying cars by now.” I’ll be considerably more realistic …