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I like the stripes on this one: the contrast between the vertical stripes on the bodice and skirt, the horizontal stripe on the skirt, and diagonal of the bias-cut sleeves. The maker even made the effort to align the stripes on the cape and bodice at the center front.Dress, cotton, c.1825. From LACMA.

The release of the Lost Art Press “Make a Swedish Tool Chest with Whitney Miller” video course coincided with an expansion of my free time. And so, it was an easy decision to take this on as a new project. (And before you ask “what about the boat??”, yes, I am still working on the boat. I’m still doing final finishing on the mast, which is rather tedious. And the …

Double Maths First Thing is Colin’s weekly news bulletin. Although it’s more like a nerfpelletin, honestly. Hello! My name is Colin and I am a mathematician on a mission to help everyone find the joy and delight in figuring things out. Art! Up in that London they have these days, the Piccadilly Circus ad boards are being taken over by Olafur Eliasson. While this doesn’t look especially mathematical, a lot …

It is quite unbelievable that Amsterdam still does not have a bridge over the River IJ, despite discussions on this topic dating back almost two centuries. There are no other cities in the Netherlands that sit along a river and …

There are two fantastic things about this witch's broom. 1. It's easy and free to make. 2. If you don't have a lot of storage space for things like Halloween decorations you can just compost it or burn it at the end of the season then make a new one next year. Hi. I'm Karen. I long...Read More

And so to the rest of the layouts at Spa Valley. Elbow Lane is a familiar, but always interesting little railway. St Mellion is also familiar, but is a neat bit of modelling. A little modern image with New Oak Lane. It’s rare to see gauge 1 at a show, so High Halden was especially welcome. Lots of buses on Cannon Bay. Newfangled TT120 with Teaton. And old school TT …

In which I accidentally ran 16.2 miles instead of 13.1. Whoops. Assumed audience: People interested in endurance running (or endurance sports more generally), or who just like to hear what I am up to as a runner. On Sunday, I ran the Boulderthon Half Marathon! And… an extra 5km, such that I don’t have a particularly good official time to brag about, because my official finish time was 1:39:30. But …

Nero, book, Italian, 96 pages, 2021, Italia By 1984, Frigidaire magazine was an established publication that combined an edgy, irreverent and outspoken attitude with wide newsstand circulation. Among the various experiments in the pages of the magazine, the very first computer-generated comic was published that year. It was realised by a classic duo of illustrator and scriptwriter (Antonio Glessi and Andrea Zingoni) working with an Apple II+ and a primordial …

October 2, 2024 Let’s check in with what the “Start With Art” heroines have been buying! This month, we’re starting with this heroine and this painting. The more I look at this painting, the more I appreciate it – especially the essential touches of black in a painting that is mostly warm colors. Sometimes, you just want to have some black in your closet… First up – let’s look at …

(Previous posts here.) I’ve finished the game. Just like Dungeon Adventure was an anti-Zork of sorts, this can be thought of as an anti-Starcross, both in a negative and a positive way. A design from Kyoto University and the Kajima Corporation for artificial gravity on the moon, allowing babies to be born in 1G. Voltgloss and Rob helpfully drop some hints in the comments. The big piece I missed was …

Happy October!It's hard to believe the spooky season has rolled around once more, but here we are! And it's time for a look at the October schedule on Turner Classic Movies.Bela Lugosi is the October Star of the Month. Over two dozen of his films will be featured on Wednesday evenings.The TCM Spotlight will focus on period costume dramas, with a whopping 53 films being shown on Tuesday evenings.Thursdays will …

I have another book coming out – Legitimacy in Liberal Democracies. In this book I develop a theory of legitimacy to explain the crisis of liberal democracy in established democracies, like the United Kingdom and the United States. In these countries there is deep dissatisfaction with political procedures, yet no credible alternatives have emerged. Without … Continue reading My Second Book →

A day on the beach in the autumn sunshine. Fishing with Steve, the targets were cod, bass and rays. Although I really wanted to catch my first gurnard - just as well, that's all we could manage in daylight - what brilliant looking fish - really made my day! Gurnard - it's like Jar Jar Binks had sex with a gudgeon. Steve isn't one to quit so we fished on …

In Part 4, I presented a nifty result supporting my claim that classical statistical mechanics reduces to thermodynamics when Boltzmann’s constant approaches zero. I used a lot of physics jargon to explain why I care about this result. I also used some math jargon to carry out my argument. This may have been off-putting. But to understand the result, you only need to know calculus! So this time I’ll state …

Drive robot mechs underground as you search for treasure in Mining Mechs. It’s a 2D action adventure game and kind of reminds me of Steamworld Dig mixed with elements of Terraria. It’s available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here. You’ll start the game on the surface, and can talk to […]