Recently updated blogs

Today’s post is by Jennie Case. When my essay, A Political Pregnancy, came out in The Rumpus, I was so frozen I spent most of the day stiff in a chair, the room swirling. It took a good week for me to unthaw, and nearly a year for me to share the piece publicly on social media. To be sure: I was proud of the essay, which explored my painful, …

On 30th October Rachel Reeves will be setting out her first budget, rather than responding to someone else’s decisions. She will be leading the public discussion, not following the narrative set by another. That will be obvious in terms of tax, because she will be raising taxes rather than pretending to permanently cut them. But it should also be true for the fiscal rules that she commits the government to …

At 43 acres St Patrick’s Catholic Cemetery is relatively big by London standards, bigger than Abney Park, bigger than Brompton, bigger than West Norwood, and, rather surprisingly, bigger than both sides of Highgate combined. It doesn’t feel it, mainly because of the lack of landscaping, I think. You can see clear from one end of the cemetery to the other with barely a tree in the way to break up …

I wanted to write a blog post with some thoughts I’ve been having about how I’ve been using this site in recent times, and how that’s likely to change (or not) in the short to medium-term. Basically, as you may have noticed, I’ve been posting much less this year (and even last year) than I used to, in the early years of me having this site. There are a couple …

SENIOR BEAT GUEST COLUMN – Many years ago, I spent a year baking desserts in a restaurant in Brooklyn, New York, and I’ve been doing it on an amateur basis ever since. Periodically, the daughter of a dear friend—who’s also my daughter’s close friend—urged me to bake professionally again, but I never wanted to. It’s ... The post Baking for bodily autonomy: Nan Wiener tackles controversial end of Roe v. …

Perfume Posse56th Birthday Week was FUN! Heya Posse! What a splendid week of fun and celebration. Even though most if it was pretty small scale it was super satisfying. Quite a few of the people I care about managed to make the Birthday Lunch at our… Continue Reading → Perfume Posse56th Birthday Week was FUN!

I’ve come across quite a few wonderful reissues during my recent internet travels so I thought I’d gather them all in one place so we can marvel at them together. Enjoy! Sarah Waters View fullsize Fingersmith View fullsize Affinity View fullsize Tipping the Velvet Design: Nico TaylorPaintings: Jesse MockrinPublished in paperback by Virago - May 2024 Stephen King vintage cover collection View fullsize Christine View fullsize Pet Sematary View fullsize …

The Architectural Review The last page: the marooned church of Megalopoli On the last page of the Ground issue, a village church makes the last stand against a coal mine The post The last page: the marooned church of Megalopoli appeared first on The Architectural Review. AR Editors

Katie Marwick on a new UK Biobank study which suggests that the two years either side of the final menstrual period represent a time of small increased risk for new onset bipolar and major depressive disorder. The post The influence of the menopause in first onset of mental illness appeared first on National Elf Service.

Back when Kamala Harris’s campaign took off, she quickly secured the Democratic nomination, and then announced Tim Walz as her running mate, I got swept up in the moment. I quickly blew through my “campaign donation money” budget and even bought a couple of pieces of campaign merch. One of those is the camouflage hat, which was quickly sold out and was immediately called “iconic” by the campaign. And sure, …

Academics use many different methods of inquiry. While different disciplines use different methods, most are useful in some contexts. Academics present themselves as mainly just trying to understand things, and as choosing their methods for that purpose. But in fact they are more rewarded for being credentialed as impressive, and for letting customers (students, journalists, patrons) gain status by associating with them as such. These rewards substantially distort academic methods. …

OpenAI's DevDay event yesterday (October 1st 2024) didn’t invite press (as far as I can tell), didn’t livestream the event and didn’t allow audience livestreaming either. I made a last minute decision to live blog the event myself. I started brainstorming the implementation using Claude on my walk over to the venue. It suggested the same approach I was already considering: a LiveUpdate Django model with just content and a …

The swallows have departed. The tall, dry meadow grass rustles in the nearly empty air. Now and then a sparrow suddenly flutters up from beside the path, then flies off toward the trees surrounding the field. Ghostly white tufts of thistle seed float past, rising and falling. Swallows FlownWhence comes that small continuous silence Haunting the livelong day?This void, where a sweetness, so seldom heeded, Once ravished my heart away?As …

Thursday 3rd October 2024 Last Sunday wasn’t a good day for GWR passengers and as bad luck would have it I was one of them. The signs weren’t good from first thing with a post on X from GWR at 07:19 advising “disruption is expected to the end of the day” due to “forecasted severe weather”. Passengers were advised “to travel as early as possible” and “fewer trains are able …

Review by Annabel My fascination with the 1960s (the decade in which I was a child), will never die. Add in the world of art and a New York setting and even more boxes are ticked, so I was delighted to read this memoir by an ‘Englishman’ (sic) in New York, (said in jest, but Quentin Crisp whom Sting wrote the song about does put in an appearance!), who arrived …