Recently updated blogs

I don’t know if we need a fediverse version of TikTok, I really wish these short video posting platforms would go away. Loops - ActivityPub based sharing of short video clips

With @​property now being Baseline Newly Available, I thought it’d be a good time benchmark the impact – if any – it has on the performance of your CSS. When starting to use a new CSS feature it’s important to understand its impact on the performance of your websites, whether positive or negative. With @property now in Baseline this post explores its performance impact, and things you can do to …

I’ve just launched a new video series, Comics Show and Tell with Nat Gertler. This will look at interesting and obscure aspects of comics (broadly considered), from my quirky point of view. The first two episodes (only one of which is released so far) deal with forgotten early African American superheroes, but there will be episodes coming up focusing on Peanuts-y items… really, I’ll have to fight to make sure …

Kate Kaplan hits on something over at Nielsen Norman Group’s blog that’s been bugging me: The challenge with this icon is sparkle ambiguity: Participants in our recent research study generally agreed that it represented something a little special. But, what was that something? And why was it special? That was less obvious. We encountered widely and wildly varied interpretations. Man, I hate those sparkles. Correction: I loathe it as an …

Where I spent most of the day last Saturday: the Brattle prior to showtime.Last weekend, I did something I've never done before. No, I didn't clean the fridge. Rather, I played music for a silent movie that's just under seven hours long.The film: Abel Gance's 'La Roue' (1923), which the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Mass. screened as part of its programming to celebrate Silent Movie Day, which this year fell …

Today's links Prime's enshittified advertising: Don't touch that dial. No, seriously, DON'T. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. This day in history: 2009, 2014, 2019, 2023 Upcoming appearances: Where to find me. Recent appearances: Where I've been. Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em. Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em. Colophon: All the rest. Prime's enshittified advertising (permalink) Prime's gonna add more ads. …

I get asked this question a lot; so often, I will write a general response. This doesn’t replace the personalized advice that I have given and will continue to give, but it will add to it. For whom is this article intended? I’m thinking of someone who already owns an interchangeable lens full frame (FF, […]

In his epic “El Norte,” award-winning filmmaker Gregory Nava charted the tragic journey of siblings Enrique and Rosa from Guatemala to Los Angeles in pursuit of the American dream. The film’s themes still resonate in this Hispanic Heritage Month four decades later. “El Norte,” released in 1983, was inducted into the Library’s National Film Registry in 1995. It offers a heart-wrenching portrayal of the immigrant experience; today, it is considered …

News came out that Ireland fined Meta (formerly Facebook) $100 million for storing user passwords in plain text (link). The mystery is why they did it. Why even a big tech firm is putting its users at risk by not securing their passwords. Storing passwords in plain text is in itself not harmful to users; the harm appears when bad actors steal these passwords. The lack of password security is …

by Gertrud U. Rey This post was written in honor of Virus Appreciation Day, which occurs annually on October 3. Public awareness of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) began in the early 1980s when separate clusters of infected individuals were identified in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York. These individuals all shared a group of … Why Don’t We Have an HIV Vaccine? Read More »

A seemingly modern moment of abstraction in a medieval manuscript, representing silence as a yellow rectangle.

S alty air. The ocean. Sea birds, Shimmering water, blue skies, and dreams. Above me, Before me. All around me. There’s an ancient saying in Japan, that life is like walking from one side of infinite darkness to another, … 🐞 Read more about it ➞ ➞ ➞

Here are ten new literary agents actively seeking clients. New agents are a boon to writers. They are actively building their lists, and will go the extra mile for their clients.All of these agents work for established agencies with good track records. They are looking for all genres.Always check the agency website and agent bio before submitting. Agents can switch agencies or close their lists, and submission requirements can change. …

After the near-fatal events of Grave Expectations, medium Claire Strange finds herself in the unusual position of being an adult with actual friends who want to spend time and do things with her. For the first time since her late teens—when she became haunted by the ghost of her dead best friend Sophie, and subsequently…

I once thought shitlord planning far more micro than Disaster Capitalism but was wrong, as a macro Disaster Capitalism, a primary requisite requirement for Vulture Capitalism's success, genocidally and sloppily brutally efficient by deliberately reckless design, shouldn't the planning for enshittification be shitty?No one, and by no one I mean the .0000000000000000001% of people in this world (including those blocs opposing the United States of Assholes bloc) who make decisions …