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An unusual sight in North Carolina’s Hurricane Helene devastated areas are volunteer mule teams. With hundreds of miles of roads washed out and no guarantee of helicopter LZs in some places, folks like the Mountain Mule Packer Ranch are stepping up. Via Mountain Mule Packer Ranch Via Mountain Mule Packer Ranch The MMPR gang, based in Ulna, NC, are pros. They specialize in offering mule packing classes to military customers, …

Memo to self: do not be afraid to revisit ‘difficult’ books. Not only are they truly wonderful to read, you’ll also see so much more in them than the first time round! Yes, I’ve been re-reading Virginia Woolf, a long time favourite author, and the title I went back to was one which I really can’t be sure when I last read. It could, in fact, be decades, and it’s …

Want to take a listen? https://helenmcc.bandcamp.com/album/showtunes-from-the-shadows

Volcanoes that are rich in iron might be prime locations to find high concentrations of rare earth elements. Recent lab experiments have demonstrated that when iron-rich magmas experience volcanic pressures and temperatures, the resulting iron oxide-apatite (IOA) deposit separates into two unmixable melts, one of which is highly enriched in rare earth elements (REEs). “The rare earth element contents can be close to 200 times higher than in the silicate-rich …

The opening line of the new Retail Simps LP hits you straight away: “We’re a garage band, we’re from Garageland.” But make no mistake, this isn’t your typical garage band. Beyond the shifting names — from Tha Retail Simpson on their 2022 debut, to Theee Retail Simps on their 2023 follow-up, and now Thine Retail […] The post <h2>New album: Thine Retail Simps || Strike Gold, Strike Back, Strike Out</h2> …

Hello Lenore, I have had great interest in your philosophy and truly feel connected to your philosophy of allowing our children the opportunity to grow and as individuals through independence and exploration. I had the pleasure of listening to your piece on NPR a few months ago and was so relieved that there was someone else feeling exactly as I did about this issue! I grew up in Rhode Island …

Cloud (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2024).After four decades spent scaring moviegoers through all manner of supernatural subject matter, Kiyoshi Kurosawa has, with Cloud (2024), taken to exploring the psychological effects of a more everyday evil: capitalism. In this follow-up to his medium-length psychodrama Chime earlier this year (a film as cryptic and tantalizingly elusive as anything he’s recently endeavored), Kurosawa reconfigures a number of themes and ideas that have animated his long-running …

Automattic AlignmentAutomattic AlignmentOctober 3, 2024AutomatticWinston Churchill said, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” Since I last blogged here, WP Engine filed a meritless lawsuit and Automattic responded, and there’s been a hurricane of public activity and press. Inside of Automattic, there’s been a parallel debate and process.Silver Lake and WP Engine’s attacks on me and Automattic, while spurious, have been effective. It became clear a good chunk of …

Vape Trail. (click to enlarge)Nikon Zf; 24-120mm lens @ 58mm; 1/125th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 20,000 Recently I wrote about the Paradox of Choice. The crux of the paradox of choice is too many choices degrade the experience and cause unnecessary stress. You can read more about that at this post, here. For me, that paradox holds true for when I need to decide which of my three kits I …

iPhone 16 range goes on sale at Apple Mumbai – were these made in India? Apple’s business is booming in India so the company is building four more of its incredibly popular retail stores to cope with (and help generate) demand. New Apple Stores are coming to India The company, which already has stores in Dehi and Mumbai, now intends to put shops in place in Bengaluru, Pune, Delhi-NCR, and …

I have loved the concept of the iPhone SE since the beginning. The introduction of the first-generation iPhone SE back in March 2016 managed to surprise me in a way that later iPhone introductions did not. At the time I remember thinking it was a very un-Apple move to make. Not because it didn’t make sense; quite the contrary — it felt like an unusually user-friendly decision. Having a phone …

The CW premiered its new Thursday game night, with two new game shows revivals: Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit, hosted by Raven-Symoné and LeVar Burton. Here's my review of both.

In the popular TV series Vikings, it’s Ivar the Boneless who perhaps steals the spotlight with his peculiar personality, reminiscent of the classic – and stereotypical – image of Caligula or Nero. However, Ubbe, Hvitsärk, and Björn also have their moments. In this article, we will focus on Björn and, more specifically, the expedition he […]

Today’s London news round-up: Today’s round-up includes community efforts against an invasive bug, political updates, a dog attack, local projects and closures, roadwork disputes, health milestones, bike parking expansions, political transparency, and the anniversary of a major train collision. — Volunteers are searching for an invasive species of bug which poses a threat to plane trees lining streets and parks in London and other cities. BBC News Camden’s recently-installed new …

I have nearly finished reading a book by Hannah Jane Parkinson called "The Joy of Small Things", a collection of her columns of the same name for The Guardian, which were inspired in turn by J B Priestley's "Delight" - a book with which I am not familiar, despite having played the odious Ernest Beevers in Time and the Conways. I remember delivering the line: "You've done a lot of …