Recently updated blogs

This sculpture in front of ANSP is the first full-size reconstruction of the 100-million-year-old dinosaur, Deinonychus. It’s been a secret wish of mine to be a speaker at The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University (ANSP) in Philadelphia, PA. This museum has such history and has been the center of significant contributions to science, such as the start of the Great Bone Wars/Dinosaur Rush, and the construction of the …

As the foundations of Franco’s fascist regime in Spain gradually disintegrated through the late 1970s following the dictator’s death, the restrictions governing on-screen content in the previously censorious nation correspondingly collapsed, flooding Spanish screens with an unprecedented backlog of smut, eventually culminating the early ‘80s hey-day of the hastily codified Classificada ‘S’ certification for “adult” (but not quite porn) features. Soon to be celebrated in a new documentary from Severin …

Shrimp Boats in the Altamaha River, Darien. Darien, Georgia is an interesting small city with a long history. Founded by Scottish highlanders under the leadership of James Oglethorpe in 1736, it was laid out according to the plan Oglethorpe had established in Savannah, and is the second oldest planned city in Georgia.In 1863, Darien was raided by a troop of Union soldiers from a garrison stationed on St. Simon's Island. …

Why should we not look back in anger? Surely the recent past is as broken as our miserable present. With the Oasis reunion tour still in the news, the title of John Osborne’s seminal kitchen-sink drama — which kicked off the whole cultural phenomenon of the Angry Young Men on its first Royal Court staging in 1956 — has again become familiar, in its reminted version, to a new generation. …

“We’ve confused the measurements we use for signal for the things they’re meant to signify, and it’s warped how we in design systems see ourselves. Here lies, I think, the hardest questions queer theory poses to the practice of design systems. If scale and efficiency are what guides your work: Whose single truth are you making possible? Whose truths are you making impossible?” Great questions from John Voss, in a …

King Crimson’s ‘Red’ recently turned 50. And apparently it’s okay to broadcast one’s love of prog now. No longer requested in hushed tones, served under the counter in a brown paper bag. People are poring over this lurid filth in full view of the public. ‘Red’, ‘Close to the Edge’, ‘Mirage’, these were exceptions to an otherwise very reliable rule guys. Have you ever actually sat down and listened to …

I've seen Nassim Soleimanpour's second and third plays structured as cold reads for a different performer every night, but had missed his original hit which, out of necessity, created his signature format in the first place. But following the run of ECHO at the Royal Court a couple of months ago, White Rabbit Red Rabbit now returns for an equally starry West End run at @sohoplace, the theatre with a …

Or: what I drank on my holidays. In our perversely unseasonal family holiday in Swanage last year, I ticked off four of the town’s seven pubs and had beers from three different local breweries. This year’s perversely unseasonal return trip to Dorset took us to Weymouth, a much larger town and a considerably more serious proposition for the ticker; they’ve got two separate J.D. Wetherspoon’s! Dorset beer was considerably thinner …

The First Quarter Moon is Friday, October 11, the full Moon is Thursday October 17. This is a perigee ("super") Moon. Comet C/2023 A3 may be visible low in the evening twilight from the 13th and should be visible by weeks end not far from Venus. Mercury is low in the twilight below Venus. Saturn is just past opposition, and is visible all night long. Saturn is close to the …

Today's links Google's new phones can't stop phoning home: The call is coming from inside the house. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. This day in history: 2004, 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. Google's new phones …

One of the sources for Ray Bradbury’s classic novel “Fahrenheit 45” was him and a friend being stopped by a policeman while walking through Los Angeles for no other reason than they were walking. This was in the late 40s or early 50s. In the afterword to the novel he tells the story, which I think makes a wonderful short story on its own (see below), and he turned the …

The last 35 miles of The Beacons Way. Helicopters. Sugar Loaf Circular in the cloud. OS Map and Stats: The Beacons Way Tuesday – woke to heavy rain, not the best conditions for embarking upon the last three days of The Beacons Way… An easy drive to Craig y Nos Country Park to rendezvous with S&S in a layby a little south of the hotel, then over the Beacons to …

R. P. Sand makes her Asimov’s debut with her new piece “Eternity is Moments”, available to read in our [September/October issue, on sale now!] Asimov’s Editor: How did this story germinate? Was there a spark of inspiration, or did it come to you slowly?R. P. Sand: Writing this story was one of the very rare occasions for me where the story basically flowed from the initial spark. A few hours …

In August 2024, we asked our customers to tell us about security: their role in security, their certifications, their concerns, and what their companies are doing to address those concerns. We had 1,322 complete responses, of which 419 (32%—roughly one-third) are members of a security team. 903 respondents aren’t on a security team, although 19% of that group hold at least one security-related certification. This report focuses primarily on the …