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There we were, Lucie and I wandering along at the start of our morning walk, when out of an orchard wandered two Roe Deer followed a minute or so later by a third. A totally chance meeting that was obviously completely unexpected to both parties. Normally in this situation the deer will take a look and then run for it but on this occasion we just stood staring at each …

Scouters and Scouts around the world are doing Good Turns every day. Let’s highlight a few from this week. Scout leads the charge to create a new city flag Lockport, Illinois, now boasts a new city flag thanks to Zach Dylkiewicz and his Eagle Scout project. Photo: City of Lockport The eighth-grader presented his idea for a flag to the city, which piqued Mayor Steven Streit’s interest. Zach then worked …

This month we have two new books joining Genre: A 33 1/3 Series: Soul-Folk and Shoegaze. Keep reading to find out more about each book. Liking the Genre series? Let us know what genres you’d like to see us add to the series in the comments. This book traces the growing imprints of soul-folk and how it made its way from folk tradition to subgenre. Along the way, it explores …

William Denton wrote yesterday, in a postscript to a blogpost:No library in Canada had this book, and I got it through interlibrary loan from Rice University in Texas. Resource sharing departments are wonderful.Being the son of a librarian taught me a lot about libraries (and a lot about librarians!), including the superpower of being able to request any book—even, and especially, ones not held by my local library—by interlibrary loan. …

True confession time: I have an increasingly hard time watching frock flicks with subtitles. I

For the Balkinization Symposium on Jeremy Kessler, Law and Historical Materialism. Jeremy Kessler I am indebted to the seven legal scholars who engaged so thoughtfully with Law and Historical Materialism, and to Jack Balkin for hosting a symposium on the article. As the symposium contributions make clear, Marxist legal thought remains a useful tool for studying the causal relationship between law and extra-legal social and natural phenomena. As the symposium …

An epic adventure anthology which takes some big chances. Extremely impressive. Easily adaptable for a variety of games (D&D, Legend of the 5 Rings, Usagi Yojimbo). Review Originally Published December 25th, 2000 I was immediately drawn to Shiki for one simple reason: It dares to be epic. Many generic adventures share a simple problem: They confuse “accessible” with “boring”. They don’t do so in so many words, of course (no …

At 36 Boundary Street in London, a bold new mural rises 15 feet above the street. Anchored by scales atop a small seedling, the public artwork by Shepard Fairey addresses environmental justice and our responsibility to care for the planet. “I believe that our individual and collective actions will dramatically impact current and future generations, be it for the better or for the worse. It is our responsibility as the …

I wrote on this website in 2021 about my puzzlement regarding the fact that the most “bike-friendly” cities in the country seemed to be rather unfriendly to kids and young families. The reasons eluded me then and now. There is also a strong correlation between a city’s overall bike-friendliness “score” and a host of other liberal/progressive, “urbanist” policies. Indeed, with some outliers, the most bike-friendly cities in the U.S. tend …

[As with Shining the Holy Ark I will try to use official English names wherever possible, however as I’m playing in Japanese there might be some slight differences/slip-ups/personal preferences along the way. You can read through the official English script here. One last thing: Here, “Shining Force III” refers to the trilogy as a whole. I’ll always use “Scenario 1” when talking specifically about this game.] CONTENTS ~Chapter 3: Target: …

Texaco Sky Chief gasoline anyone? The cosmetically restored old service station has the owner'shouse attached. A very short commute to work! Notice the red outhouse on the far right sidebehind the station. (click to enlarge)Nikon Zf; 40mm f/2 Nikkor lens; 1/320th sec. @ f/11; ISO 100; All images from JPEG filesAs I often do, on Tuesday I decided to go out and wander the countryside with my camera. I was …

Quit it. It’s annoying. — JS

Anastasia (Anatole Litvak, 1956).François Truffaut saved his most pointed barb for last. Ending a short review in 1957 with a kiss-off, the notoriously venomous critic urges: “Anatole Litvak despises you; despise him back.”1 He was writing about Anastasia (1956), “a most mediocre film which has for its theme a historical enigma, one of the stupidest and emptiest subjects in a category that never fails to fill the theaters.” Anastasia certainly …

What caught my eye this week. I belatedly enjoyed Dumb Money on Netflix this week. Finumus put me onto it as a chaser to the story in my Active Antics links below about the Canadian who made and lost $300m trading Tesla options. Dumb Money is hilarious (whereas that second story is almost tragic) but it’s also a solid piece of filmmaking. The movie deftly captures the time and (all …

John Gruber asks: Why in the world didn’t Apple take regular use of a screen-recording app into account all along? I think this is the question you ask when you have not used a Corporate Mac in the last 4-5 years. For those who are, you know that companies install applications which take screenshots and screen recordings of certain or all activities being done on the Mac. You know, for …