Recently updated blogs

$\newcommand\C{\mathbb{C}}$ I came up with the proof below while preparing a lecture for my complex analysis course. I learned from Sinan Gunturk that Peter Lax showed him the same proof back in 2007. Let \(O\subset\C\) be open and convex. Let \(z_0 \in O\) and \(c: [0,1] \rightarrow O\) be a closed piecewise \(C^1\) curve. Recall that the winding number of $c$ around $z_0$ is defined to be \[ W(c,z_0) = …

Following on from my big result on the R.Wye and only 36 miles from the R.Teme it seemed to be the logical next step, at 7am I was cruising up the M50 bound for a date with a Teme Tiger, a Barbel from here is reputed to fight harder than any other Barbel in the country, that was a reputation I wanted to test. Having seen the Teme for the …

Chibitronics asked me to participate in a #LightUpPopUpTober project they are coordinating with prompts from @5am_popup. My prompt was “reverse.” Thus, the switching mechanism for this card works by reversing the covers of the card, touching the front and reverse sides.I took inspiration from a design by the late Professor Masahiro Chatani for the mechanical functioning of the card. The electronics and everything else were improvised as quickly as I …

For a long time, I've been trying to learn more about my husband's 3d great-grandparents, William Tyler Bentley (1795-1873) and Olivia Morgan Bentley (1799?-1838). The earliest official document I have for this family is the 1830 US Census, where they're enumerated in the town of Sandy Creek, Oswego County, New York. Other documents confirm Oswego as the birthplace of William and Olivia's children in the 1820s and 1830s.Browsing the 1830 …

This week for my Patreon subscribers, I'm highlighting insights from the owner of Dutchie, a leading brand in furniture/home decor (with a sexy twist), and KiwiCo, the new brand of legendary Blueberry creator Gizem Mishi Akin. (Don't miss my interview with Gizem here.) Subscribe and read it all here!

Conditions as of Wednesday (10/9). Red line shows striping location County initially installed but then rolled back. The community is still processing how Multnomah County engineers and planners could have ever approved a design for the Hawthorne Bridge viaduct that put bike riders in even more risk than usual. Over the course of a week or so, we learned that the County changed the existing bike lane design at the …

The Kiss, Francesco Hayez, oil on canvas, roughly 43 x 35 inches ( 110 x 88 cm); link is to image file page on Wikimdeia Commons, original is in the Pinacoteca di Brera (Brera Art Gallery) in Milan. In this beautiful painting by mid-19th century Italian painter Francesco Hayez, the woman’s stunning gown is the first thing to attract our attention. The shimmering blue material (satin?) is offset by the …

CSS gradients have been so long that there’s no need to rehash what they are and how to use them. You have surely encountered them at some point in your front-end journey, and if you follow me, you also know that I use them all the time. I use them for CSS patterns, nice CSS decorations, and even CSS loaders. But even so, gradients have a tough syntax that can …

Welcome to the weekly Perfume Chat Room, perfumistas! I envision this chat room as a weekly drop-in spot online, where readers may ask questions, suggest fragrances, tell others their SOTD, comment on new releases or old favorites, and respond to each other. The perennial theme is fragrance, but we can interpret that broadly. This is meant […]

The Voyage of Magellan, Chapter 16: The Happy Thieves

Few who end up in the hospital are likely to be thinking about whether there’s a sufficient, readily accessible, and safe supply of blood on hand if needed. Someone who has is Sarah Young, former manager of the blood bank at San Francisco’s Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center. Until she retired in 2017, it was her ... The post Art and science vied for Sarah Young’s heart: Both found a place …

Perhaps the most intriguing product from Burger King’s Addams Family Menu is Gomez’s Churro Fries, fried crispy pastry dough tossed in cinnamon sugar and served warm with chocolate sauce. Wednesday’s Whopper looks cool with its purple bun, and Morticia’s Kooky Chocolate Shake sounds delightful with black and purple cookie pieces and chocolate cake batter fudge. But there have been numerous Whoppers with colored buns, and the shake sounds like it’s …

On the 3rd October I turned 62 years old. Born in 1962. Kind of incredible and mundane in equal measure. Instead of pondering too much on the (limited) joys of getting older, because there is no acceptable alternative, let's just go for a run instead.Mary asked where I would like to go for a birthday run. And instantly regretted it! She is not a huge fan of the NB circuit. …

The cybersecurity expert SwiftOnSecurity, a decade ago, wrote a parable called "A Story About Jessica" and posted it to their (now-deleted) Tumblr blog. I found it moving and insightful. The consultancy Superbloom pointed to it …

Turned on my chromebook this morning to post the hexjeff below, between last night and this morning chrome installed Gemini, its motherfucking AI tool, and chrome pinned the icon to my task bar and is badgering me on screen and in email, here is my response to Every.Fucking.Thing:Serendipitously if unfortunately, three weeks ago the person I'm related to by marriage accidentally and unknowingly knocked my chromebook off the piano bench …