Recently updated blogs

Today is a day of reflection for me. I am mourning every single life that has been lost or shattered because of the senseless, cruel violence of the past year, and I am reflecting on our part in it. I am thinking about the great frustration and helplessness that so many of us feel who have protested government policies, not just now, but going back thirty years and more. These …

It’s hard to find English-language information about Kaohsiung’s 10,000 Years Festival (Wan Nian Festival / 高雄左營萬年季). Last year, it took place while a friend was visiting from Australia. But, unable to find details about the event, after a 45-minute scooter ride north to Zuoying District, we arrived to a dispersing crowd and an empty stage.This year I was more fortunate: I was invited by a local from the neighboring Nanzih …

October 2024, SPIEL Essen, one day before the convention opens. I’m browsing through the novelty show, a press-only event that’s basically all new releases cramped into one convention hall. Each game has about 30-40cm of table width, maybe less, and the hall is buzzing with representatives of the publishers pitching their games as well as pretty much every bigger board game YouTuber, podcaster, or Instagrammer you can think of. Most …

So, weeknotes, hm? Work-wise things continued from last week – a bunch of ill-timed vacations and sicknesses turned a bunch of projects into chaos, but that seems like something that can be smoothed out. Probably just in time until I go on my ill-timed vacation. Oh well. Meanwhile the whole WordPress chaos is escalating further. I envy the people who can just sit on the sidelines and eat popcorn, but …

A guide to the Soekarno–Hatta Line – the Jakarta airport train. Travel information, tickets, and which stations are best for visitors. The Soekarno–Hatta Airport Commuter Line (formerly the Soekarno–Hatta Airport Rail Link) is the airport railway connecting Soekarno–Hatta International Airport to Central Jakarta. The Soekarno–Hatta Line was built with the combination of a new railway connecting to an existing track. As such the railway has to weave its way around …

“100% yes there are absolutely plans for a second one,” Sanders said today during a talk in London.

Over to Germany, where – in a cute inversion of the tiresome refrain, “if it weren’t for Churchill/America/Wonder Woman you’d all be speaking German” – language purists complain that allowing possessive apostrophes represents acquiescence to the cultural steamroller that is global English. The irony is of course that native English speakers are, for the most part, utterly clueless about how apostrophes work. If the Germans do deign to use them, …

circular economya few years ago i donated my kinfolk magazine collection (every issue up to vol. 15) to a local coffee roastery & café. yesterday, when perusing the shelves laden with free books at the local resource recovery park (landfill), i discovered five of them nestled in amongst historical art auction catalogues and boating magazines. so, i tucked them into my backpack and carried them back home again. thumbing through …

Dean Balsamini reports: Here’s one New Yorker who is not jumping on the Mets’ bandwagon. The team uses facial recognition technology to collect information on unsuspecting Citi Field patrons, claims Chris Dowling in a new class-action lawsuit. Citi Field cameras “at the main fan entrance” collect “facial identifiers” from patrons as they enter the stadium,... The post NY Mets used facial recognition to profit on unsuspecting Citi Field fans: suit …

Over recent months there has been an increase in the number of mountain incidents across Scotland, and now autumn is in full swing we’d like to remind people venturing into the hills to check your kit to ensure you are fully prepared. Ensure you have suitable clothing for any weather conditions you may encounter and have within your rucksack a spare warm layer (jacket, fleece), spare gloves, hat and extra …

By David Tuller, DrPH October is a crowdfunding month at University of California, Berkeley. If you’d like to support my work, you can make a donation to the university (tax-deductible for US taxpayers) here. In February, the journal Nature Communications published the US National Institutes of Health’s long-awaited paper, “Deep phenotyping of post-infectious myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue … Calls for Retraction of Absurd “Effort Preference” Claims from NIH Study Read More …

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Welcome to my 182nd gems post. This is where I share some of the latest news, ideas and resources for maths teachers.1.Bad GraphsIt's fun (and important) to share examples of misleading graphs with students. @ticktockmaths has shared a gallery of bad graphs which will be very helpful. I love the example below: at first glance it seems very clear and the scale seems fine, but when you think about

For sharpening all chisels, planes, spokeshaves and knife types, in fact, anything with a cutting edge, diamond plates do it all, they cut steel very fast, stay flat, and they are cleaner than oilstones, natural stones, water stones, man made or naturally occurring all of which need additional paraphernalia with little good reason or advantage.... Source