Recently updated blogs

Some good news: Caltrain is working on a level boarding plan, as documents requested under the Public Records Act attest. Their "Level Boarding Roadmap: Technical Task Force Platform Report" dated April 2024 is a reasonably well-written document that discusses how the system might be converted to level boarding using the European 550 mm platform standard. After reading it, three questions arise:Why are 48" level boarding platforms never discussed? The roadmap …

After 150 days on the trail, I was exhausted. Last week, CareFree and I worked out a plan to take a day off, and then travel to Stewart Island, about 40 km south of the southern tip of the South Island, as a capstone Te Araroa. But, partially thanks to the cold I had over the past few days, I was so tired after finishing the trail yesterday that I …

I am delighted and honoured to have been asked to present the November lecture at The Model Railway Club this Thursday 14th November. My presentation is on the history of the LSWR Adams T3 locomotive and developing the RTR model for the EFE Rail range. The lecture will start with background of producing a Ready-to Run model and the initial research detailing and illustrating the history of the Adams T3 …

Former United States president and war criminal George W. Bush gave a speech in Australia, directing a v-for-victory hand gesture at the assembled crowd. It wasn’t received the way he intended. What he failed to realize is that this gesture means a lot of different things to a lot different people. In Australia, the v-for-victory gesture means the same as giving someone the middle finger in the United States. This …

Since I got my amateur radio licence in 2019, I have set up and operated my radio in a small boiler room in the basement. However, this room also serves as a workshop and is therefore crammed full of tools and difficult to keep clean. In winter, it also got quite cold in the unheated basement, so I often operated with a jacket. I then got a remote station, which …

We keep trying to get LLMs to do math. We want them to count the number of “rs” in strawberry, to perform algebraic reasoning, do multiplication, and to solve math theorems. A recent experiment particularly piqued my interest. Researchers used OpenAI’s new 4o model to solve multiplication problems by using the prompt: Calculate the product of x and y. Please provide the final answer in the format: Final Answer: [result] …

The post was originally shared on the PauseTalk website. The next PauseTalk in Shanghai (Vol. 93) is set for Thursday, December 12, again at Bananafish New HQ. As usual, we’ll start the discussion at 19:30, and please note that there is no entry fee, and you are free to bring drinks and/or snacks. Here’s the Facebook event page, and as a lot of updates are shared via WeChat, get in …

About a hundred meters away from my apartment, between two groves of trees and a red-shingled temple, is a bakery that has been shuttered for eight years, ever since the owner hung herself from a second-floor beam. This revelation is available to unsuspecting members of the public in the form of a brutally crude, unpunctuated, one-star online review. Oh, Google Maps, how did it end up like this? Did you …

I'D LIKE A PIECE OF...MEEEEEEEEEEEEEAT!I! SAID! I'D! LIKE! A!... And then he stopped.Mr. NoisyMr. MessyLittle Miss NaughtyLittle Miss TroubleAlbum audio & artwork DISCLAIMER: To the best of my knowledge, this work is out of print and not available for purchase in any format. If you are the artist and are planning a reissue, please let me know and I’ll remove it from the blog. Also please get in touch if …

Elections are always complicated things, although pundits sometimes try to pretend that they’re not. In this post I run through some different narratives or ‘explanations’ of Trump’s victory that I’ve noticed or heard since Wednesday and pull out a quote or add some commentary. New Yorker cover, November 2024 1. It’s the economy, stupid One of the more persuasive charts on the election was shared by John Burn-Murdoch of the …

As we find ourselves in the midst of November, it’s a poignant reminder that it’s been 5 years since I had the privilege of creating oslo.town – a Mastodon server for the people of Oslo’s capital and the first Norwegian-based Mastodon server to exist. Mastodon is a social network that can be compared to Twitter, but with a lot better ethics around how it works. Instead of being one big …

There are a lot of things that factor into what review I decide to write next. First of all, I have a very long queue of dolls that have caught my eye over the years and are just sitting on a shelf, waiting for their turn. Second, I try to have a bit of an ear to the ground for new items or brands that are being released--even though I'll …

Last week, on the 6th of November, I decided to spend my lunch break looking at beautiful art rather than grimly eating my lunch at my desk. It is something I have been meaning to do for a while, and on that particular day, it was probably the best thing I could have done. I am incredibly lucky to have an art gallery practically on my doorstep at work: The …

Teaching students to write with effect is quite a tricky thing. Over the years, I have seen writing reduced to tick lists. The problem is that no two good pieces are really alike. You could create one tick list for one piece and then you’ll need a different list for the other piece. Both are widely different. Presion, subtlety and nuance are not things you can easily put on a …

Happy Sunday:) just popping in to let you know I've added Monstrous Existence vol. 3 to the shop this morning. It's a one-page (double-sided) zine about being saddened by the election results, needing a break, starting a new sketchbook, + a mini music list, doodles, and scattered thoughts. This zine is a limited print of 30 copies. Each copy has red marker accents that are unique to each print. Made …