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The North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS) 2024 conference in Tacoma, WA was yet another fantastic gathering of cartographers, mappers, and map enthusiasts. Stamen was well-represented this year by Kelsey Taylor, Eric Brelsford, and Alan McConchie. This was a busy year for us – we presented five talks between the three of us! Now that the dust has settled, we wanted to share some of the highlights from our time …

Old Fort Niagara has a free zoom lecture for this on the 21 November. Check the webpage. In Defending Fort Stanwix, William L. Kidder tells the dramatic story of "the fort that never surrendered" and the crucial role it played in the American War for Independence. After a series of military defeats over the winter of 1776–1777, British military leaders developed a bold plan to gain control of the Hudson …

Being the party of normality has its appeal, but it reinforces precisely the wrong instinct. The polycrisis that is unfolding demands not a return to the status quo but urgent, progressive answers both at home and abroad. To formulate and articulate those, the Democrats need politicians, not algorithms. They need personalities capable of responding to the profound questions facing contemporary America.

Dear Zettlers, During a coaching session, I talked about a specific incarnation of the Collector’s Fallacy: Buying books and never reading them. My client correctly identified part of the cause for his behavior: He is using a Kindle to read. There, it is super easy to buy a book. So, when he sees a book that seems interesting, he buys it straight away. Part of the cause of this behavior …

Today is my birthday, a big one, and the world is shit. After last week's gutpunch of an election, I don't feel much like celebrating, but I do feel like trying to do something hopeful. Lately I've been reminding myself to remember what Mariame Kaba says: "Hope is a discipline and we have to practice it every day." In hopeless times like this, it's important to remember: you have to …

Join me in my quest to migrate my Jellyfin installation to a new domain. Let’s start off with the current situation. I used to run Jellyfin under some old domain that is mostly decommissioned by now. Jellyfin is literally the only thing that’s still running on there (as I could migrate Plex without the end-users even knowing). But to not inconvenience the folks that still have the old domain configured …

I have been a very happy Spotify Premium subscriber since 2010. While I don’t necessarily like or agree with certain decisions and stances the company took in the past, from a mere customer experience standpoint, I have had nothing to complain about. Last year I took advantage of a coupon I got at a local electronics store and tried Apple Music free for three months. But I only lasted four …

March 3, 2024, 9:43 PM EST on the video game forum GameFAQs, a user by the ID Xclaim created a thread with the following assertion as the title, “Barret deserves proper beachwear.” Barret, from the Square Enix RPG Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, is the only humanoid character in the party who does not get a swimsuit during the beach scenes at Costa Del Sol. While everyone is in trunks and …

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Earlier this year, following the closure of my publisher, I reacquired the rights to my three books. And as of last night, you can read the first two books — the second edition of Responsive Web Design, and Responsive Design: Patterns & Principles — online, right here on this very website. For free. I have a lot of emotions about my publisher’s sudden closure, but I’m just thrilled I was …

Andy Beshear, the governor of Kentucky, wrote the following in an op-ed published by the New York Times (the article is paywalled)When most Americans wake up in the morning, they are not thinking about politics. Americans wake up thinking about their jobs and whether they make enough money to support their families. We wake up thinking about the next doctor’s appointment for ourselves, our parents or our kids. We wake …

A couple years back, people would joke that they were tired of living in unprecedented times. Well, we’re still there and I don’t really see anyone laughing. Inflation is a real problem and it comes at a time when the beer industry in Ontario is being shaken up by serious changes to the retail program in the province. At this point, you can buy beer at the LCBO, The Beer …

This might be the happiest place on earth. I was walking along Regents Canal when I saw this sign. It was noonish. I hadn't eaten. What more invitation might I need? My only fear was that I might be lead to some ironic hipster place that only did oats. Then there was this sign. I found this reassuring. And I needn't have worried because the Happy Cafe is godamm perfect. …

In 1944, before the D-Day landing and while WWII was still grinding on, MGM made a heartwarming movie about American soldiers successfully diffusing a notorious British ghost. The Canterville Ghost (1944) stars Robert Young, as an affable US soldier, and Charles Laughton as a blue-blooded apparition who’s been haunting a castle for centuries. It also stars Margaret O’Brien as a … Continue reading →