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Micropayments, microbilling, microtransactions, call it what you will; it is one of those ideas people say they want but actually do not. In particular, micropayments are not a viable replacement...

Who are you, and what do you do? I'm Michelle, and I'm a member of the team at The Pudding, which is a publication of visual, data-driven essays. Some of my favorite projects are about the sounds of Mexico City, monkeys playing piano, and the most extra national anthem performances. Creating these stories involves data analysis, data visualization, front-end web development, design, and writing. My background is in computer science, …

With panto preparations in progress across the country, Dick Whittington is making his annual trip to London to seek his fortune. This year, Dick finds himself in Greenwich Theatre, where panto veteran Anthony Spargo is writing the show for a third time. Spargo is joined in the cast by panto regular Louise Cielecki, who played Muddles in last year’s brilliant production of Snow White. We caught up with them to …

This was (I think) a CapnAhab design. I added a pilot and some engine detail, but that's all, and I printed it on my Mars Pro at 1:200 scale.The model has no wing-rib or control surface detail at all, and I've just painted some in. The effect is fine, for a gaming piece, and having smooth surfaces instead of ribbed certainly does make applying decals a bajillion times easier.I've messed …

The original: Vagammo tutto il pomeriggio in cerca d’un luogo a fare di due vite una. Rumorosa la vita, adulta, ostile, minacciava la nostra giovinezza. Ma qui giunti ove ancor cantano i grilli, quanto silenzio sotto questa luna.\ Two young lovers are looking for a place where they can “make one life out of two.” All the afternoon they wander around under the sun, surrounded by the noise and the …

In early May 2017, a tree at 16th Street and Meridian Place NW began to sag:Within a week or so, somebody did a bit of trimming to let the pedestrians by more conveniently:But earlier this fall, somebody just dealt with it,leaving some child from the neighborhood to decorate what was left.

One of the odd things about the social media era is becoming "friends" with musical legends and cult figures that you've never met. Musicians you've interviewed and interacted with in real life - that's one thing, that makes sense. But I get a little shiver when I see a name like Annette Peacock, Michael Rother, Peter Perrett and John Perry, or Andy Ellison (of John's Children renown) pop up in …

Pricing & AvailabilityWhat comes in the box?Design & ConstructionSize & MeasurementsUser InterfaceEmitter & BeamMode ChartRuntimeDriver & RegulationSwitchCarry & ErgonomicsBatteries & ChargingOLED DisplayCompetitionConclusion Pricing & Availability Nitecore sent me this light in exchange for an honest review. Here is the official product page where you can see current pricing. At the time of writing, MSRP is $110 USD. What comes in the box? The box is Nitecore’s typical black printed retail …

Today I revived my Tech Aloud podcast1. Since the last time I published an episode, the infrastructure has changed, in that the Anchor FM platform I was using has been subsumed into Spotify. While in the longer term I want to move to my own podcast platform (perhaps Castopod), I wanted to get a new episode out, specifically a recording of my recent long-form blog post Five reasons to use …

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With the screening of the first TV episode of The Mirror and the Light, the final instalment of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy, interest in all things Tudor is reaching fever pitch. The BBC has scoured the country to find suitably sumptuous locations to form an appropriate backdrop to the epic storytelling and larger than life characters. But there are numerous London locations linked to the key characters and events …

Companies frequently hire me as a consultant to teach their teams how to set up sustainable collaboration and design system practices. In order to do that, I have 2 lessons I consider prerequisites for almost every team I’ve worked with. The first is going through my “Make Design Systems People Want to Use” 2-hour video course. It becomes a team building activity and a way for the team to develop …

With the US elections now settled, and a second Trump term being a reality, I guess many (most?) of the remaining hold outs on Twitter are finally migrating. I decided to keep my personal account, for now, and just promote pro-union, pro-education, pro-left, and anti-war messages, while posting my regular content on Threads, Bluesky, and Mastodon. I am also in the process of shutting down my department's Twitter account for …

Laying wide awake, trying to sleep in a Perth hotel, so I thought crunching some annual stats might help me sleep. 2024 has been a wild year of travel. Here’s my 2024 travel stats as of when I get home on December 2: For 53% of 2024 I have slept in a bed I do not call home. 172 nights away from home, 94 flights, 85 marriage ceremonies, 275 hours …

Just got back from Isan again. What happened while I was away? HAHAHAHAHAHHA. If you, like me, were disappointed by the outcome of an election that feels like 5 years ago, I think we are all due to learn something … Continue reading →