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20249″ x 11″ x 4″Bronze Discarded phones piling up waiting for the apocalypse. The post Planned Obsolescense first appeared on Doug McCune.

In our world, every copy of a photograph is the same. But in this world, every time you print a new photograph from a negative, the image subtly changes to show how the subject of the picture has changed in real life. That young oak overlooking the garden? In this new print, its branches spread even farther than when we took the original picture. The once peaceful garden? Faded from …

What can Americans do? What should Australia do? A few weeks ago, I drew up a flowchart to estimate the probability that Trump would establish a dictatorship in the US, which looked, at the time, like an even money bet. We don’t need to speculate any more. Trump has announced the dictatorship, and there is no sign of effective resistance. The key elements so far include Extremists announced for all …

My essay “From Justin Martyr to Alvin Plantinga and Back Again: Advice from the First Christian Philosopher” appears in the anthology Advice to Christian Philosophers: Reflections on the Past and Future of Christian Philosophy, edited by (and with an essay by) Christopher Woznicki. It’s a volume of articles inspired by Alvin Plantinga’s famous essay “Advice to Christian Philosophers,” which is included. Other contributors include Charity Anderson, Michael Austin, William Lane …

6 June 2024:Big news! Today we are announcing that Shopify is acquiring the Threads team.There are a million feelings and thoughts from this journey, but nothing more than gratitude to all of our users and customers for building with us, our investors for their unwavering support and guidance, and all of our friends and family who put up with the late nights, canceled plans, and the general roller coaster that …

The English alphabet includes only 26 letters. That’s one of the few limits to American baby-naming creativity and diversity—and we’re pushing its boundaries. Formerly rare letters like X are now popular, and new spellings and letter combinations continue to expand our name pool. Since the year 2000, 17 different letter pairs made their all-time debuts in US baby name statistics. Meet the new letter combos, and the names that introduced …

A new hat puzzle from Gribalko, reminding me of traffic lights. Puzzle. You and six of your mathematician friends each have a hat placed on your head. Each of you can see the hats of all the others but cannot see your own. You were all told that there were three red, three yellow, and three green hats in total, but two of them were hidden. Your friends began to …

This week, US Presidential candidate Kamala Harris announced that her choice to join her on the ballot as running mate is Tim Walz, who's currently governor of Minnesota.A number of people on Bluesky, in the …

Hearing rumours that the Americans have invented a holiday that is like Christmas, but exclusively the part where you get into arguments with your extended family. Fascinating.

A leader starts their management journey in reactive mode, and graduates to the strategic mode over time.

The National Panasonic R-2500B was sold between 1971 and 1974 and is a great example of old-school portable radio design. By that I mean it is SOLID with a heavy steel chassis and all discreet components. It is big and heavy and has no FM but covers AM from 525 – 1605 KHz and SW from 1.6 to 30 MHz in 4 SW bands. It uses 11 transistors and has …

San Gimignano is a tiny Tuscan hill town just an hour outside of Florence. People come to San Gimignano to enjoy its stone architecture and medieval towers; its museums and views — oh yes, and one particular gelato shop. San Gimignano is as touristy as Tuscany gets — but it’s still a fun place to visit. Planning your trip to San Gimignano last minute? San Gimignano is very popular, especially …

Rock and Jane in front of the picture window.All That Heaven Allows (1955). My second favorite Douglas Sirk film (after Imitation of Life with Lana Turner) stars Jane Wyman as Cary Scott, a wealthy widow in a New England town who falls in love with Ron Kirby (Rock Hudson), a younger man who works as a gardener. Their romance faces the disapproval of Cary’s snobbish children and her country club …

November 18, 2024 Tip of the Week How to Loop Against Deep, Heavy Backspin. MDTTC Open and My Books Here are the results of the MDTTC Open, held at my club this past weekend. Winning the Open was Stanley Hsu (2521), who recently turned 16. (He defeated MDTTC coach Bruno, rated 2558, in the final, 9,9,9.) In the semifinals were Mu Du (16, 2376) and Ryan Lin (just turned 15, …

Despite the best attempts to software to stop me, I recorded a take on Thom Yorke’s Black Swan which has been buzzing around my head the last few days. Your browser does not support the video element. I think this song and the rest of the album didn’t land properly for me when it was first released, but now I regularly come back to it. It’s understated compared to Radiohead …