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This Dickens classic is an annual treat, or a Christmas trial — depending on your point of view. At the Old Vic, it was adapted by Jack Thorne in 2017, and like the holly and the ivy has been a hardy perennial ever since. Here Scrooge has been played by stars such as Rhys Ifans, Paterson Joseph, Stephen Mangan and Christopher Eccleston. This time it’s the turn of John Simm. …

A coworker asked how React Islands work and I realized it's a technique I've been using to modernize monolithic web codebases for years, but never wrote down how it works.

It was an early morning, late September; a fine morning to be out by the rails. The morning started with a ballast train bombing through Diamond at six AM, darkness enfolding all.

Monday Sunrise 7:23am “Don’t let her fool ya. She’s a fucking demon behind those eyes”. I look again at the fluffy white pup, ten weeks old with bright blue eyes. Her owner – late teens, early twenties – stopped first, so I turned back to oblige, to chat. He tells me the dog, Lenka, is a fucking nightmare. But it’s clear he loves the whole ordeal. Lenka rotates her head …

The UK is cutting its armed forces (again). While the cuts to a large extent does make sense here and now, it is still baffling that the forces have managed to put themselves in this position, and that the government refuses to fund the scope of capabilities it wants to have – including most crucially funding personnel. In today’s world, most of us have recruitment and retention issues, but some …

As you certainly know I am following closely the site Décapassion and I stumbled upon a reference to a (somewhat old) article by Petros Kyprianou. For those for whom the name does not ring a bell, Kyprianou (a Cypriot) is the current Director of Track & Field and Cross Country at the University of Illinois. Previously he was head coach of the University of Georgia. He is a specialist of …

It’s finally the weekend — and perhaps, the last bit of calm before the holiday storm. We’re relaxing with our standard open thread poll. Talk about anything you like — the fragrance you’re wearing today, the fragrance that helps you keep calm despite various holiday hassles, whatever. Or, ask a question about fragrance, then see if anyone else has asked a question that you can answer… Read the rest of …

In The Dispossessed, the people of Annares—a moon colony founded by exiled anarchists—speak a language called Pravic. It is an invented language, created by the first settlers, who one imagines were interested in the ways in which language both circumscribed and made possible different ways of being with one another. In Pravic, ammar (plural ammari) means “brother” or “sister.” It is genderless, and used to refer to anyone regardless of …

Ten years ago today my astronaut friend Samantha Cristoforetti began her first space flight. On November 23, 2014 she was launched aboard the Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft for a mission to the International Space Station. I had the privilege of helping Samantha with a public outreach project to share this adventure. Shortly after the announcement of her mission in early July of 2013, Samantha decided on a way to tell the …

Little known outside of Italy and Europe, chestnut flour (farina de castagne) has been a staple crop in Northern Italy for thousands of years. At roughly four times the price of wheat flour it's a very special ingredient worth getting to know. Today we'll go over what it is, how homemade flour differs from store-bought,... Read More The post How To Make Chestnut Flour, And What To Do With It …

Brian Collins is among the most provocative bloggers writing about science fiction and fantasy today. They should be considered for a Hugo for best fanwriter.Through their blog, the 28-year-old New Jersey native tackles topics that vary wildly between more staid fare such as the value of reading old science fiction, to more incendiary ideas such as the role that military science fiction has played in rationalizing genocide. Their work tends …

I mean, it’s impossible to write about The Fast Show without quoting it. So let’s get them out of the way. Brilliant. I like this, when comedy worlds collide and remind me that sometimes shows that seem from different eras actually shared a schedule. Which is nice. The Stage – Thursday 13 November 1997 This one is more interesting from a TV history point of view. I’m amazed they were …

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AI Can Now Create a Replica of Your Personality James O’Donnell | MIT Technology Review “Imagine sitting down with an AI model for a spoken two-hour interview. A friendly voice guides you through a conversation that ranges from your childhood, your formative memories, and your career to your thoughts on immigration policy. Not long after, a virtual replica of you is able to embody your values and preferences …

This caught my eye in the New York Times the other day: That word, “cleaner,” wasn’t familiar–I imagined it meant what Americans would call a cleaning lady, a cleaning person, a custodian, a janitor, basically, something that sounded a bit fancier than what the job really is. “Cleaner” felt British to me, along the lines of “carer,” also not found in the U.S. (We would say “companion,” “care-giver,” or, wordiest …

“[45] In India there are wild asses as large as horses, or even larger. Their body is white, their head dark red, their eyes bluish, and they have a horn in their forehead about a cubit in length. The lower part of the horn, for about two palms distance from the forehead, is quite white, the middle is black, the upper part, which terminates in a point, is a very …