Recently updated blogs

Reading this week: The Adventures of Ibn Battuta by Ross E. Dunn The Travels of Ibn Battutah, abridged, annotated, and with a forward by Tim Mackintosh-Smith Sierra Leonean Heroes A little bit ago I once again found myself in Kinshasa, and this time the big adventure was going to Lola ya Bonobo! It was a lot of fun. Lola ya Bonobo is a sanctuary for orphaned bonobos. The name in …

Here are our hand-selected favorites from eBay for this week, plus a heads-up on recommended sales. If you’re a member of the Inside Track, log in with your CrateJoy username and password. If you’re not a member, you can join now for just $5 a month. You’ll get access to one of these members-only lists every week, and your membership supports Put This On! The post Inside Track: November 24th …

In praise of all this and more. Read here.

It’s easy and lazy to bash the press; that’s why President-elect Trump does it. He also has plenty to hide, from his prior business dealings to his predatory sexual behavior. It’s also lazy to talk about the mainstream media and assert they are all the same; they are not. Over the last two decades, we’ve seen local newspapers decimated. While many still exist, they are no longer able to staff …

Amerie album The name Amerie first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in 2002: 2006: 110 baby girls named Amerie 2005: 162 baby girls named Amerie 2004: 67 baby girls named Amerie 2003: 111 baby girls named Amerie 2002: 51 baby girls named Amerie [debut] 2001: unlisted 2000: unlisted It was one of the highest-debuting names of the year, in fact. Where did it come from? Mononymous R&B singer …

Some (hopefully) inspirational photos today. Starting with Vauxhall in 1933. How many ways of getting around are there in the picture? I reckon 9 – foot, bicycle, motorcycle (and sidecar) horse and cart, car, lorry, bus, tram and train. Now it’s just SUV. Atmospheric photos – Liverpool Street in 1950, and a London street in 1939. An E3 and a Maunsell diesel shunter at a busy Norwood Junction in 1939 …

Arkham House was founded in 1939 by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei to publish a memorial volume of the writings of H.P. Lovecraft. Soon afterwards Wandrei's participation diminished, and Arkham House was ruled by Derleth until his death in 1971. Afterwards, others stepped in, and the publisher morphed a number of times. After Derleth's daughter, April Derleth, died in 2011, the firm published

I realised just now that I entirely forgot (it seems) to post about an episode of PBS' show Nova called "Decoding the Universe: Cosmos" which aired back in the Spring. I thought they did a good job of talking about some of the advances in our understanding that have happened over the last 50 years (the idea is that it is the 50th anniversary of the show) in areas of …

Whenever temps start to fall one of three things happen, one we know the shortest day of the year is approaching, two I'll still be wearing shorts and t-shirts to work and three Grayling will be on my mind! Once again I had been invited to fish the river Wylye for Grayling by Mike and I could not pass up the opportunity. I had a sleepless night on Wednesday owing …

November 28, 1982[Authors’ note: 5CP posts generally are informal, like newspaper press releases. But as was the case with the original post on this subject, and because of the way this particular saga unfolded, a first-person approach seemed best. As a result, Derrick once again is stepping out from behind the curtain.]Before we get started, it would be helpful to first read the original article linked above; some of what …

Last time you heard from her, Krinn had just put out a tumblr post titled An Ad-Hoc, Informally-Specified, Bug-Ridden, Single-Subject Study Of Weight Loss Via Potassium Supplementation And Exercise Without Dieting. After losing 6 lbs in our Low-Dose Potassium Community Trial, she decided not to stop as planned but instead to keep going, and in fact go even harder. Eventually she ramped up to around 10,000 mg potassium a day, …

A Philippine Airlines 777 received a water-canon salute upon it’s inaugural arrival as flight PR124 at SEA On Oct. 2, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport added yet another international carrier and city to its service roster: Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL) via Philippine Airlines (PAL). The jet arrived after dark, allowing for some unusual and fun photo opportunities. The 777’s red strobes made some great lighting effects as the jet passed …

click to enlargeThe players find this somewhere in the megadungeon, showing how the areas connect, where the Gate of Six Keys is and where the keys are.

The people who found you in the alley called you Cowboy. We called you Moogs, Moogers, Moogerton, Mr Moogs, Meesta, Two Meestas, Beef, Roast Beef, Roast Beefy Weefy, Kitty, Kitty cat, Long cat, Kitty kitty, Pretty kitty, and Meow meow. Those were all your names. Today we had to say goodbye to our cat Moogs (pronounced “Moo” like the cow says + “gs”). He was nearly 19 years old, which …