Recently updated blogs

Remember when Mistborn: House War made the uncomfortable decision to cast its players as the eugenicist oppressors of Brandon Sanderson’s much-loved fantasy series? Oh, you don’t. Well, I do, and that’s the first thing John D. Clair’s Mistborn: The Deckbuilding Game has going for it. This time around, you’re an actual mistborn, a metal-guzzling, glass-dagger-stabbing, high-flying superhero in a goofy tassled cape. That’s all good stuff, but the real draw …

I think the My New Character/Chill Guy meme is the fastest I’ve turned on a meme. Indifference to loathing in days flat.

In the past week I had two people separately tell me what they thought the PSF Conduct WG did and both were wrong (and incidentally in the same way). As such, I wanted to clarify what exactly the WG does for people in case others also misunderstand what the group does.⚠️I am a member of the PSF Conduct WG (whose membership you can see by checking the charter), and have …

I just spent four days in Kansas City with a Kia EV6 rental car. It's something I've always wanted to drive and frequently considered as my next daily driver someday.Upfront, I want to state that I don't have any reflexive disgust for Kia that a lot of people I know do. They remember early Kias that hit American shores in the early 2000s and how cheaply made and unreliable they …

Last week Alice Brock of Alice’s Restaurant made her exit from Earth. I wrote a post about her long ago, but thought I’d add a bit more about her life, including more of her colorful quotations. She didn’t find running restaurants easy and made that clear in interviews and in her 1975 book My Life As a Restaurant. [photos by Jane McWhorter, from Alice’s book] In addition to opening and …

A Pioneer Thanksgiving by Barbara Greenwood, illustrated by Heather Collins, 1999. This book is part story, part history, and part craft and activity book. It tells the story of a particular pioneer family’s Thanksgiving celebration in 1841 to explain the sort of Thanksgiving celebrations that pioneer families would have at the time, and there are related activities and recipes to accompany the story. Everyone in the Robertson family helps with …

By David Tuller, DrPH A group called Canadian Guidelines for Post COVID-19 Condition (CAN-PCC) has released a new set of draft recommendations related to preventing, diagnosing and treating what is commonly called Long Covid. The current list of nine draft recommendations includes exercise and cognitive behavior therapy, which has understandably raised concerns among advocates for … Trial By Error: Canadian Group Seeks Feedback on Recommendations for Exercise and CBT for …

Morning walk, Pōneke.

All Hallows by the Tower is a must-visit church for any London history fans, but something that often gets overlooked is its unique tower. It’s literally a jigsaw of London through the centuries! The first thing to mention is the name. Sometimes called All Hallows Barking (more on that connection to Barking later) the ‘Tower’ used in its name today is the Tower of London, denoting the church’s proximity to …

When Maria Callas died in 1977 at the age of 53, the New York Times obituary called her "the most exciting opera singer of her time." Director Pablo Larrain's Maria presents Callas at her height only in flashbacks when the singer recalls previous triumphs. Known for Jackie and Spencer, the Chilean-born Larrain tends to focus his biographical efforts on well-known women at low points in their lives. In this case, …

Last year, instead of putting out a typical holiday gift guide, I put together a gift giveaway. It was fun, but I think I started it too late in the season, so I’m starting it early this year. Yours truly, in a scene from last year’s selection of the gift giveaway winner This idea came about mainly because I’m just one person with specific tastes who isn’t especially attuned to …

Mia Sato talks to two women whose similar aesthetic was shaped by Amazon product options, social media algorithms, and other larger influencers #

Although i still haven't dared yet to venture deeper into the kinda intimidating back catalog of Totowa, New Jersey act Monda, they have already made a lasting impression as a shapeshifting, restless creative force in constant flux over the course of this year. While this spring's Stiff Jumbo spazzed out gloriously and let its freak flag fly in short bursts of melodic noise and then, sumer's VIII saw them calm …

Week highlights: this was a pretty eventful week, with major new releases of Blender, FreeCAD, and Zrythm. Inkscape Rafał Siejakowski proposed an enhancement to Inkscape’s Node tool: being able to edit arcs in paths as arcs, with arc-specific controls: You can grab a build from the merge request’s pipelines. Blender 4.3 As usual, the new version of Blender arrived with a gazillion new features and improvements. There’s no competing against …