Recently updated blogs

This post adds another chapter to my previous series of posts on line signatures in maps. Back in the first part of the series i explained and illustrated how the sophisticated techniques in using line signatures in pre-digital maps have practically largely been replaced by rather primitive line drawing in digital map production. And i showed some methods how you can, in digital rule based map design, work around these …

The Trump administration has made aggressive threats against immigrants in the US. It’s not clear what’s coming, my biggest fear is a violent display of fascism. (Don’t call them camps!) But even if it’s a polite legal process it will be chaotic and disruptive to many neighbors. Back in 2018 I donated reactively to the Trump administration’s cruelty to immigrant families. This time I’m trying to get ahead of it. …

You wouldn’t know it was the very end of November from the verdant hydrangea leaves. History is about to be made. The latest recorded first frost I could find for our area ranges from November 23 in Bellingham, 15 miles north, to November 29 in Everett, 40 miles south of us. Today is November 27, and there is no frost in sight, even through December 6, when the high is …

Book Now Available [limited] & Paperback Launching February 10, 2025. It took over a decade, but perhaps that timing is perfect? There is much concern and plenty of gloom-and-doom about the future. I’m reminded of one my favorite M*A*S*H episodes in which Hawkeye jumps upon on the table, bangs his tray, and leads a chant of “We Want Something Else.” This isn’t just another book about what’s wrong with capitalism; …

One of the most enduringly popular articles on this website (at least in terms of clicks and re-posts) is a very early one, from 2013. It concerns the graphic identities created for Railtrack’s major stations by Citigate Lloyd Northover. These ones… Firstly – have I really been writing this website on and off for that […]

Tirzah Garwood, untitled embroidery (woman watering)It's always gratifying to get some press for an exhibition, but the reviews of Tirzah Garwood: Beyond Ravilious have been particularly enjoyable. Writers seem to have enjoyed coming face to face with an artist they haven't really seen before, and to have been affected by Garwood's peculiar magic as I was and as visitors to the gallery seem to be. We're not making claims about …

A few years back a little small-goods store opened down the road. They had pricey hams and smoked meats, fancy cheeses and an array of handmade artisanal stuff in jars. The absolute star of the show for me was the marmalade they made themselves – super chunky bits of peel and a perfect blend of sweetness and sourness. I would frequently just take a teaspoon from the jar, but my …

You are asking, “Where are you? Are you okay? Are you still blogging?” In TikTok parlance, “Great questions. Let me tell you.” First, this standard TikTok pattern is one I find really interesting. It fills in he politeness / nicety gap that has become common in the last decade or two, where people jump into answering questions. This nod to thanking the person asking encourages questions and puts people at …

Sometimes (a lot of the time) I’ll look back at my blog posts and realize that there’s some really big thing I’ve been doing or working on that would have made for an interesting blog post, and while I might post about them on my socials, like Mastodon or Tumblr, I won’t ever remember to … Continue reading "Pixel Prints and Other Gaming Crafty Things"

As a lifehacky person, I’m always on the lookout for items that might seem boring but secretly make life lots better. I’ve noticed people sharing similar lists to this, and I find them genuinely useful, so I thought I’d create my own. The method was simple: I went back through all of my Amazon purchases forever and picked out ones which have genuinely added to life. They are things I …

In the past week I had two people separately tell me what they thought the Python Software Foundation 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), …

Staff engineer onboarding is about building relationships, understanding priorities, and delivering early value while aligning with the organization’s goals.

Two years since becoming that much-elegized category of expat—the American in Paris—I’m starting to come off an early obsession: the near-constant comparison of my new cultural environment to my former one. It started benignly enough, as in my manic hunt for a Paris coffee shop channeling Brooklyn circa 2013, but soon my comparative mindset had alighted on an arena that involves much more risk for gross generalization and even grosser …

If you grow up in England, you know about rain. You know about heavy rain, light rain, drizzle, mizzle, and mist. You know about the kind of rain that slaps you in the face, the kind of rain that comes at you sideways, and the kind of rain that is invisible and still makes you wet. You know about the rain that makes you hot, the rain that makes you …

Fuck Time Fuck Space by Spooky Jaguar