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"The Oak," observes Mr. Gilpin, "is confessedly the most picturesque tree in itself, and the most accommodating in composition. It refuses no subject, either in natural, or in artificial landscape. It is suited to the grandest, and may with propriety be introduced into the most pastoral. It adds new dignity to the ruined tower, and Gothic arch; it throws its arms with propriety over the mantling pool, and may be …

Pattern recognition is extremely fun and we love to do it. When I was a kid I loved archeology and dramatic histories of science (think “The Microbe Hunters”) and also anything about unexplained phenomena and scientific hoaxes, like UFOs or people spontaneously combusting or the original Mechanical Turk. And now I am spontaneously combusting myself as I have just read the most ridiculous fable! Google “news” shoveled a fantastic “science” …

New baby! 327g. Working with such a thickness took me a few days of adjusting details. A few imperfections, more than usual. I had to do some parts of the process in two steps. But I reached the goal of much bigger spine compared with the pages (+29%). This will help to balance the thickness once the notebook is eating notes, experiences and sticked alien stuff. The pages will get …

On January 1, 1925, at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington, DC, astronomer Henry N. Russell read a paper contributed by a young astronomer named Edwin Hubble. In this paper, Hubble announces that he has been able, for the first time, to measure the distance to some spiral-shaped “nebulae” (nebulae were fuzzy things in the sky — their nature was an unsettled question, as was their location.) …

Stratechery is on holiday from December 23, 2024 to January 6, 2025; the next Stratechery Update will be on Tuesday, January 7. In addition, the next episode of Sharp Tech will be on Monday, January 6, the next episode of Dithering will be on Tuesday, January 7. Sharp China will return the week of January 13. The full Stratechery posting schedule is here.

Further adventures of the Amiga port of Cecconoid! And this one's kinda crazy. Neil, from RMC, recently came across an Arcadia cabinet, Mastertronic's folly to make an arcade machine out of an Amiga 500. As part of the restoration, Ian decided to port Cecconoid over to it, and it is a thing of beauty. I got to play on it a couple of weeks ago, and honestly, wrestling the machine …

I’ve been going to Cross Fit classes for five years now, and even though I’m deep into my fifties, I have become stronger and have learned a number of skills, outcomes that have surprised me. It’s a remarkably effective system of education and training. My vocation is writing and not (yet) fitness influencing, however, so my progress in Cross Fit has sometimes led me to daydream about whether a system …

A short time ago I had a chance to visit the fascinating second floor of the Fishs Eddy store in New York. It is piled high with not-for-sale dishware of all kinds, collected by the store’s owner Julie Gaines. The collection includes restaurant ware from the golden past when this country still produced such things. (Tours of the collection, hosted by Julie, are given periodically and booked by the New …

Reading: Sea of Tranquillity by Emily St. John Mandel. It gave me scary dreams but I loved it. Audio: Christmas songs, from all my usual favorites, old and new. Video: The movie Conclave…great cast, gorgeous cinematography, plenty of plotting and scheming in a Vatican setting. (Tr)eats: Struffoli and panettone from our favorite bakery. Chocolates from Li-Lac (a gift). Drink: Sam Adams Holiday White Ale (nice citrusy notes!). Garb: A big …

Read more about Carville OLD COLONEL DAILEY lives in the midst of skeletons. More than that, he has built him a house of them. He has woven the great bones and the small bones into joists and rafters and beams. He has shingled with them and clap-boarded with them. They are his roof and his shelter. They are the skeletons of the great ships of the sea, the ships that …

Curveball is a server-side webframework for Node.js. I’ve been working on it for 6 years as a side-project, but it wasn’t successful and it’s time to let it go. This is a hard thing to do, because I probably have 1000’s of hours into this project, and there’s a strong sense of missed potential. I’m writing this article because my psyche requires closure in order for them to not take …

Just a little ways away from our house sits a tiny movie theater, a cozy spot with just three screens showing both modern releases and beloved classics. Recently, I've seen "Stand By Me", "Being John Malkovich", and "Halloween" there. Last night the line for "Nosferatu" stretched nearly out the door, the busiest I've ever seen the place.The theater's history stretches back to 1948, its bright neon marquee still illuminating the …

Not quite in the league of Loafer's big rudd boat but sometimes in the winter a real bonanza of a place. I'd packed the chub gear from yesterday as well as the pin rod and getting to the carp park and seeing swimmers and all sorts nearly set off up the path but in truth I'd rather give it a go up there with some regular baiting and the small …