Recently updated blogs

I've started editing/re-editing some family photos. Figure I'll post the images here as groups, and add to the posts as I get photos edited.These will be photographs related to Robert Call and Charlotte Joslin. Shared December 2024 I believe this is a Christmas card sent to my grandmother Evelyn Clara (Call) Hankins by her cousin Rosalind Daniels in 1941. She included photographs of two crayon drawings of their grandparents Robert …

'Once again, reading kept me going this year. I started the year recovering from an operation and seeking somewhere new to live. I was then made redundant in February and spent a good few months searching for work. Professional losses and personal losses have combined to make the year something of a tumult, and reading has been an anchor. Except when I read something I hated.'

Training classes can be an excellent opportunity for your dog to learn new skills, build duration and resistance to distraction, become proficient in working through various levels of difficulty and distraction, burn energy, gain confidence, and build your relationship. When looking into finding a class, the first question to ask is: What are you looking to accomplish? Are you looking to build new obedience skills? Give your dog an extra …

It's only a few days until 2025. That means one thing: it is time for my yearly tradition of reviewing… some of my year. I'll cover work, conferences, reading, writing and music. This will inevitably sound cheesy, but I am once again genuinely grateful for the opportunities I got… there were fun projects at work, I got to see some of my dearest artists live and I got to share …

As we approach the end of 2024, we’re looking back at our past year in publishing and the articles we’ve shared with you—including essays on the pleasures of ensemble acting, the golden age of giallo filmmaking, and the history of Times Square as a cinematic setting, as well as in-depth conversations with pioneering directors Lizzie Borden and Ayoka Chenzira. Enjoy this selection of twelve highlights, and be sure to check …

Hey everyone, hope you had some lovely holidays! It’s been a while since I did an “On The Table”, so let’s clear my backlog of what I’ve played before heading into the new year. For those that don’t know me: “On the Table” is my short, quick impressions format for games where it’s either way too early to write a full review or I decided they are not for me …

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 …