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In her memoir about her father André, the famous mathematician, and her aunt Simone, the even more famous saint, Sophie Weil says the following: My father often said that Jews could be divided into two categories: merchants or rabbis. Naturally he classified himself, along with his sister, in the latter category, shich did not keep him from taking pride in almost always selling what he called his “modest merchandise,” or …

In my twenties, the 'twenties – by which I mean the 1920s – seemed the height of art, film, decadence, glamour, and romance.I'm not sure I was wrong.The decade also saw the the height of the novel, though perhaps not in Canada. My CanLit profs assigned works by Mazo de la Roche, Frederick Philip Grove and Martha Ostenso. How they paled beside Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Forster, Hemingway, Joyce, Wharton, and Woolf! …

2024 was a transformative year, marked by both challenges and cherished moments. My journey began with my work on Gemini at Google, an experience that allowed me to collaborate with brilliant minds and contribute to innovative features. However, after several years, I felt a growing desire to make a more direct impact—a feeling I'd been contemplating as I wrote this blog post.This prompted the difficult decision to leave Google and …

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Happy Public Domain Day!On an unrelated note, I would like to take this opportunity to announce my new creator-owned comic book "Horace Horsecollar Fights Popeye and Tintin."

Hey everyone!This is the list of all the changes we've done to our projects during the month of December. Summary Of Changes 100r.co, updated the documentation for our various projects. Left, added support for unicode input(Mastodon). Rabbit Waves, added a page on Air to Ground Signals. December Adventure, collected Devine's code experiments. Before diving into the ins and outs of the past year, we'd like to begin by sending our …

some notes from myself to myself. take whatever is useful Happy New Year. Here’s a message from Greg Plitt. Watch it. Do something. Stop wishing. Go to the gym. The gym is the single physical activity you can do that will bleed over into every other aspect of life. If there’s anything left carrying over... continue reading >

. After Napoleon III, Empress Eugenie, and the Prince Imperial, let’s add yet another profile of a Bonaparte who imprinted their personal style on 19th-century Paris: Princess Mathilde. If you were to design the exemplary French princess of that time, you probably wouldn’t come up with Princess Mathilde Bonaparte. For one thing, she had an unfortunate habit of saying exactly what she thought. This in Parisian high society was about …

Increased ridership on electric trains, lower costs for electricity than forecast, and financial discipline have improved Caltrain’s financial outlook, but not nearly enough to prevent the need for new funding. Caltrain’s finance committee got a first look at a draft operating budget for FY2025 and a draft 10-Year Strategic Financial Plan on December 16. Electric service – lower than expected electric costs, higher ridership The cost of electricity was a …

In a New Year message, the author shares their Goodreads "My Year in Books" infographic, reflecting humorously on their reading accomplishments and a lack of compliments. They met their goal of reading 120 books and mention winning four contests. They express hopes for future reading challenges and share well wishes for the upcoming literary year. Continue reading → The post 2024: My Year in Books: The Infographic first appeared on …

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Harry Langdon is over a barrel (actually, several of them) in 'The Strong Man' (1926).The New Year in silent film accompaniment starts for me on Monday, Jan. 6, when I'll do music for Harry Langdon's great comedy 'The Strong Man' (1926) at the Garden Cinema in Greenfield, Mass. Details and more info about the screening are in the press release pasted below.But before we plunge headlong into 2025, I'd like …

Every woodworker knows the frustration sliding workbench, especially when you’re in the middle of a satisfying hand planing session. Instead of fighting with your workbench, why not ground it properly? In my latest video, I share simple and effective techniques to stop your workbench from moving around the workshop. These are practical solutions that any hand tool woodworker can implement. Check out the video to learn how to keep your …

Formal evening dress, cover of Delineator magazine, December1899 On New Years Eve, 1899, ladies who bought Butterick patterns had these choices or gowns for balls and parties. Butterick Gowns for New Year’s Eve, 1899. Delineator magazine. On January 1, they could start the New Year in chic winter outfits…. January 1900 Delineator. Cover image. More Modish toilettes for January 1900. Butterick patterns from Delineator magazine. Plaids were chic. Delineator, January …

Unlike the assembly of some of my more recent year-end favorite photo lists, I can’t bemoan a lack of options this time around. My curated “not-so-short” list of personal photo favorites from 2024 on Flickr ultimately topped out at 62 entries. Even with all those images to choose from, whittling the list down to a top ten didn’t take as long as I thought it might. As it turned out, …