Recently updated blogs

I recently finished 10 years as a trustee (governor) at University of the Arts, London. As a leaving present they gave me these wonderful espresso mugs by ex Camberwell students 4AM studio, Haoran Bie, Shuyu Bai, Ying Qian and Jingnyu Wang. You can buy the mugs here.

Unless you’re retired, and maybe not even then.Assumed audience: Despite the programming languages in the opening, this applies outside tech and across industries. It is about careers, not about computers. Many years ago, when I was working at Olo, a colleague asked me, “Why are you interested in Rust? It’s not like we’re going to use that here!” Olo was and is a .NET shop, and my enthusiasm for Rust …

I have already seen the movie A Complete Unknown and enjoyed it very much. It took more than a week, however, for me to be reminded of one of the funniest things I have ever seen on youtube, which is highly relevant to the movie. Enjoy.History Unfolding

I did not expect to be moved to tears by my greenhouse, but there I was, this sunny afternoon, at my allotment, phoning my Longest-Serving Friend. 'It sounds like you're crying,' she said, her voice full of concern. 'I am,' I replied. 'Please don't worry - they're tears of joy.'I explained how I had replaced the panes of glass broken by Storm Darragh. She was delighted for me and felt …

(click on the image to see the full issue) Cover: Wham! Centrespread: Madonna Back cover: Morrissey Interviews: Ian McCulloch; Alannah Currie; Wham!; Gary Glitter Lyrics: Julia - Eurythmics; Shout - Tears For Fears; Step Off (Part 1) - Grandmaster Melle Mel & The Furious Five; And That's No Lie - Heaven 17; Resurrection Joe - The Cult; Sharp-Dressed Man - ZZ Top; I Hear Talk - Bucks Fizz; Valotte - …

The Buck Rogers Movement, April 1968, from left: Karl Larson (Carl Larson), Beverly Rogers, Buck Rogers, Rod Trembley, Cynthia Trembley, and Bill Wanat From Holyoke, Massachusetts, the Buck Rogers Movement cut three singles on their own 21st Century Records label in 1967 and 1968, then continued for a couple more years until tragedy struck. The first mention of the band I can find comes from the Holyoke Transcript-Telegram on September …

I have a new book coming out on Tuesday 7th of January: it's A Conventional Boy, a short standalone novel in the Laundry Files. (It takes place at roughly the same time as The Rhesus Chart.) It's published in the USA (and Canada) by Tor.com and in the UK (and EU) by Orbit. Both publishers are dropping hardback and ebook editions at the same time: as is usual Tor.com is …

I was going to keep posting light over the holidays and early January, with an ‘in and out’ list and things in that vein. But Jimmy Carter’s passing certainly occasions mention. First, though, in case you missed it, here’s the Eduwonk holiday book list (good books for any time of year) and the year-end Wonkyfolk. The conventional wisdom is that Carter was a better ex-president than president. There is certainly …

Hello. Over the coming year, I’ll be moving away from WordPress to jpreu.com using bearblog, a simpler and more intuitive blogging platform. Feel free to hop on over there and grab the RSS feed if you’re so inclined to watch the blog there. I’ve been with WP a looooong time so it will take a minute for this place to completely go away but you’ll start to see posts migrate …

I started working as a full-time artist when my kids were born. So for them, “Dad going to work” always meant me walking up the stairs to my home studio. I have learned to not underestimate the importance of that simple act — them seeing me work as a professional artist. Doing something creative as a career is a rare thing, and kids seem to understand that, and appreciate its …

Similarly to previous years, it’s time to share my musical habits throughout 2024. Around a month ago, I published my Spotify Wrapped 🎁, but, as usual, I don’t trust it completely. If they’re sharing it before the end of the year, how can it successfully show the statistics for the whole year? Here I am again, with my (almost) complete data from Last.fm. 📊 Statistics Just like in previous years, …

In 2014, I talked with my friend and mentor Jason Santa Maria about an idea I had for a book about pricing for designers. I was 12 years into freelancing and 2 years into running my own agency, and I had learned a thing or two about the business side of design that allowed me to make more than triple the amount of income I had made prior. Coincidentally, Jason, …

La semana pasada del año pasado que se nos fue, quedé para comer con unos amigos en Badalona. Lo que ocurrió después te sorprenderá (no ocurrió nada). Leer más. Badalona. Cámaras: Ricoh GR IIIx. Comentar este post · Me gusta

What’s going on, Internet? I came into 2024 with a taste for West Coast IPA’s (WCIPA) as a continuation of 2023. My love for the WCIPA stemmed from disillusionment of the Hazy craze that has captivated the beer industry for the past half decade. Ramping up at Beervana 2023 I actively sought out WCIPA’s and shunned Hazy’s [1]. This trend continued into 2024 where I continued to hunt down WCIPA’s …

It’s that time of summer holiday again: reading and reflecting on books read in the past year, having blogged reviews on and off since 2012. For this year, I’ve selected only two books, but I’ll spend a few more words on them: Atlas of AI by Kate Crawford (2021) FOCUS – The ASML way. Inside the power struggle over the most complex machine on earth by Marc Hijink (2024) (original …