Recently updated blogs

This blog began twelve years ago and it began as a result of a walk in Tower Hamlets where I live. We were struck by just how much of what we saw was built by local government. That was true of housing most of all; unsurprisingly in Tower Hamlets where at peak in the early 1980s something over 80 percent of households lived in social rent homes. But there was …

4-5 January 2025London, UKOmen Star£90 (some £40 subsidised tickets also available) Last week I visited The Smoke, a two-day international chamber larp festival in London, organised and run by Omen Star. It’s very similar to the Immersion festival in Turku, Finland I wrote about last year. I wasn’t planning to do a full writeup of The Smoke because I am trying very hard to focus on the book I’m writing, …

In Scope of Work, Spencer Wright rides along with New York Times photographer Christopher Payne, on his visits to the MTA’s repair shops. The factories he visits are complicated, complex, kludgy. Factories take knowledge away from craftspeople and turn it into bureaucracy and institutional anxiety. Factories pollute our waterways. Factories take razor-sharp lathe swarf and try to convince us it’s jewelry; factories enlist workers to help someone else fulfill their …

First of all, I hate making mockups! But they’re essential for a good fit of the garment. I usually have to make more than one mockup before I’m finally satisfied with the fit: especially for form-fitting garments like corsets and tailored garments like jackets. ‘Two fittings for a simple garment, such as a house-dress, a plain shirt-waist, or a skirt, should be sufficient, if the garment has been properly prepared …

Though the standard narrative of 90s alternative hinges on the explosive success of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Gen Z pop star Olivia Rodrigo is known for having a different take: as she told the LA Times at the end...

First up – Happy New Year to everyone! I haven’t painted anything from my Dungeons and Lasers Woodhaven Kickstarter pledge in some time now. These pieces in fact were painted in November or December, and are in the round-up I recently posted, and so for the sake of my own completeness, here they are. These were originally started as part of Dave’s Season of Scenery challenge, as supplemental pieces to …

Wouldn’t you know, Orson Cart has been whittling away at his mobile home.

TL;DR I made a thing and think it’s cool. Have you ever wanted to send someone a link, not to a huge and confusingly-laid-out webpage, but to the one sentence that’s relevant to them? So have I. For technical people, this has sometimes been possible, by linking to subheadings. But many documents don’t have subheadings with IDs that can be linked to. I read a wonderful post by Caleb Hearth, …

Have you ever wondered how visa requirements between countries change over time? I certainly have. It all started when I was planning an international trip and needed to check if I needed a visa for the country I was visiting. A quick Google search gave me the answer, but it sparked a bigger question: How have visa requirements evolved over the years?I was wondering if countries are getting more relaxed …

This year, I feel like I’ve seen more Instagram and blog posts with this title than ever before. Setting up one’s planner for the coming year means different things to different people– for some, it seems to be an elaborate and labor-intensive process! I admire the creativity and care, and I’m sure beautiful, hand-crafted planner … Continue reading 2025 Planner Set-Up →

Join the Knife Steel Nerds Patreon if you want my next update on the Crucible situation as soon as we know what happens with the bankruptcy sale. Video YouTube video for the following information: The Current Production Path for MagnaCut and CPM Steels Crucible Industries makes steel (duh), specializing in powder metallurgy tool steels. They are located in Solvay, NY, near Syracuse. Any steel with a “CPM” in front of …

I was awake before the alarm and loaded the car in the dark. A cold morning, the grass was frosty and the windscreen needed a scrape before I left; proper Pike fishing weather according to some. But to be fair I’ve always found rivers do fish well in the cold, or maybe they are less adversely affected? Either way this was convenient because that was where I was heading, I’m …

Left in the corner Left behind by the wind, the left over leaves are on the left side of the stairs.

Back in December 'Winterfest' was launched on The Emporium of Rogue Dreams Facebook page. Build and paint an Eldar single model, unit or vehicle by 12th January. The Command Group category was my favourite category from the early 1990s Golden Demon awards. I loved seeing a tight group of four themed models, usually comprised of a selection of commanders, leaders, champions or musicians plus a standard bearer:David Knowles Squat Command …

Photograph by James Kocher. Photography Contest, Honorable Mention. Caligo teucer – owl butterfly, Bayer Insectarium, St. Louis Zoo, January, 2023. Mr. Kocher writes, "An example of mimicry coloration. Butterfly has recently emerged from a chrysalis partially composed of enrolled leaf (to right of the body)." See also: eyespot.