Recently updated blogs

Hard to believe another year has rolled around–it seems like five minutes ago I was preparing this annual overview for 2023. As always, it’s been a busy year of writing scams, publisher implosions, exploitative contract terms, and more. A UNIVERSE OF WRITING SCAMS An Influx of Impersonators As in the past few years, impersonation scams were among the most frequent types of fraud reported to Writer Beware. And as always, …

I’ve never been a big fan of New Year’s resolutions. I am too aware that they’re just mind tricks: whatever we’re trying to change on January 1st is just as hard to change as it was on July 23rd. The human brain is fascinating, though, and mind tricks can work wonders. People can believe crazy things, and it’s that mindset that has propelled some of history’s greatest achievers to do …

Helloooo!! A happy new year to you all, and welcome to another colourful blanket journey! As always I am so thankful to start the year with a wonderfully absorbing and relaxing crochet project, and if you've decided to jump on board and sail down the canal with me this year, then I hope you're going to enjoy every minute of the journey. I was talking to you about my boaty …

Michael Crider (Hacker News): The big story in PC gaming for the last three years has been the Steam Deck. This low-power, portable, relatively inexpensive machine is clearly something the market has been waiting for, exciting gamers and energizing PC makers to pump out imitators, like the Asus ROG Ally and the Lenovo Legion Go. But all of these machines lack a crucial component, despite copying the Steam Deck’s hardware …

Like a lot of boys, I grew up loving trains. And like a lot of men, I retain my fascination for them today. Once upon a time, I could happily spend hours and hours with my Lionel locomotives. They were, back in that era at least, satisfyingly heavy, made out of the same good solid iron as the full-sized models they imitated; they even smoked the same as the real …

I paged through this illustrated retrospective of Hayao Miyazaki’s work at the bookstore a few months ago and it was gorgeous. “The book is artistic biography, aesthetic treatise, creative process explication, and celebration of the filmmaker’s work.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →

This recent paper has a rather unexpected finding that could have some bearing on antiviral therapies. It's well established that viruses come in with a pretty minimal set of proteins to code for, and hijack as much of the host-cell machinery as they can in order to replicate. Many antiviral drugs are targeted towards such viral enzymes, since these targets have the advantage of (usually) not looking too much like …

As part of an ongoing webinar series on transportation policy in Massachusetts, Transportation for Massachusetts (T4MA) recently hosted three transportation budget experts for a timely discussion on how the Commonwealth funds its public transportation systems, from the subways of the MBTA to rural vanpools that connect small towns. The event was part of the “People’s Caravan” series, which T4MA is sponsoring to give advocates a more detailed understanding of the …

Fez Carpet marketBob CromwellLet me examine some of the connections between Morocco and Europe I was familiar with. Visitors to the Paros Gallery in Greece should see the Sèvres Imperial Hunting tea service 1812, commissioned by Napoleon as a gift his second wife Empress Marie-Louise. The porcelain and silver gilt cups, saucers and pots each have an individual hunting scene, painted by French artist Jean Francois Robert. Each object slotted …

This blog post accompanies part 2 of a three part series where we explore the CDS Plugin mechanism in CAP Node.js to find out how it works. In part 1 we looked at the plugin mechanism itself and how it worked. In this part we use the cds REPL to start our CAP service running and to explore it - to introspect it. For information on the series and links …

To be tired of London is to be tired of life, as goes the famous quote, so much is there to discover. The tabletop scene is no exception, and those not from ‘round 'ere will be glad to know that while the solutions available used to make a much murkier prospect, these days you’re spoiled for choice when it comes to dice rolling in humble London Town. Behind the noise …

Washington is blanketed in snow just rarely enough that it’s a big deal. You want to go for a peaceful walk the first day, have a snowball fight, do some sledding. For the photographically inclined, you want to get some frames to remember. 2024 lookback Before we get to photos this week, let’s take a minute and recognize everyone who contributed to Photo Friday posts in 2024. A whopping 50 …

Qodoesen is now selling an accessories package for their DX-286 and it looks like an incredibly good deal to me. This package includes: Canvas Carry Bag with Velcro closure Telescopic Whip Antenna 2 Rubber feet Battery Cover 2 Flip stands All for $10 (which would be a good price for the whip antenna alone). See this package at Amazon: Jay Allen

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting Инес Масуки ...🚭, or Ines Lauria, chose this single picture for her Flickr showcase and it’s an apt choice as it very much captures her sensibility. Despite the “No Smoking” symbol in her account handle, it’s a bit of work to find a picture of her without a cigarette. She seems very much the laconic, cool young …