Recently updated blogs

Last updated 2 days, 14 hours ago i was about to say last week feels like 50 years ago, writing this wise at least, but i forgot that i did 25 hopes for 2025 last week! so never mind, time is moving at the usual pace. i posted my first short video! i want to record video replies to some of the comments, short video is hard, but in such …

Not something I expected to be saying today, but The Verge have made a 15min deep dive video into my blog post from the summer about modern walkmans being bulky. They’ve gone out and interviewed modern manufacturers to find out what’s going on, and it’s pretty interesting! Link here, and my original post here.

The first post of every year consists of reflection about last year. This time is about the 2024 year.

The cover of Cy Twombly: Homes & Studios, 2019/2020, available for retail at Gagosian and Karma While the arrival of Carlos Peris’s lovely book did not give me much to add on the subject of Cy Twombly’s photography, the arrival of Cy Twombly Homes & Studios has filled the content pipeline to overflowing. First, don’t sleep on such a book when it first comes out; I missed the hardcover edition …

There’s a stream that runs by the office where I work. The Winterbourne, its name a clue. It runs high and fast when the South Downs saturate and the chalk aquifers deep inside overflow. It’s an indicator of conditions on the Downs and it helps me decide my cycle commute. The office is in Lewes, East Sussex, and I live in Brighton. As the crow flies, or the busy roads …

The 2025 film awards season is officially underway, and we’re excited to bring you our roundup of the nominees in this year’s design categories. Over the next few weeks, we’ll deliver a series of comprehensive design-focused award lists, exploring the sets, locations, and furniture that make each film unique—from deserts and the Vatican to imaginary palaces and Brutalist masterpieces. We’re constantly inspired by the visionary work of the production designers, …

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts: Comfort Zone Niléane is out, so Chris and Matt are left to fend on their own. Chris steals like an artist and Matt defends a new purchase. Ruminate Some snack reviews from the festive period, Robb was on another podcast, and John is on his way to CES. Sponsored by Pika: Use code RUMINATE20 for 20% off your first year of …

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 …