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Candy is the penname of a doctor called Barbara Alison Neville (1925-1993) nee Boodson, who wrote several books, including three mysteries. Words for Murder is the final one, but the earlier two were: Which Doctor (1953) and Bones of Contention (1954). This was one of the books that I received from my Secret Santa. Synopsis ‘Little does Mr Roberts suspect, what he’s in for when he calls the roll for …

Looking back through the years, I have, more than once, used the terms "Super Bore" or "Stupor Bowl" to refer to the Super Bowl. The game is only a small part of what has grown to encompass special commercials made for the occasion, pregame and halftime concerts featuring superstar artists, and marathon analysis both before and after the game. (It doesn't hurt that there have actually been some pretty good …

A London walk through some of the most historic locations in the City of London We’re back to unpick more of the City of London’s stories and discover some of its treasures. This classic London history walk includes some of the City’s most important locations as well as its centres of power. We start by going in search of a plaque marking the site of Shakespeare’s lodgings in London and …

It happened again when I was bleeding out in a hospital in Conroe, Texas. We had flown in from Colorado to visit my parents the day after Christmas. My husband and my dad didn’t get along so well, but my mom had begged, pleaded, and then bribed us to come, paying for the plane tickets and a rental car because she was dying to meet Leila, our toddler. Because of …

I’m extremely delighted to announce that I have a new book on the way, which will be published in the UK on May 15th and in a North American edition in Spring 2026. Regular readers of my blog posts here will know that I live above the Prespa lakes, and it’s this place that sits … Continue reading Lifelines: new book announcement!

If all you want is weed to smoke in a bong the economics of home grown in a tent vs. store bought in a legal state doesn't favor home grown. As an example on 12/23/2024 I bought 1/2 oz of top shelf Cannabis (THC 31% on the label, tested to 28% by my test equipment) for $140 USD. I'm a daily bong toker, often wake and bake for pain relief …

Much of the Hawkeye comic I recently read takes place in and around a small apartment house in Bed-Stuy. The artist captured the feel quite well, without this necessarily being any particular building.

I'm making some attempts at painting the terrain. As I've mentioned before getting the colours right could be tricky because all I'm working from are my own travel photos, photos I've found on line, and memories from hikes on the Mt. Lowe trail. Then there are the colour shifts introduced by printing the reference photos on paper, or viewing them on a screen. Unlike the Loonar Module I don't have …

Knowing things is hard, even about the past. Over the years I have compiled pithy names for some of the reasons why this is. This week I decided to share them in the style of Andrew Gelman’s Handy Statistical Lexicon or Samuel Johnson’s dictionary. Right now many entries are blank or just link to other people’s websites and articles. If I ever turn these into a book, I will expand …

It's time for all Coffee Geeks to become fans of super automatics. Not for ourselves, but for the sake and benefit of capsule coffee users. The post Bean to Cup Machines: Nespresso Killers! appeared first on CoffeeGeek.

Hello friends! It has been a VERY long time since I’ve shown my face around these parts. But with the start of the new year, it is time to shake the dust off, pull my brain back together and get back to the business of canning and making connections with all of you. Enter the Community Canning Challenge! Twice in the past, I’ve hosted year-long challenges in which I would …

Without a doubt, the buzz surrounding the solo careers of Leigh-Anne, Perrie, Jesy, and Jade, all stemming from their time in the phenomenally successful girl band Little Mix, has been incredibly exciting. Yet I must admit, it is Jade’s artistry particularly in songs like “Angel of My Dreams,” “Midnight Cowboy,” and “Fantasy” that truly captivates me. Her diverse musicality and poignant, salty lyrics, drawn from her own experiences in the …

Every Saturday we round up the best writing about beer from the past week. This time we’ve got thistle glasses, more Kölsch, and an accidental cult beer. For a generation of British craft beer drinkers, this news carries some emotional resonance: Magic Rock Brewing is appointing administrators. It’s a brewery you could use to tell the whole story of the UK craft beer boom: family money, a talented brewer; launching …

From Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor, by Mark Harmon and Leon Carroll, Jr. (Harper Select, 2023), Kindle pp. 126-129: Lt. Col. Thomas Green, now the Hawaiian Department’s judge advocate, moves into Iolani Palace the day after Pearl Harbor. The man who wrote the rules governing the military administration is on hand to direct martial law operations. At …

On my recent post about Things and other task management apps, Tom Atkins pointed out that Todoist recently satisfied both of my particular requirements: repeat tasks a period after their completion date and (in the paid version) have both “when” and “deadline” dates. It also has a Kanban board view of lists, which I’d either missed when I gave the app a try a few months ago, or had forgotten. …