Recently updated blogs

Minus 3 all the way to the Prancing PonyThe cold snap offers unexpected advantages to the year-round rambler. The usually treacherous mud in the horse fields is frozen firm, sparing one from the threat of trench foot. On the frost-hardened ground, the ice holds the weight of a 14.5-stone man with just the faintest suggestion of splintering.But you've got to keep moving.Officially, I have finished the Rail Trails on the …

Since 1939 when I entered first grade in a Pittsburgh elementary school until becoming a nonagenarian last year, three national movements swept across American public schools: the Progressive Era (1890s-1940s); Civil Rights movement (1950s-1970s), and business-inspired standards, testing, and accountability reforms (1970s-present). As a student (1939-1951) I was the object of Progressive education reforms. As a teacher and administrator in Cleveland (OH) and Washington, D.C. (1950s-1970s) I designed and implemented …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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. …

Welcome to the first update of 2025 from the It’s Saturday morning once again so here’s another quick update of activity at the Open Journal of Astrophysics. For the new year we have started Volume 8. Since the last update of 2024 we have published four new papers which brings the total so far published by OJAp up to 239. In chronological order of publication, the four papers published this …

In a lush, wooded pocket in Rouen, France, a meditation space rests on the forest floor. Designed by Linfeng Zhou of Vancouver-based LFZ Studio, “Le Monde dans un Gland,” or “The World in an Acorn,” invites visitors into its shell to have a seat and reflect. Diamond-shaped, interlocking panels of marine plywood nest together to create the scaled cupule of the nut, which allows light to pierce through and cast …

Dear RW readers, can you spare $25? The week at Retraction Watch featured: Meet Retraction Watch’s two new journalists Elsevier denies AI use in response to evolution journal board resignations Biotech company agrees to pay $4 million to settle data falsification allegations Science paper by Toronto lab retracted The 14 universities with publication metrics researchers say are too good to be true Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers …

Walking Lucie on a cold, clear late afternoon, the temperature hasn't risen above plus one all day and there's no doubt that tonight it will drop to minus four or five. Fishing plans have been suspended because every waterway in the Fens has a coating of ice. The was one piece of clear water I noticed the day before, it was under a tree, and I could see fish moving …