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Intro I'm starting the year with an update of my previous brush bundle: it was starting to feel a bit outdated compared to what I'm actually using. Even though it looks mostly the same, under the hood all brushes got a lot of improvements. Gallery Changelog: Added 8 new brushes. Kept the design, and color code by groups Refactored pressure sensitivity curves: the bundle is now more linear. Fixed glitches …

It’s our first lazy weekend open thread of the new year…talk about anything you like — the fragrance you’re wearing today, the last fragrance you tried and put aside for different weather, whatever. Or, ask a question about fragrance, then see if anyone else has asked a question that you can answer… Read the rest of this article »

A selection of SF volumes acquired over winter break! Which books/covers/authors intrigue you? Which have you read? Disliked? Enjoyed? 1. Flesh, Philip José Farmer (1960) Gerald McConnell’s cover for the 1st edition From the back cover: “Spaceman by DAY… MONSTER by night! Peter Stagg was caught in the vilest trap ever devised–his own lust-driven body! For FLESH is the pulse-stirring story of a space explorer’s return from the strangest voyage …

Andrew Grima, Brooch, 1968. Made of gold, tourmaline and diamonds. Photo Tony Walsh. Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim / Cincinnati Art Museum.

Beloved duo Wallace and Gromit returned to our screens at Christmas, 34 years after their first appearance on UK television, in their second feature-length film, Vengeance Most Fowl. Group blog (-slash-arts-magazine) It’s Nice That recently interviewed creator and director Nick Park, co-director Merlin Crossingham and supervising animator Will Becher about the plasticine pair’s legacy and creating their new adventure. The movie sees the return of arguably the series’ best baddie, …

A werewolf walks into a bar and …. No, that’s not a joke. It’s the opening scene of a 1956 low-budget film with the straightforward and generic title of The Werewolf. And if you’ve seen other werewolf films, you’ll guess … Continue reading →

Recently, I did myself a favor and bought a little Beelink SER5 Pro Mini PC a home server to run some services I use on my home network and also to run some development containers. With this shiny new home server, I also wanted to set up some offsite backups for it. I asked on Mastodon for suggestions and got tips to use borgbackup and restic. Both are reasonable suggestions …

The black poplar or velvet pioppino mushroom is a nutty tasting fungi with elegantly long, chewy stems. Although they can be hard to find, they've started to gain some popularity as a boutique mushroom in the U.S. and are worth seeking out. In this post we'll look at their background, why they're hard to find,... Read More The post Black Poplar or Velvet Pioppino Mushroom appeared first on Forager | …

By Evlyn MoreauSelf PublishedBasicLevel ... 4? The oasis is filled with cactus sprouting large yellow flowers. The water flows between a cave mouth and a sandstone crevasse. This 42 page adventure describes about twenty locations in and around desert oasis With Shit Going Down. Creature creativity abounds with an occasional turn of a phrase that is wonderful, but it can’t sustain that and doesn’t support the situation it wants to …

Lots of good bits in this feature on Caryl Phillips. Phillips, 66, knew the loose ends demanded a novel “because the engine room for fiction, for me, is character. If I hear a character’s voice or if I can imagine what anxieties a character might have, then I figure I’m dealing with fiction. A piece of non-fiction can take a walk around a subject. But as soon as you start …

Community is a word you hear a lot in Lambeth. Easy to say, but a lot of hard work to create and continue. Alan Slingsby met three people who have put in that hard work and explain how they got help and support that are available to anyone in the borough who is or who wants to […]

Welcome to 2025's first edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc's review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts! We're catching up on some of our favorite artists adding albums to stream and download, plus country soul and remixes aplenty - as well as a list of resources to […]

Why are UK infrastructure projects so expensive, and what can be done about this? To what extent is the rise of the far-right the result of economic stagnation? How can we raise economic growth given that we're close to full employment and so ordinary deficit financing would be inflationary? How do we divert labour towards construction, social care and public services without accelerating pub closures and high street decline, both …

A great piece by Riccardo Mori on the walls slowly closing in on bootable backups on macOS. When I started using Linux full-time for my personal computing last year, one of the things I’ve missed most was the ability to easily backup my system. Time Machine is such an incredible feature and there really isn’t anything like it on other operating systems. But just as important to me as Time …

I have a feeling that 2025 is going to be a year of reflection for me. It’s such a nice round number, 25. One quarter of a century. That’s also how long myself and Jessica have been married. Our wedding anniversary was last week. Top tip: if you get married in year ending with 00, you’ll always know how long ago it was. Just lop off the first 2000 years …