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The peasants in Anton Chekhov’s novella Peasants published in 1897 live unremittingly grim lives. Impoverished, they sleep on the floor in huts and are hungry, cold, and illiterate. The men drink heavily, increasing their poverty, and beat their wives mercilessly. They are dishonest, unbelieving, and conniving. They think that live was better before “freedom,” when they were serfs. Chekhov wrote the novella after five years of living in a village …

Finally, a good CAPTCHA.

Gidget Grows Up has been playing a number of times on the Cinevault channel on Roku over the past few months and I always happen to catch little bits of it but never had time to sit and watch it all the way through... until today, that is. Like many women, I grew up with the Gidget film series and have seen them all many times over. A lot of …

My first trip out of the new year, in which I spent a cold afternoon out and about in Manchester. Not surprisingly a few pubs were involved, including one that has only recently opened....If I have a spare few hours, fancy a trip out, but have nowhere specific to go in mind, I will tend to take myself over to Manchester. It's 40 minutes or so on the train from …

Walsworth Common, hard frost at sunrise.

A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about Tennyson’s “Lady of Shalott” and its resonance with our AI age (The Mirror Cracked: AI, Poetry, and the Illusion of Depth). In that post I explored how our experience of the world is increasingly mediated by technology, AI just being one (and the latest) variation. […]

Basically this is my version of a D&D fantasy setting, generic enough so I can slot in other peoples’ dungeons without much modification but weird enough to be interesting. Big sources of inspiration are the Fafhrd and Grey Mouser stories (Ziragzar is just Lankhmar), seventeenth-century India and America, and Ghibli fantasy. THE SUNDER is a continent which holds forests as old as the world and magic from the Outer Spheres. …

To no-one’s surprise 2024 was the warmest year on record – and by quite a clear margin. Another year, another data point. Unlike the previous year, 2024 was anticipated to be a record breaker even before it began (I predicted a record – despite the huge anomaly in 2023 – with a 55% probability). It did fall at the higher end of the prediction, so maybe we are seeing the …

Today's links The cod-Marxism of personalized pricing: From each to their ability, to each according to their need? Picks and Shovels Chapter One (Part 3): DEFINITELY not a pyramid scheme. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2020, 2024. Upcoming appearances: Where to find me. Recent appearances: Where I've been. Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em. Upcoming books: Like …

The first moment I was absolutely gleeful in Cornucopia was when I opened a spell-book in the starting area. >OPEN BOOK Opening the spell book reveals :- detect magic spell; dispel magic spell; purify water spell; dispel illusion spell; detect illusion spell; levitate self spell; detect evil spell. This is what you start with! This game is going to take a while. I have the rest of January blocked out. …

Commonly associated with the new year, Daruma dolls are a type of wishing doll considered an ornament but also a symbol of good fortune and the ultimate lucky charm. With its austere, rounded form, intense expression, and distinctive eyebrows, the Daruma doll was originally modeled after the 5th-century founder of Zen Buddhism, Bodhidharma. Japanese leather […] Related posts: Tsuchiya Kaban Creates Leather Randoseru For Dogs Tsuchiya Kaban Creates Leather Bag …

Colonel Jubilation B. Johnston and his Mystic Knights Band and Street Singers Attack The HitsColumbia, 1966"enigmatic" credits from the back coverNashville, 1966. After so many recording sessions for the Bob Dylan’s album "Blonde On Blonde » Bob Johnston, the producer and the musicians led by Charlie McCoy needed some relaxation, and also perhaps some kind of revenge. That’s understantable. That’s why they recorded in the process Moldy Goodies as by …

He's not still on about that holiday last month? Well yes, but even I am now growing tired of photos of blue skies and butterflies. (Haha! As if!) However I have to post these, the last of the holiday, so I can move on and post some dreary grey Scottish December/January outings. Yeah, I can't wait either.skinklarge hopper / locustBerthelot's pipitfeeding the lizards at the trackskinks on videoAnother day and …

I made a few pilgrimages to Los Angeles in the `90s when a couple of my friends moved out there (specifically to a bungalow in nearby Costa Mesa, as I discussed here). As a lifelong New Yorker, all I knew about L.A. was stuff I'd seen in movies and television, romanced by locales from films like "Repo Man," Penelope Spheeris' "Suburbia" and "The Decline of Western Civilization." I dutifully logged …

Borrowing the UK’s Shadow Cabinet idea and bringing it across the Atlantic is a good idea. Timothy Snyder: In a shadow cabinet, in Britain and Canada and elsewhere, parliamentarians from the opposition party follow the actual cabinet members, develop expertise in the relevant portfolios, and comment to the press. They remind the public that other policies and other approaches are possible, and get a chance to show off their skills. …