Recently updated blogs

After the doom and gloom of the previous post, you’ll be relieved to learn that I've got something a lot lighter for today. Yesterday was the first Pub Friday, not just for January, but for the coming year, and despite freezing conditions I headed off to explore a location I’d only visited on a handful of occasions. Naturally there was a pub involved as well, and it was one that …

It's been COLD. Cold weather always reminds me of being a kid because the home I grew up in was cold. It was a council house, and had a gas fire in the front room (what people call a living room these days) and one in the kitchen. The rest of the house? Nothing. The beds had many blankets. We got central heating and double glazing (along with an indoor …

The Bangkok to Ban Klong Luk Border train service goes from Bangkok Railway Station (Hua Lamphong) to the Thailand-Cambodia border in Aranyaprathet. There are two trains a day in each direction, but the early morning service (Train No. 275) is the best if you are planning onward connections in Cambodia. Train number: 275 Service: Ordinary Depart Bangkok: 5:55 am Arrive Ban Klong Luk Border: 11:17 am Total travel time: 5h …

It felt like a great privilege to be at Cafe Oto last night to hear the Schlippenbach Trio — Alexander von Schlippenbach (piano), Evan Parker (tenor saxophone) and Paul Lytton (drums) — make a rare appearance in London in front of a capacity crowd. This is a group that has existed since 1972, with one personnel change: Lytton’s arrival some years ago to replace his great friend Paul Lovens, who …

China’s Shenzhou-19 crew — Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong, and Wang Haoze – have been carrying out an array of space station assignments, including an in-orbit test for a pipe inspection robot. The three-person crew was rocketed to the country’s space station on October 30 for a six-month mission. As reported by China Central Television (CCTV), […]

Sunday is Nutrients day, because it is still early in the seedling stage I wanted to come in on the low side.Target: EC pH 0.80-0.90 6.0-7.0Today EC 0.70 pH 6.01 Water temp 68F Tent temp 72F

A few months ago, I experienced the joy of celebrating my thirtieth birthday with several friends and loved ones. It was an occasion that brought forth tremendous gratitude from deep Read more The post “The Power of Disillusionment: Reflections on History, Adulthood, and Access to Knowledge”: Scott Richard St. Louis on Peter Baldwin’s *Athena Unbound: Why and How Scholarly Knowledge Should Be Free for All* first appeared on Society for …

The only consistency I want is to be inconsistent You'll often see comments from "collectors" of art how an artist should be consistent; they should create work that is instantly recognisable as "their" work. I've always felt this is lazy, simplistic thinking, coming from a place of comfort – a word which is at odds with all things creative. Over the years of my career I've created prints, made books, …

A few months ago, I wrote about my first exploration into the world of mechanical keyboards, and said, at the time, “am I going to turn into a keyboard nerd?” At that point, I’d found that mechanical keyboards can be extremely practical, that I found them much, much easier to type on than a cheap stock keyboard; but I was very wary of how keyboard nerdery can turn into something …

We spent Saturday night exploring the pubs of Easton in Bristol, revisiting some we’ve not been to for a while, and one completely new to us. Easton is a couple of neighbourhoods across from ours. It’s got a reputation for alternative culture – anarchists, punks, hippies and graffiti. But, like most places in Bristol, it’s been gentrifying rapidly and its many small terraced houses are increasingly likely to be painted …

HunBjørn Love Me Harder With smooth-yet-android-like bleeps and analogue synth bass tones, HunBjørn’s latest single Love Me Harder opens with a cool, stripped back electronic aesthetic. Combining those with HunBjørn’s shimmering vocals serves to enhance her sense of humanity, but rather than appearing vulnerable amidst so much technology, she sounds augmented, emboldened, and enhanced by it. It is as though those synthesisers and drum patterns have adhered themselves to her …

As a founding member of the Young Voices Council, Emaan has been at the forefront of youth advocacy for futures literacy and climate action. Over the past few months, she has taken this passion to the global stage, participating in crucial climate conferences including COP29. Her journey exemplifies how young voices can shape international dialogue on critical issues affecting our collective future. Here, she shares her powerful experience at COP29: …

Timing is everything in pop culture. Though Denis Villeneuve’s Timothée Chalamet-starring Dune Part 2 was considered by many space geeks to be an Oscar-worthy Science Fiction masterpiece, it was released near the beginning of February 2024. Any spiced melange buzz it may have created at that time will have fizzled with the last minute contenders like eighties ‘pop-corn actress’ Demi Moore, who is currently having a moment with her Golden …

Hey everyone, this post is for everyone, but it’s a part of a new series I’m doing on More Birchtree where I review the books and games I read and play in 2025. My movie reviews have been a relative hit on social media for the last few years, and while nothing will change with those, I did want to share more suggestions since movies aren’t the only medium I …

Here are J. M. W. Turner's The Fall of an Avalanche in the Grisons (1810) and an explosive rock fall in Victor Kossakovsky's new essay film Architecton. I watched the latter from the safety of my cinema seat, immersed in the noise and right up close to the violence of rocks crashing down and smashing into themselves. As Burke said of the Sublime, where you are not at risk of …