Recently updated blogs

Those who follow my blog know that I like a lot the 400 m hurdles event. All the more so, since the decathletes have a fascination for this gruelling event. I have posted on several occasions articles on the low hurdles and there are frequent references to the ones I call the musketeers of the 400 m hurdles. This article is inspired by a post on the World Athletics site …

I stumbled upon an article on the Spartacus Educational website this morning about the JFK assassination and realized I was looking at the deepest of rabbit holes—a better organized rabbit hole than that of Wikipedia—which is saying something. There’s a ton of stuff to dig into there, on a site whose design dates back to about 2002, which is oddly comforting.

content warning: child abuse When I was 13, a grown man beat me up. A doctor had to photograph my body for the police. It was evening in the children’s hospital. A dark, hospital blue across the interior design, like the sky needed picking up too. The doctor’s office was bigger than I would have liked, already feeling overexposed after I’d taken my school shirt off. I avoided eye contact …

...it gets very peaceful. Boats aren't moving, and the ducks congregate in swim-holes, keeping them open with their splashings around.I had to defrost my bike before cycling down into Bath, so I decanted the hot ash from the stove into a bucket, then put it under an old overcoat on the handlebars. And the gears and brakes presently started working again.I was getting a bit worried, because I was down …

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 …