Recently updated blogs

Early crankcase design flawThe crank and cases were largely unchanged during the long run of the 89cc Honda engine, the main change being to the kick-starter. I got to learn about these changes first hand when working on by CT90 which - although it is a 1969 model – came with an engine is from a late K0 model, dating from around 1968. The original kick-starter design fitted to the …

Thought experiments are powerful thinking tools. To clarify the perhaps most important characteristic of them, I like to think of them as existing at the intersection of thoughts and experiments. Here is an obvious Venn diagram to show that relationship. It has some clear implications. Experiments are specifically about testing hypotheses or ideas. You get to control variables and assumptions – the environment and context of your experiment – then …

Happy Sunday, everyone! Hopefully, the new year dust is settling, and everyone is finding their rhythm again as smoothly as possible.This week, apart from perusing news and previews from CES, I’ve been playing with Minitap, an open-source Chrome browser extension that’s a full-fledged digital sequencer and beatbox, and listening to this gorgeous live Ólafur Arnalds concert filmed in the Icelandic wilderness. I also really enjoyed this great essay drawing storytelling …

Our major exhibition, Medieval Women: In Their Own Words, features many examples of female figures working in professions and fields otherwise dominated by men. Among them, one woman’s story is particularly striking. Around the year 1403, the widow Joan du Lee sent a petition to Henry IV, King of England,...

I don’t know what’s coming as we’re now just days away from a major government transition. Everything already is starting to feel like it’s turning upside down. Deadly and devastating fires are burning through Southern California. Big Tech is currying favor with dangerous ideas and playing political games they’re not prepared or will likely accept responsibility for the lasting effects of — and there’s ominous clouds surrounding the future of …

The saga of one of the classic British sole manufacturers seems to be all. The owners of Itshide, perhaps most famous for their Commando rubber soles, has gone into liquidation, and all things points to this being the end for the over 100 years old Northampton-based company. With the industrialisation and development of rubber products in the late 1800’s, a lot of companies around the world started do produce rubber …

Evening all. This week I’ve been making a lot of things for the upcoming 7th birthday of E. She’s inviting over 7 friends and we’re going to decorate canvas bags, and assemble “bag charms” which are basically key-rings of knick-knacks that attach to a bag. The knick-knacks are all small plastic toys I’ve found in charity shops on London Road in Brighton. For example, seven cherubs, eight small My Little …

Hello, to-doers. A productive week, as it should be after all the blogging about productivity apps etc. I assigned tasks to days. I only left tasks sitting in “Today” if I was going to continue working on them the next day. I ended the week with nothing urgent hanging over the weekend. I did get a bit sidetracked when my monthly review of my various sites/projects involved me being unable …

The cargo cult metaphor is commonly used by programmers. This metaphor was popularized by Richard Feynman's "cargo cult science" talk with a vivid description of South Seas cargo cults. However, this metaphor has three major problems. First, the pop-culture depiction of cargo cults is inaccurate and fictionalized, as I'll show. Second, the metaphor is overused and has contradictory meanings making it a lazy insult. Finally, cargo cults are portrayed as …

Saying that too often definitely impairs one's career prospects. Saying it at all far enough up the chain of command/supervision makes that consequence rather more… immediate. As I have precisely no career prospects in the present or incoming administrations, I'll do it, remembering that speaking truth (or advocating alternative viewpoints when "truth" is indeterminate) is not a declaration

The first season of The Rig was a curious series that ended up a long way from what you might expect with an ecological thread and ambitious staging far exceeding expectations. When you think of recent series cancelled by streamers, despite creating a big buzz and seeming popular, it seems odd that The Rig has sneaked though to a sophomore year. I liked the first season but I hadn’t realised …

The star of the 1934 film "The Silver Streak" isn't first-billed Sally Blane, or even male lead Charles Starrett.It's the future.Specifically, it's the future in the form of the Pioneer Zephyr, a streamlined diesel train here called the Silver Streak. But incidental roles in the movie are played by the Century of Progress International Exposition, also known as the 1933-34 Chicago World's Fair; by Boulder Dam (now known as Hoover …

This week, Prowl keeps trying to drop a Bombshell without anyone noticing, and the Decepticon Rep Theatre put on their latest masterwork, all as Omega Supreme finds out what happens when you sit on the fence politically.All as I look at Robots in Disguise issue 11!

The cord hangs heavyDiscipline crouches,A presence felt, not held,Time moves, but nothing stirs,Unfinished work. The spark waits, patient as stone Discipline Doesn’t Arrive On Its Own On The Blog: Photo 365 The Ministry Of My Own Labour Terminal Access Dipping the Stacks Reading Music Remember Kids:Discipline Doesn’t Arrive On Its OwnI am really struggling to get 2025 started. I’ve been pulling the starter cord over and over, but nothing is …