Recently updated blogs

For all of the Town's Refreshment DelightsA spare Monday, when the big freeze starts to loosen it's grip. This means mud. Although my Smart Meter wouldn't agree (£50 for a week!), give me the sub zero cold any day.I'll start in Bewdley for my latest exploration of the Wyre Forest. Along the river bank as far as Trimpley Valley on the other side and then a steep cut up to …

Now’s the time to finalize your planning for Scouting America’s high-adventure offerings for summer 2026. The registration window for 2026 treks at the Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve, Northern Tier National High Adventure Program and Sea Base opens this week. Registration for treks at Philmont Scout Ranch opened last fall. Treks can and do sell out, so Scouts, parents and unit leaders are encouraged to finalize their plans now …

Sana Biotechnology Announces Positive Clinical Results from Type 1 Diabetes Study of Islet Cell Transplantation Without Immunosuppression released by Sana.com, 7 January 2025. Sana Biotechnology, Inc., a company focused on changing the possible for patients through engineered cells, announced initial results from an investigator-sponsored, first-in-human study transplanting UP421, an allogeneic primary islet cell therapy engineered with Sana’s hypoimmune (HIP) technology, into a patient with type 1 diabetes without the use …

This week at The Archive we are delighted that iconic story magazine the People’s Friend has become our friend, as we are joined by the first 59 years of the long-running Scottish title. Before we delve into the history of the wonderful People’s Friend, and explore one of its first ever stories, ‘Faithful and True,’ which appeared on its inaugural front page on 13 January 1869, we also wanted to …

Commissions are officially open! Slots are limited and Patrons & VIP members get priority. I want to draw stuff for you! Order on Ko-Fi | Commission Info | Trello Board If you’d like something not listed please email me at [email protected]

For Christmas 2022, I bought my husband a Steam Deck. It's a handheld games console that runs a version of Linux (so you can also use it as a computer and plug it into a monitor, if you want), and works seamlessly with nearly every game in your Steam Library. It's GREAT. I 100% use it more than he does, to play all manner of weird and wonderful things. It …

Lavender is one of the most misunderstood perfume ingredients. “Too simple” is a common response from many who’ve long grown to associate it with aftershaves and soaps. Among perfume materials, lavender may not have the femme fatale allure of jasmine or tuberose, but in terms of versatility, the essence derived from the tiny violet flowers outflanks much more exotic blooms. You can find it in fragrances all over the perfume …

In my opinion, mountains in a Gothic Fantasy setting are for putting isolated and hidden secrets in. Here's the overview of the Karthax Mountains before we zoom in on some specific locations.The Karthax MountainsForeboding Mountains Hiding Terrible SecretsThe Karthax Mountains are an immense, fang-like range that divides Krevborna. The mountains possess a sublime and terrifying aspect; the unrelenting thunderstorms that rage amid the peaks fill their beholders with awe and …

One of my all-time favorite essays, Zoe Smith’s “4 Colorism,” starts with a page from Gold Key Comics’ Brothers of the Spear #11 (December 1974) where “black people” appear “thoroughly and intensely green.” Why? Because, Smith concludes, “print methods adopted by the comics industry early in its history didn’t have any way to consistently reproduce the color brown” (2019). That’s certainly true, but because the rest of Smith’s excellent essay …

Every choir has a reputation to maintain. Your choir and its name are essentially your 'brand' and, as such, need protecting. When anyone shares an unauthorised photo, video or audio recording in public, it has the potential to damage your brand. It's great to share images and recordings of your choir performances. But what if a ropey, out of tune, "we were having a bad day", early rehearsal version gets …

Artist: Rite Of Decay Album: Instrumentalities of Flesh Year: 2024 Genre: Progressive Death Metal / Thrash Metal Web: https://youtu.be/xj_wsiYPaVM / https://www.facebook.com/riteofdecayband Country: Canada Quality: 320 Kbps Tracklist: 1. Massification Proficiency 2. Salazar 3. Final Chapter of Human Era 4. Oligopoly (Mania) 5. Cryogenic Enslavement 6. Celestial Invocation 7. Maelström Witness: -[*]- I like this one.

On 7 January 2025 Meta made sweeping changes to its policy on Community Standards – Hateful Conduct the (“Standards”). This article examines how these changes put marginalised groups at serious risk and how they, in the context of the Online Safety Act 2023 (the “Act”) are in breach of their duties to prevent and protect these users from harm. In particular, these changes allow LGBTQ+ persons to be called mentally …

I recently finished reading Blake Butler's memoir Molly. I've not been so taken aback by a memoir in a long time. Butler tells the story of his life with Molly Brodak. I highly recommend the book as a deeply emotive and insightful look into a person whom Butler obviously loved and as a mirror into oneself. The abyss certainly stares back. Blake Butler's latest book is Void Corporation, published in …

This week’s theme: Ella Sings From the Songbook Series. Featured artists include Ella Fitzgerald, Buddy Bregman, Billy May, Nelson Riddle, Duke Ellington, Cole Porter, Rogers and Hart, Irving Berlin, Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer, Jerome Kern, George and Ira Gershwin, and many more.The post Podcast: Ella, Songbooks first appeared on jazzcollector.com.

Following up from my previous posts (Part 1, part 2) , I'm headed back into the realm of my own observations. PART 5: GET THIS SHIT OUT OF MY DRAFT DOC** Observation: Wraiths, Vengeful Spirits, and HexesThis is just one of those weird minor things where the pieces have fit together somewhat nicely (how about that for a change?)“Wraith” is used only three times in the corpus, in the descriptions …