Recently updated blogs

Pulp Books, Pulp Movies --- Where's the Difference?Remember when Arthur Mayer booked The Lost Patrol after nobody else wanted to? He knew what they did not … that The Lost Patrol was a Pulp Movie, one made with men, for men, of action. At least ones that dreamt of action. Most limited participation to slump in fleapit seats where exertion by others wash over them, life as lived vicarious through …

Before we get started, I can’t stress the following enough: the choices we make at Set Studio don’t challenge your choices. You might also not agree with our choices and that’s fine, but we don’t need alternatives evangelising to us. To paraphrase Rachel Andrew: If it works, it’s right I do, however, get asked a lot about what technologies and frameworks we use at the studio, so I thought I’d …

“You can’t argue with scientific fact” says one of the characters in Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson’s Kyoto, but over 2.5 hours @sohoplace and 10 years in play terms, that is exactly what the gathered delegates at a series of conventions do as they try to advance or delay international action on climate change. Taking […]

Hey folks. After a busy and productive fall & holiday season, kottke.org will be closed this week for some much-needed rest, relaxation, and recharging. I will be back next week, ready to gooooo! Tags: kottke.org

Yes, I know, I know. The plan was to have gotten well on the way towards Q.E.D. vol. 50 and the crossover with C.M.B. out of the way, which once again got sidetracked, but this time I have a scapegoat an excuse – namely the "New Locked Room Library." So you can blame Alexander for organizing that massive distraction. That was last year. I intend to pick up where I …

I just published a couple of new features to mdless this morning: strikethrough and GitHub emoji support. You can now use ~~text~~ formatting, and if your terminal supports strikethrough text, it will be displayed as such. You can control formatting and colors by adding deletion to your theme file, which by default is ~/.config/mdless/default.theme: deletion: strikethrough red I also added support for GitHub emojis, e.g. :smile: for 😁 and :umbrella: …

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 …

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 …