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Thurrock is a unitary authority area with borough status within the ceremonial county of Essex, with a population of around 176,000 people. The word 'Thurrock' is either from the Saxon or Middle English word Thurrok (þurruc) and means 'the hold of a ship'. It can also mean a 'dung heap' which is of course a large pile of dung (or the solid waste from animals such as horses or cows). …

This is the second in a series discussing the Australian legislation banning people under 16 from using social media. The previous post is here . I’m writing from the perspective of a longstanding user of new media and also as someone with personal experience of dealing (not very successfully) with problems of under-16 screen addiction. On the other hand, I’m not a technical expert so I may get some details …

Hopefully — even if only for a moment — you got to see in the top two images Vermeer’s iconic painting with fresh eyes. The images are reversed left to right. It is not an uncommon practice for artists to pause in the process of working on a painting or other artwork and view the work in a mirror. This briefly provides a fresh view of the work, a contrast …

My studio We’re two weeks into the new year, but I feel like I’m still in first gear: there has been no “hitting the ground running” — or any other similar corporate-speak — here. In addition to the necessity of restarting after Christmas and New Year, it's also the month of my birthday which seems to interrupt the flow of the month. I am slowly starting to plan out the …

I knew there were serious problems with at least one of the statistics as soon as I skimmed the newspaper article. Paragraph 2 of Magruder (2024) states:But since 2000, church attendance has dropped in the U.S., from 42% of Americans worshipping every week or so back then, to 30% today, according to a 2024 Gallup poll. Only 11% of Americans report being in the pews monthly, and 56% seldom or …

If you are a Laurel and Hardy devotee it’s probably old news that the second volume of beautifully restored shorts has been released on Blu-ray and DVD by Flicker Alley. Covering the year 1928, the second year of their official partnership, this two-disc set features such silent-comedy classics as THE FINISHING TOUCH, SHOULD MARRIED MEN GO HOME? and TWO TARS. The bonus features are worth the price of admission, especially …

I grew up on Iliff Street, right in the middle of the ashes that up until a few nights ago, was a sunkissed neighborhood known as Pacific Palisades. It was 1978, and I remember my dad climbing up on our roof with a garden hose. Every couple of hours, he would wet the house down, top-to-bottom, and everything surrounding it. I don’t remember everybody doing this, but my Dad is …

BlueSCSI Wi-Fi Desk Accessory 1.3 has been released: wifi_da-1.3.sit (StuffIt 3 archive) SHA256: 40b49ef83b6512bde571171aa42e90419a8577efa895cfaeb19bf18a0c82d4deSHA1: b8fa941eb104c0f925436cc8fbc3018a3ded5b96 This update brings internationalization support for Macs running non-English installations, and a number of bug fixes. Changes in this version: Fix a handful of bugs Add a log window that can be toggled by clicking on the signal icon Add localization for strings shown in the UI for Macs running non-English installations, which was initiated …

I’m overloaded with work and deadlines, and unable to complete anything new. So please enjoy this classic Tet Zoo article from the archives, originally published at ver 2 back in 2008 (an archived version is here)… Caption: Dynamosaurus imperiosus wasn’t named for great material, namely an incomplete mandible with teeth, some cervical and dorsal vertebrae, and parts of the pelvis and hindlimb. This was originally accessioned at the AMNH in …

‘Many in Europe avoid describing Russia’s sabotage campaign outside Ukraine as war because they’d rather not have to do anything in response….’ ( Phillips Payson O’Brien via The Atlantic )

The march towards deep-sea mining is a slow and stately trudge through a complex international negotiation. The real progress isn’t made in flashy headlines or overhyped announcements, but in painstaking deliberations and incremental progress in the mining code and the environmental and financial regimes. In as much as 2024 was a fairly standard year in ... Read More "Deep-sea Mining: What went down in 2024?" »

I have Bob Dylan on the brain, because my socials are saturated with ads for the Timothee Chalamet movie, and because MusicRadar used the movie as the news hook for a column about Bob. I rewatched Don’t Look Back for the first time in forever. It’s a sign of my advancing age that Bob came across as unnecessarily obnoxious, especially to the poor Time Magazine reporter. But the music still …

Recently, Owen Madden started a book club, and he wants you to join. A professional cabinetmaker from upstate New York, Madden works as shop foreman at Rowan Woodwork. “At our shop, we have a monthly meetup, and I get to meet some of the most talented woodworkers and artists,” Madden says. “Most of the conversations anchor around something learned from a book, at which point I write down that book …

January 13, 2024 Tip of the Week Why Lobbing is Good For You, Why Lobbing is Bad For You. Weekend Coaching I coached in four group sessions over the weekend, totaling 6.5 hours. I spent about half of them feeding multiball, half as a practice partner/coach. I think I blocked about 10,000 shots over the weekend! If I block like this in tournaments, I’ll never lose. I also had some …

YouTube fragrance reviewers drive me up the wall. They're the reason I’ll never start my own channel. Why bother joining the parade of mediocrity? With rare exceptions—Derek’s Varanis Ridari comes to mind—they’re lazy shills who couldn’t crack a walnut if you handed them a sledgehammer. They just parrot each other for clicks.Take their reviews of Amber Oud Carbon Edition. Across the board,