Recently updated blogs

Darkside “S.N.C” The first minute and a half of “S.N.C” is about what you’d expect to hear from Darkside – moody, muted palette, sensual but not overtly sexual – and it’s gorgeous. They could have stayed in that mode through the whole song and I’d love it. But then it gets much more interesting – a Stevie Wonder-ish clavinet riff struts into the mix, the funkiness gets dialed up by …

When we have the ball, it’s a game and when we don’t, it’s a fight. — Manuel Ugarte Love this quote and why this player is quickly becoming a cult hero.

In the middle of trying to be all digitally and all of that I ended up getting a pack of Index Cards while getting some other stuff at a book store. Just because. I have kind of been doing my own ugmonk-ish thing for a few weeks, as I have in the past. It works surprisingly well to just write down what are the most important 5 things on a …

In 1925 a restaurant industry publication presented advice on crafting a slogan that would draw customers. The article advised against simply saying “Where to Dine” because that really didn’t signify anything special to the public. The author then gave better examples of slogans that were “clever and appropriate.” As a negative example, the article might have pointed to Teck’s Quick Lunch in Kansas City [shown above]. This card showing “A …

In Part 2, I showed the raw magnitude response results of three pairs of headphones measured on three different systems, each done 5 times. However, when you plot magnitude responses on a scale with 80 dB like I did there, it’s difficult to see what’s going on. Differences in measurements relative to average One way to get around this issue is to ignore the raw measurement and look at the …

According to the posting date, it’s been about 10 days since I last reported in on progress on Assist. I’ve had a couple of mis-alignments due to low lighting and inattention. Some I’ve picked out, others I saved as cautionary lessons. And I’ve taken a slight departure from my usual working cadence. Here’s the latest in-hoop view. Obviously I’m working voiding on the row of snaky, vaguely draconic S-shaped flowers. …

All of Richard Feynman’s books, is Feynman himself. This introduction sets the stage for a deep exploration of how his works have reshaped the way we approach and appreciate the art of understanding physics.

Designer and educator Angie Wang deciphers a collection of over 500 sleeves recently donated to the Archive. From Rarified to Commonplace: A Brief History of Hashibukuro The chopstick sleeve originated in the Imperial Court of Japan sometime during the Heian period (8th–12th century). Ladies-in-waiting are thought to have wrapped chopsticks in scraps of silk or other fine fabrics as it was considered impolite to pass unwrapped objects from one hand …

Box’s route to its IPO, ten years ago this month, was a difficult one: the company first released an S-1 in March 2014, and potential investors were aghast at the company’s mounting losses; the company took a down round and, eight months later, released an updated S-1 that created the template for money-losing SaaS businesses to explain themselves going forward: Our business model focuses on maximizing the lifetime value of …

The older I get, the more I love teaching. When I was starting out as a professor, teaching wasn’t my main concern. I was a good teacher, I’d like to think. I always put a lot of time into it. I spent hours prepping for lecture. I spent even more hours reading rough drafts of student papers and then grading them. I supervised dissertations. I was dedicated to the job …

I’ve lost track of how many people have asked for a soft wool hood. I finally have one for you! This pattern is drafted by hand with the original child’s size and 2 adult sizes drafted up with some reshaping for fit. It can be trimmed with self-fabric ruche or other period appropriate trims. This […]

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 …