Recently updated blogs

Introduction As we look back on 2024 and forward to 2025, it’s clear that the pensions administration industry is facing significant changes and challenges. With those, come opportunities. New year, fresh challenges. Credit: Kelly Sikkema, Unsplash Each scheme and administration provider faces a unique set of circumstances, yet certain overarching trends are shaping the industry. Understanding these trends is crucial for staying ahead of the curve. Here, we reflect on …

I’m currently putting together some drawing and painting activities for classes next week, inspired by the Francis Bacon triptych portraits currently on show at the National Portrait Gallery (ends 19/1/25). I’ve included some photographs from the exhibition, above and below, but first, here are a few links to Bacon and Soho things I’ve enjoyed watching in the past few days: A good, honest conversation with Bacon on the Southbank Show. …

Much has been said about Steven Spielberg’s uncanny ability to tell a story within a frame and set up geography, and usually folks use his long oners as examples of this talent. In fact, we break down a "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981) oner on the Lighter Darker: The ILM Podcast, in Episode 3 (starting around 27:35).But here’s a relatively innocuous, non-flashy 26-second-long shot from “Indiana Jones and the …

Welcome to our annual report on the usage of the O’Reilly learning platform. It’s been an exciting year, dominated by a constant stream of breakthroughs and announcements in AI, and complicated by industry-wide layoffs. Generative AI gets better and better—but that trend may be at an end. Now the ball is in the application developers’ court: Where, when, and how will AI be integrated into the applications we build and …

Join sound artist and composer Robin The Fog for an afternoon exploring the magic and the chaos of composing with magnetic tape. Learn to create your own far-out analogue sound worlds with little more than a microphone, a razor blade, some sticky tape, and a sense of adventure – and with not a single pedal, plugin or synthesiser in sight! Last remaining tickets are £5 and can be found here …

Hornby have today announced the first part of their forthcoming 00 gauge range for 2025. Hornby have advised that their announcements will focus on items that will be delivered within 12 months, so as last year there is a possibility of further announcements to come during the year. There is also likely to be a separate TT-120 update later . The headline news for Southern Region (and some Eastern Region) …

Ah, here we are again. Same deal, a few tunes off youtube and a burning desire for everyone in Spotify’s management to die horribly. A Frankie Knuckles creation, Soulful house at it’s best. Juan Atkins on the mixing duties here, and, well, it’s not that good? There were better versions but both lads are disgustingly handsome so we’ll overlook this. Not to be confused with Cry Sisko – Afro-dizzi-act. You …

The above is a typical specimen of Cliff Hanger, the British comics character who enjoyed a four-year stint in Fleetway Publications' Buster from 1983 to 1987 with a strip that was part comic, part adventure gamebook. Trust me, I'm just as surprised as you that it's taken me over eight years to write about this.When readers first encountered Cliff in June 1983, he was watching his favourite television show, Now …

We explore how the Met Office responded to an accessibility report. We also trialled tandem testing and highlighted the lessons we learnt in understanding mobile apps.

Made by Brad Smith between 2006 and 2010 this is an interpretation of Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side Of The Moon' made for the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System. For the Floyd purists I suspect this might be a difficult listen but for those of you with an affection for electronic music, game music or just the slightly barmy then this'll make your day because it's all those things.You can find out …

Happy Holidays! For many years I have posted the books that the Genea-Santa has put under my Christmas Tree. This year was a big haul of new books to read! I hope that now that Christmas and Three Kings have passed, I can start to read the Christmas books I received this holiday season. I hope you enjoy this blog post, and that you find a book or two you …

Meet the Glide from Glidance: an autonomous rolling robot that guides blind users while keeping them out of trouble. It can help them navigate around obstacles and hazards. It has stereo depth cameras to map its environment. It can locate doors, stairs, and elevators too. At CES 2025, Glidance unveiled the world’s first self-guided mobility aid for people who are blind or have low vision. With cameras and sensors, it …

I bet you’ve had this experience. There’s something you’re not particularly good at; you mention that fact; and someone responds by telling with “Oh, but you can do it if you try”. It’s always someone with the very best of intentions, believing that they’re being encouraging and supportive. But it’s also always someone who’s quite […]

Is there something one can put into the water in a humidifier to kill off things that might otherwise grow in it that is, nevertheless, safe for humans to breathe?I ask not because I have a humidifier, but because I have something just like a humidifier, only considerably worse.I have an active water-based cooling system that operates on the same principle as a swamp cooler, chilling the water by blowing …

(1968) Directed by Hajime Satô; Written by Kyûzô Kobayashi and Susumu Takaku; Starring: Teruo Yoshida, Tomomi Satô, Hideo Kô, Masaya Takahashi, Nobuo Kaneko, Eizô Kitamura, Yûko Kusunoki, Kazuo Katô and Kathy Horan; Available on DVD (included in the Criterion Eclipse set, “When Horror Came to Shochiku”) Rating: ***½ “There’s a theory that aliens actually exist… That somewhere, in this vast universe, there are creatures far more advanced than human beings. …