Recently updated blogs

Some highlights from a practice notebook of a schoolgirl. I use “delightful” sparingly but it is appropriate here. Some are full pages, two cropped. The notes indicate the booklet is for “History Maps, Agricultural Figures and Physiology Figures…and mind you, this wasn’t even handed in. They were produced from 1876-1877 by a young woman. A prize, and humbling. Note the map is likely not included, not required and not shown …

Back in the 1971, Herbert Simon (Nobel ’78) published an essay on the “attention economy.” It famously noted that “a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.” He offered insights about how economic organizations (and people) needed mechanisms to receive and process large amounts of information, and then pass only the relevant portion of that information. (Simon won the Nobel prize “for his pioneering research into the decision-making process …

This is one of those cathartic blog posts. One in which I spent several frustrating hours trying to debug something that really should have just worked. Once I had finally found out what was going on I felt that I had to write it all down just in case someone else is out there dealing with the same issue. So if you have found yourself in a situation where using …

Accelerate is the empirical research behind books such as The Phoenix/Unicorn Project and (parts of) Software Engineering at Google. I loved it.

A followup to yesterday's article 'Why does this work?', with questions and answers and some references to folks from whom I have learned.

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.

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 …