Recently updated blogs

Two weeks into 2025 and I'm only now starting in on my first novel of the New Year... and so late in the day!I've wanted to read The Weird World of Wes Beattie for some time, but forays through the used bookstores of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia brought frustration. Exhausted from the chase, I resorted to online booksellers, which explains how it is I ended up with …

1BoB is The First Battle of Britain: The Air War Over England, 1917–1918 (hereafter 1BoB), which sounds like a book but is actually a wargame. I bought my copy back in April 2009, not long after I submitted my PhD, at which point I noted that 'I try to avoid buying wargames because I never seem to actually play them'. It took me nearly 16 years, but over the end-of-year …

Does solar PV really work? Does it also make you rich, sexy and smug? #microgen #solar #PV

In the early days of this blog, the political debate around whether to ban fox hunting was a big deal. Those were, perhaps, simpler times. I think some would be surprised to read these days that I argued against banning hunting with foxes. It may seem even more surprising that I probably still would—yet I would argue perhaps more forcefully against repealing the ban now that it exists. My arguments …

I’d like to do more teaching this year. I’ve taught and assessed responsible & ethical tech modules at both undergraduate and postgrad levels and am open to guest/visiting lecturer opportunities, or even whole modules if it was the right fit. I’m particularly at home teaching design, computer science, business, and engineering students. Please bear me in mind if you hear of anything.(Still happy to teach practitioners too, of course! Get …

I wasn’t explicitly asked by anyone to join the Blog Questions Challenge, but I guess I can just join and also tell a bit about my blogging process. So here are the questions and answers: Why did you start blogging in the first place? I am not completely sure anymore, but I think what pushed me to start blogging was my discovery of the platform Medium. Some of the first …

Perhaps my most valuable asset in the past 10+ years of trying to learn about and recreate or at least taste every sandwich I can from around the world has been the Chicago metropolitan area. There are many, many cultures represented in a city this size, and once a particular population hits a critical density, the markets and restaurants to service their culture are not far behind. A content creator …

I spent the last few months cramming to finish off the soccer stadium book, and I purposely stacked my first week of January with every annoying obligation I had (oil changes, teeth cleanings, etc) so the rest of my month was free. I planned the second week in January for another road trip, hoping to hit Southern California to see family and friends, and spend time riding a bike along …

The Rise of REDNote The social media landscape is no stranger to change. Threads (from Meta) and BlueSky are two recent examples. Now, another player has emerged and is capturing the attention of users worldwide, especially in the US. REDNote, or Xiaohongshu as it’s known in China, is a platform offering a unique blend of…

In order to feel more confident about my tsconfig.json, I decided to go through the tsconfig.json documentation, collect all commonly used options and describe them below: You can come along for the whole ride and go through the options with me. Afterward, you should be able to understand all of your tsconfig. Or you can skip ahead to the summary at the end. I also list recommendations for tsconfig.json by …

Calling all slapstick fans! A new Kickstarter project was just announced today, and it’s something that’s right up my alley: the 2-disc set Rediscovering Roscoe: The “Fatty” Arbuckle Collection. Curated by historian Steve Massa, author of the wonderful Rediscovering Roscoe … Continue reading →

WWW Wednesday is hosted by Taking on a World of Words.The Three Ws are:What are you currently reading?What did you recently finish reading?What do you think you’ll read next?Currently ReadingSomeone recently recommended In the Blink of an Eye by Jo Callaghan (2023), which I am enjoying. The main character, Detective Kat Frank, is a single mother asked to lead a pilot program using a sort of robot with artificial intelligence. …

What time is it?! The post David Bruce on Dilla as “the king of microrythm” appeared first on Sampleface.

Rags (1915) One hundred and ten years ago this month, Grace Kingsley interviewed the biggest star in Hollywood for the first time. Mary Pickford was already “the girl who gets as many letters and three times as much salary as the President. The little lady on whom the sun never sets, who is applauded in every tongue, yet who has never been out of her native land.*” She found her …

Cheers to my brother Paul for the scans! Aphex Twin’s rhythmic ambience. TWIN PEAKS by Kurt B. Reighley There is a word in German, klangfarben, for which there is no precise English equivalent. Associated predominantly with 20th century composers such as Stockhausen, the world loosely translates as “sound colour,” emphasising unique timbres as a compositional tool. Slap on I Care Because You Do (Elektra), the latest release from Aphex Twin, …