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By Pail MitchenerD101 GamesCrypts & Things/OSRLevels 6-8 The ruins of the Unknown City stand at the edge of the Death Wind Steppe, surrounded by the foothills of the Wolf Head Mountains. They are a monument to a once mighty city. Few now know the city‘s history, and how it fell. The city‘s old name, Tetronis, now belongs to a village of simple fisherfolk standing amongst the ruins. The force behind …

koko-mochi:I was talking to my dad about renewable energy and he was like “the only problem with solar farms is they take up so much space.”And it made me think about a city and how much sun exposure all the rooftops in a city get and…why not just make the city it’s own solar farm by putting solar panels on every rooftop?

Our January 2025 edition of Now Playing features music that changes the way we think and write, shows to sink into, and great winter reads, all from our contributors!Sasha BrownI've been listening to Daniel Bachman's apocalyptic banjo drone music while I write. It was the soundtrack to Catching Babies. The album is perfect to write to: instrumental, spooky, uncomfortable. Bachman made some of the instruments on it himself. When he's …

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. …