Whoops, sorry about the broken link in the last entry, I forgot to turn the page public—that's what I get for not making these things regularly. Fixed now, I hope. Also, I did not have allergies as a child, which was lovely, but now seem to be slowly developing them as I get older. The ragweed...

linkies for August 24aug2024

rants and raves, aka link farm... 14oct2024

assorted linkies, esp traditional lath and plaster 12feb2024

Fred Clark tackles ``White Christian Palm Sunday...'' 15jan2024

The bloatification of US autos. 19dec2023

anime recces I. 15dec2023

reddit's r/VacuumCleaners sub-reddit. 07dec2023

HBomberguy exposes some more plagiarists. 06dec2023

kids as property, ugh. 11oct2023

Kumi in My Happy Marriage ep ``The Gift''. 06nov2023

Jeez, July is over already? And I still haven't finished that floral vessel bead series (let alone turned on the torch and made some more beads...) Anyway, despite clearing them out recently, the links have been piling up again (along with ephemera of a more physical kind on my desk[s] —tha...

linguist's take on the pronoun wars. 26jul2023

Once again starting this week's series with an old bead. And to go with, all the linkies of stuff I think I ought to watch, or might watch, or should finish watching (or listening to, or reading...). I can't guarantee they'll be interesting, but at least I can clear out the 90 zillion ope...

turning a truck into a giant dot matrix printer 28jun2023

I mentioned two-three intros ago that my favourite camera review site, DPreview, was being shut down, to my and many other photographers' dismay. Well, here's some good news to go along the plethora of not-so-good: DPreview has been sold, and looks to have a new home. I surely hope it works...

I rather like doing the thematically linked pages for a given week, so here's another drawing in a similar style to Monday's. Or you could read about this guy's adventures with the cops snarfing down his Ring cameras' data (including inside his bedroom)—he had a lot of them, and I don't thin...

Shark Industries' teeth-down shovel is a good product. 28jan2023

Graphene OS, privacy for your (pixel) phone 28nov2022

Back to ranting about vehicular homicide (& injury). (Use once software is updated to handle toots.) 30nov2022

Noise and sexism, perennial rants. 03nov2022

Since today's entry is graphic designer adjacent, it seems only apropos to cite, via FTB, this punny title which illustrates (heh) a very real problem: Semple solution to corporate greed —see, the teal deer is that, awhile back, Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop went to a subscription model, which m...

Technology used for evil, streetlight edition. 23sep2022

Streaming was supposed to be forever. Ha. 14sep2022

Thee, thou, ye... much more complicated than singular they! 24aug2022

Reading is Fun-damental. And important! But hard to learn... 30jul2022

Jeez, the news is so discouraging. Now we have some racist barely-adult asshole terrorist making a special effort to slaughter people 200 miles away because of Fox News spewing brain-dead crap to increase ratings by whipping up racial hatred? Not to mention a bunch of men spouting nonsense to...

US attitudes toward terrorism through the cultural lens of Star Trek. 05jan2022

Sashiko, a style of Japanese folk embroidery, is for everyone. 11mar2022

Vaccines are better than getting covid. 30nov2021

Stocism. Engineering a wind driven vehicle that outpaces the wind. Latticino fonts. Trans denied. Collective nouns. 26jul2021

Tony Weaver makes manga & hopes to make anime. 18jun2021

Money doth not make a writer real. 02jun2021

HBomberguy's `Measured Response' on Anti-Vax in general & Andrew Wakefield in particular. 28may2021

linkdump, including recces geometry, Polari (a dialect), & fierce meditation. 24may2021

Muzak sucks even worse. Plus a buncha other rant 03may2021

chocolate is fermented, porcelain watercolour pans & Laurie Anderson. 12apr2021

Link farm for the final week of March 2021 includes Batmanesque comics, history of horses and plague, stories of peaceful dogs and gentle mystics, as well as horror and homicide. 28mar2021

mokumagane fabric, cool hybrid instruments, and bands to play them. 20mar2021

Today is inauguration day for the 46th President of the USA. Yeeha. 20jan2021

3500th page, whoo hoo. 12jan2021

You probably know about the 1918 era flu pandemic, but did you know the US had an outbreak of the actual plague (as in, Black Death)? In San Francisco, at the turn of the 20th century? Me either. But we did, and it dragged on for seven years, owing to (you guessed it) its disproportionate at...

I recently watched most of PBS special about three poverty stricken families in Ohio, and how their struggles have become even more difficult during the pandemic. Like many commenters, I deeply admired the maturity of biracial Shaun, and felt for Black Kyah talking about being `drained and dark'...

Some preliminary thoughts on Michael Pollan's How to Change Your Mind and Buddhism. 13oct2020

Edward Hopper took awhile to develop his own style. 01oct2020

Playing cactus was something John Cage came up with. Someone I know is still playing his pieces. 16sep2020

Mo Willems, the famous kids' book author, says, if you'd like your kids to make art then...make art. 14sep2020

9/11 forgotten, and coronavirus unforgiven. 11sep2020

Colon cancer takes the Black Panther from us. 01sep2020

Trick your eyes with coloured and black & white photos. 31aug2020

Kung Fu Nuns and Beatboxing Monks, awesome! 13jul2020

JK Rowling doubles down on her transphobia. Which sucks for potterdom. 15jun2020

Distraction monkeys and displacement activities. 18may2020

Fred at Slacktivist posts `Holy Easter Saturday' annually, and boy did we need it this year. 14apr2020

Ultralearning. A cotton mask; strangers sharing beds, Heinlein, teensy tiny camera. 25mar2020

Here's how to try beatboxing, from a master of the form. 20mar2020

Corona virus; goodheart measure (yak-shaving); blues on a cheap guitar; good versus crappy quality tools. 12mar2020

Boosting another student, an act of mehta. 04mar2020

Coronavirus; Detecting liars; Drugs without the hot air; When Helping Hurts; toxic masculinity as manifested in trucks versus supportive sisterhood... 02mar2020

Link roundup: 3D Ancient Athens, hand-lettering, vintage sf, 200 year old diaries, Chaucer in real time. 20feb2020

Yesterday's date was a rare palindrome: 02022020 03feb2020

Light pollution sucks. 07jan2020

the 2019 word of the year is `they'. 31dec2019

A maker's top 10 includes a slotted storage solution for foredom /dremel bits'n'pieces 30dec2019

A financial thought experiment from the writers of How much is Enough? 19dec2019

Jubilee, and forgiveness. Not something I have in abundance. 18dec2019

Some problems with the Skidelskys' How much is Enough? 17dec2019

I promised a break from those everlasting mice, so here 'tis: kumihimo. Also, I found the uber cool link on the chopstick piano which is actually sort of hand-made cross between a piano and a koto (Japanese zither) —which I guess is entirely appropriate. Here's another vid, this time calli...

That Wired article about empathy. 21nov2019

Marble Machine and hobo nickels, reprised. 19nov2019

Link love, including Sean Carroll's Deep Minds podcast. 15nov2019

Slow and steady not only wins the race, but people's hearts and minds. 08nov2019

year old linkies & rants... 09dec2019

GHWB did not deserve to have the government shut down for his funeral. 07dec2018

Kat O'Sullivan & the vincent vangogh starry night `colourful houses.' 31jul2018

Cis, trans, and ...ortho? (Identities for nonbinaries) 01aug2018

Japanese trains work very well. 30may2018

Net neutrality was lost years ago. To corps rather like entities celebrated in the Liaden books... 15may2018

Reason #69242 I detest facebook: unless willing to disconnect from the internet entirely (which, obviously, I'm not willing to do) they can track you. Google, to be honest, isn't a whole lot better. On a slightly less depressing note, the man who cracked the lottery (NYT) is in my opinion a ...

Public spaces should be for everyone. 02may2018

Paint pouring is cool. & I love the term `dirty pour'. 27apr2018

Bees, how Emotions are Made and the visual perceptions of artists. Oh, and a splendid kingfisher pic. 03may2018

Noah Deledda makes marvelous aluminum can sculptures featuring 3D tessellations. 25apr2018

Karl Kerschl's The Abomindable Charles Christopher. 10apr2018

french beaded flowers exploding, as documented on pintrest; dark patterns 06apr2018

Like a zombie, Murray (author of The Bell Curve) & his racist assertions will not die. 02apr2018

Colouring books from old museum books/illos/ink drawings... 16feb2018

Cool sounding Irish band. 17feb2018

#metoo, time person of the year: the silence breakers... 08dec2017

Link Dump—NYT 10 best; Abigail Nussbaum, hugo fan writer; Delia Derbyshire created Dr Who's iconic theme; `I thought I was lazy'...etc 06dec2017

a ftblogger discusses Morphine's unusual instrumentation. 30nov2017

Great artists do not have to be monstrous! 24nov2017

A composer demonstrates differing musical styles with a simple tune. 01dec2017

Puerto Rico has not received the aid it deserves. Nevertheless, they persisted. 21nov2017

Welp. Now that I've accidentally created about 20 new blank works, guess I'd better start filling them. So today I'm featuring not only my most recent work, but also most recent link, via a couple of fellow lampworkers, whose fb chain led me to this splendid coin engraving, the aptly titled Gold...

Via slacktivist, LGM's discussion of Johnny Cash & Your Own Personal Jesus. 15nov2017

tidy studio from 2015 21sep2017

3 views of Houston & hurrican Harvey. 06sep2017

I really wanted to enjoy Arabella of Mars... 29jun2017

The Hague becomes a giant Mondrian. Also, our government sucks. Bits about Dizzy's new live-action B&B. 18apr2017

The largest prison strike in history is getting/got very little traction. 18oct2016

Japanese joinery is cool. 17oct2016

political linkies for the 2016 election 13oct2016

Marcus Ranum/Standard Error (stderr) features the amazing Margaret Hamilton, another software/computer genius. 10oct2016

lots of 2016 linkies. 16jan2020

Gorgeous modern dance ballet depicting First Love. 02jun2016

This talk about optimism and pessimism by a sf&f/futurist is pretty interesting: . The teal deer version is that pessimists (because they're always trying to avoid the worst) tend to be careful planners who allow for contingencies. That's actually kind of useful. Of course (ahem) they also dri...

My speech, to go with my slide presentation for drawing I. (private)

Skateboard takes the concept of Holi & um, rolls with it:) 26apr2016

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Amen. 24mar2016

Sound spaces. 15mar2016

Setting up sfnal worlds. Or, another example of the author's worldview really does impinge on the story. Always. 08mar2016

Leigh Phillips' Austerity Ecology & the Collapse Porn Addicts has some good points but is a frustrating read. 10mar2016

Chelsea Manning. 19dec2017

Innovation, influence, and kindness: pick any two. 27jan2016

Getting back into harness. 19apr2017

Why collect autographs? Or beads? Also, popularity and turnout at author readings do not correlate well. 20nov2015

Rod Serling on censorship. Not much has changed. 10nov2015

WPA, government shutdowns, etc. Brief mention of Oshinsky's Worse than Slavery: Parchman Farm... 23sep2015

I really, really liked Jupiter Ascending. So did someone else, though their reasoning was different. 02nov2015

FH has a suggestion for safely removing gutter debris. It involves leaf blowers, tho'. 10sep2015

A cartoon that explains in 5 mins of reading how deadly the situation in Syria is right now. 11sep2015

Ha-Joon's Bad Samaritians revisited, and braided into a discussion with Daniel Starkey's piracy article, and Nalo Hopkinson's Sister Mine. 20aug2015

venus and the new moon, hoary puccoon, butterfly and frog... 28sep2015

riding the backwards bicycle. This essay is actually more or less finished. 16sep2015

read what (science) you love, kittycat coat genetic links 07apr2015

Frederick Wiseman's National Gallery documentary. 26jan2015

religion is like art! 24jan2020

Ok, I'm back. When I left, net neutrality was a big deal. When I came back, an article referring to it was practically the first thing I saw. With, I guess, a couple of shooting sprees aimed at women in between. Yippee. Fred over at Slacktivist is again trying to figure out why people so ...

Sexism trips my enjoyment of The Divorce Chaser, a Japanese sitcom about a divorce lawyer. 27mar2014

Hi all. So, via slacktivist , Native Appropriations' latest version of Open Letter to Pocahotties is again making the rounds. I was gonna write a long thoughtful post about this, with side trips into the difficulties of navigating the desire to respond to one's artistic influences versus hono...

Links: Via Brad DeLong (which was via Scalzi's `Being Poor' category ), NK Jemisin's WorldCon Speech , in which she illuminates the US by way of Australia's Reconciliations; and Ta-Nehisi Coates finding one's heart and home in a foreign country : "Every time he brought me before a gre...

rants about typography snobs. 26jul2013

Review/critique of Elspeth Cooper's Songs of the Earth. 22may2013

copyright laws suck. So what else is new? 18apr2013

So today I have to give the library back Robert Bringhurst's The Elements of Typographic Style (v. 3.1) so I guess if'n I'm gonna rant about it, now's the time. I loved this book. I mean, it's beautifully designed (the author is a book designer and poet, both of which are generally very conce...

terrorists and everyday life—and liberties. 15apr2013

Why no, there were always people against the Iraq war. 26mar2013

Chinese Wheelbarrows might be an excellent lo-tech solution to a variety of problems. 17feb2013

Jonathon Hickman is surprised more people aren't incensed by his Nightly News. Ok, I'll bite. 16oct2012

So, speaking of one of those things that seems obvious, it is a truism, at least amongst my family, that social security is useless. I certainly didn't include it in our retirement planning, and still don't, on the theory that it's basically just `beer money' —better than a poke in the eye with ...

Finally, an explanation as to why biblical literalism annoys me so deeply. 27sep2012

David Byrne and the Evolution of Sound. 19sep2012

Brief notes on Black Widow's underappreciated/overshadowed role. 18may2012

My justifications for tearing Sharon Shinn's new novel apart 12may2012

In which I critique some really horrible domestic abuse apology in Sharon Shinn's The Shape of Desire. 13may2012

The Avengers. (film) 10may2012

In which I review Chester Brown's graphic novel memoir, Paying For It, which documents his experiences with prostitution. Written in 2012, conclusion 2014. 29sep2015

In which I rant about Abraham Verghese's Cutting for Stone. 02mar2012

More musings about ``piracy.'' Also, a brief review of Cat Bordhi's new ebook. 05mar2012

The Warmth of Other Suns. 22feb2012

Quadachromic speculations; Making Light sheds light on online squabbling. 13feb2012

Sort of without really meaning to, my great work—after, perhaps the rearing of the f2 generation—has ended up being this website. (Next biggest thing might well be the bead-curtain, which again, wasn't really planned, just something to use up all those bad beads piling up...) It's my profo...

Sara Robinson reviews a book explaining how government support really does make a better society. Also, nuns. And family. 02may2012

Atheism is not a religion. 14jun2010

*Must* do paperwork, but here's a shoutout to shareables. 11jun2010

Tinh Khe (Son My) village, Quang Ngai Province. Otherwise known as the infamous My Lai. 01feb2010

what really motivates people? RSA, with Dan Pink. 18nov2017

T'wasn't the atheists who stole divinity from the public at large... 19dec2009

Time heals all wounds; or, a loving God's hell cannot possibly be eternal. 06mar2009

I thought this store was great, but was afraid it wouldn't survive. Alas, I was correct. . Originally posted 25nov08. 25nov2008

formless musings on sf&f books & film, esp featuring PoC. 25aug2015

somebody I know got hit by a car & sent to hospital, inspiring this rant 17dec2007

And today we have a rant to go with our (very) old-timey fridayfugly post (the stub dates from 2007! ). Over at pandagon (for which I seem to be having no luck either accessing my old login or creating a new one, which is why you're being burdened with my rant here) Amanda Marcotte uses the ligh...

intros index, 30aug05 – 01sep06 18oct2006

My favorite tool for picking out digital cameras. Invaluable. 30apr05 30apr2005

It's so out of fashion to gush over something as ordinary as a grocery store but that's exactly what this little paean is. Seriously, though, think about how often you visit your local grocery store—you might as well appreciate rather than resent the experience. (30may04) 04jun2004

This is a very hot topic, which comes up over and over and over again—once upon a time, amongst the bead-stringers with whom I associated and now, on the various fora where bead-make rs congregate. Nor is it confined to glass beadmakers or even beadworkers of various stripes. I've discussed in...

Reviews of some romances . 22may2004

Beadwork magazine published a letter from some poor pitiful teacher who wondered what would become of her and the shop where she taught if her dastardly students took the bread from her mouth by teaching what they'd learned from her to others. For shame! . However, even I'm willing to admit the co...

Third (but not last—someday I'll have to explain my peculiar opinion of the Michigan Guild of Artists and Artisans) in my trio of bead-related organizations with whom I'm annoyed, or are annoyed with me. I have a talent, I guess, which seems strange when you consider how generous the bead world t...

Buzz Aldrin's Communion on the Moon 20sep2012