The clocks went back an hour here in London overnight—summertime is over. I suppose I’m happy for the extra time to rest (though in fact I didn’t sleep very well last night) but not looking forward to six months of early darkness.
Category: Uncategorised
The Trump Administration’s Contempt for Science. (Thanks to the Yale University Press for letting me express my opinions.)
This seems like a whole mess of bugs. (Trying to update to macOS 26 Tahoe. Perhaps this is telling me it’s a bad idea?…)
PASSWORD_ALERT_TITLE_WITH_USERNAME_OSX_REBRAND_SERVICE_ICLOUD
PASSWORD_ALERT_MESSAGE_WITH_USERNAME_OSX_REBRAND
FOLLOWUP_RENEW_CREDENTIALS_TITLE_RERAND
FOLLOWUP_RENEW_CREDENTIALS_MESSAGE
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And more…
The amazing Lisa Lucas’ latest for the NY Times, on hunting the autumn leaves in Japan — 3 Days of ‘Momijigari’: Experiencing Japan’s Fiery Autumnal Foliage.
Back — home — to London after 386 days away.
Spent the night with the family in the Frassenhütte at the top of an Austrian Alp.
Cornhole is “American pétanque”.
We left our home in London exactly a year ago for my sabbatical abroad. After stints in Japan & New York, tomorrow we depart from our last long-term stop — a temporary but already much-loved home — in Leiden, the Netherlands, with still a few weeks to go before our final return.
15% still seems like a lot.
@ppfideas.bsky.social Thanks to the Past Present Future podcast episodes on the American Revolution, trial of Charles I & English Revolution, I finally understand the American Revolution against the tyranny of the King despite the British constitution’s weak monarch and strong Parliament.
The latest from Lisa Lucas at the Guardian! Freewheeling family fun in the Netherlands: a cycling and camping trip along the Maas river. With special guests!
U.S. abandons hunt for signal of cosmic inflation
Now-canceled CMB-S4 project would have searched the afterglow of the Big Bang for signs of cosmic exponential growth spurt.
This is mildly clever, very slimy, and a little bit funny (since it only works against other slimy — or at least lazy — people).
It seems that olive oil, cheap balsamic vinegar, greek yogurt, miso paste and garlic make a good chicken marinade. (Also, this is a Wordland test.)
Very impressed that Apple’s autocorrect knows that it’s apostrophes and not quotes in “rock ’n’ roll”.
From “aether” to “Zwicky, Fritz”, The Random Universe now has an index.
My morning bicycle commute (Leiden, NL)
I love the Netherlands, and I especially love cycling in the Netherlands. I don’t love the various motorized vehicles that are allowed to share the cycle lanes in the Netherlands.
Well, now I have a story about the time I went to see The Mekons but accidentally saw a very loud hardcore band with two drummers instead. This was not my desired outcome. (The Mekons were upstairs. I am kind of bereft.)
The latest from the amazing Lisa Lucas at the NYT!
Apparently, my fingerprints are almost worn down (according to biometric scans of the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND).
First Parkrun out of the UK.
Starting the final leg of my sabbatical — back in Europe for the first time since leaving last July. A quick stop through Madrid and then Leiden through most of the summer.
Category error.
By the numbers, the tariffs are less an expression of economic theory and more a Dadaist art piece about the meaninglessness of expertise.
–There Is Only One Way to Make Sense of the Tariffs – Derek Thompson, The Atlantic
(h/t Manton Reece)
R.I.P. Sergei Shandarin, great cosmologist and lovely human.