Most human societies have rituals. One popular ceremony is of the young person being made a member of the tribe. For some, it is at the start of life – a Baptism or Christening. For others, it is when the child becomes an adult – Bar Mitzvah or Ritusuddhi. Most societies have marriage ceremonies –…
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A few years ago, Johannes Haushofer published a CV of failures. In it, he lists all the grants he wasn’t awarded, positions he didn’t get, papers rejected. I think that people need to be more open about failure. None of us are perfect – despite what our social media presence says – and all of…
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It has been four years since Unicode officially accepted our Power Symbols proposal into the standard. Now I’m delighted to announce that users on iOS 14 are finally able to use the full set of Power Symbols. ⏻ ⏼ ⭘ ⏽ ⏾ They’re available to use in the browser, in emails, and messages. Here’s how…
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We’re all stuck on endless video calls now, right? So it behoves you to share your face in the highest resolution possible. Because your colleagues deserve to see your wrinkles. Most laptops have pathetic 720p webcams built in. Which is weird, because even the most basic smartphone has a front-facing camera capable of 4K photos.…
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A little under a year ago, I got a Boyue Likebook Ares eReader. I use it most days. Recently, I noticed a yellowing discolouration around the edge of the screen. I’ve boosted the contrast of those images. It’s the sort of thing the human eye can detect under decent light, but cameras struggle with. At…
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The Web Planet puts the first Doctor and his companions in the middle of a war between two alien races – the moth-like Menoptra and a hostile race of ant creatures known as Zarbi – for possession of the planet Vortis. With the help of a grub-esque people called the Optera, the Doctor discovers the…
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I’ve built myself a framed set of imaginary software. This is not available to buy in the shops. Mostly because some of the artwork is not my copyright. All the parts are listed if you want to build it yourself. Parts Floppy Disks Printer Labels Frame Background As part of my Floppy Disk Walkman project,…
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A man living in a futuristic sterile colony begins to question his circumscribed existence when his friend is chosen to go to the Island, the last uncontaminated place on earth. Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel “Never Let Me Go” is a profound meditation on the nature of love, and whether clones can ever be considered truly human.…
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I’m an ambivalent convert to FIRE – Financial Independence Retire Early. The basic gist is: Minimise your expenditure, Save 20x your annual expenditure, Retire early while maintaining the same lifestyle. That’s it. There are a lot of crappy books about FIRE, but the concept is simple. So I try to spend a little less, and…
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Sir Guy Grand (Peter Sellers), the richest man in the world, adopts a homeless boy, Youngman (Sir Ringo Starr). Together, they set out to prove that anyone, and anything, can be bought with money. I get that this is a seminal film. But it doesn’t stop it being awful. London at the end of the…
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