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International Volunteer Day
Today is International Volunteer Day. And because I'm in the middle of my (magical) sabbatical, I've had no difficulty dedicating what would have been the entire workday to a variety of volunteer activities for the benefit of Three Rings, the nonprofit I founded 22 years ago for the purpose of international volunteer day, volunteering, sabbatical, three rings, dancastBabies and Baubles
For a long time now, every year we've encouraged our two children (now 10 and 8 years old) to each select one new bauble for our Christmas tree. They get to do this at the shop adjoining the place from which we buy the tree, and it's become a part of our annual Christmas traditions.
This99 Days of Blogging
With this post, for the first time ever, I've blogged for 99 consecutive days!
I didn't set out with the aim of getting to a hundred, as I might well manage tomorrow, but after a while I began to think it a real possibility. In particular, when a few different factors came together: published on gemini, graphs, blogging, statisticsStuck in a Lift
I was a small child the first time I got stuck in an elevator. I was always excited by lifts and the opportunity for button-pushing that they provided, and so I'd run ahead of my mum to get into a lift, at which point the doors closed behind me. The call button on the outside didn't work for some students union, friends, three rings, conferences, nightline, dancast, manchester, conferenceLoughrea Unlocked
I'm on the map! No matter what else my mother and I achieve this week, my name will forever be recorded as the unlocker of the Loughrea graticule in Ireland: https://geohashing.site/geohashing/IrelandHorse-Powered Locomotives
You're probably familiar with the story of George and Robert Stephenson's Rocket, a pioneering steam locomotive built in 1829.
If you know anything, it's that Rocket won a competition and set the stage for a revolution in railways lasting for a century and a half that followed. It's a cool trains, history, horses, steam, travelUS Constitution and Presidential Assassinations
Hypothetically-speaking, what would happen if convicted felon Donald Trump were assassinated in-between his election earlier this month and his inauguration in January? There've been at least two assassination attempts so far, so it's not beyond the realm of possibility that somebody will have history, laws, usaSadder Than Fiction
On a number of occasions over the first two decades of this century I've attempted to write a particular short story with a science fiction/alternate history feel. Now, I've given up on it, and that's... fine.
Fiction
The story's taken several forms over the years, but the theme's always been politics, story, dancast, conspiracy, writingXPath Scraping AdamKoszary.co.uk
Adam Koszary - whom I worked alongside at the Bodleian - the social media specialist who brought the "absolute unit" meme to the masses, started blogging earlier (again?) this year. Yay!
But he's completely neglected to put an RSS feed on hew new blog. Boo!
I've talked at length about bodleian, freshrss, rss, bloggingSabbatical Magic