What We Can Know by Ian McEwan

This is Ian McEwan’s second foray into science fiction after his alternative history novel, Machines Like Me. I enjoyed that book but it was far too eager to show off its worldbuilding—at one point a character practically looks at the camera like Tim in The Office. There’…

Movie mashups

I’ve mentioned the ritual that concludes the week at Clearleft: At the end of every Thursday afternoon at Clearleft, we wrap up the working week with an all-hands (video) meeting. Yes, I know that the week finishes on Friday, but Fridays have been declared the no-meetings d…

Stalling installing

I’m an invited expert at the World Wide Web Consortium. That sounds impressive, but it isn’t. Anyone can become an invited expert. The fact that I am now one proves it. You apply to be an invited expert and once that application is approved, you’re in. So you too could an…

Splatterday

They need more. Smithsonian Magazine: An Amateur Astronomer Using Google Maps Spotted a Strange Indentation. It Turned Out to Be a Meteorite Crater From 390 Million Years Ago. That one has been added to the excellent Impact Earth crater map. No doom, no utopia In Jeff Jarvis…

How to Meditate While Doing Street Photography, Sort Of

My name is Tom Souzer and I'm a self taught photographer from Pittsburgh PA .I've been shooting the streets of Pittsburgh for about 2 years now. I tend to focus on emotions, expressions, and fleeting moments. I personally like to not be seen while I'm out shooting (although it d…

Buying the Nikon Z6 Series in 2026. Which Ones Are Still Worth It?

The Nikon Z6 series sits in the middle of the company's mirrorless lineup. The Nikon Z8 and Z9 are designed for professionals, the Z50 series is for beginners, while the Nikon Z6 series offers a middle ground for both photography and video use. Today, a lot of young and serious…

Reanimating a Corpus. Or Two. Or More.

For many years, I have despaired of ever saving the contents of my old blog (1999-2007), my writing for Linux Journal (1996-2019), and countless other articles, essays, and posts, published mostly on the Web—which looks and sounds like a permanent place (“sites,” “locati…

The Nikon D4 in 2026: Still Going Strong

I've owned the Nikon D4 for several years, and to this day, I still bring it with me on professional photography gigs. But I stuck with it; and it stuck with me. There are cameras you buy because you want the latest technology. There are also cameras you buy because you need to…

A Wham on the Moon

The Moon has a new crater, called McGetchin. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera people have the story here. (That’s their before and after view.) NASA calls it a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Specifically, Officially named McGetchin after pioneering lunar scientist Tom McGe…

Tyrannosaurus

This Week in the IndieWeb

September 11-18, 2026 Recent EventsFrom events.indieweb.org/archive: Front End Study Hall #058 Thursday, September 17 at 10:00am Online! Zoom!Front End Study Hall is an HTML + CSS focused group meeting, held on Zoom to experiment and learn with the basic building blocks of the…

No Algorithms, No AI: Why the 5 Boro Foto Fest Is Different

There's no shortage of ways to discover photography online right now, and almost all of them run through an algorithm or, increasingly, generative AI. The 5 Boro Foto Fest is our answer to that: a festival built entirely around real, human-made photography, with a guarantee that…

New novel from Emily St. John Mandel (Station Eleven):...

New novel from Emily St. John Mandel (Station Eleven): Exit Party. “Los Angeles, 2031: The first spring after the collapse of the United States, peacekeeping troops withdraw from the city, the Jacaranda trees blossom, and the curfew is finally lifted.”

Wes Anderson’s Criterion Closet Picks

Wes Anderson steps into the mobile Criterion Closet to select some films that he enjoys. One unsurprising thing about this video: Anderson says he has his own Criterion closet at home with all of the Criterion films. That’s maybe a $40-50K investment? (He probably gets th…

“The clan of predators currently in charge of the...

“The clan of predators currently in charge of the U.S. federal government” are striving to make the world safe for grift, corruption, and theft, with their mob boss president leading the way.

Walking Men Worldwide

Artist Maya Barkai assembled a collection of pedestrian traffic signals from around the world: Walking Men Worldwide. I love all of these little people. The Warsaw one reminds me somewhat of Rocky from Project Hail Mary. Some of the ones from smaller places have mo…

Fractures Will Make You Rethink What Photography Is

There have been many, many times where I have wished that photographers would be less all about trying to document reality. The truth is that a camera can't document how we really see. And more importantly, it can't really document how we feel. But if you're more in touch with h…

Instant click for me: how NYC street signs are made ....

Instant click for me: how NYC street signs are made. “The sign shop…has a staff of 46 workers, including seven letterers who lay out signs by hand and a blacksmith who makes custom brackets to securely attach signs to traffic poles.”