Bubbles
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Every two weeks or so I am publishing an essay from an emerging writer. This week, we are publishing “Unfinished Canyons” by Chelsey Reid. Chelsey is a Kentucky-based writer whose work explores public health, harm reduction, and...
Suffering is something I thought about throughout my life. Certainly, it's not only me: all the religion in this world have some thoughts about suffering, for a start. But personally, I didn't classify suffering by their usefulness, so...
I’ve written before about the discovery of a fascinating work by the 2nd century physician, Galen, describing the loss of libraries and his own research collection in a fire in Rome. Now an edition of it, with English translation, plus...
Josh Ginter, in his excellent Sunday Edition from mid-July: We spent five days camping in a one-bar-of-LTE-but-still-won’t-work area last weekend, so this is the first installment of the Sunday Edition in a few weeks. The days off were a...
I am appalled that it’s taken us this long to feature the incredible Melanie Lynskey
I love loathe seeing breaking news and big statements on Substack Notes with massive engagement without a link to a source. “Senator grows horns and spiked tail!” 2.4K likes “AP reports plastic in newborn eyeballs!” 5.3K likes “Studies...
Part 4 of my investigation into "Hobbits have a Roadside Picnic." Part 1 is here. Part 2 is here. Part 3 is here.Dragon gold We must away ere break of dayTo seek the pale enchanted gold.One of the primary reasons burglars brave the...
I recently revisited one of my favourite towns in the Midlands where there are 5 pubs listed in the 2026 Good Beer Guide within its attractive and fairly compact town centre, making it an ideal spot for a leisurely Saturday afternoon...
We are back home after our two-week trip, and having a little trouble with re-entry. Part of it is that we are dropping right into the middle of so many more things than are usually going on: 1. One of the cats (it’s one of the younger...
Please help if you can: I am working with some students who are studying programmers’ beliefs about software engineering folklore. If you can spare a few minutes to answer the question in https://survey.bth.se/survey/2545, we would be...
At RealClear Markets, Peter Grossman of the National Center for Energy Analytics considers President Trump's recent tirades against "unrealistic" gasoline prices and what an authoritarian ignoramus like him might do about them. Along the...
How we waged war on laundry, phone boxes, and Mr Vincent’s car in 1960s SwanseaWe weren’t bad kids in the Port Tennant end of Swansea in the early 1960s. We were curious, bored, and occasionally criminal. Most of what we got up to would...
Not quite sure why I'm being targeted by AliExpress with special offers on dental teaching models(?). I did have a slight contretemps with my ex-dentist a few weeks ago when I decided to "seek a second opinion" and, as a result, left...
Tidy religion is pure fantasy. When I think back on my Catholic upbringing, I picture clouds over Lake Erie like bruises. Wet blacktop and palm ash. Ozone and frankincense. You can break away from the Catholic Church, but you can't tear...