Congratulations .. good to see that Edinburgh appreciates you.

It's hard to beat Tolkien's own illustrations; I have quite a few of those from many years back when they were reproduced in a large calender format..

Scotsman German pudding .. a newspaper reference ?

Dredging ship, with yellow bucket out the stern. Three big black towers with white light sections close to the top. Pilot boat to the right. Coast of Fife behind, across the Firth of Forth.

We watched the Alfa Lift tensioning up the crane yesterday afternoon, after the Cunningham tug made its way out. Magnor, the dredger, was lined up in the channel, with the pilot boat to the right, on tow.

FedEx tried electric delivery bikes, but they didn't catch on ..

Initiatives include publications, and a host of fellowships, internships, collaborative PhDs, and roles undertaken by our staff at partner universities.

Read the review > www.nls.uk/media/pnnh1n...

Bits about Money (@patio11) Biweekly newsletter about intersection of tech and finance. Deep dives into the plumbing that moves money and the businesses that build those pipes.

Don't know where you are starting from, but for the conjuction of finance business and technology, there's much good writing by @patio11. www.bitsaboutmoney.com and all the back issues at www.kalzumeus.com .

Checks shelves .. I have a copy of that edition of The Hobbit, bought new with my pocket money direct from Allen & Unwin ..

"Nineteen Eighty-Four depicts, with very great power, the horrors of a well-established totalitarian regime of whatever type. It is important that the Western World should be aware of these dangers and not only in the somewhat narrow form of fear of Russia. Mr. Orwell's book contributes to this important purpose with great power and skill and force of imagination"

Bertrand Russell on George Orwell; from the dust jacket of the 1949 edition

Since this was taken two of the three jackets have been moved off the ship and along the dock; we can see them from the New Town.

This reminds me of one of your stories ...

The Fantastic Fiction review is apt www.fantasticfiction.com/w/jo-walton/...

Building a windfarm There’s not been much public blogging lately because I’ve been posting the quantum notes in private, for the project which I’m supporting to spinout from Heriot Watt university. T…

More pictures of the ships and components for the Inch Cape wind farm wp.cunningsystems.com/2026/01/04/b...

Keynote opening Digital Commons EDIC: Moving beyond the Digital Uncommons - Bert Hubert Last Thursday, 11th of December, saw the launch of the new Digital Commons European Digital Infrastructure Consortium. In attendance were delegations from the launching member states (and the observer...

Really long post on this topic by @berthubert.bsky.social is worth inserting in this thread and reading berthub.eu/articles/pos...

Sam Vimes ‘Boots’ Theory of Socio-Economic Unfairness | Terry Pratchett Perhaps one of the most popular quotes from the Discworld series is Sam Vimes’s ‘Boots’ Theory of Socio-economic Unfairness, propounded in Men at Arms: The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes rea...

Kameron references this, but it needs to be explicitly called out - @terrypratchett.bsky.social SirPTerry's Vimes Boots theory terrypratchett.com/explore-disc... about how it costs more to not be able to afford to buy better quality - applies to food as well as clothes and furniture

Need to find a way to reflect the costs in safety and road wear of vehicles which are heavier than they need to be for their function (micromobility); also giantism in SUVs ..

Making friends in Scotland takes time and patience .. three years back here, and there are some people who more than acquaintances .. btw, happy to get together if you want to improve on our having met once, at Stanford, just before you moved to the city ..

This needs another line for cycling costs ...

The transportation system needs re-design to optimize energy use in transport of people and things (not necessarily together) for higher utility of transport and less weight in vehicles. Cars (whether ICE or EV impelled) are no longer the right choice for this, unless they are a shared service.

There's a 'Feast of Ingathering' .. biblical reference. Usually applied to fruit, or sheep ..

Inch Cape’s first XXL monopiles land in Port of Leith - Inch Cape Offshore The first shipment of XXL monopile foundations for Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm has arrived in the Port of Leith marking the start of a new phase of offshore construction for the project and a new era...

Here's the source for the story about the Inch Cape wind farm www.inchcapewind.com/inch-capes-f... #leith

Bedroom doors exist ...

This hits hard ..

Thanks for the reminder; I had a lot of her books in paperback at one point. Time to look to see what's available for download.

Signed up for your event on the 13th - free is possible, but the Book Festival site is very pressuring about donations. Is the Spiegeltent location the one (planning permission contested) in St Andrews Square ? Book Festival site has no clues ..

Nicely done - a dramatic improvement.

Front page of the August 2025 printed Spurtle.

ISSUE 353 – PUBLISHED TODAY! Everything you need to know about 1 square mile of north/central Edinburgh. Now printed on lightweight, breathable, summer-friendly paper with shower-resistant coating suitable for hailstorms.
#Edinburgh #hyperlocal #news

North British Station Hotel Edinburgh 31st December 1941 menu (the hotel is still there, now The Balmoral) .. includes a 'savoury' course, wartime notwithstanding.

we should eat way more deer, too many of them around causing huge damage to woodland. They're a disaster without top level predation (the Epping Forest visitors centre has a freezer selling it from their herd, incredibly ethical meat, yet people keep complaining because Bambi or something)

Subsidising e-bikes instead of cars could really kick the electric vehicle transition into high gear Electric car discounts are too meagre to help the low-paid and car-dependent.

Subsidising e-bikes instead of cars could really kick the electric vehicle transition into high gear
theconversation.com/subsidising-...