The inventor of the cassette tape

The inventor of the cassette tape has died, having outlived his invention by decades. How odd it must have been to invent something so important at the time, to have it entirely superseded by another of your inventions (he was also involved in developing the CD) and then blown away completely by electronic vibrations in […]

Rare earth

One day is much like another these days, weekend or not. I was working today, unwilling and unable to make much progress. The sun was out, and we went for coffee in the late afternoon, taking a winding way back. Now I am working again as the GF cooks dinner. I listened to an interesting […]

Unexpected waves

Funny how waves of sadness can continue to break even years later and for no apparent reason. I was reminded by nothing at all of a November in 2014, before dawn, arriving in Lahore to see my family – save one who was also on the way from another city, and one who lay inside […]

The chosen tiles

We have chosen our tiles. They are extravagant, but will be very beautiful. The pattern is below, though the central star is more blue and flecked with white, rather dusk-like, and the smaller star is a dark grey. They are handmade to order, so will take a few weeks to arrive.

Another America

I worry at 9/11 and the Iraq war as though it were a sore tooth. This time it was on reading this piece about the ways in which the American response to the 9/11 attacks could have been different. The only scenario that I don’t remember even being raised at the time is the last […]