Robin Sloan is always good to read (although I have not, yet, had enough downtime to read Sourdough). His proposal for Spring ’83 is no exception and I decided to give it the “close consideration” he asked for. I’m not sure I have any “generous imagination” to offer.

The total indifference to customer service is just one reason to close my account at UniCredit. They insist that I make an appointment. I arrive in good time. They ignore me, keep dealing with someone else with no excuse or explanation. Any minute now I know it will be time for their lunch.

I fina...

It really is like learning to type and operate a mouse all over again. Sat at the dining room table, connected to the office iMac via RealVNC on the iPad, with a magic keyboard and a magic mouse, and I keep making incredibly stupid mistakes. It is weird, as if sometimes more complicated commands,...

It has been a week of catching up with technology, hard and soft. And my conclusion is that if you aren’t paying attention it is very easy to be left behind, such that when you do pay attention again, you are completely astonished.

With the sudden interest in Ukraine's national genebank in Kharkiv which, as yet, has not been destroyed, it seemed like a good idea to take a look at the diversity it holds and how much of it is duplicated elsewhere.