Writing

Heading to the kitchen this morning, I took my laptop with me so I would have something to read or watch while waiting for water to boil for tea and crispbread to toast.

Native Australians kept captive dingos as companions, watchdogs, and even as living blankets, giving rise to the expression "five-dog night" to mean a very cold night.

Это сложно представить: где-то на скучных задворках одной из галактик кружилось наше Солнце, а рядом с ним маленький зелёно-голубой мирок, который мы называем Землёй.

I have always been interested in people who show themselves not in one narrow field, but in many. And the greater the difference between those fields, the more interesting it is.

If William of Malmesbury can be trusted, once, when John was dining with the king, the king asked: "What separates a Scot from a sot?" John answered: "Only the width of the dinner table!"

Asked what he would do if he had six months to live, Isaac Asimov answered: "Type faster."

What kind of physicist picks locks for fun, and wins the Nobel by working out the wobble of a cafeteria plate?

Always code as if the guy who ends up maintaining your code will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live — John F. Woods.

I found this picture of Harold Clayton Lloyd dangling from a clock in Safety Last! (1923). The famous clock scene from Back to the Future turns out to be a deliberate homage — plus one funny coincidence.