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Intended as an easy reader for beginning students of the Russian language, this abridged and simplified version tries to fit Arkady and Boris Strugatsky’s 1964 science-fiction novel “Hard to be a god” (Трудно быть богом) in only 26 brief text pages using a vocabulary of a mere 650 words. And it does not succeed. This is not a story, it’s a string of glimpses from the story. You need to know the story already (for example by reading an English translation), or you will be completely lost. The 26 illustrations by K.V. Garin are beautiful, but that’s not why the learner needs this book. At the end of the book is a dictionary of 7 pages (only a list of Russian words, no translations) and 2 pages of exercise questions.

This library provides developers with some really well thought out functionality for managing config files for a Node.js application. It supports several different configuration file formats, including JSON5 (which has support for comments, unlike regular JSON). It also is very smart about loading files for different environments (e.g., production vs. development). One can tell that it’s been used in complex projects and has become battle-hardened over time. Highly recommended.

This place is alright but a bit overrated. The food here is not always evenly heated, and the flavors are a bit bland. On the plus side, staff is super friendly, service is quick, and there’s a loyalty program for regulars. There’s also a nice (if pricey) juice bar just around the corner.

As a lunch alternative, I recommend checking out some of the vegetarian food carts, e.g. DC Vegetarian, which isn’t far away.

The juxtaposition of two very different tales won’t work for all readers. It worked for me – mostly because Larson paints a vivid picture of the late 19th century that helps explain how it was possible for H.H. Holmes to do what he did.

It’s in the context of the chaotic and confusing growth of the city, the introduction of strange (almost magical) new technologies into everyday life, the economic woes and individual struggles, that a madman like Holmes could destroy countless lives before being exposed. The Fair, then, represents the optimistic effort to create order out of chaos, to paint a future that makes all the struggles seem worthwhile.

Larson writes speculative non-fiction to a degree to which few other writers dare. It’s a risky approach, and some readers will take away claims as facts from his book that are purely conjecture. Even the notes are hidden away, so that no small numbers at the end of sentences distract from the flow of the narrative.

It’s a unique style, and it requires attentive reading (including of Larson’s own explanations) to separate speculation from fact. But his speculations are entirely rational, and they do help to imagine what may have animated men like Burnham, and madmen like Holmes.

Ad blocking has unfortunately turned into a veritable for-profit industry. There’s money to be made by letting people pay to get on the “acceptable ads” whitelists. uBlock is a true-blooded open source project without any such hidden pitfalls. The developers are not even accepting donations.

uBlock Origin is fast (faster than the competition, according to their own benchmarks) and gets the job done, whether you want to hide an annoying ad or other obnoxious content like Twitter’s Moments tab. The UI does take some getting used to, especially the “element picker” screen which you’ll need to master for setting up your own filters.

That said, if you’re willing to deal with a bit of a learning curve, I highly recommend making the switch from more popular ad blockers.

If you’ve often wanted all your developer docs in one place (say, a PHP and JavaScript reference alongside jQuery and CSS), this is a wonderful, carefully curated resource. It’s updated frequently, and even has built-in offline support. If you write any code at all, I recommend pinning this tab and keeping it open at all times.

Can a book be both dry and riveting? Yes, it can. Although Nick Lane does not always succeed in his ambition to do better than textbook style writing, this challenging and exhausting book rewards the reader with an up-to-date understanding of the evolved nanotechnology we call “life”.

This isn’t a book about cool animals, or about evolution as a whole. Lane focuses very much on life at the very small scale, such as the inner workings of mitochondria, the power houses of the cell. It’s an understanding of this inner cell machinery – which exploits effects even at the level of quantum tunneling – that hold great promises for humanity: curing cancer, manufacturing life-saving drugs cheaply, even solving the world’s energy crisis.

Therein also lies the difficulty in writing a book like this: you can’t do it without going into wickedly complex biochemistry and physics, or without encountering biology’s hefty jargon. Lane does his best with illustrations and a glossary, but this book would still have benefited from more attention to its complex sections, and less repetition of its core theses.

That said, the central case for the “energy bottleneck” that led to the development of complex cells is well made, and has potentially profound and far-reaching implications for astrobiology.

I’m giving this book 4.5 stars, but rounding up because Lane’s work is a breath of fresh air in a world with mountains of pop-sci books that pretend-explain things by throwing endless unconnected anecdotes at the reader. In contrast, you may want to come back to this book repeatedly to understand some of its nuance better, if you don’t find yourself too frustrated by its most challenging parts.

I’ve tried many loose leaf infusions, but I keep returning to this Tazo tea. It may not be the most natural product (or color), but the combination of hibiscus, cinnamon, rose hips and licorice root makes for a refreshing flavor, and you get good value for money.

Your one stop destination for overpriced, expired goods. If that’s not your cup of tea, avoid. The only reason to come here is if you’re close by, need something urgently, and are willing to pay extra close attention to ensure you don’t accidentally buy something that might make you sick. Amazing they’re still in business, really.

Learning, to me, goes beyond understanding the mechanics of our environment. It includes the development of habits, such as introspection, critical thinking, and empathy. The moment we came screaming into this world, our brains started making sense of things. What is love? What is trust? What are other people?

Some of these things we learn not just by words or imitation, but through systems in our brain that have evolved to respond to particular experiences: seeing faces, experiencing touch, hearing the heartbeat of our mothers.

But as in any other category, we may learn the wrong things. Abuse destroys trust. Negligence withholds love. Separation stifles empathy. And over time, we need to reinforce our knowledge of love, trust, and empathy – like any other thing we’ve learned.

Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s “Human” is a tour de force in exercising our empathy. Filmed in 60 countries, it is the result of interviews with more than 2,000 people. It showcases not only the diversity of humanity, but also the beauty of our planet through stunning aerial photography.

This is an intense work. It requires setting aside time and mental energy to take in the stories, which are often heartbreaking. You will hear the stories of people living in abject poverty, people who have lost their entire families to war, women who have been raped, killers who have been forgiven, and humans of all ages who have endured shameful prejudice.

Tales of heroic endurance and the relentless pursuit of happiness, education, justice – those are the most uplifting moments in the film. A film like this might risk falling into a kind of moral relativism, a mere celebration of diversity. But “Human” returns to the call for justice throughout.

One Indian man tells the story of how the victims of water shortages are helping to construct a twin tower with 76 swimming pools to be enjoyed by the wealthy. He says he is furious because the connection between inequality and its effects is so apparent. A destitute old woman yells at the camera, calling us all to account for ignoring the suffering of the poor.

In another scene in between interviews, we see a vast array of skyscrapers lit at night. From afar, they look gorgeous, an incredible show of light and architecture. Then the camera zooms into one of the buildings, and we see office cubicles, lonely workers, a soulless, sterile environment.

“Human” does not give us an answer to injustice, inequality, poverty, waste, war. It reminds us powerfully that there is a question here: If we care about one another as human beings, what do we do now?