I haven’t had this kind of obsession over an album for years. Marika Hackman’s I’m Not Your Man is absolutely incredible. Instantly accessible but reveals its brilliance over many plays. With a new album out soon it looks like this is a great time to have found out about her.

So here we go…

Spotify’s Discover Weekly is such a great fountain of new stuff to listen to. There’s some serious secret sauce in that algorithm. Got about three tracks in this week and found a new obsession.

Someone, somewhere has that horrible pit-of-the-stomach feeling where their software has publicly gone wrong. Hope they manage to get it fixed up and the fallout isn’t too big for them.

Lowlight of yesterday was finding a cat playing with a live squirrel in the kitchen. I felt like Chevy Chase in Christmas Vacation. Had no idea squirrels made such weird noises. 30 mins to nudge it out from under our furniture and into a box so I could get it out of the house. 🐿

End of days, double rainbow.

Just voted Green in the European Election. So great that we get the chance to vote. I’m very happy that the Lib Dems got in at the local level, but Climate change is a bigger issue than Brexit, and the EU can hold its members to account.

I heard this song on an old episode of Desert Island Discs recently. Walking home from work, it stopped me in my tracks. So beautiful, so poignant. I’ve listened to other versions since, like Frank Sinatra’s (twice!) and none of them get close.

It’s Album Club #99. Great choice.

Hearing The Beta Band’s Dry The Rain on the way into work today, it struck me how much this feels like The Beatles’ Hey Jude. Anthemic in a very similar way.

Good to see some African banking innovation noted here. The fact that the US aren’t doing it yet doesn’t surprise me; when I lived there in 2002, transferring money online resulted in a printed cheque arriving that you could then sign and pass on.

Album Club #98

Album Club #97 in progress. A challenging listen!

Be safe on the Internet. This open source security checklist is simply brilliant.

After repeated plays, I am officially declaring Robyn’s album Honey to be a masterpiece. It gets better with every play and is sublimely put together. When it finishes I just want to put it on all over again.

Album Club time!

Great talk by Michael Broadwith this evening on his amazing Land’s End to John O’Groats record ride. My first time at Musette Cafe in Aldbury, lovely venue.

Been anxiously watching the forecast all week. If it stays this way, sadly I don’t think I’ll be riding the Harp Hilly Hundred tomorrow. I don’t mind the cold, but I’m not prepared for the risk of crashing on ice.

Great article from the NYT on The Malign Incompetence of The British Ruling Class. I think this incompetence is coupled with hubris up and down society about the British somehow being special. I’ve heard it from my own friends how we should “just back ourselves” and “go for it”.

This tool is fabulous. I needed to validate an estimate for a large irregular-shaped flat roof and could use the tool to plot the area from a Google Maps satellite image. Bravo.