PicoBlog

In October 1990, a recent arrival from Houston named Ennis Ray Shorts stunned Austin by beating out such local favorites as Two Hoots and a Holler, Retarted Elf and Jimmy LaFave to win the first and only South By Southwest Battle of the Bands. The dreadlocked Shorts was Otis Redding and Jimi Hendrix rolled into Prince's sexy-short package, and when he hit the Palmer Auditorium stage, he acted like he was headlining the Erwin Center.

“You promised me a notwithstanding clause” must surely be one of the stranger complaints made by an outgoing home secretary to the prime minister who appointed her, particularly as Suella Braverman was given something pretty similar by Rishi Sunak as part of her “stop the boats” legislation. A notwithstanding clause, as I understand it, says that you ar… ncG1vNJzZmiqn6%2Byr67Eq55nq6WXwLWtwqRlnKedZL1ww8eaq6xlkWK7sMDWoquhq6SWu6W1zaBknKSRqsCm

When I want to sub out butter for an unsaturated fat in recipes like muffins or quick breads, it’s not uncommon for me to call for “a neutral oil” such as canola, safflower, or grapeseed. Whenever I publish one of those recipes, I sit back and wait for the emails and comments to come rolling in. ncG1vNJzZmidnKG2prfRopygnaJjwLau0q2YnKNemLyue89orqGZpKh6tbTEZpuemZxixKrAx2aqnp2UYryquNI%3D

Many of the people who consume Peak Notions most (thank you for that!) are not paid subscribers. If my work adds value to your life, I’d love if those who can afford it would consider a paid subscription. It allows me to keep writing and ensures continued free access to the weekly column for those who aren’t in a position to pay at the moment. *This colu… ncG1vNJzZmikm5q7r7HDsmWsrZKowaKvymeaqKVfpXy4tMCtqmatoGLEqsDHZq6opZWjeqK6w2arq62VYrCztcyeZHGZaQ%3D%3D

What makes a restaurant gay is a question I think about often. Is it the fact that it is gay-owned? Is it the branding/marketing of the place? Or is it the patronage of the venue, the ‘who’s primarily eating there at any given time’ that makes a dining establishment lean more queer? There are, in fact, many possible answers to the question, and historically, there has not been just one singular path that a restaurant has taken for it to turn into a queer haven.

The closest I’ve come to success as a self-help guru is drawing the distinction between telic and atelic activities. This language gained some traction as a way to clarify the contrast we register implicitly between project and process. Projects are telic in that they aim at an end or telos that completes them. Listening to a song, making a friend, commuting to work: these activities strive towards terminal states. The song is over, the friendship formed, you are back at the office again.

A successful 1v1 in the NHL has below a 10% success rate. Those are poor odds. In the past, we’ve discussed the 1v1 vs the 2v2 in terms of driving player development. In this post, we are diving deeper into the elements we alluded to in that post. There are two key elements when deciding if a 1v1 is in the offensive player’s favor. If you have these, you’ll win more 1v1s:

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I was in my school’s chess club for a couple of years. We played against other students in the area, but during these competitions I only remember seeing one girl. Eventually, I quit playing chess and started playing guitar. I switched for the music, but it helped that guitarists were cool. If you had asked me to describe the appearance of a top-rated chess player, I would have said a man with binoculars-thick specks, urine-coloured fingers, hackled neck, moulting jacket – “some wronged and fettered wild beast or bird, dangerous to approach in his sullen woe.