https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog.html Data science, photography, books, and everything in between. en Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification Ken Reid static site feed https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/free-comments-via-github-discussions.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/free-comments-via-github-discussions.html Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 How giscus gives a static site free comments with no database, no ads, and no tracking. technology https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/putting-my-photos-on-a-map.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/putting-my-photos-on-a-map.html Tue, 14 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 239 of my photographs plotted on an interactive world map, this is how the photo map works. technology photography https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/self-hosting-your-fonts.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/self-hosting-your-fonts.html Sun, 12 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 No Google Fonts, no third-party requests, and icon fonts subset from 75 KB down to 1.5 KB. Here's how, and why it's worth an afternoon. technology https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/reading-this-site-offline.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/reading-this-site-offline.html Sun, 12 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 This site now works offline: a ~100-line service worker, no framework, no build step. Here's how. technology https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/abandoned-places-i-photograph.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/abandoned-places-i-photograph.html Sun, 12 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Why I photograph abandoned places and the ethics of pointing a camera at decay. photography personal https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/why-i-love-latex.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/why-i-love-latex.html Sun, 12 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 I wrote my thesis, my papers, and my CV in LaTeX, and I'd have it no other way. technology writing https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/what-50000-scrobbles-say-about-me.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/what-50000-scrobbles-say-about-me.html Mon, 06 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Fifteen years of Last.fm data - what I listen to when I'm feeling joyful, depressed, doing work, working out or studying. personal music https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/hosting-photography-on-github-for-free.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/hosting-photography-on-github-for-free.html Mon, 06 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 GitHub Pages caps your site at 1 GB, and my photography portfolio is bigger than that on its own. Here's the free workaround: thumbnails in the repo, full-size originals in a GitHub release. photography technology https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/why-you-arent-a-visual-learner.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/why-you-arent-a-visual-learner.html Sat, 04 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Everyone took the quiz and got a label. Decades of cognitive psychology say the label does nothing: matching teaching to 'learning styles' doesn't improve learning, and believing it quietly limits you. What works instead is effortful, unglamorous, and the same for everyone. philosophy science https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/frodo-sam-and-love.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/frodo-sam-and-love.html Thu, 02 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 A queer-friendly reading of Frodo and Sam: not a hidden romance, but male friendship deep enough for tears, touch, and total trust. Insisting that tenderness must be romance rebuilds the exact wall this story tears down. (Gimli and Legolas, on the other hand...) books philosophy personal https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/optimizing-your-schedule-ii.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/optimizing-your-schedule-ii.html Tue, 30 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 A reply to Part I: time is not the only budget. Energy is a second, renewable resource that some activities spend and others restore. A working model of a depleted week, and why rest is production, not indulgence. personal data science advice https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/what-we-leave-behind.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/what-we-leave-behind.html Sat, 27 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 From the plutonium in the planet's crust to the Golden Record in interstellar space to the memory of a Tuesday coffee, a look at everything we leave behind, and why none of us ever truly vanishes. personal philosophy science https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/optimizing-your-schedule.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/optimizing-your-schedule.html Mon, 15 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 What an operations researcher actually means by optimizing a schedule: objectives, constraints and weightings, a values clarification grid, and a working integer-programming model of your week. Nerd mode optional. personal data science advice https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/what-was-i-made-for.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/what-was-i-made-for.html Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 On finite time, micro-ambition, Gandalf, Tim Minchin, and why every 'one day' dream needs a plan or it disappears. personal advice https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/mash-modern-perspective.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/mash-modern-perspective.html Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 A modern look at M*A*S*H: how a Korean War sitcom from the 1970s remains one of the sharpest critiques of bureaucracy, war, and trauma in television history. television https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/the-culture-series.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/the-culture-series.html Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Smashing the world requires only a hammer; building a better one requires an imagination. A reflection on Iain M. Banks's Culture series and the fierce contrarian act of imagining a future that works. books science-fiction https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/individualization-of-responsibility.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/individualization-of-responsibility.html Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Corporations reframe systemic crises as consumer morality plays. From plastic bags to five-minute showers, how the public ends up feeling guilty while industrial actors avoid regulation. politics environment corporations systems regulation https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/advice-to-my-younger-self.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/advice-to-my-younger-self.html Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Fifty things I would tell my younger self, from pensions and emergency funds to sunscreen, boundaries, and uncomfortable conversations. personal https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/prevention-of-failure-is-unseen.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/prevention-of-failure-is-unseen.html Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 We celebrate the people who fix disasters and take preventive work for granted. That's a bug in how we think, and it costs us. philosophy https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/books-i-recommend-to-friends.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/books-i-recommend-to-friends.html Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 The thirteen books I actually push on friends, grouped by the kind of friend I'd press them into the hands of. books https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/mistaken-identity-italy.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/mistaken-identity-italy.html Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 How a mix-up over an email address sent me to the northern Italian mountains to photograph a tech event I had no business being at. photography personal https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/how-to-write-a-blog.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/how-to-write-a-blog.html Wed, 13 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 What I learned about writing a blog: why the word itself put me off, how I found a process, and what to do when people hate your work. personal writing advice https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/hidden-cost-of-cobalt-congo.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/hidden-cost-of-cobalt-congo.html Wed, 13 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 The batteries in our phones, laptops, and EVs are largely made of cobalt mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, often by hand and often by children. A reflection on a presentation I gave, and what we can actually do about it. ethics technology https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/iso-8601-date-cult.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/iso-8601-date-cult.html Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 A playful, half-joking ode to ISO 8601 (YYYY-MM-DD) as the only sortable, unambiguous, international date format worth using. technology standards https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/accessibility-first-product-design-data-science.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/accessibility-first-product-design-data-science.html Sun, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Most data science outputs are inaccessible by default. Treating accessibility as the design constraint, not the audit step, produces clearer plots, better dashboards, and more rigorous communication for everyone. data-science https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/life-and-death-of-the-early-internet.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/life-and-death-of-the-early-internet.html Wed, 06 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 From CRT monitors and Comet Cursor to MSN Messenger, Kazaa, Warcraft 3 forums, and Bebo: a personal history of how the early internet shaped who we are. personal tech https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/from-scotland-to-michigan.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/from-scotland-to-michigan.html Mon, 04 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 From Scotland to Michigan: a personal account of culture shock, free education, healthcare, xenophobia, weather, and what it means to belong somewhere new. personal https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/ethics-of-llm-use-not-llms.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/ethics-of-llm-use-not-llms.html Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 An AI researcher's honest take on LLM ethics: the energy numbers, the cobalt hypocrisy, the Jevons paradox, and why telling people not to use AI on environmental grounds is a privilege position. ai data-science https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/dungeon-crawler-carl-litrpg-dignity.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/dungeon-crawler-carl-litrpg-dignity.html Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 A book snob's confession: how Dungeon Crawler Carl used absurd LitRPG mechanics to deliver one of the most devastating emotional payloads in modern fantasy. books https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/fifteen-years-of-silence-rothfuss-doors-of-stone.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/fifteen-years-of-silence-rothfuss-doors-of-stone.html Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Fifteen years since The Wise Man's Fear and still no Doors of Stone. A personal reflection on the Kingkiller Chronicle, the long wait, the charity debacle, and why writing at this level is genuinely hard. books https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/no-idea-no-problem-data-science-portfolio.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/no-idea-no-problem-data-science-portfolio.html Mon, 20 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 A practical guide to building a data science portfolio when you have no idea where to start. Covers project types, documentation, novelty, collaboration, and working in the GenAI era. data-science https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/evolutionary-computation-identity-crisis.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/evolutionary-computation-identity-crisis.html Fri, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Evolutionary Computation is having an identity crisis in the GenAI era, despite delivering major real-world wins in engineering, logistics, and constrained optimization. ai https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/in-defense-of-audiobooks.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/in-defense-of-audiobooks.html Thu, 17 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 The stigma against audiobooks is rooted in bad assumptions about learning, intelligence, and what counts as reading. The research doesn't support any of it. books https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/why-learn-to-code-age-of-ai.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/why-learn-to-code-age-of-ai.html Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Coding still matters because the value is not syntax memorization. It is learning to break down problems, reason across systems, and build reliable solutions. ai https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/second-brain-local-llm-professional.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/second-brain-local-llm-professional.html Wed, 15 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 A practical system for project documentation, knowledge management, and local LLM workflows that improves delivery, reviews, and project re-entry. ai https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/snowball-vs-avalanche.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/snowball-vs-avalanche.html Tue, 14 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Snowball and avalanche both work, but for different reasons. A practical guide with simulator-backed charts on interest, timing, and motivation. personal-finance https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/rating-systems.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/rating-systems.html Sun, 12 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 569 books rated, and the star system fails at all of them. books https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/self-help-books.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/self-help-books.html Sat, 11 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 The bad ones are blog posts stretched to 300 pages. The good ones cite their sources. books https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/photo-tagging-with-clip.html https://www.kenreid.co.uk/blog/photo-tagging-with-clip.html Fri, 10 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 How I used OpenCLIP to automatically classify 500+ photos into 10 categories in under a minute — zero API cost, running entirely on CPU. ai photography