Guido van Rossum is "resigning" from being the Python BDFL: "I'm basically giving myself a permanent vacation from being BDFL, and you all will be on
your own." Apparently running a language can be tiring... It will be interesting to see what happens next.

1. Viroloog Marion Koopmans: 'Als het misgaat, hebben we echt een megaprobleem'  AD.nl
2. Ook Nederlandse viroloog verwacht tweede coronagolf | Buitenland | Nieuws  Het Laatste Nieuws
3. Viroloog: “Nieuwe coronagolf verwacht, alles staat of valt met hoe we ons gedragen”  Oog TV
4. BLIJF BANG! Viroloog Marion Koopmans waarschuwt: 'Die tweede coronavirus-golf komt er'  De Dagelijkse Standaard
5. Viroloog: 'Er komt een tweede coronagolf die mogelijk nog krachtiger is dan de eerste'  ThePostOnline
6. Hele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

1. gaat voor een nieuw contract bij Antwerp - Voetbalnieuws  Voetbalkrant.com
2. 'Mbokani zorgt voor zeer onaangename transferverrassing bij Antwerp'  Voetbal24.be
3. Defour schenkt klare wijn over toekomst bij Antwerp  VoetbalNieuws.be
4. Steven Defour: “Er is wat interesse uit het buitenland, maar ik wil bij Antwerp blijven”  Het Laatste Nieuws
5. 'Sinan Bolat versiert fraaie toptransfer: Dit is zijn nieuwe club'  Voetbal24.be
6. Hele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

1. TV-bazen over de impact van corona - DEEL 2. Davy Parmentier van VTM: “Hoe het straks verder moet, weet vandaag nog niemand”  Het Laatste Nieuws
2. 'Een vrijscène met 1,5 meter afstand, hoe doe je dat?'  De Tijd
3. TV-bazen over de impact van corona - DEEL 1. Olivier Goris van VRT: “Ik hou er rekening mee dat we de komende zes maanden geen seconde fictie draaien”  Het Laatste Nieuws
4. Zomer vol herhalingen, en herhalingen van herhalingen: coronacrisis is opdoffer voor alle tv-zenders, en vooral voor VRT  Het Laatste Nieuws
5. Hele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

1. China lanceert nieuwe herbruikbare capsule voor vluchten met taikonauten  Tweakers
2. Chinees ruimteschip landt succesvol terug op aarde | Wetenschap & Planeet  Het Laatste Nieuws
3. China zet succesvolle stap richting eigen ruimtestation  Het Nieuwsblad
4. Hele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

1. Smartphones aan spotprijzen, ze bestaan nog: onze gadget inspector test er twee  Het Belang van Limburg
2. GETEST. Spotgoedkope smartphones van minder dan 100 euro  Het Nieuwsblad
3. Hele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

1. Werkloosheid VS op hoogste peil sinds Tweede Wereldoorlog  De Tijd
2. Meer dan 20 miljoen Amerikaanse jobs verloren in april, werkloosheid schiet omhoog naar hoogste niveau in ruim 80 jaar  Het Laatste Nieuws
3. 'Cijfers uit de Grote Depressie'  De Standaard
4. Werkloosheid VS op hoogste niveau sinds Grote Depressie van jaren dertig  NU.nl
5. Werkloosheid VS naar hoogste niveau sinds de Grote Depressie  RTL Z
6. Hele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

Minister Muylle wil tijdelijke werkloosheid verlengen tot 1 ...  Het NieuwsbladHele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

1. Moeten we Brussels Airlines redden of niet?  De Tijd
2. Hoog spel rond Brussels Airlines  De Standaard
3. Akkoord tussen Swiss en Lufthansa: blauwdruk voor Brussels Airlines?  Trends
4. Lufthansa groep vanaf juni met 160 vliegtuigen de lucht in  Up in the Sky
5. Lufthansa Group verdubbelt in juni het aantal vliegtuigen in dienst  Luchtvaartnieuws.nl
6. Hele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

1. 173 gestrande Belgen eindelijk thuis na quarantaine in Tenerife: “Regering liet ons aan ons lot over. We hebben twee maanden op ons terras moeten doorbrengen”  Het Laatste Nieuws
2. 173 gestrande Belgen eindelijk thuis na quarantaine in Tenerife: “Regering heeft te weinig gedaan!”  Het Laatste Nieuws
3. Na quarantaine in Tenerife: 173 Belgen eindelijk weer thuis  De Morgen
4. Belgen die vastzaten op Tenerife charterden zelf vliegtuig naar huis  De Standaard
5. West-Vlaming regelt repatriëring gestrande Belgen  Focus en WTV
6. Hele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

1. 76 nieuwe overlijdens in de afgelopen 24 uur, evenveel ziekenhuisopnames  Het Belang van Limburg
2. OVERZICHT. Dalende curve zet zich voort. 76 overlijdens, 210 patiënten naar huis en 76 nieuwe opnames  Het Laatste Nieuws
3. Coronavirus: 76 overlijdens, 210 patiënten ontslagen uit het ziekenhuis  newsmonkey
4. Minder patiënten in onze ziekenhuizen  Het Nieuwsblad
5. OVERZICHT. 76 nieuwe ziekenhuisopnames en overlijdens, 585 nieuwe besmettingen | Binnenland | Nieuws  Het Laatste Nieuws
6. Hele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

Noodnummer 1722 geactiveerd wegens slecht weer op zondag  Het NieuwsbladHele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

1. Uitvoerders van roofmoord op Leopoldine De Decker krijgen 28 jaar, opdrachtgevers hoeven niet terug naar de cel  Gazet van Antwerpen
2. Na negen uur in beraad: vier veroordelingen en één vrijspraak in roofmoord Leopoldine (76)  Het Nieuwsblad
3. Straffen tussen 3 en 29 jaar cel geëist in zaak roofmoord op Leopoldine De Decker  Gazet van Antwerpen
4. ASSISEN. Tot 28 jaar cel voor roofmoord op Leopoldine De Decker, familie opgelucht: “Nu kunnen we eindelijk verder met ons leven”  Het Laatste Nieuws
5. ASSISEN. Roofmoord op Leopoldine De Decker: 28 jaar cel voor uitvoerders, (deels) voorwaardelijke straffen voor opdrachtgevers  Het Laatste Nieuws
6. Hele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

LIVE. De Wever over eventuele tweede piek: “Normale quarantaine is er een van zieken, niet van gezonde mensen”  Het Laatste Nieuws

Experts, economen en politici: iedereen is nu al bezig met een tweede coronagolf. “Zolang er geen vaccin is, zal het nieuwe normaal blijven bestaan”  Het Nieuwsblad

And the answer is: Yes, we did. Last week. But Open Road Media is putting The Iron Dragon's Daughter on e-sale again. $1.99 on this Wednesday, April 1, only. I don't have to tell you what holiday that is. But apparently they really mean it.

I expect most people who read this blog and wanted an e-copy of that book got one during last week's sale. But I publicize the event for two reasons:

1) Writers should always be as cooperative to their publishers as they can stand being.

2) Maybe the reason for this promotion is that they're putting a lot of books on sale at once.

If you're an ebook reader, you might want to look into the second possibility. Or maybe subscribe to one of the newsletters below.

Here's the e-letter they sent me, with all the boilerplate:
                         
Dear Michael Swanwick,

We are pleased to let you know that the following ebook(s) will be featured in price promotions soon.

ISBN13	Title	Author	Promo Type	Country	Start Date	End Date	Promo Price
9781504025669	The Iron Dragon's Daughter	Swanwick, Michael	ORM - Portalist NL	US	2020-04-01	2020-04-01	$1.99
9781504025669	The Iron Dragon's Daughter	Swanwick, Michael	ORM - Portalist NL	CA	2020-04-01	2020-04-01	$1.99

Open Road will promote the feature via social media. We hope you can share the deal with your network as well. You can subscribe to the newsletters at the links below so that you will get the direct link to the deal on the day that it appears.

Newsletter	Link
Early Bird Books	Subscribe Now
The Lineup	Subscribe Now
The Portalist	Subscribe Now
Murder & Mayhem	Subscribe Now
A Love So True	Subscribe Now
The Archive	Subscribe Now
The Reader	Subscribe Now

Please let us know if you have any questions. We are thrilled to be part of this promotion; hope you are too!

Best,
The Open Road Editorial Team

Yet again, something astonishing has arrived in my mailbox. This time, it's a chapbook titled Paris ett poem, containing a Swedish translation (surely the first) of Hoope Mirrlees' modernist masterpiece, Paris, a Poem. Mirrlees, you'll recall, is best known in genre circles for her fantasy novel Lud-in-the-Mist, in academic circles for being on the fringes of Bloomsbury, and in poetic circles for this poem.

Ylva Gislén translated the poem, wrote an introduction, provided explanatory notes, and created two collages for inclusion in the chapbook. All of it, clearly, a labor of love.

Quite a lovely  book. Published by Ellerströms.


And Speaking of Good Things . . .

The Temporary Culture chapbook assembled by Henry Wessells, "She Saved Us from World War Three," was reviewed by Michael Dirda in the Washington Post. Here's what he said:

Besides being one of the stars of “The Booksellers,” Henry Wessells is also the proprietor of the micro-publisher, Temporary Culture. His latest booklet, “She Saved Us From World War Three,” brings together an interview, essay and two letters highlighting the friendship between Gardner Dozois, the longtime editor of Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, and Alice Sheldon, the former Washington intelligence agent whose intense, sometimes feminist sci-fi — no one ever forgets “The Women Men Don’t See” — was written using the pseudonym James Tiptree Jr. In one letter Sheldon explains that she has pretty much stopped writing because “the stories were getting to hurt too much.”

Which is pretty good coverage for a micro-press.

Keesmaat’s Next Venture, Shitty Architecture Men, Mod Squad, Presto Problemo, Bench Press, and more in this debut edition.

Another Glass Box is a weekly roundup of urban design news in Toronto (and occasionally beyond), in bite-size pieces. It’s curated by Dan Seljak, who’s done marketing and communications work for architecture and construction companies for the last seven years—and who still loves this city enough to line up for brunch.  Content warning: some of the […]

The post Introducing: Another Glass Box, a new weekly architecture feature appeared first on Torontoist.

Why all the secrecy?

If you follow the news in Toronto or if you’re interested in technology, you’ve probably heard of Sidewalk Toronto by now. It’s a joint project of Sidewalk Labs, a sister company of Google, and Waterfront Toronto. This is the tech giant’s first foray into urban development and infrastructure, with Toronto hosting the pilot project. In […]

The post Civic Tech: We tried to get a copy of the Sidewalk Toronto agreement appeared first on Torontoist.

WWE Money In The Bank Kickoff begins at 6 pm ET/3 pm PT on Sunday, May 10.

Top 10 Friday Night SmackDown moments: WWE Top 10, May 8, 2020

 The little chap enjoyed his game with my old Britain’s figures, so I thought I would get him his own.  A big bucket of soldiers from Amazon was just the ticket!
I chose the Americans and He chose everything else, including all my heavy weapons. He loved them!

This headline puzzled me: I interpreted it as Doctors are showing a buried CDC report to top White House officials And I wondered, what was that report? and why did the CDC bury it? And who are the doctors digging it up? What the headline actually meant, of course, was Documents show that top White […]

My friends, you did it.  You worked hard and chased the Darkness away.  Special thanks to my friend Denver and Toki who wrote a really good poem/cheer.   He is right, we have to stop the hacking – no more stealing passwords. I will be calling a Celebration Party.  Everyone is welcome.  Watch the What’s New […]

The tail light cover used to be a plastic Folgers can. I know because the label is still on it.

We need to go greener!

Submitter Denene's mechanic took this photo.

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary; it's an XML based content format for distributing things like news, headlines, content, etc. These are popular because instead of relying on them to bookmark your site and return later, their RSS reader keeps your site fresh by showing them your latest posts as a simple headline. So every time that you add content such as a blog post or article they get to see the update, plus a direct link to that post.

If you're brand new ot creating websites or blogs you may feel a little like a deer caught in the headlights of a truck when it comes to figuring out what things your site needs. There are thousands of things to choose from such as GIF files, videos, widgets, slide shows etc. But before you start getting carried away adding these things you need to add the basics, call them your core fundamentals if you will. Without these your site won't be as effective as what it could be, and won't attract the traffic that you want.

It seems there are literally thousands of sites that promise to promote your website or blog…..but for a price. The best known one is Google Adwords where you pay so many cents per click depending on the competition of the Keywords you want top rankings in. And while this will get your website to the top page in Google not everyone has the budget to fork out hundreds of dollars in advertising. But you can promote your site for free using some of these methods. Most of these are going to take time to build up before you start noticing huge amounts of traffic, but they will work if your willing to put the time in.

If you’re new to websites or blogs you might not have heard of “pinging your site”. Using ping is another free seo tool in your arsenal to help get your site indexed and more traffic. Basically it works like this, a ping is basically the equiviant of you shouting at the top of your lungs “Hey over here”. It sends a notice to the search engines and directories that you have content in need of indexing, or that content has been updated.

Using twitter is a great way to promote your website or blog and increase traffic. If your new to twitter and never used it before it works like this. You get 140 characters to write a short statement or advertisement depending on what you’re using the site for. Most people tweet simple things like there not feeling well or changes in their social life. All that’s fine but you want to use it to promote your website, so here are some simple things to optimize your tweets to get the maximum traffic return.

Traffic we all want it, so how do you get it? You’ve picked your topic, and you got your site up so how do you get visitors to your site. Getting website traffic can be frustrating at the very least, a major agonizing pain at the worst. Here are some tips on how to get website traffic.

When it comes to how to get website traffic, not all traffic types are equal and hold the same value. Many who are new to websites or blogs think that all traffic is one and the same. And while the number of visits might look good you have to actually look at the numbers to see the real story behind those numbers. This is one reason why using sites like Google Analytics or other traffic stat sites is important when it comes to unstanding what kind of traffic your getting. To understand if the traffic you’re getting is good or not you have to know what types of traffic are out there, they are 1. Social Traffic 2. Paid Traffic 3. Word Of Mouth 4. Search Traffic 5. Return Traffic

First off what is a favicon? If you look at the browser bar on this webpage just before the sites URL address is a small picture. When it comes to helping make your website or blog stand out there a huge benefit. They allow your readers to find your web pages easily if they have many browser windows and tabs open at once. If a visitor bookmarks your site in their favourites list the standard “e” icon is replaced by your picture helping your link stand out from the rest so they can return to visit. And they can also be used to help brand your site. Who would have thought a tiny 16x16 picture could help that much.

When it comes to ways you can increase traffic to your website there are dozens if not hundreds of ways to get more traffic. Depending on your website, the content or products you’re trying to get viewed, and the amount of time you can invest each day on your site, not all of those hundreds or ways are going to be as effective. You also want to avoid anything that could be considered “Black Hat SEO” as these types of tricks to increase your traffic may work in the short term, but get your website kicked out of search engine rankings.

When it comes to trying to get your site to rank well on search engines many focus on trying to rank for the most popular keywords, the ones with high volumes of traffic with the hope that hundreds or thousands of people every day visit their site. The reality is that chasing after the most popular keywords will be almost impossible to rank for. If your website or blog is brand new this will be a fight you can’t win, the large companies that rank number one for these types of keywords spend fortunes to dominate those positions.

If you’re trying to promote your website or blog one way to go about this is to use Twitter. In a very short time you can reach thousands of people quickly resulting in traffic back to your site. But just firing out tweets at random and hoping for the best isn’t enough if you’re serious about promoting your site. You need to know when to tweet, and that means knowing what the best times to tweet are.

Do people hate your website? This is a question you should ask yourself if your finding your site isn’t performing the way you would like it to. If your finding that people aren’t visiting your site for very long or aren’t coming back at all here are 10 things you should look at that could be killing your website traffic. This isn’t to bash your site or trash talk or brag about how much better my site is over yours (there are things I have to fix) this is just to point out some things that could be hurting how it performs.

How many times has this happened to you when searching online? You find several links to sites that look like they have the information you’re looking for. However when you go to those sites you find only a few ads and nothing but a couple lines of useless text. (If you’re lucky to even find that) So you go back and look around some more and find another link that takes you to another site like exactly like the first one,..............well maybe the color is different. After a bit more searching and running across several more websites like this, you either luck out or find the information you’re looking for, or get pissed off and give up. If this happened to you I don’t need to tell you how frustrating MFA websites are.

When it comes to bug out bags everyone who knows anything on the subject talks about the gear you need to have. And while having the right knife or backpack is essential, one element that’s often overlooked is what clothes to pack in a bug out bag. Here is a list of things to consider for your emergency survival clothing.

So you’ve decided you want to make a website, perhaps for a business or something more personal. If you’re new to building websites you might by scratching your head and wondering what’s the best option. for you. And while there are plenty of site builders to choose from such as Wix, or Weebly for example, one place you should check out is Webstarts website builder.........

So you’ve created your website, now all you have to is launch it and just sit back and let the hordes of traffic come to you………right? Wrong just because you slapped a few pages together doesn’t mean your website is ready for the world. There are some very important things to do before you launch your website to give it the best possible chance. Using a pre-launch checklist before you launch your website is your opportunity to fix any problems and add any last minute changes before that all important launch. In this post I’ll give you a list of what to do before you launch your website...........