Blog is by historian Ada Palmer, who also wrote some quite successful sci-fi that was a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Novel: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Too_Like_the_Lightning . How she finds the time while also teaching as a professor at Chicago I do not know.
One of my all-time favorite essays is by the same author: "The Shape of Rome" —
Oh shit, I didn’t catch the name - strongly recommend that whole series. It’s one of the most wildly inventive sci-fi series I’ve read in a long time.
It's batshit insane and truly without equal. One of the best things I've ever read.