Computers didn’t pass the Turing Test, humans failed it.

Going live again, streaming Mass Effect 3 for the kids! Come hang out, and donate to a great cause. We’ll be joined by the wonderful @jamesthomson.bsky.social and @kathycampbell.com (and *baby Charlie!*) as guests during this stream! mvo.live

PCalc 3.14 - the π release! - is now out for iOS, iPadOS, visionOS, watchOS & tvOS 26: pcalc.com/store/pcalc As well as full support for iPadOS 26 multitasking, there's a new default dark theme, a Control Center button, and a completely reworked set of alternative icons, including dark variants.

There's a selection of new Dice by PCalc pride shirts on my merch store, and I'm donating my profits from them to local queer charities. Why not treat yourself on this last day of June? pcalc.fun

I've added some new Dice by PCalc t-shirt designs to the PCalc merch store! All my profits from them will go to local queer charities. pcalc.fun

I like that when I spend points on the Kobo website, I get an email entitled "Congratulations on your redemption!”. If I had known it was that easy…

Has anybody asked Darth Vader in Fortnite what his summer reading list for 2025 is?

I’m not saying they've delayed this to strip out all the out-of-date satire of the US, but I’m not not saying that. www.theverge.com/news/660057/...

Given all that is happening in the world, it seems wrong to complain that Ticketmaster messed up the presale for the @dropout.tv live show in Glasgow. And yet, here we are.

If you are in the UK please consider signing this petition to get the UK parliament to at least debate making things easier for trans folks. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/70...

A small update to my #ttrpg dice rolling app. Dice by PCalc 2.8.1 fixes a problem with the display being black at startup, but the theme picker now also shows which dice support multiple tint colours (eg, the Six Colors or pride flag tints). iOS: pcalc.com/store/dice Mac: pcalc.com/store/dicemac

Getting old is your 20yo tongue scraper breaking, and ordering multiple replacements to find something anywhere near as good as the old one. Also, realising you grew up in a bubble of peace and progressive values that's left you unprepared for the rise of fascism. Mostly the tongue scraper thing.

Dice by PCalc 2.8 is out now (finally)! This release adds support for iOS 18 and macOS 15, including Control Center buttons, and dark icons. There’s also a new picker which makes it easier to see all the visual options for dice in one place. iOS: pcalc.com/store/dice Mac: pcalc.com/store/dicemac

A pleasure to meet both Sam Béart and @davejones.actor today, they were both lovely people! I gave Dave a Pascal the Panda pin, and was pleased to realise later he was wearing it for the rest of the day (zoom and enhance).

A bold new direction for the character, and I wish her well.

The Hugo award nominations are open, and you can bet every single thing I’m going to nominate will be queer as hell.

On top of everything else, my sympathies to the satirists.

I'm a big fan of @aliettedebodard.com’s writing, but she's been going through a rough time recently. If you have some spare funds, and want to do something nice for someone who writes excellent and inclusive sf/fantasy, @paulcornell.bsky.social has set up a GoFundMe to help her: gofund.me/f70348bd

Really not the most important problem in the world right now, but @netgalley.bsky.social have changed their download format, so Kobo e-readers are no longer supported. They suggest using the new NetGalley Reader app, but I can't read books off a screen due to my eye problems. This sucks.

Now is a great time to enthusiastically confirm your support for LGBTQ+ rights - particularly those of trans and enby folks at the moment - and the rights of women, BIPOC communities, and anybody else that the new US administration is actively trying to oppress.

Ah yes, that is definitely the most important story of the day on the BBC.

Doomscrolling is emotional self-harm. Maybe find a healthier way of dealing with today.

I can’t remember the last time I saw a tadpole.

Most of our PCalc merch is on sale today - if you use the code FLASHSALEFRIDAY at checkout, you'll get 20% off everything (except pins). Cotton Bureau tells me this is a Severance-related promotion, so uh, buy some for your waffle party? I don't know. pcalc.fun

If somebody could tell me which deity I have pissed off, that would be very helpful, because I’ve had just about enough smiting now.

Self-care is leaving a pair of sweatpants on the radiator as a little treat for yourself when you come home.

I wrote up the 25th anniversary of the unveiling of the Mac OS X Dock at Macworld Expo, from the perspective of a scared twenty-something engineer. It's me. I'm the engineer. tla.systems/blog/2025/01...

This is for all the people who know 2025 isn’t going to be a happy new year, but we say it anyway because we don’t want other people to be sad too.

Is Adrian Dittmann a friend of John Barron?

A Xmas gift of books written by the wonderful @emmasternerradley.bsky.social - this should keep me going for a while!

I really enjoyed this book, and would highly recommend anything by Aliette! (I can also empathise, having spent the last nine months getting to know the local hospital layout a bit too well)

Erasmus+ empowers students through opportunities to study, work, and grow across Europe. It also supports Women in Tech Careers and Startups through the Femme Forward project. Find out more and support us to bring this important programme back to the UK! www.europeanmovement.co.uk/this_is_eras...

Reading this opinion piece about how men maybe could stop being sexist assholes in the TTRPG space… from Imagine magazine in 1985. Yeah, we totally fixed that.

UK Labour confirms its status as the most overtly anti-trans Government in our history, and Wes Streeting as the standard bearer for that transphobia. This approach was condemned by the Council of Europe just last week, but Streeting's "experts" know better. www.theguardian.com/society/2024...

People posting their unhinged Spotify Wrapped results, while I stand there with my anemic Apple Music Replay, feeling like that one kid at school with an Amstrad computer.

✨ Introducing Festivitas for macOS! 🎄 Deck your dock and menu bar with endlessly customizable festive lights. Add a touch of holiday magic to your Mac ✨💻 It's the perfect way to get into the holiday spirit! Get Festivitas here 👇 festivitas.app

Hubris stalks me like I was a wounded deer. A wounded sexy talented deer.

We’re going to be feasting on red cabbage tonight.

PCalc is on sale! I have known @jamesthomson.bsky.social for over 20 years, he was my best man at my wedding and I love him dearly. Treat yourself to a fantastic calculator on iOS and Mac today! apps.apple.com/gb/app/pcalc...

The most obscene thing about Elon Musk potentially buying Hasbro, is that he would own Baldur’s Gate.

Finally, if you own all my apps already and just want some sweet PCalc merch, there's free shipping on everything from Cotton Bureau through Monday with the code EXTRAGRAVY (half price shipping outside the US). pcalc.com/merch

My #TTRPG digital dice app “Dice by PCalc” is also on sale through Monday, 50% off for the low low price of 99c in the US. iOS / iPadOS / watchOS: pcalc.com/store/dice macOS: pcalc.com/store/dicemac If you were thinking of playing some D&D this weekend, it would be foolish _not_ to buy a copy!

PCalc is 50% off from now through Monday for our Black Friday sale! That's only $4.99 USD. iOS / iPadOS / watchOS / visionOS: pcalc.com/store/pcalc macOS: pcalc.com/store/pcalcmac This has been a difficult year, and my updates have been slow as a result, so your patience with me is appreciated!

Dear autocorrect, “digging” and “dogging” are two very different words, and I would not go out to do the latter in the snow.

The Nintendo DS is twenty years old in the US today. If you’d kept your brain training going all this time, you’d have been unstoppable.

Cotton Bureau are running a “beer, pizza, and gaming” promotion and apparently this Dice by PCalc shirt is discounted by 25% if you use the offer code “GameNight25”: cottonbureau.com/p/ZDNU8S/shi... The offer ends at Thursday, November 21 at 11:59 PM ET, so get yourself a cheap shirt now, I guess?

(And yes, I don’t normally cross post, but this is a perfect Bluesky engagement test)

Babe, are you ok? You’ve barely touched your Blåhaj Mountain.

I would like to speak up today for the trans community. You see, I know a bit of what it’s like to be politically scapegoated. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, suddenly anyone in America who had any amount of Japanese ancestry became suspect. Politicians preyed upon ignorance and fear. /1

The main downside of Bluesky’s recent popularity is the ten million follow notifications per minute.