I agree with Jules’ point about there should have been much more fanfare here but this is proper good news for renters in the UK.

Ok, I could *really* do with a vague idea of how many people might be interested in this event, otherwise finding a suitable venue is a nonsense. I've set up a temporary event page here: ti.to/tabletop-unc... If you're conceptually interested, please click through and register your interest!

Introduce yourself with 5 bands / concerts you’ve seen live: Kate Bush Tori Amos Billy Bragg Lamb A-ha

There are going to be limits to what you can make other countries do by threatening to tax your own citizen's purchases of their products. I believe handing over entire territories falls well beyond those limits. 🤷‍♂️

Stop scrolling and post two characters who bring you happiness.

I’ve seen some of the maps and designs for this and it looks awesome - really looking forward to getting my hands on a copy.

overcast.fm/+ABFPLrrMVaM TRiE is often a bit hit and miss but this episode is a corker - they bury the lede in the title but the first section on the Disney+ deal with OpenAi is fascinating. Osman cites Karl Marx (quite properly in my opinion) and they discuss the motivations and likely outcomes.

Just complimented a woman on the train for her necklace (lovely South American style jewellery). She in her turn said that she’d heard me on the phone and I had a lovely voice. And now we both feel great and the world is a little bit a better place.

Hard to believe it’s London, really.

Does anyone know of any geek/nerd events taking place anywhere in the UK next weekend - 31st Oct, 1st Nov, 2nd Nov. I’ve found out about 3 I’ve not been aware of in just past couple of days and I don’t want the same to happen next weekend. Please repost.

I’ve been involved in the web since pretty much its beginning - I remember when Danny Sullivan started Search Engine Watch, for example, because there were sufficient different search engines to be worth writing about. And Simon’s article is sadly true. Well worth a read (and Simon is a nice guy).

Interesting that two different news sources can take the same event and spin an entirely different story about it via the headline. In one, Kimmel is defiant, in the other, he’s repentant to the point of tears. I wonder which one it was.

I am (very slowly) catching up with a podcast called “Improvised Radio Theatre - With Dice” ( tekeli.li/podcast/inde... Michael Cule and Roger Bell-West talk about RPGs each month. It’s great :-) But I just caught up on an episode where they look to the future …. 1/2

Very happy to be speaking at this. Come along (virtually) and hear me talk about my favourite frauds!

Deeply amused that when translated into Arabic and then back to English, the Kevin McCloud show, Grand Designs, translates as “The Rich Also Cry”. Which, if you have ever seen the programme, is a /perfect/ title.

“He hated being thought of as one of those people that wore stupid ornamental armour. It was gilt by association.” PRATCHETT!!!! (Night Watch reread - first time in many years. And the literary landlines have just started …)

Playing “Mind the Gap” - a London Transport Uno variant with the family on holiday. Can’t get my family to understand my joy at this win.

This thread is absolutely worth your time reading. Absolutely put a huge smile on my face. Thank you @delafina777.bsky.social for sharing it.

Here’s how good accessibility benefits more than its focussed audience. I’m with my 6yo daughter at the theatre and for the toilet I have a choice of taking her into the gents, or trying to make sure the ladies is clear. With gender-neutral toilets I wouldn’t worry. #TransRightsAreHumanRights

I’ve just realised - my general disdain for shows like Critical Role et al (nothing against them personally, but RPGs are for participants, not spectators #HillIWillDieOn ) is basically punk. Screw watching people. Get 4 dice, get up there and do it yourself.

Watched the Lionesses final - I’m not a football fan but my 9yo son and his mate are. And they’re just as happy to cheer for the male team (if they ever give us cause …)

Listening to an 80s playlist on Apple Music and they’ve got some great tunes on there. Most surprising so far has being their choice to use what they claim is the original 12” of Soft Cell’s Tainted Love. It’s awesome. But also very, very strange.

It’s a hard world out there - Green Ronin do some great stuff and don’t deserve to be treated like this by Diamond’s bankruptcy. Please consider donating to their legal fund and / or sharing their post.

One of the many reasons I love Ursula K LeGuin: “In the airport, luggage-laden people rush hither and yon through endless corridors, like souls to each of whom the devil has furnished a different, inaccurate map of the escape route from hell.” Changing Planes, 2003

I posted this to Livejournal, 20 years ago, on July 8th. -- Yesterday, I walked home from work. And I saw some beautiful buildings of all ages; Tudor half timbers next to Victorian mansions next to 21st Century towers. And I saw a gaggle of Muslim girls in headscarves ...1/6

Looks like Harry caught his train then …

My iPad is called Eagle One because of Space:1999 - it’s such a utilitarian design. Like Red Dwarf it considered the spaceship more like a truck or lorry than a sports car. Practical, not romantic. Which of course made it romantic.

Interesting that this is what the algorithm chose to feed to me this morning on Facebook. (And no, I’m not a US citizen.)

Like most people, I guess, I have a 'get up and go' playlist - one that I can use to energise me, to reassure me, to give me confidence. It's called 'This is Me'. This video is why. (and is the first track on there) youtu.be/CiVnG_Phy7c?...

When did drawer (a part of your furniture you pull out to put things in) start being spelled as draw - especially in UK English? Just seen it in the Rest Is Entertainment and I’m surprised Marina Hyde let that through #OldManShoutingAtClouds

#InformationSecurityBingo Hacker in a hoodie sighted! (On a slide…)

At a security conference. First #InformationSecurityBingo entry for “humans are the weakest link” from a vendor. He’s now citing hard stats without references. Can we spell cherrypicking, kids? We need to be better than this.

Having just passed a professional exam this morning I am treating myself to a pint in the pub. They, for some reason, are playing Glen Miller’s ‘Moonlight Serenade’. It’s rather wonderful.

At “The Magic of Terry Pratchett” by @20thcenturymarc.marcburrows.co.uk - wonderful show so far, with one flaw. As it says in Rob Wilkins biography of Pratchett, bookshops often underestimated the propensity of Pratchett fans to buy books. It /might/ also say that in Burrows’ biography of him …1/2

I have changed the colour of my phone case. I now look forward to 6 weeks of existential angst as I look directly at my phone and fear that I have lost it.

I think someone has used AI to build their website ….

They’re missing out on such merchandising opportunities. You could get a fan as a member that said “I’m a Fan Museum Fan Fan”!

This is a depressing, but to my eye completely accurate post from @hacks4pancakes.com about the current state of the jobs market. The only thing I would add is there is a squeeze on the more senior roles now. More places looking for generalists in the middle.

Just backed the Cold City / Hot War kickstarter after hearing @evilgaz.bsky.social and @burnafterrunning.bsky.social discussing it on the Smart Party podcast. I love the 'conflicting agenda' drive for the characters, and I'm amused to think that the first time I encountered that was Paranoia ... 1/2

This looks fascinating - a modern iteration of Ars Magica, with a very very rules light, character focussed game. Looking forward to trying it out.

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off (the) shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die."

It's three years since Russia wanted to take Kyiv in three days. They failed—and they'll keep failing. Слава Україні!

This. All of this. Corporate ‘waste’ is phenomenal, but there’s no external accountability. Government ‘waste’ is tiny by comparison, in my experience, but RW press especially uses it as a stick to beat government with.

Conversation with my six year old on the way into school this morning. “Daddy - did you know that restaurants used to have a farm near them. That’s why Macdonald has a farm.” :-)

Really glad to see @mikeachim.bsky.social on here. I’ve been following him on Threads for a while and his science posts are interesting and usually joyful!

Question: When did any of you last fax something? Please reskeet for reach!

Every new prime minister gets to celebrate their 50th day in office by restoring Liz Truss's rightful title of 'UK's shortest serving prime minister'. Congrats, Keir Starmer!

One step (and hug) at a time.

"Play La Marseillaise! Play it!" www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM-E...

In 1994 the Pet Shop Boys were invited to perform 'Go West' at the Brit Awards. They agreed and brought with them 3 separate choirs of miners. Some of those miners had marched with the gay and lesbian members of LGSM in the 1980s. It is one of the great, near-lost music moments vimeo.com/293437684