That's the last episode of The Long Dark finished. Good to see @hinterland.bsky.social wrap the story up, and lay the groundwork for Black Frost. A bit more linear and expositionary than I'd expected, but that's just what happens when you have to tie up so many loose ends. The best bit: the train!

Tonight, I shall be mostly following @thelongdark.bsky.social to its conclusion. Excellent start - this is the sort of robust statement against the use of generative AI in the creative industries that I think should be standard. All of us - players and developers alike - deserve this much.

The ISO 216 paper sizes originated in an early C20th utopian project that ironically was funded by one of the people most responsible for the bloodshed of World War 1. A thread... 🧵

This is awful news. We had a similar outbreak here at Southampton (two deaths in my hall of residence) when I was just starting my PhD in 1997.

Para el desayuno esta mañana: Chorizo con papas Frijoles refritos Huevos revueltos Mexicanos (with a little salsa roja) Guacamole Salsa bandera Tortilla To the side, café de olla and a Paloma. Everything made from scratch (including the chorizo), except for the tortilla.

I memed. No regrets.

We are trying to find the people who did this.gif

It is right that our local Labour MP’s first priority is as she says. However, I would hope that behind the scenes she’s also questioning why our government is allowing the US to use UK bases to make preemptive strikes on targets in Iran.

From where I’m sitting, it’s the current Labour leadership that looks pretty extreme. It’s certainly not the party that I had supported for thirty years.

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus! Introduced the family to laverbread at breakfast. The verdict: better made into cakes with oatmeal than by itself, and better when made from fresh laver than the dried laver I bought from a local Chinese supermarket a few years ago. Also, clams rather than cockles alas.

Age verification? Thorin sits down and starts singing about gold.

What was your #childhoodcinema? For me, it can only be the (old) Romford Odeon. Opened in 1936, bought by Oscar Deutsch in 1943 and rebranded as an Odeon in 1949, closed in 1990 when Odeon opened an 8-screen multiplex in Liberty 2. Mostly definitely a place of faded grandeur - a 🧵. 1/5

Stabbed myself in the hand with a craft knife while trying to open my presents on my 18th birthday. Do you know how often you get asked for your date of birth in A&E? Some of the nurses were positively gleeful when wishing me a happy birthday.

How would a NATO member go about invoking Article 5 if another NATO member attacks them?

Merry Xmas, all! (and in these turbulent times of generative AI, may I present you with Edwin Morgan's completely human-made The Computer's First Christmas Card)

I'm actually grudgingly impressed by Donnie's latest bout of petty verbal diarrhoea. It usually takes both innate skill and diligent practice to be so vindictive or to display so little class.

Then: The Long Dark Now: still The Long Dark Honourable mention to Firewatch, which I played for the first time in 2017 even though it was a 2016 release.

Things that weren't on my bingo card for 2025: Calibri is woke.

However:

Rather fun piece from @zoesqwilliams.bsky.social on the UCAS personal statement. I'd note that most places don't use them for selection in admissions (even in the Russell Group) and the most benefit comes from the applicant's self-reflection. Why do you want to study X? Are you prepared for it?

I mention microfiche and microfilm to my students as part of the history of hypertext (i.e. Paul Otlet and Vannevar Bush). Alas, yesterday’s lecture was about early calculating machinery starting with the Pascaline, and I got blank faces when I talked about dialling in numbers like using a phone.

Para la cena esta noche: Tacos de birria de res Arroz Mexicana Guacamole Salsa bandera Elote (worth having started last night so that the beef could marinate well)

Bit late on the update here. The 18yo and his friends racked off the elderflower mead and bottled it earlier this month (cue a sticky kitchen and an explosion of fruit flies in the house). Despite it having settled nicely, they still produced at least one bottle of cloudy muck in the process. 1/2

Our eldest got up early this morning and fed Steph the cat before he headed out. He left us a note telling us that she’d been fed. Steph, on the other hand, would like to say that the note carries no evidential weight and should therefore be disregarded. #caturday

Flipping Nora. Just seen (and heard) G-PBYA flying over our house again. The 13yo is going to be *so* gutted that he didn't see it - he's off at camp this weekend.

When you see "WSJ controversy" trending, and you wonder whether there's new fallout from the jamboree in Saemangeum back in 2023, or whether the organisers for Poland in 2027 are starting early. #scouting

Received an email from Labour this morning begging me to rejoin and stop Farage. It would be laughable if it wasn’t so blind to the reasons for the collapse in their support. 1/

Mouse Guard Call of Cthulhu And rather ironically, Traveller.

Given the conclusive denial from Stanford, this is more than just "doubts". The Tories really aren't sending their best, are they?

Horst Wessel, but from Temu.

Jack Straw can fuck off into the heart of the sun (as obviously also can David Blunkett and the current Labour leadership).

Peter Kyle is dangerously deluded. His history of uncritical AI-boosterism (and of only listening to the same) makes him a poor choice for Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology.

Only in Norn Iron will you find sectarian (mock) Lego in toy shops. That said, I’m kinda disappointed that the King Billy (and his horse) on the banner aren’t also Lego.

*planning a day trip from the north coast down to Armagh* Me: well, there’s a route through Cookstown and Dungannon Her (who was born in Norn Iron): … Her: are there any other routes? Me: via Portadown and Craigavon? Her: Dungannon it is.

Rather excitingly, the hatch of the pillbox under Harry’s Shack has finally rusted away, so you can get a rather fine view of the interior, showing both embrasures. (photos courtesy of child the elder)

And for those of us who are fans of British WW2 hardened field defences (and who doesn’t like a nice bit of reinforced concrete?) there are not one but two pillboxes, one at each end of the Strand. edob.mattaldred.com/map/e24495 edob.mattaldred.com/map/e24494

I don’t usually agree with what’s in the Times, but I think that they were right when they declared this the best beach in the UK. #Portstewart #norniron

I’m a bit late to this (I’m camping with the scouts, time is an illusion, etc), but the 9th was the thirtieth anniversary of the death of Jerry Garcia, lead guitarist and vocalist of the Grateful Dead. 1/5

Needs more Nathan Barley.

N: Orkney, UK (59° N) E: Chiba, Japan (140° E) S: Margate, South Africa (31° S) W: Victoria, BC, Canada (123° W)

And the next mead project: after the bread-yeast-redcurrant mead, I bought the elder teen more champagne yeast and a new hydrometer, as well as finings, yeast nutrient, and dried elderflowers. He set it fermenting while we were away, and it was lively enough to coat the sideboard next to it.

A belated update on the redcurrant mead. I helped the elder teen rack it off a week ago, and it’s actually not too bad. Fairly low ABV (he didn’t make note of the OG because he’d broken his hydrometer) which I’d guess was in the 4%ish range. A bit sweet, but otherwise drinkable.

Looks like it’s frog season. :( #caturday

In the grand scheme of things, losing £50 because I was foolish enough to back a Kickstarter from Unbound is just irritating. The way that authors have been treated by Unbound/Boundless is unconscionable.

We're just normal men. We're just innocent men. (in my head, Greyfriars Bobby speaks with the voice of Hacker T. Dog and no one can convince me otherwise)

@issy.gark.net’s choices were, of course, far superior to my own. (but then the film societies that she was involved with had far superior programming to the ones I was involved with)

“You’ve inherited a cinema, what’s your first double feature?” For those of us who have run film societies, this is a tricky question because we’ve already grappled with this question many times and it’s hard to pick just one.

This is why you shouldn’t play with spoons. #scouting