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The first issue of #boardgames APA 'Of Dice and Meeples' is out, and the next issue's theme is racing games.
Now, I don't want to startle you, but it seems ODaM is full of Rallyman nuts, so if you think our opinion of the best racing game is wrong, I for one would like to hear what you think we should be playing instead.
And that goes for any kind of #boardgame, racing or not, so if you like writing about them, consider a submission to ODaM.
And that's the next submission for 'Of Dice and Meeples' drafted. I'll let it sit for a while before suddenly remembering something vital to mention. May I remember it before the submission deadline passes, which is... 20 days, 10 hours, 16 minutes away.
Have a read of the first issue, and if you enjoy writing about #boardgames or #cardgames consider a submission of your own. Slow consumption of content is lovely.
20 days, 10 hours, 14 minutes.
Was Board gaming at the Library a success this evening? Let's see...
At least 2 players apparently wanted to be killed off in King of New York so they wouldn't have to play it anymore.
A game of Sosig where the rules not only weren't taught, but weren't followed. Work that one out.
A game of Skull that had to be explained every single round, even including a face up round, and still didn't end up being understood.
I must keep going for the social aspects or something.
Appear to have stumbled upon a rich vein of "Where do I know you from?" in The Bill this evening. A young Martine McCutcheon in one episode, a younger Russell Kane in the next, and now Trigger is holding Perry hostage in a fridge. Sorry, Roger Lloyd-Pack is holding Kathy Burke hostage in the cold store.
I wonder who gets out of this storyline in one piece.
My partner is convinced she is neurodivergent. Last night she left her laptop on the train. It doesn't have a password, has a hundred files saved directly to the desktop, has umpteen more open, unsaved, untitled documents living in whatever memory is left, isn't backed up to either the cloud or external storage...
She thinks I'm neurodivergent too. I've just spent £7.30 on a ticket to the next station because I thought I'd be stuck on the train whilst popping my head in to look for a laptop.
There are just a couple of weeks left to submit something for 'Of Dice and Meeples' (https://tekeli.li/of-dice-and-meeples/), the digital #boardgame APA collated by @RogerBW@discordian.social
I've absolutely no idea what I'm getting into, but I've been having fun slapping together some sort of newslettery ziney thing for folks to read. I can only hope a bunch of you are too. Just gotta dot the i's, cross the t's, wonder why my images are in the wrong places... I'll be ready before the deadline, definitely.
Have been printing a lot recently so I thought I'd check in on the HP Instant Ink plans in the slim hope that there is a more reasonable pricing plan to be on.
Naturally, with everything an app these days, I open the HP app and log in, quickly finding a big blobby button that says "Manage Plan"... that switches over to my browser and opens a new tab which takes me to the wrong page of my account.
And I give this company my money every month why, exactly?
The best thing about Aldi is obviously the prices, but the second best thing is that their own brand knock-offs are often great.
The worst thing about Aldi is that when you find a great own brand product, you're going to have to buy the shelf there and then, no questions asked, because there is zero guarantee that they'll continue making that own brand product next week.
Breakfast will never be the same again.
The Bill, 1991, PC Tony Stamp has just smashed his way into the front room of a house to the tune of some video game music that I am adamant does not come from the TV where an Amiga is set up and Exterminator is being played.
I know I've heard it elsewhere. I'm sure I've played whatever it comes from. I can't for the life of me place it.
If anyone wants to put me out of my misery, it's not even three minutes into Series 7, Episode 18, 'Your Shout'.
https://u.co.uk/shows/the-bill/series-7/episode-18/6162427038001
I am watching The Bill because I couldn't watch The Wire.
Robert Wisdom, to my knowledge and/or recollection, becomes the first person to appear in both.
Usually I just tap my partner on the side and say "Look, it's thingy from EastEnders", but not today. Today, I get to tell her there was a major cop called Bunny, and that she should really watch The Wire (but she won't, because she's tried twice and has literally fallen asleep before the end of the first episode).
Help, I've lost connection to my mini chocolate biscuit.
Whenever I hear a helicopter, I'm on Flightradar24 quicker than one of Pavlov's dogs starts dribbling in response to a bell.
That one was either an air ambulance or the police, it's been both in its life, apparently. This morning was what I think was one that inspects the railway lines - certainly diligently followed them at any rate. And every now and then a big ol' Chinook rumbles across on its merry way to and from various military bases.
Right, back to whatever I was doing...
How's my day going? I appear to have completely bricked a fully functional Chromebook in an attempt to put Linux on it, thanks for asking.
I think the universe is trying to tell me something along the lines of "technology is not for you, son".
My partner is currently struggling to set up her banking apps.
She's in the awkward position of having two accounts with the same bank but one is in the UK and the other in the Channel Islands, and each requires a separate app to access, but as soon as you set one up with the one and only phone number available, it's seemingly impossible to set the other one up at all - at least I think that's the current state of things.
Even the support callers are phoning each other trying to work it out.
Update on The Bill, it's mid-1990, and PC Hollis is complaining that Sun Hill is only getting a ribbon cutting for their big reopening. Sgt Cryer replies by saying that Sun Hill isn't a new station, it has just had a refit, nothing remarkable about that.
But this is television, and they're speaking in the middle of an entirely new station set that is unrecognisable from the last building they've been filming in for years - an occasion definitely worth more than a mere ribbon cutting, I agree.
Oh lovely, the hinge on my laptop is busted, clacking out of position whenever I adjust the angle and misaligning when I close it. I guess ol' faithful is now going to be left at the bedside, open, for as long as the rest of it remains in working order.
It turns 9 years old in a few months so I guess I can't complain too much, especially for it being a cheap Chromebook. Good job I don't lead the lifestyle of needing a working laptop wherever I go.
eBay are so desperate for their cut that they're asking if I'm ready to resell the item I bought just last week.
Is it actually possible to pull songs from a 2nd gen iPod Touch with free software?
Apple Music on Mac can read its name but nothing else, iTunes on PC will show me what's on it, but not where those songs actually exist to rip from (nor does it sync). Quickly googled apps will either only transfer 50 songs before bombarding me with adverts to buy the software, or just outright fail to find the iPod in the first place.
I'm only mucking around with it - it's not like my life needs recovering.
I don't know why I keep choosing "Update and Shut Down" when this computer gives me the option. It always updates. It never shuts down. Maybe I should press "Update and Restart" instead, and see which bit of that it struggles to understand as well.
The 20 Strong Awaken Realms crossover campaign is live. Of the three games featured, I care about just the one, I can be persuaded to look into another, and I have basically no interest in the third.
20 Strong is a set of custom dice that drive whatever deck you combine them with. Think of the dice as the base game and everything else as an expansion sat atop. If you don't have that 'Core box', you can't play.
Guess which of the 3 games is the ONLY one to ship with a Core box...
Oh shit, yeah, there's a damn crewed flyby of the Moon tonight. You know, the kind of mission you were always bummed you never got to witness because you were born too late. Alright, it's not a landing, but you're still excited, aren't you? Aren't you? You did want to be an Astronaut as a child, didn't you? What happened? Life make you jaded and miserable?
Today I was pleased to see older folks (read: presumably not so tech savvy) of the local Facebook group call out the prevalence of AI posters and their detrimental effect on the businesses that resort to the use of the slop machines.
Naturally, the comments section appears to be the group (locals asking locals for local things) vs one determined white guy who insists this is the future and we have to embrace it, but already I'm seeing separate posts asking for human artists.
Are we healing?
We've got a oner that puts 'Children of Men' to shame in this episode of The Bill.
'They Also Serve' sees an 11 minute shot that goes into and through a packed police van, switching between the back and the front and even pulling a few 360s before disappearing out the back for the ad-break (and a good time to actually progress the story).
I don't actually know if the live episodes feature in this list, but this must have been pointed to as proof of concept for them.
Hot new craze sweeeeeeping through the #boardgame socials is to cobble together an About Me grid (https://grids.fun/t/about-me-board-games-0rfhb?list=board-games) to better describe yourself as a board gamer.
Does it work to describe me as a board gamer? No idea. Maybe I'll elaborate over the next few Of Dice and Meeple issues or something (hint hint, zines are the future).
20 YEARS?! TWENTY??!!