@davej@dice.camp2025-12-31 15:08:07
In the last, guttering hours of the year, it’s tradition to look back on the last 12 months’ #TTRPG activity and reflect. You can read last year’s summary at https://dice.camp/@davej/113747664699824381…
@davej@dice.camp2025-12-31 15:08:07
@seedling@dice.camp2026-01-31 19:09:19
Wrote up my experience running the first game of "miniphracts", which was just a very pared down version of the Vanguard ruleset over two weeks.
https://seedlinggames.com/blogging/cataphract/miniphracts_vanguard.html
I'm now trying to re…
@davej@dice.camp2026-03-01 22:01:31
The most significant thing to come from today's #Shadowdark game may be the debate as to whether zombies have use for latrines. All those brains have to go somewhere, right?
#ttrpg
@seedling@dice.camp2026-01-31 19:09:19
Wrote up my experience running the first game of "miniphracts", which was just a very pared down version of the Vanguard ruleset over two weeks.
https://seedlinggames.com/blogging/cataphract/miniphracts_vanguard.html
I'm now trying to re…
@davej@dice.camp2025-12-02 09:36:28
@seedling@dice.camp2026-01-01 20:45:54
last day, finished just one day late:
yellow - mashu
green - also luchu*, no green-blue distinction
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-01 22:09:56
Time for some #MondayRandom10 goodness—10 tracks selected randomly from a playlist of 2133:
1. Yoav, “Club Thing”
2. Salt-N-Pepa, “Push It”
3. Queens of the Stone Age, “You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar, But I Feel Like A Millionaire (with Interlude)”
4. Ra Djan, "Ratamahatta”
5. Spiderbait, “Black Betty”
6. The Smiths, "Ask (Remix)”
7. Radiohead…
@davej@dice.camp2026-03-01 12:47:47
“Lamb to the Slaughter,” by Roald Dahl. Yes, that Roald Dahl. https://mastodon.social/@anon_opin/116153549193997197
@inthehands@hachyderm.io2026-01-29 20:26:55
That’s right. We didn’t say “de-escalate ICE.” We didn’t say “supervise ICE.” We didn’t say “give ICE more rules to ignore.”
We said ICE OUT.
I •know• the world heard us. Now you all can help by •telling• people in power that you heard us. Because they think you didn’t.
From @…:
https://dice.camp/@artemis/115979983553293054
@davej@dice.camp2026-03-01 02:08:28
*adds “Nethermouth” to list of halfling surnames* https://timeloop.cafe/@Taweret/116151415764995810
@davej@dice.camp2026-03-01 00:57:40
This. All of this. https://beige.party/@TwoClownsEating/116151153786143992
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-28 23:00:14
Domestic violence. It’s domestic violence. No need to bury the lede. https://rssfeed.media/@abcfeeds/116150265982998221
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-28 22:38:43
Stolen to add ALT text. https://mastodon.social/@VeroniqueB99/116150265901275767
@jdrm@social.linux.pizza2026-01-30 20:39:17
Guau, Queen, bueno el 50% de Queen, dice que no van a ir de gira a EEUU porque es demasiado peligroso https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/brian-may-us-too-dangerous-for-queen-concerts-1235507483/
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-01 08:51:17
Integza, I see, now makes enough from his YouTube videos to hire a lobbyist. 😉 https://tomkahe.com/@GiftArticles/115994469878625166
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-02 07:20:42
Politicians' kids, billionaires and delivery giants: Australia's political donors revealed https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/political-donations-2025-federal-election-leadup/pi0lbzm5h?cid=newsapp:socialshare:oth…
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-01 20:26:42
Alt text:
Scott Alexan...
1d
My son has created a primitive pillow fort. My daughter, unable to break her way in, has wandered to the kitchen and is eating his half-
finished dinner while he screams "No! Mine!" from behind his walls. I could stop her, but I think it's important to let children learn important lessons like "When the enemy's fortifications are impregnable, pillage the countryside until starvation forces them out."
@seedling@dice.camp2026-01-29 03:10:14
@davej@dice.camp2025-12-31 16:36:44
@davej@dice.camp2025-12-02 09:56:01
“The Australian Energy Market Operator estimates that by 2040, data centres will consume 12 per cent of electricity in Australia, and the federal Climate Change and Energy Department has said that growth will make emissions reduction goals harder to meet.”
Depaywalled link:
@seedling@dice.camp2026-01-29 03:10:14
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-28 11:36:10
In case anyone’s curious about #Coles’ #Doritos-inspired cheesy jalapeño #HotCrossBuns, I ate one. For science.
They taste like… I’m the first actual person ever to try them. They taste like something that could…
@davej@dice.camp2025-12-30 21:21:06
@inthehands@hachyderm.io2025-12-22 17:09:12
High-dimensional data has this property: it is extremely unlikely that there will be a data point situated at the exact center.
It’s the high dimensionality that’s important here. One person might be at some sort of average on •one• dimension, but for them to be at the average on •all• dimensions grows exponentially less likely as the number of dimensions increases.
It’s like trying to roll all threes with a set of dice. Odds of that with one die? 1 in 6. Odds with two dice? 1 in 36. Odds with 10 dice? 1 in ~60 million.
4/
@davej@dice.camp2025-12-31 12:15:06
At the start of the year, I began a list of all the #movies I’ve watched in 2025. I realised I have a huge list of #films I want to watch, but I just stumble through the medium at random, paying little attention to them as they go by. I hoped this list might change that. In reverse chronological order, here are my…
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-28 14:06:10
On the off chance you’re hoping for good news today, after a 31-year effort costing €1.2 billion, #Croatia is free of #landmines:
@davej@dice.camp2025-12-30 02:43:43
#NewGuineans and #Aboriginal #Australians descend from two groups who arrived 60,000 years ago, research suggests
@davej@dice.camp2025-12-29 19:12:57
Creating triage #chatbots to address failures in critical #MentalHealth infrastructure isn’t a solution to the problem: it simply adds another hoop to jump through en route to adequate, human-mediated care and treatment. #health
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-28 11:44:44
Again, stolen to add ALT text. https://bsky.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:jgvcogxgfeplj7g3tfov7iro/post/3mfw3daumz22r
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-28 11:26:57
@davej@dice.camp2025-12-30 22:30:30
Maybe 2026 will be the year I finally get this boulder to the top of the hill.
@davej@dice.camp2026-01-30 11:57:44
(Spotted on Reddit.)
In case you’re wondering how the Melania #Trump biopic’s doing in #Australia…
@davej@dice.camp2026-01-29 19:47:00
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-25 19:43:04
Content warning: CW: nswpol, murder, anti-LGBT hate crime.
Oh, FFS. More than 80 gay men were murdered by youth gangs in #Sydney—that we know about—between 1970 and 2010. The actual number is probably far higher.
This isn’t a new phenomenon by any stretch. Only the perpetrators’ faces have changed.
Isn’t it about time #NSW took anti-
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-27 02:09:11
Content warning: CW: auspol, Grace Tame, “difficult” women. 😬
Of course #GraceTame’s difficult.
She’s a tireless campaigner for women and other overlooked and marginalised people. Were she meek and pliant, she’d be ignored; being difficult’s the only way to get her point across.
Our political class—Albo included—is too intransigent and dismissive and self-absorbed. We need more difficult women like Tame to puncture the Bubble and prod them to gover…
@davej@dice.camp2025-12-30 08:42:20
Apologies to followers and would-be correspondents on mastodon.social—I've just found a bunch of replies to my posts over the last year that dice.camp filtered out on the basis of instance. I couldn't see them in my client, but stumbled across them accessing Masto via the web.
@davej@dice.camp2026-03-01 03:10:16
I love this: a brief peek at the story behind #Happys, #Canberra’s oldest #Chinese #restaurant, founded 1962:
@davej@dice.camp2025-12-02 09:50:17
Very literally, for half a million #Optus customers: no one is coming to rescue you. 😬 #australia #telco #TripleZero
@davej@dice.camp2026-01-29 05:19:53
I played a couple of sessions of #Runequest last weekend at #Cancon, and it got me thinking about methods and furniture needed to run the game.
@… ran one of those sessions…
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-24 14:58:32
@davej@dice.camp2026-01-30 01:21:31
Honestly, between this and the Variety exposé on TTRPG GMs, it’s beginning to feel like the neuroblands are coming for my hobbies. https://social.wake.st/@liaizon/115981077278695750
@davej@dice.camp2025-12-29 02:03:15
Not 9 tracks, not 11, but 10. On a Monday. Because Monday. At Random. It's #MondayRandom10, yeah?
1. The Gladiators, “Mix Up”
2. Ministry, “Just One Fix”
3. Public Enemy, “Don't Believe the Hype"
4. Hole, “Violet”
5. The Bees, "A Minha Menina”
6. Le Tigre, “Deceptacon”
7. Woods of Birnam (ft Tobias Morgenstern), “Du Bist Alles”
8. Monst…
@davej@dice.camp2026-01-29 13:10:06
Thank you to @…, who bade us party whilst it all burns down. #VivaLaDecadence!
1. System of a Down, “Shimmy”—https://youtu.…
@davej@dice.camp2026-01-27 21:16:16
Content warning: CW: auspol, Guardian Essential Poll, One Nation.
I shouldn’t hear #Yeats’ “The Second Coming” in my head when I read opinion polls.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-…
@davej@dice.camp2026-01-28 07:20:07
Content warning: CW: auspol, ScoMo, Islam.
Four years after jamming his party into a tree-chipper at the polls, #Australia's worst ever PM still feels a need to babble public policy from the refuge of distant shores.
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-22 23:21:46
@davej@dice.camp2025-12-26 09:28:34
To frame #Grinch vs #Scrooge as a mere new-for-old replacement misses half the point of #AChristmasCarol: it’s not just a redemption story, but—like much of
@davej@dice.camp2025-12-26 03:20:55
The #BlackDahlia and #Zodiac killings may have had the same perpetrator.
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-23 19:04:12
Content warning: CW: auspol, high-speed rail.
First, they need to decouple the route from the existing network, or risk it daily becoming a *glacially slow* high-speed train. Then, set rolling stock design parameters that don’t, say, require paring back multiple existing station platforms. And then, somehow manage not to fuck up the rolling stock tender process.
We’ve been dancing this dance for decades. I can guess what’s on that shovel.
#auspol
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-20 20:56:28
A #gongfarmer in the wild!
#DCCRPG https://piefed.soci…
@davej@dice.camp2026-01-27 09:38:13
Wait, wasn’t this the movie that sold, like, three tickets on opening night in the UK? https://mastodon.social/@randahl/115965146675078737
@davej@dice.camp2025-12-27 07:53:10
I understand the need to censor Nazi symbols in the media, but OTOH, this is now just a picture of some random dude’s ankle. 🤦🏻♂️
(From https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-27/police-investigate-tattooed-man-at-newcastle-beach/106180310
@davej@dice.camp2026-01-21 21:43:23
First-ever flexible #ToolUse seen in a #cow suggests livestock are smarter than believed | #ScientificAmerican
@davej@dice.camp2026-01-23 06:57:26
How the #Aboriginal #flag ended up on a spaceship in the future: https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/art…
@davej@dice.camp2026-01-23 02:54:28
A belated #ThursdayFiveList: courtesy of @…, #TheShortestSongs:
1. Steve Ibsen, “The Kitty Cat Dance” [1:29]—
@davej@dice.camp2026-01-23 06:06:10
“In research [doctoral candidate Colin Domnauer] is preparing for publication, chemical extracts from lab specimens produced behavioural changes in mice similar to those reported in human. [sic]”
So, is it safe to assume that the #mice perceived that they, in turn, were surrounded by even tinier mice? 🤔
#science
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-23 04:54:38
It’s Monday? *IS* it Monday? Here, take these 10 random tracks:
1. Weezer—“Say It Ain't So”
2. Single Gun Theory—“Fall”
3. Bong-Ra—“666MPH”
4. System of a Down—"Shimmy”
5. Digable Planets—“Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)”
6. Bloodywood—“Punjabi Metal”
7. Big Brother & the Holding Company—“Piece of My Heart”
8. Metallica—“Enter Sandman”
9. Paul Oakenfold—“Ready Steady Go”
10. The Chaser—"Coal Makes Me Cum”
We’ll tag t…
@davej@dice.camp2025-12-24 13:04:00
I wish my #cat were so casual about his duties. Every morning he shepherds us through this sequence:
• I use the bathroom.
• I feed him breakfast, which he ceremoniously takes a few bites of.
• I open the lounge room blind for sun and the sliding door for breeze.
• He wakes my wife to herd her to the lounge.
• I make my wife tea and breakfast.
• My wife puts the TV on.
…
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-19 12:08:57
This week’s #ThursdayFiveList—courtesy of @…—is #ForeignAffairs: songs in a tongue that isn’t my own.
1. Adriano Celentano, “Prisencolinensinainciusol”—
@davej@dice.camp2025-12-22 06:25:04
TIL about Oskar Speck, who kayaked from Ulm, #Germany, in May 1932, down the Danube, through to Cyprus to work in the copper mines—but decided to continue through to #Australia instead. After over seven years of paddling, he finally arrived on Thursday Island, in Torres Strait, in September 1939, whereupon Au…
@davej@dice.camp2026-01-19 23:14:19
#OTD in 1788, the final seven ships joined the four vessels of the #FirstFleet already in #BotanyBay. (HMS Supply arrived on 18 Jan; three others on 19 Jan.)
Four days later, the two vessels of the French La Perou…
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-20 04:18:45
Are they in the #Epstein files, too, Mr President? https://tomkahe.com/@GiftArticles/116100990382833807
@davej@dice.camp2026-01-23 05:50:15
Now that the US has left the #WHO, I'm kinda bummed I didn’t buy polio futures.
@davej@dice.camp2025-12-23 03:08:21
Nearly missed it AGAIN! Happy #Saturnalia!
@davej@dice.camp2026-01-25 03:50:41
A century ago, the average Australian was a 24-year-old man. Who is it now? https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/who-is-the-average-australian-january-26/x7yorayup?cid=newsapp:socialshare:other
@davej@dice.camp2026-01-23 01:07:43
Content warning: CW: auspol, social media ban.
In case you were curious how the #SocialMediaBan is progressing: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/the-feed/article/australia-social-media-ba…
@davej@dice.camp2025-12-23 14:32:14
My wife spotted this on Facebook: it’s apparently posted somewhere along Kings Hwy near Bungendore. #Christmas
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-20 04:06:35
This explains something.
My father's side of the family are notably understated in their spoken opinions, a trait I inherited. It's not just English stoicism—my grandfather on that side was born in England, and my grandmother came from the South Downs, then a very English part of QLD—but even more so. A couple of generations farther back, though, the male line crossed the sea from #Germany
@davej@dice.camp2026-01-23 21:53:55
Having to sell up your colossal polygamy palace—before you’ve even finished its cavernous basement or put the walls on its blimp-hangar barn—must be heartbreaking in a way that only the risibly wealthy could conceive. https://eigenmagic.net/@weirdestate/115937709041607436
@davej@dice.camp2025-12-20 01:55:34
I should steal junk food. Copy that.
Love the scare acronym, BTW. Y’know, I might consider taking this article seriously if they hadn't plastered it with inline clickbait ads encouraging me to wrap my doorknobs in tinfoil. #meeja #jermalisms
@davej@dice.camp2025-12-24 12:20:41
I hope Santa brings him bowel cancer for Christmas. https://aus.social/@jhaue/115773856102874588
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-19 10:03:58
Content warning: CW: auspol, freedom of speech, Dissent Bar & Cafe, Canberra.
The poster, FWIW, is shown here: #auspol
@davej@dice.camp2026-01-17 07:29:20
Content warning: CW: uspol, Ring, surveillance.
The House Oversight Committee investigated #Ring’s data-sharing arrangements with #LawEnforcement back in 2020. Ring’s practice of #surveillance on behalf of
@davej@dice.camp2026-01-21 01:06:26
@davej@dice.camp2025-12-20 23:57:05
As if clipping weekend penalties weren’t enough, consumers are now expected to subsidise #WageTheft like they do in the US? https://eigenmagic.net/@NewtonMark/115754528898615607
@davej@dice.camp2026-01-18 22:35:00
Content warning: CW: ukpol, teen social media bans.
Take it from me, as an Australian who’s worked in politics: strongly reconsider following Australia’s lead in *any* sort of policy. Learn from our egregious mistakes. Please. #ukpol #SocialMediaBan
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-19 15:15:28
What? No Daria?
(Okay, maybe I’m old.)
https://youtube.com/shorts/rGManNdSxPo
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-20 01:31:57
Alt Text:
"Andy Borowitz
"Trump Says Andrew's Arrest Sets Dangerous Precedent of Pedophiles Facing Consequences”
Beneath, a photo of Donald Trump speaking, looking somewhat upset, maybe? (I don't know. Do sociopaths' externalised emotions mean anything anyway?) https://social.vival…
@davej@dice.camp2025-12-22 21:50:13
AKA, 10 reasons why Dave becomes nearly homicidal in shopping malls during Yuletide. https://flipboard.com/@mental_floss/all-mental-floss-stories-6c4rdkdrz/-/a-qioyNTWXRzefg4EvIVr1qw:a:621690127-/0
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-15 14:27:23
@davej@dice.camp2026-01-18 02:10:43
Having watched the first two episodes, the standouts IMO were Nus Braka (Paul Giamatti), SAM (Kerrice Brooks), Lura Thok (Gina Yashere), and Jett Reno (Tig Notaro).
I fear that, like #StarTrekDiscovery, #StarfleetAcademy’s strong, female captain may be its least interesting character. H…
@davej@dice.camp2026-01-19 20:45:45
Bell died in office in 1851, but it’d take another 35 years before Parliament legislated the removal of MPs judged of unsound mind.
That particular instrument was only used once, to replace Charles Leach in 1916 after he was institutionalised for what may’ve been vascular dementia. The onset of #WW1 delayed a general election, whereupon an unfit MP would normally have been allowed to retire graceful…
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-13 20:47:25
Content warning:
This is the face of the dog who inherited the postie bike. #auspol #libspill https://social.chinwag.org/@abc_bot/11
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-13 20:47:25
Content warning: CW: auspol, libspill, Angus Taylor.
This is the face of the dog who inherited the postie bike. #auspol #libspill https://social.chinwag.org/@abc_bot/11
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-18 16:21:42
It feels weird to me that they can estimate uncertainty to that degree of accuracy. https://wandering.shop/@cstross/116091704024541005
@davej@dice.camp2025-12-22 03:21:50
10 tracks randomly chosen from a list of 2112:
1. Judas Priest, “Crossfire”
2. Royal Blood, “Figure It Out”
3. Disturbed, “Down with the Sickness”
4. The Smiths, “Ask (Remix)”
5. Stone Temple Pilots, “Plush”
6. Smashing Pumpkins, “Tonight, Tonight”
7. Queen, “Princes of the Universe”
8. Hoodoo Gurus, “Like Wow—Wipeout!”
9. Dave Graney & the Coral Snakes, “You”re Just Too Hip, Baby”
10. Stone Temple Pilots, “Dead & Bloated”
…and…
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-16 02:33:52
A lovely, overcast Monday, and 10 random songs from a playlist of 2146—what better time for #MondayRandom10?
1. Queens of the Stone Age, “Burn the Witch”
2. Angine de Poitrine, "Sahardnieh”
3. Donovan, “Jennifer Juniper”
4. Marilyn Manson, “Man That You Fear”
5. No Doubt, “Don’t Speak”
6. Otyken, “Genesis (Radio Edit)”
7. Musicalbasics, “Four Seasons Nig…
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-12 22:47:52
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-15 20:58:43
“A week ago, someone sent me a link to an online article describing a flaming confrontation between me and the CEO of the Commonwealth Bank, Matt Comyn, on the set of 7.30.
“The story was 2,000 words long, very detailed, and had pictures of Comyn and me arguing in front of 7.30 host Sarah Ferguson, before Matt throws away his microphone and storms off.
“Not a word nor a photo of it was true. It was an #AI
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-12 22:47:52
@davej@dice.camp2025-12-16 12:54:26
Content warning: CW: auspol, qldpol, energy generation.
Banana Shire’s recent history’s tied heavily to #coal, but they’ve pivoted towards #solar generation in the last couple of years. It’s great to see they’re following that up with environmentally responsible policy to mitigate landfill from solar generation, too.
@davej@dice.camp2026-01-17 22:05:34
One of these things is not like the others. #jermalisms
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-18 07:52:08
If you thought *your* high school experience was rough, please spare a thought for poor Anus the Diviner. Celestial Lowland High was not kind to them. https://mastodon.art/@wizard_roll_call/116090243725215507
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-18 04:30:18
Alt text:
“THEObr🌞mic
@theobromic_
“a 2005 study found an autistic reindeer herder in siberia that didnt like being around people but memorized the entire genealogical and medical history of all his 2600 reindeer, which made him a respected elder in his community”
Quoted post:
“Jack @JMB4wasHere
“What did autistic people in ancient times
hyperfixate on”
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-18 03:53:46
Alt Text:
“Sarah J. Jackson
@sjjphd.bsky.social
“Someone has sure already made this
observation but the fact they can
convert all those empty warehouses into
prison camps means they could have
converted them into housing,
community centers, job training centers
or, hell, libraries or schools all along. It's
always a matter of will not resources.”
@davej@dice.camp2025-12-21 00:56:57
Happy Gravy Day, to all those who celebrate.
@davej@dice.camp2025-12-21 00:13:46
Oddly enough, I feel the same way, albeit with an antipodean arsebackwardness: the nights will get longer again. *sigh* https://mstdn.social/@dabertime/115754561123667224
@davej@dice.camp2026-01-17 23:19:33
Content warning: CW: auspol, LNP electoral slaughter.
Lemme get this straight: the man who led the Liberals—#Australia's more conservative major party, natch—to the worst defeat in its 60 year history wants to legally suppress the internal inquiry into its risible electoral performance because… it may suggest he was in some part responsible?
And not, say, the mythical Communist fifth column the snowflake Right routinely blames for its poor s…
@davej@dice.camp2026-01-11 23:02:56
@davej@dice.camp2026-02-12 12:56:48