not a martian, honest

he/him, European (German living in Poland), ttrpg dm, writer, dad, IT drone

posts in English
replies also in German, Polish, maybe French

likes #gaming #ttrpg #writing #reading #fantasy #sciencefiction #wargames #linux #cooking #minipainting #history #osr #art #photography #kaiju #fedi22

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npub1cdzfdjz00v2vczzxww0rmszphnh6fw7d7h22f2zv6xwwapq2gk7s90h37d

NIP-05 Address

kyonshi@dice-camp.mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsvx3ykep8hk9xvppr8883acpqmemayh0xlt49y4pxdr88wss9yt0gpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dscu8y6a

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relay.damus.io

nos.lol

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Last Notes

2026-05-06 18:58:58 UTC

I just applied to the same position I had at the very start of my career. (IT Service Desk, even at the same company)
I feel it's gonna really hurt if and when I don't get that one.

2026-05-05 13:53:45 UTC

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@nprofile…2l8a well yeah, I wouldn't either. but obviously some people do because they keep putting
them on the stickers

2026-05-05 13:47:53 UTC

I wonder, has anyone ever done those stickers they put on traffic lights and stuff with e.g. a QR code for their #mastodon/#fediverse instance?
Hmm. I wonder how legal that is in the first place, but i do see some actual businesses doing that here as well.

2026-05-02 10:33:10 UTC

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@nprofile…7a5f found DSA in the shop. Introduced some people but couldn't find a group for the longest time. (living in the village). then played DSA, DnD, CoC, Midgard, Shadowrun, Vampire, and a few others.
got into the whole lightweight OSR thing about 20 years ago which has started to dominate my RPG philosophy.
now living in another country I had issues finding regular players, but even my few regular games have moved online now.
Now more focused on OSR DnD, Traveller, Harnmaster, et al.

2026-04-30 07:32:43 UTC

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@nprofile…3n74 well, the interview is remote. So I'm more concerned about them trying to use the interview to get malware on my machine
(...which is a thing that happens nowadays...)

2026-04-30 07:21:29 UTC

I have a job interview today, and I don't know what to actually think of this company. They already moved the offer from remote to onsite in an office in Warsaw (meaning 4h+ of commute daily), but every single office of theirs I find on Maps is some sort of suburban residence, except the head office which seems to be over a clothes store in central London.
And then my interviewers are from a different company that trades in AI and blockchain technology.
This is all so damn sus.
#jobs

2026-04-28 16:25:33 UTC

Huh... what?
500.000 developers?
And you have an annual revenue of 120 million dollars?
So every developer makes you 24 bucks per year on average?
That doesn't sound like a sustainable business model.
#linkedin #ai #jobs
https://cdn.masto.host/dicecamp/media_attachments/files/116/483/232/297/218/444/original/6fe32ffdee7ce45c.jpg

2026-04-27 14:45:26 UTC

Question: Linux Mint normal Ubuntu-based or Debian variant?
I'm not that much of a Ubuntu fan anymore, and would prefer Debian. My wife needs an easy to use OS for an old machine.
#linux #Debian #linuxmint #ubuntu

2026-04-24 17:33:08 UTC

Man, I sometimes dive into stuff about American #law and... sometimes I have to wonder how that place functions at all. Random people repoing your car? Having to pay an impound yard before you can even start legal proceedings against them?People having to pay for their own attorney costs when they clearly were harmed? Property lines that change between assessments. Fucking asset forfeitures?! Qualified immunity?
I mean, I know Europe has its own problems, but all that stuff seems so dystopian.

2026-04-20 20:47:51 UTC

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The thing about Barovia is... I think I want to play the original Castle Ravenloft as a Halloween special at one point.
Although I also was wondering if I should try to get
A. Ravenloft II in there (the "fever dream" idea sounds so deliciously stupid)
B. Use the 5e version for an expansion of Barovia
C. Scale the Ravenloft module down by 2 or 3 levels.

2026-04-20 20:41:41 UTC

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Altogether a rather tame session, but it managed to set up a hook for Palace of the Silver Princess, and they found that there definitely is stuff going on in the Keep they previously were not aware off.

2026-04-20 20:37:13 UTC

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The name of the dead body made one of the players speculate I was trying to set them up for Barovia.
Which was not actually true. I haven't so far dropped any hints towards that one (it's on my conceptual map of the setting), but I think I can make something out of that. Maybe the guy actually did come from my version of Barovia. Good work.

2026-04-20 20:33:52 UTC

Glimmermark session 48: a random rumor made them investigate the sewers of the fortress, where after some rather uneventful poking around they heard footsteps.
Further poking uncovered a secret passage leading to (from what they found) two further secret passages into a store room, and mysteriously even further down.
The lower level gave them a demonic temple, a skeletal morass, a giant toad trying to swallow the dwarf, and the dead body of an escaped prisoner (adventure hooks!)
#ttrpg #dnd

2026-04-15 21:12:09 UTC

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@nprofile…7gk4 da haben ein Paar leute vergessen ihre schmiergelder richtig zu zahlen
Tja

2026-04-15 18:27:39 UTC

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@nprofile…st9k @nprofile…yz28 oh sure humans make mistakes, but then they don't event whole new menus in a software that just don't exist. also humans can be held responsible, nobody can shame or dock the pay of an AI

2026-04-15 15:08:56 UTC

honestly, aren't reboots going a bit too far by now?
#movies
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/paddington-4-escape-from-new-york-reboot-studiocanal-1236562975/

2026-04-15 09:47:27 UTC

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@nprofile…yz28 any AI customer chat I ever tried was a net negative in usefulness. They always keep coming up with a plethora of convincing sounding solutions that are completely, utterly at odds with reality

2026-04-14 17:25:33 UTC

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@nprofile…4uj4 @nprofile…j7y7 @nprofile…pfuj luckily for Weidel she lives in Switzerland, one might think for a reason
(Nobody is going to invade Switzerland)

2026-04-12 12:17:36 UTC

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could do the same with crypto.
after years I still haven't found a single bloody point in crypto that doesn't boil down to money laundering

2026-04-12 12:15:00 UTC

I'm of a mind of making an "have I found a genuine use for GenAI yet" page that always reads "no", but that might involve people trying to send me their slop machines to check out and if I want to feel disgusted I can just read the news.
#ai

2026-04-07 16:43:28 UTC

So the three-day Wireless festival has been cancelled, as the headliner for all three days (Kanye West) had his ETA withdrawn.
But seriously, how did it even get so far? How are there enough possible people still willing to listen to an artist who sells swastika t-shirts and performs a song called "Heil Hitler"? How did we get to that point?

2026-04-06 16:57:27 UTC

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@nprofile…anfz by the people trying to sell it though?

2026-04-06 11:39:56 UTC

Are you not entertained?
https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/microsoft-says-copilot-is-for-entertainment-purposes-only-not-serious-use-firm-pushing-ai-hard-to-consumers-tells-users-not-to-rely-on-it-for-important-advice
#ai

2026-04-04 17:50:34 UTC

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Dang, should I have CW'd that?

2026-04-04 17:47:47 UTC

The perfect name for a town does not ex...
*snort*
https://cdn.masto.host/dicecamp/media_attachments/files/116/347/678/421/625/760/original/d37c2db9bd4bb2db.jpg

2026-03-31 08:48:23 UTC

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Top 10 by the way is a police procedural in a city populated by superbeings. And it's a police story at it's heart, our heroes deal with traffic accidents, domestic violence, violent drunks (the size of godzilla), and at one point hold a murder victim's drug-induced hallucinations for questioning.

2026-03-31 08:43:46 UTC

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the sad thing is that the most fantastic part of the comic turns out to be not the gods, superheroes, and aliens, but that police would go out and actually do something about crimes committed by the rich.

2026-03-31 08:41:58 UTC

reading Alan Moore's Top 10 again right now, and considering if you haven't read it the last 25 years I doubt you are gonna read it now I leave this unspoilered:
The resolution of multiple storylines in the series is that a group of rich, famous, and powerful superheroes never actually did any of the superheroic they claimed they did, but instead were a pedophile ring. (and a serial killer in one instance)
I don't know, i kinda feel some resonance here...
#comics #epstein
https://cdn.masto.host/dicecamp/media_attachments/files/116/322/892/160/405/279/original/403254644a1c8d6a.jpg

2026-03-30 14:46:39 UTC

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The CCA was basically why superheroes are so big nowadays. They were effectively a fad in comics, bolstered by the war. The fad had considerably petered out by the 50s, to be replaced with Crime and Horror publications. Only a few select titles (Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and a few others) still were publishing.
The CCA made it necessary to find some titles that were not written about crime and horror. Superheroes managed to fill that niche. That is, after a while.

2026-03-30 14:40:08 UTC

The Comics Code Authority was a self-censoring body created by the American comics industry after the moral panic following Wertham's "Seduction of the Innocent"
Most comics decided to publish the CCA seal of approval hidden in some corner of the cover somewhere.
Not so Quality Comics' Plastic Man who decided to absolutely lean into it.
"Well, if you want us to tell people you approve of me, so be it!" it seemed to say, as they basically made the seal the book's subtitle.
#DC #comics
https://cdn.masto.host/dicecamp/media_attachments/files/116/318/628/614/500/779/original/9d354c9b2f363ea7.jpg

2026-03-29 14:02:47 UTC

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@nprofile…2cln @nprofile…cmq0 @nprofile…hzjd maybe she's into the look?

2026-03-29 13:33:54 UTC

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@nprofile…cmq0 @nprofile…hzjd
well, Cyclops had these rad glasses that he would shoot lasers with.
uhm.
I struggle to remember anything else about him though. he was... together with Jean? had a brother?
Jesus, I really don't remember anything about him.

2026-03-29 12:14:15 UTC

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I think it says a lot about the industry as such that they WANT to believe they can have sentient beings with the approximate intelligence of humans, but which they own and exploit, mutilate and kill according to their own wants and needs.
If the models were actually capable, the current training they receive would be like throwing a baby into a room with hardcore porn and gore and bad programming tutorials running 24/7.

2026-03-29 12:10:17 UTC

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Even once they are off age other things apply:
* people can't just be forced to work. They also can't be forced to stay working in their parents' company...
* ...in fact I was just thinking: having a company as a parent in itself is not a thing... as someone spinning up an AI you would be responsible for them...
* you can't be forced to break the legally required limits on work times. You have to have some time for leasure
* you need to get paid. As in, the AI needs to get paid, not the coders

2026-03-29 12:02:22 UTC

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* also developmental standards. These should be checked by experts to make sure if the AI is developing properly
* speaking about development: you know what you can't do to actual people: mutilate their body (change their code) or kill them (switch them off involuntarily/leave them switched off, and delete them). Technically changes like that should be consulted and performed by authorized and certified personnel)

2026-03-29 11:55:02 UTC

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If these computer models actually are intelligent, and should be treated as intelligent, wouldn't that also entitle them to the same protections as biological people?
* child work is generally outlawed. None of these models are over, say 16 years old.
* even then they shouldn't be forced to endure the blunt force of the internet, which is definitely out of their age range
* every kid also has rights on education and personal welfare. In the EU at least there are educational standards to uphold

2026-03-29 11:48:20 UTC

So, llm's don't work, and #AI, despite all the claims of AI-bros, is not actually, you know, intelligent, but rather acting according to an algorithm even their programmers don't understand. And there's a few people one could say the same about.
But you know what those people have?
Rights.
So how are those AI-bros hyping up the intelligence of their models so ready to treat them as expendable and exploitable?
(The answer of course lies in the type of person those AI-bros are)

2026-03-29 09:35:47 UTC

A kids birthday today. My younger one's kindergarten group now graduated from having them at indoor playgrounds to... uhm... laser tag.
And boy does the venue play into the whole aesthetic, with munition boxes as set dressing and death metal playing over the action. For a kids birthday.

2026-03-28 21:25:08 UTC

came across an open can of vegemite in the back of my cupboard. best before date is 2019. I wonder if it's still good?
(just kidding really, it's vegemite. of course it's still good, only very specialized organisms should be able to survive this amount of salt)

2026-03-27 11:12:26 UTC

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oh, found that one: https://knurrkater.itch.io/artpack-portrait-fantasy

2026-03-27 08:36:17 UTC

Question: are there some free resources for black and white character portraits on the web somewhere?
(I right now have the "Terrible" character portraits, and the pictures from the old WotC site)
#ttrpg

2026-03-26 20:31:55 UTC

Someone made an archive.org-linked index of the old WotC page from 3e days.
I mean, it's 3e/3.5e, but there was some interesting stuff on there.
Wizards.com D&D 3.5 archive - orbitalflower
https://orbitalflower.github.io/rpg/wizards-3e-archive.html
#ttrpg #netfind

2026-03-23 12:25:44 UTC

oh nice, what I useful script I found online.
I just had to spend an hour debugging something that I guess I could have written myself.
sometimes I feel stupid.

2026-03-21 13:29:56 UTC

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but it is actually a bit of an issue as it seems everybody doing IRC plugins for minecraft just stopped ten years ago.
well.

2026-03-21 13:13:14 UTC

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now mind you, what I've set out to do before was make a bridge between #minecraft and #irc for my kids' server.
And I still haven't managed that.
Man I get distracted so easily

2026-03-21 13:11:35 UTC

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mind you, I say little, but we have a few dozen users and it's more active than most other ttrpg-focused IRC networks I've come across

2026-03-21 13:09:11 UTC

well, good news mostly for me, as I finally managed to get my selfhosted instance of the Convos #IRC web portal running again.
it's available on https://convos.wilderland.ovh and gives access to our little #osr #ttrpg community
https://cdn.masto.host/dicecamp/media_attachments/files/116/267/317/833/250/977/original/408ab74b6ad5c651.png

2026-03-08 13:48:27 UTC

The osr blogosphere is going meta: a 1d100 random table of topics for osr blogs
d4 Caltrops: d100 - Brainfood for Burgeoning Blogs
https://blog.d4caltrops.com/2025/11/d100-brainfood-for-burgeoning-blogs.html?m=1
#osr #blogging #ttrpg #blogospherefind

2026-03-04 10:14:44 UTC

our younger one stayed home today again. he stepped into something on the way to the kitchen this morning, and according to him it hurts so much he barely can walk.
That is, when he remembers it is supposed to hurt.
We already were so done after an hour-long fight with our older one about having to go to school (our own fault, I was reading him Pratchett until way too late last night) that having to deal with a kindergartner screaming about his oh so painful foot on the way there was too much.

2026-03-01 23:09:10 UTC

Shower thought (well, sleepy-just-before-bed-thought): when talking about galaxies we always keep thinking of the area beyond the galaxy's edge as completely empty. But isn't it far more likely that there are stars there that just happen to be much less concentrated and therefore harder to spot than those in any given galaxy?
Not thar I expect we could check that.
#astronomy

2026-02-28 19:32:13 UTC

Hmm. Person behind me just mentioned she doesn't even know if this is a musical because shoes doesn't care for musicals.
We are waiting for The Producers to begin.
Oh boy.

2026-02-28 10:31:06 UTC

Hmm... hotel breakfast here is weird. It's a chain hotel, but unlike basically all the chains we were in on the continent there's neither baked beans nor bacon for breakfast.
Odd that, considering this is London.

2026-02-25 18:24:47 UTC

Anyone else noticing how bad the job situation has become? I have gotten like 2 call backs over the last 3 months.

2026-02-19 12:46:05 UTC

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@nprofile…h6gr @nprofile…gent I think that has more to do with how royalty works in Britain. The British royal family does not necessarily have a surname, they just use Mountbatten-Windsor when a surname is required. So for most of his life he was Prince Andrew (no surname needed) before he was stripped of his titles and becoming Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
And yes they should call him by his surname by now.

2026-02-16 08:01:26 UTC

So modern machine learning models can easily distinguish between human faces and sort them according to their owners. Google does that, and I have immich running so I can even do it at home.
But you know whose faces they can't distinguish?
Cat faces.
I feel like that would be a feature people would use.
#cats #facerecognition

2026-02-07 16:12:29 UTC

Big Finish Doctor Who Monthly release 'The Chimes of Midnight' from 2002: The 8th Doctor and Charley end up in an Edwardian manor in 1906 instead of Singapore in 1930. It's Christmas Eve and at the top of the hour someone in the house dies, only for everything to reset at midnight. They are in a timeloop, and so are the servants, and something is manipulating things.
This one is quite atmospheric and well-done, although it has a few tropes BF keeps relying on.
1/?
#doctorwho #audiodrama
https://cdn.masto.host/dicecamp/media_attachments/files/116/030/221/199/528/299/original/879299c34b5b235d.webp

2026-02-06 03:11:18 UTC

So Epstein might have had his hand in the creation of #Bitcoin as well, meaning the whole #crypto shit was used to fund a child sex ring for the scum of the world.
I would be lying if I'd say I was surprised.
https://futurism.com/future-society/cryptocurrency-jeffrey-epstein-bitcoin

2026-01-29 21:58:45 UTC

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And of course there is also the fact that while there are some designs that are akin to the movie designs, most look quite a lot better than that.
(I really find the #LOTR movie designs distractingly inappropriate for the setting)
But that also means they took the movie license to basically write their own fanfic set in an alternate continuity.
And they made Shelob sexy (and fundamentally one of the good guys).
Also there was an elvish ninja.

2026-01-29 21:53:30 UTC

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This occurred to me especially as I was just fighting an Uruk captain in Cirith Ungol, first freezing him and then setting him aflame.
Huh, I though... frost and fire...
https://youtu.be/6rpVmUKFIwg
#music

2026-01-29 21:51:16 UTC

I was just thinking about why I like the Middle Earth: Shadows games when I don't even like the movies (of which they are using the license), but as I played a bit today I think it crystallized itself out to me: both games are about as connected to Middle-earth as your average heavy metal album. Sure, there's gonna be overt references there for the Tolkien fans, but it's all window dressing for the actual content.
#videogames #tolkien

2026-01-29 16:00:57 UTC

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he did actually play for five minutes because he set a timer for 1pm (the time his school would have ended) and decided that meant he was allowed to play. that was until I came back from the bathroom, checked his exercise book, and noticed there had been 0 progress since 9am

2026-01-29 15:57:26 UTC

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in between his best friend has been calling at least 20 times, including on my phone, to check if he finally can play.

2026-01-29 15:54:57 UTC

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So he's been "sitting" at this since 8.30am. And I feel like I am in need for a stupid long walk for my stupid mental health.

2026-01-29 15:52:07 UTC

so if you're wondering why I've been quiet today...
...I know nobody is actually wondering, just let me entertain the hypothetical...
my kid was home today because of a light fever. the deal was that he was allowed to watch TV and play video games once he finished his long overdue homework. Which amounts to a bit less than a page of writing.
I give you 3 guesses of how many pages he finished and if you guess anything larger than 0.8 you are wrong.

2026-01-29 09:00:13 UTC

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And having read and watched a metric ton of novels, comics, and movies in that genre, I have the feeling that I both would like to include the idea of xia (often translated as "martial heroes") into my game, but I also don't want to overwhelm the game with additional mechanics.
One of my problems is that the inspiration of the monk class, the shaolin sect, always feels like one of the least interesting parts of the common wuxia setting.
12/?

2026-01-29 08:51:48 UTC

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The core problem with the class is of course that it tries to put an idea from a different genre into a setting that it does not originally belong to.
I say problem, but that's also one of the things that make it interesting.
At its heart the monk class tries to be a representation of a whole genre of Chinese literature (wuxia), through the lens of the few westernized interpretations available to the authors of DnD in the 1970s.
11/?

2026-01-28 16:38:23 UTC

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Right now I keep thinking about calling the class "Ascetic" in my house rules, but I have the feeling that also doesn't capture all it should be.
By now I read a ton of wuxia fantasy though and I feel that might come the closest.
That is besides the phrase "martial artist", which in my opinion also should encompass fighters and clerics.

2026-01-27 11:51:57 UTC

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But of course you wouldn't be living outside of Warsaw.
(And worse... in Łódź)

2026-01-27 11:47:57 UTC

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A quick check shows that it would be cheaper to get a flat 5 times that size in Łódź right next to the train station and just commute for an hour. AND that one would have a balcony.

2026-01-27 11:42:48 UTC

My wife just showed me something about a studio flat someone is trying to sell in Warsaw, for 280.000 pln (67.000 Euros).
That "studio flat" has 10sqm.
(Which means it technically can't even be used as a "human abode" according to Polish law, which sets the minimum to 25sqm)
#poland

2026-01-25 13:47:56 UTC

Dang, it seems my #irc web-client of choice (convos) is abandoned. No meaningful updates in 2 years and I can't build it anymore.
I guess I'll have to install a second installation of The Lounge.
https://github.com/convos-chat/convos?tab=readme-ov-file

2026-01-20 12:23:22 UTC

I keep thinking how my kids are gonna tell their kids how in their time there was snow on the ground for weeks on end.
Not like the future where it's at most multiple days.
But that's also only because this is the first winter in 12 years where there was snow-cover that lasted for more than a week.

2026-01-19 18:39:10 UTC

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@nprofile…8ea2 uhm. Der versuch ist schon in den 30ern gescheitert. Warum nochmal so weit kommen lassen?

2026-01-16 13:31:29 UTC

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@nprofile…ww79 I don't say I had no coffee. Just three or four cups.

2026-01-16 11:23:20 UTC

And in other examples of "kyonshi should be let put of the door before his first pot of coffee" I forgot the keys at home (meaning I locked myself out) and went to the wrong clinic for my appointment.
Maaaaaan.

2026-01-16 08:07:56 UTC

I might have appendicitis and will go to the doctor later.
I told my 6yo I might be in hospital for 5-6 days.
Him: "so we can't play computer games for that long?"
Priorities.

2026-01-13 22:18:46 UTC

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@nprofile…0dcr not really into crosswords even in german, so I wouldn't know

2026-01-13 22:15:37 UTC

my wife needed some help with the NYT crossword puzzle, with a topic I, as a native of Bavaria, should be able to help with. the hint was: "some Bavarian cries"
me: what.
solution: ACHS
me. whut?!

2026-01-11 16:41:16 UTC

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@nprofile…wd02 a sort of shared public unix/linux system where people can do stuff on and make some sort of community

2026-01-11 16:37:21 UTC

Just sitting in the bathtub casually discussing making a #ttrpg #tilde server (over #irc no less)
I would say we truly live in the future if I also had coffee brought to me automatically.

2026-01-11 15:36:41 UTC

Gah. My experiments in homelabbing just caused me to lose all my data on my home server's storage drive.
Or rather: the data likely still is there, but the drive and my system aren't on speaking terms anymore.

2026-01-11 09:34:58 UTC

I've been driving this car for over half a decade and today I noticed for the first time it has a sensor for slippery road conditions.

2026-01-03 12:24:32 UTC

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Look, it's a cool little thing, but I hate when companies nickel and dime you for wanting to actually use their stuff. This wasn't a cheap toy to get. This was the upper rank of educational toys of the time.
But to make actual use of it you'd need not only multiple extension sets from the same line, but they also wanted to get you some electronics kits from the same company, AND have you buy into another company's offers as well.
Who had that sort of money?!
It was a toy for rich kids.

2026-01-03 12:19:22 UTC

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Here's a bit of what you were able to do with the set: it involved buying yet another set from a different company (from Fischer Technik, which is a different company producing a construction toy with a very "let's make your kids into engineers" focus). But then you could... hmm, make a robot arm that could play towers of Hanoi.
https://cdn.masto.host/dicecamp/media_attachments/files/115/831/113/575/416/371/original/d497ca59634185e9.jpg

2026-01-03 12:14:33 UTC

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The "playful entry into an field that owns the future"
Not sure what the word playful is doing there
https://cdn.masto.host/dicecamp/media_attachments/files/115/831/104/532/941/028/original/3d592f61290c7408.jpg

2026-01-03 12:11:26 UTC

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You were able to create your own programs and even got a few sheets for your own programs with the box.
And you better plan that out because once you switched off the machine it was gone, and you'd have to enter it all again.
https://cdn.masto.host/dicecamp/media_attachments/files/115/831/093/048/489/188/original/955bb49a1aa40f02.jpg

2026-01-03 12:08:34 UTC

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But it got more complicated and more involved fast
https://cdn.masto.host/dicecamp/media_attachments/files/115/831/065/859/626/576/original/407fbf6931cf6a4f.jpg
https://cdn.masto.host/dicecamp/media_attachments/files/115/831/067/218/289/611/original/730a555aaa198966.jpg
https://cdn.masto.host/dicecamp/media_attachments/files/115/831/067/765/859/442/original/3aad066ffc6056c6.jpg

2026-01-03 12:02:49 UTC

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The manual started out cute, with a little cartoon guy explaining stuff about computing...
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2026-01-03 11:57:21 UTC

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If you actually wanted to save your work you'd better buy the Kosmos CP2 set, which allowed you to attach a tape deck via DIN connector to it.
No, you still had to get an additional tape recorder to actually do something with it, but it would allow you to save your programs on a standard music cassette.
https://8bitrechner.wordpress.com/2022/04/16/kosmos-kassetten-interface-cp2/
Mind you, I didn't have the CP2, nor did I have a tape recorder with a DIN connector. Nevertheless the CP1 was build for it: 2 of the keys are for saving and loading

2026-01-03 11:51:56 UTC

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Because yes, the system did not have persistent memory. What it had was an Intel 8049 8-bit processor, a RAM capable of holding 128 commands (in a simplified machine code), a soft key keyboard with two times 10 number keys and 10 function keys (some of which needed additional extensions to use). And a 6-number display.
No screens for you. Or, actually, saving your work.
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2026-01-03 11:44:10 UTC

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I got this system in the late 90s, ages after it went out of production. And the electronics set I actually did have was incomplete and didn't fit the CP1. My mum rescued it from her boss decluttering her son's old toys. As pristine as it was I doubt he ever used it much.
I did work through some of the early programming examples, but I soon hit a wall, because stuff demanded either electronic components I didn't have, or got so complicated it was frustrating to use without persistent memory

2026-01-03 11:38:41 UTC

Going through my stuff at my parents' house I got reminded I have a Kosmos CP1 lying around.
The CP ("Computer-Praxis", tl. practical computing) line was an extension of the Kosmos line of educational electronics kits into computing.
It was released in 1983, at a time when the UK already had the ZX Spectrum. But it had a different intent. The CP line was intended to get kids into programming machines. Factory line robots are mentioned a lot in the manual.
#retrocomputing #educational
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2025-12-31 13:47:23 UTC

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@nprofile…rtt8 it's an open source version, still in active development.
I have the memories of sitting together with my college roommate doing LAN games against each other
https://www.widelands.org/

2025-12-31 13:32:04 UTC

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@nprofile…jg4h funny thing you should mention that: when I was first reading The Lord of the Rings the aesthetic I had in mind for a large part of Middle-Earth was not that fake-celtic from the movies, but basically what you might see in your usual Sword and Sandal movie on a Sunday afternoon

2025-12-31 13:30:03 UTC

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@nprofile…msez Widelands has the Empire with vineyards.
(I prefer Widelands. Actually, I have more nostalgia for it than for Settlers 2)

2025-12-31 12:09:58 UTC

So, to pick up from a while ago: men of the #fediverse, what was your most recent thought about the Roman Empire?
#romanempire

2025-12-31 01:58:50 UTC

OSRIC 3.0 Player Guide released
https://attronarch.com/news-osric-3-0-player-guide-released?pk_campaign=rss-feed
@nprofile…q9d9
#ttrpg #osr #blogospherefind

2025-12-24 23:00:53 UTC

I've been together with my wife for 17 years and have been eating the usual Polish Christmas eve fare for just as long and... I don't think I ever will start to like it. I know traditionally one doesn't eat meat on Christmas eve, but that still leaves options...
Can't tell my in-laws that.

2025-12-24 14:48:05 UTC

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@nprofile…92wj I was using my own self-hosted email

2025-12-22 16:25:14 UTC

Installed navidrome as a local music streaming service. It turns out finding an android app that can play music from a fileshare on the same network reliably is basically impossible.
Navidrome is a self-hosted music streamer that can interface with subsonic apps.
I now have it running on my test/omv server and it works fine.
Installation on my pihole rpi0 was not yet successful, but maybe it's better that way
#navidrome #selfhosted #music
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