Dave

Sonic the Hedgehog 1 & 2 are delisting soon on mobile. Currently free to claim:

Sonic 1:
iOS apps.apple.com/us/app/sonic...
Android play.google.com/store/apps/d...

Sonic 2:
iOS apps.apple.com/us/app/sonic...
Android play.google.com/store/apps/d...

That's an extremely French car. It's so nice.

An upward arrow representing the y axis labelled "Tinnn" but the triple n is one letter.

𝓣𝓲𝓷𝓷𝓷 𝓯𝓵𝓲𝓮𝓼 𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓮 𝓪𝓷 𝓪𝓻𝓻𝓸𝔀; 𝓯𝓻𝓾𝓲𝓽 𝓯𝓵𝓲𝓮𝓼 𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓮 𝓪 𝓫𝓪𝓷𝓪𝓷𝓪.

Text: "Planes" are a depiction of anything that exists in a drawing at a FiXED spatial distance from the viewer, with each grouping of subjects at a shared distance overlapping the next in order to suggest the spatial relationship of each element in the drawing to the others. This image has three planes: (Image of a drawing with a scorpion on a rock, a cowboy sitting on a rock, and a mountain in the background). Each plane in an image signifies a different degree of distance, with the foreground SHARiNG the viewer’s spatial plane, and the background being the farthest from it. There’s clear distance between each plane; no plane “touches” another.

Text: why is overlapping the planes necessary? (image: a cowboy apparently close to the viewer, one a ways back, and then a saloon behind him). Unless one plane directly overlaps another, there’s no sure clarity that they are, in fact, suggestive of different distances. (image: the cowboy appearing to be closest is shown to be a giant, swinging the apparently midground cowboy by the head into the two-story saloon that's only about as tall as a person). it’s also important to suggest scale in each plane using subjects whose size the audience is likely to know. when that isn’t possible, try repeating the element-of-unspecified-scale (a) from one plane in another and have it (B) interact there with a subject whose scale is clear. (image: a small round cactus in the foreground, and farther off a cowboy sitting on a similar cactus)

Text: A perspective grid composition (A) suggests depth by progressive recession in space, while planar composition (B) suggests it with staggered recession in space. (image: a receding grid and a series of staggered planar elements) The principles of overlapping planar composition can be used with a perspective grid, especially if there are elements with right angles (like buildings). Rough your panel with plane elements in place first... ...then make/place a grid that fits your layout... ...then utilize the grid to make the receding angles match.

(image: a wanted man hiding against a wall while a cowgirl crossed the street, looking around). One of the most useful* aspects of a foreground element is to create a sense of immersion for your audience. by putting it on essentially the same plane as the audience itself, the audience becomes a part of the story, seemingly able to touch the foreground, to lean around it for a better view. (image: the wanted man is now decidedly a foreground element). *it also means less time spent drawing all of the detail in the midground or background planes without ever aesthetically shortchanging your audience.

Hey, friends! Here are some thoughts on using planes in your compositions.

YouTube video by Party GOAT Coolest party game ever Velcro fly wall and Gladiator Duel Inflatable Jumping Castle

I remember this craze 10 years ago. Velcro suits and you could be the darts.

youtu.be/vadeN4BAcBg

So do we ✨

Incredible thread about carnivore brain morphology. Also includes pic of raccoon doing Tiny Jazz Hands.

Super interesting look at how private equity is killing pubs— and communities with them.

Measles vaccinations weren't given in the UK when I was a child. The illness was common and horrible. Nearly everyone I know had it. I don't personally know anyone who died from it, but a contemporary does. We all vaccinated our kids. Adults who missed it can and should get an MMR free on the NHS.

We've had vibes based policy in place since Johnston. It's not great.

As well as coordinating these features across multiple countries (ie America) that value free speech above safety.

Being disabled is not a moral failing.

It’s not something you can try harder your way out of.

Healthy lifestyle and “wellness” won’t stop it from happening.

It’s a minority group you can join at any time.

We aren’t less than.

We aren’t expendable.

We aren’t to blame.

In defense of stochastic parrots Large-language models are useful and that's the problem

Actually, stochastic parrots...are good! At least as a metaphor for large-language models, and there's no reason to deny their usefulness. Rather the opposite: They are harmful precisely because of their utility. Also included, a face-biting parrot named Chiku.

I really enjoyed writing this one.

* The news board has been plugged with right wing plants so we get more right wing messaging. There's very little left wing or big central spaces. But that's another rant.

We pay the BBC licence fee in the UK. It's supposed to pay for the national broadcaster to make high quality TV and news. *
A fee is always unpopular, basically the right will say it's a tax, so we might have to look for the least unpopular option.

I've been wondering if clickbait is also partially an economic indicator. In the last year or so I've noticed a big resurgence in clickbait, with several previously prestigious outlets like Forbes pivoting to it. People have less money -> cancel subscriptions -> media outlets pivot strategy.

Re: Navalny: one point of using a synthesized frog toxin, which the published literature shows THE EXACT SAME LAB that made the Novichok worked out a synthesis pathway, is the reverse of plausible deniability. It's "implausible deniability", a "hahahaha we did and you know we did it"

James Watt's entire thing was to deliberately and aggressively manufacture controversy as it put BrewDog in the papers.

The complaint about their 12% beer lodged with the regulator? Which BrewDog rallied booze journos to help them fight a ban over?

It later emerged Watt made the complaint himself

Probably my final point on BrewDog for today, but a lot of the coverage has their "rise" the wrong way round.

They 'broke out' because they won a NATIONAL distribution contract in a Tesco craft beer contest.

Tesco birthed BrewDog, not Watt's 'shock jock' marketing approach. That came AFTER.

Great piece from @dsquareddigest.bsky.social, which touches on one of the big theories for why English-speaking countries do especially badly at housebuilding:

Adversarial and litigious common law systems (Anglo) vs judge-led civil law systems elsewhere.

samf.substack.com/p/build-the-...

The Anglosphere needs to learn to love apartment living Housebuilding rates in English-speaking states have fallen behind the rest of the developed world

Chart from this article.

The UK flattening of dwelling stock per capita in the 1980s coincides with Thatcherism and a collapse in public house building. Was this replicated in other anglophone countries? Could that be an alternative/additional explanation?

www.ft.com/content/dca3...

I spent £200 on this official Master Sword replica, and it made me weep with pure Zelda-fandom joy Bandai's Proplica Master Sword is a legendary collector's item

This is one of my favourite things I've ever written, and it's just me talking about a toy sword. If the Zelda 40th Anniversary has got you in a certain mood, feel free to listen to me blether on about a piece of merch.

Making Navi proud n' that.

Choujin Sentai Jetman (1991)
Jetman Exercise

Spain is... doing something special.

Honestly this tracks, the whole UK feels like an experiment right now lol

Been trying to read more this year so here goes.

Eventually time stomps on the heads of us all.

When I definitively transitioned in 79, I had enough backstory that I couldn't disappear unless I moved to another country. And I had tried that and it sucked.

I could not have had the moderately successful career I have had 'under the radar'.

This version of ChatGPT is "more advanced" because they've been trying to make the language models better at math challenges; meanwhile, simpler, older, cheaper, "dumber" models are able to get this right with just a "moment's thought"