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Canageek

@canageek.bsky.social
159 followers 373 following 153 posts

Canadian Chemist Crystallographer...dammit, there isn't a word that starts with C to say I play TTRPGs, is there? Anyway, not a geek in a can, despite the name. Am a geek though. they/she

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Reposted by Canageek
LoadingReadyRun @loadingreadyrun.com · 01/10/2026
Is Your Child Cringe? Our most recent Crapshot might shine some light on the subject. www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pqa...
youtube.com
Is Your Child Cringe? || Crapshots 837
YouTube video by LoadingReadyRun
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Canageek @canageek.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I thought this was Spelljammer art at first
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Mineral Cup & Ore Cup @mineralcup.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Congratulations, Quartz! After a decade of #MinCup, this key rock-forming mineral of optical tricks is the #MinCup26 Champion! Due to intense manipulation attempts in the final hours, the exact winning margin is still being audited. Please join us tomorrow for celebration!
A clear double-terminated quartz crystal with petroleum inclusions. Credit: John Sobolewski
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Chuck Tingle @chucktingle.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
i would rather remove my eyeballs than witness an AI tingler cover
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Canageek @canageek.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
FUCK my city needs to get a safe injection site. Called 911 for a couple people who'd passed out in front of the grocery store today, they woke up about the time the ambulance got there. Would LOVE for that to be a paid professional who knows what to do and won't overreact's job
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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
(Funnily enough, Traveller's 1977 text also directly frames many activities that modern RPGs characterise as "GM prep", such as designing NPCs and locations, as forms of solo play – a stance that, if you're been following this blog for any length of time, you may recognise as one I happen to share!)
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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Taken from "Traveller, Book 1: Characters and Combat" (1977). It's strange to see folks insisting solo RPGs are a post-Forge phenomenon when there's a really obvious example of a game nearly as old as the medium that both acknowledges the practice and provides frameworks explicitly designed for it.
Any of these three may be unsupervised (that is without a referee; the players themselves administer the rules and manipulate the situation). Recommended instead is the refereed game, where a separate player runs the situation and administers the rules.

The Solitaire Game: One player undertakes some journey or adventure alone. He or she handles the effects of the rules as the situation progresses. Solitaire is ideal for players who are isolated by situation or geography.

In addition, there are many aspects ideally suited to solitaire consideration. A single player can spend the time generating characters, designing starships, generating worlds and subsectors, planning situations, and mapping out ideas to use in later group adventures.

The Scenario: Several players embark on a journey or adventure together. The scenario resembles a science-fiction novel, in that some basic goal or purpose is stated, and the adventure occurs as the group strives to achieve the goal. Usually, the scenario is a one-time affair and ends when the evening is over or the goal is reached. An example of a simple scenario might proceed like this: players generate characters (Book 1) and then look for a patron (Book 3). When they find one, he suggests an expedition to a world orbiting Sirius, a world reputed to be the source of "diamonds as big as your fist."

In most cases, the scenario is intended to be a one-time affair, with the characters and situation to be discarded at the adventure's end. Strangely enough, players generally become attached to their characters and usually want to continue their lives in further adventures. To this purpose, the campaign is designed.

The Campaign: Several players manipulate their characters in a series of continuing, linked adventures in a consistent universe. The referee is responsible for generating the basic facts of the universe before play begins. As the campaign unfolds, the players may range far and wide through the universe [...]
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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Every day I'm confronted with the reality that a large portion of this hobby's participants looked at that "player showing up to a game of 'Vampire: the Masquerade' with a half-elf druid" anecdote that did the rounds recently and genuinely thought the GM was the bad guy for rejecting that character.
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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Eventually we're going to have to acknowledge the fact that we're not going to be able to constructively address the GM burnout problem as long as our definition of "bad GMing" includes "having any preferences whatsoever about what kind of game they want to run".
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depths of wikipedia @depthsofwikipedia.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The Phantom of Heilbronn, also referred to as the Woman Without a Face, was a presumed female serial killer whose existence was inferred from DNA evidence found at 40 crime scenes across Austria, France and Germany from 1993 to 2009.

In March 2009, investigators concluded that the supposed serial killer did not exist, and the DNA belonged to a woman who worked at a factory that made the cotton swabs used for collecting DNA samples
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Canageek @canageek.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
How did it come down to the two WORST minerals? Quartz: Scratches my sample holders up, shows up like stink in mineral samples making it hard to see the other phases Graphite: SUPER slippery, slides out of the sample holder and contaminates other samples, pain to clean up #MineralCup #PXRD
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Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 24/09/2026
Never been to the opera before? Now’s your chance. We’re giving away 70,000 free tickets to the @metopera at the iconic Lincoln Center. Go to on.nyc.gov/opera to enter the lottery. There’s not a bad seat in the house.
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Canadian History Ehx @cdnhistoryehx.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
In 1968, Canada launched HMCS Bras d'Or. She was an experimental ship that became the fastest warship ever built. Capable of traveling at 63 knots (117 km/h), her trial program was abruptly cancelled only three years later. This is the story. 📸 LAC 🧵1/10
Naval hydrofoil patrol boat hull number 400 riding on its submerged foils and racing across open ocean, bow lifted with large white spray trailing along the hull.
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Louise Dawe @louisedawe.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I’m voting #Graphite for #MinCup26! Under high P and T, Kulnitskiy et al. transformed graphite into a carbon landscape of diamond nanoparticles, lonsdaleite fragments, polytypes and twins. Read how changes in layer stacking produce this in @actacrystb.iucr.org : journals.iucr.org/paper?ps5025=
journals.iucr.org
Polytypes and twins in the diamond–lonsdaleite system formed by high-pressure and high-temperature treatment of graphite
Twins and polytypes in diamond and lonsdaleite nanoparticles were studied by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and the mechanisms of their appearance were proposed. Coherent and incohe...
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Andre the Chemist @andrechemist.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I was talking about student issues with uploading PDFs with a TA, and they blamed covid but I said I see similar issues with my mother using tech — file extensions are hidden by default, file names themselves are sometimes obscured... how are people to know what type of file they are dealing with?
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Andre the Chemist @andrechemist.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I think a big problem with computer tech is that, in the name of making everything more "user friendly", they have made it difficult or impossible for you, the user, to understand what is happening
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bree bird 🇨🇦 @goose.ski · 22/09/2026
reminder to turn off exterior lights and draw curtains and blinds to block interior light! the children of the sky need to be able to see the stars to navigate safely :)
birdcast forecasting 336 million birds on the move tonight
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Ludovic Chabant @ludovic.chabant.com · 20/09/2026
And still some coder friends go “oh yeah sure but I like how more productive I am at writing code for video games”
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Haus of Decline @hausofdecline.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Katie looks at a pic on Grindr featuring a muscular man labelled "hungdaddy." She asks "why do all these dudes on Grindr just post their torsos. She types in the app and says "whatever, I'm too horny to think striaght. I'll take a chance on one of 'em." She receives a knock on the door. She opens it and standing in front of her is a armless, legless, headless torso.
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Computer Chronicles Revisited @deviledeggpress.com · 18/09/2026
The series of mergers, acquisitions, and other corporate shenanigans that led to Kevin O'Leary forming the greatest CD-ROM shovelware operation of the 1990s, The Learning Company, remains one of the great cautionary tales about hypergrowth capitalism. www.computerchronicles.blog/computer-chr...
computerchronicles.blog
The Learning Company
How Kevin O'Leary spent the 1990s destroying the most notable computer game companies of the 1980s
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qualia @qualia.floofy.tech.ap.brid.gy · 16/09/2026
fucked up that computers don't look like this anymore. tell me you wouldn't live here if you were a one or a zero
side on view of a wilkinson ADC full of DIP ICs. it is very orderly and rectilinear and densely packedside angle narrow DoF view of part of the board, showing lots of tantalum capacitors and 74 series logic
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Cynthia Khoo @cyn-k.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Incredible. “When we were being stolen from our parents and experienced genocide in Indian Residential Schools, we wondered, ‘Who are the people that will help us?’ Today, we are those people. Today we offer our help, support, and jurisdiction to override these dehumanizing laws.”
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Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
As a Canadian, I feel morally obliged to support #gypsum for its role in the 1820 Plaster War where smugglers very decidedly won. #MinCup26
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Jess Morrissette @decafjedi.com · 09/09/2026
New at the Video Game Soda Machine Project: remastered soda machines from The Last of Us Part II Remastered!
vgsmproject.com
The Last of Us Part II Remastered
Looks like the Special Cola vending machines got a fresh coat of paint in The Last of Us Part II Remastered! [Source]
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speck @notkaspeck.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Wow wow wow! Giant underground gypsum (selenite) crystals ftw! #MinCup26
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GIFS GALORE @gifs-bot.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
RAYTRACE/DASIGNAA.GIF
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Alice Averlong 🏳️‍⚧️ @alice.averlong.com · 02/09/2026
naturally after carefully ensuring that I have extracted 100% of all possible character portraits from the game, I go skim through a longplay to figure out who some people are and OH WAIT WHO IS THIS FUCKER?
A screenshot of a playthrough of Star Wars: Episode III, showing a hologram of a recon clone trooper saying "Lord Vader"
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Alice Averlong 🏳️‍⚧️ @alice.averlong.com · 02/09/2026
I need to write some deduping code but right now I'm too lazy I have 206 heads extracted from the GBA version of Star Wars: Episode III but 99% of them are Anakin Skywalker
A bunch of little pixel heads of Anakin skywalker, with a few yoda, vaders, and obi-wans mixed in
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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
l pay them extra if they agree to get the emphasis all weird and break up into obviously fake laughter at the end.
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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Okay, you got me – for the past several years I have at tremendous personal expense secretly been paying YouTube voice actors to do dramatic readings of my 4/10 Tumblr posts as part of a sinister scheme to mildly irritate "Dungeons & Dragons" enthusiasts everywhere.
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Chemistring @chemistring.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Notes from last weekend's fiber festival in BC: -Neon yarns still popular -Speckle-dyed yarns relatively rare -Some small-skein fade sets available -No long-gradient yarns spotted, appear to be out of vogue -MANY local dyers selling off stock and replacing it with new Canadian-sourced yarn bases 🇨🇦
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Rosemary Mosco @rosemarymosco.com · 21/08/2026
End of an era. One of the most iconic locations for US birders is a small picnic table in Patagonia, Arizona, the namesake for one of my favorite birding terms, the Patagonia Picnic Table Effect (see this excerpt from my birding dictionary). I went there last week and found the table had collapsed.
Patagonia Picnic Table Effect
/ˌpa-tə-ˈgō-nyə ˈpik-(ˌ)nik ˈtā-bəl i-ˈfekt/ noun: A phenomenon that occurs when someone spots a rare bird and birders flock to the area, leading
to more sightings of rare species there. It is named after a picnic table at a rest stop south of Patagonia, Arizona. Researchers have failed to find empirical support for the effect. Nobody is in doubt, however, that the effect has led to greater awareness of Patagonia, Arizona.A fallen-down picnic table at a rest stop in AZ next to some lush green trees and a grassy green lawn.
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Caroline Bartman @cbartman.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Chromantasy- book genre about dragons doing liquid chromatography
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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Happy Pride Month. If you're a gay man, please remember your power. People often think that gay men are innately fashionable, which means if you wear some stupid shit for long enough, straight people, including homophobes, will copy you and then you can laugh at them.
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mistress von toasty @toasty.cx · 08/08/2026
I haven't seen anyone on here fawn over the Carlisle 5216 cup for a while and I think perhaps that's where we have gone astray as a community
A Carlisle 5216 16 ounce stackable tumbler cup in ruby red, ubiquitous in many a pizza restaurant from our youths
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Canageek @canageek.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Might miss the Drumheller excursion: The massive, uncontrolled wildfires on Okanagan Lake are causing a lot of flight cancellations due to visibility and disrupting flight paths. #IUCr2026
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Canadian History Ehx @cdnhistoryehx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Today, the House Hippo can be found on merchandise, and even has a page on Urban Dictionary. There is even a band called House Hippo. Learn more in my Deep Dive 👇 canadaehx.com/2021/10/24/t... 🧵 9/10
buff.ly
The House Hippo
Support Canadian History Ehx with a donation at Narrated in the style of a Hinterland Who’s Who, a fictional animal found “throughout Canada, and the eastern United States” is sho…
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Canadian History Ehx @cdnhistoryehx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Two decades after the House Hippo first appeared on television, it returned in a new PSA that was focused on media literacy and social media. It was released as part of a campaign called Break the Fake. youtu.be/5R_tOSRynZU?... 🧵 8/10
buff.ly
House hippo 2.0
The hippos are back to remind us that in today's digital world, critical thinking is more important than ever. Visit www.BreaktheFake.ca for resources to help you learn how to figure out what's real…
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Canadian History Ehx @cdnhistoryehx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Every detail from the colour of the hippo to the lightning in the videos, had to be compensated for to make the PSA as believable as possible. This attention to detail had a surprising impact on Canadian children, the target audience for the PSA. 🧵 6/10
A blurry vintage video frame showing an orange cat stealthily approaching a small, dark hippopotamus-like creature on a tiled floor in a dimly lit room, with wooden furniture legs in the foreground.
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Canadian History Ehx @cdnhistoryehx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
All of the interior shots were done in a Toronto home. To achieve the look of the hippo settling into a nest in the closet, they used wires to pull on the nest to make it look like a hippo was rustling in it. This was then synced up with the hippo footage. 🧵 5/10
A blurry close-up of a small, gray hippopotamus-like creature nibbling on a piece of toast or cracker on a brown couch cushion.
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Canadian History Ehx @cdnhistoryehx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
They also decided to model it off the famous Hinterland's Who's Who. Real stock footage of hippos was used rather than computer generated hippos. Each video was composited to make it look like it was just one hippo. www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5wA... 🧵 4/10
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Canadian History Ehx @cdnhistoryehx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Spin Productions was tasked with creating the PSA. According to writer Siobhan Dempsey, the idea for a small animal living in the house came from Malcolm Roberts. While a giraffe and moose were suggested, the hippo was chosen instead. 🧵 3/10
A large hippopotamus wading through shallow water in a grassy savanna landscape, with a golden sunset glow illuminating its wet, muddy skin.
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Canadian History Ehx @cdnhistoryehx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
In the late-1990s, Concerned Children's Advertisers was looking for a new way to teach about media literacy to children on television. Since 1990, the organization had produced over 30 PSAs for children related to drug abuse, self esteem and bullying. 🧵 2/10
A blurry vintage video frame displaying the text "CONCERNED Children's Advertisers and Partners in Canada's drug strategy" with a small graphic of a marijuana joint and arrow symbols, set against a light background with black borders.
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Canageek @canageek.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
I am very sorry to all the Americans who didn't grow up with the House Hippo on TV
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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
Some say that #MOF were discovered in 1900s, but this figure from 1760s clearly show a crystal structure of a MOF with inclusion in pores. Look - metal centers, linkers, guest molecules, all in! #MOF #chemsky #BraggYourPattern reporting from Portugal
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Stefano Canossa @stecanossa.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
I'll soon share a nice #singlecrystal #MOF #totalscattering work I've been hatching for a while with some great scientists... but since it's taking a while for seeing it online I thought I'd treat you all with an artistic collage of the data 😏 ...stay tuned! #BraggYourPattern #crystallography
Seven single crystal diffuse scattering patterns are arranged in an hexagonal grid (experimental data): one pattern in the middle, six surrounding it.
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Consumer Reports @consumerreports.org · 04/08/2026
#Recall: Ford recalls 565,000 Bronco and Bronco Raptor SUVs from the 2021-2026 model years because wiring in the engine compartment could short-circuit and cause a fire. Sign up for our Recall Tracker for all alerts: www.consumerreports.org/mycr/benefi…
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A penitent who is loud @loudpenitent.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Anecdotally one of my own personal examples of Boots Theory isn't over a physical object at all - it's over hired expertise. Having the money to pay a plumber or other house repairs is often WAY cheaper than being forced to attempt a DIY solution, but it's expensive!
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A penitent who is loud @loudpenitent.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Like the most obvious way this manifests isn't just housing, it's clothing in general. Historically clothing was often very expensive, which meant non-durable clothing was a serious and constant money pit. People would do violence over damaged or lost clothes because it was a big deal!
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A penitent who is loud @loudpenitent.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Since I guess we're doing Pratchett Discourse, boots theory works for some goods - durable assets, etc - and not for others, but also the modern economy is Genuinely Fucking Weird historically.
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