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Chris D.

@chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
21 followers 0 following 456 posts

Always in search of a microcontent happy place. (In memory of toot.cat/@toby - one of the best cats.) 🌉 bridged from ⁂ mastodon.social/@chrisd, follow @ap.brid.gy to interact

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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 18/10/2026
TIL Berlin is north of Birmingham, and both are north of Amsterdam. Admittedly there's not much in it, something of the order of ten miles, though all three are not atomic and it depends exactly where you measure in each of those cities. This was very much not in line with my mental map of […]
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 18/10/2026
In what has been an otherwise disappointing day, the UK held on to their podium place, finishing third in the World Puzzle Championship team competition behind Japan and Germany, who surged hard in the last two team rounds to snatch second. (17 official teams competed, plus another 24 teams that […]
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 17/10/2026
In the playoff, the two who were at the top at the start are the two left standing at the end. Freddie Hand finishes second, Ken Endo finishes first and wins the World Puzzle Championship. Congratulations! (Team results have not yet fbeen inalised. Sadly I haven't found video of the event yet […]
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 17/10/2026
Good morning! All the individual rounds are finished except the last one, which is a play-off with a slightly gussied-up elimination structure. The UK's Freddie Hand had a good round earlier in the day and is now in second place, guaranteed to make the podium. If Hand or 2022-2024 champion Ken […]
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 17/10/2026
At the end of day two of the World Puzzle Championship: not much change, but in a good way. Freddie Hand is still third but the top three are very close and some way from fourth. The UK team are second; the gap between first and second is huge, but the gap between second and third is large and […]
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 16/10/2026
@christianp Current wholesale spot price for electricity is around £140/MWh, or 14p/kWh, before all the network costs that apply on top, so getting ~10p/kWh for your export is… actually quite a bit better than I feared. (The wholesale price will probably go up to ~22p/kWh in tonight’s evening […]
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 15/10/2026
You might recall that British solver Freddie Hand won the World Puzzle Championship last year, the UK's first ever title, and the UK team finished fourth, also the country's best ever ranking. After day one, of two and a half, Freddie Hand is third, and the UK are the *second*-placed national A […]
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 15/10/2026
A niche (and nice) source of excitement for me is the World Puzzle Championships, which are in progress this week. As anti-nationalist as I am - see my post before last - I love a bit of international competition in something with the (low but non-zero) degree of meaning of sport. This year […]
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 14/10/2026
The game I have played and played and played and loved most so far this year has been _Activate_, a co-operative team game that's a bit like real-life Mario Party, or a bit like The Crystal Maze, but with a sport-of-the-future vibe. Maybe there's one near you. You can find out more about it via […]
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 12/10/2026
As an ardent globalist / anti-nationalist pro-EU Remainer, I have no doubt that Russia tried to interfere in the Brexit vote. I have strong suspicions that nations and bodies all across the world tried to interfere in various directions, overtly or covertly, to various extents. It would be […]
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 11/10/2026
[Tyler Simmons was onside] IT'S GREAT TO BE A GEORGIA BULLDOG!
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 07/10/2026
@lambertman.bsky.social Not in practice, though I did consider them. Much as with taxi companies, I have a suspicion there may be more different brands than actual companies.
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 06/10/2026
I do not like the phrase “spooky season” but let’s go all in on it and split the whole year up: Snogging season Sucker season Study season Sweaty season Spooky season Santa season
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 05/10/2026
No more vaguetooting: I have moved house, from London E6 to London SE3. I got the keys to the new place on July 25th, and have only now returned the keys to the old place 90 minutes ago, so now I've moved. I am filled with very mixed emotions, which I am currently feeling very strongly indeed […]
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 04/10/2026
@lambertman.bsky.social I have got a quote for a replacement and it’s less bad than I had feared, at least
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 04/10/2026
[Cars! They offer novel and expensive ways to be a numpty…] I loaded up my car’s boot with an old cat tree and had to drive, boot open, to the local recycling facility. I drove there slowly and safely, then relaxed when I got there, forgot I had my boot open […] [Original post on mastodon.social]
My old car, with its rear window (and wiper) completely smashed
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 02/10/2026
I have finally taken my laptop to have its broken keyboard, stiff hinges and "spicy pillows" (swollen battery) replaced, at fairly considerable cost. Given that I had posted here in February that the e and 1 (and TAB, F1 etc. - basically the extreme top-left) keys had not been working for […]
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 01/10/2026
Pretending that the West Indies are a single nation that is made up of all the nations whose cricket boards are members of Cricket West Indies: The three men's Test cricket-playing nations with the largest nominal GDPs are the UK, India and Australia. In order, what are the next three? (The UN […]
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 30/09/2026
This may be abject folly but I request no untagged spoilers for the finale of Jet Lag the Game: Japanorama, please, for those of us who are neither going to the theatre show nor watching it on Nebula. I mean, one possible outcome looks fairly likely, but you never know.
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 25/09/2026
[re: my late husband] My computer's being fixed, so I'm using his, and opened Photo Booth. I've found some lovely, happy photos of him with our late cats Toby and Xander from v early 2014... and a *very* personal video in my precise love language (euphemism) that he recorded at 2am, surely […]
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 22/09/2026
@edent.tel TIL that SSE brought a 500 MW / 1000 MWh battery into commercial operation in South Lanarkshire. It's Europe's largest yet but won't remain that way for long. (Full disclosure: I work in energy storage, but not for SSE.)
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 20/09/2026
Currently in my fridge: two cans of each of Coke, Sprite, Fanta Orange, Fanta Mango, 7up zero, 7up zero pink, Tango zero Orange, Tango zero Cherry and five of Sainsbury's lemonade, as well as apple and grape juice, plus the veg crisper boxes are full of single cans of random other drinks, soft […]
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 20/09/2026
I did not go and see the Union Jack Classic college football game at Wembley this weekend; it featured two teams about whom I am indifferent and was at the same time at which that Georgia are playing. A prediction for 2030-ish: if Birmingham City, part-owned by Tom Brady, do build a 60,000+ […]
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 17/09/2026
You might recall that months ago I said (*) I had a great time at #voidspaceLive in London. There's also Voidspace Online at the moment with online immersive theatre for another 10 days. I've been to two shows in two nights and they've both been total bangers. Tonight's show, Lab Rats, which […]
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 17/09/2026
@christianp Alas! Future you will thank past you vociferously for your service.
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 13/09/2026
After having given a five-minute lightning talk on the challenge arcade format of games at #EMFCamp in July, I spoke at greater length on the topic in a recent pub-themed discussion episode of the wonderful _The Infinite Escape Room_ podcast […]
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 11/09/2026
@christianp Truth. i was just in a conversation at work (all WFH, but for a London company) about Sunderland greyhound track. (Yeah, I know that too is down south for you, but don't try it...)
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 07/09/2026
I wasn't aware of this trampolining discipline but find it greatly impressive and spectacular: www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsGpCDuWhAI (One source suggests it comes from Montreal in the '80s before being popularised by Cirque du Soleil in the '90s, so the "wake up honey new x just dropped" […]
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 06/09/2026
Best random encounter for aaaaages tonight: Tom Cashman, "Lesser Tom", the Tasmaster's assistant on Australian TM, on the District Line at about midnight. He was with someone and talking so I kept it very brief: told him I'd seen clips and was a fan, got a handshake, got back out of his way and […]
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 31/08/2026
Vaguetoot remains vague, but I'm continuing to make progress on this, at a rate I'm sufficiently happy about, and it's causing (directly and indirectly) there to be a *lot* on my mind at the moment. Normally me not being in the mood for games over a weekend is indicative of what my cries for […]
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 31/08/2026
My story of this year is... I *really* wasn't feeling it, and ended up camping for one (1) night and playing zero (0) games. Ningún juego. This was absolutely not the event's fault and not critical of the event or its people at all. However, I made some commitments to the event before it […]
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 31/08/2026
It was the Strange Games Festival - see strangegamesfestival.co.uk for details - this bank holiday weekend. I wrote up my experiences last year at chris.dreamwidth.org/39366.html - this year's event was bigger still and I think most people will have found it better yet. I'm […]
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 24/08/2026
At the weekend I enjoyed listening to a podcast about Dame Steve Shirley - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Shirley - of whom I was ignorant or had forgotten; I really, really should have known about her already. A hero, a rock star, a (complimentary) total baddie. The podcast, an episode of […]
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 23/08/2026
Would 48 cubes of storage (4x6 facing 4x4, with 4x2 on the back wall on top of a sideboard) be too many for one moderately sized room?
"It is the nineties and there is time for..." followed by a picture of an Ikea KALLAX unit. (It's a slight variation of a line from a faintly obscure video game, obviously.)
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 14/08/2026
For what it’s worth, I got the alarm at about 7pm tonight but I *didn’t* get the text message… and half way through writing the message I’ve just got the alarm again, this time *with* the text message. I am on the tube and we’re all getting it at slightly different times over the course of about […]
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 14/08/2026
Here’s an interesting and very hopefully meaningful address: Activate 26 Games Way TOPLAYINTOWN PS5 2CD (not a postal address)
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 05/08/2026
Apparently it’s a travel agency and not, as I had assumed, an umpire at a Savannah Bananas game
“GOOFFICIAL” plus a bit of a QR code
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 02/08/2026
[Spoiler: EMF crossword answers] @richardloxley 1a FEMME (FEE around MM) 3a MEME (ME+ME) 6a ME (I in accusative, first two of melee) 8a FFF (fortissimo, naFF Flamethrower) 1d FEE (feed -d) 2d MEM (13th Hebrew letter, liME Milkshake) 4d EFF (acronym, cf “effing and blinding”) 5d EM (as in […]
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 02/08/2026
Looking for personal recommendations for paid computer repair in London (ideally east but I’ll travel). Laptop freezes at a black screen instantly when booting into Ubuntu, within 2 sec when booting into Ubuntu in recovery mode, freezes within a few sec when […] [Original post on mastodon.social]
Ubuntu freezes at a black screenUbuntu recovery mode freezes within 2 secWindows also freezes very quickly on boot upLaptop keyboard is in terrible shape, there’s probably internal hardware damage
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 31/07/2026
@Tomhodson Oh dear. Try again? If Dreamwidth's hosting provider is still problematic, you could try archive.is/KsWnU instead.
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 31/07/2026
My long-form (4,000+ words) write-up of my experience at #EMFCamp 2026, including my participation, my highlights, my lowlights and my tips for future visitors: chris.dreamwidth.org/39662.html
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 26/07/2026
They are completely different things, but I idly wonder if anyone attended both Null Sector at this year's #EMFCamp and also #Neotropolis - www.neotropolis.com - as well. I'm curious to know how the aesthetic vibes compared. i suspect context dictates that they need to be more […]
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 25/07/2026
I probably shouldn't say this, but as a fan of lemon-lime and the colour chartreuse, I really like the gradation from green to yellow (not gold) on the Australian kits at the 2026 Commonwealth Games. The men's gymnastics kits are probably my favourites that I've seen to date, but they've all […]
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 24/07/2026
I just ate the rice. Said: I just ate the rice. Some black dahl on top, and it was fairly nice. Dinner? Not the best, here's what I have to say: ((Just could not be arsed today)) Bowl needs washing up So it gets sent away, bye-bye #earworm
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 24/07/2026
Sky blue and grey are favourites in the early betting for 2027-28, subject to availability, with red, black and perhaps even white or brown fancied for future years.
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 24/07/2026
This is probably as close as I will get in practice to determining the colours of the lines of an underground railway system, so it’s an annual ritual… just one I should remember to get to before all the popular colours sell out. (Eventually I will have used all the colours from this particular […]
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 24/07/2026
In other exciting news - far too exciting for one day - I have bought and received my work diary for the next year (or next academic year as I started work for this employer mid-year) and it turns out that this year’s colour is orange. Don’t tell the Dawgs fans.
A stack of work diaries, each year with a different colour. Last year’s was bottle green, the upcoming year’s is orange. As pretty as 2024-25’s lavender was, I do regret buying off-brand for a year.
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 24/07/2026
There has been significant progress in this regard, as expected, about ten minutes ago - the sort of significant progress that makes you curse profusely, but still in a (probably, hopefully, but by all measures that can be predicted) good way. One major source of stress over, one different […]
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 23/07/2026
@christianp ha’way down to Shields for a Minchella’s
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Chris D. @chrisd.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 22/07/2026
I believe I am one of the very first people to have lost from buying a Powerball ticket in the UK. However the draw turns out, the ticket has fallen out of my pocket between me buying it and me getting home. This is commensurately more annoying than losing a cheaper lottery ticket would have […]
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