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Simon Laycock

@notsofastmatey.bsky.social
106 followers 111 following 104 posts

Teacher, geek, crafter, board gamer.

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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I hope you enjoy the e-bike. I got one a few years ago because I test rode one and couldn't wipe the smile off my face. I've never had such a strong "shut up and take my money" feeling. That one got nicked during COVID but I love my new one even more!
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
This is my home made set. It was a fun project with my kids a few years ago.
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
It looks a bit like Rumis, which I haven't played for years but have now extracted from the back of a cupboard!
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Reposted by Simon Laycock
The Dobson Family and Colin the Dalek @dobbersw.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
I wish the government and the NHS would proactively publicise this site, printing the costed bill and handing it to patients at the end of treatment with a 'Paid by the NHS' heading - it would soon make anyone who wants a private US style medical insurance think again. mynhsbill.com
mynhsbill.com
My NHS Bill - Find out how much you would pay!
Find out what your NHS care would cost under US insurance-based healthcare - and see why keeping the NHS free at the point of use matters.
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
I read the book because I was excited about the film. The film was a disappointment after the book for me.
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
In classic Norfolk fashion, pronounced 'Stookey'.
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
My students use the python reference, the interactive sorting games and the python problems the most. I don't think I've ever used it for demos...
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
I can hear the Speccy "music" as I look at those Gauntlet screenshots...
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
I really remember the Chrome comic: share.google/x5DSu331i234...
share.google
Google Chrome
Look under the hood of Google Chrome in this comics interpretation of key engineering decisions with art by Scott McCloud.
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Looks interesting, but I can't get that link to work.
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Little did I know when I commented on your weekly roundup the other day, that you had this ready to publish!
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
I keep seeing Toy Battle in these roundups. I really love that game and I feel like it deserves more plaudits. Maybe the theme puts people off?
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
You might like to listen to The Last Word on R4 from last week.
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
I'm really enjoying following this, despite not understanding much. I had a Speccy, and now teach GCSE computing. It's interesting to see some things I know about in the abstract at a much lower level.
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
A knife fight in a phone box. Supply lines got very thin and blue was eliminated. (The blue base was taken).
The end of a 4 player game of General Orders.
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
Finally getting around to playing with this idea! 🙂
A General Orders board with paper added to see how 4 players could work.
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 18/01/2026
@djackthompson.bsky.social Been playing a lot of General Orders: Sengoku Jidai. Did you ever consider how the system might work with > 2 players? I'd love a small, easy setup, quick-playing wargame we could play in a larger group. (I appreciate that historical 3/4 sided scenarios are very rare).
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 18/01/2026
My y10 class did their bit for your stats there.
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
Well, you're a tinkerer at heart it seems!
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
I used to have an Ender and it was fun for a while but ultimately frustrating. I got a Bambulabs A1 Mini a couple of years ago on sale. I've never cleaned the plate or added anything to the plate for adhesion. I do avoid touching the plate, but that's it. It just works. Every time.
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
We played it for the first time today and enjoyed it.
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 02/11/2025
Agreed, you're definitely going to need Unicode for that bad boy. “‽” U+203D Interrobang Unicode Character share.google/63jsu41PKSQx...
share.google
Find all Unicode Characters from Hieroglyphs to Dingbats – Unicode Compart
U+203D is the unicode hex value of the character Interrobang. Char U+203D, Encodings, HTML Entitys:‽,‽, UTF-8 (hex), UTF-16 (hex), UTF-32 (hex)
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 02/11/2025
Ben, have you never heard of the interrobang‽
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 28/09/2025
@breakintoprogram.co.uk If you haven't seen it, I think you'd enjoy The Rubber Keyed wonder - it's currently free on Amazon Prime video.
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
Big thank you to @roxley.bsky.social for replacing my missing Burton-On-Trent card from Brass:Birmingham at no cost.
The Burton-On-Trent card from Brass:Birmingham, sent at no cost from Roxley.
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Reposted by Simon Laycock
Ian Goldsworthy @iangoldsworthy.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
I’m not normally one to share these petitions but this would remove so many of the hoops parents have to jump through to continue to have a voice in their children’s lives once they become adults. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/73...
petition.parliament.uk
Petition: Continue Parental Responsibility Automatically when disabled children turn 18
Change the law to automatically allow parents or carers to retain parental responsibility when their disabled child turns 18, if the child lacks capacity and remains in the parent’s care. We think thi...
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
Yes, not sure what happened there. Feel free to invent an exciting secret meaning to the number 25.
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
25
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 28/06/2025
Looks interesting, but the link doesn't work for me.
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
I read that originally Ironwood was themed around naval warfare. I feel sad it changed.
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
Really sick of saving things in the Documents folder on my Windows 11 laptop, only to find they're not really there. There seems to be 3 locations for Documents. It's needlessly difficult to get to the c: drive as well.
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
How are passkeys meant to work? I keep getting asked to sign in with one, scan a barcode etc, but how? I'm pretty tech-savvy. This should be much better explained if it's going to be generally adopted.
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
Had a nice half term board games day yesterday. Played The Great Wall for the first time, then immediately played it again.
The Great Wall game, with 3d printed walls.
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
I need to look at Koreader.
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
Agreed. My Kobo just got a lot less useful.
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
This is my understanding too.
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
Scratch that - the top of my panels is a bit different.
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
I could probably use these... Have you shared the stl anywhere?
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
My friends and I went to Essen in 2019 for Spiel. We wandered about looking for nightlife, until a friendly chap in a very quiet bar said, "You should have gone to Dusseldorf, it's a real party town."
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
My GCSE Computing class took a look at the components inside my old ZX Spectrum under the visualiser, marvelled at tapes and floppy disks, then had a quick go at Manic Miner. What a day!
Manic Miner ZX Spectrum game on a school whiteboard, via a projector.
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 16/03/2025
Thanks for the advice. I'll definitely be replacing the capacitors once I pluck up the courage.
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 16/03/2025
Had a fun day trying to get my old ZX Spectrum (48k) working. I've owned this since 1984. Successfully did the mod to output composite video and game it all a good clean, but it crashes after a few minutes of use. Multimeter ordered. Now I need to learn how to use it.
The back of a Spectrum computer from 1983.The inside of a Spectrum computer, with a composite video cable connected.The components of a Spectrum keyboard, laid out for cleaning.It lives! The bootup screen of the Spectrum on a modern TV.
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 16/03/2025
Really enjoyed Mickey 7 (the book). Enjoyed the first half of Mickey 17 (the film), then it deviated from the book and quickly became rubbish.
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Reposted by Simon Laycock
CALL TO ACTIVISM @calltoactivism.bsky.social · 02/03/2025
This is Marco Rubio explaining how the USA promised to defend Ukraine forever if they got rid of their nuclear arsenal left after the Soviet Union fell. This is why lil marco was sinking into the couch. He was hoping we wouldn’t find it…so don’t RT right now this very second.
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 23/02/2025
Surely pinnace and plaice are words, @nytimes.com #spellingbee ?
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
youtu.be/F1aN94T1DxQ?... Always does the trick for me.
youtu.be
5 More Bonkers Bob Mortimer Tales | Best of Bob Mortimer | Would I Lie to You? | Banijay Comedy
YouTube video by Banijay Comedy
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
Reminds me of school timetabling.
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Reposted by Simon Laycock
Dr Jane Park 🎻🏳️‍⚧️ @viola-jane.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
Gave blood this afternoon; met the loveliest people & heard stories of inspiration & compassion for others ❤️ There's so much good in this world. Find the glimmers & maintain hope ❤️ (Register to give blood in the UK here: ow.ly/G7hz30bLhww )
Text reads Become a blood donor, next to an image of a bag of donated blood.
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
We gave up on the board game after about 8 hours (without completing the game) and I sold it. I've since spent roughly eleventy million hours on the app.
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Simon Laycock @notsofastmatey.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
Not what you asked for (sorry) but I have spent many little scraps of time playing the app version of Through The Ages asynchronously. Such a well made app that removes all the tedious cube admin of the cardboard version.
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