Libras FTW!

TIL that stories of "Potemkin villages" are likely apocryphal. 2/2

TIL the same, so thanks.

If you make an offer to a lot of people, even a bad offer, some people will take it. And the scammers have the audacity call themselves Potemkin with the knowledge that they catch only stupid people who won't be tipped off by the reference to a Potemkin village*. 1/2

Here are a couple more pages from the summary of the unfinished Magic TTRPG, for those who are curious. These are the last images I have from the manuscript. It sure would have been weird if Wizards had published a Magic RPG and then bought TSR and acquired D&D. #ttrpg

It's gotta happen somewhere, sometime

Yeah, that's another problem. We could go the Greek-alphabet way and abbreviate Charisma as X (chi). Then maybe we'd start pronouncing the ch- like the -ch in "loch".

"Xarisma"!

Yeah, I guess now I'm wondering the same thing! :)

I have mixed feelings...

Yes, that's pretty much how I would parse it myself.

Who else is bothered that you can say "Dex", "Con", "Int", "Wis", and "Cha" and it's fine, but "Strength" is just one syllable already so nobody says, "Str". Effectively "Str" is pronounced "strength". Maybe we should call it "Physique", and then we could call it "Phys".

I can't be the only one.

One of the most famous mosasaurs, Tylosaurus proriger, submerges after taking a breath. It is dark above and light below, as tentatively suggested by some palaeocolour data. The challenges of interpreting scaly reptile palaeocolour, and the tiny scraps of colour data we have for this animal, preclude much confidence in chromatic interpretations of this species, however. Also, if you stare at this long enough, you'll see a few sharks. No foolin'.

Been thinking marine-reptiley thoughts today. Here's one of my latest #paleoart efforts along that line: Tylosaurus proriger. The colour is based on fossil colour data, although it's far from certain that this animal was black and countershaded.

Print link: www.markwitton.co.uk/product-page...

I'm against all-or-nothing statements, so I'll agree that we are all already creators, and it's only a question of degree. To what extent do people step up to take responsibility and create? TTRPGs encourage people to do that more. Disney wants you to do it less. So do it more, please.

And this is why I was willing to devote my career to tabletop roleplaying games: they make creators of us all. TTRPGs are DIY in a world otherwise owned by Disney, et al. Like Tolkien, I think that creating emulates & honors our creator*.

*whether natural selection or God

Good to know!

In my 3E campaign, psionics was the faithless science practiced by the faithless gnomes (~=secular humanists). Gnomes had been created by "Satan", but they had betrayed their creator and now had their own ideas. The pious PCs forged an uneasy alliance with them.

@brucecordell.bsky.social wrote the 3E Psionics Handbook (2001) for Wizards and then wrote this companion work for Monte Cook's Malhavoc Press (2002). The d20 license made all sorts of great things possible. #ttrpg

This & more from my collection no available.

www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_...

Only ever encountered Lou a few times at Gen Con, but this photo captures his enthusiasm. His effect on the gaming community will remain a lasting legacy.

The Symbolic Species - Wikipedia

My secret: give up on the book for a couple years, go to Burning Man for a mental reset, soak stoned in a hot tub, and muse about the book Symbolic Species and how before proper language our ancestors used pantomime to communicate, such as how to hunt different kinds of animals. It worked!

modern-day mummification

that's cool

Search 'cinema' on etymonline Search results for 'cinema' on etymonline

So "cinema" means "movie", and it's short for "cinematograph", which means "moving picture".

Related to "kinetic", as seen more clearly in German "kino". Also, "cite".

www.etymonline.com/search?q=cin...

Yes, and that's why my book teaching evolution to preschoolers took 15 years to complete.

One publisher said that they'd asked one of their authors to write an evolution book for little kids, and the author eventually came back and said they couldn't do it.

Thirty-five years ago, A German taught me how to open a beer bottle with just a key, a spoon, or some other piece of metal to use as a lever. A couple weeks ago at @the-kraken.bsky.social, a German taught me how to open a beer bottle with just a piece of paper. Those clever Germans!

CNN reported on 'online rape academy,' but '62M men' figure misrepresents findings Users shared the claim in April 2026 following a months-long CNN investigation into the dark online world of drugging and sexually assaulting women.

In case you're curious about the "65 million men" figure.

www.snopes.com/fact-check/c...

Been waiting for this one for about 45 years now

Yeah, dispiriting. That's social media for you. Or "anti-social media" is more like it.

Hey @johnnephew.bsky.social. The friend who's selling my old games on eBay wants his cut on some of them to go to a good MN charity, preferably something pro-immigrant or anti-ICE. He said you could probably suggest one. What do you think?

love seven samurai! i mean who doesn’t?

CNN reported on 'online rape academy,' but '62M men' figure misrepresents findings Users shared the claim in April 2026 following a months-long CNN investigation into the dark online world of drugging and sexually assaulting women.

In fact I think it's "visits" to a whole porn site and not unique visitors to a "rape academy". Snopes is our friend.

www.snopes.com/fact-check/c...

I think about this movie a lot

strangely unrelated to "jenny", a female animal (corresponding to "jack")