Recent content in Index on Dalliance
I spent a week and a bit in Mallorca, Burnham started his new government,and Farage is up against Count Binface. Diary Mallorca Spent some time holidaying in Mallorca Hotel had a busy pool. Spent some days hanging out by the pool reading, had a massage. Occasional dips in the water to cool off. Found myself quite jealous of the full-board people not paying for their drinks.But really I was only at…
The Prime Minister falls, Doctor Who falls, Android falls, The Free Internet falls,and I do a bit of painting and get ready for an holiday. Diary Painting Did some painting at the summer social with work, which is more than two dozen people now. So much bigger than it used to be. Enjoyable enough. The boss picks pretty good people, all of whom I’d otherwise not meet at all really being…
The local elections lead to the government falling apart and a new by-election. AI is taking over the pension funds and the tech companies continue to treat their users as cattle. So I go to a gig and festival and make a dining table. Diary Table The old bedroom is settling in nicely. I haven’t had to re-glue any LED strips for a while. So I made progress on a dining table.
I’m late this month because of spending some timein Amsterdam for a developers conference, whilethe UK went to the polls in local elections andthe Strait of Hormuz continues to be blockaded. Diary DevWorld Amsterdam Amsterdam, I was in you, and high as hell. My room ten stories up in the hotel 😆 Was there for a Dev World conference. I was told it’d be all about software development…
We did the end-of-course improv show and made stories about love and magic,I deleted Google off of my phone by installing GrapheneOS,I did most of the rebuild of the camper-van ready for summer,ranted about Age-Gating the internet,and Trump started a war in Iran. Diary Clocks This is ridiculous. This month we skip an hour, and there was only 23 hours in one of the days. The answer to the question…
With Google soon to make Android even less free it’s time to extend my degoogling practise and see how much Android we can remove from my phone. Six months left in the support life of my Pixel Six, lets spend those six months with GrapheheOS instead. Graphene is a fork of Android, keeping most of the Android updates but not those which require Google Services. An Android without google. In…
The kids are not okay, and lots of people seem to think it’s the kid’s phones and social media that’s doing it so lets simply ban kids from social media. Simple! Only: it doesn’t sound very simple to me. What is Social Media What is “social media”? What do you actually want to ban? Does Github count? Does an anorexia-support forum count? Does a queer-support…
The new Bedroom Lights are pretty and I spent the monthbuilding my media archive on Jellyfin while the Greens win Gorton And Denton, the AI marches on, and yet more new wars. Diary Bedroom Got the LED strips all fitted and controlled. Check out a video Each has their own domain name on the LAN. 😆 Quite a bit of software to deal with to get it able to do everything I want but looking pretty great…
Wishing y’all a loving St Valentine’s day. In one episode of the Power Puff Girls, Coco The Clown becomes depressed and makes the whole world black and white. The girls save the day before bedtime of course. In this case, with a song. And that song is actually pretty good advice against depression: Pay attention to your senses, focus on the moment, and most of all, love things.
I restarted doing some weekly improv stuff, (there will be a show in March you should come) Also went to a Hitch Hikers Guide show,and explored and rejected the Vivaldi browser. Meanwhile, everyone’s defecting from the Conservatives,Labour are in scandal, Greens have a great broadcast,and the robots get lose on the internet. Diary Improv So I’m back to doing some improv, with a 8 week…
Happy New Year! Hope you all had a nice xmas and break. My bedroom finally finished! At least in the sensethat the builders aren’t coming any more and I can sleepin it now. Diary Bedroom The new bedroom basically finished. The builders finished up and I’ve spent some days doinga final layer of varnish and painting the new bed andwaiting for the new mattress to expand. Finally slept in…
So farewell then 2025. Had some serious health worries, made some stuff, did some performance, made money, had some fun. Not the best year, suspect health things tend to trend down in the second half of life. Good though, and promising more good to come. Made Stuff Made 11 Wordcloud Tarot shows. See them here The target is like 25. So about half as many as target. Some good, some great.
It’s about this time of year I like to check my backups and download my archives. One archive I download is the archive of my Mastodon posts. Pretty much the only one now I’ve left the corporate web really. I also like to copy the contents of my public fediverse posts into my own diary within my vimwiki. Keep it all in one place for easy and local search.
The bedroom work continued all month long, nearing an end now though. Meanwhile a day in Devon and a weekend in Manchester at Bitfest. Excitement as Steam announce some new Steam Machines! Diary Building Bedroom Lots more work on the bedroom. Full blow by blow account on the Mastodon thread. Building takes a long time to be done carefully andwell. The cupboards construction is one thing but thenit…
Been doing physio exercises to build the strengthand range of movement back into my healing fracturedwrist while sleeping on the sofabed as the buildersmake progress rebuilding the bedroom. Diary Bedroom Build The day by day progress is mostly too boring to relate here. Images in the thread. The electrics have been builtso that I have 14 sockets and 18 USB power holes around theroom. It’s…
My fractured wrist out of the cast but still weakand painful, work on renovating the bedroom begins,and the world slips further in to fascism. Diary Fractured Wrist Went to the hospital and had the cast removed. Should make typing easier. More pain after that than when I first went there though. RSI aggravated by the cast. Thumb fucked up by the cast. Wrist hurtswhen moved. Apparently I’m to…
I spent a month on the sofa watching TV with a broken wrist, while the rest of the country was plastering the countryin poorly drawn flags and persecuting human rights. Diary Wrist It’s funny how the pain became located more where the x-ray shows the break is, once I saw the x-ray. Before that it was more in the heel of the hand and across the wrist. Could be the plaster going on I suppose.
The campervan conversion hit some unexpected difficultiesbut worked well enough to get me to Good Vibrations Societyfestival where I was entranced by a harpist and then broke my wrist. Two days at a festival and a drive home with a fractured fibula Me Campervan Conversion I deconstructed the temporary half arsed shoddy micro-campervan conversion. Emptied it out, ready for the professionals to do…
A stopped watch doesn’t count steps even once a day,I’m doing government bureaucracy, Doctor Who and 3d models while the government puts peaceful groups on terrorist ban lists. Me The end of Time My pineTime has stopped charging 😦 Seems like there’s voltage across the charger pins, but the watch shows no sign of being attached to it when it’s attached. Damn. That’s…
Medical issues, an improv show, first festival ofthe summer, and some work on the Starship project. Me Some stuff from my diary on the fediverse Medical On the 10th of December 2024 at about 4pm in the afternoon I had a sudden shivering attack. The room wasn’t cold, but I was, so I took to bed and shivered on the electric blanket until I napped for a few hours. Woke up groggy, and never got…
I made a new Observers cartoon, there were local elections, and Trump’s Tariffs seemed crazy. Me Some stuff from my diary on the fediverse New Cartoon Diary The good news is I actually managed to do some writing this month instead of just staring at the page wondering if my brain would ever work right again and marching off to get snacks. The script even managed to be workable in the fresh…
Microcamper, Improv, and economic chaos - Mar 2025 I got a van and have converted it into a microcamper,mostly a half arsed temp job till the professionalscan do it properly in the Summer. Also performed another Improv show, and ranted aboutonline safety and uk / us economics. Me Camper As I said a few months ago, the estate offered me a garage meaning I finally have somewhere to put a van that I…
Played a gig at a birthday party,watched a comedian do a gig,fixed some things, did more improvand got a keyboard for my birthday. Me Playing a music gig Went to a friend’s birthday party, played some songs on the synth with the loop pedal. Seemed to go down okay, they demanded an encore. It requires more attention in front of an audience somehow. Can feel my concentration shrinking and the…
First time playing any of the Loopy set, out at Sparkle Fest, a friend’s birthday festival. There was lots of rain, but at least a tent big enough for everyone.
A new era begins! It’s time for the longer-form Improv course! Oh, also there was a new president, and so the oligarch internetdecided hate-speech is cool again. Me Improv Restarts I’m enjoying the new round of sessions at the improv group. Finally concentrating on more long-form activities. Getting to make up some actual stories rather than just snippets and scenes and parlor games. I…
Happy new year everybody! During the last month of last year wehad CEOs murdered, we had a string ofappointments by Trump, my oven broke thenmy fridge broke, we had the passingof the Online Safety Bill, everyone wassick and we had Christmas and new year! Me Broken Appliances This month becomes even more expensive: Oven’s broke. I ordered a new one to be delivered, and crucially,…
I had half the week off to do writing and 3d-modelling and play games and meanwhileTrump won the election, and Bluesky gets a boost from subsequent Twitter-Quitters.
The end of another Improv course, motor related discussion, spending a week in VR in No Man's Sky, while we have a new Conservative leader, a new Labour Budget, and a new American Election.
The bathroom took all month, but it is finished. As of today, I have all my rooms back, they are no longer filled with building materials and bathroom overflow. Also went to a gig, watched a comedy show, continued with Improv, and ranted about the new government and stuff. Me Building Bathrooms You may remember last month the bathroom had been taken apart and I was left flushless and…
The country's racist rioters run amok, the internet enshitifies further, and work is half done on my new bathroom
On election night itself my bathroom flooded, thanks Starmer. So I’ve been designing a new bathroom, doing the improv show, and watching the social order collapse into assassinations and riots. Me Some stuff from my diary on the fediverse. Improv Show Did the end-of-course improv show at the Hoopla thing at the Miller in London. They had a cider festival going on and I was in the…
I released a new “Observers” cartoon using the new engine, there was a whole farce of an election campaign, and the UK votes today! Last newsletter of the old regime! Go and vote the bastards out! Me For the first time in ages, I released a cartoon: episode twelve of The Observers. This time the aliens discover a planet where the people use private bank debt charged at interest as a…
Spent a couple of days at Small World Festival this month, dancing and enjoying sun with friends. Started a stint with an improv group, and got real work done on the next Observers cartoon. Meanwhile the UK government finally fell apart so an emergency election was called, and Microsoft decided to have all their computers spy on you even more. Me Duck all photos taken this week even though I went…
Buckling down and getting on with some work, making progress with the VR sci-fi project, big changes to my web-hosting, local elections happen while the world continues it’s political chaos. Me Politics Sicknote Britain First, let’s find out what’s going on with with Normal Island’s Nasty Party, how are they doing? These young depressed sick malingerers are too woke, the…
The world is falling apart and war ravages the globe, but I visited an aviary and spent much of the month making a 3d stage/lightshow on which to do a new format tarot show. Me Some stuff from my diary on the fediverse. Birds Went to visit with the family, for my dad and brother’s birthday. We went to Birdland in Bourton On The Water in the Costswolds. Met some beautiful bird friends.
Special bonus newsletter with 3% more February than most years! I got a window blind custom-printed for the kitchen, while Fedi reacted fearfully to a potential bridge with BlueSky and a spam attack. Meanwhile, politics sucks. Me Life Had Pancakes on Pancake Day and sausage egg and chips for breakfast on my birthday and dinner with the old bandmates at the Piano Works These talented session…
January is too cold and dark so best spent hibernating and hermitting and building something. I spent the month mostly obsessed with programming my new watch. Me Some stuff from my diary on the fediverse PineTime I dunno why people find January depressing. Perhaps they try going outside or something. That would be mistake. Seems to me to be the month to stay home, hermit and hibernate, and make…
I have had a ball this month programming the PineTime I got around christmas time. Micropython in a memory constrained controller is a fascinating puzzle. As a result my watch looks like this now: Monolith Watch Face It has the day and date written across the top and the large numbers showing the time in a funky font, a step-counter and progress bar plus a heart-rate logger.
Spent the first half of the month sick and rewiring all the lights in my flat then there was Xmas and new year and now it’s 2024 already. Happy New Year. Me Illness I was coughing and sick for more than a week and tried to get some medical attention. There are no doctors though any more. Ended up writing to my MP. Lighting I have installed some new lights, and they each come with an…
A lovely weekend break in Devon leaves me sick for the rest of the month, but I made a Pistol Whip level and both the home secretary and Open AI boss got fired. One of them took over the company by the end of the weekend. The other one will probably do it next year. Me Pictures from a weekend in Devon Went to a friends house-warming party in Devon. I met this horse and these sheep and this pirate…
A new VR headset to play with, and apparently impossible programming problems solved, against a terrible political background of war and atrocity. Me New VR Headset New Meta Quest Headset Install our app! You must install our app on your phone! [RELUCTANTLY INSTALLS APP ON BACKUP PHONE, logs in.] Redirects to the website to log in with oauth. Do you want website tracking cookies (NO) We’ve…
Loving Godot, but I have a requirement that seems currently difficult to impossible to do: Rendering a 3D Stereoscopic 360 degree view of the scene. Cubemap We can do a monocular projection by fixing six square 90-degree cameras, one for each axis, rending them each into a texture. Then use a shader loaded with those 6 source-textures to figure out which pixel should be mapped where in the final…
The building-work is basically done and I saw a nice gig. Meanwhile the internet continued to enshitify, and the UK sank further into being a hilarious farce of a country. Me Personal Oh man, I thought the new extractor-fan they fitted was going to be annoying because it basically never turned off. Turns out that was just a high-humidity situation. Also turns out that if the humidity is more or…
Apparently SteamVR might not be the way to go on Linux, and there’s this other implementation of the OpenXR system that Valve invented called “Monando”. (Thanks Gabmus) This can be installed with the following incantations: sudo apt install build - essential git wget unzip cmake ninja - build libeigen3 - dev curl patch python3 pkg - config libx11 - dev libx11 - xcb - dev…
I got rained on a lot again! Saw a friend play a gig, made a new “Observers” episode, sadly went to a funeral, rants on climate crisis, google, and Twitter’s continuing self-immolation. Me Life Gig Went to see a friend play in one of her bands at the Dublin Castle which is confusingly in Camden in London. Supported by “The Mulholland Drivers” a David Lynch inspired…
The country’s drought finally ends as I go camping three weekends out of four. I play my solo loop-pedal set out a couple of times too! Me Some stuff from my diary on the fediverse July the 5th happened, so I looked forward to the end of the world and then was sad when it didn’t happen again. Outside! Work Canal Cruise Took some photos on a work-trip down the canal to a pub.
First time playing any of the Loopy set, out at Sparkle Fest, a friend’s birthday festival. There was lots of rain, but at least a tent big enough for everyone.
Twitter goes dark, Reddit closes it’s API, Facebook joining Fedi. A very “meta” month on Fediverse as everyone argues about whether Meta should be blocked. Me Some stuff from my diary on the fediverse Reddit Strike The Reddit owners decided to start charging for API access, making the third party apps financially unviable. Reddit going dark caused the users to revolt, the…
Just as everyone is is getting used to the idea that we can share a fediverse between micro-bloging software like Mastodon or Misskey or Frendica, that big old website Reddit has a capitalism-induced fit of user-hostility (Don’t visit, there’s a strike today, don’t cross the picket lines) and so now everyone’s talking about Lemmy and KBin so what is that all about now? Why?…
A new king is corronated, I release two cartoons, AI’s progress continues, and the usual pile of links and stuff. Me The king got a coronation so I wonder about pulling swords from stones and watched some protoestors and photoshopped the new monarch and his crown Starmer was saying how Labour are the real Conservatives and he is going to be like Blair on Steroids. Faceplam. He wants to give…