Concordia Slow-paced learning game with 5 players. This is my kind of game. Middling complexity. Lots of interaction without being too zero-sum. Keen to try again. Mac Gerdts also designed Antike and Imperial, so I am now definitely a fan of his work. #boardgames

When openai's Whisper came out, I tried it's audio transcription capabilities out on my PC. It was OK but slow. Tonight I tried again (after getting a new AMD GPU), using this Windows port of Whisper and it works *far* better. Easy to install and fast to use. No need to pay for otter.ai or anything else.

GitHub

GitHub - Const-me/Whisper: High-performance GPGPU inference of OpenAI's Whisper automatic speech recognition (ASR) model

High-performance GPGPU inference of OpenAI's Whisper automatic speech recognition (ASR) model - Const-me/Whisper

Primal is a game-changer. So much better than the alternatives - at least once you figure out that you can only login with the Alby brower addon. The "My Tribe" filter should be the default.

Anyone got a #bluesky invite?

Playing Ra and Acquire was the best possible antidote to Food Chain Magnate. Both fast-playing, elegant classics with plenty of interaction and skill, that don't grind the losers' faces into the dust. The new deluxe version of Ra is *gorgeous* but I'll hang onto Priests of Ra and print player aids. #boardgames

My nostr private key is a 64 character hex string and does not start with nsec1. How do I convert to that format? #asknostr

Food Chain Magnate I learned this yesterday. No milestones, but otherwise full game. I knew it was heavy but I'm amazed at how unforgiving it is. Losers get blasted. Amazing system, but there's no safety net. Too much for me. #boardgames

😂

Keyflower Worker placement mixed with auctioning your workers for better action options. Very involved and clever. Looks like multiplayer solitaire, but there is some brutal indirect competition. Lovely art in a simple but effective production. Delighted I finally got to play it, but it's the last time with 6 players. 4+ hours in a learning game was painful. 90-120 minutes on the box is a joke. #boardgames

Priests of Ra This is essentially Ra but with different scoring. We would have had a lot of fun, but the rules were a wall of text with no illustrations and the scoring prompts on the board were illegible and ambiguous. This led to us playing wrongly. I'd like to try again with decent player aids. I have heard Ra has simpler scoring, so I asked a friend to bring his copy next week, so we can compare. #boardgames

Thor My last play of this was November 2004, which I was amazed by. Deserves to be played more often. Knizia has made several iterations of this game - Wildlife Safari, Quandry, Loco, Botwana, Flinke Pinke and others. It is simple and elegant and you should make your own set. Thor is only different because you have a few special action cards which are fine but do not add much. A great little pub game/filler. #boardgames

Maskmen Maskmen is a clever little climbing card game, from Oink, with shifting suit values that would be good, if the rules were more regular. We were asking rules questions all the way through two games. I'd rather play Gang of Four or Frank's Zoo or even Asshole. #boardgames

I'm enjoying Geo Gods.A gentle but clever time waster. Wish I didn't have to wear my glasses to play it. "Geo Gods is a solo card game which combines card drafting with a simple tile placing mechanic." http://www.geo-gods.com/ #android #ios #videogames

I asked the new Android ChatGPT app some general questions I've been wondering about. I got useful answers: Q: At the end of a long software project when the user experience is essentially complete, it is always appropriate to have a user researcher? Q: What reforms could be made to Britain's utilities privitization system to ensure that private equity companies to not load up the utility companies with too much debt? Q: Britain's Conservative and Labour parties select their leaders by member vote, but this benefits extremist candidates who appeal to the party's grassroots. What reforms could be put in place to produce more centrist candidates that are more likely to win elections? Q: If you assume that Israel's supreme court is overpowered, what constitututional checks and balances could replace it? Q: Suggestions for when I can use the ChatGPT app in my normal life?

I haven't used Gossip in a month or two, so I'm impressed by progress with the UI. Much better looking and a bit easier to use.

The NYPD Can Now Shoot GPS Trackers at Your Car

Jalopnik

The NYPD Can Now Shoot GPS Trackers At Your Car - Jalopnik

Yesterday, the New York Police Department debuted its latest set of high-tech policing equipment. We New York denizens will soon come face to face ...

Amazed that UK ranks 2nd in the world for Environmental Performance. Even more amazed that there's been zero publicity.

Environmental Performance Index

Environmental Performance Index

Environmental Performance Index   Country Rank EPI Score 10-Year Change