Allen Varney

youtube.comFLORENCOM🇬🇧 🇪🇸 🇬🇧 Curatorial sound archive dedicated to Mbube, composed by Solomon Linda in 1939. We preserve its original form and honor his legacy. Musicians, choirs, and listeners are invited to share ver...

Florencom - 18-year-old YouTube channel that has posted 281 versions of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight": www.youtube.com/@FLORENCOM

Allen Varney reposted

RPG Creators Relief Fund

@rcrfcharity.bsky.social

29 Aug

The Roleplaying Game Creators Relief Fund (RCRF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization founded to provide financial assistance to ttrpg creators suffering hardship due to catastrophic situations. And now donations to the RCRF are as easy as our new QR code!

28 Aug

Adventurers Club #23 (Winter 1994), the Hero Games magazine for the Champions #TTRPG, published my article "Perklets," with a list of tiny ways to improve your RPG characters.

28 Aug

Explaining the joke: Champions characters are built by spending points to buy Flight, Energy Blast, Lockpicking skill, etc. Many abilities cost tens or 100s of points. A Perklet's cost is measured in tenths of a point.

thereader.mitpress.mit.eduThe Man Who Saw Humanity From Two Billion Years Away - The MIT Press ReaderOlaf Stapledon published his first epic cosmic novel, “Last and First Men: A Story of the Near and Far Future,”...

26 Aug

"The Man Who Saw Humanity From Two Billion Years Away" - why yes, it IS about Olaf Stapledon (Matthew De Abaitua, The MIT Press Reader): thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-man-who-...

reddit.comFrom the rpg community on RedditExplore this post and more from the rpg community

23 Aug

"Things I'd like to see in RPG PDFs" (Reddit r/rpg) - RGB images, hyperlinks, print-friendly backgrounds, metadata, proper page numbering, ePub and Markdown versions: www.reddit.com/r/rpg/commen...

damninteresting.comDamn Interesting: A Possible FutureAn attempt to secure the future of the site, with an unfortunate quantity of moist metaphors.

9 July

The long-running website Damn Interesting is running a fundraiser to battle the headwinds of modern slopstorms: www.damninteresting.com/a-possible-f...

news.ycombinator.comA possible future for Damn Interesting | Hacker News

9 July

Hacker News discussion of the Damn Interesting fundraiser, with comments by site founder Alan Bellows: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4884...

Allen Varney reposted

New Books at Project Gutenberg

@new.gutenberg.org

2 July

New #ebook at Project Gutenberg: Last and first men by Olaf Stapledon https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/79003

Allen Varney reposted

Kate North

@curatorkate.bsky.social

21 June

Burghley House has a completely mind-blowing array of 17th century paintings across its ceilings and walls… trompe l’oeil giving the illusion of the architectural details being real stone and marble and that figures are coming out of the walls 😮🤩 Here’s a photo thread of some of the rooms…

pcgamer.comFallout's creator reveals you could have played as a snoring cow hater who believes in UFOs, had Black Isle stuck with its original licensed roleplaying systemTim Cain spills the tea on "GURPS Fallout".

16 May

Fallout creator Tim Cain unearthed the original 1997 advantage/disad list from when Black Isle planned to base Fallout on GURPS (PC Gamer): www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/fa...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1Da...

16 May

youtube.comGURPS Fallout CharacteristicsYouTube video by Timothy Cain

youtube.comFred Astaire "Say It With Firecrackers"YouTube video by Julia Scrive-Loyer

10 May

Fred Astaire was born on this date in 1899. From "Holiday Inn" (1942), Astaire's brilliantly percussive tap routine to Irving Berlin's "Let's Say It With Firecrackers/Song of Freedom." Bob Fosse said Astaire in this number was "an incredible drummer": www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Lxl...

en.wikipedia.orgBob Crosby - Wikipedia

10 May

This Astaire number's terrific swing-band accompaniment was provided by a studio orchestra led by Bob Crosby, Bing's brother. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Cro...

project2025.observerProject 2025 TrackerA comprehensive, community-driven initiative to track the implementation of Project 2025's policy proposals

5 May

Project 2025 has hit 53% complete, progress seems to be slowing a bit: www.project2025.observer/en

youtu.beCamelot, Act 1 Scene 5 ("The Lusty Month of May", 1960) - Julie Andrews, Richard BurtonYouTube video by The Julie Andrews Archive

1 May

"The Lusty Month of May" (Lerner/Loewe), Camelot (1961) Act 1 Scene 5, sung with incomparable clarity and effervescence by Julie Andrews: youtu.be/anqaUhjo1eg

worksinprogress.coThe world’s most complex machine - Works in Progress MagazineBy betting on extreme ultraviolet lithography long before it worked, ASML became the chokepoint for cutting-edge chips.

Deep explainer about ASML, the Dutch company that has become key to Europe's tech industries (Works in Progress): worksinprogress.co/issue/the-wo...

youtube.comThe $200M Machine that Prints Microchips: The EUV Photolithography SystemYouTube video by Branch Education

This Branch Education video from Aug 2025 explains ASML's tech: www.youtube.com/watch?v=B248...

Deep explainer about ASML, the Dutch company that has become key to Europe's tech industries (Works in Progress): worksinprogress.co/issue/the-wo...

youtube.comThe World's Most Important MachineYouTube video by Veritasium

Veritasium visited ASML in December 2025: www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiUH...

youtube.comGameScience video 2008 IIYouTube video by James Means

19 Apr

Col. Lou Zocchi at a 2008 convention talking for 20 minutes straight about why his dice are better dice: www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJ-A...

James Wallis@jameswallis.bsky.social

Very sad to hear of the death of the great Lou Zocchi, who spent much of his life advocating for higher standards in dice manufacturing. He and his infectious enthusiasm will be sadly missed. On a more pedestrian level, I now have a hook to hang my next column for Wyrd Science on.

17 Apr

It came to pass in the third quarter of the fiscal year that the Federal Reserve Board did raise the rediscount rate and money was tight in the land.

Jonathan Edward Durham@thisone0verhere.bsky.social

What’s your favorite Bible verse? (Wrong answers only)

georgzoeller.comThe Video Game Industries Very Dark Night — Georg's BlogThe video gaming industry has had a brutal few years, with record layoffs affecting almost every company and many beloved studios and brands disappearing. At th...

17 Apr

And certain bankers which sate in New York sent to Ben Graffis in Hollywood a writing which said, Money is tight in the land so let Poopy Panda up periscope and fire all bow tubes.

Allen Varney reposted

Lum

@brokentoys.social

14 Apr

"With all this in mind, the next 1-2 years look exceedingly dark, because there is not a single credible light (of growth) for the industry."

youtube.comA miraculous escape 🐰 🐶 #wildlife #Hare #houndYouTube video by 家有小猫

12 Mar

Every ambitious composer of film soundtracks should score this amazing hare-and-hounds chase (via @kottke.org): www.youtube.com/watch?v=O60x...

youtube.comLittle Shop Of Horrors Mean Green Mother From Outer Space Director’s Cut VersionYouTube video by Augie

8 Mar

Yesterday's Gridogram puzzle (Sat 07 March) used my suggestion, "I'm just a mean green mother from outer space, and I'm bad." Here is the 1986 source of that quotation, "Little Shop of Horrors" (1986) in its Director's Cut version: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mdz1...

gridogram.comGridogram - Find Today’s Hidden Quote in the Letter GridLet the grid speak to you... Gridogram is a word game with a hidden quote to find each day. Trace words in the grid of letters to discover it.

7 Mar

I chose the quotation for today's Screen Time Saturday installment (2026-03-07) of the Gridogram puzzle by @gridogram.com : www.gridogram.com

imdb.comDavid EllisonDavid Ellison

26 Feb

Paramount CEO David Ellison has a generic face, a template face. Describe him to a police sketch artist - "wide face, strong jaw, high forehead, thick lips" - and ten seconds after the sketch artist starts roughing in the outline, you'd say "That's him." www.imdb.com/name/nm19111...

youtube.comWhen that Man is Dead and Gone (1941) - Protest song against Hitler (Live Take)YouTube video by Lizzy & the Triggermen

In 1941 Irving Berlin wrote a protest song against Hitler, "When that Man is Dead and Gone," covered nicely in 2017 by Lizzy & the Triggermen: www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDkh...

Satan, Satan thought up a plan Dressed as a man Walking the Earth, and since he began The world is Hell for you and me But what a Heaven it will be --

When that man is dead and gone When that man is dead and gone When they lay him twelve feet deep I'll be there to laugh, not weep When that man is dead and gone

youtube.comWhen that Man is Dead and Gone (1941) - Protest song against Hitler (Live Take)YouTube video by Lizzy & the Triggermen

In 1941 Irving Berlin wrote a protest song against Hitler, "When that Man is Dead and Gone," covered nicely in 2017 by Lizzy & the Triggermen: www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDkh...

When that man is dead and gone (Dead and gone) When that man is dead and gone (Dead and gone) We'll go dancing down the street Kissing everyone we meet When that man is dead and gone (Dead and gone)

What a day to wake up on What a way to greet the dawn When a certain man is dead and gone Some fine day the news will flash Satan with the small moustache is asleep beneath the lawn When that man is dead and gone

Why do we see this exact same story play out repeatedly? Do companies have no memory? Is learning impossible?

J-T Kelly@j-tkelly.bsky.social

Red Ogre (@ogre.red) gets rights to your work upon *submission*. And those rights are ridiculous. They can change your work, not credit you, use your work for advertising, or put it in an anthology. Don't submit to this one, folks.

Everyone flips out again. Repeat seven times. A week later the CEO posts on LinkedIn (Well, heh-heh, that didn't go well!"), wholly retracts the ToS, and pledges to rebuild the trust he just burned to the ground for no gain.

A few years later it all happens again with a new main suspect. Can nobody learn?

Why do we see this exact same story play out repeatedly? Do companies have no memory? Is learning impossible?

J-T Kelly@j-tkelly.bsky.social

A platform for creatives gets its clueless legal counsel to draft terms of service that say "We can do anything we want with anything you send us, you can't sue us, and we can come to your house at any time and kick you in the groin."

The company posts the new ToS, everyone flips out, and some hapless frontline minion has to quickly say "nonono, that's not what we meant." The next day they clarify that sure, they can kick you in the groin, but they never actually would.

visualcapitalist.comRanked: Countries With the Best Reputations in 2025Discover which countries have the best reputations in 2025. Switzerland and Canada lead, while the U.S. sees a sharp decline.

22 Jan

Countries with the best reputations in 2025, ranked (Visual Capitalist): www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-count...

22 Jan

"Reputation Lab surveyed citizens of G7 countries to find out which nations have the best international reputation in 2025. Iraq, Iran, and Russia ranked at the bottom, while the U.S. saw the biggest decline from 2024, falling 18 spots to 48th."

22 Jan

1-10. Switzerland-Canada-Norway-Sweden-Finland-Denmark-New Zealand-Japan-Netherlands-Ireland 48. USA (down from #30 in 2024) 56-60. Pakistan-China-Iran-Iraq-Russia [bottom of the list]

Allen Varney reposted

Pavel

@spavel.bsky.social

20 Jan

The future of work is changing. And we have to evolve with it or fall behind. That's why we're proud to introduce: Serfdom dot AI. Our platform allows SERFs (solo entrepreneur revenue facilitators) to rent affordable housing that they can subsidize by picking up work with Baron, our AI assistant

youtu.beIf the Algorithm was a PersonYouTube video by Foil Arms and Hog

15 Jan

"If the Algorithm Was a Person" (Foil Arms and Hog): youtu.be/tKGE6UzwdXc?...

gutenberg.orgDentologia : A poem on the diseases of the teeth, and their proper remediesFree kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by volunteers.

"Dentologia: A Poem on the Diseases of the Teeth" in five cantos by Solyman Brown, A.M., with notes practical, historical, illustrative, and explanatory by Eleazar Parmly, Dentist (1840): www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77677

"From long neglect which nothing can atone, Should caries excavate the solid bone, Destroy the bright enamel in its way, And lay the nerve quite naked to the day; Still dental science, subject of my song, Invents expedients to redress the wrong."

gutenberg.orgMy tussle with the devil : And other stories by O. Henry's GhostFree kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by volunteers.

Stories by O. Henry's Ghost (1918): Albert Houghton Pratt (1878-1941), rare book curator at the Library of Congress, wrote a book of stories as by O. Henry, dictated via Ouija board: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77686

medium.comA Look at Mark Twain’s Post-mortem Writing CareerThe author’s spirit is credited with writing at least three books

As with other post-mortem publications (viz. "Jap Herron," as by Mark Twain), the afterlife seems to sharply degrade the erstwhile O. Henry's talents. medium.com/exploring-hi...