John C. Kirk

Representation is really important. I haven't played any of the games in this list (yet), but I'm glad to see how many there are!

It's time for me to turn my central heating on, and I've decided to do an experiment: www.theheatinghub.co.uk/articles/tur... This should tell me whether I need to replace my radiators before getting a heat pump. NB This is only for combi boilers (no hot water cylinder) to avoid legionella risk.

This is interesting: the equinox is a point in time (the moment when the sun is above the equator), whereas the equilux is a full day (equal hours of light/dark). In other news, tomorrow night is a full moon, so I'll be "mooning the moon" at a night swim in solidarity :) (Repost to fix a mistake.)

will say it again: the most effective way to curb far right agitators like Lowe, "Tommo" et. al. would be to stop their ability to earn money for it from social media or live streaming. So much of it is grifting for revenue, not attention.

I’ve been an RNLI supporter (monthly donation) for a couple of years. rnli.org Their volunteers are saving lives, and they don’t deserve threats and intimidation from right-wing thugs. Even if you think that some of the people they rescue should be arrested or deported, don’t blame the rescuers.

Tonight I went off to watch "Coyote vs. ACME". I really enjoyed it, and I'd recommend it to anyone who liked the original cartoons. Longer wibblings over at Letterboxd: boxd.it/g0CcpL

Now that I'm in my 50s, I had a birthday present from the NHS: a bowel cancer screening kit. www.nhs.uk/tests-and-tr... It was a bit fiddly to scrape the right amount of poo onto the stick but I sent it in. Today I got a reply: "no further tests are needed at this time". So, that's reassuring.

Like most people in England and Wales, I got my first real emergency alert. I agree with the advice, but this alert overrides silent mode and driving focus, and I don’t think it justifies “drop everything and deal with this now” status. Maybe we need another category for less urgent alerts?

I’ve been out with my colander to watch the (partial) eclipse. You have to use a bit of imagination, but I got an arty photo :) It was also a nice conversation starter with other people wandering around, when we’d normally just ignore each other.

Did you hear about the DC July 4 fireworks show? It promises 850,000 fireworks in 40 minutes. That's 354 per second. You'll miss up to 142 of them every time you blink. For your edutainment, I proudly present the nerdiest thing you will read about this dangerously absurd / absurdly dangerous event.

I've just watched "Hoppers" and I really enjoyed it. It's bonkers, so you have to suspend your disbelief, but there were several bits that genuinely made me laugh. If possible, try to avoid watching the full trailer in advance, because it gives too much away. (The teaser just gives the premise.)

Yesterday, I went to College Lake Nature Reserve (in Tring): www.bbowt.org.uk/nature-reser... One of the hides had info on bird calls, and it mentioned that green woodpeckers make a "yaffling" noise. So, that explains where Professor Yaffle (from "Bagpuss") got his name!

When I did the Brompton World Championship we had to start on foot, then run to our bikes and unfold them before we could start cycling. (1m 26s -> 1m 36s.) youtu.be/FGMstwEQUeg?... The timer didn't start until we crossed the start line on our bikes, so this bit was just for fun.

This weekend, I'll be at the UK Games Expo, helping out at the CobblePath Games stall (3-558). If you're going too, do drop by to say hello, and the quoted thread has a list of games that are available on the stall (as well as the "stamp quest" challenge).

THE CHAFF PROJECT Hi! Are you cis in the UK and you'd like to support trans rights? Great! How: buy a trans flag pin and wear it in public. Why: chaff is an overwhelming amount of false positives so that when a missile gets close to the plane, it hits the chaff and not the plane.

Having all the cards is, famously, not the goal in Uno.

Today I made my 25th blood donation, which was also my first platelet donation. More info in my blog: johnckirk.dreamwidth.org/2183.html

If you are in need of a good belly laugh, and I suspect every person on the planet is, please read this. And then do read the comments. I am bathed in endorphins.

ULEZ means about 1,500 sq kilometres - the whole of Greater London - is covered by road emissions control. Stop and think about that for a second. It's incredible. Its impact on public health has been huge. Studies said it would take 200 YEARS to reach this emission level. Khan did it in five.

I don’t have a cat, but that means that the neighbourhood cats all use my garden. Here are two of them inspecting my new EV charging point. (I say new because they literally turned up the same day and that’s the only time I’ve seen them there.)

Once told the chef at my regular cafe that I was dubious about ordering the trout because I didn't want my food looking back at me. She assured me she'd take care of it. I thought she meant cut off the head, but no - it was served with a little lettuce blindfold.

Looking at the Odeon blurb for Thunderbolts, they claim that the team was created by Peter David and Mike Deodato. It's true that they first appeared in a Hulk issue, but I feel like Kurt Busiek (who wrote the main series) deserves some of the credit!