If you mix all the vibrant paints together, everything becomes the same brown. As with Cory Doctorow’s enshittification it’s useful to attach specific names to specific aspects of what’s probably late stage capitalism. It just helps identify that aspect, and its characteristics. So what is smooshification? Smooshification is the drive for anything to have the features of everything in its “class”. Now “class” is a vague concept here, so without going into a discussion around taxonomies I’m unqualified to have, I’m using “class” in a vague way. To use the definition from wherever Microsoft Bing gets its definitions from: “a set or category of things having some property or attribute in common and differentiated from others by kind, type, or quality”. ...

A prediction of what will be underwater when the sea rises two metres. Water Water Everywhere I helped run this session as part of the CLWG design conference; CLWG being the Chestnut Lodge Wargaming Group. I believe the organisation is around forty years old, and is much more focused on the design of new games rather than playing existing ones. Well, I say “helped run” the session, I mainly took notes while my co-designer, Terry Martin, asked the questions. ...

The Traitors but concentrated. The Traitors TV show but so much faster Considering my interest in the recent series of The Traitors TV show in the UK, I recently looked at this similar show on YouTube from 2004. It’s a short series called “Traitor” - five programmes were aired on the BBC in the UK over one week. Much, much snappier than the current version, it has a couple of aspects in common with The Traitors, such as the way players are excluded. I assume the two formats and programmes are unrelated, just that the terms used are relatively obvious. ...

A review of the book “Leading the Rebellion” by Jason Kingsley.

Suggestions on when you should use randomness in your life.

A review of the book “Billion Dollar Lessons” by Carroll and Mui.

A summary of URLs for figuring out if your old mobile phone is supported by an alternative operating system.

Seahawks versus Vikings, and what it was like to watch it on DAZN as an NFL GamePass subscriber

A thoughtful listicle of the wide variety of things I read or watched this week, from March to August, from time-travel to sports.

Problem Discord I have sound issues on Discord, an occasional background humming or similar noise - that I can’t hear, and that doesn’t manifest when I’m using Discord’s “mic check”. But others have notified me about it, and then I notice my picture in meetings showing a green border, as though I’m talking, when I’m clearly not saying anything. So that means I’m making an online meeting just a little bit harder for everyone else. ...