June Pieces Of My Mind #2

• Didn’t realise before that computer implementations of D&D are almost as old as the tabletop game itself.
• Half of Sweden’s adult population has now had at least one shot. One quarter has had both shots.
• Movie: Minari (2020). Unhappy Korean couple starts a vegetable farm in 1980s Arkansas. Grade: OK.
• Talked to a Ukrainian about Łódź. He looked confused, then said “Oh right, you mean Vlotz!”
• Today’s 29 years since I started my first archaeology job. I’ve worked almost exclusively in the discipline since. Made very little money and hardly any pension savings, but I’ve fed & raised two kids and had a lot of fun!
• Confusingly, Scandinavian Airline Systems plays porn groove on the phone while you wait in line for customer support. When I finally got to talk to a rep he spoke in a slightly braying rural accent and, though quite helpful, did not seem erotically inclined at all!
• In a radical departure from its previous stance, the National Heritage Board sends a loud and clear signal to anyone who finds an ancient hoard in Sweden: DON’T STOP DIGGING AFTER YOU FIND JUST A FEW OBJECTS, RIP ‘EM ALL OUT! Dude finds 8 objects outside a badger sett, calls in archaeologists who find 42 more, dude gets reward for 8 objects.
• Some gneisses form from sedimentary rocks. Are there gneisses that have formed from biochemical sedimentary rocks? To me, that would be a mind-blowing illustration of how old life on Earth is.
• I never understood that all the characters in the 80s text adventure The Hobbit were autonomous, running around the game following their own priorities, nor that you could give them orders.
• Early-80s computer games like The Hobbit and King’s Quest would draw scenery line by line and then fill it out like a colouring book. This took way less storage space than a big image file for each scene.
• In the 80s Hobbit game you could pick Elrond up and carry him around as your personal portable elf-bread baker. Useful to beef up before fights.
• Reading Amos Tutuola and having a blast. He pays no respect to Western narrative conventions and little to those of the Queen’s English. Deadpan, sly, absurd. Constant surprises!
• Layne Staley, crazy amazing singer! ❤