# Twtxt is an open, distributed microblogging platform that # uses human-readable text files, common transport protocols, # and free software. # # Learn more about twtxt at https://github.com/buckket/twtxt # # This is an automated Yarn.social feed running feeds v0.1.0@72e53a9 # Learn more about Yarn.social at https://yarn.social # # nick = lown # url = https://feeds.twtxt.net/lown/twtxt.txt # type = rss # source = https://weirder.earth/@lown.rss # avatar = https://feeds.twtxt.net/lown/avatar.png#o55y5hmkj7joz3ahhgspio32t2fi2s3yjwbtuulrwupfgb2h3tia # description = Public posts from @lown@weirder.earth # updated_at = 2023-04-14T18:34:31Z # 2023-02-03T16:44:44Z **Feb 03, 2023, 16:44**
[@Sandra](https://idiomdrottning.org/users/Sandra)[@BPeylet](https://dice.camp/@BPeylet) I got, uh, carried away and added a web version of the calculator to that page ✨ ⌘ [Read more](https://weirder.earth/@lown/109801811793542123) 2023-02-03T14:40:35Z **Feb 03, 2023, 14:40**
⚔️ ➡️ 🎲 After [@Sandra](https://idiomdrottning.org/users/Sandra) and [@BPeylet](https://dice.camp/@BPeylet) gave me excellent pointers on making quick D&D 5e monsters, I built a little command line utility to convert a flat number into a best fit number of dice. Download here: [https://raphael.computer/blog/damage-to-dice-calculator/](https://raphael.computer/blog/damage-to-dice-calculator/) ⌘ [Read more](https://weirder.earth/@lown/109801323562747230) 2023-02-02T09:46:05Z **Feb 02, 2023, 09:46**
What I would love is a system which reworks all 5e monsters to: (1) fit in a one-line stat block with extra information for special actions; (2) have the same save for everything, and for that save to be based on HD/CR; (3) have their CR based on their HD or vice versa; (4) have a tag-based system where adding the 'fast' or 'spined' tag adds +5 to attack or +2 to damage or whatever; (5) have simplified damage maybe? 5e is such a punchy game that you end up throwing huge quantities of dice for attacks, ... ⌘ [Read more](https://weirder.earth/@lown/109794503230323045) 2023-02-02T09:41:19Z **Feb 02, 2023, 09:41**
Last night I spent two hours working through the DMG and Monster Manual to build a monster, just because I felt the need for it to be 'balanced' in terms of CR. My players are comfortable playing 5e, which is fine, but I am amazed that I couldn't find a system out there for simplified 5e monsters. I can throw together an OSE monster in ten minutes and \_roughly\_ know how it'll fare against my players, but in 5e, the fact that Hit Dice are completely divorced from CR and that there are two separate CR ... ⌘ [Read more](https://weirder.earth/@lown/109794484522206632) 2023-01-19T12:01:28Z **Jan 19, 2023, 12:01**
[@Weirdaholic](https://weirder.earth/@Weirdaholic) this will be of interest to you 😃 ⌘ [Read more](https://weirder.earth/@lown/109715763256111207) 2023-01-19T12:00:36Z **Jan 19, 2023, 12:00**
my privacy-first link-in-bio service pointers now has encryption! share links to your private online presence only with trusted friends for a limited period of time!

all data is encrypted serverside, which protects against my biggest concern with this sort of service: the database being accessed by an attacker.

[https://pointers.website](https://pointers.website) ⌘ [Read more](https://weirder.earth/@lown/109715759888933959) 2023-01-19T11:57:11Z **Jan 19, 2023, 11:57**
i'm so \_bored\_ of being sold things on Instagram. it's the last data-for-profit social network I use (otherwise I just use Cohost and Mastodon) and the constant advertising is gross. As ever, what's keeping me there is being able to stay in touch with my less techy friends... ⌘ [Read more](https://weirder.earth/@lown/109715746413728364) 2022-11-22T13:27:52Z **Nov 22, 2022, 13:27**
I've made a service called Pointers which lets you share links to your online presence privately with friends and mutuals! Like Linktree but open source, private, and low-tech. [https://pointers.website](https://pointers.website) ⌘ [Read more](https://weirder.earth/@lown/109387688979057280) 2022-11-20T10:39:05Z **Nov 20, 2022, 10:39**
i've come up with an idea for a little service a bit like those 'link in bio' pages, but for your private links which you'd only rather share with friends and mutuals. it's a response to the idea of people losing contact with online friends when places like twitter go down.

how it'll work:

create an account, add the names you want to be able to be found by, and add your links.

people can search for your names, but they won't be able to see your links.

they can send you a request, at which point th ... ⌘ [Read more](https://weirder.earth/@lown/109375700666264649) 2022-11-16T16:48:18Z **Nov 16, 2022, 16:48**
**Content warning:** game development

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hard problems in software development:

\- cache invalidation

\- naming things

\- getting the screen position of a unity ui toolkit element

🙃 ⌘ [Read more](https://weirder.earth/@lown/109354503240942251) 2022-11-16T12:24:09Z **Nov 16, 2022, 12:24**
today is exclusively a day for listening to the mountain goats because tonight we are SEEING THE MOUNTAIN GOATS LIVE

aaaaaaaa 🐐 ⌘ [Read more](https://weirder.earth/@lown/109353464616418893) 2022-11-02T16:38:51Z **Nov 02, 2022, 16:38**
**Content warning:** precarity, academic work, university administrations are the WORST

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the university i did my PhD at is planning to sack ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY academics and academic support staff. that includes, like, a full third of some departments.

i'm so, so glad sometimes that i left academia, but fuck i feel sorry for everyone still there. ⌘ [Read more](https://weirder.earth/@lown/109275193801823966) 2022-09-09T03:25:17Z **Sep 09, 2022, 03:25**
Just found out Chris Pine and Matt Damon are not the same man. Almost as embarrassing as the time I watched 30 minutes of The Departed before realising the two men were different people ⌘ [Read more](https://weirder.earth/@lown/108966308550247231) 2022-07-10T13:55:44Z **Jul 10, 2022, 13:55**
For [#fantasy](https://weirder.earth/tags/fantasy) [#rpg](https://weirder.earth/tags/rpg) setting purposes: what diacritics would be required to suggest the pronunciation of 'None' as 'Known'? ⌘ [Read more](https://weirder.earth/@lown/108623386688240374) 2022-06-11T15:18:29Z **Jun 11, 2022, 15:18**
[@pixouls](https://post.lurk.org/@pixouls) Hiya! Would you mind if I followed you? ⌘ [Read more](https://weirder.earth/@lown/108459505076459981) 2022-06-07T08:23:38Z **Jun 07, 2022, 08:23**
This morning is a nice morning because I have almost finished writing a talk on online utopian communities (I am going to present it at HacktionCamp 2022 and I will make sure to get a video of it and post it online). ![:_gayheart2:](https://s3.amazonaws.com/files.weirder.earth/custom_emojis/images/000/048/227/original/b5a15887eb975384.png) ⌘ [Read more](https://weirder.earth/@lown/108435224577034835) 2022-05-26T22:05:18Z **May 26, 2022, 22:05**
**Content warning:** low mood, feelings, being rude about a film

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i am \_so anxious\_ y'all. like a spindly little ball of woe. it hasn't been this bad in months! and money is one of those anxieties, which is just no fun.

on the plus side, today i told a friend that the creators of the film the green knight called it the green knight for the same reason that you call animals different things after you kill them for food - to make butchering it seem more palatable 👀 ⌘ [Read more](https://weirder.earth/@lown/108370507732212210) 2022-05-11T22:54:16Z **May 11, 2022, 22:54**
Spent the evening adding an RSS feed compiler to my tiny bespoke static site generator. Well pleased with the fact that I'm finally, very slowly, starting to understand Rust! ⌘ [Read more](https://weirder.earth/@lown/108285765669748053) 2022-05-05T18:20:41Z **May 05, 2022, 18:20**
**Content warning:** Birds, death, the everyday violence of nature

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Some really daft moorhens have made their nest out in the open on a canal in London next to my work. They had three tiny chicks and people would watch them from the bridge.

Today I was walking with a colleague when a seagull dove down, grabbed one of the chicks, and ATE IT WHOLE.

The moorhens were momentarily screamy and frenetic, then went back to feeding the two remaining chicks.

Nature, man. What the fuck. ⌘ [Read more](https://weirder.earth/@lown/108250716041172121) 2022-05-05T07:57:22Z **May 05, 2022, 07:57**
Yesterday evening I wrote a script to interface with the local council's undocumented API which returns bin collection times, and now I get phone notifications when the bins need to go out! All because they don't send us a calendar.

I wrote a blog post about it too: [https://raphael.computer/blog/undocumented-bin-collection-api/](https://raphael.computer/blog/undocumented-bin-collection-api/) ⌘ [Read more](https://weirder.earth/@lown/108248265003033818) 2023-04-14T18:28:09Z **Apr 14, 2023, 18:28**
New blog post: I did some Weird Hacks and got an RP2040 board working with the FastLED library on ESPHome! Fairy lights! 💡 [https://raphael.computer/blog/plasma-stick-2040-w-esphome/](https://raphael.computer/blog/plasma-stick-2040-w-esphome/) ⌘ [Read more](https://weirder.earth/@lown/110198580168295345)