Tufty McTavish
@tuftymctavish.com
Gamer 🎮 Grower 👨🌾 Reader 📚 Rock Star 🎸 🥁 🎹
Pinned
Tufty McTavish
@tuftymctavish.com
· Dec 15
🧵 A chance comment in a post has led me down a rabbit warren of Interactive Fiction memories, floppy diskettes, and apps on modern devices.
So this is going to be an ongoing thread about text adventure games, such as these “Lost Treasures of Infocom”.
🎮 #VideoGames 🕹️ #TextAdventures ⌨️ #Infocom 🗺️
So this is going to be an ongoing thread about text adventure games, such as these “Lost Treasures of Infocom”.
🎮 #VideoGames 🕹️ #TextAdventures ⌨️ #Infocom 🗺️
📸 I first read about #SadOwlStudios and @mattstark256.bsky.social’s #Viewfinder from @thunderfulgames.bsky.social in @debugmag.com issue 1, where it was the (eventual!) cover story (which I only learned recently in a livestream).
I’ve completed first few levels and onto the train.
🎮 #VideoGames 🕹️
I’ve completed first few levels and onto the train.
🎮 #VideoGames 🕹️
January 12, 2026 at 8:42 PM
📸 I first read about #SadOwlStudios and @mattstark256.bsky.social’s #Viewfinder from @thunderfulgames.bsky.social in @debugmag.com issue 1, where it was the (eventual!) cover story (which I only learned recently in a livestream).
I’ve completed first few levels and onto the train.
🎮 #VideoGames 🕹️
I’ve completed first few levels and onto the train.
🎮 #VideoGames 🕹️
🎹 Trying to play simple tunes on piano. Emphasis on *trying*!
🫲 no bother, good fun.
🫱 seems easier, being right handed maybe, but also no bother.
👐 brain says “get the frak out of here!”
Yup, using both hands eludes me yet.
🎸 #RocksmithPlus 🎹
🫲 no bother, good fun.
🫱 seems easier, being right handed maybe, but also no bother.
👐 brain says “get the frak out of here!”
Yup, using both hands eludes me yet.
🎸 #RocksmithPlus 🎹
January 12, 2026 at 5:30 PM
🎹 Trying to play simple tunes on piano. Emphasis on *trying*!
🫲 no bother, good fun.
🫱 seems easier, being right handed maybe, but also no bother.
👐 brain says “get the frak out of here!”
Yup, using both hands eludes me yet.
🎸 #RocksmithPlus 🎹
🫲 no bother, good fun.
🫱 seems easier, being right handed maybe, but also no bother.
👐 brain says “get the frak out of here!”
Yup, using both hands eludes me yet.
🎸 #RocksmithPlus 🎹
🪫 Because the PS5 is a silly shape it doesn’t sit flat, so a corner wobbles as I attempt to front insert a USB plug 1️⃣
Thus I have to hold a corner to stop it flapping around maddeningly 2️⃣
Later: why isn’t my controller charging ⚡️🤔
Reason: it wasn’t fully plugged in because 1️⃣➕2️⃣
🤦♂️
🎮 #VideoGames 🕹️
Thus I have to hold a corner to stop it flapping around maddeningly 2️⃣
Later: why isn’t my controller charging ⚡️🤔
Reason: it wasn’t fully plugged in because 1️⃣➕2️⃣
🤦♂️
🎮 #VideoGames 🕹️
January 12, 2026 at 4:58 PM
🪫 Because the PS5 is a silly shape it doesn’t sit flat, so a corner wobbles as I attempt to front insert a USB plug 1️⃣
Thus I have to hold a corner to stop it flapping around maddeningly 2️⃣
Later: why isn’t my controller charging ⚡️🤔
Reason: it wasn’t fully plugged in because 1️⃣➕2️⃣
🤦♂️
🎮 #VideoGames 🕹️
Thus I have to hold a corner to stop it flapping around maddeningly 2️⃣
Later: why isn’t my controller charging ⚡️🤔
Reason: it wasn’t fully plugged in because 1️⃣➕2️⃣
🤦♂️
🎮 #VideoGames 🕹️
🔊 The one in which This Week in Outrun checks out the fabulous “Stunt Car Racer”, also sacks @davevelociraptor.bsky.social (! 😂), and considers how we leave our computers on - FWIW I was always a full shutdown type.
🎮 #VideoGames 🕹️ #RetroGaming #RetroComputing ⌨️ #Podcasts 📻
🎮 #VideoGames 🕹️ #RetroGaming #RetroComputing ⌨️ #Podcasts 📻
Buckle up: It's milestone episode 250 and still a racing show.
youtu.be/U0feIbUdwkE
Geoff Crammond news including Stunt Car Racer revival, a trove of Sega cable TV exclusives, and news for users of ancient web browsers like WebTV and Dreamcast PlanetWeb. All this and more in the first TWiR of 2026!
youtu.be/U0feIbUdwkE
Geoff Crammond news including Stunt Car Racer revival, a trove of Sega cable TV exclusives, and news for users of ancient web browsers like WebTV and Dreamcast PlanetWeb. All this and more in the first TWiR of 2026!
January 12, 2026 at 4:35 PM
🔊 The one in which This Week in Outrun checks out the fabulous “Stunt Car Racer”, also sacks @davevelociraptor.bsky.social (! 😂), and considers how we leave our computers on - FWIW I was always a full shutdown type.
🎮 #VideoGames 🕹️ #RetroGaming #RetroComputing ⌨️ #Podcasts 📻
🎮 #VideoGames 🕹️ #RetroGaming #RetroComputing ⌨️ #Podcasts 📻
Reposted by Tufty McTavish
Does anyone have good data on how display ad CPMs have changed over the past decade or so?
January 12, 2026 at 12:57 PM
Does anyone have good data on how display ad CPMs have changed over the past decade or so?
🗞️ Every morning scroll has me wondering what fresh 😬 that 🇺🇸 will have implemented overnight…
🌎 #PoliticsAndAllThat 🗳️
🌎 #PoliticsAndAllThat 🗳️
The madness, the horror, the abuse continues every day. Keep waiting for the GOP to come to its senses and rein in the monster it’s unleashed. Still waiting….
He’s utterly unhinged and out of control. Congress could stop this in an instant, but its ruling party, the GOP, has become equally untethered from principle or reality. Too many Americans still cheering this on without any comprehension of the disastrous consequences, for themselves or the world.
January 12, 2026 at 9:21 AM
🗞️ Every morning scroll has me wondering what fresh 😬 that 🇺🇸 will have implemented overnight…
🌎 #PoliticsAndAllThat 🗳️
🌎 #PoliticsAndAllThat 🗳️
📆 End of a week reading update!
My pace dipped dramatically after I completed my 2025 reading goals, but it seems to have picked back up a little by the weekend 🧐
Finished “The Dervish House”, continued “A City on Mars”, returning to “Artifact Space”.
📚⚔️ #FantasyBooks 🚀 #SciFiBooks 🪐📚💙 #BookSky 🦋
My pace dipped dramatically after I completed my 2025 reading goals, but it seems to have picked back up a little by the weekend 🧐
Finished “The Dervish House”, continued “A City on Mars”, returning to “Artifact Space”.
📚⚔️ #FantasyBooks 🚀 #SciFiBooks 🪐📚💙 #BookSky 🦋
January 11, 2026 at 8:35 PM
📆 End of a week reading update!
My pace dipped dramatically after I completed my 2025 reading goals, but it seems to have picked back up a little by the weekend 🧐
Finished “The Dervish House”, continued “A City on Mars”, returning to “Artifact Space”.
📚⚔️ #FantasyBooks 🚀 #SciFiBooks 🪐📚💙 #BookSky 🦋
My pace dipped dramatically after I completed my 2025 reading goals, but it seems to have picked back up a little by the weekend 🧐
Finished “The Dervish House”, continued “A City on Mars”, returning to “Artifact Space”.
📚⚔️ #FantasyBooks 🚀 #SciFiBooks 🪐📚💙 #BookSky 🦋
Reposted by Tufty McTavish
Properly funding the court system would clear the backlog even more quickly.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Slashing jury trials could clear courts backlog within a decade, says Lammy
Exclusive: Lord chancellor urges MPs to back judge-only trials in thousands of criminal cases in England and Wales
www.theguardian.com
January 11, 2026 at 7:13 PM
Properly funding the court system would clear the backlog even more quickly.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Tufty McTavish
Get your comfy trainers on & your earplugs in, it’s time to join me on a moonlight stroll through the not-at-all-quarry that is Cygnus Alpha…
Yes, my review of SAEP01 of Blake’s 7 is now live!!!
boxofflashinglights.wordpress.com/2026/01/11/c...
Yes, my review of SAEP01 of Blake’s 7 is now live!!!
boxofflashinglights.wordpress.com/2026/01/11/c...
Cygnus Alpha
Or: We should all worship Brian Blessed really, shouldn’t we…? Cygnus Alpha continues Terry Nation’s four part pilot for Blake’s 7, with the story picking up more or less st…
boxofflashinglights.wordpress.com
January 11, 2026 at 10:47 AM
Get your comfy trainers on & your earplugs in, it’s time to join me on a moonlight stroll through the not-at-all-quarry that is Cygnus Alpha…
Yes, my review of SAEP01 of Blake’s 7 is now live!!!
boxofflashinglights.wordpress.com/2026/01/11/c...
Yes, my review of SAEP01 of Blake’s 7 is now live!!!
boxofflashinglights.wordpress.com/2026/01/11/c...
Reposted by Tufty McTavish
If you’re joining us from X remember the best way to use this app is:
Follow five people and complain loudly that it’s dead
Attempt a dunk quote post
Reply in bad faith to everything
Be obviously far right
Do all of these and we’ll get you added to the correct block lists as soon as possible.
Follow five people and complain loudly that it’s dead
Attempt a dunk quote post
Reply in bad faith to everything
Be obviously far right
Do all of these and we’ll get you added to the correct block lists as soon as possible.
January 11, 2026 at 9:21 AM
If you’re joining us from X remember the best way to use this app is:
Follow five people and complain loudly that it’s dead
Attempt a dunk quote post
Reply in bad faith to everything
Be obviously far right
Do all of these and we’ll get you added to the correct block lists as soon as possible.
Follow five people and complain loudly that it’s dead
Attempt a dunk quote post
Reply in bad faith to everything
Be obviously far right
Do all of these and we’ll get you added to the correct block lists as soon as possible.
Reposted by Tufty McTavish
🥬 Since the cold weather has passed us for the time being, I’ve taken the opportunity to take the fleece cover off of the Pak-Choi plantlings growing outside in the cold frames.
They look to be doing okay so far, despite some very cold 🌡️
👨🌾 #Gardening #VegetableGrowing #GrowYourOwn 🌱
They look to be doing okay so far, despite some very cold 🌡️
👨🌾 #Gardening #VegetableGrowing #GrowYourOwn 🌱
January 11, 2026 at 11:17 AM
🥬 Since the cold weather has passed us for the time being, I’ve taken the opportunity to take the fleece cover off of the Pak-Choi plantlings growing outside in the cold frames.
They look to be doing okay so far, despite some very cold 🌡️
👨🌾 #Gardening #VegetableGrowing #GrowYourOwn 🌱
They look to be doing okay so far, despite some very cold 🌡️
👨🌾 #Gardening #VegetableGrowing #GrowYourOwn 🌱
🔊 Bit LTTP on Day 20 of the #StarshipAlexandria pod (because I was listening to B7 pods last year!).
Oh my word, hearing that Orac's voice infuses @aptshadow.bsky.social’s narration of “Bee Speaker”, and also kind of the tone of Avrana Kern in “Children of Time”😮
📺 #TVSky 🚀 #Blakes7 7️⃣ #Podcasts 📻
Oh my word, hearing that Orac's voice infuses @aptshadow.bsky.social’s narration of “Bee Speaker”, and also kind of the tone of Avrana Kern in “Children of Time”😮
📺 #TVSky 🚀 #Blakes7 7️⃣ #Podcasts 📻
Starship Alexandria: Day 20 - 2025 Advent Calendar
For the twentieth day of the 2025 Starship Alexandria advent calendar, Adrian shares his love of the ultimate low budget british science-fiction show Blake's 7. If you'd like to support the show, you ...
starshipalexandria.com
January 11, 2026 at 11:01 AM
🔊 Bit LTTP on Day 20 of the #StarshipAlexandria pod (because I was listening to B7 pods last year!).
Oh my word, hearing that Orac's voice infuses @aptshadow.bsky.social’s narration of “Bee Speaker”, and also kind of the tone of Avrana Kern in “Children of Time”😮
📺 #TVSky 🚀 #Blakes7 7️⃣ #Podcasts 📻
Oh my word, hearing that Orac's voice infuses @aptshadow.bsky.social’s narration of “Bee Speaker”, and also kind of the tone of Avrana Kern in “Children of Time”😮
📺 #TVSky 🚀 #Blakes7 7️⃣ #Podcasts 📻
🧹 “Why are the red LEDs activating on my [🦈] vacuum?” I wonder. It’s not a full dust holder, as I first thought, turns out it’s the front roller that’s clogged with 🐈 hair from #TheGuestCat and can’t spin freely 😯
Turns out it’s easy to pop out and clean. Nice design.
Normal service resumed 😮💨
Turns out it’s easy to pop out and clean. Nice design.
Normal service resumed 😮💨
January 11, 2026 at 10:44 AM
🧹 “Why are the red LEDs activating on my [🦈] vacuum?” I wonder. It’s not a full dust holder, as I first thought, turns out it’s the front roller that’s clogged with 🐈 hair from #TheGuestCat and can’t spin freely 😯
Turns out it’s easy to pop out and clean. Nice design.
Normal service resumed 😮💨
Turns out it’s easy to pop out and clean. Nice design.
Normal service resumed 😮💨
Reposted by Tufty McTavish
Something of a follower surge.
Welcome to Blue Sky all.
Minor etiquette point: when you follow someone it is customary to buy their most recent book.
Welcome to Blue Sky all.
Minor etiquette point: when you follow someone it is customary to buy their most recent book.
January 10, 2026 at 10:18 PM
Something of a follower surge.
Welcome to Blue Sky all.
Minor etiquette point: when you follow someone it is customary to buy their most recent book.
Welcome to Blue Sky all.
Minor etiquette point: when you follow someone it is customary to buy their most recent book.
Reposted by Tufty McTavish
I've been playing assassins creed shadows for most of last 6 months. I need to start looking for the next one. Open to suggestions for similar new games this year.
January 10, 2026 at 6:46 PM
I've been playing assassins creed shadows for most of last 6 months. I need to start looking for the next one. Open to suggestions for similar new games this year.
📖 One of my currently active books has occasional 1-2 footnotes.
Whenever I see these appear it’s a struggle to avoid scanning the page looking for little footnote symbols, so that I know when to branch my reading to the footnote text.
Sometimes my scan absorbs more than I’d like 🫣
📚💙 #BookSky 🦋
Whenever I see these appear it’s a struggle to avoid scanning the page looking for little footnote symbols, so that I know when to branch my reading to the footnote text.
Sometimes my scan absorbs more than I’d like 🫣
📚💙 #BookSky 🦋
January 10, 2026 at 4:29 PM
📖 One of my currently active books has occasional 1-2 footnotes.
Whenever I see these appear it’s a struggle to avoid scanning the page looking for little footnote symbols, so that I know when to branch my reading to the footnote text.
Sometimes my scan absorbs more than I’d like 🫣
📚💙 #BookSky 🦋
Whenever I see these appear it’s a struggle to avoid scanning the page looking for little footnote symbols, so that I know when to branch my reading to the footnote text.
Sometimes my scan absorbs more than I’d like 🫣
📚💙 #BookSky 🦋
When Mr Powell writes his memoir, I will especially look forward to The Bookshop Years, for the tales are numerous and (mostly!) wholesome (I do recall one knob-end customer being mentioned).
🫵🥹🖖
📚💙 #BookSky 🦋
🫵🥹🖖
📚💙 #BookSky 🦋
Sympathies to the young girl who just had to be carried out by her parents, crying because she didn’t want to leave the bookshop.
January 10, 2026 at 3:09 PM
When Mr Powell writes his memoir, I will especially look forward to The Bookshop Years, for the tales are numerous and (mostly!) wholesome (I do recall one knob-end customer being mentioned).
🫵🥹🖖
📚💙 #BookSky 🦋
🫵🥹🖖
📚💙 #BookSky 🦋
Reposted by Tufty McTavish
Sympathies to the young girl who just had to be carried out by her parents, crying because she didn’t want to leave the bookshop.
January 10, 2026 at 2:36 PM
Sympathies to the young girl who just had to be carried out by her parents, crying because she didn’t want to leave the bookshop.
Reposted by Tufty McTavish
Want to keep up to date with SPFBO XI and see all entrants? Then follow our Unofficial SPFBO XI page, where you can view each book by team and categories for Kindle Unlimited, Wide, and Audiobook: www.readindiefantasy.com/spfbo-xi/
We'll update this page as semi-finalists are announced!
We'll update this page as semi-finalists are announced!
January 10, 2026 at 2:51 PM
Want to keep up to date with SPFBO XI and see all entrants? Then follow our Unofficial SPFBO XI page, where you can view each book by team and categories for Kindle Unlimited, Wide, and Audiobook: www.readindiefantasy.com/spfbo-xi/
We'll update this page as semi-finalists are announced!
We'll update this page as semi-finalists are announced!
Reposted by Tufty McTavish
Dutch police in shootout with local kids 😱☃️
January 9, 2026 at 8:25 PM
Dutch police in shootout with local kids 😱☃️
🎬 Found out that #Apollo13 was on ITV towards the end of December. So I downloaded it to watch tonight.
This inspiration miiiiight be related to the book I’m currently reading 👇 which was describing some early disasters as it details the difficulty of the task.
📽️💙 #FilmSky #MovieSky 🍿🎥
This inspiration miiiiight be related to the book I’m currently reading 👇 which was describing some early disasters as it details the difficulty of the task.
📽️💙 #FilmSky #MovieSky 🍿🎥
January 9, 2026 at 7:12 PM
🔊 The one that opens with the 🐟🤴 before getting to our current 🌎 💩-show… 😬
And then @alexvont.bsky.social sticks the landing by serving on a plato 🍽️ 😜😃
🌎 #PoliticsAndAllThat 🗳️ #Podcasts 📻
And then @alexvont.bsky.social sticks the landing by serving on a plato 🍽️ 😜😃
🌎 #PoliticsAndAllThat 🗳️ #Podcasts 📻
🚨 Weekly Wrap Up 🚨
Trump’s first 10 days of 2026 have been anything but quiet.
Venezuela. Greenland. Chaos on the streets of Minnesota.
@jacobjarvis.bsky.social and @alexvont.bsky.social break down a presidency already pushing the limits and more on The Bunker.
Listen: linktr.ee/bunker_pod
Trump’s first 10 days of 2026 have been anything but quiet.
Venezuela. Greenland. Chaos on the streets of Minnesota.
@jacobjarvis.bsky.social and @alexvont.bsky.social break down a presidency already pushing the limits and more on The Bunker.
Listen: linktr.ee/bunker_pod
January 9, 2026 at 1:48 PM
🔊 The one that opens with the 🐟🤴 before getting to our current 🌎 💩-show… 😬
And then @alexvont.bsky.social sticks the landing by serving on a plato 🍽️ 😜😃
🌎 #PoliticsAndAllThat 🗳️ #Podcasts 📻
And then @alexvont.bsky.social sticks the landing by serving on a plato 🍽️ 😜😃
🌎 #PoliticsAndAllThat 🗳️ #Podcasts 📻
Reposted by Tufty McTavish
🔊 The one where @rafaelbehr.bsky.social recs “hobbies that aren’t solitary and doing things with other people,” after listening to a podcast discussion “about the way in which digital environment craters social & civic interactions.”
Oops, guilty 🫣
🇬🇧 #UKPolitics 🌎 #PoliticsAndAllThat 🗳️ #Podcasts 📻
Oops, guilty 🫣
🇬🇧 #UKPolitics 🌎 #PoliticsAndAllThat 🗳️ #Podcasts 📻
January 9, 2026 at 12:02 PM
🔊 The one where @rafaelbehr.bsky.social recs “hobbies that aren’t solitary and doing things with other people,” after listening to a podcast discussion “about the way in which digital environment craters social & civic interactions.”
Oops, guilty 🫣
🇬🇧 #UKPolitics 🌎 #PoliticsAndAllThat 🗳️ #Podcasts 📻
Oops, guilty 🫣
🇬🇧 #UKPolitics 🌎 #PoliticsAndAllThat 🗳️ #Podcasts 📻