Tufty McTavish
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Tufty McTavish
@tuftymctavish.com
780 followers 530 following 9.1K posts
Gamer, Grower, Reader, Rock Star…
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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 🗺️
Two boxed video game collections sat side-by-side on a table. On the left is “The Lost Treasures of Infocom” volume 1, with volume 2 next to it on the right.
tuftymctavish.com
📺 Ooo, I really liked episode 4 of “Blake’s 7” Series B - “Horizon”!

Lots of stuff going on, a single main plot line involving entire crew, and juicy shots of the Liberator.

Avon: “I’m not stupid. I’m not expendable. And I’m not going.” 😆

Again, zero recollection.

📺 #TVShows 🚀 #Blakes7 7️⃣
A scene from “Blake’s 7” episode 2x04, “Horizon” involving Jenna being tortured.
November 25, 2025 at 10:18 PM
tuftymctavish.com
🔖 Finishing one book - Eric Brown’s “Helix” - means I need to handover the bookmark to my next pick.

Unfortunately time constraints mean I need to head off-TBR, as there’s an upcoming fixed deadline for a super-chonky tome I’d planned for December! 😳

📚⚔️ #FantasyBooks 🚀 #SciFiBooks 🪐📚💙 #BookSky 🦋
Two paperback books placed side-by-side on a table with a yellow bookmark between them. On the left is “Helix” by Eric Brown, while “Until the Last” by Mike Shackle is off to the right. The differing thicknesses of the two books is on show with them stood upright on a table back-to-back. “Until the Last” is probably twice the thickness of “Helix”.
November 25, 2025 at 9:18 PM
tuftymctavish.com
🏅 The one with all of the 2025 SciFi books that the GR Choice Awards snubbed.

A look at those nominated and other items of note that didn’t get any love, by @litscialliance.bsky.social.

🚀 #SciFiBooks 🪐📚💙 #BookSky 🦋 #BookTube 📺
35 Sci-fi Releases from 2025 || Goodreads Sci-fi Snubs
YouTube video by Literature Science Alliance
youtu.be
November 25, 2025 at 7:08 PM
tuftymctavish.com
🔊 The one with @nndroid.bsky.social’s pocket full of £50 notes 💷 “Don’t do it!” 😂

”They abuse you for the same reason your dog licks its bollocks, right, because they can. Nothing stops them.”

🌍 #PoliticsAndAllThat 🗳️ #Podcasts 📻
ohgodwhatnow.bsky.social Oh God, What Now? – the politics podcast @ohgodwhatnow.bsky.social · 19h
“Enshittification” is the word of the moment. It’s the reason Google is all ads and Amazon serves you crappy overpriced products. Cory Doctorow, who coined the term, joins @nndroid.bsky.social and @rafaelbehr.bsky.social to discuss how we can combat it ➡️ linktr.ee/ohgodwhatnowpod
November 25, 2025 at 7:04 PM
tuftymctavish.com
📗 Hey, @solarisbooks.bsky.social, you republished Eric Brown’s “Helix” in 2023. Are you planning on reprinting book two, “Helix Wars”?

Just finished 📕, want to continue, 📗 appears widely OOP.

Should I wait for one matching 2023 edition or buy 2nd hand?

LMK!

🚀 #SciFiBooks 🪐📚💙 #BookSky 🦋
A paperback edition of Eric Brown’s “Helix” sat on a table beside a yellow bookmark. Searching for “Helix” on the Solaris Books web-site reveals the newer edition and the older publications.
November 25, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Reposted by Tufty McTavish
harryrose.bsky.social
11 days apart. Brutal.
November 25, 2025 at 11:27 AM
Reposted by Tufty McTavish
thespaceshipper.com
It's ridiculous how @masterreplicas.bsky.social 's secret goal is to make me poor. 😅

"Turn your desk into the bridge of a starship with this extra large desk mat, that's designed to sit under your keyboard and mouse."
Star Trek Desk Mat: U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D Ops Station Star Trek Desk Mat: U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D Ops Station Star Trek Desk Mat: The Original Series Star Trek Desk Mat: The Original Series
November 24, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Reposted by Tufty McTavish
toymachinesh.bsky.social
theriffrepeater.com/rocksmith-ad...

Rocksmith+ adds full Metallica "Reload" album and a new 2025 single from Sabaton, Crossing the Rubicon. Plus 60% off a year subscription and an upcoming free weekend for fans of Sabaton
November 24, 2025 at 7:38 PM
tuftymctavish.com
📚💬 I just got to wondering what the long running series - in terms of number of books - that I’m actively working on might be.

I’m 13 books into Craig Alanson’s “Expeditionary Force” series, and I was today years old when I discovered there’s a 19th book coming.

🚀 #SciFiBooks 🪐📚💙 #BookSky 🦋
All nineteen plus a .5 books from Craig Alanson’s “Expeditionary Force” series, arranged in a 5x4 grid of book covers.
November 24, 2025 at 5:55 PM
tuftymctavish.com
🔊 The one with the flute-whipping 😂 where @rafaelbehr.bsky.social suggests Starmer breaks out his flute. “That sounded like a really terrible, terrible euphemism. Please keep your flute to yourself. Do not whop out your flute in the House of Commons…” 🫵😘

🇬🇧 #UKPolitics 🗳️ #Podcasts 📻
bunkerpod.bsky.social The Bunker podcast – News without the nonsense @bunkerpod.bsky.social · 1d
🚨Start Your Week🚨
It’s a big week for Starmer and Reeves as the Budget looms. How’s it going to go down? @rafaelbehr.bsky.social and @jacobjarvis.bsky.social discuss this and other news to look out for this week.

Spotify 🎧 open.spotify.com/episode/5LIz...

Apple 🍏 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/n...
November 24, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Reposted by Tufty McTavish
helenlohara.bsky.social
Just passed a small kid having a meltdown on the pavement and shouting, "I want to stay in my house" repeatedly, and I think we can all relate to that on a cold November morning.
November 24, 2025 at 8:46 AM
tuftymctavish.com
📺 Just watched episode 3 from “Blake’s 7” Series B “Weapon” and that was all-round rather bizarre 😳

Clones, a self-proclaimed genius, folks that were ‘marked for death’, and quite a lot of flirting between Servalan and Carnell.

And, of course, yet again zero recollection!

📺 #TVShows 🚀 #Blakes7 7️⃣
A scene from “Blake’s 7” Series B Episode 03 “Weapon” featuring Servalan sitting down pointing a futuristic weapon at an unseen adversary in front of her.
November 23, 2025 at 10:01 PM
tuftymctavish.com
📆 End of the weekend so let’s do a weekly reading update! 😊

My reading pace crashed this week as I’ve been busy with other deadlines and jobs. However, I’m mainly reading Eric Brown’s “Helix” while the other active 📚 I pick up intermittently.

📚⚔️ #FantasyBooks 🚀 #SciFiBooks 🪐📚💙 #BookSky 🦋
An image captioned “November TBR” featuring an A4-sized magazine on the left plus four paperback books arranged in 2x2 grid on a table. The books are ordered alphabetically by author surname. Some are have additional speech balloon shaped labels on them to give additional context. “Blake’s 7 Magazine - No.25 Winter 2025: Back to the Beginning” by Cult Edge. “Helix” by Eric Brown. “The Shadow of Arcadia” by Alan K. Dell (labelled “Picked for me” along with “Helix” beside it). “The Fallen” by Ada Hoffmann (labelled “Continuation”). “A Fool’s Hope” by Mike Shackle (labelled “Readalong”). Books are marked with a giant bomb (to indicate ongoing progress) or a bow (to indicate completion). Four books currently being read, at various stages of progress. A graph showing pages read across the last 28 days, dipping sharply about a week ago and only I just starting to rebuild to my more regular pace.
November 23, 2025 at 8:35 PM
tuftymctavish.com
📺 It’s #SpaceOpera innit. And it’s a big one from the @scifiscavenger.bsky.social, clocking in at a wholesome 55minutes 😮

Think I’ll go make my dinner before settling in with a 📝 for all the recs from one of my favourite crevices of the genre 🤓

🚀 #SciFiBooks 🪐📚💙 #BookSky 🦋 #BookTube 📺
scifiscavenger.bsky.social SciFiScavenger @scifiscavenger.bsky.social · 2d
Shh, don't tell anyone, this is my favourite corner of the science fiction cupboard. I take a spin through a whole CENTURY of space opera from the gaudy to the deadly serious. Check it out 👀! 🪐📚💙 #scifibooks #sciencefiction #booktube #spaceopera
youtu.be/oMjIcY4OpRQ
Ultimate guide to the first 100 Years of Space Opera!
YouTube video by SciFiScavenger
youtu.be
November 23, 2025 at 5:42 PM
tuftymctavish.com
🦈 Reading my book while playing some Great White on the 🔊

💿 #NowPlaying 🎶 on 🍎🎵
Sail Away by Great White on Apple Music
Album · 1994 · 17 Songs
music.apple.com
November 23, 2025 at 2:18 PM
tuftymctavish.com
☕️ I’d not really encountered “Stroopwafels” before watching a recent biscuit identification episode of #SortedFood channel on YT.

Then I saw @rainbowofcrazy.bsky.social demonstrate them too!

So I swooped on a packet to try for myself 🤗

I’m not really a tea drinker, but in the name of science… 😊
A square box of “Stroopwafels” on a which kitchen worktop. Opening up the inner packet of “Stroopwafels” to reveal the small tower of biscuits inside. Have positioned one of the Stroopwafels atop a cup of tea.
November 23, 2025 at 1:29 PM
tuftymctavish.com
🎧 The one about OS/2! I remember using that back in the day, ending up on Warp eventually. I liked it a whole bunch.

I missed the “This Week in Outrun News” segment though - I was all ready for it when one segment tune came on 🤗

🎮 #VideoGames 🕹️ #RetroGaming #RetroComputing ⌨️ #Podcasts 📻
thisweekinretro.bsky.social This Week in Retro @thisweekinretro.bsky.social · 3d
It's eXoWin9x launch day and eXo himself is here! youtu.be/bq256GWkJDo
In other news we look at the days of PowerPC and OS/2 hype, the excitement of cruising racetracks in underpowered commuter cars, and your answers to the latest Community Question of the Week.
November 23, 2025 at 1:08 PM
tuftymctavish.com
🗞️ Coming back indoors to check the socials after doing some gardening, I discover that:

🎸 Alissa White-Gluz has departed Arch Enemy 😯
🏎️ McLaren got both cars DQ-ed from the #LasVegasGP 😳
🔫 Apparently we’re relitigating the JKF shooter?! 🙄

And that’s all I’ve found so far…

Blimey.
November 23, 2025 at 12:58 PM
tuftymctavish.com
🥬 Now that I’ve cleared down all of the 🌶️ and 🫑 plants I’ve been out planting up the Greenhouse and Chilli House with lots and lots of overwintering Lettuce and Pak-Choi.

A few should make it through 🤞

👨‍🌾 #Gardening #VegetableGrowing #GrowYourOwn 🌱
November 23, 2025 at 12:54 PM
tuftymctavish.com
🧩 Very much enjoying the relaxed puzzle platforming of “Planet of Lana”.

I discovered a wrecked spaceship, and one of the portraits on a wall stopped me in my tracks because I thought it was Tali from #MassEffect!

🎮 #VideoGames 🕹️
A scene looking across a lake in “Planet of Lana”. An underground scene in “Planet of Lana”. A map of a spacecraft in “Planet of Lana”. A series of portraits on the wall, and the last reminded me of another game’s character.
November 22, 2025 at 9:07 PM
tuftymctavish.com
Post a perfect album.
Album cover art for Queensrÿche’s 1998 “Operation: Mindcrime”
November 22, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Reposted by Tufty McTavish
ottocr.at
Any #WheelOfTime #WOT book readers on here? I’ve been reading my way through them for the first time and I’m nearing the end. Is it just me or is Sanderson much better as a writer than Jordan? Wish he had written them all tbqh
the wheel weaves as the wheel wills is written above a woman
ALT: the wheel weaves as the wheel wills is written above a woman
media.tenor.com
November 22, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Reposted by Tufty McTavish
worldbollardassoc.bsky.social
Postbox bollards outside the Post Office. Absolutely delightful.
#WorldBollardAssociation 📮
A row of postbox painted bollards in front of a post office.
November 22, 2025 at 1:00 PM
tuftymctavish.com
📺 Blimey! Episode 2 of “Blake’s 7” Series B “Shadow” was a banger!

So much going on, everybody gets a serious chunk of stuff to do, twists and turns, unexpected reveals 👏🥳

Complex stuff. And I have, as usual, I remember nothing. Like I’ve never seeing this before 😳

📺 #TVShows 🚀 #Blakes7 7️⃣
A scene from “Blake’s 7” Series B Episode 2 “Shadow”, featuring the crew on the flight deck of Liberator.
November 21, 2025 at 10:09 PM
tuftymctavish.com
🌶️ Since I have a fridge absolutely rammed to the door with tubs full of Chilli pods, I’ve spun up the dehydrator for round 2.

This time I’ve filled all five levels with two varieties of pods, chunky “CC Habanero Fire” + green “CC Piri Piri”.

👨‍🌾 #Gardening #VegetableGrowing #GrowYourOwn 🌶️🌱
A round dehydrator with a white-based unit, sat on a white kitchen worktop with all five trays stacked on top. The top level has the smaller “CC Piri Piri” pods that were still green when I harvest the last of the plants. The lower two levels of the dehydrator trays have the “CC Habanero Fire” pods, which I’ve sliced in half so they fit (just!). The top three levels are filled with small “CC Piri Piri” pods. These are all green and unripe, but as I was end-of-lifeing the plants I decided to take them anyway, and just see what happens when I dry them out.
November 21, 2025 at 4:39 PM