About
Dalliance.net is Pre’s homepage, index of his projects, updates on his blog. That sort of thing. You can subscribe in various ways.
Projects
Blog
My blog, mostly monthly summaries of the Fediverse Account.
Visit at dalliance.net/blog
Or check out the categories index
Starship Schrödinger’s Destiny
Ongoing: An Interactive Sci-Fi story for Virtual Reality about the adventures of the crew of a flying saucer.
Visit at starshipsd.com
Wordcloud Tarot
Ongoing: My tarot decks have the meanings of the cards written on the card in a world-cloud. There’s also a video show with a reading about politics most weeks.
Visit at wordcloudtarot.com
Tentacles, After The End
A 30 minute animated movie about the last woman alive on a planet ravaged by tentacle monsters from outer space.
Tentacles is complete, visit the archive at tentacles.org.uk
Book: Do Dream Sheep Bleat?
A short story book about magic and memes and reality.
Dreamsheep is complete, you can buy a copy or read it online at dalliance.net/dreamsheep
Book: Yes, The Conspiracy Really Exists, And Furthermore It’s All Your Fault.
A long rant about how stupid humans screw up humanity.
The book is complete, you can buy a copy or read it online at dalliance.net/yes
Loopy
After the band broke up, I took to playing with myself via a loop pedal. Sometimes, very rarely, even in public.
Bookshelf
An album of songs inspired by some of the best books on my bookshelf.
The album is complete, you can listen to the songs at dalliance.net/bookshelf
Handsome Jack’s Showband
My punk cover’s band.
Despite some online-only gigs, the band didn’t make it though the pandemic, you can watch some old gig videos online at handsomejacks.co.uk
Joust Adventure
A little web-game I made back in 2011 with the hope people might pay me to make level 2.
I don’t think anyone ever finished level 1. Too hard.
Can you do it?
The project is abandoned, you can still play level one at dalliance.net/joustadventure. So far as I know, I’m the only person to ever complete the level. Let me know if you do!
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Diary
My diary from the Fediverse.Status at - Thu, 13 Nov 2025 23:03:58 +0000
Been playing with what kind of image to use in the fake window. Some beachy sunset as though looking out from a beach bar?
Maybe that's too lazy just based on the window blind I made a couple of years back. Will I sleep paranoid I'm being watched by Krux?
Status at - Thu, 13 Nov 2025 19:03:11 +0000
Content warning:AI Bubble? Projection graph.
So everyone's wondering if there's a financial crisis coming from the popping of the dotcom bubble.
Here's a little chart of those events, projected as though repeated from last week's stock market top.
You'd be looking at 25 to 50 percent drop over a year or three, taking S&P index down to four to five thousand or so over 2026, since that's what they were.
I think it's at least 30% likely to play out roughly like that, and am positioned such that I'm happy either way.
Status at - Thu, 13 Nov 2025 16:29:47 +0000
Three drawers is the number of drawers that can be done in a day apparently. Leaving the two hardest ones (too small to operate inside the box and hang the rails I guess?)
Carpenter is very much looking forward to not having to drive to North London every day so don't think we'll get more than just tomorrow out of him.
Drawers work well though, feeling more solid than the flatpack half-cardboard Ikea/Argos stuff I'm more used to.
Status at - Thu, 13 Nov 2025 11:06:43 +0000
Valve are launching a new controller and a new gaming computer and a new VR headset early next year.
My main question is, don't people release these things in time for Christmas any more? Maybe it's running late.
Kinda need a media PC for the new bedroom in December. Do I want to wait until early next year? Grr. Needs to run two monitors and a projector really too, which may be tricky for a machine with only two video ports.
A VR headset that isn't owned by Facebook will be a blessed relief. Designed to run on Linux? Amazing. Hope it's brilliant.
Don't think I have much use for the controller though. Only really play games in VR these days.
Looks great! Three months too late!
Status at - Wed, 12 Nov 2025 20:54:28 +0000
Carpenter called away to an emergency leak elsewhere today. Trouble with having a carpenter who is also a plumber I guess. 😆
The frames for the window doors look to be mostly completed, the doors that will make the blinds are up (though probably presumably will come down again to have mirrors attached? Maybe?). Lots of holes in wood filled. Stupid natural products. MDF don't have no holes, or grain at all.
Trying to render an image big enough to fill the wall there. 2m x 1m. Keeps crashing my machine. Going to have to try and render it in bits or something.
Status at - Mon, 10 Nov 2025 17:52:24 +0000
I think today's worker is the owner of the company, he certainly is the assessor.
He worked a lot later than those without the vested interest there. 😆 I finished work at my job before he did! 🤭
All the wood was sanded down and remaining nude wood given some paint. We have a test plank in the foreground of the first picture here which is painted with a second coat of paint. Seems likely we lose all the wood grain when doing that, and so will prefer the paler look where it's obviously made of wood not paint.
Won't really know for sure till it's dry. Prefer the colour a bit darker like that but if we're hiding the wood grain we might as well have used MDF instead of pine. We're after something clearly made of wood.
Another area is test-painted with just the clearcoat top varnish as a second layer. That's likely to be right, just a bit more shiny and protected.
The carpenter proper is back from holiday and starts tomorrow. He has a lot of drawers and doors to build and edging to attach to make the door panels. Still hoping at least the carpentry will be pretty much all done by the end of the week but likely some painting and touching up still to do next week. Hopefully by the end of Tuesday because I'm not really able to be here all day each day for most of the two weeks after that.
Status at - Sun, 09 Nov 2025 23:27:41 +0000
Glad to hear the Director of the BBC is resigning in disgrace at their utter failure to ensure a 2026 series of Doctor Who. Any DG that can't even arrange for ten episodes of Doctor Who is clearly incompetent and unsuited to the...
Wait? It was nothing to do with Doctor Who? It was about Political Bias?
They think he was too left wing?
Hahhhahaa. Hahhaa. 🤣 😆
Too left wing.
😆
Stop it, you're killing me.
🤣
Status at - Fri, 07 Nov 2025 15:31:36 +0000
So much painting gone on here that we're out of paint. Apparently the paint is usually watery and is eaten up by the wood like a hungry teen eats cheese.
More paint should hopefully be arriving over the weekend or on Monday.
Looking good. Would have definitely tried to pick a lighter colour for the walls if I'd known what the wood would end up like though.
More to be done on Monday before the master carpenter gets back on Tuesday.
Status at - Fri, 07 Nov 2025 10:53:28 +0000
This month's newsletter is on the way to all the diligent hard working people who asked for it and deserve a trillion dollar pay package.
The rest of you slackers will have to read it here:
https://dalliance.net/blog/oct25/Containing updates on wrist health and bedroom builds and some ranting about AI.
Frankly October has been pretty meh, just waiting on builders to do their thing.
Status at - Fri, 07 Nov 2025 09:38:39 +0000
Physio signed me off since I told her that the wrist is more or less back to normal now.
She still wants me to keep doing the exercises for some undefined amount of time. Will into the new year be enough? Dunno. Will do that at least.
Need to get more exercise in general once this bedroom is finished building and I get the flat back to myself most days. Will have the fabled Tredmil Desk in the bedroom then so that'll help.
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Bookmarks
Things I have bookmarked lately.Steam Hardware Announcement - YouTube - Wed, 12 Nov 2025 23:43:59 +0000
Valve are going to do a new controller and a gaming PC and a VR headset. Looks great.
The Physics Of Dissonance - YouTube - Sun, 02 Nov 2025 15:32:09 +0000
Half an hour from "minute" physics on the harmonics of overtones and why they are dissonant or resonant and why the physics of string instruments with their integer overtones imply the western scale.
Simulating The Strange Way Life (Likely) Emerged - YouTube - Sat, 01 Nov 2025 12:13:42 +0000
Veritasium on Evolution. Using simulations to show that genes are the basic unit of selection and explain some counter-intuitive facts about how evolution works.
Why Today’s Humanoids Won’t Learn Dexterity – Rodney Brooks - Fri, 24 Oct 2025 10:15:21 +0000
"If it is the case for the big successes it is likely also the case for
learning dexterity by brute force. If any one or any group is to succeed
they will likely have to collect the both the right data, and learn the right thing. Most of the projects to teach humanoids dexterity are doing neither of these things."
Are we living in a golden age of stupidity? | Artificial intelligence (AI) | The Guardian - Sun, 19 Oct 2025 13:15:32 +0000
"The fundamental issue,
Kosmyna says, is that as soon as a technology becomes available that
makes our lives easier, we’re evolutionarily primed to use it. “Our
brains love shortcuts, it’s in our nature. But your brain needs friction
to learn. It needs to have a challenge.”"
New Work by Gary Larson | TheFarSide.com - Sat, 18 Oct 2025 09:00:29 +0000
Gary Larson bought a graphics tablet and found drawing fun again, so we get some new stuff: "The “New Stuff” that you’ll see here is the result of my journey into
the world of digital art. Believe me, this has been a bit of a learning
curve for me. I hail from a world of pen and ink, and suddenly I was
feeling like I was sitting at the controls of a 747. (True, I don’t get
out much.) But as overwhelmed as I was, there was still something
familiar there—a sense of adventure. That had always been at the core of
what I enjoyed most when I was drawing The Far Side, that
sense of exploring, reaching for something, taking some risks, sometimes
hitting a home run and sometimes coming up with “Cow tools.” (Let’s not
get into that.) But as a jazz teacher once said to me about
improvisation, “You want to try and take people somewhere where they
might not have been before.” I think that my approach to cartooning was
similar—I’m just not sure if even I knew where I was going. But I…
‘Sixth-Form Politics’ – The Propaganda Blitz Awaiting Green Party Leader Zack Polanski – Media Lens - Fri, 10 Oct 2025 12:38:57 +0000
Media Lens on the propaganda blitz Polanski will face: "As with Corbyn in 2015, the fevered ranting from the extreme
right-wing press will be accompanied by initially muted criticism from
the extreme centre, at the far end of the truncated media ‘spectrum’.
Also as we saw with Corbyn, to the extent that Polanski offers genuine
hope of change, the response from the Guardian, Observer, BBC,
Independent and others will rise in pitch until the threat to ‘adult’
genocidal and biocidal politics is removed."
AI Slop Is Killing Our Channel - YouTube - Tue, 07 Oct 2025 14:40:18 +0000
Kurzgesagt's video on how AI is hurting the internet and artists with its creative theft and confident lies.
How Labour Sold Their Souls To Billionaires | Gary Stevenson | Zack Polanski - YouTube - Wed, 01 Oct 2025 22:40:56 +0000
Gary Stephenson talks to Green-Party-UK leader Zack Polanski on Zack's podcast. He thinks we should look at economics like a car mechanic, no wait, like a medical system. They congratulate each other a lot and chat about Gary's one topic focus, inequality. Gary doesn't want to reduce inequality he says, just stop it getting worse!
Pluralistic: The real (economic) AI apocalypse is nigh (27 Sep 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow - Sun, 28 Sep 2025 10:13:59 +0000
Bain & Co says that the only way to make today's AI investments profitable is for the sector to bring in $2 trillion by 2030 (the Journal notes that this is more than the combined revenue of Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Apple Nvidia and Meta):