Terry Boon
@terryboon.bsky.social
Games & stories; maths & language; technology & risk; and thoughtful politics & law. Living in London, UK.
Views my own, not representative of employer or anyone else, & reposts and follows are not endorsements.
Also on Mastodon: @terryboon@hachyderm.io
Views my own, not representative of employer or anyone else, & reposts and follows are not endorsements.
Also on Mastodon: @terryboon@hachyderm.io
Reposted by Terry Boon
The second rule of math club is we index lists by prime numbers
December 13, 2024 at 12:58 AM
The second rule of math club is we index lists by prime numbers
Reposted by Terry Boon
Rule 57 is an unfortunate error and should be disregarded
October 27, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Rule 57 is an unfortunate error and should be disregarded
Liked "Color Engineering" at www.chartography.net/p/color-engi... by @infowetrust.com. I'd long known about the hue-saturation-lightness (HSV) model. But this post took me further in applying it for *collections* of colours: analysing the palette of a design, or choosing effective combination onself
Color Engineering
The tool that snaps mercurial design into mechanical focus.
www.chartography.net
October 4, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Liked "Color Engineering" at www.chartography.net/p/color-engi... by @infowetrust.com. I'd long known about the hue-saturation-lightness (HSV) model. But this post took me further in applying it for *collections* of colours: analysing the palette of a design, or choosing effective combination onself
Reposted by Terry Boon
on.ft.com/46M9mXI Why designers abandoned their dreams of changing the world. Free to Read.
Why designers abandoned their dreams of changing the world
Design was once seen as a tool to improve lives — but as modernism has become marketing, that sense of social purpose has drifted away
on.ft.com
October 4, 2025 at 12:41 PM
on.ft.com/46M9mXI Why designers abandoned their dreams of changing the world. Free to Read.
Reposted by Terry Boon
Does economics use too much maths - or the wrong kind of maths? on.ft.com/3IqOgGb
The wrong kind of maths
[FREE TO READ] Why the mathematics used in economics for decades needs a rethink
on.ft.com
September 25, 2025 at 6:39 AM
Does economics use too much maths - or the wrong kind of maths? on.ft.com/3IqOgGb
Reposted by Terry Boon
A lovely essay by RJ Andrews on lucidity vs luminosity in information design: www.chartography.net/p/clarity-un...
Clarity Unbound
Restoring Radiance to Information Design
www.chartography.net
September 21, 2025 at 8:54 PM
A lovely essay by RJ Andrews on lucidity vs luminosity in information design: www.chartography.net/p/clarity-un...
New "Eclectic Stacks" blog post: Getting a Rubik's Cube again after 40 years, I look at how I solved it then (with trusty copy of "You Can Do The Cube" at my side) and the approaches available nowadays - for beginners, speedcubers, and omniscient entities. www.eclecticstacks.com/post/revisit...
I Can (Still) Do The Cube: revisiting Rubik's classic puzzle
When I was a child in the 1980s, I had a Rubik’s Cube and a copy of Patrick Bossert’s book “You Can Do The Cube” - and carefully following the instructions, it indeed turned out that I could.
So when ...
www.eclecticstacks.com
September 15, 2025 at 7:54 PM
New "Eclectic Stacks" blog post: Getting a Rubik's Cube again after 40 years, I look at how I solved it then (with trusty copy of "You Can Do The Cube" at my side) and the approaches available nowadays - for beginners, speedcubers, and omniscient entities. www.eclecticstacks.com/post/revisit...
Reposted by Terry Boon
NEW: Are migrants more likely to commit crimes than non-migrants?
Here’s what the data does and doesn’t show.
1/8 @thetimes.com
www.thetimes.com/article/72b6...
Here’s what the data does and doesn’t show.
1/8 @thetimes.com
www.thetimes.com/article/72b6...
August 17, 2025 at 9:39 AM
NEW: Are migrants more likely to commit crimes than non-migrants?
Here’s what the data does and doesn’t show.
1/8 @thetimes.com
www.thetimes.com/article/72b6...
Here’s what the data does and doesn’t show.
1/8 @thetimes.com
www.thetimes.com/article/72b6...
Reposted by Terry Boon
they should be taken to The Hague for this graph crime
August 7, 2025 at 6:31 PM
they should be taken to The Hague for this graph crime
Reposted by Terry Boon
I think Tesco and M&S are doing everything in their power to break the person in HMRC who decides which food should incur VAT.
August 5, 2025 at 10:47 AM
I think Tesco and M&S are doing everything in their power to break the person in HMRC who decides which food should incur VAT.
Reposted by Terry Boon
With Tom Lehrer's passing, I suppose this is a moment to share the story of the prank he played on the National Security Agency, and how it went undiscovered for nearly 60 years.
July 27, 2025 at 9:01 PM
With Tom Lehrer's passing, I suppose this is a moment to share the story of the prank he played on the National Security Agency, and how it went undiscovered for nearly 60 years.
How a mixed strategy in a game (adding randomness to your choices) can beat a deterministic one, from @kityates.bsky.social: open.substack.com/pub/kityates...
(I'd pondered similar "Traitors" strategy of random murders to stop the choice of victim giving any hints, but that's not usually the issue!)
(I'd pondered similar "Traitors" strategy of random murders to stop the choice of victim giving any hints, but that's not usually the issue!)
Mixing it up
Can maths help you to do better in a penalty shoot-out? England's Lucy Bronze certainly thinks so.
open.substack.com
July 25, 2025 at 4:28 PM
How a mixed strategy in a game (adding randomness to your choices) can beat a deterministic one, from @kityates.bsky.social: open.substack.com/pub/kityates...
(I'd pondered similar "Traitors" strategy of random murders to stop the choice of victim giving any hints, but that's not usually the issue!)
(I'd pondered similar "Traitors" strategy of random murders to stop the choice of victim giving any hints, but that's not usually the issue!)
Enjoying John Caird's "Theatre Craft", a hefty A-Z on working as a director. I don't expect to be directing a play (or doing any more than sitting in a theatre watching one!), but liking the insights on how it all works, run through with entertaining anecdotes and dry humour. #theatre #books
July 24, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Reposted by Terry Boon
An AI slop factory apparently tried to rewrite our article about AI not replacing workers en masse, but hit the paywall... so just summarised the paywall. If this is the robot that takes my job I'll be v embarrassed
July 24, 2025 at 5:46 PM
An AI slop factory apparently tried to rewrite our article about AI not replacing workers en masse, but hit the paywall... so just summarised the paywall. If this is the robot that takes my job I'll be v embarrassed
Reposted by Terry Boon
Happy Spoonerism Day to all those who belly crate.
July 22, 2025 at 7:50 AM
Happy Spoonerism Day to all those who belly crate.
The sound of (well-played) trumpet practice drifted from a neighbour's windows this roastingly hot afternoon, and I was happy to recognise theme from classic BBC 1980s "Miss Marple" with Joan Hickson and music, the Internet tells me, by Alan Blaikley and Ken Howard. m.youtube.com/watch?v=Knll...
Miss Marple Joan Hickson Opening and Ending (OP / ED) in 1080p (1440x1080)
YouTube video by Jordan Baker
m.youtube.com
July 11, 2025 at 8:50 PM
The sound of (well-played) trumpet practice drifted from a neighbour's windows this roastingly hot afternoon, and I was happy to recognise theme from classic BBC 1980s "Miss Marple" with Joan Hickson and music, the Internet tells me, by Alan Blaikley and Ken Howard. m.youtube.com/watch?v=Knll...
Reposted by Terry Boon
On creating a #TextAdventure: discussion of breadth (many locations/objects but generically implemented vs smaller scope with more detail and interaction), technical challenges in writing a modern game, and a programmer's thoughts on the #Inform7 game engine: entropicthoughts.com/lessons-from...
Lessons From Creating My First Text Adventure
entropicthoughts.com
July 6, 2025 at 9:43 PM
On creating a #TextAdventure: discussion of breadth (many locations/objects but generically implemented vs smaller scope with more detail and interaction), technical challenges in writing a modern game, and a programmer's thoughts on the #Inform7 game engine: entropicthoughts.com/lessons-from...
Reposted by Terry Boon
If you reverse image search this with Google, the AI will tell you this is highlighting a "controversial past tweet" from Mamdani. It calls "his" tweet highly insensitive and says it trivializes what happens that day.
June 29, 2025 at 1:25 AM
If you reverse image search this with Google, the AI will tell you this is highlighting a "controversial past tweet" from Mamdani. It calls "his" tweet highly insensitive and says it trivializes what happens that day.
Reposted by Terry Boon
Why did it take so long for British bathroom design to realise that the single tap, which both hot and cold water flows through, was the best design? (Yes, this is a grumble that my old bathroom had a joint tap and here, our c2002-5 bathroom does not)
June 27, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Why did it take so long for British bathroom design to realise that the single tap, which both hot and cold water flows through, was the best design? (Yes, this is a grumble that my old bathroom had a joint tap and here, our c2002-5 bathroom does not)
Reposted by Terry Boon
English People Encounter Pizza for the First Time
🧵
🧵
June 21, 2025 at 6:43 PM
English People Encounter Pizza for the First Time
🧵
🧵
Reposted by Terry Boon
I was pleased to be able to include one of my favourite bits of very telling poll trivia.
June 9, 2025 at 6:01 PM
I was pleased to be able to include one of my favourite bits of very telling poll trivia.
Reposted by Terry Boon
Just been a very fascinating labor market story over the last 25 years around computer programming:
1) Dotcom bust and trend towards outsourcing craters job markets for programmers in 2001
2) Pipeline of college grads in computer science starts drying up as no entry level jobs are available...
1) Dotcom bust and trend towards outsourcing craters job markets for programmers in 2001
2) Pipeline of college grads in computer science starts drying up as no entry level jobs are available...
"Learn to Code" Backfires Spectacularly as Comp-Sci Majors Suddenly Have Sky-High Unemployment
It looks like the "learn to code" push is backfiring spectacularly for those who majored in computer science in college.
futurism.com
June 7, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Just been a very fascinating labor market story over the last 25 years around computer programming:
1) Dotcom bust and trend towards outsourcing craters job markets for programmers in 2001
2) Pipeline of college grads in computer science starts drying up as no entry level jobs are available...
1) Dotcom bust and trend towards outsourcing craters job markets for programmers in 2001
2) Pipeline of college grads in computer science starts drying up as no entry level jobs are available...
I had #Boggle in the 1980s: the game of shaking lettered dice into a 4x4 grid & making words from adjacent letters. Sometimes the grid was "nice", other times not! Now @danvdk.bsky.social proves, with neat explanation, the grid with 1045 words & the best possible score: www.danvk.org/2025/04/23/b...
After 20 Years, the Globally Optimal Boggle Board
www.danvk.org
May 25, 2025 at 8:27 AM
I had #Boggle in the 1980s: the game of shaking lettered dice into a 4x4 grid & making words from adjacent letters. Sometimes the grid was "nice", other times not! Now @danvdk.bsky.social proves, with neat explanation, the grid with 1045 words & the best possible score: www.danvk.org/2025/04/23/b...