This is magnificent.

Morning Champions, and welcome to another week!

What's floating your boat right now?

For me, having spent a massive chunk of yesterday sat in the sunshine in the garden playing No Man's Sky, I'm rocking the 65daysofstatic soundtrack.

I've been a huge fan of this band for a good number of years now, but kinda missed this when it came along, because I wasn't then able to play the game for whatever reason. There was a part of my brain that told me that there was no point listening, as I'd be missing much of the context, which turns out to be a load of bollocks. It's a great record on its own terms.

Three years ago my wife and I got three pet rats. A little over a year later, we added two more, and for a brief moment had a lovely little mischief of five happy boys.

Then we lost one of the new babies in a freak accident after he got injured during a scrap, then, a few months after that, the first of the original trio left us, and so on, and so on, until today, when the last of the new babies, who was now just over two, passed away.

And as much as I try to focus on the happy times, watching them boing about on the sofa, or stealing snacks from us, or just snuggling inside the hood of my jumper and falling asleep, it’s really hard to reconcile that with their short little lives.

We recently adopted a pair of 6yo cats, and while they could feasibly spend the next 10/15 years with us, there’s always that nagging doubt that they’ll suddenly develop an incurable illness, and we’ll lose them too soon.

But that’s all kinda worth it when they’re asleep on your lap, purring away. Or in the case of the ratties, boggling and bruxing.

Sorry if this is a bit maudlin; I’ve just buried Wilbur in the garden, and I miss my little toast-stealing friend.

Thought I'd see if there were any likeminded individuals around.

This is three of my small collection that I have with me at work. The 4G Classic (left) is modded with 64gb, the Mini is 128gb, and the 7G Classic is currently in need of storage and battery. My plan for that one is to give it 512gb and as big a battery as I can squeeze in there.

Had a hankering to listen to this yesterday, and have probably spun it a dozen times since then. It's an utter, utter belter.

As per the title, I downloaded this game, have added it to my Gatekeeper exemption and disabled SIP and all that, and even though it's added to Steam as a non-Steam game, all I get when it loads is a message saying "Steam not found, please start through Steam client".

Does anyone have any ideas?

I loved the first season because I'm a huge fan of Pratchett and Gaiman, so was a little nervous that the next series, with no source material to adapt wouldn't hit the mark. But then I saw that Neil had asked John Finnemore to help him write it, and that sealed it for me. No one could replace Terry, but John Finnemore comes damn close.

Anyway, season 2 is wonderful, with some beautiful little references to Pratchett's Discworld. Also, I'd gladly watch Sheen and Tennant together in anything.

Any day when I don't have to use my AK is a good day.

Morning Champions!

Here's our weekly music thread. What are you obsessing over this week? What's new on your horizon?

Drop some links and share the love.

Easing myself gently into a Monday morning at work by listening to this absolute belter.

Like, the only reason countries exist is because some rich guys decided that they ruled this chunk of land, and everyone else just kinda said "Yeah, whatever, I don't really give a shit, just let me farm and leave me the fuck alone".

Then the rich guy on the next bit of land said "I want a bit of what he's got going on", and before we knew it, all the bits of land were ruled by people who's only claim to them was that they were the first to have the idea.

Fast forward a few thousand years, and some of the bits of land are ruled by people who wear gold hats and spout a load of bollocks about divine right, while some of the bits of land are ruled by people who convinced the rest of the people to let them do it, and really, there's no difference between, like, France and Spain, but some old dudes drew a line and said "Nah, that bit speaks this version of a language, and that bit speaks another version of it".

You ever think about that?

If you're in the UK, this might strike a chord once again, but it's always worth bearing in mind.