I Have Some Very Strong And Correct And Nonarbitrary Opinions About Dice.

I have some very strong and correct and nonarbitrary opinions about dice.

First of all, d10s. They don't belong in dice sets. They're fine in systems that utilize them in dice pools (Storyteller) and systems that utilize them for the awesome d100 (BRP, Rolemaster, WFRP) but they should not be a part of the set of polyhedrons from d4 to d20. Why? Because all the other dice in that set are Platonic solids and the d10 isn't. I can't even be bothered to Google what shape a d10 is but it ain't Platonic. This die fucks.

Anyway the set consisting of d4, d6, d8, d12 and d20 are the full set of Platonic solids. The set is also fun in the sense that it contains its own dual polyhedra. The dodecahedron (d12) is the dual of the icosahedron (d20) because the dodecahedron has three pentagons meeting at each vertex while an icosahedron has five triangles meeting at each vertex. The cube (d6) and octahedron (d8) are each other's duals: on the cube you have three squares meeting at each vertex and on the octahedron it's four triangles at each vertex. The tetrahedron (d4) is its own self-dual since it has three triangles meeting at each vertex.

Anyway so the d10 doesn't belong with those five although in certain contexts it can hang. But speaking of d10, while I have a soft spot for the d100 (done through rolling two d10 and reading one of them as the ones digit and the other as the tens digit) the most beautiful arrangement of numbers can be achieved on a 2d10. Look at this shit!

It's the way the probability of getting a result of 2 is 1%, the probability of getting a 3 is 2%, and so on all the way until you get to a 10% chance of getting an 11, after which it starts going down again, until you get to a 1% chance of getting a 20. That's fucking beautiful. It's enough to make you believe that there's some design behind all these numbers. More than that, it's enough to make you realize that this Plato guy was full of shit. His nice set of solids? Yeah they're pretty good. But can they do this? Probably. But not as nicely as this beautiful ten-sided freak.

Anyway, so that's a bunch of really normal opinions to have about dice and surely not a sign of some weird thought processes going on because of my neurons and syndromes.

Today's random portfolio artwork is a life-size model of a small Arthropleura (40cm long – they grew to 250cm long), which I built for MUSE – the Science Museum of Trento, in 2014.

dear audio diary - yes i am recording this while making unbroken eye contact with utahraptor.  not QUITE sure what’s going on here, audio diary, but i’m gonna chase it

fun USA 🇺🇸 fact: the flag’s design was based on the colors of this beautiful jumping spider! Habronattus americanus pair, coastal WA.

July 4th is a holiday dedicated to appreciating this tiny arachnid, with people setting off fireworks in emulation of its iridescence and graceful movement.

take some time to notice your vision. see how easily you detect motion. focus on something in your peripheral (without moving your eyes to it). see how it works. look at your hands. pick something up with your fingers. appreciate how ridiculously specialized they are in fine motor skills (even if your personal motor skills are lackluster). think about how you have a body built to be an apex predator through use of tools. think about how the brain of your kind has created a digital hivemind uniting the whole world. now look back at the screen.  look at the tab where you are in an argument about cartoons on tumblr. close the tab. open a new tab. google “tribute to anomalocaris”. watch the video that comes up. leave a like. subscribe even though the channel has been inactive for 8 years. you will need it in the coming times

Characters being compared to dogs always use terriers or pitbulls or something for their metaphors. “They grab on and they don’t let go” “They keep worrying at it until it’s dead” etc.

Anyway, I want to see collies used as metaphors. Albert Payson Terhune style. “He was like an attack dog–making slash-and-run attacks, cutting them up worse every time, never staying in range long enough to get hurt but circling back over and over.”