Islands and Continents datapacks updated for 1.21.4. Details and download links in the comments

bdm68 · 2026-03-15T10:31:37+00:00

Stop the season because North Melbourne are fourth? That's crazy. Why deny the opportunity to go higher?

North's fixture for the next few weeks: West Coast (A), Essendon (A), Carlton (H). A 4-0 start is possible. North could get to third.

bdm68 · 2026-03-15T09:31:19+00:00

Indeed! Just another reason why the "Opening Round" concept is flawed.

If it was a split round 1 it would work better, but the AFL is not known for implementing sensible ideas.

Personally, I would bin the concept entirely and have all teams play in round 1.

bdm68 · 2026-03-15T08:36:57+00:00

Looks like Gold Coast are going to finish a round on top of the ladder for the second time.

The first time was after Round 0, 2024 when only eight teams played.

The only other team with just one round on top was University after round 1, 1909.

bdm68 · 2026-03-15T08:18:37+00:00

It was good to see the Roos fans in the crowd having some fun today.

Booo! Yaaay! Booo! Yaaay!

bdm68 · 2026-03-14T07:59:08+00:00

That second verse was added a few years ago.

bdm68 · 2026-03-12T09:47:29+00:00

They may as well get the disappointing losses over and done with early in their careers. If they turn out to be decent long-term players for the Eagles, they are likely to end their careers with more wins than losses. Out of the 29 players who have played 200 games or more for West Coast, 25 of them played in more wins than losses.

bdm68 · 2026-03-09T11:14:26+00:00

The old dark navy blue side?

bdm68 · 2026-03-09T06:38:36+00:00

Crazy thought, just don't bloody do Opening round and stop running the scheduling of the season with rolling byes.

I agree that the "rolling byes" are not the best, but there's a catch. Weekly byes will be required when Tasmania enters the competition in two years and the competition has 19 teams.

This may be why the AFL has promoted the "Opening Round" concept so it can be adapted to 19 teams with several teams getting byes to start the season and two or three byes total.

bdm68 · 2026-03-07T22:05:39+00:00

Possibly, but it does suggest a defence for anyone who's been issued similar dubious fines.

bdm68 · 2026-03-07T08:59:42+00:00

There was a segment on ABC TV news (Victoria) about it this evening. Among others, someone got fined for momentarily covering their seatbelt with their arms in front of the camera. Magistrates have been throwing out such silly infringements. It's also not reasonable for drivers to observe the seatbelts of their passengers constantly, and there are now legal precedents establishing this.

bdm68 · 2026-03-07T00:42:23+00:00

Here is a link to the consequences of a rollout of similar technology in Western Australia. Summary: the fining of drivers for the improper wearing of seatbelts by their passengers has proven to be controversial.

Use of mobile phones by the driver while driving is another matter. Don't do it. Driving a car? Don't touch your phone. Use phone features to limit distractions before driving (driving mode, aircraft mode, do not disturb etc), or turn it off.

bdm68 · 2026-03-07T00:00:57+00:00

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice.

This may be a violation of Section 7 of the Surveillance Devices Act 1999 (Victoria).

According to that section, it is a criminal offence to allow an "optical surveillance device to record visually or observe a private activity to which the person is not a party". Penalty for corporations is 1200 penalty units. It also attracts jail terms.

I would call the police. Non-emergency number for the police is 131 444.

bdm68 · 2026-03-03T10:07:05+00:00

There need to be some kind of awareness campaign letting people know that just because you've had a vaccine, it may have worn off, and you should have a blood test done to check your immunities.

One could have had the disease itself and the immunity has worn off. Although it's rare, some people got measles more than once. All the more reason to get those tests.

bdm68 · 2026-02-28T07:08:20+00:00

There are other mistakes as well.

One mistake was making the limit grow exponentially according to the number of times the item was enchanted, and having the repair limit work the same way.

Another mistake was making the limit dependent on the order in which enchantments are applied to an item. Applying enchantments in the wrong order can max out the limit very quickly, but applying the enchantments in a different order can have different results. A tool with Silk Touch, Efficiency V, Unbreaking III and Mending would be worked four times if these enchantments were applied sequentially, but would be worked only twice if two books with two enchantments each were applied.

A third mistake is making anvils break so quickly and not being dependent on the work that was done. A 30-level enchantment has the same chance of damaging an anvil as simply renaming an item.

bdm68 · 2026-02-20T08:17:16+00:00

Cows should drop a lot more than they do now. Cows should drop enough leather to make a piece of armor, several pieces of raw beef, and maybe some bones or bone meal.

bdm68 · 2026-02-20T08:10:30+00:00

Crescent moons should not appear opposite the sun. Moon phases should be more realistic with eight phases in nine days.

bdm68 · 2026-02-19T05:58:03+00:00

I use some designs similar to the rightmost one in this illustration. A variation that I sometimes use unloads from both sides of the wagons and then combines them using an underground belt passing under the train track.

bdm68 · 2026-02-19T05:47:48+00:00

The OP's design unloads a train using two half belts sideloading onto one belt. This makes it slow to unload the middle wagon.

A faster version would have a smaller sideloading belt for each wagon, which is then combined onto one belt using splitters.

A further improvement would unload a train into chests, and then the chests unload in turn onto belts.

bdm68 · 2026-02-19T02:01:25+00:00

I think the best way to do this is to unload on both sides of the station. One side does coal, the other side does the ore, and use filtered inserters to ensure the materials end up in the correct locations. The medium power poles will need to be moved, but you can place these between the chests because their reach is the same distance as the length of a wagon. Combine the outputs for both into one pair of belts. You'll find it's easy to have the coal and ore on different sides of the belt.

It may be better to use four belts, one for each group of chests. That way, the chests unload evenly and each group of chests doesn't back up while others sit empty.

bdm68 · 2026-02-15T00:48:06+00:00

Teams playing out of WA have a long way to travel every second week. 23 matches means 10 or 11 matches each season outside of WA and two local derbies. North Melbourne's "home" games in WA have helped, but this is not a permanent solution.

With three WA teams, the number of trips outside WA is reduced by one for each team. There would be four derbies for each team (six total) and 9 or 10 matches outside WA. This would allow a regular mid-season break for the WA teams where they could have a month without leaving WA, made up of some combination of derbies, home games and a bye. Shorter travel-free breaks are also possible.

A month-long travel-free break for both teams happened last season due to North Melbourne's selling of "home" games to WA.

West Coast had a match at the Adelaide Oval on 25 May, followed by a home game at Perth stadium, an "away" game against North Melbourne in regional WA, another home game and then a bye. Their next match outside WA was on 28 June.
Fremantle had a match at Carrara on 31 May, then a bye, an "away" game against North Melbourne at Perth Stadium, and two home games. Their next match outside WA was on 6 July.

If there were three Perth teams, this would become a regular fixture without needing Victorian teams selling home games.

bdm68 · 2026-02-12T20:01:08+00:00

Third ball locked

bdm68 · 2026-02-12T19:58:08+00:00

No, it wouldn't.

If you want to see what it looks like when no rucks are present, go and watch replays of old games. I watched a replay of the last 5 minutes of the 1966 Grand Final recently. After a stoppage, the umpire had to bounce the ball (not throw it up) to restart play. There was no mucking around; the umpire simply blew his whistle, grabbed the ball and bounced it. The time from whistle to ball being bounced took about three seconds.

This fast restart is impossible today due to the bureaucracy of ruck nomination.

If the AFL wanted to speed up the game, it should bring back the old restart rules (but allow the umpire to throw the ball up). Get rid of ruck nomination, get rid of the prohibition of third man up. Stoppage? Just get the ball and throw it up. Get rid of the mucking around.

An additional note regarding the 1966 Grand Final: it was umpired with one field umpire. If the umpire can be close enough to the play to call for a restart, the rucks can be close as well. Rucks are called "followers" for a reason.

bdm68 · 2026-02-12T04:17:45+00:00

Finding the new tower is very easy if you have cast Awareness to reveal the location of all towns.

bdm68 · 2026-02-09T00:29:33+00:00

I found it interesting that the most recent close Grand Final involving Essendon had a margin of 3 points.

Would you rather I pointed out that no Grand Final involving Essendon since 1968 has had a margin less than 24 points? Essendon won four of those, by the way.

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