Austin Pocus
@austinpocus.com
Software developer, writer, sci fi and fantasy reader, Yooper. (he/him)
Pinned
consider me convinced. just preordered on kobo. :)
January 20, 2026 at 3:36 AM
consider me convinced. just preordered on kobo. :)
Reposted by Austin Pocus
This is also about eliminating the concept of the “personal computer” and pushing everything into the cloud where all actions, every byte of data, can be surveilled and monetized.
once again where we're at right now with the runaway price increases on SSDs isn't even because of usage demand, it's hoarding behavior from companies who may not have even broken ground on the data centers they want to install it in.
my storage last year vs my storage now:
January 14, 2026 at 5:39 AM
This is also about eliminating the concept of the “personal computer” and pushing everything into the cloud where all actions, every byte of data, can be surveilled and monetized.
Reposted by Austin Pocus
I think most people probably need to hear this—remember that you deserve your own love and compassion.
That may mean different things for different people, but no matter what, you deserve to be on your own side.
That may mean different things for different people, but no matter what, you deserve to be on your own side.
January 13, 2026 at 12:41 AM
I think most people probably need to hear this—remember that you deserve your own love and compassion.
That may mean different things for different people, but no matter what, you deserve to be on your own side.
That may mean different things for different people, but no matter what, you deserve to be on your own side.
I got it working on Ubuntu with Wine using the steps outlined here: rdewalt.substack.com/p/installing...
I'm not sure if Zorin will be a different process, though. Let me know if these steps work or if you run into issues, I'm happy to help debug.
I'm not sure if Zorin will be a different process, though. Let me know if these steps work or if you run into issues, I'm happy to help debug.
Installing Scrivener on Linux
Authenticated with the License Servers, running the 64-bit versions as well...
rdewalt.substack.com
January 12, 2026 at 5:01 AM
I got it working on Ubuntu with Wine using the steps outlined here: rdewalt.substack.com/p/installing...
I'm not sure if Zorin will be a different process, though. Let me know if these steps work or if you run into issues, I'm happy to help debug.
I'm not sure if Zorin will be a different process, though. Let me know if these steps work or if you run into issues, I'm happy to help debug.
“Slaughter House Five” by Kurt Vonnegut turned my brain inside out. My high school English teacher told me “it’s about a WWII soldier who becomes unstuck in time and gets kidnapped by aliens who put him in a zoo to mate with the porn queen of earth”. I pretty much had to read it.
performative reading, lack of reading skills, nobody's reading anymore -- NO!
tell me about a book that changed you
for me? the *extremely* ahistorical novel, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY which I read at 13 and was like, "Oh, art can be *everything* to a maker, for good and bad"
tell me about a book that changed you
for me? the *extremely* ahistorical novel, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY which I read at 13 and was like, "Oh, art can be *everything* to a maker, for good and bad"
November 12, 2025 at 5:58 AM
“Slaughter House Five” by Kurt Vonnegut turned my brain inside out. My high school English teacher told me “it’s about a WWII soldier who becomes unstuck in time and gets kidnapped by aliens who put him in a zoo to mate with the porn queen of earth”. I pretty much had to read it.
Anyway, hi, I’m Austin and I am indeed a real human being with meat organs and everything definitely not a robot wait shit where’s the backspa
October 11, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Anyway, hi, I’m Austin and I am indeed a real human being with meat organs and everything definitely not a robot wait shit where’s the backspa
Another flashback to when I joined Facebook again after a long time away, and she was the first person I added. So naturally I posted “hi I’m Austin and I’m real” and for some reason people were really suspicious
October 11, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Another flashback to when I joined Facebook again after a long time away, and she was the first person I added. So naturally I posted “hi I’m Austin and I’m real” and for some reason people were really suspicious
Flashback to me wife telling me she thought I was made up. She looked at my Instagram and was like “no way is that his real name”.
October 11, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Flashback to me wife telling me she thought I was made up. She looked at my Instagram and was like “no way is that his real name”.
I’m a little late to the spooky name party but my name was *made* for spooky season
October 11, 2025 at 9:50 PM
I’m a little late to the spooky name party but my name was *made* for spooky season
It’s available to stream! You have to go into special features on Disney+ for the original Star Wars: A New Hope and it’s listed with the director’s commentary and whatnot.
September 28, 2025 at 10:32 PM
It’s available to stream! You have to go into special features on Disney+ for the original Star Wars: A New Hope and it’s listed with the director’s commentary and whatnot.
Reposted by Austin Pocus
enshittification | noun | when a digital platform is made worse for users, in order to increase profits
September 3, 2025 at 8:22 PM
enshittification | noun | when a digital platform is made worse for users, in order to increase profits
Reposted by Austin Pocus
time for web directories and web rings to make a comeback
July 27, 2025 at 3:04 AM
time for web directories and web rings to make a comeback
Reposted by Austin Pocus
This isn’t even an AI post as much as it is another anecdote in how social relations in America have been put through a blender of extreme market extraction at the same time that govt/charitable support for 3rd spaces, extracurriculars, social clubs, etc have fallen to their lowest point in decades.
July 14, 2025 at 1:25 AM
This isn’t even an AI post as much as it is another anecdote in how social relations in America have been put through a blender of extreme market extraction at the same time that govt/charitable support for 3rd spaces, extracurriculars, social clubs, etc have fallen to their lowest point in decades.
We had a landline phone that was wired to the wall when I was younger, later it was cordless. No cell phone until I was 15 and that was a flip phone with 160-character texts, and we were charged per message or had limited texts per month. No internet on the phone.
July 14, 2025 at 2:25 AM
We had a landline phone that was wired to the wall when I was younger, later it was cordless. No cell phone until I was 15 and that was a flip phone with 160-character texts, and we were charged per message or had limited texts per month. No internet on the phone.
We couldn’t look things up as easily. If you were lucky enough to have a computer, it was a desktop PC and internet was slow. Many pages were dubious, and no Wikipedia. If you didn’t have a PC, you could go to a library or ask someone you knew but a lot of questions would just go unanswered.
July 14, 2025 at 2:10 AM
We couldn’t look things up as easily. If you were lucky enough to have a computer, it was a desktop PC and internet was slow. Many pages were dubious, and no Wikipedia. If you didn’t have a PC, you could go to a library or ask someone you knew but a lot of questions would just go unanswered.
I could be out and about all day as a 12 year old and my parents didn’t know where I was for sure and couldn’t get ahold of me (no cell phones).
Going to Blockbuster and renting a VHS. “Be kind, rewind.”
Calling your friend’s house phone and the dread of talking to their parents to ask for them.
Going to Blockbuster and renting a VHS. “Be kind, rewind.”
Calling your friend’s house phone and the dread of talking to their parents to ask for them.
What’s a real thing from your childhood that kids these days would find completely foreign?
Like, how we used to be able to walk right up to the gate to meet our family coming off a flight.
Or how we had to pick a spot to meet at the theater BEFORE we went.
Like, how we used to be able to walk right up to the gate to meet our family coming off a flight.
Or how we had to pick a spot to meet at the theater BEFORE we went.
July 14, 2025 at 2:01 AM
I could be out and about all day as a 12 year old and my parents didn’t know where I was for sure and couldn’t get ahold of me (no cell phones).
Going to Blockbuster and renting a VHS. “Be kind, rewind.”
Calling your friend’s house phone and the dread of talking to their parents to ask for them.
Going to Blockbuster and renting a VHS. “Be kind, rewind.”
Calling your friend’s house phone and the dread of talking to their parents to ask for them.
Reposted by Austin Pocus
The em dash is HIGH LITERATURE. I am aghast at them coming for the em dash as an AI giveaway. Pry it from poets & fiction writers who write sentence-long paragraphs' dead hands!
July 7, 2025 at 12:01 AM
The em dash is HIGH LITERATURE. I am aghast at them coming for the em dash as an AI giveaway. Pry it from poets & fiction writers who write sentence-long paragraphs' dead hands!
How much you wanna bet they ran data through AI to classify people as citizens or not? The article doesn’t say, but it does say there are inconsistencies in the data which combined with AI would make for false positives/negatives.
Do you really want this government to have databases on us?
Do you really want this government to have databases on us?
Per @npr.org, the Department of Homeland Security, in partnership with the White House U.S. DOGE Service, has built a searchable national citizenship register with data from the Social Security Administration & immigration records— without public notice & comment.
Infrastructure for a police state.
Infrastructure for a police state.
The Trump administration is building a national citizenship data system
The Department of Homeland Security, with help from DOGE, has rolled out a tool that purports to be able to check the citizenship status of almost all Americans.
www.npr.org
June 30, 2025 at 4:46 AM
How much you wanna bet they ran data through AI to classify people as citizens or not? The article doesn’t say, but it does say there are inconsistencies in the data which combined with AI would make for false positives/negatives.
Do you really want this government to have databases on us?
Do you really want this government to have databases on us?
Reposted by Austin Pocus
Worth a watch:
Head of Signal, Meredith Whittaker, on so-called "agentic AI" and the difference between how it's described in the marketing and what access and control it would actually require to work as advertised.
Head of Signal, Meredith Whittaker, on so-called "agentic AI" and the difference between how it's described in the marketing and what access and control it would actually require to work as advertised.
June 26, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Worth a watch:
Head of Signal, Meredith Whittaker, on so-called "agentic AI" and the difference between how it's described in the marketing and what access and control it would actually require to work as advertised.
Head of Signal, Meredith Whittaker, on so-called "agentic AI" and the difference between how it's described in the marketing and what access and control it would actually require to work as advertised.
Exactly! And there's so much depth to it, you can get absolutely *lost* in the various subgenres of metal.
June 24, 2025 at 4:19 AM
Exactly! And there's so much depth to it, you can get absolutely *lost* in the various subgenres of metal.
Lately, anger is a big factor in at least one of my stories. Even when I'm writing something less angry, I am often fueled by things that piss me off, things about the world that I want to imagine differently. I often enjoy writing because I get to transmute those emotions into art.
#LateNightWrite
#LateNightWrite
First question: We recently discussed Pride, let's talk about wrath. How often does anger or spite feature as a motivation in your stories, or as a personal motivation to write?
#LateNightWrite
#LateNightWrite
June 24, 2025 at 4:16 AM
Lately, anger is a big factor in at least one of my stories. Even when I'm writing something less angry, I am often fueled by things that piss me off, things about the world that I want to imagine differently. I often enjoy writing because I get to transmute those emotions into art.
#LateNightWrite
#LateNightWrite
Hi there, #LateNightWrite! I'm Austin, coder by day, writer by night. I'm just getting started on a couple WIPs: a revenge story in a high-tech hellscape, and a utopian daydream about psychic revolutionaries.
I love metal! 🤘 I like punk, hip-hop, and funk, too. But metal is how I got into music.
I love metal! 🤘 I like punk, hip-hop, and funk, too. But metal is how I got into music.
Kicking off tonight's #LateNightWrite with introductions: tell us about yourself and your WIP(s)!
Bonus Question: what are your favourite music genres? Any fellow metalheads out there? \m/
Bonus Question: what are your favourite music genres? Any fellow metalheads out there? \m/
June 24, 2025 at 3:59 AM
Hi there, #LateNightWrite! I'm Austin, coder by day, writer by night. I'm just getting started on a couple WIPs: a revenge story in a high-tech hellscape, and a utopian daydream about psychic revolutionaries.
I love metal! 🤘 I like punk, hip-hop, and funk, too. But metal is how I got into music.
I love metal! 🤘 I like punk, hip-hop, and funk, too. But metal is how I got into music.
Reposted by Austin Pocus
the garbage machine can also rob prose of any nuance or authorial intent because we don’t know the difference between bland and palatable, and we view art as something to be consumed rather than appreciated
This article is going to turn me into the Joker. Literary style is not a puzzle you solve to get a little information treat 😩😩😩
June 22, 2025 at 1:20 PM
the garbage machine can also rob prose of any nuance or authorial intent because we don’t know the difference between bland and palatable, and we view art as something to be consumed rather than appreciated