Mark Armstrong
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fabricatus.com
Mark Armstrong
@fabricatus.com
Business intelligence analyst and database specialist. Science is my first love, but I also enjoy SF, Fantasy & TTRPG's He/Him. Originally Irish but I’m an Aussie now.
Reposted by Mark Armstrong
To write this newsletter, and to back up future reporting, I created my own model for data center costs, one I validated with multiple experts and analysts. AI data centers are awful businesses, and I'm very worried about what happens next.
edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo...
February 13, 2026 at 3:21 AM
Reposted by Mark Armstrong
Tomorrow's Premium: The Great Data Center Financial Crisis, where 20-40% margins are only possible after years of construction and billions in debt, and if we don't have $100bn in demand by 2028, everything's a wash.

Here's $10 off annual.
edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo...
February 13, 2026 at 3:21 AM
Reposted by Mark Armstrong
Kids frantically pushing aside the new Pokemon and Mandalorian LEGO sets in Target to purchase the ANE MÆRSK container vessel
February 12, 2026 at 11:49 PM
Reposted by Mark Armstrong
February 12, 2026 at 1:44 PM
We've already bought a different product to avoid the chance of being part of Ring's surveillance network. We just want to see who is at the door, not subsidise someone else's panopticon.
Ring cancels its partnership with Flock Safety after surveillance backlash
Ring cancels its partnership with Flock Safety after surveillance backlash
Flock off
buff.ly
February 12, 2026 at 11:42 PM
Reposted by Mark Armstrong
super bowl advertising is effective! maybe not how you were hoping.
Ring cancels its partnership with Flock Safety after surveillance backlash
Ring cancels its partnership with Flock Safety after surveillance backlash
Flock off
buff.ly
February 12, 2026 at 11:36 PM
Reposted by Mark Armstrong
I have a friend who said, of Starfleet Academy, that this took them out of it - that seeing a person in a wheelchair in the 32nd century seemed unrealistic, since medicine in Star Trek "should be able to cure whatever was wrong with them."

That's not the case, for any number of possible reasons.
February 12, 2026 at 9:52 PM
Reposted by Mark Armstrong
A+ sign in Melbourne this week
February 12, 2026 at 10:09 AM
Reposted by Mark Armstrong
My doomer-worry about AI is not that the LLMs become omnipotent and take over the world but that the wealthy and powerful use it as a means to consolidate power and marginalize or lay off skilled workers and also everything about our technological and political and social life gets worse
February 11, 2026 at 8:20 PM
Reposted by Mark Armstrong
It's issue 10's cover! Illustrated by @smuggerby.bsky.social
💀TIMEWORN TERRA🌏️ is our special issue of tales set in futures so far they feel ancient, where magic & technology blur together, and Earth's days are short yet still we lust & laugh!
Learn more here👉️ www.backerkit.com/c/projects/b...
February 5, 2026 at 1:01 PM
Reposted by Mark Armstrong
Cohesion.
My @smh cartoon.
February 10, 2026 at 8:45 PM
Reposted by Mark Armstrong
Project Hail Mary (March 20): Final trailer

Very good trailer for what promises to be a great sci-fi movie, but beware, it reveals a lot about the story and, above all, shows a lot of Rocky. ☝️
Project Hail Mary | Final Trailer
YouTube video by Amazon MGM Studios
www.youtube.com
February 8, 2026 at 10:09 PM
Awwww the AI is apologizing. Reminds me of something...
February 8, 2026 at 10:54 PM
Reposted by Mark Armstrong
What’s also great is reading the dialogue with Claude where it stops and says “I need to stop and be honest with you about something important” and reveals it deleted every single photo. Software built for dunces
February 8, 2026 at 10:33 PM
Reposted by Mark Armstrong
February 6, 2026 at 5:30 PM
Reposted by Mark Armstrong
A government report rebuked @wearequeeraf.com for reporting on whistleblowers who said there had been a spike in suicides after the Tavistock shuttered

These numbers from @goodlawproject.org show our reporting was justified, and critical

What have we learned? 🧵

goodlawproject.org/new-data-sho...
February 7, 2026 at 11:46 AM
Reposted by Mark Armstrong
Metry and her husband of 4 years go to DHS to get their I-130 in motion. "Good news" a DHS employee told them, the form to start her naturalization was approved.

DHS employee asks the husband to follow him through a secure door. When it locks behind him, ICE detains his wife to deport her.
EXCLUSIVE: Terez Metry was 13 when her family fled to Tennessee from Egypt in 2011. Then, they left her behind. She only recently discovered she had an order of removal from 2011. But she was following the legal path to citizenship. On Monday, at a routine DHS meeting, Metry was detained.
Immigration process turns sour for an Antioch woman - Nashville Banner
Terez Metry, a dental assistant in Middle Tennessee with no criminal history, was detained by ICE during an interview as she followed legal steps toward citizenship.
nashvillebanner.com
February 6, 2026 at 10:00 PM
My wife has made gluten free Black Forest gateaux for dessert tonight as a practice run for my birthday soon. Soon I will look a lot like this:
a young boy eating a chocolate cake with a netflix logo in the corner
Alt: a young boy shovelling a chocolate cake into his face hole with both hands with a face of sublime bliss.
media.tenor.com
February 7, 2026 at 9:37 AM
Reposted by Mark Armstrong
My piping hot take on PLURIBUS is that it’s one of the most Ghibli-esque shows on TV today, and people who think its pacing is too slow ought to really sit with and examine why they feel that slow pace = bad.

Its first season has several minutes worth of “mā”, and is much stronger for it, IMO
February 7, 2026 at 3:47 AM
Reposted by Mark Armstrong
A scammer just tried exactly this on me via WhatsApp. Glad I saw a post here recently outlining the scam - it would be very easy to fall for. The “hotel” account had an unconvincing name, but they had my name, number & reservation dates. lifehacker.com/money/hotel-...
This New Hotel Reservation Scam Is Fooling People Who Use Sites Like Booking.com
If you've booked a hotel through a platform like Booking.com or Expedia, beware any communication that directs you to confirm your payment details to hold your reservation.
lifehacker.com
February 7, 2026 at 9:03 AM
Reposted by Mark Armstrong
one of the greatest human triumphs of my lifetime is the relentless, unceasing, heroic effort by DECADES' worth of doctors and scientists to find a cure for a disease much of the world didn't take seriously for years because it predominantly affected a community they thought kinda deserved it
Just because good news is worth celebrating:

There is now a Prep medication that is an *every six month* injection.

HIV has, effectively, a vaccination.
February 7, 2026 at 1:37 AM
Reposted by Mark Armstrong
"But what about China?" has been a throwaway comment made many times to justify inaction on climate change or criticise decarbonisation policies.

Well China is now by far the world's largest manufacturer, installer, and user of clean energy technologies.
February 6, 2026 at 1:42 PM
I’ve managed to buy John Scalzi’s book “The Collapsing Empire” three times now. I managed to do that with Peter F Hamilton’s “Saints Salvation” as well. I think it’s time I keep a book inventory on my phone for when I next venture into a book shop!
February 7, 2026 at 8:58 AM
Reposted by Mark Armstrong
this is why you should *never* hit someone with an rpg. it’s dangerous, it’s shitty, and it’s wrong
February 7, 2026 at 1:53 AM
A particularly disturbing and brutal method of execution was being “fired from a canon” where the condemned were strapped to the front a canon and obliterated. This was performed by the British recently enough that photos (before shots) exist:

rarehistoricalphotos.com/execution-ca...
February 7, 2026 at 3:48 AM