Fred Benenson
@fredbenenson.com
currently: investing in technology and films
creator: Breadwinner, Emoji Dick, 🦪
formerly: kickstarter, creative commons, y combinator
into: bread, data, surfing, literature, art
'not an artist per se' - The Guardian
creator: Breadwinner, Emoji Dick, 🦪
formerly: kickstarter, creative commons, y combinator
into: bread, data, surfing, literature, art
'not an artist per se' - The Guardian
iOS autocomplete corrects “bsky” to “bait”
🤔
🤔
June 27, 2025 at 7:01 PM
iOS autocomplete corrects “bsky” to “bait”
🤔
🤔
There's this thing that's been bugging me about Claude Code: besides being addictive, LLM coding agents are incentivized to generate *more* code vs. better code.
Unfortunately, this seems like a problem for the economic model as there are perverse incentives at play:
medium.com/p/23efbaf75aee
Unfortunately, this seems like a problem for the economic model as there are perverse incentives at play:
medium.com/p/23efbaf75aee
The Perverse Incentives of Vibe Coding
I’ve been using AI coding assistants like Claude Code for a while now, and I’m here to say (with all due respect to people who have…
medium.com
May 16, 2025 at 4:05 PM
There's this thing that's been bugging me about Claude Code: besides being addictive, LLM coding agents are incentivized to generate *more* code vs. better code.
Unfortunately, this seems like a problem for the economic model as there are perverse incentives at play:
medium.com/p/23efbaf75aee
Unfortunately, this seems like a problem for the economic model as there are perverse incentives at play:
medium.com/p/23efbaf75aee
I am thinking about adoptiong kittens again (RIP Catberry & Horatio 🥲), and I am almost certainly going to adopt two rescues in NYC.
But I realized I didn't know a lot about cat breeds, so I decided to build a tool using PCA and Threes.js
fredbenenson.github.io/cat-c…
But I realized I didn't know a lot about cat breeds, so I decided to build a tool using PCA and Threes.js
fredbenenson.github.io/cat-c…
March 19, 2025 at 4:09 PM
I am thinking about adoptiong kittens again (RIP Catberry & Horatio 🥲), and I am almost certainly going to adopt two rescues in NYC.
But I realized I didn't know a lot about cat breeds, so I decided to build a tool using PCA and Threes.js
fredbenenson.github.io/cat-c…
But I realized I didn't know a lot about cat breeds, so I decided to build a tool using PCA and Threes.js
fredbenenson.github.io/cat-c…
Reposted by Fred Benenson
No one has been asking for my opinion on it, but this, from @ryanhatesthis.bsky.social’s Garbage Day is spot on, imo
December 9, 2024 at 5:35 PM
No one has been asking for my opinion on it, but this, from @ryanhatesthis.bsky.social’s Garbage Day is spot on, imo
I’m fascinated (and admittedly a bit repulsed) by the idea of blocklists enumerating people who follow a certain account.
On the one hand, they have the potential to be a kind of decentralized hell banning, but on the other it encourages herding and siloing since it’s blocking innocent users
On the one hand, they have the potential to be a kind of decentralized hell banning, but on the other it encourages herding and siloing since it’s blocking innocent users
December 8, 2024 at 4:27 PM
I’m fascinated (and admittedly a bit repulsed) by the idea of blocklists enumerating people who follow a certain account.
On the one hand, they have the potential to be a kind of decentralized hell banning, but on the other it encourages herding and siloing since it’s blocking innocent users
On the one hand, they have the potential to be a kind of decentralized hell banning, but on the other it encourages herding and siloing since it’s blocking innocent users
So how is everyone recovering from Thanksgiving?
November 30, 2024 at 10:01 PM
So how is everyone recovering from Thanksgiving?
Corollary to Godwin's law: when someone calls you a nazi you can turn off replies
November 30, 2024 at 5:46 PM
Corollary to Godwin's law: when someone calls you a nazi you can turn off replies
This is an extremely important point about what kind of populism liberals need to be considering if we are going to win back huge swaths of the electorate.
tl;dr: economic populism isn’t going to be enough
tl;dr: economic populism isn’t going to be enough
November 29, 2024 at 3:45 PM
This is an extremely important point about what kind of populism liberals need to be considering if we are going to win back huge swaths of the electorate.
tl;dr: economic populism isn’t going to be enough
tl;dr: economic populism isn’t going to be enough
Happy Thanksgiving!
November 28, 2024 at 9:27 PM
Happy Thanksgiving!
Interesting to find myself on a blocklist on here because I happen to follow a controversial journalist.
This means I'm accumulating 1-2 blocks a day from people who I don't know but who block everyone on the list.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
This means I'm accumulating 1-2 blocks a day from people who I don't know but who block everyone on the list.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
November 26, 2024 at 4:45 PM
Interesting to find myself on a blocklist on here because I happen to follow a controversial journalist.
This means I'm accumulating 1-2 blocks a day from people who I don't know but who block everyone on the list.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
This means I'm accumulating 1-2 blocks a day from people who I don't know but who block everyone on the list.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Isn’t the problem that their echo chamber is just bigger than ours?
One thing I find interesting about the echo chamber complaint is that an echo chamber just won a presidential election.
Put aside the convo of whether it’s “good” or “bad” for a moment. The far right has devoted enormous resources + time to building echo chambers & loathes spaces they don’t control
Put aside the convo of whether it’s “good” or “bad” for a moment. The far right has devoted enormous resources + time to building echo chambers & loathes spaces they don’t control
The "bluesky is an echo chamber" think pieces that keep popping up really tickle me because they show how certain people genuinely believe social media should be for debating and arguing and not talking about the things that make you happy and sharing art with the world.
November 23, 2024 at 3:45 PM
Isn’t the problem that their echo chamber is just bigger than ours?
Our film “The Apprentice” is in such a funny place. Trump hates it and doesn't want you to see it.
And yet Hollywood is also afraid of it: actors are shunning Sebastian Stan for playing Trump.
If you haven't seen it – go make up your mind for yourself!
www.thecut.com/article/seba...
And yet Hollywood is also afraid of it: actors are shunning Sebastian Stan for playing Trump.
If you haven't seen it – go make up your mind for yourself!
www.thecut.com/article/seba...
Celebrities Do Not Want to Talk About Trump Anymore
Sebastian Stan says publicists are scared to let their clients talk to him about the movie The Apprentice.
www.thecut.com
November 21, 2024 at 2:37 PM
Our film “The Apprentice” is in such a funny place. Trump hates it and doesn't want you to see it.
And yet Hollywood is also afraid of it: actors are shunning Sebastian Stan for playing Trump.
If you haven't seen it – go make up your mind for yourself!
www.thecut.com/article/seba...
And yet Hollywood is also afraid of it: actors are shunning Sebastian Stan for playing Trump.
If you haven't seen it – go make up your mind for yourself!
www.thecut.com/article/seba...
Reposted by Fred Benenson
Red state voters voting to take away their own stuff to own the libs
What states get the biggest benefit from the US Department of Education (@usedgov)
November 20, 2024 at 10:20 PM
Red state voters voting to take away their own stuff to own the libs
Reposted by Fred Benenson
Holy shit. I just read that Sebastian Stan won’t be doing the Variety Actors on Actors awards season panel because other actors’ publicists wouldn’t let their clients talk to Sebastian about playing Donald Trump in THE APPRENTICE movie. This is outrageous!
November 20, 2024 at 1:26 AM
Holy shit. I just read that Sebastian Stan won’t be doing the Variety Actors on Actors awards season panel because other actors’ publicists wouldn’t let their clients talk to Sebastian about playing Donald Trump in THE APPRENTICE movie. This is outrageous!
So what do like ... people like to post on here?
I can't decide if the delta in engagement I get on here vs. Threads is because I'm accidentally more centrist than the median skeeter or because I'm not getting weird enough or because bsky's algo is more parsimonious or ...
I can't decide if the delta in engagement I get on here vs. Threads is because I'm accidentally more centrist than the median skeeter or because I'm not getting weird enough or because bsky's algo is more parsimonious or ...
November 19, 2024 at 2:46 PM
So what do like ... people like to post on here?
I can't decide if the delta in engagement I get on here vs. Threads is because I'm accidentally more centrist than the median skeeter or because I'm not getting weird enough or because bsky's algo is more parsimonious or ...
I can't decide if the delta in engagement I get on here vs. Threads is because I'm accidentally more centrist than the median skeeter or because I'm not getting weird enough or because bsky's algo is more parsimonious or ...
Reposted by Fred Benenson
lots of good local (NYC) area reporting from @hellgateny.bsky.social and @thecity.bsky.social
November 16, 2024 at 11:18 PM
lots of good local (NYC) area reporting from @hellgateny.bsky.social and @thecity.bsky.social
So who is the most non-echo chamber person you follow on here?
(Am I doing this right?)
(Am I doing this right?)
November 16, 2024 at 11:14 PM
So who is the most non-echo chamber person you follow on here?
(Am I doing this right?)
(Am I doing this right?)
Make stupid choices, win stupid prizes, part 1 out of 36282629 of the next four years.
www.reuters.com/world/us/mus...
www.reuters.com/world/us/mus...
Muslims who voted for Trump upset by his pro-Israel cabinet picks
U.S. Muslim leaders who supported Republican Donald Trump to protest against the Biden administration's support for Israel's war on Gaza and attacks on Lebanon have been deeply disappointed by his Cabinet picks, they tell Reuters.
www.reuters.com
November 16, 2024 at 8:14 PM
Make stupid choices, win stupid prizes, part 1 out of 36282629 of the next four years.
www.reuters.com/world/us/mus...
www.reuters.com/world/us/mus...
Apple’s emoji suggestions used to be extremely narrow and only based on an exact text match of the emoji name (e.g. “Smiling” returned only 😁)
Over the last couple years they’ve broadened it to be much fuzzier.
Now “death” returns 🌵 and 🏜️ among the others.
Maybe because of Death Valley?
Over the last couple years they’ve broadened it to be much fuzzier.
Now “death” returns 🌵 and 🏜️ among the others.
Maybe because of Death Valley?
November 16, 2024 at 5:27 PM
Apple’s emoji suggestions used to be extremely narrow and only based on an exact text match of the emoji name (e.g. “Smiling” returned only 😁)
Over the last couple years they’ve broadened it to be much fuzzier.
Now “death” returns 🌵 and 🏜️ among the others.
Maybe because of Death Valley?
Over the last couple years they’ve broadened it to be much fuzzier.
Now “death” returns 🌵 and 🏜️ among the others.
Maybe because of Death Valley?
Hi everyone! Now that things are hopping over here, please help me welcome in my girlfriend and recovering Twitter expat @lmacfadyen.bsky.social 🥰
She’s a senior product designer at Microsoft working on Copilot.
Give her a follow when you get the chance!
She’s a senior product designer at Microsoft working on Copilot.
Give her a follow when you get the chance!
November 16, 2024 at 3:49 PM
Hi everyone! Now that things are hopping over here, please help me welcome in my girlfriend and recovering Twitter expat @lmacfadyen.bsky.social 🥰
She’s a senior product designer at Microsoft working on Copilot.
Give her a follow when you get the chance!
She’s a senior product designer at Microsoft working on Copilot.
Give her a follow when you get the chance!
This is the best bot* on Bluesky
*and the only one anyone has pointed out to me
*and the only one anyone has pointed out to me
November 16, 2024 at 3:20 AM
This is the best bot* on Bluesky
*and the only one anyone has pointed out to me
*and the only one anyone has pointed out to me
Reposted by Fred Benenson
One of the only funny things I can remember Andy Borowitz posting
November 15, 2024 at 10:03 PM
One of the only funny things I can remember Andy Borowitz posting
So who is building interesting stuff on top of Bluesky?
Where are the good / weird bots?
What's the deal with the API?
Where are the good / weird bots?
What's the deal with the API?
November 15, 2024 at 8:32 PM
So who is building interesting stuff on top of Bluesky?
Where are the good / weird bots?
What's the deal with the API?
Where are the good / weird bots?
What's the deal with the API?