Alex Acks
@katsudon.bsky.social
3K followers 210 following 1.5K posts
aka Alex Wells, certified gentlethem. Author, geologist, "asshole geographer," cyclist, cat dad. Union strong and queer as hell. 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈✊ All opinions strictly my own. (they/them) https://katsudon.net/
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Pinned
katsudon.bsky.social
How about some biker space witches organizing labor to fight a monopoly? angryrobotbooks.com/books/hunger... angryrobotbooks.com/books/blood-...

Or steampunk rail pirates in an alternate Denver solving mysteries? queenofswordspress.com/product/murd...
queenofswordspress.com/product/wire...
Book cover of Hunger Makes the Wolf by Alex Wells

Hob fucking Ravani (a lady with an eyepatch) standing in front of a scifi-looking motorcycle like a badass, holding a ball of flame in one hand. Book cover of Blood Binds the Pack by Alex Wells

Hob fucking Ravani and her best friend Mag, in front of a motorcycle. Hob's got her fire going, and Mag has a shotgun. Book cover for Murder on the Titania and Other Steam-Powered Adventures by Alex Acks

Captain Marta Ramos, wearing a scarlet jacket and looking dangerous and awesome in front of a steam punk-y background. Book cover of Wireless and More Steam-Powered Adventures by Alex Acks

Three of the pirate crew, standing in front of a locomotive and looking badass as hell. The one man present, Simms, is looking through a spyglass, probably trying to spot where the hell his sanity and self-preservative instincts have run off to.
Reposted by Alex Acks
johnrogers.bsky.social
A billion dollars is the socio-political equivalent of a loose nuke, and we should work as ruthlessly and diligently to prevent the acquisition of the former as we do the latter.
liberalcurrents.com
“The problem with billionaires isn’t that they’re hoarding money that would otherwise pay for a Scandinavian social utopia. It’s that their money has become a source of wildly distorted political power that allows a few men with extremist views to wreak havoc on the rest of us.”
Billionaires Are Hoarding Power, Not Money
Billionaire money has become a source of wildly distorted political power that allows a few men with extremist views to wreak havoc on the rest of us.
www.liberalcurrents.com
katsudon.bsky.social
The amount of harm being done to us all by people who cannot accept the simple, basic fact that things change
Reposted by Alex Acks
artofchira.bsky.social
whenever i encounter people who say they can't understand shakespeare verses I always send them this clip from the 2019 Shakespeare in the Park production of Much Ado About Nothing
Reposted by Alex Acks
nonvieta.bsky.social
People who think the idea of "give me ideas" is something genuinely creative people want have literally never experienced the absolute EUPHORIA of a brainstorming breakthrough, either solo or with a human collaborator. They don't understand what is happening when artists create, on a basic level.
junoryleejournalism.com
David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)
SHAPIRO: OK, so you've spent your career creating television without Al, and I could imagine today you thinking, boy, I wish I had had that tool to solve those thorny problems...
SIMON: What?
SHAPIRO: ...Or saying...
SIMON: You imagine that?
SHAPIRO: ...Boy, if that had existed, it would have screwed me over.
SIMON: I don't think Al can remotely challenge what writers do at a fundamentally creative level.
SHAPIRO: But if you're trying to transition from scene five to scene six, and you're stuck with that transition, you could imagine plugging that portion of the script into an Al and say, give me 10 ideas for how to transition this.
SIMON: I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.
Reposted by Alex Acks
climatejusticeyyj.bsky.social
"As late as 1975, General Motors was blaming the Endangered Species Act for transmission problems in the cars it sold. The automatic transmission fluid had been made of sperm whale oil, and the company saw no easy alternative." #climatesky
Reposted by Alex Acks
holz-bau.bsky.social
since denver launched its e-bike rebate program - the have sold 10,000 e-bikes and reduced an estimated 1,000,000 car trips - replacing millions of VMTs and reducing air pollution

there are no climate silver bullets... but damn - e-bikes and e-cargo bikes are close

denvergov.org/Government/A...
Denver Celebrates 10,000 E-Bike Rebates
Since its inception in April 2022, Denver has distributed over 10,000 electric bikes (e-bikes) to community members through its pioneering e-bike rebate program. As the first U.S. city to implement su...
denvergov.org
katsudon.bsky.social
Well sure, Jeff, cause you're fabulously wealthy enough that you'll still be standing after the bubble bursts, and you'll be able buy up everyone and everything that got wrecked by you tech assholes for pennies on the dollar. No wonder you're rubbing your hands together like a fly over this shit.
However, tech leaders are mostly soaring above the anxiety about an AI bubble, or even flipping those concerns around to frame the possibility as a positive: during an event last week, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos claimed that if such a bubble were to burst, “it can even be good, because when the dust settles and you see who are the winners, societies benefits from those inventions.”

“This is real, the benefits to society from AI are going to be gigantic,” Bezos added.
Reposted by Alex Acks
ouinne.bsky.social
The only correct take on a fundamentally anti-human technology.
Screenshot of David Simon interview 
SHAPIRO: OK, so you've spent your career creating television without Al, and I could imagine today you thinking, boy, I wish I had had that tool to solve those thorny problems...
SIMON: What?
SHAPIRO: ...Or saying...
SIMON: You imagine that?
SHAPIRO: ...Boy, if that had existed, it would have screwed me over.
SIMON: I don't think Al can remotely challenge what writers do at a fundamentally creative level.
SHAPIRO: But if you're trying to transition from scene five to scene six, and you're stuck with that transition, you could imagine plugging that portion of the script into an Al and say, give me 10 ideas for how to transition this.
SIMON: I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.
Reposted by Alex Acks
runwithskizzers.bsky.social
SO bookshop.org is doing free shipping and you should buy some of my books from bookshop.org <3

bookshop.org/beta-search?...
Reposted by Alex Acks
shakewell.cryptoanarchy.network
There's a whole-ass list of reasons to do this, they're a genuinely awful company on so many levels.

As someone who just did this to move my banking to a local credit union, it's intimidating, banking inertia is real, but when you do it, it's really not that big of a pain.
noamlaw.bsky.social
want to close your Wells Fargo account because you want to punish them for siccing ICE on a building of impoverished immigrants that Wells Fargo execs wanted to foreclose and sell?

here's how
mamamurphy.bsky.social
Here’s how you can close your account:

Call 1-800-TO-WELLS (1-800-869-3557)
Visit a Wells Fargo branch near you.
You can close most accounts immediately when:

The account has a positive or zero balance.
All deposits, outstanding and pending items are posted.
Reposted by Alex Acks
douglasmack.bsky.social
the most delightful version of logging on to see what news you've missed
Dr Ramsdell, whose phone had been on airplane mode when the Nobel committee tried to call him, told the BBC's Newshour Programme that his first response when his wife said, "You've won the Nobel prize" was: "I did not."

To which Ms O'Neill replied that she had 200 text messages that suggested he had.
Reposted by Alex Acks
qospress.bsky.social
#Booksky Know what you can get if you preorder M.Christian’s terrific gay vampire with a twist novel, RUNNING DRY, direct from us before 10/20? One of these fab and hilarious stickers while supplies last! Preorders are love! queenofswordspress.com/product/runn...
Sticker that says “Ambiguously Gay Vampire” on a white bat, black background.
Reposted by Alex Acks
Reposted by Alex Acks
delafina777.bsky.social
Hey all, I'm trying to get a baseline for how good people are at detecting whether fiction is AI-generated or human-written (most of the research on this is for nonfiction and my hypothesis is we're better with fiction).

If you have time, give it a try?

jlp-experiment.github.io/ai-detection...
AI vs Human Fiction Detection Test
jlp-experiment.github.io
Reposted by Alex Acks
thedeadlands.com
it's here, The Deadlands fundraiser 💀

buy your very 2026 coin for the ferryman and help support us

we've got signed books, deadlands issues + psychopomp book bundles, and more coming soon!

please like + RT this to help spread the word

psychopomp.com/the-deadland...

behold!
Illustration of a white skull partially obscured by colorful mushrooms and plants. Different fungi sprout from and around the skull, including red mushrooms with white spots, yellow fan-shaped mushrooms, gray cluster mushrooms, and orange bulbous mushrooms, with green and purple plants filling the background. A ribbon at the bottom of the skull reads “ADMIT ONE.”
Reposted by Alex Acks
Reposted by Alex Acks
systemreactor.bsky.social
Videogame Hot Take: If your first reaction to someone playing a game is one of being dismissive, ask yourself this question:

"What do they know that I don't know?"

It still may not be your jam, but I've found more interesting (and fun) games to play this way especially away from the AAA sphere.
Reposted by Alex Acks
seantcollins.com
CHATGPT: I understand where you're coming from. You worked really hard to get here, and now it's time to enjoy the fruit of your labors.

ISILDUR: So I should keep it? Elrond says I shouldn't

CHATGPT: The ring is precious. Sometimes friends don't have your best interests at heart.

ISILDUR: true
Reposted by Alex Acks
bisexualkaiju.myatproto.social
So you want to support living marginalized banned authors but your local banned books week displays and events are full of famous dead people?

Not to worry: your helpful non-binary bookseller is here to help!

A thread!
katsudon.bsky.social
Every year you will give fewer fucks; that is time's greatest gift.

Brush, floss, and go to the dentist every 6 months.

Do every preventative healthcare thing you can.

Embrace that the world changes. That you change. Nostalgia is a drug. Other people and our Earth are what's worth fighting for.
essencesimmone.blacksky.app
Those who are 35+, what advice do you have for people just entering their 30s?
Reposted by Alex Acks
sennydreadful.bsky.social
given it's spooky season, I was pleased to see A Dark and Secret Place (Dog Rose Dirt in the UK) given a space on a list of horror novels about cults...do NOT join the Commune, always a bad idea www.horrordna.com/features/joi...
Join Us: Twenty of the Creepiest Cults in Horror Fiction
Beware strange or persuasive men and women who insist they have all the answers!
www.horrordna.com