@dimquestor.bsky.social
Reposted
One of the earliest-ever modern portrayals of Santa Claus features him gifting Union soldiers with a jumping-jack doll of Jefferson Davis dangling from a noose - as drawn by political cartoonist Thomas Nast.
www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
![HARPERS WEEKLY.
JOURNAL OF CIVILIZATION
Vor. VII.-No. 314.]
NEW
YORK, SATURDAY, JANUARY
1863.
GELCOM
SANTA CLAUS
SANTA CLAUS IN CAMP.-[SEE PAGE 6]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:qiknc4t5rq7yngvz7g4aezq7/bafkreiez4d5lsrpbn3mrwkwrnbrhb3ra7dmvagbxjaz7hg5be7njnsbary@jpeg)
December 25, 2025 at 6:09 AM
One of the earliest-ever modern portrayals of Santa Claus features him gifting Union soldiers with a jumping-jack doll of Jefferson Davis dangling from a noose - as drawn by political cartoonist Thomas Nast.
www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
Reposted
Hallmark has done every plot, so it is time for the apotheosis of Christmas movies: a big city lawyer returns to her small hometown and falls in love with an actual Christmas tree. After a series of missteps, they get married and have tree/human babies. Their hybrid spawn scream in endless torment 🎄
December 22, 2025 at 4:31 AM
Hallmark has done every plot, so it is time for the apotheosis of Christmas movies: a big city lawyer returns to her small hometown and falls in love with an actual Christmas tree. After a series of missteps, they get married and have tree/human babies. Their hybrid spawn scream in endless torment 🎄
Reposted
I love my two blackout drunk Minnesota sons
December 18, 2025 at 2:17 PM
I love my two blackout drunk Minnesota sons
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People say you’re driving a moral panic, that you’re blocking good regulation, that there’s no point in resisting. And then you enforce a phone ban and miracles happen (qualitatively): nymag.com/intelligence...
How the Phone Ban Saved High School
Since the bell-to-bell device lockup, teens in New York have rediscovered the simple pleasures of conversation, board games, and poker.
nymag.com
December 17, 2025 at 7:27 PM
People say you’re driving a moral panic, that you’re blocking good regulation, that there’s no point in resisting. And then you enforce a phone ban and miracles happen (qualitatively): nymag.com/intelligence...
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Virginia Heffernan wrote this shortly after the 2016 election and it still holds true
December 16, 2025 at 4:21 AM
Virginia Heffernan wrote this shortly after the 2016 election and it still holds true
Reposted
December 13, 2025 at 4:59 AM
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This is Charles Clyde Ebbets, the photographer who took the iconic “Lunch atop a Skyscraper” picture. Look at this fearless, dapper fuck wearing spats, suspenders, and a tie 850 feet above the ground. Absolute legend.
December 12, 2025 at 2:28 PM
This is Charles Clyde Ebbets, the photographer who took the iconic “Lunch atop a Skyscraper” picture. Look at this fearless, dapper fuck wearing spats, suspenders, and a tie 850 feet above the ground. Absolute legend.
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I am dead serious when I say that if one of the most vulnerable people in the country can do this with the right allies, no fight in American politics is completely hopeless.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an ordinary man, has defeated the great might of the US Government
Kilmar Abrego Garcia is free. every bit of cruelty, boasting, slander, and persecution was for absolutely fucking nothing.
December 12, 2025 at 5:42 AM
I am dead serious when I say that if one of the most vulnerable people in the country can do this with the right allies, no fight in American politics is completely hopeless.
Reposted
Finally getting some theological clarity on the ethics of reclining in one’s plane seat
November 29, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Finally getting some theological clarity on the ethics of reclining in one’s plane seat
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don’t cheapen your slides! there *are* places to get free, human-created, rich, visual content on this bitch of an internet, some on this list: livelaugh.blog/posts/non-ai...
November 28, 2025 at 4:40 PM
don’t cheapen your slides! there *are* places to get free, human-created, rich, visual content on this bitch of an internet, some on this list: livelaugh.blog/posts/non-ai...
Reposted
Source: https://www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-life-is-a-lie
Median US households (income $80K) are in poverty if the same calculations as in 1963 are used to rebase the poverty line threshold.
Median US households (income $80K) are in poverty if the same calculations as in 1963 are used to rebase the poverty line threshold.
Why the USA is stressed: in 1963, poverty was defined as family income < 3x food budget. But costs have exploded since 1963, and food is now 5-7% of a budget including health, college, childcare, housing, etc—a realistic food budget multiplier for poverty is 16x, so families under $130K are poor.
November 25, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Source: https://www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-life-is-a-lie
Median US households (income $80K) are in poverty if the same calculations as in 1963 are used to rebase the poverty line threshold.
Median US households (income $80K) are in poverty if the same calculations as in 1963 are used to rebase the poverty line threshold.
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I saw a lot of people send the original article my way, which i did not share because it seemed like obvious bullshit. Now that has been shown to be true. I know people are worried about AI stuff, but try to be a bit more careful about what's real and what's not.
If you have been sharing that Malwarebytes article on the Gmail thing, you should note the giant correction up top.
www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/20...
www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/20...
November 22, 2025 at 10:46 PM
I saw a lot of people send the original article my way, which i did not share because it seemed like obvious bullshit. Now that has been shown to be true. I know people are worried about AI stuff, but try to be a bit more careful about what's real and what's not.
Reposted
When pregnant woman boarded a subway car, 38% of the time someone offered her a seat. If someone dressed as Batman was also in the car it rose to 68%.
phys.org/news/2025-11...
phys.org/news/2025-11...
The Batman effect: The mere sight of the 'superhero' can make us more altruistic
If "Batman" appears on the scene, we immediately become more altruistic: in fact, research conducted by psychologists from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, shows that the sudden appear...
phys.org
November 21, 2025 at 4:34 PM
When pregnant woman boarded a subway car, 38% of the time someone offered her a seat. If someone dressed as Batman was also in the car it rose to 68%.
phys.org/news/2025-11...
phys.org/news/2025-11...
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Legendary text adventure games Zork I, II, and III are now open-source opensource.microsoft.com/blog/2025/11...
Preserving code that shaped generations: Zork I, II, and III go Open Source
Microsoft’s Open Source Programs Office (OSPO), Team Xbox, and Activision are making Zork I, Zork II, and Zork III available under the MIT License.
opensource.microsoft.com
November 21, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Legendary text adventure games Zork I, II, and III are now open-source opensource.microsoft.com/blog/2025/11...
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my most butlerian jihad coded belief is that we should probably make it illegal – and more importantly, we should work toward a cultural consensus that it is immoral – to design a computer program whose interface uses the first person
November 21, 2025 at 1:21 PM
my most butlerian jihad coded belief is that we should probably make it illegal – and more importantly, we should work toward a cultural consensus that it is immoral – to design a computer program whose interface uses the first person
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these posts are all actually just me thanking everyone who does pay money for the things they like online (including people who pay me directly by subscribing to my podcasts for example). you ARE the minority. and i appreciate every single one of you
November 21, 2025 at 2:49 PM
these posts are all actually just me thanking everyone who does pay money for the things they like online (including people who pay me directly by subscribing to my podcasts for example). you ARE the minority. and i appreciate every single one of you
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If you use GMail, AI (Gemini) was turned on yesterday by default and now scans all of your content for machine learning. To turn off, go to Settings>General and scroll down. Uncheck the box for "Smart features."
There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
November 20, 2025 at 5:32 PM
If you use GMail, AI (Gemini) was turned on yesterday by default and now scans all of your content for machine learning. To turn off, go to Settings>General and scroll down. Uncheck the box for "Smart features."
There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
Reposted
So... spells.
We're using spells to undo the work we've done... tricking rocks into thinking with lightning.
And trapping evil cars in circles of salt.
The old ways are new again.
We're using spells to undo the work we've done... tricking rocks into thinking with lightning.
And trapping evil cars in circles of salt.
The old ways are new again.
Looks like LLMs are *very* vulnerable to attack via poetic allusion: "curated poetic prompts yielded high attack-success rates (ASR), with some providers exceeding 90% ..."
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
November 20, 2025 at 5:52 PM
So... spells.
We're using spells to undo the work we've done... tricking rocks into thinking with lightning.
And trapping evil cars in circles of salt.
The old ways are new again.
We're using spells to undo the work we've done... tricking rocks into thinking with lightning.
And trapping evil cars in circles of salt.
The old ways are new again.
Reposted
Looks like LLMs are *very* vulnerable to attack via poetic allusion: "curated poetic prompts yielded high attack-success rates (ASR), with some providers exceeding 90% ..."
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
November 20, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Looks like LLMs are *very* vulnerable to attack via poetic allusion: "curated poetic prompts yielded high attack-success rates (ASR), with some providers exceeding 90% ..."
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
Reposted
Additionally, hippos - despite being massive - have almost no fat on them. All of that impressive bulk is muscle.
2% body fat. Compare that to Elephants, which are around 8-10%, or rhinos, which are 10-20%.
The average human is around 20-40%, for reference.
They're *all* muscle.
2% body fat. Compare that to Elephants, which are around 8-10%, or rhinos, which are 10-20%.
The average human is around 20-40%, for reference.
They're *all* muscle.
March 12, 2025 at 5:42 AM
Additionally, hippos - despite being massive - have almost no fat on them. All of that impressive bulk is muscle.
2% body fat. Compare that to Elephants, which are around 8-10%, or rhinos, which are 10-20%.
The average human is around 20-40%, for reference.
They're *all* muscle.
2% body fat. Compare that to Elephants, which are around 8-10%, or rhinos, which are 10-20%.
The average human is around 20-40%, for reference.
They're *all* muscle.
Reposted
This is a useful thread about the policies behind a three day suspension of a well known poster.
There is a very good reason why the thing I say most consistently about situations like this is "the violent rhetoric policy is my least favorite policy to write and enforce, and the policy that creates the most upheaval among the userbase when it is applied"!
"bluesky will suspend you for anything vaguely resembling a death threat" is maybe the single most consistent moderation policy they have I don't know why anyone is surprised by this one
yes, even if it's a reference to song lyrics
yes, even if it's a reference to song lyrics
November 13, 2025 at 12:17 PM
This is a useful thread about the policies behind a three day suspension of a well known poster.
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I am officially one of The Ancients, Keeper of Knowledge of the Before Time
June 4, 2025 at 1:43 AM
I am officially one of The Ancients, Keeper of Knowledge of the Before Time
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Fact-Checking Claims About Zohran Mamdani https://theonion.com/fact-checking-claims-about-zohran-mamdani/
November 7, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Fact-Checking Claims About Zohran Mamdani https://theonion.com/fact-checking-claims-about-zohran-mamdani/
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I do not think he should be mayor, but this is so much healthier of an approach to take toward a democratic election than anything we are hearing from Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo is going to leave NYC the moment he loses. Sliwa seems to truly want to stay in this great city.
November 4, 2025 at 3:39 AM
I do not think he should be mayor, but this is so much healthier of an approach to take toward a democratic election than anything we are hearing from Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo is going to leave NYC the moment he loses. Sliwa seems to truly want to stay in this great city.