Ranamar
@ranamar.bsky.social
When did I go from grudgingly creating a Twitter account so I could upload some pictures to actively making a Bluesky account?
I almost certainly won't follow you back unless you're someone I know, but don't let that stop you.
(he/him)
I almost certainly won't follow you back unless you're someone I know, but don't let that stop you.
(he/him)
Reposted by Ranamar
"Norman Rockwell was antifa," his granddaughter says. (Fact check: literally true.)
www.thebulwark.com/p/norman-roc...
www.thebulwark.com/p/norman-roc...
The MAGAfication of Norman Rockwell
Trump uses the artist’s work—like other cultural icons—to promote Gestapo tactics and nativist ideas.
www.thebulwark.com
December 29, 2025 at 3:54 AM
"Norman Rockwell was antifa," his granddaughter says. (Fact check: literally true.)
www.thebulwark.com/p/norman-roc...
www.thebulwark.com/p/norman-roc...
Reposted by Ranamar
If only Americans had a recent way to know how crucial immigrants were for the success of the Manhattan Project. A big Hollywood movie where a lot of the nuclear scientist characters speak with accents and talk about fleeing Europe that makes tons of money and wins a bunch of Oscars, perhaps.
Immigrant-hating Stephen Miller talks about Americans being "first to harness the atom." But the first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was conducted by a team led by Italian immigrant Enrico Fermi, who didn't become a U.S. citizen until a year and a half later.
December 29, 2025 at 5:29 AM
If only Americans had a recent way to know how crucial immigrants were for the success of the Manhattan Project. A big Hollywood movie where a lot of the nuclear scientist characters speak with accents and talk about fleeing Europe that makes tons of money and wins a bunch of Oscars, perhaps.
Reposted by Ranamar
Can we stop asking CEOs about AI? Seriously. Ask the people who do the actual work?
Professor Layton Boss Wants People To Stop Demonizing Generative AI
Level-5 CEO Wants People To Stop Demonizing Generative AI
Level-5 CEO Akihiro Hino has shared further thoughts on AI after a past interview of his went viral online
kotaku.com
December 28, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Can we stop asking CEOs about AI? Seriously. Ask the people who do the actual work?
Reposted by Ranamar
As part of an Award Winner Goldbox promotion, The Calculating Stars ebook is only $2.99 on Sunday, December 28th across all US retailers. Happy reading!
December 28, 2025 at 2:00 PM
As part of an Award Winner Goldbox promotion, The Calculating Stars ebook is only $2.99 on Sunday, December 28th across all US retailers. Happy reading!
Reposted by Ranamar
All pets fall into one of two categories: faithful companion or weird little guy.
Cats? Weird little guy.
Dogs? Faithful companion (except very small dogs)
Rats? Faithful companion.
Hamsters? Weird little guy.
Parrots? Weird little guy.
Horses? Faithful companion.
Cats? Weird little guy.
Dogs? Faithful companion (except very small dogs)
Rats? Faithful companion.
Hamsters? Weird little guy.
Parrots? Weird little guy.
Horses? Faithful companion.
December 28, 2025 at 2:47 AM
All pets fall into one of two categories: faithful companion or weird little guy.
Cats? Weird little guy.
Dogs? Faithful companion (except very small dogs)
Rats? Faithful companion.
Hamsters? Weird little guy.
Parrots? Weird little guy.
Horses? Faithful companion.
Cats? Weird little guy.
Dogs? Faithful companion (except very small dogs)
Rats? Faithful companion.
Hamsters? Weird little guy.
Parrots? Weird little guy.
Horses? Faithful companion.
Reposted by Ranamar
I am supposed to be a 'words' guy, yet I find that I lack the words to fully express the sense of rage and betrayal that I feel, having been raised to believe in the beauty of the United States as an - imperfect - pluralistic republic, to see these quislings try to turn it into a boring ethnostate.
December 28, 2025 at 3:57 AM
I am supposed to be a 'words' guy, yet I find that I lack the words to fully express the sense of rage and betrayal that I feel, having been raised to believe in the beauty of the United States as an - imperfect - pluralistic republic, to see these quislings try to turn it into a boring ethnostate.
Reposted by Ranamar
I'm sharing this because sharing an NYT story about this outweighs my dislike of the publication.
We have known for months because of data outside of Japan that this year's flu season was going to be bad but we have an HHS secretary that hates vaccination and so voila.
We have known for months because of data outside of Japan that this year's flu season was going to be bad but we have an HHS secretary that hates vaccination and so voila.
“New York City’s syndromic surveillance system, which collects information about every patient who visits an emergency room, reported 9,857 visits for “influenza-like illness” last week. That was higher than in the worst weeks of the 2017-18 or 2024-25 flu seasons, both ranked as “high severity”
Flu Cases Climb to Highest Levels in New York City in a Decade
www.nytimes.com
December 27, 2025 at 5:24 AM
I'm sharing this because sharing an NYT story about this outweighs my dislike of the publication.
We have known for months because of data outside of Japan that this year's flu season was going to be bad but we have an HHS secretary that hates vaccination and so voila.
We have known for months because of data outside of Japan that this year's flu season was going to be bad but we have an HHS secretary that hates vaccination and so voila.
Reposted by Ranamar
I just got an email saying B&N is offering 25% off everything in store for like 2 days? I'm just saying, if you got a gift card, THE LAST HOUR BETWEEN WORLDS happens to be the perfect New Year's Eve read (sapphic murder time loop at a fancy NYE party starring a very tired but badass new mom)
December 27, 2025 at 4:25 PM
I just got an email saying B&N is offering 25% off everything in store for like 2 days? I'm just saying, if you got a gift card, THE LAST HOUR BETWEEN WORLDS happens to be the perfect New Year's Eve read (sapphic murder time loop at a fancy NYE party starring a very tired but badass new mom)
Reposted by Ranamar
Honestly? Congratulations, your hardware *and* software are both working incredibly well and responding nearly instantly. All QA testing is a kick in the balls. (Tellingly, many people’s reaction to this is schadenfreude about AI, though this robotics demo likely has little to do with LLMs.)
another robot highlight for 2025: man wearing humanoid mocap suit kicks himself in the balls
December 27, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Honestly? Congratulations, your hardware *and* software are both working incredibly well and responding nearly instantly. All QA testing is a kick in the balls. (Tellingly, many people’s reaction to this is schadenfreude about AI, though this robotics demo likely has little to do with LLMs.)
Reposted by Ranamar
So much of this feels like when my parents first got email in the mid 2000s and could not comprehend why it would be used for malicious purposes.
I'm watching AI slop avalanche into the mainstream and many older folks not understanding that it's fake and I genuinely feel like we're all helpless on this. This going to be an era of relentless disinformation, and there's not much that can be done to prevent it. Sigh.
December 27, 2025 at 5:06 PM
So much of this feels like when my parents first got email in the mid 2000s and could not comprehend why it would be used for malicious purposes.
Reposted by Ranamar
Again, it is utterly shameful & demonstrates the total failure of all of our political institutions that threatening our closest NATO allies with territorial conquest has not immediately ended this presidency.
Denmark lost more troops per capita in the post 9/11 war on Afghanistan. Saying they “are not a good ally” because they won’t surrender their territories to the US is lunacy. We are betraying our allies to satisfy the whims of a would-be Emperor for whom the US is not enough.
They’re again advocating against Denmark when it comes to Greenland
December 27, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Again, it is utterly shameful & demonstrates the total failure of all of our political institutions that threatening our closest NATO allies with territorial conquest has not immediately ended this presidency.
Reposted by Ranamar
My whole life we’ve been told that The US is simply too big to have high speed rail
December 26, 2025 at 10:01 PM
My whole life we’ve been told that The US is simply too big to have high speed rail
Reposted by Ranamar
Security guarantees in practice are important to the degree that they enforce costs if the agreeing party renegs. There's really two options: membership in larger mutual defense agreements or tripwire forces (or both).
Were I in Ukraine's position, I'd be willing to sacrifice a lot for tripwire.
Were I in Ukraine's position, I'd be willing to sacrifice a lot for tripwire.
Still kind of baffled by the security guarantees talk, US and EU - people who’ve been watching russia break every single law, kidnap children, loot, rape, torture and kill en masse, bomb cities and blow up dams, occupy NPP for years.
Those people are going to 100% help next time, pinky promise?
Those people are going to 100% help next time, pinky promise?
December 28, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Security guarantees in practice are important to the degree that they enforce costs if the agreeing party renegs. There's really two options: membership in larger mutual defense agreements or tripwire forces (or both).
Were I in Ukraine's position, I'd be willing to sacrifice a lot for tripwire.
Were I in Ukraine's position, I'd be willing to sacrifice a lot for tripwire.
Reposted by Ranamar
2025 Headline of the Year nominee (August)
December 23, 2025 at 12:18 AM
2025 Headline of the Year nominee (August)
Reposted by Ranamar
Whichever demon figured out how to make colds so that they make parents absolutely exhausted but make toddlers energetic (if irritable) was truly Nurgle's strongest soldier.
December 25, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Whichever demon figured out how to make colds so that they make parents absolutely exhausted but make toddlers energetic (if irritable) was truly Nurgle's strongest soldier.
Reposted by Ranamar
Sir Terry Pratchett is best understood as one of the most interesting, deeply ethical practical (I would say Pragmatist but I cede to actual experts) philosophers of the late 20th Century who just happened to work in deconstructed fantasy literature as his medium.
Discworld QOTD, from Hogfather
December 25, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Sir Terry Pratchett is best understood as one of the most interesting, deeply ethical practical (I would say Pragmatist but I cede to actual experts) philosophers of the late 20th Century who just happened to work in deconstructed fantasy literature as his medium.
Reposted by Ranamar
It happened again!
#4 sounds like a lovely book but I didn't write it. Have had whānau up and down the country send me clippings lol
Whoever put together this list that has been circulated to regional papers, didn't fact check.
Whoever put together this list that has been circulated to regional papers, didn't fact check.
December 25, 2025 at 10:24 PM
It happened again!
Reposted by Ranamar
I have said this before, I will say this again: arming the Ukrainians to defend themselves is the best bang-for-buck in defense spending in decades.
Give Ukraine munitions and they will reliably put those explosives on America's enemies.
Just not on Trump's enemies and thus the problem.
Give Ukraine munitions and they will reliably put those explosives on America's enemies.
Just not on Trump's enemies and thus the problem.
December 26, 2025 at 7:41 PM
I have said this before, I will say this again: arming the Ukrainians to defend themselves is the best bang-for-buck in defense spending in decades.
Give Ukraine munitions and they will reliably put those explosives on America's enemies.
Just not on Trump's enemies and thus the problem.
Give Ukraine munitions and they will reliably put those explosives on America's enemies.
Just not on Trump's enemies and thus the problem.
Reposted by Ranamar
Conflating adoption with citizenship would have been bizarre gibberish to the Romans. But if you really want to draw an analogy, the famously unique thing about Roman citizenship is how they were (relatively, in fits and starts) so much more liberal in granting its expansion than competing powers.
I had missed this latest delirium by Adrian Vermeule on birthright citizenship
'Common law?! NAH, it's the Roman law of adoption that should govern the interpretation of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution!'
thenewdigest.substack.com/p/immigratio...
'Common law?! NAH, it's the Roman law of adoption that should govern the interpretation of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution!'
thenewdigest.substack.com/p/immigratio...
December 27, 2025 at 12:15 AM
Conflating adoption with citizenship would have been bizarre gibberish to the Romans. But if you really want to draw an analogy, the famously unique thing about Roman citizenship is how they were (relatively, in fits and starts) so much more liberal in granting its expansion than competing powers.
Reposted by Ranamar
Stop asking for swords goddammit, I’m not some lady living in a swamp ffs
December 25, 2025 at 4:39 AM
Stop asking for swords goddammit, I’m not some lady living in a swamp ffs
Reposted by Ranamar
So D&D is medieval (kinda sorta) in its clothing and technology, with castles and knights and things you might find in medieval *literature* like wizards and dragons, but it has a lot of elements of the western in how it thinks about "civilisation" and "wildness" and whatnot.
December 23, 2025 at 2:00 PM
So D&D is medieval (kinda sorta) in its clothing and technology, with castles and knights and things you might find in medieval *literature* like wizards and dragons, but it has a lot of elements of the western in how it thinks about "civilisation" and "wildness" and whatnot.
Reposted by Ranamar
The thing about people saying that they would like to pay more money for fewer games that are shorter with worse graphics is that they are, by and large, lying. The ones who aren't have already been captured by Itch
Every studio is frantically looking to cut costs of output because most studios are very financially squeezed, and the likely alternatives to things like AI & other tool assistance is not "employ more people," it's probably "employ fewer & work them harder," or "don't make games."
December 22, 2025 at 6:41 PM
The thing about people saying that they would like to pay more money for fewer games that are shorter with worse graphics is that they are, by and large, lying. The ones who aren't have already been captured by Itch
Reposted by Ranamar
It's funny how us parochial Americans generally seem to perceive that the EV revolution is stalling or reversing when in fact it's accelerating rapidly worldwide. 25% of cars sold globally in 2025 were EVs!
It's mostly just the US that's being left behind
It's mostly just the US that's being left behind
December 23, 2025 at 9:17 PM
It's funny how us parochial Americans generally seem to perceive that the EV revolution is stalling or reversing when in fact it's accelerating rapidly worldwide. 25% of cars sold globally in 2025 were EVs!
It's mostly just the US that's being left behind
It's mostly just the US that's being left behind
Reposted by Ranamar
a lot of people don't realize that Christmas carols and traditions are actually folk memories of suppressed pre-Christian events, namely the end of the Third Age and the Fall of Sauron.
December 24, 2025 at 10:05 PM
a lot of people don't realize that Christmas carols and traditions are actually folk memories of suppressed pre-Christian events, namely the end of the Third Age and the Fall of Sauron.
Reposted by Ranamar
Part of the pleasure of running a broad First World War course is introducing a student who is interested in the invention of the tank to measuring the impact of blockade by children’s heights and one interested in ‘war poets’ to evolving techniques in counter battery fire. They tend to like this.
December 24, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Part of the pleasure of running a broad First World War course is introducing a student who is interested in the invention of the tank to measuring the impact of blockade by children’s heights and one interested in ‘war poets’ to evolving techniques in counter battery fire. They tend to like this.