Aaron Helton
@aaronhelton.com
He/Him
Library systems dev @ UN Library
en/es
TTRPGs, ♾️ DM
Reader. Writer. Digital Humanist in training @ CUNY GC. William Blake stan.
Queens, NY
www.aaronhelton.com and blog.hilltown.studio
Likes/Reposts ≠ endorsements.
Library systems dev @ UN Library
en/es
TTRPGs, ♾️ DM
Reader. Writer. Digital Humanist in training @ CUNY GC. William Blake stan.
Queens, NY
www.aaronhelton.com and blog.hilltown.studio
Likes/Reposts ≠ endorsements.
Pinned
Aaron Helton
@aaronhelton.com
· Jun 27
Dead I Am the Rat by hilltown
A Mausritter adventure about defeating the cat lord.
hilltown.itch.io
At the beginning of the year I made myself a goal of publishing a TTRPG adventure, which I've never done before. After making a last push on writing, then learning layout and making my own art, here's the result!
Dead I Am the Rat: Play as rat zombies to defeat the cat lord!
#mausritter #osr
Dead I Am the Rat: Play as rat zombies to defeat the cat lord!
#mausritter #osr
Wash, wax, and roll out
“Run your character like a stolen car” is great advice because D&D characters are clearly just cars. HP? Horse power. AC? Air conditioning.
November 11, 2025 at 2:13 AM
Wash, wax, and roll out
Reposted by Aaron Helton
Imagine you read the Iliad and your takeaway is "fighting for princesses."
I'd question your reading comprehension and translation, in that order...
I'd question your reading comprehension and translation, in that order...
November 11, 2025 at 12:58 AM
Imagine you read the Iliad and your takeaway is "fighting for princesses."
I'd question your reading comprehension and translation, in that order...
I'd question your reading comprehension and translation, in that order...
Reposted by Aaron Helton
Dorothy Vaughan | NASA mathematician, programmer & manager died #OTD in 2008
First Black female supervisor at NACA (precursor to NASA), expert programmer, Scout Launch Vehicle Program contributor & more. #WomenInSTEM
Learn more about this "Hidden Figure:" nasa.gov/people/dorot...
First Black female supervisor at NACA (precursor to NASA), expert programmer, Scout Launch Vehicle Program contributor & more. #WomenInSTEM
Learn more about this "Hidden Figure:" nasa.gov/people/dorot...
November 10, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Dorothy Vaughan | NASA mathematician, programmer & manager died #OTD in 2008
First Black female supervisor at NACA (precursor to NASA), expert programmer, Scout Launch Vehicle Program contributor & more. #WomenInSTEM
Learn more about this "Hidden Figure:" nasa.gov/people/dorot...
First Black female supervisor at NACA (precursor to NASA), expert programmer, Scout Launch Vehicle Program contributor & more. #WomenInSTEM
Learn more about this "Hidden Figure:" nasa.gov/people/dorot...
Reposted by Aaron Helton
i find every story about costco's brand strategy and overall approach completely fascinating.
Why Costco Went All in on Kirkland — and How It Paid Off | WSJ Case Study
YouTube video by The Wall Street Journal
www.youtube.com
November 10, 2025 at 6:18 PM
i find every story about costco's brand strategy and overall approach completely fascinating.
Reposted by Aaron Helton
Got a player who can't always make it reliably? Well, now there's a class where their absence is a feature. Sort of.
wayspell.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-...
wayspell.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-...
The Leaper
Every Table has that one friend who wants to play, and we want them to play, but their awful schedule makes committing to anything nearly im...
wayspell.blogspot.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Got a player who can't always make it reliably? Well, now there's a class where their absence is a feature. Sort of.
wayspell.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-...
wayspell.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-...
Reposted by Aaron Helton
Regardless of how you feel about the new Frankenstein adaptation, I think we can all agree it is a rousing success at producing meme-content, and, in that alone, is well worth existing.
November 10, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Regardless of how you feel about the new Frankenstein adaptation, I think we can all agree it is a rousing success at producing meme-content, and, in that alone, is well worth existing.
Cosigned: A US Army veteran and now pacifist who wishes he had had other options to pay for college.
Maybe let's not sell this vision of masculinity to our young.
Maybe let's not sell this vision of masculinity to our young.
I’m sorry but this shit drives me bonkers, there was a price for that “big dick energy,” its in rows and rows of crosses and stars at Colleville-sur-Mer
November 10, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Cosigned: A US Army veteran and now pacifist who wishes he had had other options to pay for college.
Maybe let's not sell this vision of masculinity to our young.
Maybe let's not sell this vision of masculinity to our young.
I'm elbows deep into a thesis positing some version of magic (Alan Moore, et al) as resistive praxis, and I'm fairly confident I'll be able to argue that nothing about generative AI is worthwhile for use. In addition to being "the master's tools" etc., I suggest it's a null magic.
Generative AI is the apotheosis of this process. It's praised for doing better than a human on certain tasks, but those tasks were *made for computer logic* in the first place.
The new world will try to convince you that this computer logic is more valuable than your human thought. Defy it.
The new world will try to convince you that this computer logic is more valuable than your human thought. Defy it.
November 10, 2025 at 4:43 PM
I'm elbows deep into a thesis positing some version of magic (Alan Moore, et al) as resistive praxis, and I'm fairly confident I'll be able to argue that nothing about generative AI is worthwhile for use. In addition to being "the master's tools" etc., I suggest it's a null magic.
Reposted by Aaron Helton
This week in Misfits, we head the Bklyn Public Library's Info Commons to discuss "wayward classification" (the politics of organization, alternative / speculative classification schemes, etc) + meet w/ Kameelah Janan Rasheed, who'll share her work + lead us through a "scoring the stacks" exercise 🤗
November 10, 2025 at 3:05 PM
This week in Misfits, we head the Bklyn Public Library's Info Commons to discuss "wayward classification" (the politics of organization, alternative / speculative classification schemes, etc) + meet w/ Kameelah Janan Rasheed, who'll share her work + lead us through a "scoring the stacks" exercise 🤗
Reposted by Aaron Helton
Happy There Is A Circulatory System Walking Through The Kitchen Day to all who celebrate.
November 10, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Happy There Is A Circulatory System Walking Through The Kitchen Day to all who celebrate.
You can't collect and digitize what isn't there
You can't describe what you didn't collect and digitize
You can't find what you didn't describe
You can't access what you can't find
And this is just a starting point
You can't describe what you didn't collect and digitize
You can't find what you didn't describe
You can't access what you can't find
And this is just a starting point
November 10, 2025 at 11:16 AM
You can't collect and digitize what isn't there
You can't describe what you didn't collect and digitize
You can't find what you didn't describe
You can't access what you can't find
And this is just a starting point
You can't describe what you didn't collect and digitize
You can't find what you didn't describe
You can't access what you can't find
And this is just a starting point
Reposted by Aaron Helton
Currently doing some marking. A reminder to everyone involved in archives and collections: digitisation is not preservation. If I digitise a box of records and put the files on a USB stick I haven't preserved a thing. It's all about what you do with the files post-digitisation. #archives #digipres
November 10, 2025 at 5:35 AM
Reposted by Aaron Helton
I lay there broad awake, feeling a great deal worse than I have ever done since
November 10, 2025 at 1:47 AM
I lay there broad awake, feeling a great deal worse than I have ever done since
New D&D starter adventure just dropped.
November 10, 2025 at 12:22 AM
New D&D starter adventure just dropped.
Reposted by Aaron Helton
“Unlearning” isn’t just reflection, it’s rebellion. Activist and whistleblower Chelsea Manning explores what happens when we stop accepting the systems that define us and start redesigning them instead. #MozFest
🔴 Stream live today at 11:30 am CET
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTrA...
🔴 Stream live today at 11:30 am CET
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTrA...
November 9, 2025 at 8:50 AM
“Unlearning” isn’t just reflection, it’s rebellion. Activist and whistleblower Chelsea Manning explores what happens when we stop accepting the systems that define us and start redesigning them instead. #MozFest
🔴 Stream live today at 11:30 am CET
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTrA...
🔴 Stream live today at 11:30 am CET
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTrA...
Reposted by Aaron Helton
Freyja Stokes goes deep into the historical connections between European witchcraft and sex work, and draws out how #Pratchett uses these in the person of Mrs Palm. It's got history AND sexy puns...
This one's very reasonably-priced - it's free!
Read it now: www.speculativeinsight.com
This one's very reasonably-priced - it's free!
Read it now: www.speculativeinsight.com
November 1, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Freyja Stokes goes deep into the historical connections between European witchcraft and sex work, and draws out how #Pratchett uses these in the person of Mrs Palm. It's got history AND sexy puns...
This one's very reasonably-priced - it's free!
Read it now: www.speculativeinsight.com
This one's very reasonably-priced - it's free!
Read it now: www.speculativeinsight.com
Reposted by Aaron Helton
"[U]niversities are not tech companies. Our role is to foster critical thinking, not to follow industry trends uncritically."
‘Study after study shows that students want to develop these critical thinking skills, are not lazy, and large numbers of them would be in favor of banning ChatGPT and similar tools in universities’, says @olivia.science www.ru.nl/en/research/...
‘Opposing the inevitability of AI at universities is possible and necessary’ | Radboud University
Since the widespread release of ChatGPT in December of 2022, AI has taken over much of the world by storm – including academia. Most of this happened with very little pushback, despite a myriad of iss...
www.ru.nl
November 9, 2025 at 9:17 AM
"[U]niversities are not tech companies. Our role is to foster critical thinking, not to follow industry trends uncritically."
Reposted by Aaron Helton
Someone at a Russell Group university was moved to almost-poetry by their Faculty Meeting… Can anyone do better?
November 7, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Someone at a Russell Group university was moved to almost-poetry by their Faculty Meeting… Can anyone do better?
Reposted by Aaron Helton
RIP Baudrillard you would have loved this shit
New uncanny valley unlocked: inflatable corn maze for urban fall fests.
November 9, 2025 at 4:25 AM
RIP Baudrillard you would have loved this shit
Reposted by Aaron Helton
pre-writing a devastating obituary for your enemy is god-tier hating of a kind you don’t often see anymore. renaissance haterism. beautiful stuff.
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:55 AM
pre-writing a devastating obituary for your enemy is god-tier hating of a kind you don’t often see anymore. renaissance haterism. beautiful stuff.
Reposted by Aaron Helton
Tolkein is good strong medicine for any climate person and always has been
they never at any point thought they would win, and winning came at a terrible price, but what is there to do except the work
take the Ring, though you do not know the way
they never at any point thought they would win, and winning came at a terrible price, but what is there to do except the work
take the Ring, though you do not know the way
![them: "there's no hope of stopping global warming now"
me:
[image is Aragorn from the 1978 Lord of the Rings speaking to Frodo. Someone MSPainted a black bandana on Aragorn's face.]
"Then we must do without hope. There is always vengeance."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4djfp3b27soxcfkxhirydi6d/bafkreic5gogoyf2gqurrb44ru5t4euqnmj3hvmalnmhqlnbvwotuc42ff4@jpeg)
November 8, 2024 at 2:06 PM
Tolkein is good strong medicine for any climate person and always has been
they never at any point thought they would win, and winning came at a terrible price, but what is there to do except the work
take the Ring, though you do not know the way
they never at any point thought they would win, and winning came at a terrible price, but what is there to do except the work
take the Ring, though you do not know the way
This bullshit keeps popping up in history just about everywhere you look.
> Walter Scott never complied with Seward’s wish to see it published.
> Walter Scott never complied with Seward’s wish to see it published.
November 8, 2025 at 5:06 PM
This bullshit keeps popping up in history just about everywhere you look.
> Walter Scott never complied with Seward’s wish to see it published.
> Walter Scott never complied with Seward’s wish to see it published.
AI as D&D Style Illusion Magic: A research paper.
November 8, 2025 at 12:55 PM
AI as D&D Style Illusion Magic: A research paper.
Reposted by Aaron Helton
"i asked grok" "i asked chatgpt" yeah well i asked carl sagan and he said the greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance but the illusion of knowledge 🧪
July 18, 2025 at 4:12 AM
"i asked grok" "i asked chatgpt" yeah well i asked carl sagan and he said the greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance but the illusion of knowledge 🧪
Reposted by Aaron Helton
We wrote this paper a while ago and since then OpenAI has claimed plans to be "core infrastructure" of education, Google has rammed Gemini into schools via its education platforms, and AWS showed it underpins most edtech platforms... 1/
New paper just out on how changing sociotechnical systems of knowledge production and access - platforms, the cloud, AI - pose profound challenges to educational practice and research doi.org/10.1080/0305...
Knowledge infrastructure crisis: digital democratic deficits and alternative designs for education
The production and circulation of knowledge in education increasingly depends on large-scale digital infrastructures. In this article we provide a critical review of the transformation of the conte...
doi.org
November 7, 2025 at 9:31 PM
We wrote this paper a while ago and since then OpenAI has claimed plans to be "core infrastructure" of education, Google has rammed Gemini into schools via its education platforms, and AWS showed it underpins most edtech platforms... 1/