Ashley Flanagan
ashflanagan.bsky.social
Ashley Flanagan
@ashflanagan.bsky.social
Ash • any pronouns • classicist @ academia ➡️ Game Designer @ Pipeworks ➡️ Destiny Historian @ Bungie ➡️ Senior Narrative Designer @ Hearthstone • personal account
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
Goodreads giveaway for Trace Elements!

@adapalmer.bsky.social is very interesting, science fiction is very interesting, sometimes when it isn't a Monday morning even I can be a bit interesting -- if you use Goodreads, sign up in the hope of a free copy of our book

www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...
Book giveaway for Trace Elements: Conversations on the Project of Science Fiction and Fantasy by Jo Walton Nov 10-Dec 01, 2025
Enter to win one of 50 free copies available. Giveaway dates from Nov 10-Dec 01, 2025. From two of the most acclaimed writers in the field today, a groun...
www.goodreads.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:50 PM
The horse didn't cause quite as much damage as the so-called "experts" predicted last time it was in the hospital, so you can't blame the people who let it back inside for no reason. How could they have known this time would be worse?
November 10, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
want to know how much perceptions changed of agency? jessica alba was sympathetic ICE agent in machete movies
If they're still making movies in 15-20 years there will be multiple Oscar noms for playing "remorseful / reflective former ICE agent who knows how Complicated history is"
November 10, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
Many people think this race could be decided by only a handful of votes (here’s former Seattle mayor Greg Nickels). Have YOU checked to make sure that yours was counted? Check our link in bio to check on your vote with King County elections!
November 9, 2025 at 11:51 PM
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
Loving today's news that the mysterious "fedora man" outside the Louvre heist was actually a 15-year-old museum visitor who dresses like a 1940s French detective all the time, just because. apnews.com/article/louv...
Fedora man unmasked: Meet the teen behind the Louvre mystery photo
Fifteen-year-old Pedro Elias Garzon Delvaux has become an internet sensation after an Associated Press photo captured him outside the Louvre on the day of a crown jewels heist.
apnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
I think a number of press outlets badly want there to be a groundswell of anti-trans feeling, because the ownership/senior editorial of those papers have absolutely cooked their own brains on transphobia. It seems to be largely an elite psychosis!
the harris campaign said the “they/them” ad didn’t sway the election.

one of the trump campaign’s top strategists this week said trans rights isn’t in the top five issues for swing voters.

when will the press stop talking about us like we’re a liability and start looking itself in the mirror
November 9, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
“We have rarely witnessed such brutality erupt into public view like it has in Chicago,” writes Michael Woolf, senior minister of Lake Street Church of Evanston. “For me, this is a spiritual emergency, and it means putting our bodies on the line in order to stop deportations.”
I’m One of the Clergy ICE Assaulted. They Treat Immigrants Worse
I learned the hard way that my clerical collar doesn’t offer much protection from ICE. But immigrants have no protection at all.
sojo.net
November 9, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
I'm still thinking about this show two years later.
October 19, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
ironically what makes star wars stuff best is when it is 'something else, but also star wars'

e.g. Andor, a British political thriller but also Star Wars
the Mandalorian, an episode-of-the-week Western but also Star Wars (when it was good)
November 8, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
This is very good. It's distressing how many smart people take Scott Alexander seriously and don't recognize how noxious he actually is. segyges.leaflet.pub/3m4yn4yf2lk2d/
The Scott Alexander Email: An Explainer - Gyges Blog
segyges.leaflet.pub
November 8, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
your country should be massively overprovisioned for food and electricity or you have done it wrong
Australia has so much electricity from solar power that it is going to start offering free electricity to everyone for at least three hours during the day as the wholesale price of power goes negative

electrek.co/2025/11/04/a...
Australia has so much solar that it's offering everyone free electricity
Australia's extensive solar power penetration makes so much energy that the government wants to offer free electricity at peak hours.
electrek.co
November 6, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
Yes, some people's legacies are complicated. For example, Watson. After all, though he was racist, don't forget his other traits. For example, he was also sexist. And also anti-semitic. And a data / idea thief. So let's not forget all the different facets.
November 8, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
Seattle's mayoral race will end up quite close; that could make 'challenged' ballots that had some issue key to resolving the race.

WA allows voters to "cure" their ballot, i.e. come in and explain or fix issues like forgetting a signature. (Not all states allow this.)

Info from the county:
Maybe you forgot to sign your ballot, or your signature didn't quite match the one on record. If you received a signature challenge letter and have questions, we have a web page for that.

kce.wiki/SignatureCha...

Folks who need to resolve a signature challenge have until 4:30 pm on November 24.
Signature challenges - King County, Washington
kce.wiki
November 8, 2025 at 12:06 AM
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
People are supposed to get hurt when they misallocate capital, the one exception is depository institutions because they have demand deposits in them.
my hot AI take is that regardless of how we feel about it, bailing out the big AI companies may be *necessary* to avoid long-term systemic harm to real people

as always, the system acts too late to contain the blast radius
November 8, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
I made lowpoly dreads just to see if I could
#chabindra #apronstrings
November 5, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
I do slightly think that what is happening in Chicago could be the beginnings of a non-violent civil disobedience movement that goes way beyond just like, No Kings protests, and could grow quite a lot
This morning, in Broadview, 14 suburban women were arrested during an act of civil disobedience calling for an end to ICE/CBP’s kidnappings throughout the Chicago area.

“We want to encourage other people who feel strongly about ICE’s actions to step off the sidelines and take our cities back.”
Fourteen suburban moms arrested in sit-in protest outside Broadview ICE facility
The mothers sat in a circle on Beach Street on Friday to “demand an end” to the immigration raids that have swept through the Chicago area since the Trump administration launched “Operation Midway Bli...
chicago.suntimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
OVER A MILLION USERS

DISCUSS SUICIDE WITH CHATGPT

EVERY *WEEK*

what the fuck are we DOING here
Panera’s moderately caffeinated lemonade was loosely associated with 2 deaths before it was taken off market.

This article alone has 4 examples of ChatGPT encouraging young people to commit suicide, and OpenAI’s own public stats estimate over a million users discuss suicide with ChatGPT each week.
I fully believe in the corporate death penalty and believe we would be a better world if OpenAI lost its corporate charter and was forcibly dissolved.

www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
November 7, 2025 at 10:59 PM
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
You should watch Pluribus. (Vince Gilligan does not miss.)
One of the best shows in forever—achingly sad, hugely entertaining, and really REALLY thoughtful about important things like … the value of humanity. Really! And I gave away as little as I possibly could—almost nothing that’s not in the very opaque trailer.
In 'Pluribus,' isolation is the price of a frictionless life
The haunting new show from Vince Gilligan, who created Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, is set in Gilligan's now-signature location, Albuquerque.
www.npr.org
November 7, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
Seattlites, check to make sure your vote was counted! Katie Wilson needs every vote.
1/ Seattle! 2000 ballots need signatures (updates or didn't sign)!! Tell your friends to check their ballot status here: info.kingcounty.gov/kcelections/... And if you have time between now & Nov. 14, volunteer to help cure votes: linktr.ee/Wilsonforsea... ("Ballot Chasing for Katie Wilson")
November 7, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
A thing I've noticed with two different streaming companies is trans rights failures are a good canary for much worse things to come. I ditched Spotify and I ditched Netflix over giving money to transphobia…and now 5 years later everyone's like "AI! War profiteering!" and I'm like huh not my problem
November 7, 2025 at 10:58 PM
I went to high school with Ruth's grandson & can confirm this
I LEARNED THE ANSWER TO THIS

Chris's Steakhouse was a New Orleans landmark

Chris Matulich periodically got bored, sold it, waited for the new owner to fail, and bought it back cheap

The sale conditions: Can't move it, can't change the name

He did this six times

Then he sold it to Ruth Fertel
what did ruth mean when she said her steakhouse was "chris"
November 7, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
I LEARNED THE ANSWER TO THIS

Chris's Steakhouse was a New Orleans landmark

Chris Matulich periodically got bored, sold it, waited for the new owner to fail, and bought it back cheap

The sale conditions: Can't move it, can't change the name

He did this six times

Then he sold it to Ruth Fertel
what did ruth mean when she said her steakhouse was "chris"
November 7, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
HAPPY FOUR SEASONS TOTAL LANDSCAPING DAY TO ALL WHO CELEBRATE
November 7, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
bring back maligning racism as the mark of a stupid person. prejudice is the mark of an idiot. if you believe that shit i bet you also don’t wipe your ass
November 7, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
Spotify is crashing HARD because of the boycott. Their stock dropped 11% in value over the last month. Let’s keep this going!

Tell everyone you know to boycott Spotify. There are plenty of alternatives that don’t run ICE advertisements and screw over artists.

We made it easy at boycottspotify.com.
November 7, 2025 at 7:15 PM