Bolster
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bolster.bsky.social
Bolster
@bolster.bsky.social
71 followers 81 following 37 posts
Senior R&D Manager (Data Science) @ Black Duck Software, recovering academic, former robo-psychiatrist, hackerspace founder, meetup organiser, and player-of-calendar-tetris.

https://andrewbolster.info
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bolster.bsky.social
Another quotable from @edzitron.com (well, technically, @author-calnewport.bsky.social ).

> Claude Code is like model trains for engineering-minded people

#chefkiss #yoink

open.spotify.com/episode/3F9d...
Hater Season: Cal Newport on AI Reporting
open.spotify.com
February 11, 2026 at 8:58 AM
Reposted by Bolster
bsidesbelfast.bsky.social
In the last act of #BSidesBelfast25; we've published our "Financial Transparency Report", where we lay out what it costs to run the conference.
#BSidesBelfast26 will return on the 10th of September!

bsidesbelfast.org/2026/bsides-...
February 4, 2026 at 11:08 AM
Reposted by Bolster
edzitron.com
Did an episode with @davidgerard.co.uk that goes out tomorrow about Clawdbot/openclaw/whatever that crap is. It’s more LLM bullshit that the media is scarfing down because some people made a fake social network for LLMs to post to. Nobody will care about this in a few months
February 3, 2026 at 5:26 PM
Reposted by Bolster
bsidesbelfast.bsky.social
Sponsors needed!
#BSidesBelfast26 wouldn't be possible without the support of local employers and organisations that make #BSidesBelfast the centerpiece of the Cybersecurity calendar in Northern Ireland.

bsidesbelfast.org/sponsor/ #securitybsides #infosec #communityconference
January 29, 2026 at 8:53 AM
bolster.bsky.social
Putting the finishing touches on to this years @bsidesbelfast.bsky.social sponsorship, transparency, and most importantly, logo discussions this week. #bsidesbelfast26 #securitybsides #belfast #conference #infosec #watchthisspace bsidesbelfast.org/sponsor
January 27, 2026 at 3:22 PM
bolster.bsky.social
Before anyone else ventures into the @niauditoffice.bsky.social #NICS report;

Data gets mentioned 44 times (1 every 2 pages)
Transpar(ent|ency) gets 5
Open gets just one.

🤷‍♂️ /c @OpenGovNI

www.niauditoffice.gov.uk/publications...
a young boy wearing green sunglasses and a blue shirt .
ALT: a young boy wearing green sunglasses and a blue shirt .
media.tenor.com
January 27, 2026 at 3:03 PM
bolster.bsky.social
I should play #RDR...
January 26, 2026 at 6:52 PM
bolster.bsky.social
Hell of a quotable from @edzitron.com this morning "It feels like the dot com bubble was created by the excitement about the beginning, and this is people trying to pretend that something's happening, and that we're not at 'the end'"
edzitron.com Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 20d
Here’s the first episode of Better Offline’s Dot Com Bubble Week. I’m joined by @mattrosoff.bsky.social to talk about what it was like to be in tech during the last time the markets got drunk on a major digital hype cycle.

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/b...
Linktr.ee/betteroffline
Working In The Dot Com Bubble ft. Matt Rosoff
Podcast Episode · Better Offline · 01/26/2026 · 56m
podcasts.apple.com
January 26, 2026 at 9:23 AM
bolster.bsky.social
Turned off auto-renewal for 7 "I'll definitely get around to building that" domains...
a man in a suit and tie is standing in front of a door with his arms in the air .
ALT: a man in a suit and tie is standing in front of a door with his arms in the air .
media.tenor.com
January 21, 2026 at 8:05 AM
Reposted by Bolster
politevulgarian.bsky.social
The greatest metaphor in print this year, courtesy of @edzitron.com
Analysts have, on some level, become the fractional marketing team for the stocks they’re investing in. When Oracle announced its $300 billion deal with OpenAI in September — one that Oracle does not have the capacity to fill and OpenAI does not have the money to pay for – analysts heaved and stammered like horny teenagers seeing their first boob:
January 1, 2026 at 12:33 AM
Reposted by Bolster
bsidesbelfast.bsky.social
🎉 BSides Belfast 2026 IS GO!

Writing this from @bsideslondon.bsky.social ; the community energy is INCREDIBLE and #BSidesBelfast26 will be epic!

📅 Sept 10, 2026 | 📍 Belfast
🤝 Sponsors wanted!
📽️ 2025 on YT

#BSidesBelfast #CyberSecurity #Community #securitybsides

bsidesbelfast.org/2025/an-earl...
December 13, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Reposted by Bolster
malaiseforever.bsky.social
reading slaughterhouse 5 for the first time and i was absolutely knocked senseless by this passage, which is so true and relevant that it feels like it was pulled from a history book
“America is the wealthiest nation on Earth, but its people are mainly poor, and poor Americans are urged to hate themselves. To quote the American humorist Kin Hubbard, 'It ain’t no disgrace to be poor, but it might as well be.' It is in fact a crime for an American to be poor, even though America is a nation of poor. Every other nation has folk traditions of men who were poor but extremely wise and virtuous, and therefore more estimable than anyone with power and gold. No such tales are told by the American poor. They mock themselves and glorify their betters. The meanest eating or drinking establishment, owned by a man who is himself poor, is very likely to have a sign on its wall asking this cruel question: 'if you’re so smart, why ain’t you rich?' There will also be an American flag no larger than a child’s hand – glued to a lollipop stick and flying from the cash register. Americans, like human beings everywhere, believe many things that are obviously untrue. Their most destructive untruth is that it is very easy for any American to make money. They will not acknowledge how in fact hard money is to come by, and, therefore, those who have no money blame and blame and blame themselves. This inward blame has been a treasure for the rich and powerful, who have had to do less for their poor, publicly and privately, than any other ruling class since, say Napoleonic times. Many novelties have come from America. The most startling of these, a thing without precedent, is a mass of undignified poor. They do not love one another because they do not love themselves.”
October 26, 2025 at 6:01 PM
bolster.bsky.social
What prey tell is the point of a bus lane when I've been lurking here for over an hour and only 1 (full) bus has passed by? 2 miles of single lane traffic wasted. I'm not grumpy you are.
October 1, 2025 at 8:06 AM
Reposted by Bolster
edzitron.com
Number go up, number go up, no think about number number always good number always up number up number up number up
Nvidia's Al Deals Might Be 'Circular! They're Also Smart Business.
September 26, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Reposted by Bolster
matthewhughes.bsky.social
My latest newsletter is about how Internet culture died, and why the centralization of the web around a handful of large platforms is responsible for making the web a duller, more boring place.

whatwelost.substack.com/p/the-death-...
The Death of Internet Culture
It's not just you. The web is boring now.
whatwelost.substack.com
September 19, 2025 at 4:23 PM
bolster.bsky.social
September 17, 2025 at 7:03 AM
bolster.bsky.social
Never change, @blindboyboatclub.bsky.social , never change open.spotify.com/episode/2zIR...
(Also featuring Beauty and the Beast, which I didn't know was originally written by a woman)
September 16, 2025 at 7:59 AM
Reposted by Bolster
stickerstalluk.github.io
Last week the new ‘second-box’ got its first outing at @bsidesbelfast.bsky.social and the folks there used it to raise a cracking £407 for Marie Curie !

Next up, @bsidesncl.bsky.social !

As ever, new stickers into the supply are every bit as welcome as donations for the stickers already there!
September 15, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Reposted by Bolster
edzitron.com
Here's part 2 of this week's two-part episode of Better Offline. I walk you through how America’s economic growth has become dependent on Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Meta’s AI capex - and how this will harm both our economy and markets.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/b...
linktr.ee/betteroffline
August 21, 2025 at 4:23 AM
bolster.bsky.social
Random weekend pondering while listening to @edzitron.com / #BetterOffline, if Agentic AI was any good, buying Labubus at scale avoiding all the gamification shit would be a great eval...
August 17, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Reposted by Bolster
edzitron.com
Good piece on the rationale behind charging $200 a month for a subscription, though I’d add the other reason is that power users are costing these companies so much money and $200 a month is *closer* to making actual money, even though they’re still unprofitable
www.wheresyoured.at/anthropic-is...
July 28, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Reposted by Bolster
bsidesbelfast.bsky.social
With GA just over a week behind us, and Sponsor Close just over a week ahead of us, it's a great time to talk about how we fund and operate #BSidesBelfast; so we're trying out a "Financial Transparency Report"! Let us know what you think!
#securitybsides bsidesbelfast.org/2025/bsides-...
BSides Belfast 2024 Financial Transparency Report – BSides Belfast
bsidesbelfast.org
July 25, 2025 at 11:18 AM
bolster.bsky.social
We dropped the @bsidesbelfast.bsky.social transparency report yesterday, and we spend far too much on coffee and lunch! 🤣😭🤣 bsidesbelfast.org/2025/bsides-... #bsidesbelfast25 #bsidesbelfast24 #securitybsides
BSides Belfast 2024 Financial Transparency Report – BSides Belfast
bsidesbelfast.org
July 24, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Reposted by Bolster
climatenews.bsky.social
Greta Thunberg makes a statement upon arrival in France after she was kidnapped and abducted by the Israeli regime in international waters.
June 11, 2025 at 7:54 AM
Reposted by Bolster
bsidesbelfast.bsky.social
Early Bird 2 SOLD OUT! Last tickets are going to be released in July so the best way to get access to #bsidesbelfast25 is to speak! bsidesbelfast.org/speak/ #bsidesbelfast #bsidesbelfast25 #securitybsides #infosec #cybersecurity
May 26, 2025 at 10:21 AM