Nom de Plume Brett
@maverickbrett.bsky.social
I mean nom de plume literally means pen name.
Views do not represent employers or funding agencies.
Engineer playing god poorly.
Fund basic science research. (He/Him)🏳️🌈
Views do not represent employers or funding agencies.
Engineer playing god poorly.
Fund basic science research. (He/Him)🏳️🌈
Pinned
"A counterintelligence assessment of Will Stancil and his Network"
Your James Angleton in 1946 and bolt away from having fallen asleep drinking bourbon and being goth, and know this future must not come to past.
Your James Angleton in 1946 and bolt away from having fallen asleep drinking bourbon and being goth, and know this future must not come to past.
Reposted by Nom de Plume Brett
long-term, fwiw, I think this will also make [LLM] spam & manipulation a completely uncontrollable problem here, putting aside human manual manipulation, but the site is currently flying low enough that it's not catching anyone's eye
February 12, 2026 at 5:07 AM
long-term, fwiw, I think this will also make [LLM] spam & manipulation a completely uncontrollable problem here, putting aside human manual manipulation, but the site is currently flying low enough that it's not catching anyone's eye
Reposted by Nom de Plume Brett
the only way community moderation even comes close to working (e.g. reddit) is if you have a massive set of gates that posts have to pass through before they actually hit the feed.
atproto's design - anyone can hit the firehose with just an email - puts a tremendous, unsolvable burden on free mods
atproto's design - anyone can hit the firehose with just an email - puts a tremendous, unsolvable burden on free mods
February 12, 2026 at 5:07 AM
the only way community moderation even comes close to working (e.g. reddit) is if you have a massive set of gates that posts have to pass through before they actually hit the feed.
atproto's design - anyone can hit the firehose with just an email - puts a tremendous, unsolvable burden on free mods
atproto's design - anyone can hit the firehose with just an email - puts a tremendous, unsolvable burden on free mods
I uh would strongly advise against carrying around a metal flask that has the correct markings for containing / is a radioactive source. That will trigger a hazmat call out.
February 12, 2026 at 12:24 AM
I uh would strongly advise against carrying around a metal flask that has the correct markings for containing / is a radioactive source. That will trigger a hazmat call out.
You have to clarify this due to how many troops are on the border.
Customs and Border Protection personnel — not U.S. troops — used military laser to shoot object near El Paso -- new from @dflawrence.bsky.social over on @defensescoop.bsky.social defensescoop.com/2026/02/11/e...
Customs and Border Protection personnel — not U.S. troops — used military laser to shoot object near El Paso
U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel shot down an object with a military laser earlier this week near El Paso, Texas, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation.
defensescoop.com
February 11, 2026 at 10:58 PM
You have to clarify this due to how many troops are on the border.
Do you ever see a piece of visual art, and go "My go it was beautiful what have I been allowed to see? The color, the composition, everything is perfect?"
February 11, 2026 at 10:30 PM
Do you ever see a piece of visual art, and go "My go it was beautiful what have I been allowed to see? The color, the composition, everything is perfect?"
Reposted by Nom de Plume Brett
i think the best part of this analogy is that whether or not you have a ferrari is irrelevant if you're stuck in traffic
Everyone has been given a free Ferrari, but it’s got a manual transmission and some weird requirements so it takes a little skill and effort. Most just stare at it. Some jump in and grind gears. A bunch drive into the wall. Others complain it’s not a teleportation device. All fools. A few just zoom.
February 11, 2026 at 9:25 PM
i think the best part of this analogy is that whether or not you have a ferrari is irrelevant if you're stuck in traffic
Are industrial Legos good or bad? The question that sparks a weekly argument in my professional circles.
Like not to get too curmudgeonly, but often times your design is worse or vastly more difficult because of it.
February 11, 2026 at 8:52 PM
Are industrial Legos good or bad? The question that sparks a weekly argument in my professional circles.
Yes. (and it's bad)
I feel like it's very understated how the availability of standardized widgets and doohickeys influences engineering and design decisions in a way that it didn't a century ago
February 11, 2026 at 8:48 PM
Yes. (and it's bad)
Because our email system is incredibly fucked up, I switched access systems and let me say: I swear to god I can not always open attachments its a crap shoot.
I work at one of the biggest media companies in the world and there's about a 30% hit rate on execs knowing how to open email attachments. I think, much like politics, we enthusiastic dorks don't realize how many people treat the entire concept of tech as radioactive
February 11, 2026 at 8:46 PM
Because our email system is incredibly fucked up, I switched access systems and let me say: I swear to god I can not always open attachments its a crap shoot.
Reposted by Nom de Plume Brett
We Europeans pride ourselves on respecting the rule of law, but all of this evaporates when it comes to our treatment of migrants
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/m...
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/m...
Inside a Detention Site at the Heart of Europe’s Harsh New Approach to Immigration
www.nytimes.com
February 11, 2026 at 8:22 PM
We Europeans pride ourselves on respecting the rule of law, but all of this evaporates when it comes to our treatment of migrants
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/m...
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/m...
Why do I forget that you should not treat academics like normal office works with things like tact and understanding of the role of inter office communications?
February 11, 2026 at 7:28 PM
Why do I forget that you should not treat academics like normal office works with things like tact and understanding of the role of inter office communications?
Mylar balloons are like the 3rd best way to damage grid infrastructure it's wild.
TBF, there have been more electric sector impacts due to mylar balloons than there have been from cyber attacks
www.cbsnews.com/news/airspac...
www.cbsnews.com/news/airspac...
Airspace closure followed spat over drone-related tests and party balloon shoot-down, sources say
Pentagon officials had undertaken planning to use military technology near Fort Bliss, in El Paso, to practice downing drones.
www.cbsnews.com
February 11, 2026 at 7:14 PM
Mylar balloons are like the 3rd best way to damage grid infrastructure it's wild.
Reposted by Nom de Plume Brett
TBF, there have been more electric sector impacts due to mylar balloons than there have been from cyber attacks
www.cbsnews.com/news/airspac...
www.cbsnews.com/news/airspac...
Airspace closure followed spat over drone-related tests and party balloon shoot-down, sources say
Pentagon officials had undertaken planning to use military technology near Fort Bliss, in El Paso, to practice downing drones.
www.cbsnews.com
February 11, 2026 at 7:07 PM
TBF, there have been more electric sector impacts due to mylar balloons than there have been from cyber attacks
www.cbsnews.com/news/airspac...
www.cbsnews.com/news/airspac...
Remember when we canceled the 11th airborne's 4 day and made them spend it twiddling their thumbs in JBER because we threatened to send them to Minnesota?
February 11, 2026 at 6:57 PM
Remember when we canceled the 11th airborne's 4 day and made them spend it twiddling their thumbs in JBER because we threatened to send them to Minnesota?
Reposted by Nom de Plume Brett
2 of his 3 main points are stuff that any competent correlation of forces analysis would account for (incidentally worth saying for the umpteenth time that the people who knew what they were talking about expected Russia to suck in 22, just to not suck as badly as they ended up doing initially)
February 11, 2026 at 6:45 PM
2 of his 3 main points are stuff that any competent correlation of forces analysis would account for (incidentally worth saying for the umpteenth time that the people who knew what they were talking about expected Russia to suck in 22, just to not suck as badly as they ended up doing initially)
Reposted by Nom de Plume Brett
NEW: CBP signs a new deal with Clearview AI to access its scraped image database for "tactical targeting," including efforts to “disrupt, degrade, and dismantle” networks of people labeled security threats.
CBP Signs Clearview AI Deal to Use Face Recognition for ‘Tactical Targeting’
US Border Patrol intelligence units will gain access to a face recognition tool built on billions of images scraped from the internet.
www.wired.com
February 11, 2026 at 4:37 PM
NEW: CBP signs a new deal with Clearview AI to access its scraped image database for "tactical targeting," including efforts to “disrupt, degrade, and dismantle” networks of people labeled security threats.
Reposted by Nom de Plume Brett
trump musing aloud that he's gonna burn in hell has become so common in his ramblings that it doesn't even make the news, this was a few days ago and the only clip i was able to find of it was at RT
February 11, 2026 at 4:43 PM
trump musing aloud that he's gonna burn in hell has become so common in his ramblings that it doesn't even make the news, this was a few days ago and the only clip i was able to find of it was at RT
Ok, I would like to note, I have seen. 3 possible explanations, (maybe two with one poorly conveyed) but they still don’t make sense in context of the actual NOTAM, which shut down a random part of New Mexico which is still in effect.
February 11, 2026 at 3:55 PM
Ok, I would like to note, I have seen. 3 possible explanations, (maybe two with one poorly conveyed) but they still don’t make sense in context of the actual NOTAM, which shut down a random part of New Mexico which is still in effect.
Reposted by Nom de Plume Brett
the ghost of james angleton came to me in my studio apartment during grad school and charged me with a holy crusade: to make his corpse spin in his grave with sufficient inertia to reanimate him, through making him an avatar for effective counterintelligence practice in the name of social democracy
February 11, 2026 at 3:39 AM
the ghost of james angleton came to me in my studio apartment during grad school and charged me with a holy crusade: to make his corpse spin in his grave with sufficient inertia to reanimate him, through making him an avatar for effective counterintelligence practice in the name of social democracy
Reposted by Nom de Plume Brett
Political science as a field overall has physics and economics envy. But I have always felt more kinship with primatologists. I basically view myself as the Jane Goodall of gun monkeys.
February 11, 2026 at 3:10 PM
Political science as a field overall has physics and economics envy. But I have always felt more kinship with primatologists. I basically view myself as the Jane Goodall of gun monkeys.
"A counterintelligence assessment of Will Stancil and his Network"
Your James Angleton in 1946 and bolt away from having fallen asleep drinking bourbon and being goth, and know this future must not come to past.
Your James Angleton in 1946 and bolt away from having fallen asleep drinking bourbon and being goth, and know this future must not come to past.
February 11, 2026 at 7:29 AM
"A counterintelligence assessment of Will Stancil and his Network"
Your James Angleton in 1946 and bolt away from having fallen asleep drinking bourbon and being goth, and know this future must not come to past.
Your James Angleton in 1946 and bolt away from having fallen asleep drinking bourbon and being goth, and know this future must not come to past.
Reposted by Nom de Plume Brett
Charcoal or solar panels? A tale of two Cubas.
The US oil siege has created two classes of Cubans: those who use generators or solar panels to power their ovens, and those who have resorted to cooking over open fires
u.afp.com/S29i
The US oil siege has created two classes of Cubans: those who use generators or solar panels to power their ovens, and those who have resorted to cooking over open fires
u.afp.com/S29i
February 11, 2026 at 5:26 AM
Charcoal or solar panels? A tale of two Cubas.
The US oil siege has created two classes of Cubans: those who use generators or solar panels to power their ovens, and those who have resorted to cooking over open fires
u.afp.com/S29i
The US oil siege has created two classes of Cubans: those who use generators or solar panels to power their ovens, and those who have resorted to cooking over open fires
u.afp.com/S29i
Ok I’m like two pages in and am hooked.
You're not wrong, but the Heinz Felfe case was my skeleton key for understanding him. Reading the official post-mortem is an exercise in "Ohhhhh, so *that's* how his brain did that!"
www.cia.gov/readingroom/...
www.cia.gov/readingroom/...
www.cia.gov
February 11, 2026 at 3:48 AM
Ok I’m like two pages in and am hooked.
Reposted by Nom de Plume Brett
Watch as a massive crack forms in the ice on Lake Erie.
An impressive view captured by GOES-19 earlier on Sunday.
An impressive view captured by GOES-19 earlier on Sunday.
February 9, 2026 at 7:07 AM
Watch as a massive crack forms in the ice on Lake Erie.
An impressive view captured by GOES-19 earlier on Sunday.
An impressive view captured by GOES-19 earlier on Sunday.