Ben Collins-Sussman
@sussman.bsky.social
He/him, Chicago native. Former eng director @ Google, composer, pianist, banjoist, author, gamer, photographer, illustrator, radio ham, dad. http://debuggingteams.com
Feeling quite sheveled and gruntled today.
October 7, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Feeling quite sheveled and gruntled today.
Discovery 1: Wordle has a “hard mode” toggle switch you can activate.
Discovery 2: I’ve already been playing Wordle that way for months. 😳
Discovery 2: I’ve already been playing Wordle that way for months. 😳
December 25, 2024 at 1:09 PM
Discovery 1: Wordle has a “hard mode” toggle switch you can activate.
Discovery 2: I’ve already been playing Wordle that way for months. 😳
Discovery 2: I’ve already been playing Wordle that way for months. 😳
From Live figure drawing meetup today
July 28, 2024 at 10:23 PM
From Live figure drawing meetup today
iPad Procreate, textures
July 21, 2024 at 3:42 AM
iPad Procreate, textures
Yesterday’s successful project: write my first Discord chatbot, running on my MacBook. Connected it a llama3 LLM also running on my MacBook. Now my friends and I can all chat with whatever ridiculous personality I spin up in the LLM. 😂
June 30, 2024 at 1:34 PM
Yesterday’s successful project: write my first Discord chatbot, running on my MacBook. Connected it a llama3 LLM also running on my MacBook. Now my friends and I can all chat with whatever ridiculous personality I spin up in the LLM. 😂
After a few months of writing, and illustrating -- I finally published my first tiny work of fiction! It's a short, comedic D&D adventure that you can now get at the link below. After spending my life writing technical manuals, this was a real joy to work on!
legacy.drivethrurpg.com/product/4858...
legacy.drivethrurpg.com/product/4858...
Mandatory Inn-spection - Ben Collins-Sussman | DriveThruRPG.com
After weaving through bustling pedestrians and horse-carts, you spy a unique building packed between houses and shops: a
legacy.drivethrurpg.com
June 27, 2024 at 8:29 PM
After a few months of writing, and illustrating -- I finally published my first tiny work of fiction! It's a short, comedic D&D adventure that you can now get at the link below. After spending my life writing technical manuals, this was a real joy to work on!
legacy.drivethrurpg.com/product/4858...
legacy.drivethrurpg.com/product/4858...
Final cover of my D&D adventure.
June 24, 2024 at 10:21 PM
Final cover of my D&D adventure.
About 5 months into sabbatical! Still doing lots of creative work, connecting with family, and some occasional job interviews too. Meanwhile, here's a blog post on all my recent explorations with AI... I'm really enjoying all the discovery.
social.clawhammer.net/blog/posts/2...
social.clawhammer.net/blog/posts/2...
Writings of sussman@
Personal blog of sussman@
social.clawhammer.net
June 14, 2024 at 5:56 PM
About 5 months into sabbatical! Still doing lots of creative work, connecting with family, and some occasional job interviews too. Meanwhile, here's a blog post on all my recent explorations with AI... I'm really enjoying all the discovery.
social.clawhammer.net/blog/posts/2...
social.clawhammer.net/blog/posts/2...
First attempt at drawing a fantasy portait ... middle-aged gnome.
May 23, 2024 at 10:31 PM
First attempt at drawing a fantasy portait ... middle-aged gnome.
After 44 years of playing D&D, I'm close to publishing my first adventure, thanks to a great self-guided workshop course. One of the coolest things I've learned is how to create a properly-tagged "accessible" PDF for screen-readers, and I'm lucky to have friends who can test this for me.
May 7, 2024 at 4:01 PM
After 44 years of playing D&D, I'm close to publishing my first adventure, thanks to a great self-guided workshop course. One of the coolest things I've learned is how to create a properly-tagged "accessible" PDF for screen-readers, and I'm lucky to have friends who can test this for me.
Well it finally happened: after 3 months of working in the same coffee shop every other morning, today the barista greeted me by name when I walked in.
May 2, 2024 at 2:29 PM
Well it finally happened: after 3 months of working in the same coffee shop every other morning, today the barista greeted me by name when I walked in.
Rant: there's still no way to buy an e-book and support my local indie bookstore.
For mail-order books, bookshop.org replaces Amazon delivery. For audiobooks, Libro.fm replaces Audible.
But if I want an e-book for my e-reader? No solution. I'm forced to either give money to Amazon or B&N. 😤
For mail-order books, bookshop.org replaces Amazon delivery. For audiobooks, Libro.fm replaces Audible.
But if I want an e-book for my e-reader? No solution. I'm forced to either give money to Amazon or B&N. 😤
April 28, 2024 at 3:10 PM
Rant: there's still no way to buy an e-book and support my local indie bookstore.
For mail-order books, bookshop.org replaces Amazon delivery. For audiobooks, Libro.fm replaces Audible.
But if I want an e-book for my e-reader? No solution. I'm forced to either give money to Amazon or B&N. 😤
For mail-order books, bookshop.org replaces Amazon delivery. For audiobooks, Libro.fm replaces Audible.
But if I want an e-book for my e-reader? No solution. I'm forced to either give money to Amazon or B&N. 😤
For a decade, I stored hundreds of private notes in OneNote. I migrated everything to Notion about 3 months ago, and now I've migrated them all again to Obsidian. I think I'm a stereotype at this point.
April 22, 2024 at 11:15 PM
For a decade, I stored hundreds of private notes in OneNote. I migrated everything to Notion about 3 months ago, and now I've migrated them all again to Obsidian. I think I'm a stereotype at this point.
For a decade, I stored hundreds of private notes in OneNote. I migrated everything to Notion about 3 months ago, and now I've migrated them all again to Obsidian. I think I'm a stereotype at this point.
April 19, 2024 at 6:01 PM
For a decade, I stored hundreds of private notes in OneNote. I migrated everything to Notion about 3 months ago, and now I've migrated them all again to Obsidian. I think I'm a stereotype at this point.
Making a new gpg key, since my old one was 1024-bit from 1998. This is the best interactive dialogue question ever. Are these REALLY the terms?
Please select which elliptic curve you want:
(1) Curve 25519 *default*
(4) NIST P-384
(6) Brainpool P-256
Please select which elliptic curve you want:
(1) Curve 25519 *default*
(4) NIST P-384
(6) Brainpool P-256
April 17, 2024 at 2:39 AM
Making a new gpg key, since my old one was 1024-bit from 1998. This is the best interactive dialogue question ever. Are these REALLY the terms?
Please select which elliptic curve you want:
(1) Curve 25519 *default*
(4) NIST P-384
(6) Brainpool P-256
Please select which elliptic curve you want:
(1) Curve 25519 *default*
(4) NIST P-384
(6) Brainpool P-256
Sabbatical status update!
social.clawhammer.net/blog/posts/2...
social.clawhammer.net/blog/posts/2...
Writings of sussman@
Personal blog of sussman@
social.clawhammer.net
March 21, 2024 at 9:48 PM
Sabbatical status update!
social.clawhammer.net/blog/posts/2...
social.clawhammer.net/blog/posts/2...
Two months into sabbatical: 25,000 words of fiction written.
I’ve spent my life writing blogs & technical books, and wanted to try something new. I joined #FlashFictionFebruary & wrote 28 tiny stories. I joined a course on writing D&D adventures — and my first draft is almost ready for play-test.
I’ve spent my life writing blogs & technical books, and wanted to try something new. I joined #FlashFictionFebruary & wrote 28 tiny stories. I joined a course on writing D&D adventures — and my first draft is almost ready for play-test.
March 8, 2024 at 8:11 PM
Two months into sabbatical: 25,000 words of fiction written.
I’ve spent my life writing blogs & technical books, and wanted to try something new. I joined #FlashFictionFebruary & wrote 28 tiny stories. I joined a course on writing D&D adventures — and my first draft is almost ready for play-test.
I’ve spent my life writing blogs & technical books, and wanted to try something new. I joined #FlashFictionFebruary & wrote 28 tiny stories. I joined a course on writing D&D adventures — and my first draft is almost ready for play-test.
Trying to understand Arc Boosts. "Boosts has two features. You can use it to change the colors and fonts on a page, or you can use it to hide any given part of the page."
Me: why would I want that? What problem does it solve?
Author: "I got rid of both sidebars on LinkedIn"
Me: LET'S GOOOOO
Me: why would I want that? What problem does it solve?
Author: "I got rid of both sidebars on LinkedIn"
Me: LET'S GOOOOO
March 5, 2024 at 9:24 PM
Trying to understand Arc Boosts. "Boosts has two features. You can use it to change the colors and fonts on a page, or you can use it to hide any given part of the page."
Me: why would I want that? What problem does it solve?
Author: "I got rid of both sidebars on LinkedIn"
Me: LET'S GOOOOO
Me: why would I want that? What problem does it solve?
Author: "I got rid of both sidebars on LinkedIn"
Me: LET'S GOOOOO
I don't how to say this. The 'workspace' feature in Arc Browser on mac is killer. Like, I just migrated my entire chrome existence to 4 Arc workspaces. Arc is a lovely place to live in. I've quit out of Chrome completely, and having some guilt now. Maybe Stockholm syndrome.
March 5, 2024 at 7:08 PM
I don't how to say this. The 'workspace' feature in Arc Browser on mac is killer. Like, I just migrated my entire chrome existence to 4 Arc workspaces. Arc is a lovely place to live in. I've quit out of Chrome completely, and having some guilt now. Maybe Stockholm syndrome.
2月の日曜日
February Sunday
February Sunday
February 11, 2024 at 10:27 PM
2月の日曜日
February Sunday
February Sunday
A blog post on my favorite part about Google, and how it gradually changed. I think this is the end of my reflections on Google for now. It was an amazing ride!
social.clawhammer.net/blog/posts/2...
social.clawhammer.net/blog/posts/2...
January 19, 2024 at 5:57 AM
A blog post on my favorite part about Google, and how it gradually changed. I think this is the end of my reflections on Google for now. It was an amazing ride!
social.clawhammer.net/blog/posts/2...
social.clawhammer.net/blog/posts/2...
Some of the creative projects I've teed up for myself while on short 'break': social.clawhammer.net/blog/posts/2...
January 16, 2024 at 12:00 AM
Some of the creative projects I've teed up for myself while on short 'break': social.clawhammer.net/blog/posts/2...
At last, I get to order one of these from @dansinker.bsky.social 🤣
shop.dansinker.com/products/mar...
shop.dansinker.com/products/mar...
Marginally Employed patch
New for 2024: Just Eight Bucks! The other week I was at a cookout and someone asked what I was doing now, and I opened my mouth and out came "Well I'm marginally employed" and I wanted to go run and h...
shop.dansinker.com
January 14, 2024 at 3:55 AM
At last, I get to order one of these from @dansinker.bsky.social 🤣
shop.dansinker.com/products/mar...
shop.dansinker.com/products/mar...