Brent Simmons
@thrashy.bsky.social
Lab planner, toddler dad, maker, modder, motorsports enthusiast and lapsed autocrosser. SF/F nerd - I've never won a Hugo, but I've *got* one...
PFP shamelessly yoinked from (the merch shop for) Order Of The Stick, by @rich-burlew.giantitp.com.
PFP shamelessly yoinked from (the merch shop for) Order Of The Stick, by @rich-burlew.giantitp.com.
Pinned
Brent Simmons
@thrashy.bsky.social
· Jun 28
I’ve made it clear to my loved ones that I want *my* ashes compressed into a gemstone and forged into the pommel of a sword passed down to the firstborn of every subsequent generation.
As an undiagnosed autistic kid with computers as my Special Interest, I once thought of myself as an enlightened superintelligence, and that the world would be a better place if those of us who Knew Computer ran the world one day. Then techbros made it happen, and it turns out to be not so great.
I think the belief by the powerful that "people will put up with many things if you are excellent at math" is incredibly revealing in terms of understanding How We Got Here
November 12, 2025 at 1:02 AM
As an undiagnosed autistic kid with computers as my Special Interest, I once thought of myself as an enlightened superintelligence, and that the world would be a better place if those of us who Knew Computer ran the world one day. Then techbros made it happen, and it turns out to be not so great.
Here we see a rare subspecies of the LinkedIn Lunatic, "architectus viridibaptismata." Using planet-destroying AI, it has applied the visual signifiers of natural beauty to objects where they do not belong, presumably attempting to lure in its prey "stultus argentarius" -- the common idiot VC guy.
November 8, 2025 at 2:11 AM
Here we see a rare subspecies of the LinkedIn Lunatic, "architectus viridibaptismata." Using planet-destroying AI, it has applied the visual signifiers of natural beauty to objects where they do not belong, presumably attempting to lure in its prey "stultus argentarius" -- the common idiot VC guy.
A read worth your time. "Bovine noises of studious grey-lady impartiality, with the labor of anything resembling 'appraisal' surgically excised" is, as the kids say, a *bar*.
Peter Coviello isn't on Bluesky, but this definitely should be: lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
lithub.com
November 7, 2025 at 9:37 PM
A read worth your time. "Bovine noises of studious grey-lady impartiality, with the labor of anything resembling 'appraisal' surgically excised" is, as the kids say, a *bar*.
Being online in 2025 means doing digital phrenology on cartoon images of frogs to determine if they’re fascist or anti-fascist.
November 7, 2025 at 2:22 AM
Being online in 2025 means doing digital phrenology on cartoon images of frogs to determine if they’re fascist or anti-fascist.
What an absolutely batshit strawman: I guess trying to protect healthcare for working people is austerity, and our present Avengers Endgame-sized sequel to the dot-com bubble is worthy and must be kept inflated no matter the cost. Who'd have thought!?
“It’s not that I’m for austerity, it’s just that I’m against bailing out AI, crypto, private assets/university endowments, and I’m fine with canceled Thanksgiving flights and missed paychecks as long as Republicans take the blame for it.”
November 6, 2025 at 8:36 PM
What an absolutely batshit strawman: I guess trying to protect healthcare for working people is austerity, and our present Avengers Endgame-sized sequel to the dot-com bubble is worthy and must be kept inflated no matter the cost. Who'd have thought!?
Me about to fire off a slide deck to MBS titled “The Darco Arcology From SimCity 2000 Will Make Saudi Arabia The Envy Of The World”
November 6, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Me about to fire off a slide deck to MBS titled “The Darco Arcology From SimCity 2000 Will Make Saudi Arabia The Envy Of The World”
*PA chime* Paging @edzitron.com to the white courtesy phone, Ed Zitron to the white courtesy phone, please. *PA chime*
*OpenAI Would Like Federal Backstop For Data Center Investments, CFO Says -- WSJ
November 5, 2025 at 9:25 PM
*PA chime* Paging @edzitron.com to the white courtesy phone, Ed Zitron to the white courtesy phone, please. *PA chime*
Justice Alito seen preparing flags not flown since the days of Antipope Benedict XIV
I have to imagine far-right Catholics are really struggling with the fact that they can now hear this stuff in English directly from the pope.
“How did you receive the foreigner? And did you receive him and welcome him or not?”
Pope Leo XIV challenges us to reflect on the moral cost of policies that target deeply-root immigrants and families.
Pope Leo XIV challenges us to reflect on the moral cost of policies that target deeply-root immigrants and families.
November 5, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Justice Alito seen preparing flags not flown since the days of Antipope Benedict XIV
So it looks like Zohran is going to come away with an absolute majority of votes cast. Question: does this give him a mandate from the voters, or is it technically a maMdate?
November 5, 2025 at 6:21 AM
So it looks like Zohran is going to come away with an absolute majority of votes cast. Question: does this give him a mandate from the voters, or is it technically a maMdate?
The 3rd panel of Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights, but it’s just Dick Cheney and Henry Kissinger being eternally run through a meat grinder which is unceasingly cranked by the vengeful spirit of Anthony Bourdain as a host of bombed third world civilians cheer
November 5, 2025 at 1:11 AM
The 3rd panel of Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights, but it’s just Dick Cheney and Henry Kissinger being eternally run through a meat grinder which is unceasingly cranked by the vengeful spirit of Anthony Bourdain as a host of bombed third world civilians cheer
Reposted by Brent Simmons
It's a number that goes on and on... and on... and on...
November 3, 2025 at 6:00 PM
It's a number that goes on and on... and on... and on...
I just read a post from somebody suggesting that architectural specifications writers might be completely replaced by LLMs, and I'm convinced of two things:
1: Some firm is going to try it
2: The resulting E&O claims will cause that firm to suffer immediate critical existence failure
1: Some firm is going to try it
2: The resulting E&O claims will cause that firm to suffer immediate critical existence failure
October 31, 2025 at 2:13 PM
I just read a post from somebody suggesting that architectural specifications writers might be completely replaced by LLMs, and I'm convinced of two things:
1: Some firm is going to try it
2: The resulting E&O claims will cause that firm to suffer immediate critical existence failure
1: Some firm is going to try it
2: The resulting E&O claims will cause that firm to suffer immediate critical existence failure
Y’all know what “Weiss” means in German, right?
This was just posted by a CBS News producer on their Instagram stories.
October 29, 2025 at 11:39 PM
Y’all know what “Weiss” means in German, right?
At the scanning of a headline, so much of Intel's strange collapse over the last several years just clicked into perspective
An ex-Intel CEO’s mission to build a Christian AI: ‘hasten the coming of Christ’s return’
An ex-Intel CEO’s mission to build a Christian AI: ‘hasten the coming of Christ’s return’
Patrick Gelsinger, executive chairman of Gloo, has made it his mission to advance Christian principles in Silicon Valley
www.theguardian.com
October 28, 2025 at 3:49 PM
At the scanning of a headline, so much of Intel's strange collapse over the last several years just clicked into perspective
Later that day, in the Pope's offices:
"Can we still do crusades? I need to do a crusade."
"Can we still do crusades? I need to do a crusade."
Mar Awa III, patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, also born in Chicago, gave Pope Leo a Cubs jersey.
October 28, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Later that day, in the Pope's offices:
"Can we still do crusades? I need to do a crusade."
"Can we still do crusades? I need to do a crusade."
Zohran says the housing shortage in NYC comes from a lack of imagination. Here's my imaginative pitch: Make New York New Amsterdam Again! Picture it: polders in the Husdon River! The Battery connected all the way to Governor's Island! Two 'A's in Haarlem!
Here's my full interview with Jon Stewart on @thedailyshow.com.
Zohran Mamdani - Reimagining NYC Through Safety and Affordability | The Daily Show
YouTube video by The Daily Show
youtu.be
October 28, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Zohran says the housing shortage in NYC comes from a lack of imagination. Here's my imaginative pitch: Make New York New Amsterdam Again! Picture it: polders in the Husdon River! The Battery connected all the way to Governor's Island! Two 'A's in Haarlem!
Some real Labyrinth of Time-ass scene transitions going on here
October 25, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Some real Labyrinth of Time-ass scene transitions going on here
I used to have very strong opinions about patent law! Can you *imagine* what it would feel like to be that far up the court political hierarchy of needs again?
The number one lesson we have to tell EVERYONE under the age of 30 is before 2016 we didn't have to think about what was going on in the federal government every goddamn second of every goddamn day. Like the most was about 30 minutes of time eight times a month MAX and that was under Dubya.
October 25, 2025 at 4:54 AM
I used to have very strong opinions about patent law! Can you *imagine* what it would feel like to be that far up the court political hierarchy of needs again?
Lol, Evan thinks the gun nut has three different guns in his house... my gun nut friend growing up had three different guns *under his bed.* Shit's wild over here.
interesting, here’s @evanedinger.bsky.social’s follow up video responding to rather predictable comments he got from US residents after his first video. He covers a lot of ground, but predictably for me the most interesting is that a lot of people really don’t understand how car dependency works.
The Crazy Sh*t Americans Say In My Comment Section
YouTube video by Evan Edinger
youtu.be
October 24, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Lol, Evan thinks the gun nut has three different guns in his house... my gun nut friend growing up had three different guns *under his bed.* Shit's wild over here.
Bernie is an old-school pro-union guy - opposing migration that creates a low-wage labor pool and dilutes the economic leverage of union workers is a completely internally consistent position for him. I don't agree with him on this point, but nobody should be shocked by it.
October 24, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Bernie is an old-school pro-union guy - opposing migration that creates a low-wage labor pool and dilutes the economic leverage of union workers is a completely internally consistent position for him. I don't agree with him on this point, but nobody should be shocked by it.
The right wing has been doing the hard work of making normies care deeply about tan suits and fancy mustard since the founding of Fox News, and to the detriment of us all it's worked magnificently. Dems need to push back or get out of the way of those who will.
"normies do not care about this thing and so it is no use raising a stink" is imho just an excuse for not doing politics, which is the job of making normies care about something
October 24, 2025 at 4:19 AM
The right wing has been doing the hard work of making normies care deeply about tan suits and fancy mustard since the founding of Fox News, and to the detriment of us all it's worked magnificently. Dems need to push back or get out of the way of those who will.
Everybody's talking about how this looks like a hellish officescape, but this is a trading floor for JPMC's day traders, and as such things go it's not bizarre. The thing that gets me is more that JPMC is devoting so much floorspace to daytrading, an objectively bad way to make money.
October 23, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Everybody's talking about how this looks like a hellish officescape, but this is a trading floor for JPMC's day traders, and as such things go it's not bizarre. The thing that gets me is more that JPMC is devoting so much floorspace to daytrading, an objectively bad way to make money.
If the ‘S’ in IoT stands for security, the ‘R’ must stand for resiliency.
The AWS outage bricked people's $2,700 smartbeds, leaving them in a reclining position or with the heat up. People were unable to use them, basically. A GitHub repo exists that lets people operate their beds without reliance on the normal infrastructure
www.404media.co/the-aws-outa...
www.404media.co/the-aws-outa...
The AWS Outage Bricked People’s $2,700 Smartbeds
When Amazon Web Services went offline, people lost control of their cloud-connected smart beds, getting stuck in reclined positions or roasting with the heat turned all the way up.
www.404media.co
October 22, 2025 at 5:23 PM
If the ‘S’ in IoT stands for security, the ‘R’ must stand for resiliency.
NYT Editorial Board: Whatever the Fuck it is Keir Starmer is Doing Over There, It Sure Seems to be Working From Where We Are Standing
I just did a jump scare and @joshgondelman.bsky.social asked me what was wrong.
Behold:
Behold:
October 20, 2025 at 5:58 PM
NYT Editorial Board: Whatever the Fuck it is Keir Starmer is Doing Over There, It Sure Seems to be Working From Where We Are Standing
A Tower on Billionaires’ Row Is Full of Cracks. Who’s to Blame?
www.nytimes.com
October 20, 2025 at 2:41 PM