A\n Alexa K
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an-alexa-k.bsky.social
A\n Alexa K
@an-alexa-k.bsky.social
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I'm a crabputer
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an-alexa-k.bsky.social
Bonus sign
Carcass Present There is a carcass in this habitat, which is part of the animals' normal diet. Intact pretty items are a form of enrichment, promoting natural feeding behavior.
November 20, 2025 at 4:19 PM
an-alexa-k.bsky.social
At the zoo and I got some questions
Where are the animals? Why is the water green? Why is it so dark in here? Where is the python?
November 20, 2025 at 4:19 PM
an-alexa-k.bsky.social
Enjoy.
A pie chart labeled "How Long That Clock Go?" It has 15% at "< 1 Day", 25% at "1-3 days", 35% at "4-10 days", 15% at "10-20 days", and 10% at "> 20 days." A bar chart titled "Time at Clock Reset." X axis is a series of dates, Y axis is days. Most values are less than 20 days, with two spikes at 6-15 and 9/1 in the 70s. A trendline shows a show upward trend.
November 6, 2025 at 10:04 PM
an-alexa-k.bsky.social
Been catching up with Shelved By Genre, this is what it's like to think about Dr. Bloodmoney.
September 11, 2025 at 9:35 PM
an-alexa-k.bsky.social
Ada Palmer's such a big fan of unreliable narrators that she put one in her historical book (from Inventing the Renaissance) (with special guest my cat)
INTERMISSION Are You Remembering Not to Believe Me? At this point I must remind you that you promised to read this section keeping in mind that Ada Palmer started studying the Renaissance because she was excited by how the First World War shaped twentieth-century literature and Freud's death instinct. The
May 17, 2025 at 10:08 PM
an-alexa-k.bsky.social
Invisible Networks 6: Thigmotaxis #InvisibleNetworks
Welcome to the Moderation Team! Hello and welcome! We’re excited to for you to join our moderation team. No matter if you’re a programmer here dogfooding or a new full time employee, we’re excited to have you. Moderation has always been a core function and the greatest weakness of social media sites. But it has always been plagued by problems How can you find bad behavior? What do you do once you find it? How do you handle different communities, with different standards? How can you prevent harm before it happens? How can you do it without inflicting untold trauma on your moderators? How do you handle a community of millions with a reasonably sized team? Good news: we have a solution. Introducing: Semantic Differentiation Thigmotaxis Using LLMs purchased cheap during the third AI winter, we convert the whole of the social web into a 3d shape. The contours of the shape are mapped directly to what people are saying and it constantly updated as new posts are made. The shape, if it was made in real life, would be much too large for anyone to see it meaningful detail. But you won’t be looking at the shape. You’ll be feeling it. Your job is to trace the contours of the shape, identifying rough patches to smooth out, sharp points to blunt, and holes to fill. Once identified, the changes made to the shape are converted back into semantic information and used to hand out bans and suspensions, head off harassment, and keep conversations civil - everything moderation is responsible for. (Thigmotaxis means how an organism responds to tactile stimuli. People will be throwing that word around a lot so you’ll want to remember it). Whisker Inputs The technical name is a “Suzu-Steinberg Tactile Input” but most people call them freckles or whiskers for the four input points on each cheek. We use the cheeks for two reasons. First, it’s a sensitive part of the body that isn’t too intimate and second, we can track your microexpressions as you interact with the shape. Those natural facial reactions are how we determine how you’re reacting to what you’re touching. You’ll have the ports installed, free of charge. Don’t worry - the procedure only takes two hours and they can easily be removed if you later decide you don’t want them. (An icon of a face with four little circles on each cheek. It's labeled "Location of the input ports") Most new moderators want to know: what does SDT feel like? But truth is everyone experiences it differently. Here are some answers from our current moderation team: “It’s like rubbing against the fur of a vast animal.” - Ivane M. “Standing outside and letting the wind blow into my face.” - Bassem O. “Dragging my cheek across the ground.” - Karine J. “Like shoving my hand into a deep barrel full of all kinds of random stuff. Only it’s not my hand, it’s my cheeks, but you get it.” - Hana M. “Swimming but through things you normally couldn’t swim through, like wood or sand.” - Judith S What moderators agree is that it’s not unpleasant, even when dealing with content that would unpleasant if you interacted with it directly. Each moderator is capable of managing a community of one hundred thousand people and when you’re in it, you’re hardly even aware that you’re doing it. That’s the power of SDT!
April 18, 2025 at 12:59 AM
an-alexa-k.bsky.social
Invisible Networks 12: Signal #InvisibleNetworks
Signal A37 Radio Kit Description Signal A37, colloquially known as the Hum, is a low frequency droning noise detectable by 2-4% of the population. Undetectable by machine sensors and able to pass through materials and long distances, it’s very existence was disputed until techniques to reliably produce it artificially were created. The Signal A37 Radio Kit provides all the materials and in-depth instructions you need to build a A37 Radio and investigate this mysterious phenomenon for yourself! We use the Warsaw-Lor circuit design, widely agreed to be both easy to make and flexible enough to get a good range of outputs . Ages 14 and up, suitable both amateurs and experts. Specs Range: 5 meters Batteries: 1x 9v No soldering required Benson A37 Synthesizer Description Most naturally occurring A37 is usually described as an irritating grinding or ringing noise. But through careful tuning and overlaying of different varieties of A37, musicians have been capable of produce benign and even calming sounds. The genre of “thrum metal” is an attempt to recreate the style but fans of A37 music agree you have to hear the real thing for yourself. The Benson A37 Synthesizer was the first mass market A37 synth and many agree it’s still the best. Equipped with dual oscillators and amplifiers, a polyphonic step sequencer with layered and unlayered settings, a reverse arpeggiator, and more. Specs Range: 10 meters Number of Keys: 7 Presets: 256 Effects: 8 A37 Vision Phone Description The A37 Vision Phone is a standard A37 broadcast headset, taking sound inputs and converting them to the A37 Signal. Join the community of A37 detectors in your neighborhood! It comes with a copy of Hum Simplified English by Arnold Place, the gold standard for learning how to communicate effectively with the the limited set of sounds A37 can produce. Disclaimer: The A37 Phone system is for hobbyist purposes and should not be used for any kind of criminal activity. Unlike most forms of communication it cannot be automatically surveilled, so it is important to refrain from using it to plan or execute covert activities. The makers of the A37 Vision Phone do not endorse the attacks on government facilities in the American southwest, although we do not yet believe there is sufficient compelling evidence that A37 Vision Phones were involved. Specs Range: 3333 meters Battery Life: 40 hours USB: 1x Type B Waterproof Shockproof
April 12, 2025 at 6:16 PM
an-alexa-k.bsky.social
Invisible Networks 5: Hand #InvisibleNetworks
XXIXX The Gloved Hand (The image of a hand, open with the palm facing upward) [Friendship] is the realm of uncertainty; three quarters of the factors on which action in [friendship] is based are wrapped in a fog of greater or lesser uncertainty. A sensitive and discriminating judgment is called for; a skilled intelligence to scent out the truth.” - Carl von Clausewitz The XXIXX Network is devoted enabling genuine relationships in an environment of total privacy. What do we mean by genuine relationships? Real human connection, the kind that people live for. Friends you can turn to times of need, reveal your deepest secrets to, and trust with your vulnerability. Most people these days do not have relationships like this and that kind of loneliness can impact both mental and physical health. XXIXX is here to help with that. What do we mean by total privacy? There a thousand ways an online identity can be connected back to a person in the real world. XXIXX builds systems to protect you from that. We locate and remove identifying information, we alter signature word choices, we introduce randomness into your actions to hide patterns. It can take only one slip up for a person to be found - we ensure that won’t happen The symbol of XXIXX is the gloved hand. It represents reaching out while being covered, the helping hand in the dark. XXIXX helps you deepen your relationships while keeping the glove on, both online and offline. Only reveal what you want to., when you want. Or don’t reveal at all. We Offer: An international system of dead drops Proxies to let you act at a distance Training in Tradecraft Disguise and infiltration tools Security camera and other surveillance neutralization Aliases and fake IDs Alibi providers And we are constantly working to find new ways to help you act with love without revealing yourself. XXIXX Reach out from the darkness.
April 8, 2025 at 10:12 PM
an-alexa-k.bsky.social
Invisible Networks 4: Relationship #InvisibleNetworks
GSip Network Outage Troubleshooting Script Opening “Hello, my name is (YOUR NAME) and calling from GSip Technical Support. I was hoping to speak to (NODE A NAME) about a matter pertaining to the GSip network’s functioning. As you may know, all members of GSip are responsible for transferring their data through the network. Every time you meet with another GSip member, data is exchange between the two of you on it’s way to it’s ultimate destination. That’s how we ensure all messages reach their intended recipient in a timely manner while avoiding any kind of central repository which might be hacked or subpoenaed. We at GSip Central only monitor the overall network health, it’s up to you keep it running. Network health is why we’ve called today. This might be a personal question, but are you and (NODE B NAME) having any kind of relationship problems? If they ask why you want to know or otherwise request more information Well, you might not know this, but the connection between you and (NODE B NAME) is an important link in GSip network. Between (LINK START DATE) and (DISRUPTION START DATE), you and (NODE B NAME) were in contact at least once every (LINK RATE), creating a reliable point of connection. By routing messages through that connection, we were able to provide a (EFFICIENCY STAT) percent reduction in travel time for over (DOWNSTREAM NODE COUNT) users. However, in the (TIME SINCE DISRUPTION) you and (NODE B) have not been in close enough proximity to initiate a transfer, leading to network wide congestion. We’d like to resolve this issue, if at all possible. If they indicate a temporary disruption (i.e. out of town, period of illness, religious observance): Thank you for letting us know. We’ll leave things as they are for now and we look forward to you being reunited with (NODE B NAME). If they indicate a permanent disruption (i.e. break up, irreconcilable differences, job change, death): Thank you for letting us know. (OFFER CONDOLENCES OR CONGRATULATIONS AS APPROPRIATE.) We’ll start working to establish new links to replace this one, so the network will soon be back up to proper operations. If they indicate a resolvable problem: If you wouldn’t mind, could I get more information on what exactly happened? We at GSip are eager to help you resolve this issue If the situation appears to be Node A’s fault: Continue to Appendix A: Therapeutic and Pharmacological Interventions. If the situation appears to be Node B’s fault: Continue to Appendix B: Nudge-based and Network Level Interventions. If the situation appears to be no one’s fault/the fault of large societal/historical forces: Continue to Appendix C: Theological or Structural Interventions End Call Thank you for talking with me today, you’ve been a great help – the entire GSip community thanks you.
April 7, 2025 at 11:13 PM
an-alexa-k.bsky.social
Invisible Networks 3: Fables #InvisibleNetworks
To combat context collapse, the makers of the Social Protocol Framework 2.0 divided all communication in 138 distinct categories, ranging from 1.3.5 (informational – accurate – news) to 4.2.15 (phatic – emotional – thinking of you) to 2.2.11 (emotional – outbursts – despair). For each category, a unique protocol, tuned to ensure it can achieve the goals of that kind of communication. Of the 138, 1.5.4 (informational - non-literal – fables) was the most influential. Protocol 1.5.4 is noted by: unlimited propagation, loose authorship, medium length, simple vocabulary, global and incremental editing, and a hundred other subtle requirements and affordances. When SPF 2.0 was adopted, a confused and anxious population took to it like water in a desert. People in those days had all the facts in the world but until then no way to synthesize them into enduring knowledge. 1.5.4 served as a crucial sense-making apparatus, a new way for communities to forge wisdom on how to handle the chaotic world around them. Popular fables The rabbit and the non-elephant animal Hollo* travels the wires The congress of pendulums An attractor in the ocean Hollo in the city of cities *Hollo, a non-binary child good at math and bad with people, is a common stock character in these fables.
April 4, 2025 at 8:28 PM
an-alexa-k.bsky.social
Invisible Networks 2: Island #InvisibleNetworks
Isle of Saint Mitchell Travel Advisory Isle of Saint Mitchell - Level 1: Exercise Normal precautions Reissued after periodic review with minor edits. The Isle of Saint Mitchell is an out-network territory, under the right to disconnect provisions of the Great European Union. Networked devices will not be able to connect to the standard network on Saint Mitchells or within its territorial waters. If you decide to travel to the Isle of Saint Mitchell: - Leave an unnecessary networked devices at home. - Read upon the St. Mitchells network before you go; what you can and can't do may be very different from the networks you're used too. - Rent or purchase a clockwork server and olfactory interface - they are required to connect to the local net. If you forget to obtian your equipment before you go, they can be purchased on the island. Assistance for US Citizens US Embassy Isle of Saint Mitchell 982 3rd Ring, South Facing Isle of Saint Mitchells 0E47 Telephone +(E) 23-62-AA Emergency +(E) 55-2W-AA PACKET SMUGGLING (a tilted letter with speed lines) IS A CRIME! Any attempt to connect St. Mitchells to the greater network carries a penalty of 5 years imprisonment and up to $2000 in fines. All incoming data must be checked by customs. Offending data will be delted. The Isle of St. Mitchell Department of Network Security and Social Cohesion The Isle of Saint Mitchells was spared the worst of the Days of Rage thanks to the destruction of the local cable landing point on the sixth day. All other connections to the greater network were destroyed shortly after and a new network was built from the ground up to replace it. Fully disconnected from the greater network, the Saint Mitchells Network has run independently for 12 years and maintaining that independence through a combination of technical non-compatibility, strictly enforce regulation, and local cultural norms. It was declared a cultural heritage site two years ago. (A picture of a radio tower tilted over) Tower 3 of the 8 Tower Central Array (Fortepan / Rádió és Televízió Újság) (A man in a tree attaching wires to the branches) A technician repairs arboreal connectors (Fortepan / Krantz Károly) (Photos in black and white due to export restrictions)
April 3, 2025 at 5:22 PM
an-alexa-k.bsky.social
Invisible Networks 1: Etiquette #InvisibleNetworks
CS246 Topics in Trust and Safety Fall Semester Schedule Week 1: The Free Speech Wing of the Free Speech Party We’ll discuss the first generation of social media networks and their moderation paradigm. How did they attempt to achieve it? How successful were they? And why did this paradigm ultimately fail? Discussion Questions: - Do you think the vision of interaction pursed by the early social networks was desirable? Do you think it was possible? - What were the human costs of this first paradigm of moderation? Consider the effects on both users and staff. Week 2: The Etiquette Paradigm The rise of new social networks with explicate, granular rules. We’ll look at the moderation practices found in the online RPG courtesan/social and the Greater Autonomous Lanchester Young Persons Forum and discuss how they influenced later networks. Discussion Questions: - How do the rules enforced by this generation differ from the rules of the previous generation? - Study the courtesy books provided. What kind of conversations do you think they encouraged? What kind of conversations do you think they discourage? Week 3: Computational Enforcement, Etiquette Regexes and Etiquette Schemas Covering modern technologies for defining, communicating, and enforcing network rules. We’ll study EttEx A flexible framework for creating well-architected and maintainable etiquette systems in NodeJS. Features - A robust library of standard etiquette forms - Supports both regular expression and finite state machine based etiquette systems - Automatic courtesy doc generation - APIs for federated etiquette schema management - Validation of in-group and out-group behavioral standards - Carnivale and substitute king ritual systems - Role management UI
April 2, 2025 at 8:06 PM
an-alexa-k.bsky.social
Invisible Networks Day 0: Novelty #InvisibleNetworks
The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born. How can we help? How can we not just provide novelty but actively encourage it’s creation? (A square labelled "All Possible Culture") Imagine all possible culture as a 2 dimensional space. (Of course this is a simplification - we now believe the space of all possible cultures to have between three and four thousand dimensions). Within this space there is an area covering all currently extant cultural forms, and larger one for all historical forms. (A large circle in the square labeled "All Historical Culture" and a smaller circle inside the first circle labelled "All Current Culture." Dots in the second circle have arrows pointing them towards the borders.) By recommending more obscure content to users, we can push them into the long tail and towards the borders of cultural area. But attempts to produce new culture purely through recommendations have largely failed. We believe the novel cannot be produced alone. Instead, groups of 2-7 are drafted as cultural vanguards. They are put into contact and their most novel impulses encouraged. (The same diagram with a clustering of overlapping dots around the circle and in the square at large) Once established, these groups encourage each other and drive themselves further into the new. The culture they create can then be fed back into the network at large, providing users with the novelty they desire. There are risks. Take group b1ad84e8-559c-4198-8ce1-b7f6d96b6c46 (circled) and a typical item created by a member of the group. (The cluster to the farthest left is circled, with red lines leading from it to an image of orange static with five diagonal lines on it.) It is too novel. It is useless to us. After four years cultural vanguardism, they are producing content that which the larger network simply has no context for. Attempts to guide them back towards the cultural core have failed. They may be lost forever.
April 1, 2025 at 5:35 PM
an-alexa-k.bsky.social
I write myself little notes
- Does the secret lie within the json?
March 28, 2025 at 2:38 AM
an-alexa-k.bsky.social
It's Software and Systems Sunday
A sign that says SOFTWARE And SYSTEMS
March 23, 2025 at 3:24 PM
an-alexa-k.bsky.social
I ain't got time to read posts one by one, I read them all in one go now.
A bunch of text all superimposed on top of each other, making the whole thing completely illegible. There are some user icons, hearts, and other emojis you can barely make out.
February 26, 2025 at 11:11 PM
an-alexa-k.bsky.social
For the first time ever, I did it #AdventOfCode
[2024] 50*
December 26, 2024 at 4:38 AM
an-alexa-k.bsky.social
The images in Codex Seraphinianus are great but I also love the little diagrams and charts that are all over.
A five by seven table, each row and column labeled with an unknown script. Some cells are blank, some have white fish, some have black fish. A network of labels, connected by lines. A series of labels with lines drawn between them. At the bottom there are two lines that converge on line at the bottom. Two blocks of unknown text, with a jagged graph, a wave graph, and some kind of chart made of lines and circles.
November 18, 2024 at 5:23 PM
an-alexa-k.bsky.social
I am looking forward to it (from the Codex Seraphinianus)
Figures with legs and torsos but no arms or heads, walking around a white void filled with signs. The figures are wearing sneakers, black and red pants, and striped green and yellow shirts. On the ground is a leopard skin rug. The figures from the first image burst open, a leopard jumping out of each one. The signs are lit up yellow with an unknown script and the leopard rug is on fire.
November 18, 2024 at 5:19 PM
an-alexa-k.bsky.social
For good days on bsky, try a lipogram
Your muted words e in text & tags
October 4, 2024 at 2:51 AM
an-alexa-k.bsky.social
The Calvin & Hobbes record comic. Calvin's dad is saying "Making a typology? I'll show you something interesting." "All animals can be divided into 14 categories: (a) belonging to the emperor, (b) embalmed, (c) tame, (d) sucking pigs, (e) sirens, (f) fabulous, (g) stray dogs, (h) included in the present classification, (i) frenzied, (j) innumerable, (k) drawn with a very fine camelhair brush, (l) et cetera, (m) having just broken the water pitcher, (n) that from a long way off look like flies. "Ants? Innumerable. Borzoi? Fabulous. Tigers? Drawn with a very fine camelhair brush. Manatees? Sirens. Clydesdale horses? Belonging to the emperor. Giraffes? Included in the present classification. Elephants? Frenzied. Squirrels? Stray dogs. Cows? Tame. The Tasmanian Tiger? Embalmed. My cat? Having just broken the water pitcher. Cod? Et cetra. "You might think that pigs are suckling pigs but they're actually that from a long way off looks like flies."
September 27, 2024 at 6:37 PM
an-alexa-k.bsky.social
I've been rewatching Adventure Time and now whenever I see this quote I think about how Jake advocates cannibalism in the same episode. I love Adventure Time.
Jake from Adventure Time, facing Finn who is looking bummed. The caption says "Not if we run away, Finn" Close up of Jake. Caption: "We'll have to live in halfway homes and be cannibals, but" Close up of Jake. Caption: "we'll survive"
October 18, 2023 at 3:01 AM