Ben Smith
@ben7k.bsky.social
Mainly interested in Railways, Aviation, Travel, Computers, Technology and Photography, but also science, politics, history and lots of other interesting stuff.
Set up here as the the other site is really vad.
Now with added profile photo!
Set up here as the the other site is really vad.
Now with added profile photo!
Pinned
Ben Smith
@ben7k.bsky.social
· Nov 14
Currently trying to re-follow all my twitter follows here. Hopefully this really is a better place!
Just waiting for the AI bubble to burst so I can buy some ddr5
December 19, 2025 at 3:00 AM
Just waiting for the AI bubble to burst so I can buy some ddr5
Reposted by Ben Smith
this technology that i cant even get my own employees to use without literally threatening them is definitely going to be profitable one day
June 28, 2025 at 6:30 PM
this technology that i cant even get my own employees to use without literally threatening them is definitely going to be profitable one day
Reposted by Ben Smith
Classmates called me Captain Haddock when I was 14 because I had a thick brown beard. I spent the next two years carefully aping the facial hair choices of teachers. 58 now and I realise how difficult it must have been to discipline a teenager copying your moustache.
April 19, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Classmates called me Captain Haddock when I was 14 because I had a thick brown beard. I spent the next two years carefully aping the facial hair choices of teachers. 58 now and I realise how difficult it must have been to discipline a teenager copying your moustache.
Decided to take a day trip to Ararat on the Overland. Was a nice surprise to get NR110 in Ghan livery leading the train.
April 18, 2025 at 12:29 AM
Decided to take a day trip to Ararat on the Overland. Was a nice surprise to get NR110 in Ghan livery leading the train.
Do you remember the late 1400's in Firenzeze, the time when paper was first becoming widely used?
No?
Then you really should check your zibaldone.
No?
Then you really should check your zibaldone.
March 28, 2025 at 1:27 PM
Do you remember the late 1400's in Firenzeze, the time when paper was first becoming widely used?
No?
Then you really should check your zibaldone.
No?
Then you really should check your zibaldone.
Reposted by Ben Smith
My dad loves railway infrastructure but in recent times fell down a rabbit hole and became a deeply unpleasant man watching wild conspiracy theories on YouTube. I changed his subscriptions to channels like Geoff Marshall and Jago Hazzard and it's one of my finest achievements
March 21, 2025 at 6:25 PM
My dad loves railway infrastructure but in recent times fell down a rabbit hole and became a deeply unpleasant man watching wild conspiracy theories on YouTube. I changed his subscriptions to channels like Geoff Marshall and Jago Hazzard and it's one of my finest achievements
Reposted by Ben Smith
Someone clever did this to a lamppost on Coverdale road and now I am disappointed that every lamppost doesn’t have one
March 12, 2025 at 5:29 AM
Someone clever did this to a lamppost on Coverdale road and now I am disappointed that every lamppost doesn’t have one
Reposted by Ben Smith
Not true. I'll give you some examples of when styles crossed over from womenswear to menswear, and how men have worn straight-up womenswear or just feminine styles in cool ways. 🧵
February 16, 2025 at 6:10 AM
Not true. I'll give you some examples of when styles crossed over from womenswear to menswear, and how men have worn straight-up womenswear or just feminine styles in cool ways. 🧵
Reposted by Ben Smith
If you know me, you know what I think of gen AI - it can automate some tasks and write decent code but can only ultimately rephrase the Internet.
Yesterday I was (lazy/time-poor) so I tried Cerebras' Llama-3.1 interface.
I think this is quite illustrative of gen AI chain-of-thought 🧵
Yesterday I was (lazy/time-poor) so I tried Cerebras' Llama-3.1 interface.
I think this is quite illustrative of gen AI chain-of-thought 🧵
February 14, 2025 at 11:57 AM
If you know me, you know what I think of gen AI - it can automate some tasks and write decent code but can only ultimately rephrase the Internet.
Yesterday I was (lazy/time-poor) so I tried Cerebras' Llama-3.1 interface.
I think this is quite illustrative of gen AI chain-of-thought 🧵
Yesterday I was (lazy/time-poor) so I tried Cerebras' Llama-3.1 interface.
I think this is quite illustrative of gen AI chain-of-thought 🧵
Reposted by Ben Smith
Tremendous new addition to the Louvre
February 9, 2025 at 11:18 PM
Tremendous new addition to the Louvre
Reposted by Ben Smith
so if you’re by the Bay, the Philippine Mars is taking off soon
February 10, 2025 at 7:02 PM
so if you’re by the Bay, the Philippine Mars is taking off soon
Reposted by Ben Smith
New followers: welcome to the strange & wonderful world of medical history!
Here's Napoleon's toothbrush, c.1810. Napoleon brushed his teeth regularly using opium-based toothpaste. His toothbrush has a silver gilt handle and bristles made of horsehair, which would have been very rough on the gums.
Here's Napoleon's toothbrush, c.1810. Napoleon brushed his teeth regularly using opium-based toothpaste. His toothbrush has a silver gilt handle and bristles made of horsehair, which would have been very rough on the gums.
January 26, 2025 at 11:23 AM
New followers: welcome to the strange & wonderful world of medical history!
Here's Napoleon's toothbrush, c.1810. Napoleon brushed his teeth regularly using opium-based toothpaste. His toothbrush has a silver gilt handle and bristles made of horsehair, which would have been very rough on the gums.
Here's Napoleon's toothbrush, c.1810. Napoleon brushed his teeth regularly using opium-based toothpaste. His toothbrush has a silver gilt handle and bristles made of horsehair, which would have been very rough on the gums.
Reposted by Ben Smith
OK
So the #PoPo have arrested the creator of #PamTheBird
And they’re opposing bail? #WTF
They say he’s caused $100,000.00 worth of art
#FreePam #IStandWithPam
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01...
So the #PoPo have arrested the creator of #PamTheBird
And they’re opposing bail? #WTF
They say he’s caused $100,000.00 worth of art
#FreePam #IStandWithPam
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01...
'Notorious vandal': Police say accused was unemployed, sometimes violent
For more than a year, "Pam the Bird" soared over Melbourne, appearing on city landmarks, skyscrapers and road signs. But the cartoon bird's alleged creator could be grounded.
www.abc.net.au
January 31, 2025 at 8:33 AM
OK
So the #PoPo have arrested the creator of #PamTheBird
And they’re opposing bail? #WTF
They say he’s caused $100,000.00 worth of art
#FreePam #IStandWithPam
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01...
So the #PoPo have arrested the creator of #PamTheBird
And they’re opposing bail? #WTF
They say he’s caused $100,000.00 worth of art
#FreePam #IStandWithPam
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01...
Reposted by Ben Smith
8-ish years ago I got strangers to pay off $300k in “lunch debt” so kids who were being punished for owing money could do things like eat, go to prom, and, walk at their own graduation. In the 20 years I’ve engaged in social media, I have never received more hate for anything else I’ve said or done.
January 29, 2025 at 9:14 PM
8-ish years ago I got strangers to pay off $300k in “lunch debt” so kids who were being punished for owing money could do things like eat, go to prom, and, walk at their own graduation. In the 20 years I’ve engaged in social media, I have never received more hate for anything else I’ve said or done.
Reposted by Ben Smith
If you made this argument back in the day you were smugly dismissed as an economically illiterate lefty.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
The Walmart Effect
New research suggests that the company makes the communities it operates in poorer—even taking into account its famous low prices.
www.theatlantic.com
January 25, 2025 at 12:05 AM
If you made this argument back in the day you were smugly dismissed as an economically illiterate lefty.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Reposted by Ben Smith
A study of more than 30,000 British adults diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, found that, on average, they were dying earlier than their counterparts in the general population — around seven years earlier for men, and around nine for women.
People With A.D.H.D. Are Likely to Die Significantly Earlier Than Their Peers, Study Finds
A large study found that men lost seven years of life expectancy and women lost nine years, compared with counterparts without the disorder.
www.nytimes.com
January 24, 2025 at 11:20 AM
A study of more than 30,000 British adults diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, found that, on average, they were dying earlier than their counterparts in the general population — around seven years earlier for men, and around nine for women.
Reposted by Ben Smith
OK WELL SINCE WE ARE TALKING ABOUT EMRYOS
Here's a story about my children who, in spite of the fact they were born two years apart, are CONVINCED they're twins
They came to me, with their evidence & I, thinking scientists would laugh with me, tweeted about it
It did not go how I thought it would
Here's a story about my children who, in spite of the fact they were born two years apart, are CONVINCED they're twins
They came to me, with their evidence & I, thinking scientists would laugh with me, tweeted about it
It did not go how I thought it would
January 21, 2025 at 6:58 PM
OK WELL SINCE WE ARE TALKING ABOUT EMRYOS
Here's a story about my children who, in spite of the fact they were born two years apart, are CONVINCED they're twins
They came to me, with their evidence & I, thinking scientists would laugh with me, tweeted about it
It did not go how I thought it would
Here's a story about my children who, in spite of the fact they were born two years apart, are CONVINCED they're twins
They came to me, with their evidence & I, thinking scientists would laugh with me, tweeted about it
It did not go how I thought it would
Reposted by Ben Smith
Decades of research shows that expanding highways increases travel times. Some cities are reducing their highways in response.
Why Do We Keep Widening Highways If It Doesn’t Reduce Traffic?
Decades of research shows that expanding highways, despite its promise to reduce congestion, actually increases travel times.
buff.ly
January 14, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Decades of research shows that expanding highways increases travel times. Some cities are reducing their highways in response.
Reposted by Ben Smith
Karen Wynn Fonstad was a novice cartographer who landed a dream assignment: to create an atlas of the setting of “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings.”
Overlooked No More: Karen Wynn Fonstad, Who Mapped Tolkien’s Middle-earth
She was a novice cartographer who landed a dream assignment: to create an atlas of the setting of “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings.”
www.nytimes.com
January 15, 2025 at 12:43 AM
Karen Wynn Fonstad was a novice cartographer who landed a dream assignment: to create an atlas of the setting of “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings.”
Reposted by Ben Smith
Really impossible for me to judge whether the new Indiana Jones game is “good” when you are bonking guys on the head this often. It’s not perfect, for sure, but I just bonked a blackshirt over the head with a full-sized guitar and it made the noise and everything
December 8, 2024 at 4:26 AM
Really impossible for me to judge whether the new Indiana Jones game is “good” when you are bonking guys on the head this often. It’s not perfect, for sure, but I just bonked a blackshirt over the head with a full-sized guitar and it made the noise and everything
Reposted by Ben Smith
a middle-aged friend of mine who runs his own company told me that his young gen-z employees staged an intervention like christopher moltisanti and told him he has to stop wearing slim fit pants
December 14, 2024 at 5:16 AM
a middle-aged friend of mine who runs his own company told me that his young gen-z employees staged an intervention like christopher moltisanti and told him he has to stop wearing slim fit pants
Reposted by Ben Smith
I have seen so much "the New Jersey drones are just another sign that society is falling apart...it's the military...it's Iran...it's martial law" but I swear to christ it's probably some fucking YouTuber.
December 13, 2024 at 5:15 AM
I have seen so much "the New Jersey drones are just another sign that society is falling apart...it's the military...it's Iran...it's martial law" but I swear to christ it's probably some fucking YouTuber.
Reposted by Ben Smith
IQuick Thread: I really love people who work to take care of the spaces we share online. Because Bluesky is less centralized, more of that work falls to us.
As in all things…look for the helpers.
As in all things…look for the helpers.
December 6, 2024 at 6:53 PM
IQuick Thread: I really love people who work to take care of the spaces we share online. Because Bluesky is less centralized, more of that work falls to us.
As in all things…look for the helpers.
As in all things…look for the helpers.
Currently trying to re-follow all my twitter follows here. Hopefully this really is a better place!
November 14, 2024 at 2:07 AM
Currently trying to re-follow all my twitter follows here. Hopefully this really is a better place!