Brent Landau
@brentlandau.bsky.social
Professional scholar of religion. Extremely amateur astronomer.
Reposted by Brent Landau
Ah, I see someone has exhumed the desiccated revenant named Carville, and used a hand bellows to force air into its lungs, so as to allow it to wheeze out miasmic utterances before being lowered once more into its crypt
November 24, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Ah, I see someone has exhumed the desiccated revenant named Carville, and used a hand bellows to force air into its lungs, so as to allow it to wheeze out miasmic utterances before being lowered once more into its crypt
Reposted by Brent Landau
So, we don’t call him the richest man in the world anymore.
He’s referred to as the greediest man in the world.
He’s referred to as the greediest man in the world.
November 22, 2025 at 7:06 PM
So, we don’t call him the richest man in the world anymore.
He’s referred to as the greediest man in the world.
He’s referred to as the greediest man in the world.
Reposted by Brent Landau
Said the phrase 'I'm over the moon!' to a Polish man and he was a little confused and asked what I meant so I explained and when I finished he just shook his head and said 'You're happy but you have no business in space.'
November 22, 2025 at 10:57 AM
Said the phrase 'I'm over the moon!' to a Polish man and he was a little confused and asked what I meant so I explained and when I finished he just shook his head and said 'You're happy but you have no business in space.'
Reposted by Brent Landau
This is nauseating: “As the emails stretch through the years, they show how that protected realm vanished into the mists of time, pulled under by the rising forces of the internet and the #MeToo movement.” A “Gone With the Wind” framing for sexual abuse and harassment.
November 16, 2025 at 12:55 PM
This is nauseating: “As the emails stretch through the years, they show how that protected realm vanished into the mists of time, pulled under by the rising forces of the internet and the #MeToo movement.” A “Gone With the Wind” framing for sexual abuse and harassment.
Reposted by Brent Landau
3I/ATLAS is the first interstellar object bright enough for amateurs to image: so fabulous to see the delight ☄️😍
I got it... I actually got it... Interstellar comet 3i, imaged from the middle of light-polluted Kendal, at 6am this morning, using my Seestar S50... This comet was already billions of years old before our Sun was even *born*... Very chuffed with this!
November 16, 2025 at 8:51 AM
3I/ATLAS is the first interstellar object bright enough for amateurs to image: so fabulous to see the delight ☄️😍
Reposted by Brent Landau
This is one of the good applications of AI.
I really wish our society would invest more into its useful applications instead of going all in on the grifting-and-plagiarism racket.
I really wish our society would invest more into its useful applications instead of going all in on the grifting-and-plagiarism racket.
Ping, You’ve Got Whale
A new artificial intelligence-powered detection system is giving ship captains real-time alerts when a whale is in their path.
by @ashleybraun.bsky.social
www.biographic.com/ping-youve-g...
A new artificial intelligence-powered detection system is giving ship captains real-time alerts when a whale is in their path.
by @ashleybraun.bsky.social
www.biographic.com/ping-youve-g...
Ping, You've Got Whale - bioGraphic
A new artificial intelligence-powered detection system is giving ship captains real-time alerts when a whale is in their path.
www.biographic.com
November 16, 2025 at 3:46 AM
This is one of the good applications of AI.
I really wish our society would invest more into its useful applications instead of going all in on the grifting-and-plagiarism racket.
I really wish our society would invest more into its useful applications instead of going all in on the grifting-and-plagiarism racket.
Reposted by Brent Landau
we really, really need a new template for what powerful and smart looks like
November 16, 2025 at 12:48 PM
we really, really need a new template for what powerful and smart looks like
Reposted by Brent Landau
Weird that we have a planet-wide magnetic defense system that self activates when the sun decides to attack but it is very pretty
November 12, 2025 at 2:21 AM
Weird that we have a planet-wide magnetic defense system that self activates when the sun decides to attack but it is very pretty
Yeah I got nothing.
November 12, 2025 at 4:41 AM
Yeah I got nothing.
Reposted by Brent Landau
Blah blah blah men…Young women are ready to set the country on fire
A moment of silence, please, for the "young men are all MAGA now" narrative.
(Source: www.nbcnews.com/politics/202...)
(Source: www.nbcnews.com/politics/202...)
November 5, 2025 at 1:42 AM
Blah blah blah men…Young women are ready to set the country on fire
Reposted by Brent Landau
why is it always "i created a new social media site to mine your data" or "here's a new AI bot we're training based on your work to put you out of a job" and never "we invented an affordable replicator from Star Trek so Preeti doesn't have to cook anymore"
July 6, 2023 at 3:21 PM
why is it always "i created a new social media site to mine your data" or "here's a new AI bot we're training based on your work to put you out of a job" and never "we invented an affordable replicator from Star Trek so Preeti doesn't have to cook anymore"
Reposted by Brent Landau
Every so often I'll remember that we are all made of thinking meat and feel weird.
October 10, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Every so often I'll remember that we are all made of thinking meat and feel weird.
Reposted by Brent Landau
LA: we will fight you.
Chicago: we will fight you.
PDX: we will make you endure week after week of of improv theater.
Chicago: we will fight you.
PDX: we will make you endure week after week of of improv theater.
October 8, 2025 at 1:38 AM
LA: we will fight you.
Chicago: we will fight you.
PDX: we will make you endure week after week of of improv theater.
Chicago: we will fight you.
PDX: we will make you endure week after week of of improv theater.
Reposted by Brent Landau
See that small, moving splotch?
That's 3I/ATLAS, a comet that formed in a different star system, photographed from Mars orbit by the ESA Exomars Trace Gas Orbiter.
A comet from a DIFFERENT SOLAR SYSTEM photographed by a ROBOT ORBITING MARS
last Friday
That's 3I/ATLAS, a comet that formed in a different star system, photographed from Mars orbit by the ESA Exomars Trace Gas Orbiter.
A comet from a DIFFERENT SOLAR SYSTEM photographed by a ROBOT ORBITING MARS
last Friday
October 7, 2025 at 3:37 PM
See that small, moving splotch?
That's 3I/ATLAS, a comet that formed in a different star system, photographed from Mars orbit by the ESA Exomars Trace Gas Orbiter.
A comet from a DIFFERENT SOLAR SYSTEM photographed by a ROBOT ORBITING MARS
last Friday
That's 3I/ATLAS, a comet that formed in a different star system, photographed from Mars orbit by the ESA Exomars Trace Gas Orbiter.
A comet from a DIFFERENT SOLAR SYSTEM photographed by a ROBOT ORBITING MARS
last Friday
Reposted by Brent Landau
Jane Goodall was actually the only one keeping the apes in control. Now there's a power vacuum
October 2, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Jane Goodall was actually the only one keeping the apes in control. Now there's a power vacuum
Reposted by Brent Landau
really enjoying all the people trying to explain the bible to the pope today
October 2, 2025 at 12:29 AM
really enjoying all the people trying to explain the bible to the pope today
Reposted by Brent Landau
Trump’s inability to pronounce “acetaminophen” raises new questions about Joe Biden’s mental state.
September 23, 2025 at 1:46 AM
Trump’s inability to pronounce “acetaminophen” raises new questions about Joe Biden’s mental state.
Reposted by Brent Landau
If you think Tylenol is bad for children’s health what until you see what guns do.
September 22, 2025 at 8:41 PM
If you think Tylenol is bad for children’s health what until you see what guns do.
Reposted by Brent Landau
I'm a little tired of octopuses making the rest of us look bad.
www.nbcnews.com/science/scie...
www.nbcnews.com/science/scie...
A new analysis of underwater videos shows octopuses are 'incredible multitaskers'
The research reveals new details about how the famously flexible mollusks coordinate some of the most complex movements in the animal kingdom.
www.nbcnews.com
September 14, 2025 at 11:03 PM
I'm a little tired of octopuses making the rest of us look bad.
www.nbcnews.com/science/scie...
www.nbcnews.com/science/scie...
Reposted by Brent Landau
A key difference here is that while either can be incorrect, the structure of Wikipedia *creates context* and the structure of LLMs *destroys context*
Wikipedia has linked sources and an edit history showing where information came from and who added it when
An LLM just generates text
Wikipedia has linked sources and an edit history showing where information came from and who added it when
An LLM just generates text
Some of the anti-AI stuff feels a bit like when people would say "don't use Wikipedia as a source." It's just like anything else, a piece of information that you weigh against multiple sources and your own understanding of its likely failure modes
April 26, 2025 at 6:39 PM
A key difference here is that while either can be incorrect, the structure of Wikipedia *creates context* and the structure of LLMs *destroys context*
Wikipedia has linked sources and an edit history showing where information came from and who added it when
An LLM just generates text
Wikipedia has linked sources and an edit history showing where information came from and who added it when
An LLM just generates text
Reposted by Brent Landau
nazi guy: i'm pretty much a nazi
lefty: wow. you suck, nazi
centrist: the rule is NO AD HOMINEMS, lefty
lefty: wow. you suck, nazi
centrist: the rule is NO AD HOMINEMS, lefty
September 6, 2025 at 2:51 PM
nazi guy: i'm pretty much a nazi
lefty: wow. you suck, nazi
centrist: the rule is NO AD HOMINEMS, lefty
lefty: wow. you suck, nazi
centrist: the rule is NO AD HOMINEMS, lefty
Reposted by Brent Landau
Look you can’t tell me this thing is “intelligently designed” — it goes into a five-minute coughing fit if I breathe wrong. Sometimes it accidentally bites itself. It draws blood.
September 6, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Look you can’t tell me this thing is “intelligently designed” — it goes into a five-minute coughing fit if I breathe wrong. Sometimes it accidentally bites itself. It draws blood.
Reposted by Brent Landau
On the House floor, Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) speaks for a lot of us about the Big Beautiful Bill:
“I say to my Republican colleagues, what’s wrong with you people?... Jesus Christ, what are you people thinking?”
“I say to my Republican colleagues, what’s wrong with you people?... Jesus Christ, what are you people thinking?”
July 2, 2025 at 1:12 PM
On the House floor, Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) speaks for a lot of us about the Big Beautiful Bill:
“I say to my Republican colleagues, what’s wrong with you people?... Jesus Christ, what are you people thinking?”
“I say to my Republican colleagues, what’s wrong with you people?... Jesus Christ, what are you people thinking?”
Reposted by Brent Landau
Here he is, folks. The President of the United States selling his new men’s cologne for $199 and women’s perfume for $249.
June 30, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Here he is, folks. The President of the United States selling his new men’s cologne for $199 and women’s perfume for $249.