ptom
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ptom.net
ptom
@ptom.net
690 followers 3.4K following 1.1K posts
Happy technologist, physicist, and family man, with a penchant for VR and neuropsychology.

Author of https://workingfrom.space
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ptom.net
Seems a good time to re-post one of my favorite pieces of sand art ever, ℅ Pufferfish.
A classic Looney Tunes Wile E. Coyote cartoon character silhouette is embedded several inches deep in a small mound on a sandy beach. A bright blue sky with fluffy white clouds fills the top half of the image, and a large body of water is visible in between sand and clouds, largest to the right.
November 6, 2025 at 4:51 AM
ptom.net
"An official website of the United States Government. Here's how your know. ↓"

What an exceptional load of BS. It's so much shorter to tell the truth: "The administration is starving you to hold you hostage until the opposition lets us take away your healthcare."
A screenshot from the United States Department of Agriculture website. Across the very top, a small gray banner reads "An official website of the United States government Here's how you know", followed by a downward carat that will open an explanation of identifying characteristics of the website, but also apparently points to a large banner of white text on a brown background immediately below it. That banner states; "Senate Democrats have now voted 12 times to not fund the food stamp program, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Bottom line, the well has run dry. At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 01. We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats. They can continue to hold out for healthcare for illegal aliens and gender mutilation procedures or reopen the government so mothers, babies, and the most vulnerable among us can receive critical nutrition assistance."
October 29, 2025 at 12:50 PM
ptom.net
You'd think they'd label those better.

Hope you manage to catch it before it reaches Ted's altitude.
Single-panel "Far Side" comic, by Gary Larson. A man in a striped shirt is seated, looking out of an airplane window in-flight (a classic "V" formation of birds is shown in the distance, set among the clouds). His right hand is on the armrest, with an array of controls such as "Volume", "Channel", an apparent light switch and flight attendant call button, and a prominent switch labeled "Wings Stay On" / "Wings Fall Off", currently in the "On" position. The text beneath the comic panel reads, "Fumbling for his recline button, Ted unwittingly instigates a disaster."
October 16, 2025 at 11:26 AM
ptom.net
Robert Picardo as "Meg Mucklebones" in the same film.
A ghoulish green witch, dripping wet with swamp water and showing knobby skin and knuckles, think black hair? And claws several inches long. Pictured against a large dead tree. Still photo of the "Meg Mucklebones" character from the film Legend, as played by actor Robert Picardo.
September 28, 2025 at 4:36 AM
ptom.net
Color all the surrounding sidewalks, obviously. But maybe also use mockery to play into the opposition's hard line stance.

Disclosure: AI was used in the creation of this pre-vis. Sorry.
An AI generated image showing a bronze memorial plaque on a rough cement plinth, with a brick sidewalk and white-and-black painted sidewalk in the background. The plaque reads: "THE BLACK SIDEWALK" in prominent letters, accompanied by smaller text reading "Former site of the Pulse Nightclub Memorial Sidewalk, now a symbol of marginalized oppression," dated "August 25, 2025"
August 31, 2025 at 5:41 PM
ptom.net
Same.
A small, hearty desert pine bush stands on a mass of tangled roots exposed to the air. It is perched on the rim overlooking a colorful sedimentary canyon filled with slots, switchbacks, hoodoos, and other drought-tolerant greenery. Deep blue sky is the background for the top third of the image.
August 30, 2025 at 3:47 AM
ptom.net
Actually... We should do this, too: and I apologize for using AI to generate the previz, it was an apt tool for the work.
A commemorative plaque on a rough cement plinth. The bronze plaque is titled "The Black Sidewalk", with sub text: "Former site of the Pulse Nightclub Memorial sidewalk, now a symbol of marginalized oppression. August 25, 2025." In the background, out of focus, is a public street and crosswalk. The image is AI generated.
August 25, 2025 at 9:12 PM
ptom.net
Introverts may appreciate the effort, but don't always *want* to be adopted.
A pie chart labeled "How Introverts Make Friends", showing two values. The first, a small yellow triangular portion of the graph in yellow comprising approximately 10% of the circle, is labeled "Cats count as friends." The remainder, shaded in a light mint color, is labeled "an extrovert found them, liked them, and adopted them."
August 7, 2025 at 1:22 PM
ptom.net
We got invaded by adorable flying squirrels, but that only cost us a few grand.

Out-of-network exploratory diagnostic surgery on the other hand, emptied us (at triple the "estimated" cost).

Later a year's unemployment did it again, but that was a slow death.
June 16, 2025 at 4:18 AM
ptom.net
Look to your elder, people.
An elderly man stands defiantly against a blurred backdrop of other people, captioned with three text: "There are always men like you." Still frame from "The Avengers", during an exchange in which Loki has made a crowd kneel in fear and subjugation and this lone person stands in opposition, saying, "not to men like you." Loki responded, "There are no men like me," leading to this response: "There are always men like you."
June 15, 2025 at 11:01 AM
ptom.net
Minus the wings, though.
June 7, 2025 at 5:04 AM
ptom.net
Matthew 25:42-45
Scriptural citation from the King James version of the New Testament, citing Matthew 25:42-45: 42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: 43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. 44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
May 1, 2025 at 2:50 PM
ptom.net
"He's bad, but he'll die...."
April 25, 2025 at 3:14 PM
ptom.net
"Precious bodily fluids."
General Jack D. Ripper, from "Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Love the Bomb", smoking a cigar, rants about "Precious bodily fluids", citing as uncorroborated evidence, "Have you ever seen a Commie drink a glass of water?" His character is noted for philosophies based on his personal assessment of "vitality" around sex and the exchange of bodily fluids, and becoming increasingly tired after intimacy an indicator of impurity he blamed on fluoridated water and other tenuous conspiracy ideas.
April 23, 2025 at 1:50 AM
ptom.net
To whit:
An animated gif clip from "An American Tail", with the film's antagonist Warren T. Rat (who has just been unmasked as a small cat, having previously pretended to be a rat in order the gain the trust of the immigrant mouse community in order to con them), yelling to an assembled audience of mice: "Who are you going to trust, me or your own eyes?"
March 27, 2025 at 12:12 AM
ptom.net
Beware the groove.
A still image from Disney's "The Emperor's New Groove" shows Emperor Kuzko standing on the left, arms folded and pouting. A large soldier adorned with ceremonial paint is on the right, leaning down toward the center to say "I'm sorry, but you've thrown off the emperor's groove" to a small, frail old man with a cane and an epic pointy hat. The old man is labeled "Al Green".
March 5, 2025 at 7:29 PM
ptom.net
Beware the groove.
A still image from Disney's "The Emperor's New Groove" shows Emperor Kuzko standing on the left, arms folded and pouting. A large soldier adorned with ceremonial paint is on the right, leaning down toward the center to say "I'm sorry, but you've thrown off the emperor's groove" to a small, frail old man with a cane and an epic pointy hat. The old man is labeled "Al Green".
March 5, 2025 at 7:22 PM
ptom.net
"When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world--'No, you move.'"
Comic book Captain America is framed against a stark black and white background looks sternly toward the viewer while saying, "Doesn't matter what the press says. Doesn't matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn't matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. "This nation was founded on one principle above all else: the requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. "When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world--'No, you move.'"
February 11, 2025 at 4:43 PM