Roy
@roypollock.bsky.social
Reads for fun, codes for money. He/him
Really gets at the core of a lot of the issues I've seen around LLM interaction.
It's been, uh, a while, but I have a new newsletter out, based on some conversations here, about the irreconcilable experiences of LLMs that different groups have had and how that all boils down to afordances and how 'AI' is a terrible name and an even worse UX metaphor.
"AI" is bad UX
teapot from the cover of Don Norman’s “The Design of Everyday Things” clumsily ‘shopped by me "AI" means bad UX There is an emergent strain of thought in...
buttondown.com
December 22, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Really gets at the core of a lot of the issues I've seen around LLM interaction.
Reposted by Roy
I have a December gift for you all 🎁
I am finally able to open up a general call for ADVANCE READERS for my book: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SOFTWARE TEAMS (coming 2026). I cannot tell you how much it means to me to share this!
Indicate your interest here:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
I am finally able to open up a general call for ADVANCE READERS for my book: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SOFTWARE TEAMS (coming 2026). I cannot tell you how much it means to me to share this!
Indicate your interest here:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Request to be an advance reader of The Psychology of Software Teams by Cat Hicks
Thank you for your interest in being an advance reader for The Psychology of Software Teams (working title) by Cat Hicks. I am selecting some interested readers to receive a free advance copy of this ...
docs.google.com
December 2, 2025 at 6:58 PM
I have a December gift for you all 🎁
I am finally able to open up a general call for ADVANCE READERS for my book: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SOFTWARE TEAMS (coming 2026). I cannot tell you how much it means to me to share this!
Indicate your interest here:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
I am finally able to open up a general call for ADVANCE READERS for my book: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SOFTWARE TEAMS (coming 2026). I cannot tell you how much it means to me to share this!
Indicate your interest here:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
This is a great opportunity if you are nearby -- it's a great film in a lot of ways and the cinematography is definitely one of them.
www.imax.com/en/ca/news/s...
www.imax.com/en/ca/news/s...
IMAX
IMAX
www.imax.com
October 23, 2025 at 6:09 PM
This is a great opportunity if you are nearby -- it's a great film in a lot of ways and the cinematography is definitely one of them.
www.imax.com/en/ca/news/s...
www.imax.com/en/ca/news/s...
Reposted by Roy
The president has unlimited authority to remove noncompliant board members except when it comes to the Fed, whose independence was established in Harlan Crow's Net Worth v. Unitary Executive.
October 1, 2025 at 3:06 PM
The president has unlimited authority to remove noncompliant board members except when it comes to the Fed, whose independence was established in Harlan Crow's Net Worth v. Unitary Executive.
Reminder that _ideology_ and _fecklessness_ are two different axii.
Congrats to the nominal opposition for being to the right of *Bill Kristol* on Trump assualting DC
August 18, 2025 at 2:42 AM
Reminder that _ideology_ and _fecklessness_ are two different axii.
Ok #bskybc, I'm late to my re-read of Left Hand of Darkness but going:
I _really_ did not remember how sexist Genly was, which says nothing good about the mileu I was in 25+ years ago. (Should re-read The Dispossessed too).
The writing itself is just gorgeous which I appreciate even more now.
I _really_ did not remember how sexist Genly was, which says nothing good about the mileu I was in 25+ years ago. (Should re-read The Dispossessed too).
The writing itself is just gorgeous which I appreciate even more now.
June 27, 2025 at 7:57 AM
Ok #bskybc, I'm late to my re-read of Left Hand of Darkness but going:
I _really_ did not remember how sexist Genly was, which says nothing good about the mileu I was in 25+ years ago. (Should re-read The Dispossessed too).
The writing itself is just gorgeous which I appreciate even more now.
I _really_ did not remember how sexist Genly was, which says nothing good about the mileu I was in 25+ years ago. (Should re-read The Dispossessed too).
The writing itself is just gorgeous which I appreciate even more now.
I've been enjoying #Murderbot from the first episode but it REALLY clicked in this latest one, damn. And they did right by my favorite scene from _All Systems Red_.
June 6, 2025 at 2:54 AM
I've been enjoying #Murderbot from the first episode but it REALLY clicked in this latest one, damn. And they did right by my favorite scene from _All Systems Red_.
Reposted by Roy
#Sinners is wildly primal, big and bold, fueled by pain and rage, by community and family, throbbing with love and sex and joy, infused with magic. A sumptuously textured, unmissable howl of a passion project. My 🟢 review: www.flickfilosopher.com/2025/05/sinn... #Sinners [cinemas US/UK] 📽️
Sinners movie review: bootleg vampires - FlickFilosopher.com
Wildly primal, big and bold, fueled by pain and rage, by community and family, throbbing with love and sex and joy, infused with magic. A sumptuously textured, unmissable howl of a passion project.
www.flickfilosopher.com
May 20, 2025 at 7:33 PM
#Sinners is wildly primal, big and bold, fueled by pain and rage, by community and family, throbbing with love and sex and joy, infused with magic. A sumptuously textured, unmissable howl of a passion project. My 🟢 review: www.flickfilosopher.com/2025/05/sinn... #Sinners [cinemas US/UK] 📽️
So #bskybc I've continued to meander my way through Gravity's Rainbow. The paranoia / conspiracy thread hits _really_ differently for me now than when I read Crying of Lot 49 back in the 90s. Not sure I'd even read Hofstadter then, much less seen the paranoid style utterly triumph.
May 14, 2025 at 6:26 AM
So #bskybc I've continued to meander my way through Gravity's Rainbow. The paranoia / conspiracy thread hits _really_ differently for me now than when I read Crying of Lot 49 back in the 90s. Not sure I'd even read Hofstadter then, much less seen the paranoid style utterly triumph.
The great @jonrosenberg.bsky.social summarized today's pope discourse 12 years ago: amultiverse.com/comic/2013/0...
Pope-O-Mat
Popes! There’s never one around when you need one. Hey! You! Would you be a dear and purchase something from the SFAM store today? Your purchase goes towards feeding and clothing me. And you …
amultiverse.com
May 8, 2025 at 11:46 PM
The great @jonrosenberg.bsky.social summarized today's pope discourse 12 years ago: amultiverse.com/comic/2013/0...
Bringing it back around this is why Stephen doing sock knitting as a hobby works so well in Paladin's Grace.
I tell all my World History students every year that the most ubiquitous letter home from soldiers, in any century, any region, whether ancient Roman legionaries or U.S. Civil War troops or Chinese Communists, are requests for new socks. Ignore "socks are boring presents" folks; socks save lives.
I was once on a memorable panel about surviving the apocalypse and someone asked what the most important factor was. Other panelists talked about attitude and preparation. I said “Having a standard shoe size.”
(Come the apocalypse, if I have to move I will die of blisters.)
(Come the apocalypse, if I have to move I will die of blisters.)
May 7, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Bringing it back around this is why Stephen doing sock knitting as a hobby works so well in Paladin's Grace.
Great series for these trying times.
Ghostdrift by Hugo Award-winner @zanzjan.bsky.social , is out in paperback today! Read the final book to the The Finder Chronicles that is a hopepunk sci-fi caper described as Macgyver meets Firefly.
buff.ly/aCsqNYd
buff.ly/aCsqNYd
May 6, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Great series for these trying times.
I shared this thread with all my Hoplology friends just to add a little spice to their mornings.
Alright, @sarahebond.bsky.social in her cruelty has made me aware of this remarkably incompetent talk Malcolm Gladwell gave and so I am going to inflict it on all of you by going through all of the mistakes he makes here in the hope that none of you will ever take him seriously again. 1/
April 29, 2025 at 3:52 PM
I shared this thread with all my Hoplology friends just to add a little spice to their mornings.
Ok #bskybc, thoughts on The Stars My Destination prologue:
Strong opening couple of paragraphs, probably deliberately evoking A Tale of Two Cities. Then we get some background on a key McGuffin, OK. Then it goes very, very 50s with an utter text wall of unnecessary detail. (1/2)
Strong opening couple of paragraphs, probably deliberately evoking A Tale of Two Cities. Then we get some background on a key McGuffin, OK. Then it goes very, very 50s with an utter text wall of unnecessary detail. (1/2)
April 17, 2025 at 4:49 AM
Ok #bskybc, thoughts on The Stars My Destination prologue:
Strong opening couple of paragraphs, probably deliberately evoking A Tale of Two Cities. Then we get some background on a key McGuffin, OK. Then it goes very, very 50s with an utter text wall of unnecessary detail. (1/2)
Strong opening couple of paragraphs, probably deliberately evoking A Tale of Two Cities. Then we get some background on a key McGuffin, OK. Then it goes very, very 50s with an utter text wall of unnecessary detail. (1/2)
Ok #bskybc, any theories on why Pynchon switched from a stream of (multi) consciousness style to a straight narrative in the second part?
April 10, 2025 at 6:08 AM
Ok #bskybc, any theories on why Pynchon switched from a stream of (multi) consciousness style to a straight narrative in the second part?
Sometimes the Discovery feed delivers.
March 27, 2025 at 12:20 AM
Sometimes the Discovery feed delivers.
Art Appreciation Sunday: The Execution of the Doge.
March 17, 2025 at 2:49 AM
Art Appreciation Sunday: The Execution of the Doge.
Generally I really like the Bluesky block feature. However, it does mean when you find a thread of people spouting transphobic nonsense you have to block from the inside out.
March 12, 2025 at 12:26 AM
Generally I really like the Bluesky block feature. However, it does mean when you find a thread of people spouting transphobic nonsense you have to block from the inside out.
I fell pretty behind on my #bskybc reading and just started the Borges stories when I really should be getting going on Gravity's Rainbow.
"The Garden of Forking Paths" was worth it. It took me a bit to see the structure of the outer story mirrors the inner if the meeting in the study is a fulcrum.
"The Garden of Forking Paths" was worth it. It took me a bit to see the structure of the outer story mirrors the inner if the meeting in the study is a fulcrum.
March 2, 2025 at 1:03 AM
I fell pretty behind on my #bskybc reading and just started the Borges stories when I really should be getting going on Gravity's Rainbow.
"The Garden of Forking Paths" was worth it. It took me a bit to see the structure of the outer story mirrors the inner if the meeting in the study is a fulcrum.
"The Garden of Forking Paths" was worth it. It took me a bit to see the structure of the outer story mirrors the inner if the meeting in the study is a fulcrum.
I'm a strictly a high hobby pinball player, but I'm still glad to see this.
The International Flipper Pinball Association, which governs ranked pinball play, just sent this email about trans inclusion and my friends this is how you do it. I'm proud to play IFPA.
The end wouldn't fit in the pic. I put the full text in alt text. The message ends:
"Pinball is for everyone."
The end wouldn't fit in the pic. I put the full text in alt text. The message ends:
"Pinball is for everyone."
February 7, 2025 at 11:03 PM
I'm a strictly a high hobby pinball player, but I'm still glad to see this.
I've seen two posts on Nextdoor, of all places, decrying the Musk coup.
February 3, 2025 at 5:37 AM
I've seen two posts on Nextdoor, of all places, decrying the Musk coup.