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Rich Alderson

@alderson.bsky.social
937 followers 266 following 1.1K posts

historical linguist, quondam Tolkien language maven, systems administrator, PDP-10 programmer, former computer museum curator, @alderson@mastodon.sdf.org

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Rich Alderson @alderson.bsky.social · 17h
2AM. Just finished @seananmcguire.bsky.social ‘s Divided Duty, and have fallen further under October’s spell. (It’s too late to start the companion novella, but tomorrow is looking wonderful.) Thank you for another story, Ms. McG.
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Maggie McNeill @maggiemcneill.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
The term everyone is dancing around is "secret police", a hallmark of totalitarian regimes.
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Rich Alderson @alderson.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
The review I saw was “oh boy! they bullied Mark Zuckerberg!”, but YMMV.
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rahaeli @rahaeli.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
You know what I'm going to say: do not watch video of someone being killed for any reason if you don't absolutely have to, and if you do *genuinely* have to, ie for reporting, use every psychological mitigation technique possible: synecdochic.dreamwidth.org/803314.html
synecdochic.dreamwidth.org
Captcha Check
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Natee (they/them) @himmapaan.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Your periodic reminder, should you need it: Birds Are Dinosaurs.
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 09/10/2026
US imposes sanctions on the international criminal court (ICC), hours after former judge Navi Pillay wins Nobel peace prize - live
theguardian.com
US imposes sanctions on ICC, hours after former judge Pillay wins Nobel peace prize - live
The ⁠ICC’s deputy prosecutor condemned the sanctions and said they would not halt the tribunal’s work
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xX_Doctor_Cucumber_Xx @possumdementhe.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
So I hadn't seen the exact identity of who was shot in that discussion, but it's this article. This pig shot a trans woman and claimed it was self defense even though he was a home invader. truthout.org/articles/tn-...
truthout.org
TN Court Rules Killing of Woman May Have Been Justifiable Because She Was Trans
The ruling, the first of its kind in Tennessee history, revives elements of the infamous “trans panic” defense.
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Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 09/10/2026
nationalize everything Elon Musk owns.
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God @thegodshow.com · 09/10/2026
Any nation that live streams executions is a shithole country.
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Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
This is Nazi rhetoric, full stop. It's not only a call to instigate a race war in the United States, but it's reminiscent of historic European justifications used to incite pogroms against Jews. People who say things like this are incredibly dangerous, as there is nothing they won't eventually do.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 08/10/2026
Regulators have linked Mark McAfee’s raw dairy farm to more than a dozen recalls and outbreaks that left hundreds of people ill. “I’ve put a couple kids in the hospital,” McAfee said. “But here’s the thing: I’m a pioneer.” (Published June)
propublica.org
He Profits Off Raw Milk That’s Making People Sick. The Government Isn’t Stopping Him.
With Raw Farm, the largest raw-milk dairy in the country, Mark McAfee has capitalized on a once-fringe product that’s been thrust into the mainstream in recent years and backed by Health Secretary Rob...
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Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg @theradr.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
The stories themselves will not result in systemic change. The stories may be the driver to be part of a mass mobilization of millions of people rising up also against ICE also against the desecration of voting rights also against many other harms in a sustained movement towards something big
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Blue Dot in Red State @bluedotin.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Why would we EVER expect the truth from the SECDEF?
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Ricky Davila @therickydavila.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
The MAGA regime recently killed the largest ancient 250 year old “Grandmother” Cottonwood tree in Arizona’s indigenous territory just to expand the orange felon’s fucking wall. I’ll never forgive anyone who chose this evil.
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Paul Marvin @paulmarvin.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
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Rich Alderson @alderson.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
It’s an old mishearing: As a baby, I(75) had a favorite stuffie named for a Methodist hymn Gladly the Cross-eyed Bear So you’re in good company.
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Wajahat Ali @wajali.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Why didn't the FBI follow up? All the stories connect to the single, bigger story, folks. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
British billionaire warned Epstein was a ‘sexual deviant’ decades before FBI closed in on the abuser
Sir James Goldsmith’s links to Hilton Head, South Carolina, add to mystery of Jane Doe 4, who claimed she was abused by Epstein in the 1980s
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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 07/10/2026
reading this, recalling how quickly the killing of Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman slipped out of the news
phoenixnewtimes.com
Congressional candidate is raped while repairing her campaign signs
Embarrassed, she initially didn’t want to report attack. Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office's investigation is ongoing.
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Kasey Gifford @kaseygifford.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
To put this in perspective chestnut trees used to be dominant species in the United States. Billions of trees were killed by fungal blight and now fully grown America chestnuts are functionally extinct. There is no getting them back. Ever. All for a data center. www.gadgetreview.com/one-of-ameri...
gadgetreview.com
One of America’s Last Chestnut Groves Is About to Be Destroyed for a Data Center
A rare 200-tree American chestnut grove in West Virginia may be cleared for data-center development, but the project denies the site is on its land.
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Grady Booch @booch.com · 07/10/2026
Ms Hamilton coined the term “software engineering”.
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bryan newbold @bnewbold.net · 07/10/2026
ah damn, RIP Margaret Hamilton. she took safety-critical software engineering seriously, and got people to the moon and back. news.mit.edu/2026/margare...
old photos of a woman (Margaret Hamilton) standing next to a tall stack of books (printouts of Apollo space mission software source code)
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Mark Hamill @markhamillofficial.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Nothing to see here...just the President of the United States inviting the country he illegally declared war on to "take out" 2 major American cities. If that's not treason, what is? 🤬 Law enforcement won't hold him accountable, but we WILL! The beginning of the end is on November 3rd. #VOTE-BLUE 🌊
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Rich Alderson @alderson.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
I thought of you recently when Britannica posted about a sea slug on IG and pointed out the butt teeth. I couldn’t figure out how to post that over here 😢😁
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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Just a reminder: Tillis persuaded the woman Hegseth allegedly raped to come forward with her story, and told her that if she did, it would sink the nomination. She did. At great risk to herself. Tillis then cast the deciding vote for Hegseth. Because he’s a goddamned coward.
ms.now
Outgoing Sen. Tillis regrets pivotal vote for Hegseth: ‘He’s an actor. He’s not a manager’
Outgoing Sen. Thom Tillis spoke to MS NOW about regretting his vote to confirm Pete Hegseth and his strained relationship with Trump.
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Rachel Maddow @maddow.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
www.latimes.com/world-nation...
latimes.com
U.S. sends torture survivor back to Nicaragua, where he is immediately jailed again
Jeffrey Jarquín, a former Nicaraguan political prisoner who said he was tortured for opposing President Daniel Ortega, was jailed at Managua’s Modelo prison immediately after the U.S. deported him, ad...
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Rich Alderson @alderson.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
I understand the concept. I simply don’t associate food with comfort, even incidentally.
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Kimberley Johnson @kimberleyjohnson.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
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4fuxake @blueheartedly1.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
This 👇
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Mark Hamill @markhamillofficial.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Agreed, as long as you replace the word ”exciting” with “terrifying.” #MidtermsCantComeSoonEnough
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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
This is now a standard part of Trump's campaign stump, a direct threat to voters: if you elect Democrats, I won't send you FEMA money, and I may take away your Medicare and Medicaid, too. These transcripts will be useful for litigation to follow.
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Rich Alderson @alderson.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Muted, blocked, & reported.
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The Wolfpack @wolfpack11720.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
"We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid." ~ Benjamin Franklin @mwuerker.bsky.social
Matt Wuerker
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Rich Alderson @alderson.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
The original PDP-10 version of ZORK, written at an MIT lab in an obscure dialect of Lisp. Written as a response to the original Adventure from the Stanford AI Lab, to see what the most disgusting hacks possible might be. The 3part version for micros broke it up and expanded the bits.
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Rich Alderson @alderson.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I don’t understand the concept of “comfort food.” Food may or may not be pleasurable, but I find no comfort in eating.
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Rich Alderson @alderson.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Miser, miser! modo niger et ustus fortiter!
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Corey O'Neill @coreyoneill.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
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billkittle.bsky.social @billkittle.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
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Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
This is huge: a judge ruled a Flock search was 'indiscriminate mass surveillance' and unconstitutional. Says the search by a cop, who did it because a passing car had a plate from a different state, violated the driver's rights. Meaning, Flock should require a warrant www.404media.co/federal-judg...
404media.co
Federal Judge Rules a Flock Search Was ‘Indiscriminate Mass Surveillance’ and Unconstitutional
Flock’s nationwide network is quickly “approaching dragnet-type law enforcement practice” and the cop should have got a warrant, the judge wrote.
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Blue Dot in Red State @bluedotin.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Amazing. Crook then, crook now.
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Rich Alderson @alderson.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Now you’ve done it!
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Rich Alderson @alderson.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I had my last box of Chickn-in-a-Biskit crackers about 50 years ago. I can still remember the taste.
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Rich Alderson @alderson.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
We get deer frequently, a bear across the unimproved land to our south, and a couple of weeks ago a family of raccoons.
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Allison Gill @muellershewrote.com · 29/09/2026
The ICE agent who shot Araujo in a Houston is named GREGORY FEATHERS. Make sure everyone knows.
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Rich Alderson @alderson.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
We were so taken with the coast that we visited every couple of years for the next 20, and a few more times since. You live in a gorgeous place, Gail!
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Rich Alderson @alderson.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
When we lived in the Bay Area, my in-laws visited in the summer of 1985, for a drive to Vancouver BC. We planned the trip by a day’s worth of driving, with possible side trips like Mendocino. One night we stayed in Lincoln City OR, and stayed a couple of days. We stopped at Tillamook to tour./1
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Rich Alderson @alderson.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
“Mine is green, and yours is orange.” Sorry, sorry, lots of earworms popped up reading this thread.
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Museum of Twitter @museum-of-twitter.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
@ddeaen

iphones ruined an entire generation's tech literacy because i regularly see 14+ year olds asking how to make a desktop shortcut or duplicate a File

@inkballpro

i was literally figuring out virtual machines and basic linux at like 6 lol

@ddeaen

this is also not normal im sorry
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The Volatile Mermaid @ohnoshetwitnt.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
They tell us a million bullshit things we can do to avoid being raped without telling predators to just not rape us.
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Xela Hart @xelahart.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
On this day in 1994, the Clinton administration's heathcare reform plan was declared "dead" by Congress. Over 30 years later, the US is still the only industrialized country without universal healthcare. This should be a national outrage.
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