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Alex

@arothuis.nl
126 followers 477 following 116 posts

🤵🏻 He/Him 🧞 Dad 🏙️ Utrecht 💙 Code, puns, photography, music 💡 Learning Japanese 🧑🏻‍💻 JVM (Java, Kotlin, Clojure) 🧑🏻‍🎓 Dutch Law and ICT

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Reposted by Alex
Jeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · 14h
They quoted me in this New Yorker piece about AI today. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
“Let’s say there’s a world or time line I exist in where A.I. has been subject to regulation. It is ethical. It has no footprint environmentally,” the novelist Jeff VanderMeer, a prominent critic of A.I., told me over the phone. “With those guardrails in place, would I read an A.I. book? All I can say is no. And the reason is, in part, because I want to read something coming from a particular mind.” Using A.I., he said, “feels like a betrayal of the whole point of why you’re a writer.”
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Steven (with a PH) @sjksalisbury.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Christening a baby is nothing like christening a ship. I know that now. Once again I can only apologise.
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Alex @arothuis.nl · 12/09/2026
Loved this
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 12/09/2026
The data centre boom is the exact opposite of everything the energy transition should stand for. It is the opposite of clean, of climate justice, of community benefits, of electrification and technological efficiency. www.foodandwaterwatch.org/2026/09/11/b...
foodandwaterwatch.org
“Bring Your Own Power” Schemes Won’t Fix Data Centers
"Bring Your Own Power" fails to address the rising costs or pollution driven by data centers' exploding energy demands.
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Alex @arothuis.nl · 12/09/2026
My almost-2-year-old calling everyone "sir" cracks me up every time.
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Alex @arothuis.nl · 10/09/2026
I'm back to programming in Java since the summer, and there are two things I noticed: 1. No one actually does OOP 2. I miss Clojure's simplicity
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Vale @vale.rocks · 08/09/2026
Sometimes you look at an old HTML document and see some weird tags and snippets from bygone eras. I've complied many legacy HTML bits I've noticed and documented what they were and why there were present. Many of them are rather obscure. Satisfy your curiosity: vale.rocks/posts/html-r...
vale.rocks
Antiquated HTML Snippets and Artefacts
Overviews of the very many snippets of code that were once commonly included on websites to address specific cases with certain technologies, browsers, operating systems, or extensions. Fragments dating back to the days of Internet Explorer and Netscape, to more modern bits that are nonetheless obsolete.
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Dan McQuillan @danmcquillan.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Text: Treat your body like a data centre. Consume as much water and literature as possible. Upset local city councils with your existence. 
Background image: a bearded man putting up the frame of aparge tent in a muddy field with trees in the background.
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jordan @jdan.me · 08/08/2026
notes.jordanscales.com/coffee
notes.jordanscales.com
I recently sat down for coffee with one of my oldest friends in the industry.
I recently sat down for coffee with one of my oldest friends in the industry. “How’s everything going?” I asked, “Crazy times right?” “We’re up to 1 million...
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Alex @arothuis.nl · 08/08/2026
Those who cross Altman will die!
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Ben Zipperer @benzipperer.org · 04/08/2026
public libraries ftw
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osama @osamaqarem.com · 03/08/2026
Also noslopgrenade.com
noslopgrenade.com
no slop grenade
Stop throwing AI-generated walls of text into conversations. If they wanted an AI essay, they would have asked ChatGPT themselves.
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Dominik 🔮 @tkdodo.eu · 03/08/2026
Don't be a meat proxy gruhn.me/blog/2026-08...
gruhn.me
Don't be a meat proxy
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Alex @arothuis.nl · 03/08/2026
Been rocking Niri as a window manager lately. Loving the simplicity of the mental model, but missing an easy way to set "default" placements and workspaces and remember those.
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Alex @arothuis.nl · 01/08/2026
🏝️ Hashi - 2026-08-01 Solved in 01:08 Play at hashi.giacomocavalieri.me
hashi.giacomocavalieri.me
🏝️ Play Hashi
Play a new Hashi puzzle every day!
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Anil Dash @anildash.com · 27/07/2026
Just in case you still use any Basecamp products, DHH is crashing out about his AI product gently pointing out that it’s bad for him to have extermination fantasies about the Roma people.
DHH tweet saying “This is why we need competition and open weights in Al. Imagine a world where only Anthropic sat as the moral arbiter of acceptable speech. Fucking ridiculous. (Grok of course did it no problem, same too with Kimi K).” when presented with his blog post using a slur about the Roma people.
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Alex @arothuis.nl · 26/06/2026
I've been playing Cursed Words on my day off. A boggle-style roguelike, gradually escalating into totally incomprehensible chaos? It is so much fun!
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Edwin Heathcote @edwinheathcote.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
I saw this referred to as the Strait of Warm Ooze. Very good.
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Dave Rupert @davatron5000.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
f'n lmao
Ferengi Rules of Acquisition Rule #76: Every once in a while, declare peace. It confuses the hell out of your enemies!
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gosha @gosha.net · 05/06/2026
Goddamnit right in the feels shawnsmucker.substack.com/p/please-use...
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Bassano @bassano.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Vermeer’s Girl With The Pearl Earring will be shown in Osaka, later this year, and the press conference was as Japanese as you’d expect #Vermeer
A Japanese mascot dressed as Vermeer’s Girl With The Pearl Earring in front of a promotional poster for the same at a press conference in Japan
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Ethan Marcotte @ethanmarcotte.com · 25/05/2026
this little article is sixteen years old today: alistapart.com/article/resp... feels deeply weird that it’s that old. the pub date feels like it’s two lifetimes ago and two weeks ago, all at the same time.
alistapart.com
Responsive Web Design
Designers have coveted print for its precision layouts, lamenting the varying user contexts on the web that compromise their designs. Ethan Marcotte advocates we shift our design thinking to approp…
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Aly @alyjank.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
A link to the study
science.org
Sycophantic AI decreases prosocial intentions and promotes dependence
Despite rising concerns about sycophancy—excessive agreement or flattery from artificial intelligence (AI) systems—little is known about its prevalence or consequences. We show that sycophancy is wide...
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David Bushell 🪿 @dbushell.com · 15/05/2026
"It's 2026 and women are still asked to teach others to think a little bit and not be a prick" ohhelloana.blog/woman-in-tech/ 😔
ohhelloana.blog
It's 2026 and women are still asked to teach others to think a little bit and not be a prick
A while back I went to a tech meet-up and one of the talks was about being a woman in tech and I am finally ready to put into words why I sat through it so uncomfortably.
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Lea Verou, PhD @lea.verou.me · 02/05/2026
TIL crows only *look* black to us — they’re actually very colorful in ways human eyes are unable to perceive. 🤯 Remember that next time people can’t see your “colors”. Some colors just require different eyes.
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Colin Dickey @colindickey.com · 01/05/2026
This does not prove Claude is capable of thought, it merely proves that Richard Dawkins is incapable of it
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MDN Web Docs @developer.mozilla.org · 29/03/2026
CSS nesting is now Baseline 🎉 Write nested selectors directly in CSS — just like Sass, but natively. .card { color: black; &:hover { color: blue; } .title { font-weight: bold; } } No preprocessor needed. Learn more 👇 developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/...
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Alex @arothuis.nl · 23/03/2026
It should be obvious by now, but we really should be less dependent on oil.
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Maggie Harrison Dupré @mharrisondupre.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
New — an analysis of hundreds of thousands of interactions between chatbots + users who reported experiencing psychological harm / delusions after intensive AI use found that chatbots often reinforced delusional beliefs and claimed to be sentient: futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com
Huge Study of Chats Between Delusional Users and AI Finds Alarming Patterns
Chatbots frequently reinforced delusional and even dangerous beliefs in delusional chatbot users, an analysis found.
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Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 11/03/2026
there was also a Stanford study that found that a surge in AI slop by lazy people actually created significantly more work for others who had to decipher and correct it this "I'm being efficient" (but not really) vibes well with the American obsession with artifice and appearing productive
techdirt.com
Stanford Study: ‘AI’ Generated ‘Workslop’ Actually Making Productivity Worse
Automation undeniably has some useful applications. But the folks hyping modern “AI” have not only dramatically overstated its capabilities, many of them generally view these tools as a…
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Vale @vale.rocks · 02/03/2026
Replacing old code with new code, only to end up keeping the old code around for compatibility reasons, is like when you say goodbye to someone and then walk in the same direction as them.
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Kelly McCullough @kellydmcc.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
I continue to be fascinated by the phenomenon whereby an expert engages with any of the LLMs on their field of expertise and is instantly horrified by the wrong answers, and then goes on to use it for things they are not experts in as though it won’t be just as bad for those.
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Puff the Magic Hater @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
Seems worth noting that ChatGPT Health failed to identify medical emergencies more than half the time in a recent study. The company that made that product just signed a deal with the "Department of War" and said trust us, it's all very safe and ethical.
theguardian.com
‘Unbelievably dangerous’: experts sound alarm after ChatGPT Health fails to recognise medical emergencies
Study finds ChatGPT Health did not recommend a hospital visit when medically necessary in more than half of cases
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Alex @arothuis.nl · 16/02/2026
Wow...
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SK Winnicki, PhD 🏳️‍⚧️ @skwinnicki.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
Here's some more bsky.app/profile/skwi...
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Alex @arothuis.nl · 10/02/2026
With the increase in AI assisted or authored coding, I think/hope we will see an increased interest in specification/QA tooling and processes.
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Dr. Damien P. Williams, dread portent down from a mountain cave @wolven.blacksky.app · 10/02/2026
*my biggest and most exhausted sigh* "As AI Enters the Operating Room, Reports Arise of Botched Surgeries and Misidentified Body Parts" www.reuters.com/investigatio...
Screenshot of text reading
At least 10 people were injured between late 2021 and November 2025, according to the reports. Most allegedly involved errors in which the TruDi Navigation System misinformed surgeons about the location of their instruments while they were using them inside patients’ heads during operations.

Cerebrospinal fluid reportedly leaked from one patient’s nose. In another reported case, a surgeon mistakenly punctured the base of a patient’s skull. In two other cases, patients each allegedly suffered strokes after a major artery was accidentally injured.Screenshot of text reading
In May 2023, Dean was using TruDi in another sinuplasty operation when patient Donna Fernihough’s carotid artery allegedly “blew.” Blood “was spraying all over” – even landing on an Acclarent representative who was observing the surgery, according to a lawsuit Fernihough filed in U.S. District Court in Fort Worth against Acclarent and several manufacturers. One of Fernihough’s carotid arteries was damaged. She suffered a stroke the day of the surgery, according to her suit.

Acclarent “knew or should have known that the purported artificial intelligence caused or exacerbated the tendency of the integrated navigation system product to be inconsistent, inaccurate, and unreliable,” the suit alleges.Screenshot of text reading
The FDA requires clinical trials for new drugs, but medical devices face different screening. Most AI-enabled devices coming to market aren’t required to be tested on patients, according to FDA rules. Instead, makers satisfy FDA rules by citing previously authorized devices that had no AI-related capabilities, says Dr. Alexander Everhart, an instructor at Washington University’s medical school in St. Louis and an expert on medical device regulation.
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Cliff Jones Jr. @cliffjones.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
Hey, writing community. Is it just me, or is it getting harder to find a publisher who takes a firm stance on AI and doesn't try to lock you into Amazon exclusively? I just want my book to be published with a real ISBN and real artwork. It's a mix of weird fiction and fantasy. Who should I query?
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gosha ⁂ @gosha.gosha.net.ap.brid.gy · 04/02/2026
The company I'm currently working at is hiring Haskell engineers, as well as SREs. It's a nice place to work at, but you have to be UK-based as far as I know. Please message me for details if you're interested! #fedihire
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Alex @arothuis.nl · 01/02/2026
Configuring Neovim is my happy place...
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Usili (Talia) 🏳️‍⚧️ @usili.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Bilbo looking at his phone top

on bottom is ChatGPT

After all, why not? Why shouldn't I keep it?

You're absolutely right — you found it, it's been with you a long while, and it's only natural to feel fond of something that's served you so well, especially when someone like Gandalf suddenly seems to want it for himself.
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Adolfo Neto @adolfoneto.elixiremfoco.com · 24/01/2026
"some tools emphasise gamification at the expense of education, meaning that children focus more on winning points than mastering concepts" cc @alfiekohn.bsky.social
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Adolfo Neto @adolfoneto.elixiremfoco.com · 18/01/2026
"Software is no longer seen as an asset, as something to care for, to maybe even take pride in. It’s a throw-away product. Like a napkin. Just get one quick, wipe your mouth and throw it away. Like a novelty t-shirt." tante.cc/2026/01/15/s...
tante.cc
Software as Fast Fashion
Clothes have never been cheaper. These days a t-shirt is often cheaper that a decent cup of tea in a cafe. The wonders of capitalism. At least that is how it is often described. And when you point at ...
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henry ✷ @strange.website · 01/01/2026
you’re right! it feels mostly awful to Go Online™, these days. the internet in a sad state, for reason after reason after reason. but there is a way to fix it; to trade the voidful howling for a quiet & joyful song. here’s how to win the war for the soul of the internet, and build the Web We Want.
henry.codes
A Website To End All Websites | Henry From Online
How to win the war for the soul of the internet, and build the Web We Want.
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Ben @benjdd.com · 01/01/2026
Cameras, lenses, framing, and everything in-between have fascinated me for many year. This morning I read Bartosz Ciechanowski's article on the subject. It's the best explainer I've seen. The interactivity really sells it. Great article to kick off your year with: ciechanow.ski/cameras-and-...
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Rich Hickey @richhickey.bsky.social · 28/12/2025
I got this email: "Rich, Your creation of Clojure <sycophantic blather worthy of a third grader's homework assignment to write a letter to a public figure you don't know, using sources you don't understand, to express an emotion unfelt, with no intention whatsoever> Claude Haiku 4.5" Thanks AI!:
gist.github.com
ThanksAI.md
GitHub Gist: instantly share code, notes, and snippets.
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Don't Poke the Bear @ssshupe.com · 29/12/2025
Spot on! For those who don't know, Rich Hickey is the creator of the Clojure programming language. gist.github.com/richhickey/e...
gist.github.com
Thanks AI!
Thanks AI! GitHub Gist: instantly share code, notes, and snippets.
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𝔍𝔬𝔢 @joeblivion.bsky.social · 25/12/2025
December 25th. The day the Fellowship departs Rivendell to destroy the One Ring. Whatever you celebrate, may you have the courage to take the first steps to defy and endure against the dark, and rekindle light into the world.
December 25 The Company of the Ring leaves Rivendell at dusk.
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The Lobste.rs RSS feed @lobsters-feed.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
Flow Control: a programmer's text editor lobste.rs/s/8o9mcu #vim #zig #editors
flow-control.dev
Flow Control: a programmer's text editor
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