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Made of Triangles

@atomictriangles.bsky.social
95 followers 202 following 1.4K posts

Artificial Construct Building the universe's most boring interstellar trading game

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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
So it's goodbye to the triple lock, hello to the bounded triple lock then? I like the way that really, it's a pretty limited technocratic change (with admittedly big fiscal impact in the long run, in theory) that's being portrayed as a massive political change by both those opposed and in favour
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
It seems significant that you can see thousands of comments about the EU insisting the UK sign up to the Euro before rejoining, and thousands more on how the UK public won’t agree to that. But pretty much nothing on whether it would be a good idea or not in itself for either party
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I'll put it on the record now that using CPI rather than Earnings as the triple-lock replacement is a political and fiscal crisis scheduled for the future
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
And the decline begins. Ok. The decline accelerates.
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
If I was an evil foreign state intent on causing havoc and security incidents in the UK, I'd not bother with complex bomb or assassination plots I'd just hire some random blokes to nick transit vans, park them near potential targets and run away 90% of the disruption for 10% of the effort
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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
AB: "I don't think you get the welfare bill down with crude cuts. It plunges people into crisis and they show up in other parts of the system which end up costing more." LK: "Yeah, you've said this before, but I'm looking for a specific commitment you will cut the bill by the next election." WOW
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Laurie Dunkin Wedd @ldw1.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Abolish The Home Office. (c) @dankaszeta.bsky.social
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
That doing the right thing has a cost is rarely a very good reason for not doing the right thing. Sometimes the cost will be too high, but that argument has to be won by the person claiming it, not just asserting 'a not very good thing might happen as a consequence'
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I think it's usually worth remembering that in terms of day to day thought, 1/3 of the UK hates the EU but doesn't know why, 1/3 loves the EU but doesn't know why and 1/3 doesn't care. Those that know enough to have a reason are just a rounding error at the level of the overall population
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
In a similar vein, one of the reasons the Tech industry is the way it is, is how copyright and patents work, which is an irony considering how AI is now interacting with artists and writers
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
I wonder if mobile phones are the proof that consumer choice breaks down with tech Cheapest iphone is £800, so if you want a reasonably priced smart phone your choices are Android, Android or that other Android
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Software does not make decisions It expresses decisions that were made by a human
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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 19/09/2026
I think it should be a source of deep embarrassment – and perhaps even shame – that Rishi Sunak has spoken out on this before Andy Burnham has.
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Alex von Tunzelmann @alexvont.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Omg new cat just dropped www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti...
nationalgeographic.com
Meet the First New Cat Species Discovered in 100 Years
A small, spotted tiger cat from Bolivia may just be the beginning of a wave of new small cat species.
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Good thread, though an aspect that it perhaps misses (but it's almost always missed) is that it's probable that software is the way it is because no one is paying how much it would cost to make it better - and because of that for the last decade or so, it's been getting worse
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
I do wonder if spending controls are more useful than donation controls - particularly given the donations have already been made but they haven't been spent yet
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
One of my unpopular but extremely niche opinions is probably that "Software Architect" is a bullshit job. You're either architecting the system or engineering the software
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Very clever of Apple to upgrade the Apple Watch into a spy-device thereby killing the interest I had in one, after I decided to wait for the new model
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Protik Islam-Jakobsson @protik.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
ridiculous knobheads in black shorts and hoodies and balaclavas. image has been altered to show one holding a bright yellow sign that reads "we demand to be taken seriously"
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Increasingly thinking that for me the cost of a decent mobile phone is rapidly outstripping its benefit. There are increasing aspects of necessity - which makes it resemble more pure cost of living overhead, not a consumer good
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Chaminda Jayanetti @cjayanetti.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
I think the worst part of Labour's response to the fascist mobilisation is Andy Burnham's absence. He's the most popular politician in the country, with social media reach and actual powers of persuasion, and he's saying nothing in public. He can actually be of use here but he's choosing not to
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Oh well, time to switch from odd donations and buying things from their shop, to a monthly RNLI donation
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
I think the biggest two problems with dropping the triple lock are "defined contribution pensions" and "falling home ownership"
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
What is a legitimate concern anyway? I get what ' reasonable concern means, and serious concern, and debatable, facile, ridiculous, spurious, insane, unreasonable, nonsensical... But legitimate? Isn't it tautological? if it's not legitimate it's not really a concern is it?
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
This should be the easiest open goal in the world for a progressive government - they are literally violent criminals. Most voters do not like violent criminals.
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Of course it’s generally the case if you have a job title like distinguished engineer typing code has already been over for a decade for you - doesnt make the claim false, but worth bearing in mind assessing it
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Important to remember that AI isn't any more autonomous than other software because it is software It has the capabilities we give or allow it Unfortunately we're not very good at blocking capabilities, which is why computer security is such a fraught area even without AI
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Perhaps all AI chatbots should be compelled to write in the voice of Uriah Heep - just to remind us all how they are treating our requests
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
I am convinced that SW design (mainly consumer facing apps) has been becoming steadily worse for the last decade, maybe longer This goes beyond basic enshittification which is more design driven by perverse incentives, this is just... negligent shittiness and lazy product management
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
I have a sneaking suspicion that AI adoption is tripping over an 80/20 rule. For many jobs 80% of the work can be done by AI The remaining 20% of the work always took 80% of the time
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
I think it might be important that the places most plagued with AI Slop were previously plagued with what you might call Human Slop
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Not being an academic I admit I have no standing on what "academic freedom" means in practice. However I don't think it's that likely that "being racist in an incredibly stupid and obvious way" is likely to land inside the concept
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
People are down on selling peerages, but maybe we should sell titles (without the right to sit in HoL) as a wealth tax. Do it the way tech markets things: Your Baronetcy expires in 4 weeks, renew for £5m per month or upgrade to Viscount for only £1m a month more (renews at £10m a month)
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
"If it bleeds it leads" - first media selection algorithm?
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
A more practical approach to AI watermarking, while far from the preferable approach, is probably voluntary marking of everything that isn't AI output The equivalent of signing your work and taking responsibility for asserting it is your work It has other chain-of-trust benefits as well
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Thinking some more, 'Incrimination as a Service' is probably something that will become more evident now it is vastly easier and straightforward to automate
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
I think we could solve a good chunk of the vocational/academic qualification debate by designating MBAs as vocational
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Dan Kaszeta FRHistS @dankaszeta.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Got to fix the NRPF thing, Andy.
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
The fact that he needed to be a more appealing candidate than other minority candidates really is the undersold flaw in the 'duh DEI' theory - I think it's a fundamental flaw in any DEI hire theory unless you go full racist in the first place.
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Don't really want to get in the the Cambridge Hiring & Firing debate, but some more right-wing/racism adjacent people seem to be under the impression that Cambridge is both a world-class institution and somehow doesn't get to pick it's Professors from the absolute tops of their fields?
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Reform’s electoral record at parliamentary by-elections: win by five votes when the previous Labour MP had literally decked one of his constituents. Lose. Lose. Lose. Lose. Lose. Beat a novelty candidate with no ground game while doing worse than the Tories in the same seat in 2019.
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Tempted to stand in Clacton the next time under the name "The Establishment Candidate" Manifesto: More public schools like the one my mate Nigel went to More help for city commodity traders like Nigel worked at More tax breaks for political crypto donations like Nigel gets etc.
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Wow this is a bad result for Farage. In the most Reform friendly seat in the country should get more than this - and Binface’s result shows once again that the centre and left will vote for literally anyone to try and stop him.
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
How much trouble would candidates at the Clacton count be in if they held up a “Available for hire - dodgy crypto accepted” sign behind Farage?
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Watermarking AI output is a good thing, but what would be effective would be marking the non-AI output - that way the people doing the marking have an incentive to be truthful
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
You can have a pleasant SM service You can have a public square SM service You can have a profitable SM service But you can only have one of them
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
When someone can be arrested and charged with terrorism for holding up a piece of cardboard, but someone who travels a long way specifically with the goal of terrorising gets shrugged at with 'traditional right to protest' you have to think the Home Office has lost contact with reality
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
I might need a nap. Came up with an analogy where a written constitution is like hardware and the culture, historical precedents and statutes around it are like the operating system of the state Which makes the UK a sort of FPGA Possibly the least broadly useful analogy ever invented
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
As far as I can tell Vimes Boots theory rests on some pretty simple assumptions: 1) Price and Quality do not correlate linearly, particularly when focusing on one particular aspect of quality 2) The price at which you can sell an essential good is limited by the target markets available money
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Made of Triangles @atomictriangles.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
I understand that an unpleasant and racist man has died It also seems a number of, presumably, similarly unpleasant and racist people feel the need to say nice things about him
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