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Benjamin is ... making ottr

@benjaminlistwon.com
567 followers 844 following 4.4K posts

solarpunk indie dev + designer, splitting my time between two software projects and my first game, all focused on stronger, safer, more equitable spaces for communities, their people, and their stories.

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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 28/09/2026
TIL: OG Grover was a different muppet altogether. Originally known as Gleep, from 1968-1970 he worked in Santa's workshop, was a studio exec in the music industry, and apparently also shilled for IBM before becoming the comic waiter we know as Grover. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grover
The original Grover muppet. The eyes were a bit more like Oscar's, angled inward and looking a bit grouchier as well. The fur was a marbled brownish/greenish mix, though this image doesn't quite capture that range of hues. This original puppet is on display at the Smithsonian.
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 27/09/2026
Maybe I _do_ pine for the "good ol' days"
Screenshot of my closest political match, the Paris Commune. From the screenshot "The revolutionary government that held Paris for 72 days in 1871, the Commune established direct democracy with recallable mandates, workers' self-management of workshops, separation of Church and state, and equal pay, becoming a symbol of communal socialism."
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 27/09/2026
Love the more progressive than CA dimension as well.
Me, out-progressive-ing California
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 27/09/2026
Good. Great even.
Ideology furthest from me: Radical Right
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 27/09/2026
Okay, so yes, you got me. But also the Vatican!?! Talk about weird bedfellows.
A screenshot from the 12axews test thingy showing that I am 98% Anarcho-PacifistThis one showing that the "countries" closest to my beliefs are, in order: Scotland, politically the Paris Commune, socially California and economically Vatican City.I guess the reason I am proximate to the Vatican is because I value life, am pacifist, and am quite non-interventionist.My fellow anarcho peeps: Michael Foucault, Errico Malatesta, Rudolf Rocker, Arne Naess, Mikhail Bakunin, Franz Kafka, Peter Kropotkin, Emile Armand
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 26/09/2026
Can someone carbon date that artwork? I feel like it is at least "a long time ago" years old.
Photo of a battle droid prop from the Attack of the Clones
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 25/09/2026
In other news, cleaning and testing the furnace before the temp drops here and everyone calls if/when there’s an issue, and it’s still wild to me that we basically have a rocket ship engine in our house.
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 24/09/2026
Making a simple rig for my simple fella so I can use him to run around and test scale in the first simple, little greyboxed village.
A little mushroom character in 3D, shown here in a slightly exploded view, with a simple set of bones for controlling his movement.
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 24/09/2026
Making a little guy 🍄
Start of a mushroom character over in Blender.
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 23/09/2026
I really tried to focus on things that changed how I thought about the medium and ways to tell stories, which is what I think games can do really well. Choosing 9 is, as everyone has said, impossible. Inspiring me to start a blog/list of every game that has meant something, and why.
A grid of nine game covers. They are:

Arcade Game Construction Kit
I was a Teenage Exocolonist
Planet of Lana
Final Fantasy VII
Phantasy Star IV
What Remains of Edith Finch
Flow
Caravan SandWitch
MYST
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 22/09/2026
Sports Illustrated would like a word.
The OG SI (logo)
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 21/09/2026
Good advice from my son’s weekly taekwondo newsletter.
Snippet from an email that reads “• Training Tip of the Week. Stay relaxed. Tension makes you slower. Relax, then explode when needed.”A Bob-omb strolling along
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 20/09/2026
Chickpeas getting tired of peaches having all the fun.
Side of two containers of hummus. There is a chickpea illustration that looks like a bum. Next to it are the words “dip in. Don’t hold back.”
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 20/09/2026
Well this is a new tactic. I feel so honored to be bequested. Certainly I’ll reply to John Henry, aka vinodkumarbanty32
Scam email that reads: “Re: Bequest Notification
Good day,
This letter serves to notify you that you have been named as a beneficiary of an estate held in trust.
Please confirm receipt of this notice and advise whether you accept or decline the bequest.
Yours Faithfully,
John Henry
LL.B (Hons), TEP”
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 19/09/2026
What’s up with these weird “app” accounts that spam follow you in bunches? I’m assuming that the URLs just lead to slop sites that steal your creds/cash.
Screenshot of an bot account calling itself FRACT that claims it wants/needs users to sign up for its service and offering rewards for it.Same deal, but for something calling itself fav❤️rites.
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 18/09/2026
The way that the thumbnails line up is fantastic. Like a Canadian Dragon! 🫎 🔥
Crop of the original post showing the moose’s nostrils lined up with the fire from the rake kiln making it look like the moose is breathing fire.
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 18/09/2026
Horror of Fang Rock
A glowing green orb floats outside a lighthouse.
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 17/09/2026
The rules
• REQUIREMENTS •

- Sprite must be one of the following sizes: 16x16, 32x32, 48x48, or 64x64.
- Sprite must be an entire planet. It may contain moons or other objects. Scenes of planet surfaces that don't show the whole planet will not be accepted.
- Must be SFW.
- Sprite must have a transparent background.

* INFO *
- The website's BG color is #292e2D. Keep this in mind but your paletter is up to you!
- The sprites will be displayed at twice their native resolution.
- You may submit up to 3 planets. Give them names!
- Your artist name will be listed and appear when mousing over the planet. Include your website!
- Submit your .PNG at native resolution to my email found at EKVITKI [dot] ART with artist name, planet names, and your site.
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 17/09/2026
Feels great to be like 1/10th of the way into this and already seeing valuable feedback onscreen that is also built in a scalable way.
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 16/09/2026
Vote in what has happened to my son’s PTSA … a) lost their mind b) been hacked c) had one too many edibles d) all of the above
Date: Wed, Sep 16, 2026 at 11:09 AM
Subject: NO PANTS, NO PROBLEM. ZOOM OPTION FOR PTSA MEETING WEDNESDAY 09/16/2026Yes, we have a Zoom option tonight - because sometimes pants, traffic, and life are a lot.
But if you can, come join us in person at 6:30 PM. Hybrid Zoom is... well... hybrid Zoom.
We make no promises and there will be alot of "can you hear me now" moments because the token described "boomer zoomer" (aka your PTSA President) will be running tech.
And oh yeah, the "law" requires we need at least 10 people to actually get anything done. Quorum.
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 16/09/2026
This is a great little slide from the talk with clear and succinct alternatives, especially for relative newcomers like me.
A slide showing four different ways to indicate what turn to make in a corridor, ranging from subtle (a red glow that might indicate an exit sign) to blatantly obvious (blocking off one of two choices with some immovable objects).
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 16/09/2026
Was over on Goodreads looking at N.K. Jemisin's excellent The Killing Moon and this ad is on the page. Interesting back to school deal ...
Part of an ad banner showing the book "Gray Hat Hacking" with the headline "Back to school deals from McGraw Hill"
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 15/09/2026
I have let five phone calls that I have to make pile up because I hate using the phone and now I am having a complete meltdown at the thought that I probably have to make at least four of them today.
Image of Kermit holding a smartphone with text that reads "me, making a phone call: god i hope they don't answer"
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 14/09/2026
“Ugh! Comment writing is soooooo annoying,” is an attitude I still don’t get, especially the more complex our systems have become. Like I enjoy writing comments. For myself. For collaborators. For anyone that might need to understand my code. It is an essential part of doing sustainable work.
Screenshot of the beginning of a post about writing code comments that reads “Comments
Though a pain to write, comments are absolutely vital to keeping our code readable.”
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 13/09/2026
TIL Luke McGregor is a kindred spirit. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
What is your most controversial pop culture opinion?

I don't like Pokémon. It really feels like animal cruelty to me. These animals are stuck in a sphere and then they come out of this sphere and they have to fight? I don't know what their lives are like inside the Poké Ball.
Is it some sort of paradise in there or do they not want to be there? I know it is popular but Pokémon feels like cockfighting to me. Well, I look forward to getting cancelled because of my Pokémon views!
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 12/09/2026
No one should want or use this garbage. Not to mention it’s probably like four gazillion tris per mesh.
Close up of some vibe-modeled 3D objects from the original post showing the one of the characters has fingers that are melded with a laptop.
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 10/09/2026
The floor morphing into planter is delightful.
Zoomed and cropped portion of one of the original photos below. There is a large indoor tree planted in a concrete room with a large, floor to ceiling window to the right letting in massive natural light. The floor is made of cobbles/pavers that also form a planter for an indoor tree. The pavers are installed in a way that the planter looks like it emerges from the floor by “bending” the floor up into a cylinder. There is a second smaller planter behind it.
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 08/09/2026
what's it like inside your head?
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 08/09/2026
Pretty big fan of how readily you can get something cooking across platforms in #Tauri with a backend in #FastAPI.
Screenshot of a MacOS app and an iOS app (in a simulator) having a little private DM across a FastAPI websocket.
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 04/09/2026
Sometimes I email myself some sort of reminder and then have no idea WTF I was thinking about. My code? Some other code? What?!?
Email from me, to me, with the subject line "Why does this code even exist?"
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 04/09/2026
I’m going to head to my local to pick some up, but did a quick online search and I see I’m not alone 😂
Review for the above tin that reads: “Where have you been all my life?!”
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 04/09/2026
Okay, last ones for now: sunset, and elsewhere in the sky at the same time.
The sun finally pokes through in all its setting glory!A fast moving bank of clouds has broken off to the left and is covering more of the sky to the south.Directly above are some very high cirrus clouds that are side lit by the sun.A fisheye of the sky and the random parking lot I pulled into to snap photos. There is soooo much diversity of cloud types and layers going on, including some ground fog crashing into the mountains behind me.
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 04/09/2026
…
 Ow the sun is underlighting the main cloud bank as it sinks lower on the horizon.
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 04/09/2026
The show continues …
Same view, but the clouds have moved and morphed. There is now much less of a visible dark cumulonimbus and more distinct strata of fluffier cumulus and other clouds. Still, the sinister obscured but casting rays of light and reflections full of gold, highlighting the edges and depth between clouds.
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 04/09/2026
The sun and clouds are doing things!
The sun setting behind some storm clouds. There is a bright spot in the center where the sun is brightest behind the main cloud. Along the bottom edge of the clouds is light reflecting into the underside of the dark cloud. Above it all, rays of sunlight stream through the edges of the top of the clouds, radiating wisps out behind. The right side of the photo is a different, higher, thinner cloud, lit a pale shade of yellowish grey by the sun high clearly sits below it on the horizon.A closer, zoomed in shot of the reflected under-light and the sun peeking out from behind the main cloud massA very zoomed in shot of the wispy streaks of light and cloud at the top of the main cloud mass.
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 04/09/2026
What video game changed your life?
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 03/09/2026
Got me pretty dead to rights. Grew up on north shore MA, mom from MA/ME and dad from CT. Honestly, my percent would probably be like 80+ if I’d answered the way we/they spoke for the first 18 years of my life.
A map showing that I speak most like someone from CT or MA
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 03/09/2026
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 02/09/2026
Me: Well, guess I won't be buying/playing/watching that. A person: If you keep avoiding stuff that does something you disagree with you won't have anything to play/watch/listen to. Me:
This caption is text from the photographer Marita Kavelashvili on unsplash.

"This photo was taken in the high mountains of Adjara, Georgia, while I was doing my project there. It was summer, but the temperature didn’t feel like it. I spent most of my days standing in front of this amazing view, thinking about the life that was waiting for me back in capital. Suddenly, I had a very strong desire to talk with the fog. Loudly. Thought it had many stories to tell too."
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 01/09/2026
Post something random, or you'll have an awful September
A laptop in an oven.
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 01/09/2026
Not totally sure what is happening in that app, but so far I'm very much loving developing with Tauri. Built a dozen or so Electron apps over the years and resource consumption was always horrid. Hoping my experience stays relatively resource-friendly as I add more functionality! 🤞
App consuming ≈35MB RAM vs the OP image with 6.23GB consumed 😬
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 01/09/2026
Example 🤣🤣🤣
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 28/08/2026
So, a recruiter hit me up with this, and I cannot think of a role more diametrically opposed to my beliefs, principles, and values than this. Thinking of emailing back like a 5K word screed on how every word of this job title can eff right off into the sun.
Principal Data Center Design
Manager Position - Oracle,
Nashville, AR
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 28/08/2026
Honest atproto question: What is failing when something like this happens? Same identity, so presumably data available within same response, yet the display name and pfp are missing in the reply.
Two posts (one original and reply to it) by the same poster, from within a few seconds of each other. 

The first post displays the poster’s picture and name, the reply has a genetic avatar placeholder and only the poster’s handle.

The posts are about y’all needing to contact nine to five as soon as possible!
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 25/08/2026
In which Ainsley realizes several things about her true self. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Fox News would appear to reluctantly agree with the assessment that Democrats are leaning into good looks to win the midterms.
"El-Sayed is out in these tight T-shirts," Fox News host Ainsley Earhardt said in a discussion last week. "AOC with her pretty smile. She's beautiful. She's got the red lipstick. You have Mamdani, always smiling ...
It doesn't make their philosophy any less dangerous, right?... even with a tight T-shirt, it's still socialism and it fails."
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 24/08/2026
Wearing my “mess with other adults from this era” shirt again.
Black shirt with the waveform graphic from Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures album. Above it reads Depeche Mode and below it reads Head Like A Hole.
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 22/08/2026
#iykyk
XKCD dependency meme, but it’s fig holding up the atmosphere
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 20/08/2026
TMNT background artwork of the sewer lair, by Stephen Robinson, I think(?)
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 20/08/2026
I mean, the very obvs missing horn seems like a pretty solid SlopGen tell. If not, they uh, may need to have a talk with their character modeler* about detail fidelity. * There is obviously no actual person to talk to.
Four cows offered as evidence of not using AI are aligned in a single row. From left to right they are labeled as the original game art being cleaned up, a redraw in photoshop, "3d render process" and clean up in photoshop. The latter three (and possibly the first cleanup) are all verrrrrry likely GenAI. In the third image, the cow is missing a horn that is present in the other images, and honestly should be the one that is most correct if an actual model were being made because that would be the source for everything about the character downstream of there.
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Benjamin is ... making ottr @benjaminlistwon.com · 19/08/2026
Well, that’s half a century around our sun. Here’s to at least one more revolution.
The sun setting behind some trees.
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