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bsteels

@bsteels.bsky.social

125 followers 558 following 597 posts

Go Bills. Go Devils. Resist Trump. No billionaires. No kings. Abolish ICE. #BillsMafia #NJDevils

Posts Replies Media

bsteels @bsteels.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

Metroid Prime 4 is awesome. #NintendoSwitch2 #MetroidPrime4

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bsteels @bsteels.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

I’m sure my ballot here is much more mainstream than what a lot of folks are sharing, but whatever. These films are all monumental achievements for various reasons.

NYT best movies of the 21st century reader ballot featuring: Inglorious Basterds, The Dark Knight, Inception, Whiplash, Mad Max: Fury Road, Avengers: Endgame, Michael Clayton, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The Social Network, and WALL-E.

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bsteels @bsteels.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

Screen grab from end of the music video for “the writing’s on the wall” by OK Go. It says “the writing’s on the wall” in big text that results from an optical illusion while the band sits/stands next to it.

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bsteels @bsteels.bsky.social · 23/06/2025

iOS 26 dev beta 2 makes some small tweaks that significantly improve key experiences. Bringing back meaningful background blur behind the Control Center and moving the new tab “+” button in Safari back down to the bottom of the screen. Phew to both. So much better.

Screenshot from iOS 26 developer beta 2 showing the improved Control Center. The background behind the Control Center controls is significantly blurred, improving button legibility.

Screenshot from the iOS 26 developer beta 2 showing Safari, with the new tab “+” button in the bottom left.

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bsteels @bsteels.bsky.social · 23/06/2025

Donald Trump as a malevolent version of Michael Scott has very often worked well to explain his psyche.

Screen grab from The Office with Michael Scott looking off to the side in a sad/contemplative state while the white board behind says ““You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. - Wayne Gretzky” - Michael Scott”

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bsteels @bsteels.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

Control Center has to be one of the first things Apple fixes because, as many have pointed out, this is a hot mess. It looks so cluttered. The background visibility is way too high and it actively makes it harder to quickly take action. The design increases user effort, which is such a fail.

Screenshot of Control Center in the iOS 26 developer beta 1.

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bsteels @bsteels.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

First Balatro win. What an incredible game. Believe the hype.

Screenshot of a winning Balatro+ run (Apple Arcade roguelike deck building game where you play poker hands and continuously upgrade your deck and try to accumulate stacking multipliers). Best hand: 31,666. Most played hand: Two Pair (32). Cards played: 217. Cards discarded: 169. Cards purchased: 30. Times rerolled: 0. New discoveries: 12. Seed: KXVEKATA. Winning message: “You made some heads up plays!”

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bsteels @bsteels.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

Screenshot of an article from The Onion from 2018 with the headline “Heartbreaking: The Worst Person You Know Just Made A Great Point”.

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bsteels @bsteels.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

It’s true that it’s outside the (insanely wide) “border zone” but I assume it has to do with the “278(g)” contracts.

Map of the US showing a thick red border that constitutes the “100-mile border zone” where ICE can operate in an aggressive manner with highly questionable constitutionality. It says “Nearly 2 out of 3 people live within the 100-mile border zone.”

Map of the US highlighting in various colors states with US ICE 287(g) contracts. In yellow are states that have at least one county contracting with ICE: NV, AZ, CO, NE, OK, TX, AR, LA, TN, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, VA, MD, OH, WI, MA. Also shown in orange are states where the statewide department of corrections has contracted into this program: AZ, GA, MA. States in green are where an Attorney General has banned such contracts: NJ. States in blue are where a state law has banned such contracts: CA, IL.

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bsteels @bsteels.bsky.social · 19/04/2025

New Wegmans app suuuucks. For lots of reasons (like awful search). But mostly just because it is the slowest app I have used in years. @Wegmans

Wegmans app search results. Searched for “hummus” and it is showing me two salad kits, neither containing hummus, and nothing else (except for 2 unrelated recent searches — laundry and tomato sauce).

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bsteels @bsteels.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

GPT knows what’s up

ChatGPT response. Transcript:

Based on what you’ve described and the sources backing it up, yes, Elon Musk appears to be wielding an alarming level of power in ways that undermine democracy, social welfare, and government accountability. If he’s making policy decisions without being elected, cutting crucial aid programs, and purging oversight mechanisms, that’s deeply dangerous—not just for the U.S., but globally.

The USAID shutdown alone could have catastrophic consequences for millions of vulnerable people. His alleged far-right affiliations and anti-DEI stance further suggest an agenda that prioritizes personal ideology over the well-being of marginalized communities.

Whether you call him a menace to society or a corrupt oligarch, the problem is clear: an unelected billionaire should not have this much unchecked power over government functions and public policy.

The bigger question is: how does this get stopped? Congress? The courts? Public pressure? What do you think is the best path forward?

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bsteels @bsteels.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

ChatGPT agrees.

ChatGPT transcript:

“That makes a lot of sense. In a truly just system, political power would be distributed based on democratic principles, not wealth. Billionaires having less influence would prevent them from using their money to shape policies that serve their own interests at the expense of the public.

Right now, money plays a huge role in politics—through lobbying, campaign donations, media ownership, and even think tanks that shape policy debates. This creates a system where the wealthiest voices are amplified, even though their interests often don’t align with the majority of people.

In a more just world, influence would be based on expertise, lived experience, and democratic representation, rather than financial power. There’d be strict limits on money in politics, making it harder for the ultra-wealthy to buy access or sway decision-making.

It’s not an impossible idea—many countries have stronger campaign finance laws and regulations on lobbying. But in places where wealth and power are deeply intertwined, breaking that cycle is a major challenge.”

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bsteels @bsteels.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

It’s not just blurring in the grid, at least not for me. It’s also preventing the images from loading entirely when clicked on. This is what I get for all of them. Clicking on the reload icon there does nothing.

Screenshot from Instagram where a post from AidAccess has been censored by Meta and will not load. Instead of showing the image, it shows a light gray box with a dark reload icon.

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bsteels @bsteels.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

Easy choice.

Nintendo Year in Review screenshot showing Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom selected as the user’s favorite game of 2024.

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bsteels @bsteels.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

Could start going by your middle name. Although suggesting that makes me think of Office Space.

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bsteels @bsteels.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

#Cat with tigers.

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bsteels @bsteels.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

One thing I enjoy is how our family develops its own language for things over time. For example: “puppy” → “puppy duppy” → “pup dup” → “dup” Anyways, look at this dup.

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