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Ben Cotton (he/him)

@funnelfiasco.bsky.social
822 followers 638 following 3.4K posts

Author of "Program Management for Open Source Projects" and all-around opinion haver. "both precise and a little overdesigned" — some bot account funnelfiasco.com duckalignment.academy

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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 9h
This or the fight between Inigo Montoya and the Man in Black are the only two answers.
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
"And I'm going to argue with the friggin Pope about it!"
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
What kind of stories does the ghost like to be told?
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Everyone wins!
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Ask @sarahjeong.bsky.social
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Fellas, is it gay to be around girls?
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Do they use AI to catchup, or do they have a pile of AI catchups they never get to? (not a leading question)
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
But OMG am I just an incandescent ball of rage right now.
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I have plenty of free time to be a pain in the ass about this if it comes down to it. I have hardware sitting here waiting to be racked and no rack to put it in. UPS says another thing I ordered is still on the truck for delivery; maybe they'll make a second trip that magically includes the rack?
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I'm at the point where I just want Bob Newegg or whatever the CEO's name is to load it up in a U-Haul and deliver it to my house personally.
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
So I tried again this week. Box is mostly undamaged, but all I got were the feet, screws, and installation instruction. Not the structural hardware. Did UPS eat it again? Did Newegg not ship it? Did it get shipped with a different tracking number that I wasn't provided? I am so tired.
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
My attempts to by a server rack continue to be cursed by @neweggservice.bsky.social and UPS. Four years ago, I tried to buy one and due to shipment damage had to retry twice. I eventually gave up because I was in the middle of my dad dying and whatnot.
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
If by "Brandon Scott", you mean "Tony Roswarski", then yes.
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Every candidate I have put a sign out for has lost, except our unbeatable mayor.
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
That sounds like an intermediate state and I'm not really into those. 0 or 100%. Nothing in between!
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Sucks to suck, Johnny
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
8am Ben: I'm not hungry 10:20am Ben: I will eat every crumb of food in this house.
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Bo Jackson ain't got nothing
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I'm about to start charging the kids a dollar every time they say "I know". If you know, then why am I still hollering for you to get downstairs and eat your breakfast?
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I have no idea what my role would be. Clearly I have some introspection to do.
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Thankfully, I had a spare in storage from when the previous coffee maker stopped making coffee. I appreciate your kindness.
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I just accidentally shattered the coffee pot. Thank you for respecting my family's privacy in this difficult time.
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Reposted by Ben Cotton (he/him)
Matthew Kay @mjskay.com · 30/09/2026
every 17-year-old boy who reads The Fountainhead will follow one of three paths: Eliezer Yudkowsky, Ron Paul, or growing the fuck up
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I (surprisingly, given who I was as a 17-year-old boy) never read any Ayn Rand, but this resonates.
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Providing project emails Giving project email aliases to contributor is a nice recognition with practical benefits. But the modern email landscape makes it harder.
duckalignment.academy
Providing project emails
Giving project email aliases to contributor is a nice recognition with practical benefits. But the modern email landscape makes it harder.
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Truly the best thing this administration has done. I tried to poke around and find other things, but this seems to be a one-off
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Not an HR person, but in my experience, they don't ask for that unless they plan to make an offer
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I regret to inform you that it is, in fact, real AF
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I'm going to get a visit from the feds because I asked about couch cleaning benefits for federal employees.
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Maybe she wants your sibs to get some Kirkland brand side pieces?
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Is it the 2001 baseball season because Bonds is on a tear
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Reposted by Ben Cotton (he/him)
Henry David Thorough @sundownactproof.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Remember when ESPN was like “yeah let’s put Rush Limbaugh on TV to talk about Black athletes”
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
It turns out paying money to receive services is pretty awesome.
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
They say we've never beenore divided but the rack rails for my UPS are being delivered by FedEx and I just think that's beautiful.
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Open versus closed in security In a LinkedIn comment on "My thoughts on the current effects of AI on OSS security" from last week, I got a great question. The question came from someone working with a European government that has faced attacks. This has led some, he says, to advocate for closed…
funnelfiasco.com
Open versus closed in security
In a LinkedIn comment on "My thoughts on the current effects of AI on OSS security" from last week, I got a great question. The question came from someone working with a European government that has faced attacks. This has led some, he says, to advocate for closed software instead of open source software. He wanted to know if there is a proven higher risk for open source software.
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Reposted by Ben Cotton (he/him)
Schooley @schooley.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Yeah, about that steel mill promise…
S5 CHICAGO
DONALD TRUMP
'8th Wonder of the World":
Trump Speaks in Wisconsin at Foxconn Groundbreaking
The FoxConn factory is slated to open in 2020 and is expected to be massive, meant to produce LCD screens for televisions and computers
By Mary Ann Ahern and Sandra Torres • Published June 28, 2018 • Updated on June 28, 2018 at 5:28 pm
f$ 5 CHICAGO
NBC 5 INVESTIGATES
What happened to Foxconn? A look at the $1.2 billion spent and where it all went
It was supposed to be a giant manufacturing plant that would spur the growth of "Wis-con Valley.
Instead, it's a mostly-abandoned stretch of four lane roads and barren fields.
By Bennett Haeberle, Nathan Halder, Rich Moy, and Katy Smyser • Published June 3, 2025 • Updated on
June 5, 2025 at 6:02 pm
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Sigh. I hate that you're right.
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The worst* part about the AI Sex and Doom Cult™ is that now I want to try reading "Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality" again to see if it sucks as much as I thought it did the last time I tried reading it.
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Every so often, I wonder if we should just go the University of Chicago route.
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
You know, the Indiana BMV has a pretty usable website
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
You know, you could say "I was at lunch with Will Ferrell and choked on a piece of jambon. It's a good thing he knows the Heimlich maneuver." without telling an actual lie. If someone infers that Will saved your life, that's on them. 😈
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Just had a great idea for a @waywordradio.org special episode on water and sewage. @neorsd.org is a special guest on "A Way With Turds".
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Better sit outside and drink tiki drinks all day.
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Reposted by Ben Cotton (he/him)
Craig Calcaterra @craigcalcaterra.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I think everyone arguing that people on this site not knowing "Choosin' Texas" is weird or wrong need to own up to the fact that my dad was my age in 1996 and I guarantee you that he has never once knowingly listened to "One Sweet Day" and couldn't pick it out of lineup if you put a gun to his head.
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Have you considered not doing that?
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
If it makes you feel any better, my wife pointed out that the kid from "Look Who's Talking" is older now than John Travolta was when that movie was made.
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
We have one. It's 100% worth it.
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
If you want to feel old, consider that when Madonna kissed Britney and Christina at the VMAs, Sabrina Carpenter was four. Sabrina and Madonna just won a VMA for their collaboration.
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
If I were bad at sex, I would certainly not put that in the New York Times.
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Ben Cotton (he/him) @funnelfiasco.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
They need to understand data storage, too
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