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Matt Zandstra

@inflatableink.bsky.social
511 followers 554 following 170 posts

Writer and coder

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Reposted by Matt Zandstra
Chad Gayle @chadgayle.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Unexpected story sale after 22 rejections. Keep going, peeps. Keep putting yourselves out there. #writing
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Brighton Farm Freelancers Group @brightonfarm.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Tomorrow our freelancers meet up is in the Battle of Trafalgar pub in Brighton, 8pm-11ish. We'll be in the beer garden if the weather is good. Freelancer? Come and chat freelancing, tech & some nonsense too Last week: www.brightonfarm.com/2026/meeting... Map: maps.app.goo.gl/CbGLaPkoPuXM...
brightonfarm.com
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Evan Greer @evangreer.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
there is no such thing as "age verification." All "age verification" is actually "identity verification." You can coat it in glitter and "privacy-preserving" wrapping paper. But in the end, mandating age verification means mandating surveillance be built into software and hardware. Period.
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Kaleidotrope @kaleidotrope.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
Would you look at all these hundreds of incredible stories Kaleidotrope has published in the last twenty years. kaleidotrope.net/archives/all...
static.klipy.com
Andrew Wells: Wonderful To Get Lost In A Story
Alt: Andrew Wells: Wonderful To Get Lost In A Story
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Charlie Stross @cstross.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Welp, it's been nice having these computers but it's time to get back in the sea now. (See alt text for deeply alarming abstract of paper about AI-assisted self-modifying network worms …) arxiv.org/html/2606.03811v1
09:23 Fri 5 Jun

 arxiv.org

 Abstract

 A computer worm is malware that spreads on a network by replicating itself from one ma-
 chine to another. Traditional worms, like WannaCry, exploited predetermined vulnerabilities,
 and their spread can be halted by patching those vulnerabilities. Here we show that artificial
 intelligence (Al) agents enable a fundamentally new threat: a worm that generates tailored
 attack strategies to each target it encounters. The worm parasitically uses compromised ma-
 chines to run open-weight large language models (LLMs) to sustain its reasoning, or extend its
 reach for further attacks. Deployed on a network of machines spanning Linux, Windows, and
 loT (Internet of Things) devices, the worm propagated by exploiting common, real-world cor-
 porate network vulnerabilities. Since the worm is powered by stolen compute, the attacker's
 marginal cost per new infection is zero. This creates a destabilizing economic asymmetry be-
 tween attackers and defenders. Moreover, because the worm requires no commercial Al plat-
 form, centralized safety controls, such as service refusals or rate limiting, are structurally irrel-
 evant. Our results demonstrate that self-sustaining Al-driven cyber-threats are no longer the-
 oretical. We must prepare for autonomous generative adversaries: malware systems that
 propagate without human operators and are defined not by fixed exploit code, but by the ca-
 pacity to reason about targets, adapt to observations, and synthesize attack logic in real time.
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Matt Zandstra @inflatableink.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Seems like we've been waiting for literally ages...
An ad mail from Audible that reads "the next title in Iliad & Odyssey is coming May 28"
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Matt Zandstra @inflatableink.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Mabel Jevington Skeletor III - nine weeks old and on her second day with us - would like to say hello. She would also like her tummy rubbed if it's not too much trouble.
Mabel, our new Labrador pup lies on her back in her basket and presents her belly for a rub.
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Canadian Curmudgeon 🍁 @cdncurmudgeon.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
fs.blog/the-antilibr... The Antilibrary: The Hidden Value of Unread Books The legendary Italian writer Umberto Eco had over 50,000 books in his private library. When asked why so many, he had this to say: "It is foolish to think that you have to read all the books you buy..."
fs.blog
The Antilibrary: The Hidden Value of Unread Books -
The antidote to overconfidence is our relationship with knowledge. The antilibrary is the solution according to Nassim Taleb.
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Justin Wolfers @justinwolfers.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
Immigrants weren’t just filling existing jobs; they were helping create them. That’s Econ 101: jobs are not a fixed pie. More people means more customers, more demand, more businesses expanding, and yes, more hiring.
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Jen the Feisty Librarian @feistywaters.com · 29/03/2026
This book is a beautifully harsh discussion about the politics of identity, journalism, power, resistance and the self interest/complacency of western liberalism, among many other things. It’s an essential read.
Photo of the book One day, everyone will have always been against this by Omar El Akkad. The cover is fully red with the small black silhouette of a child and a missile falling towards them.
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Matt Zandstra @inflatableink.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
Ouse Valley viaduct today
Ouse valley viaduct arches
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Andrii Frolov @artandriifrolov.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
"Pouring Down" - my oil painting
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Matt Zandstra @inflatableink.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
second had book haul!
books! King Richard II, Henry IV Pt Two, Day of the Triffids (old Penguin edition)
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Kit de Waal @kitdewaal.com · 27/03/2026
Check this out. Free courses online from MIT. ocw.mit.edu I went in and looked at Writing About Literature and it's all there, syllabus, reading list, the lot. All free. Please share.
ocw.mit.edu
MIT OpenCourseWare | Free Online Course Materials
MIT OpenCourseWare is a web based publication of virtually all MIT course content. OCW is open and available to the world and is a permanent MIT activity
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Matt Zandstra @inflatableink.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
First run in a while. The weather pretty grey but spring is springing nonetheless.
A close up of budding leaves -- with the bundled leaf visibly already pushing out into the world
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Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 27/02/2026
obviously today is a huge embarrassment for Matt Goodwin and for Reform, which is something that we absolutely ought to celebrate, but we must also remember it's a huge embarrassment for Morgan McSweeney and Maurice Glasman and all the Blue Labour weirdos, and that's important to celebrate too :)
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Matt Zandstra @inflatableink.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
I think I've forgotten how to process good news. I keep reaching to denounce something. Then I remember I don't have to. Such a good result. #greenparty
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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
The extremism and racism of Reform (and the Conservatives) should not obscure that the most immediate issue is the vindictive, retrospective and entirely unnecessary/self-defeating nature of the government's own proposals. More details here. ukandeu.ac.uk/remigration-...
ukandeu.ac.uk
Remigration by stealth? The government’s earned settlement proposals - UK in a changing Europe
James Bowes analyses the potential impact of the UK government's proposed changes to its settlement schemes to both new migrants and migrants already in the UK.
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Chaucer Doth Tweet @levostregc.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Roses are redde Violettes are blue Hieronymus Bosch lobster violin, birde yn robes, partye yn a shoe
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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
Countries may fall, but their rivers and mountains remain: when spring comes to the ruined castle, the grass is green again. - Bashō putting Brexit in context.
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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
And now I'm crying first thing in the morning
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Grady Booch @booch.com · 13/02/2026
I do not fear the rise of superintelligence. I do, however, fear the rise of billionaires, organizations, and world powers who seek to use computing to maximize their power, influence, and control.
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Jason Read @jasonread.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
Reposted for David Graeber's birthday. www.unemployednegativity.com/2011/09/i-ow...
unemployednegativity.com
I Owe You an Explanation: Graeber and Marx on Origin Stories
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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
The very first episode of In Our Time with its new host Misha Glenny doesn't mess about: he's tackling JS Mill's On Liberty. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
bbc.co.uk
BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, On Liberty
John Stuart Mill's argument for the limits of power that society has over the individual.
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Joshua W. Cotter @joshuawcotter.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Make Art (1/4)
A rabbit in overalls and a goat in pants are sitting on the ground drawing pictures. The rabbit is saying “ART POSES A THREAT TO CORPORATOLRATIC SYSTEMS BECAUSE A PURPOSE OF ART IS TO REMIND THE INDIVIDUAL OF THEIR INHERENT AUTONOMY.”, the goat adds “THEIR HUMANITY.”
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REwadent Evil @ewacat.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
i love thinking about bagpipes as auditory heavy weapons
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Alexander Hay @alexanderhay.myatproto.social · 10/02/2026
PURE DRAMA. (Yes, that's the town's name, and bonus points for the post's gratuitous Smiths / Morrissey reference.) "Grimsargh residents left in the dark over when broken streetlight will be fixed "There is a light that never goes on in Grimsargh and a councillor wants action..."
blogpreston.co.uk
Grimsargh residents left in the dark over when broken streetlight will be fixed – Blog Preston
<p>There is a light that never goes on in Grimsargh and a councillor wants action.</p>
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sean guynes @guynes.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
A year ago today I published my essay on Thaddeus Tuleja's Tibetan historical fantasy(?) novel LAND OF PRECIOUS SNOW (1977). It's obscure as hell, pretty fascinating, and I even tracked Tad down and interviewed him about this book!
seanguynes.com
Reading “Land of Precious Snow” by Thaddeus Tuleja
Thaddeus Tuleja’s Land of Precious Snow (1977) is a fantasy-adjacent historical fiction novel about religious and spiritual experience, disaffection with modernity, and an American adventurer…
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Matt Zandstra @inflatableink.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
This morning free write will go no further: Luke flexed his fingers and imagined himself a gunslinger. "Cool hand", his sidekick said to him admiringly. "Thanks", said Luke. "Hey, that's a good idea for a nickname." And that is how he came to be known as Luke With The Flexible Fingers.
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Ed Gibney @edgibney.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
Hopefully the kind of disaster that pushes us to a Green Party future with @zackpolanski.bsky.social 💚 🚦 Green for going forward to a brighter future.
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flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
Nothing here to contradict my thesis (they’re just personally repellent, horrible people).
Morgan McSweeney does have some fans in the Parliamentary Labour Party, of course.
One MP says they are "devastated" he has left.
Another warns it represents "full speed ahead to uber-woke, net-zeroist, rejoinerism".
An MP who has been through several general elections when the tide was against Labour says of colleagues: "Good luck to all these careerists when they face an election without someone like Morgan at the helm.
"Some of us are old enough to remember the Corbyn era with no one in charge and the party floundering."
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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
this labour government man . . .
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WomenRiseUp2026 @womenriseup2026.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
#Trump #Epstein #EpsteinFiles
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Omg. WTF is Happening? @lalahaenzy.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again. #Pinks #ProudBlue
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Strange Horizons @strangehorizons.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
Strange Horizons stands with immigrants in the US as they experience intensified anti-immigrant operations. We have the opportunity to lend our strength as a global community. Read our full statement: strangehorizons.com/wordpress/no...
strangehorizons.com
Statement on ICE Operations in the USA
Strange Horizons stands with immigrants in the US facing these conditions.
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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
every epstein file drop underscores how elite power operates through shared socio-economic networks, regardless of people's ideological differences, populist posturing, or public feuds
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CL Hellisen @clhellisen.com · 28/01/2026
I wrote a thing about short stories, why they get rejected, and what you can apply to your own work. clhellisen.beehiiv.com/p/a-view-fro...
clhellisen.beehiiv.com
A View from the Slush
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William Meikle @williammeikle.com · 27/01/2026
Got told, again, to keep politics out of my posting here as it will affect my book sales. Fuck that. My readership mostly knows my politics and doesn't give a fuck. And if you're a nazi cunt, or want to appease nazi cunts, you're not going to like my books anyway.
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Iain Clark @iainjclarkart.com · 24/01/2026
LABOUR: "We must defeat Reform by stealing all their anti-immigration policies." LABOUR: "We must defeat the Green Party by ignoring all their pro-immigration policies and calling their leader weird."
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Gayla In SF @gaylaworrell.com · 20/01/2026
The amount of time I spend fretting and hesitating, "Oh, I don't know if I can make that change to the story. I should ask someone." before remembering that it's my freaking story and I can change whatever I want, is frightening. #writersky #writercommunity
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Matt Zandstra @inflatableink.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
This should be the first line of a poem.
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Utopia Science Fiction Magazine @utopiascifi.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
We have our next editor's meeting coming up shortly. We'd love to hear from you if there's anything you would like for us to discuss or if there's something you'd like to see more of on the pages of Utopia Science Fiction Magazine!
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Sascha Stronach🏳️‍⚧️, The Sunforge out now @understatesmen.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
man I spent decades going "evil is ordinary, that's part of why it's terrifying, who knows which one of your neighbours would be willing to sign your death warrant?" then these chucklefucks showed up like HI WERE PAEODPHILES AND WE HATE RIGHTS CHECK OUT MY OGRE-AFFIRMING SURGERY
a photograph of Matt Gaetz that notes he is an example of Mar-a-Lago face in a male
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Graham Jones @oldmanrambling.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
Bluesky proves today what a force for good it can be in a darkening world. Our friend Alan @alan678.bsky.social is posting a daily #WinterRobin #ForJanet after my lovely wife left this world last week. He also invited others to join in. Here is our Roberto who Janet loved. #birds #EastCoastKin
A Robin perches on the pointed end of a garden fence post. It is pictured in profile with its buff belly and orange-red chest and throat and brown back picked out in portrait mode against a background of another paling fence and a neighbour’s blue car. The Robin, which we named Roberto, has its beak wide as it sings the familiar song that is heard in gardens all year round. 
Camera: iPhone 15 Pro
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Jason Dyer @jdyer.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
BTW, I did finish writing about the whole game (6 posts) if you want to read it bluerenga.blog/tag/adventur...
bluerenga.blog
adventure-751 – Renga in Blue
Posts about adventure-751 written by Jason Dyer
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Matt Zandstra @inflatableink.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
Funny how themes clump randomly. Putting together links for a random reading blog post, I was hijacked by plain text . For example, The Register featured a command line browser. 1/ www.theregister.com/2026/01/02/b...
theregister.com
Brow6el is a full-featured browser that runs in a terminal
: A full-featured, Sixel-capable terminal browser for those who’d rather skip AI assistants
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Randi Mayem Singer @rmayemsinger.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
He's demanding control over a sovereign nation because they didn't give him THE NOBEL PRIZE. Why the actual fuck do we have a 25th Amendment?
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