Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 03/08/2025"There is more to duty than the ability to manipulate algorithms." - Wise words from Captain Janeway of the USS Voyager (Came across some old screenshot folders from 2017-2019. This was one of the more amusing relics...) 050
Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 29/07/2025Who knew relying on businesses to self-report environmental damage would result in <1% of incidents being reported? (Good of satellite imagery, though.) www.theguardian.com/business/202...theguardian.comOnly 0.5% of 90,000 oil slicks reported over five-year period, analysis findsPollution incidents reported between 2014 and 2019 were compared against scientific study that used satellite imagery to count slicks 041
Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 21/07/2025“What I had not realized is that extremely short exposures to a relatively simple computer program could induce powerful delusional thinking in quite normal people.” Joseph Weizenbaum (creator of ELIZA), 1976 99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-...99percentinvisible.orgThe ELIZA Effect - 99% InvisibleThroughout Joseph Weizenbaum’s life, he liked to tell this story about a computer program he’d created back in the 1960s as a professor at MIT. It was a simple chatbot named ELIZA that could interact ... 0125
Reposted by Marius WatzCreativeApplications.Net @creativeapps.bsky.social · 10/07/2025Since 2008, CAN has defied big tech’s dominance, nurturing a global network of artists, designers, educators, hackers & makers—proving alternative networks not only exist, but flourish! 93110
Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 11/07/2025Remember the 2003 invasion of Iraq? The US said they were trying to avoid damaging public infrastructure, nonetheless collateral damage (power, water, sanitation) set Iraqi society back decades. In Gaza, there is no attempt at restraint. Damage to public infrastructure is a clear goal. 120
Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 05/07/2025Minor win in the AI scraping arms race. Opt-in should be the default setting for life. www.cjr.org/analysis/clo...cjr.orgCloudflare Blocks AI Bots from Scraping Web Content Without PermissionThe move is a win for media publishers. 000
Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 05/07/2025Oddly amused by forensic bite / cut mark evidence in archeology. First it was cannibalism in starving Jamestown, now gladiators get their bragging rights confirmed. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...theguardian.comBite marks on York skeleton reveal first evidence of ‘gladiators’ fighting lionsStudy offers rare insight into human-animal combat during Roman empire 010
Reposted by Marius WatzEric Roston @eroston.bsky.social · 24/06/202510 years ago today, we dropped a thing that people still ask me about regularly. The question "What's Really Warming the World?" still has the same answer. With Blacki Migliozzi, in conversation with NASA GISS geniuses @climateofgavin.bsky.social and @drkatemarvel.bsky.social 🎁🔗bloomberg.comWhat's Really Warming the World?What's Really Warming the World? Climate deniers blame natural factors; NASA data proves otherwise 615778
Reposted by Marius WatzWilliam Careri @wcareri.com · 20/06/2025Introducing VizDex! An ever-growing library of personal and independent blogs and newsletters dedicated to data visualization. vizdexproject.comvizdexproject.comVizDexA library of personal and independent blogs and newsletters dedicated to data visualization. 911431
Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 22/06/2025To think only a few years ago people (myself included) were nauseated by performative corporate Pride efforts. Now the backlash against DEI and LGBTQ+ rights is so widespread, I worry about what kids are learning. And I'm in Norway, a relative liberal stronghold. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/20/o...nytimes.comOpinion | We’ve Reached Rainbow Capitalism’s End 010
Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 22/06/2025Watching old Clancy movies and thinking that however dumb their plots are, they sure aren’t far off the current situation. Trump moving B2’s with nothing but yes men and conspiracy theorists in the wings is not a happy thought. 010
Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 10/06/2025As much as I dread wide-spread AI adoption (because of humans and capitalism, not really AI), I'm still delighted by the weirdness of AI anthropology. Case in point: Golden Gate Claude www.anthropic.com/news/golden-...anthropic.comGolden Gate ClaudeWhen we turn up the strength of the “Golden Gate Bridge” feature, Claude’s responses begin to focus on the Golden Gate Bridge. For a short time, we’re making this model available for everyone to inter... 041
Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 07/06/2025David Burdeny - Saltern Study 08, Great Salt Lake, UT, 2015 www.davidburdeny.com/photographs/... 020
Reposted by Marius WatzNftBiker @nftbiker.com · 02/06/20254 years ago, I set up my indexer because those of HEN, Objkt and fxhash were regularly falling or lagging. This has not been the case for a long time now and maintaining my own indexer is time-consuming, and increasingly difficult. ⬇️ 1/4 183
Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 29/05/2025BBC reporting on goths emerging in 1987. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Blxq...youtube.com1987: Meet the GOTHS | London Plus | Classic BBC Music Report | BBC ArchiveYouTube video by BBC Archive 163
Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 26/05/2025Paolo Uccello (1397 - 1475), "Vase in perspective" Recreated (right) in Blender by u/Subushie on Reddit. www.reddit.com/r/blender/co... 040
Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 26/05/2025Can’t believe it took me two years to finally bother to learn how to snap vertex to vertex while moving edges and points in Blender. That UI is dense, sometimes I learn stuff by pressing keys at random. 030
Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 25/05/2025Gil Scott-Heron's "Whitey on the Moon" (1970) ought to be quaint and outdated by now, an artifact of a less civilized time. But here we are, 50 years later. Only real change? The goal is now Mars, or a 10 minute selfie ride. www.youtube.com/watch?v=otwk... 130
Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 25/05/2025Not sure if this is just a drop-shipping hustle for fairly mid T-shirts, but the IG AI reels of a future dominated by Azerbaijan Technology and their EuroShrimp GMO farmers are pretty dope. Link to the reels, the Children of Khan site is where the merch lives. www.instagram.com/lucamaxiim/r... 020
Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 24/05/2025Blender files from on-going series: ~300 files of sketches + iterations, taking 1-8hrs each to render just so I can reject 90% on sight. This is just the one project, I have 3-4 more folders just like it. Render addiction? Possibly. Still worth it. Proof: Elysian Fields release (2024) 030
Reposted by Marius WatzChris Coleman @digitalcoleman.art · 24/05/2025Listening to my Uni’s plans to add AI chatbots to every class on Canvas pre-tuned to the subject and readings to “be an always ready TA to answer questions” and instead I want smaller classes where I have time to make sure every student is in touch with what we are doing. 3183
Reposted by Marius Watz#BruceSterling @bruces.bsky.social · 23/05/2025*Maybe authors should *deliberately include* those AI prompts in the romantasy as a kind of Greek chorus www.404media.co/authors-are-...404media.coAuthors Are Accidentally Leaving AI Prompts In their Novels‘I’ve rewritten the passage to align more with the J. Bree style’ appeared in the middle of a tense scene with a scaled dragon prince. 1336
Reposted by Marius Watzjamelle @jamellebouie.net · 23/05/2025reminds me that i should probably finish xenoblade chronicles. i got halfway through and then got a little overwhelmed! 292166
Reposted by Marius WatzTom Coates @tomcoates.bsky.social · 23/05/2025A few years ago, Jeff Bezos asked people on Twitter what was something he could do with his vast resources that would have a significant effect and I said it was a trivial amount of money but that he should consider funding LGBTQIA+ helplines more. thehill.com/homenews/lgb...thehill.com 2152
Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 22/05/2025Pocket, the save-for-later app for reading articles and news, is shutting down. Previous archive exports indicate I've used it at least since 2014. I'm getting back in the habit of using a feed reader, hopefully @inoreader.com will fill the void. via @404media.co www.404media.co/pocket-app-s...404media.coPocket, One of the Only Apps I Ever Liked, Is Shutting DownPocket, the app for saving articles to read later, announced it is shutting down on July 8. 88713
Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 22/05/2025Dont't forget, desire paths don't lie. www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/... 0102
Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 21/05/2025The Rowboat CSV explorer by @fathom.info is a wonder. No need to open Excel, fix formatting and create the same old formulas to find min/max/median. Skip setting up a test app to see basic graphs. Just drop it in Rowboat. rowboat.xyzrowboat.xyzRowboatWelcome to Rowboat–a lightning fast tool for understanding large datasets. Sign in or create a free account to get started. 072
Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 20/05/2025Curious how many data vis blogs / sites from the 2010's are gone. Visualcomplexity.com is spam, thefunctionalart.com and infosthetics.com gone. I guess people burned out or won the influencer game? Still, @flowingdata.com remains a solid resource, informationisbeautiful.net, too.informationisbeautiful.netInformation is BeautifulDistilling the world's data, information & knowledge into beautiful infographics & visualizations 1121
Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 18/05/2025I wonder if young people will even know what made that burn. 😬 I know, even without having done it myself. www.instagram.com/p/DJr31YLy-W... 110
Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 13/05/2025New pet peeve: When you call it a "blog", but there is no RSS feed to subscribe to. Been seeing this show up quite a bit on newer sites, probably a result of people building on newer (non-blog) content platforms. NO RSS, NO BLOG. That's just a series of pages you got there. 030
Reposted by Marius WatzMark Webster @markwebster01.bsky.social · 04/05/2025A year ago I was already planning my book and made some hand made booklets for friends. Cosmic Poems will now be published along with Hypertype in June with @VetroEditions I’m currently in the final phase, working on details. Very pleased with the result. ☀️ 062
Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 12/05/2025You know it’s a dodgy deal when the party offering the bribe (Qatar) is a lot more circumspect about it than the bribee-to-be, aka the leader of the Free World. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...theguardian.comTrump says planned gift of luxury plane from Qatar is a very ‘transparent’ dealNews of present known as ‘flying palace’ from royal family to replace Air Force One has ignited accusations of bribery and corruption 210
Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 07/05/20252001, Stealing Eyeballs exhibition, Künstlerhaus Wien. Organized by Museum in Progress (Christian Muhr & Sabine Dreher), arguably my first show as a solo artist. Generative visual printed in Der Standard newspaper. Custom Java code, exported as EPS vector. www.mip.at/en/projects/... 050
Reposted by Marius Watz404 Media @404media.co · 29/04/2025NFTs That Cost Millions Replaced With Error Message After Project Downgraded to Free Cloudflare Plan 🔗 www.404media.co/nfts-that-co...404media.coNFTs That Cost Millions Replaced With Error Message After Project Downgraded to Free Cloudflare PlanFor a few hours, 19,000 NFTS that Nike helped mint returned a Cloudflare error instead of the picture people promised would live forever online. 2025140
Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 29/04/2025Ralph Ziman: The MiG-21 project, part of his "Weapons of Mass Production" trilogy repurposing weapons. referencing Apartheid-era South Africa and Cold War weaponry, juxtaposed with African craft. ralphziman.com/weapons-of-m... 030
Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 28/04/2025Al Gore quoting Adorno was not on my bingo card. www.youtube.com/shorts/HLGyU...youtube.comAl Gore Compares Trump Administration To Nazi Germany | 10 News FirstYouTube video by 10 News First 040
Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 16/04/2025I knew it. Social media finally found its killer app: Training AI. t.co/H6yU1mFXWvt.cohttps://www.theverge.com/openai/648130/openai-social-network-x-competitor 020
Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 15/04/2025How long until OpenAI launches an all-AI Insta clone? 010
Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 13/04/2025Generative juvenilia: Boxbomb, web page with GIF animations, ~2000. 3D structure generated in Java, rendered with POV-Ray. #generative 0100
Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 13/04/2025Animated GIF, created sometime late 1990's for my personal web site (evolutionzone.com), upsampled from 240x180 pixels. The original graphics were 3D models generated with Java and rendered in POV-Ray, reduced to harsh B/W. #generative 0130
Reposted by Marius WatzAnil Dash @anildash.com · 11/04/2025This is, in addition to very obviously denying people benefits and clearly excluding the vast majority of seniors, a violation of federal law on accessibility, especially since X requires users to log in and agree to the terms of service to see published content. 1022646961
Reposted by Marius WatzBrianna Wu @brianna.bsky.social · 11/04/2025I think I’m on to something here. The Republican cheek contouring and eye game works. Transsexual women take note! This is our future. I don’t have lipstick in the shade, but I’m going to get some. 5373
Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 11/04/2025Remember when authorities understood the dangers of assembling databases recording the vulnerable? www.washingtonpost.com/posteverythi...washingtonpost.comThere’s a federal database of undocumented immigrants like me. Don’t let Trump get it.DREAMers can't afford to wait and see what the next administration does. 010
Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 07/04/2025New opsec practice: Periodically asking AI chatbots what they know about your private life, feeling relief when it reels off only your sanitized LinkedIn identity. (Doesn't mean they don't know more, obviously.) www.nytimes.com/2025/03/24/t...nytimes.comEmboldened by Trump, A.I. Companies Lobby for Fewer RulesAfter the president made A.I. dominance a top priority, tech companies changed course from a meeker approach under the Biden administration. 010
Reposted by Marius WatzTom Warren @tomwarren.co.uk · 07/04/2025Microsoft fires employee protestor who called AI boss a "war profiteer." Another employee was dismissed immediately after putting in two-weeks notice. Details 👇 www.theverge.com/news/644769/...theverge.comMicrosoft fires employee protestor who called AI boss a ‘war profiteer’The former employee disrupted Microsoft’s 50th-anniversary event. 619565
Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 06/04/2025LARPA - TAX HAVEN & TAX HELL, April 11. Two-part event for tax season, Bushwick, Brooklyn. Bring guilty purchases, exhibit as art, write off on taxes. By @ntschk.bsky.social, @lav.io and crafty co-conspirators. www.instagram.com/p/DIAKxDGMr85/ 081
Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · 06/04/2025When you call a render "bland" and suddenly it's a full 20hrs... 061