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Andrew G.

@petterofcats.bsky.social
139 followers 348 following 103 posts

Perennial native to PNW. Needs drainage, shade. Prickly and difficult to transplant. Harvest hot takes promptly and shelter indoors in winter. He/Him

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Reposted by Andrew G.
Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 20h
Cloudflare Data Explorer shows the amount of russian bot traffic has dropped to 49% after Ukraine struck a yandex data center.
Chart showing plummeting bot traffic
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James Medlock @jdcmedlock.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Turns out the friction of having to learn photoshop was a crucial firewall protecting society from the terrible taste of small business owners
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Nute @nutedawn.bsky.social · 23h
1. RM is of course entirely right. Sulla wiped out his enemies and totally remade all of Rome’s institutions, and it *didn’t work* 2. I think it’s also extremely important to understand *why* it didn’t work, as Ronald Syme memorably put it…
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Jarrett Walker @humantransit.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
The US has elections for transit funding measures coming up in several cities. So I just updated my general advice about how to vote in these elections. It's more complicated than "just vote yes". Even I as a transit advocate have voted no sometimes. humantransit.org/basics-shoul...
humantransit.org
Basics: Should I Vote for a Transit Tax? — Human Transit
In the United States and Canada, voters are sometimes asked to decide whether to raise taxes to fund transit improvements.  I’m often asked whether I support these things.  I don’t like telling people...
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Supper Mario Broth @mariobrothblog.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
In the Mario Teaches Typing games, Mario never criticizes the player for underperforming and tries to be understanding and supportive. According to Charles Martinet, that was his initiative, as he felt being negative would go against the core principles of Mario's character.
In the Mario Teaches Typing games, even if the player does badly or underperforms compared to previous attempts, Mario will try to be understanding instead of critical:
Uh-oh, that wasn't quite as fast as the last time.
Hmm, are your fingers getting tired? Mine would be by now... if I had any. (laughs)
Charles Martinet, speaking at TooManyGames Convention 2021:
I got this marvelous opportunity to do Mario Teaches Typing. And when I got the script and I'm in the studio - I'm reading the script for the first time, there were things like "You failed!"
"That wasn't very good." "That was much worse... that was bad."
And I was reading that and I said, "Do you mind if I just, like, play with these words a little bit and just change them around?" because, you know, I never say "no" and I never say anything negative as Mario... and the producer graciously said "Sure, go for it!"
And so it became "Oh, that was good, but I know you can do even better!" "Oh, nice one but let's try again!" so it was always uplifting and always trying to be positive. And I think that that is the essence of the character to me - it's that love and that joy.
Source: transcript of speech found at youtube.com/watch?v=k9RywNQXCUM
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☀️ Jon Schwarz ☀️ @schwarz.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
One thing I've learned in life is that whenever someone says "What you have to understand about [some group] is that they're [some description]," the description always applies to all humans everywhere. This from the WSJ is a real classic of this genre: wsj.com/opinion/reve...
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mtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
imagine if the mainstream media covered Republicans' number one donor — the biggest political donor in US history! — and his controversial views with as much scrutiny as they covered Hasan Piker's
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Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
NEW: Trump wants to transform the 2030 census in ways that'd dramatically skew representation. So we asked you to send us your questions. And we invited an expert on the census, who just published a new book interviewing 100s of census workers, to answer you. I learned a ton reading her replies:
boltsmag.org
Trump's Attempts to Control the Census: Your Questions Answered - Bolts
The Trump administration plans to upend the census. They’re proposing to exclude noncitizens from the count that determines the distribution of congressional seats, a move that would subtract politica...
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Spookydoof @doofivirus.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
the duality of man
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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Having the elite consensus react with, "holy s***, that was a huge wave!" is probably as important, in the long-term politics of all of this, as the actual number of seats that switch over. Not saying the latter is unimportant, but my instinct is they both matter.
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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
I find myself concerned that the widening midterm map may create a set of expectations where we end up getting a D+7/D+8 year with some strong candidate effects but it gets read as a disappointing performance because the Dems didn't pick off Kansas, South Carolina, Iowa or Texas etc.
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Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Like so much else, this should result in the prosecution of everyone involved.
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mcc @dryad.technology · 04/10/2026
One day society will decide it's fed up with this, and there will be a great and terrible retribution. Not against Elon Musk, of course. Against me. Also you, probably. And some random non-AI pornographers making hand-drawn art. All of these non-Elon Musk people will pay dearly for Elon's actions.
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Andrew G. @petterofcats.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
In the '00s there was an apocalyptic collapse of the newspaper industry as aggregators tore its revenue model apart, and web traffic couldn't replace lost subscription fees. Now it looks like web traffic is crashing due to AI. Without a new revenue model, journalism is simply not going to happen.
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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshks.org · 02/10/2026
When you compare how much right-wing funding is going into their version of the humanities in higher ed ("civil discourse," "civic thought," "intellectual freedom") vs how little public or private funding there is for peer-reviewed humanities scholarship & teaching, it really makes you think.
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Nathan Grayson @nathangrayson.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
the brand safety panopticon has come to twitch
Streamers, wary of both AI and YouTube’s infuriatingly un-transparent hall of mirrors, are not enthused about this new development.

“Ohhh so that’s why ad revenue dropped,” longtime streamer JP "itmeJP" McDaniel said on Twitter.  

“I’m genuinely worried that the sheer fact that I’m a lesbian will cause the AI to remove ads,” said Vtuber LuminusRed. “In the past I’ve tested it and confirmed that I get less ad money if I had queer-related tags on my stream like ‘lesbian,’ so I am worried this dumb AI monitoring will mean I no longer get money from ads on Twitch.”
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The Onion @theonion.com · 28/09/2026
Fall Canceled After 3 Billion Seasons theonion.com/fall-canceled-after-3-…
Fall Canceled After 3 Billion Seasons
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Andrew G. @petterofcats.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Everything is about land use except land use. Land use is about power.
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Sarah Andersen @sarahseeandersen.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The image is of a four panel comic.
The first panel shows Sarah, the protagonist, working at a desk. A brain next to her says, "We need to take breaks!"
The second panel zooms in on Sarah's face. She is annoyed. She says, "What if I don't listen to you?"
The third panel shows the brain smiling.
The fourth panel shows the brain reaching towards a lever. The brain says, "I'LL MAKE YOU."
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Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
On the outside adviser urging Trump to declare martial losses in the face of losses on November 3. "“Believe me, our armed forces are a lot bigger than they are,” he said." www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
theatlantic.com
The Supporters Urging Trump to Declare Martial Law for the Midterms
Trump’s advisers have been working for months to move his focus away from baseless theories of election fraud. A group of outsiders is making that difficult.
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Rodger Sherman @rodger.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Tough competition of course, but the Trump admin deciding that white South Africans are the only group of people on earth currently worthy of refugee status has to be the most overtly racist thing any administration has done in decades
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James @gravitysra1nbow.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
You fundamentally just cannot fight and win a war like this. There isn’t a military on earth that could effectively operate when your leadership is waffling back and forth on decisions on a daily basis for months on end. It’s not sustainable. None of this is sustainable.
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Halloween III: Season of the Ben @franzferdinand2.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Hey, it’s me, your childhood friend from your idyllic hometown in this RPG. Let’s do some tutorial missions together. No, I’m not in any of the official art, but that probably doesn’t mean anything.
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Steve Kovach @stevekovach.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
what are we doing
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Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com · 18/09/2026
legitimately this is about as good as you can get at explaining why "ir realism" is the fakest doctrine in history, and also wwii
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👻 Jack Djinn Wail 🧞 @jacktindale.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
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👻 Jack Djinn Wail 🧞 @jacktindale.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Absolutely lost my shit at this co-op mode for Hearts of Iron, which you play as the Army, Navy, Emperor, and Government. All have their own win conditions aside the Government, which lost the game automatically in 1925. docs.google.com/document/d/1...
docs.google.com
True Imperial Japan Experience
True Imperial Japan Experience A Hearts of Iron 4 Game This is a counteroperative roleplaying game. The resolution system is a game of multiplayer Hearts of Iron 4 and a number of discord chats. Requi...
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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Absolutely horrific: Thanks to a false intelligence "generated with the help of artificial intelligence," the US military nearly carried out an operation aboard a Chinese ship because the incorrect intelligence said it was carrying nukes, according to @cnn.com. edition.cnn.com/2026/09/18/p...
edition.cnn.com
Exclusive: US military had close call after using AI for false intelligence report, sources say | CNN Politics
The episode shows the risks of using this new, relatively poorly understood technology in the middle of the Iran war
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Dr. Tom Frieden @drtomfrieden.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
"I'm not going to take away anybody's vaccines.” - Health Secretary Kennedy, November 2024. Covid vaccination cuts a child's risk of hospitalization by about two thirds. Half of American children get their vaccines through the Vaccines for Children Program. www.wsj.com/health/healt...
wsj.com
Exclusive | States Delayed in Getting Covid Shots for Children’s Immunization Program
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hasn’t opened up the ordering process, raising concerns about delays as vaccination programs kick off.
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Matthew Noe @noethematt.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
"In reality, the costs — both human and financial — of not providing needed care are much greater [than the cost of providing them]." thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/americas-car...
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu
America’s Care Economy Is Broken
From childcare to elder care to teaching, the labor that sustains society goes undercompensated. A nationalized care economy would change that.
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Andrew Weinstein @andrewjweinstein.com · 15/09/2026
There’s obviously a lot going on right now, but a Russian oligarch bankrolling the wedding of the president’s son is the kind of story that should dominate headlines in any functioning political culture.
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Zach Weinersmith @zachweinersmith.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Meanwhile, the nearterm ai doom is real crew includes Elon Musk, Bernie Sanders, Josh Hawley, Sam Altman, and Amodei. And of course in my econ circles there's the "Let the glorious doom sweep away all economic enefficiencies" perspective.
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Zach Weinersmith @zachweinersmith.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Weirdest thing about ai today is that the group that believes that nearterm ai doom is bullshit includes: accelerationists, bluesky skeptics, Trump, the government of China.
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 14/09/2026
this guy is one of the architects of a war that might rank as one of the worst strategic missteps in american military history and here is on CBS getting a softball interview about his feelings
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Andrew G. @petterofcats.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
@zachweinersmith.bsky.social @weinersmith.bsky.social Did you two consider including (then theoretical) mass market, publicly available AI back when you wrote Soonish?
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
“The Miami Herald will no longer have a Miami beat” is the state of local journalism in a nutshell. Really, really bad.
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Only Aggro Comments @pilco.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
mfw my employer donated to the ballroom fund but I have to hit "i understand" during anti-bribery training.
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Giles Wilkes @gilesyb.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
It's always the way, isn't it giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
Graph shows far right support higher where the number of foreign nationals is lowest
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headfallsoff @headfallsoff.com · 08/09/2026
the next generation of game developers don’t need a special grant for 20 geniuses to get some walking around money they need entry level jobs that a) exist and b) keep existing next quarter
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Magpie @magpieofthesea.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
The stuff I see as a breast cancer patient is absolutely diabolical. Every week I see a newly diagnosed patient who is refusing standard of care in favor of MAHA. One woman refused to wash w Hibaclens before port placement because she's not "afraid of germs." IN HER🫀This shit is fucking outrageous.
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Justin Wolfers @justinwolfers.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Consumer sentiment is at its lowest in 70 years of survey data. That's lower than during wars, financial crises, and a pandemic. The economy isn't the whole story here. Faith in how Washington is running policy is at an all-time low, and it's hard to blame people. youtu.be/h0LB9PEiZ3o
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Girish M. Duvvuri @gmduvvuri.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
The open secret to pedagogy research is that small class sizes/maximizing educator attention per pupil is the simplest, most effective, and unfortunately the least attractive to administration thing you can do to improve learning outcomes.
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Damon Young @damonyoung.com.au · 04/09/2026
This Finnish guy has been teaching himself Sumerian, and sent a cuneiform tablet to the British Museum to check his progress. They just emailed him that they've sent him something in the post. I'm now thrilled and excited for a total stranger! Clay tablet mail! www.reddit.com/r/Cuneiform/...
a photo of a hand holding a cuneiform tablet
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 03/09/2026
Convincing young people that America is poor & no one can afford anything & everyone is living paycheck to paycheck & their economic future is doomed ... IS NOT GOING TO LEAD TO MORE PROGRESSIVE POLICY. People who feel anxious & under threat do not respond with openness & generosity! Look it up!
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Raj Patel @rajio.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
games industry layoff data
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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 02/09/2026
Trade xkcd.com/3290/
Comic. [Person standing holding hammer above raised knee.] PERSON: Listen up, leg. I’ve been sending you rich, oxygenated blood for years, while you send me worthless used-up blood with no oxygen. Time to teach you a lesson about not ripping me off! [caption] Tariffs
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Sydney Bauer @sydney-bauer.com · 31/08/2026
The problem with having very few reporters working who’ve covered sports for a decade and anti trans political developments for a decade is anytime there’s discourse it takes like six extra pieces to show how all the groups coalesce towards defunding public schools and repealing Title IX.
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Starfire’s Deranged Neocon Foreign Policy Podcast @irhottakes.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
I feel like I’m on fraud watch as an international relations scholar because I honestly kinda don’t fucking know why this country does anything anymore. If you held a gun to my head and demanded to know why we’re at war with Iran or feuding with Canada or want Greenland, I’d say the Lord’s Prayer.
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