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Simple Signifier

@simplesignifier.bsky.social
364 followers 1.4K following 268 posts
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Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · 08/10/2026
This picture will always be iconic. RIP Margaret Hamilton who wrote the software that successfully guided NASA’s Apollo missions through the moon.
Margaret Hamilton with printed computer code in 1969. Credit: NASA/Alamy
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Trung Le Nguyen @trungles.com · 08/10/2026
Also in this household we do not touch Inktober; I don’t know how everybody forgot, but I’m willing to hold that grudge tight enough for all of us.
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rahaeli @rahaeli.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Godspeed, ma'am. "Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light; I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night."
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Sarah Andersen @sarahseeandersen.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
The image is of a four panel comic.
In panel one, we see a crow’s face. It says, “I AM DEATH’S MESSENGER”.
In panel two, we see the same crow’s face. It continues, “YOUR TIME IS NEAR”.
In panel four, we see the crow awkwardly hopping away from a stick figure.
In panel five, we see the grim reaper with the crow perched on his hand. The grim reaper says, “So you should probably fly away dramatically instead.”
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depths of wikipedia @depthsofwikipedia.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The Phantom of Heilbronn, also referred to as the Woman Without a Face, was a presumed female serial killer whose existence was inferred from DNA evidence found at 40 crime scenes across Austria, France and Germany from 1993 to 2009.

In March 2009, investigators concluded that the supposed serial killer did not exist, and the DNA belonged to a woman who worked at a factory that made the cotton swabs used for collecting DNA samples
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Alex Falcone @alexfalcone.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
You are 50% microbes
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Maggie Rudy @maggiemice.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
The encounter
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Diane Duane @diane.dianeduane.com · 07/10/2026
NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE (repeat as necessary…)
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High Priestess, Low Patience @cheriepriest.com · 06/10/2026
zen break: (volume up)
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Katie Tightpussy, Editor-In-Chief @katie.bzky.team · 06/10/2026
i should be allowed to go to the store and get pharmaceutical-grade stimulants if i want to! the controlled substances act being so disconnected pharmacologically from what is scheduled based on an arbitrary rating of "abuse potential" is a sham when alcohol and nicotine aren't scheduled. total bs.
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Sam Bergman @violanorth.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
And somebody is telling them so, and has been telling every new generation of orchestra leaders so for 30 years now and maybe longer. That somebody is a cottage industry of consultants and pundits who make their money selling the notion of perpetual crisis and temporary, but ONLY TEMPORARY, relief.
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Eric Pazdziora @ericpazdziora.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
"Opera doesn't make money. Opera’s what you spend money *on*.” “But . . what do you get out of it?” “You get opera. You put money in, you see, and opera comes out,” said Salzella wearily. --Terry Pratchett, 'Maskerade'
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Alaina Wood @thegarbagequeen.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Don’t give up now because our imperfect activism is working!!
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Cats of Yore @catsofyore.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
From a simply outstanding glass plate negative in my collection. No date/info.
Photo of a shorthaired grey cat sitting up on an overturned white parasol on top of a light colored rock. A white sheet is draped behind it. It seems clear that this was all arranged deliberately to gather light for this very successful photo shoot of the cat.
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Micro SF/F by O. Westin @microsff.com · 01/10/2026
A demon appeared in the summoning circle. It was wearing pyjamas. "I summoned thee to give me knowled-" "Really?" the demon said. "You have the internet these days, the world's knowledge a click away. Nobody's summoned me in years." "You have all knowledge. Why did I summon thee?" "... oh shit."
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JunkboxJim @junkboxjim.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
#BirdOfTheDay theme is #WingsOpenNotFlying. Sandhill crane dancing.
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🌈Dr. Frizzle @swilua.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Decades and decades of “teaching to the test” and needing good grades and correct answers, even over-valuing of science, where there tend to be “right” answers and “correct” procedures in a way that there simply are not in the arts, all these things have made students less curious
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Ghostly Bree @mostlybree.kitrocha.com · 06/10/2026
I kind of hate the "Lucy and the football" metaphor for things like Blue Texas and shit because I feel like that implies we're suckers and fools for trying. Fuck that, kick with everything in you every fucking time. By the time we hit that ball our leg is gonna be titanium. 😂
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High Priestess, Low Patience @cheriepriest.com · 05/10/2026
just because it made me happy and I thought it was extra pretty in the fog: my (back) yard’s past and present state; pics taken about 8 years apart
A blank green patch of sod surrounded by a wood privacy fence.An oasis that somebody actually cares about - pic taken from roughly the same angle, but now it’s all trees, flowers, and a paver pathway leading to a round patio. The fog-shrouded trees in the background make it look so nice, tho.
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Kari Dru @karidru.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
This thread is great. Image: four people in a small boat in beautiful blue water pass by a very chill shark, seen from above.
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Mineral Cup & Ore Cup @mineralcup.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Congratulations to our Mineral Cup 2026 Champion Quartz! For #MinCup26, we collectively chose a nostalgic beauty of resilience as persistence as our champion. Please celebrate #Quartz, a friend to humans since time immemorial! www.mineralcup.org/about/2026-q...
A single quartz point, deep violet in its core and entirely clear around the outside, with ghostly traces of the crystal's former shape inside, as well as a few tiny bubbles.
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Cats of Yore @catsofyore.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Showing off the magnificent spotted potato. Photo from my collection, no date/info.
Black and white photo of a middle aged white woman with dark hair, sitting in a living room in a rattan chair. She is cradling a chubby, shorthaired tuxedo tabby in her arms and they both look toward the camera.
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Alex T Singer, Arbiter of Bagels @moonsheen.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Wow! My short story, "A Vintage Kind of Death," about a pair of artificial beings in the far future attempting a Perfectly Normal Human Experience, is featured in the 20th anniversary issue of Clarkesworld! As always, super delighted to appear alongside so many great authors. Please give it a read.
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Kari Dru @karidru.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Let's fix that. The first three are an omnibus now, so it's easy to get started without feeling like an ATM. The Waverly Jones books are delightful. Our times aware, ACAB, character forward mysteries for the angry. If you yearn for justice but you live in the bad timeline, these are for you.
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Ghostly Bree @mostlybree.kitrocha.com · 30/09/2026
Currently braving the Anthropic settlement call line on behalf of all self-published cowriters and y'all. 😂 These ladies are very nice but this system is a HOT STEAMING MESS and we are all due restitution for the stress
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The Trandalorian @charliejaneanders.com · 30/09/2026
I really do think tech crossed a line at some point between "helping you do the things you want to do" on the one hand, and "helping you do the things tech wants you to do" on the other. At this point, we're all contorting ourselves to live how the tech industry thinks we should be living.
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Alex T Singer, Arbiter of Bagels @moonsheen.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Incredibly honored that "We, the Fleet" (Clarkesworld: clarkesworldmagazine.com/singer_05_25/) is the 2026 Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award winner. It's amazing to be chosen, especially among such an fantastic set of fellow nominees. Thrilled to be attending the symposium in October!
clarkesworldmagazine.com
We, the Fleet by Alex T. Singer
Clarkesworld Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine and Podcast.
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Pookleblinky @pookleblinky.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Like if you had barometric migraines as a kid, there might have been a handful of days per month with huge pressure shifts. Now that's like every other day.
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Pookleblinky @pookleblinky.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Every summer and winter breaking records, and then in *between* summer and winter everyone everywhere gets to experience normal Ohio weather where you get to experience 3 different seasons in one day
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Pookleblinky @pookleblinky.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Yesterday the barometric pressure dropped about 0.5in/hg in the span of 12 hours, went back up in the next 12, and now it's dropped right back down. It's interesting to think of how migraines have been affected by climate change, as every summer is the hottest and every winter the coldest etc
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Olivia Just Wants Tech To Be Fun Again @kingdomfantasy6.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I submit, "It'll all work out" as the most cursed phrase in existence, and the intentional ignoring of problems it causes as one of the top fifty problems facing the world right now. I'd say top ten but that's some TOUGH competition...in part because of all the "Eh, that's for later generations."
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CZEdwards @czedwards.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
We WANT men to be the best people they can be. That means BEING BETTER HUMANS. It means being more pro-social, more empathetic, better able to communicate. We want them to connect with their feelings, and learn to identify all of the gradation of emotion, that it comes in more flavors than ANGER.
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Andrea of the Existential Variety 😵😵 @andrearovenski.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
i hate the phrase "height of covid". the height is right now! more and more people every year are becoming disabled from this virus and there's no end in sight! every study that comes out says the virus won't clear and lingers in the organs! the height is today! and tomorrow!
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Olivia Just Wants Tech To Be Fun Again @kingdomfantasy6.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
"AI bots will make a better internet" Okay well my domain isn't even really connected to anything yet and I'm having AI bots fishing around for data and notably? Config files, wordpress config, python environment files, etc. But sure. Everyone can handle the traffic & security demands.
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Kari Dru @karidru.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I don't think conflating physical states with ethics is great and I think we should watch out for that because it has real life implications. Evil doesn't announce its presence like that. In general, everyone I've met with a living room with paths through it has been a mix of traits like anyone.
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Shiv Ramdas Mens Rice Activist @nameshiv.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
For 9 years this cat has attempted to get me to feed him at 4 am every day and for 9 years he has not succeeded one time and his only takeaway has been well it's certainly not happening if I don't try again, and I'm starting to find him quite inspirational
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Tim Gaedke @timgaedke.com · 26/09/2026
talent is a lie
a cartoon picture of a frog throwing a crooked looking clay vase with the words “talent is a lie, just do it anyway”
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Gareth Watkins @garethwatkins.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
In fact, one my say that the fact that Elon Musk is lighting the world on fire actually increases one's obligation to be as little like him as possible, and that includes avoiding letting going on the computer stop you from being a person.
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the babahuck @tylerhuckabee.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
rip annie dillard
One of the things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now. The impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now. Something more will arise for later, something better. These things fill from behind, from beneath, like well water. Similarly, the impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes.
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Bruno Dies @brunodias.dev · 28/09/2026
It really doesn't make sense to attribute those job losses to AI-the-technology, because if that were the case we'd be observing AI outputs displacing conventional entertainment products, and they're clearly not. Rather, the impact of AI is that AI-the-business is crowding out other investment.
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Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 27/09/2026
Women trying to succeed in Silicon Valley AI and effective altruist spaces are reporting feeling serious social pressure to attend sex parties - where people have reported being sexually assaulted, like below. Events like Aella’s “Slutcon,” which is happening again this weekend.
Ann Pierce
@itsannpierce
20h
I am disheartened by this as well. I already lost a bunch of followers for agreeing with @tautologer, but it's saddening to see local nerdy women being caricatured as Karen-like outsiders and getting pushed out of the scene. This is exactly why you hear so few concrete, names-attached stories of sexual harrassment and assault. I'm told there is a history of discrediting these because the "slut normalization" thing is top priority and these stories get inconveniently in the way of spreading this ideology.
I got roped into attending last year's Saturday Slutcon party because so many local and out-of-town friends were there (to echo sentiments @tautologer expressed about "slut events becoming central to the larger scenes). Mostly I hung out with people I knew and that was great. But in the course of my 3-ish hours there, there were 2 times my "no" was not accepted by a man I didn't know, and I was physically pushing a huge guy off of me who was rubbing his penis on me, who continued to do it despite my physical force against him, and after I finally wriggled away from him, told him I wanted to dance alone etc., he came back and did it again.
This was scary and bad, but it didn't even cross my mind to report this because one of the other people who didn't accept my "no" earlier in the night was the bartender (an officially sanctioned authority at the event), and I knew the event was organized exclusively by women into CNC (who are vocal about how rapey behavior turns them on), so I figured this sort of thing would just get me laughed at. And anyway, I heard there were a lot of other incidents like it. Later though, someone encouraged me to report this story to the organizers, and despite my embarrassment I did, so *they know* that this and other incidents happened. This is why they cut the Saturday night party this year and created a larger training program for the flirt girls - *because* of things like this last year. Yet the narrative bein…People who haven't been to Slutcon are saying "it's just group therapy," "it's just innocent flirting." But the environment is much like a sex party in that many people are nude, there is making out and sex acts happening out in the open. I think it's pretty unreasonable to expect that every nerdy girl who likes rationalist bloggers or is into EA/AI safety should automatically be comfortable with this! That if she's not, there's something wrong with her, we don't want her in our scenes, etc.
Not to mention, it's explictly an event *for men*, where men are the clients and the "flirt girls" are the product. Last year I overheard an exchange where a man felt "led on" by a flirt girl and was trying to get her punished/kicked out. (A dynamic that seems inevitable in this context!)
Anyway- it does sound like they've upped their consent education a lot this year, are more organized, and that's good! As I've told my friends who are attending: I hope they have fun!
I heard several accounts last year of women who had no problems and really enjoyed the event. That's great!
Just... can we live in reality about this? There are real reasons why male-female sexual dynamics are tricky.
Encouraging autistic men who can't yet read body language to go around asking to see womens' boobs is maybe a bit ill-advised. Maybe not everyone should be/identify as a slut; maybe it's not for everyone.
And yeah, filtering the Bay Area Al safety scene down to only women who are super comfy with this eliminates *most* women - including many of the really smart, nerdy, weird women who've been in the larger scenes for years. What a loss for humanity.
I absolutely understand why people with a minority sexuality would want to create belonging, would want to create spaces for people like themselves. But why do it like this/at this cost?
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TKarney @pecunium.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The hits just keep on coming. www.usatoday.com/story/money/...
usatoday.com
Thyroid medicine recall receives FDA's highest risk level
A recalled thyroid medicine has been classified under the FDA's most serious risk level, indicating it could potentially be deadly.
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lauren @lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com · 28/09/2026
current state of the fix social media playbook: *nationalize facebook and hold it to rigorous privacy and content moderation standards *break up google and make youtube robustly fund a streaming PBS *turn off x the everything app *keep linkedin the same. that'd be a good bit *begin The Tribunals
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A fragment cast adrift @a-fragment.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I'm all about exploration and self discovery in a video game, but all praise and respect to those folks who record and post where to find things, where to go, and how the heck to get certain achievements. Thank you for your meticulous service. 🫡
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WhinterQueen @whinterqueen.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
hey moon!
moonlight and through a stained glass window
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Mike McComb @rubegoldberg.me · 26/09/2026
Molly from #GBBO showing off the accessibility accommodations in the tent 🥰 www.instagram.com/reels/DduD7A...
instagram.com
Molly GBBO on Instagram: "Let’s talk about my Bake Off bench in the tent. There’s been a bit of talk about my set up and whether or not it was suitable for me. But I can categorically say that I LOV...
20K likes, 198 comments - mrs_molly_c on September 25, 2026: "Let’s talk about my Bake Off bench in the tent. There’s been a bit of talk about my set up and whether or not it was suitable for me. Bu...
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ascalaphid @ascalaphid.com · 04/05/2026
🧹
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Emily @allweeksend.com · 27/09/2026
This is your spooky season reminder that things colored black with activated charcoal can interfere with certain medications.
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Tindi (who yells about goalies) @sparkletindi.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Subskeet: people with large followings ARE still human and they ARE allowed to reply to people in a public forum. Stop being weird about it.
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Brett "Solidarity 2026" Banditelli @banditelli.org · 27/09/2026
Typical Southern California rearview mirror bullshit.
Cherry Street in my rearview mirror as I go up the hill to Signal Hill in Long Beach, California. The sky is a firey red and orange
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