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Ben Novack

@titlecharacter.bsky.social
636 followers 478 following 1.7K posts

South Philadelphian, tech-skeptical tech worker, involuntary cider enthusiast, occasional woodworker. Descended from refugees. Never interested in zero-sum.

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Reposted by Ben Novack
Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 18m
Juice xkcd.com/3308/
4-panel comic. (1) [Two people, one with a ponytail, sitting and typing at terminals opposite each other. A sign on the wall reads “Juice Mission Control,” with JUICE in huge letters.] PERSON 1: Jupiter Icy Moons Exploder checkin is complete. All systems nominal. (2) PERSON 2 with ponytail. [People turn to look at each other.] PERSON 1: What? PERSON 2: Jupiter Icy Moons *Explorer*. (3) [Person 1 turns back to his terminal.] (4) PERON 1: Control, everything is fine, but I need to schedule an urgent spacecraft update. [Person 2 facepalms] PERSON 2: Oh no.
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Ben Novack @titlecharacter.bsky.social · 2h
We've been right on the knife-edge of the Trump Does A Hard R for the last ten years and now we are *teetering*
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Ben Novack @titlecharacter.bsky.social · 4h
Not a company exactly. It’s Siri.
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Ben Novack @titlecharacter.bsky.social · 4h
“Both time periods” 🤨
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Ben Novack @titlecharacter.bsky.social · 4h
“Okay. Sure. So do it now. Right now. Three days a week for all Amazon employees. Prove it. You’ll be a god. You’ll be a legend. No? Not yet? Why not? Interesting.”
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Kylie Cheung @kylietcheung.bsky.social · 5h
The narrative that Americans are divided on abortion is a lie to hide just how undemocratic bans are—and convince lawmakers to take weaker stances on abortion. ~70% of Deep South voters oppose abortion bans. I wrote about the implications of this:
jessica.substack.com
Poll: 70% of Deep South Voters Oppose Abortion Bans
Plus, Deep South voters are the least likely to say that abortion should never be permitted.
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Ben Novack @titlecharacter.bsky.social · 5h
(Complimentary)?
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Ben Novack @titlecharacter.bsky.social · 6h
Guys I think I might have accidentally made a monkey's paw wish. I don't know how or when. I just. Look. I have a very, very dark sense of humor. And this - all of this - I mean it's just very - you see what I mean. Right?
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Ben Novack @titlecharacter.bsky.social · 6h
I *genuinely* would like them to try this shit.
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Reposted by Ben Novack
Taco Bell Quarterly @tacobellquarterly.org · 25/02/2026
Poem in the Shape of the Poet Beating Henry Kissinger to Death with Their Bare Hands by Felix
A poem in the shape of the artist beating Henry Kissinger to death, full text can be found on the website Taco Bell Quarterly
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Ben Novack @titlecharacter.bsky.social · 7h
Also the electric ones *literally* pull the needle toward e through powerful magnetic forces! The entire thing is one massive electromagnetic doohickey that drains toward E!
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Ben Novack @titlecharacter.bsky.social · 7h
Absolutely what Aetherdrift should have been
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Ben Novack @titlecharacter.bsky.social · 8h
HAIL TO PITT WOOOOOOO
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Ben Novack @titlecharacter.bsky.social · 8h
This is the downside of having a lot less color hate in the game than the old days. Used to be you’d just grab a Circle of Protection Blue and go on with your day.
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Ben Novack @titlecharacter.bsky.social · 8h
Once again Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is the truest guide to our present day.
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Gianmarco Soresi @gianmarcosoresi.bsky.social · 9h
Actors may not want to weigh in on politics but I assure you politics will be weighing in on the entertainment industry
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Ken Schwencke @schwanksta.com · 07/10/2026
Update: 50 people have given @propublica.org their betting history from FanDuel and DraftKings so far! If you know someone who bets on these sites, send them this link! We have a browser extension that will help download their data and upload to us! projects.propublica.org/sports-betti...
A screenshot showing a big green number 50 and a bar partially filled in, showing that the goal is for 250 people to share data.
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Ben Novack @titlecharacter.bsky.social · 22h
Same. My strictest teachers made me afraid to be curious, terrified of asking questions that might have led to better learning.
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Ben Novack @titlecharacter.bsky.social · 23h
Legit question which service(s) would you suggest for this?
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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
It is actually interesting to see a real life early modern Mecantalist monarch, to see someone who actually just sincerely believes that worldview. Bit odd that he graduated from one of the most prestigious business schools in the world tbh.
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Emily Hamilton @ebwhamilton.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
TIL Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence from a short-term rental founders.archives.gov/documents/Je...
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bryan newbold @bnewbold.net · 07/10/2026
ah damn, RIP Margaret Hamilton. she took safety-critical software engineering seriously, and got people to the moon and back. news.mit.edu/2026/margare...
old photos of a woman (Margaret Hamilton) standing next to a tall stack of books (printouts of Apollo space mission software source code)
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Senator Dr. John Brown stan account, Esq., PhD, MD, JD, LCSW @johnbrownstan.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
To all the people just now realizing that their coalition of anti-zionists contains loads of anti-semites, some of us pointed this out in 2024 and were called genocide-lovers
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Ben Novack @titlecharacter.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
“Im so delusional about myself that I can shoot lightning out of my butt”
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Andrea Lathrop @cabernet.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 07/10/2026
As always with Rs, the sense is not so much that they deny the physical phenomenon of climate change as the presence or absence of the phenomenon simply never enters their thinking. They interact with it *purely* as a partisan matter, something libs care about. No awareness of a world beyond.
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It's Abby. Yep @itsabbyyep.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Why do I keep scrolling. What am I expecting to happen that hasn't happened already
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Ben Novack @titlecharacter.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Got it, so he doesn’t really count because it was more like Dems supporting independent conservatives in dark red states than intentionally nominating a sane candidate. Makes sense.
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Ben Novack @titlecharacter.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Speaking as a John Fetterman constituent, yeah, I get it.
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Ben Novack @titlecharacter.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I mean, isn’t that what Arnie basically was, if you ignore him as a person/hollywood type and just focus on his tenure? (This is an earnest question, I’m not well versed in CA)
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Ben Novack @titlecharacter.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I’m gonna vote because, well, of course, but also Josh shapiro is about as sure a thing as I’ve ever seen in PA politics. If I was ever gonna stay home this is the year. Which is super weird! And yet!
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Ben Novack @titlecharacter.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
This is not an original observation but I am just so perplexed by this very old men man obsessively trying to claw every dollar he can. Power I understand; a legacy, your name on every building, I get that. But who gives a damn about another dollar? What are you doing!? What a sad, small, sick mind.
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Giant Robot @encomium.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
The guy that got the right to repudiate Bush and the Iraq war was Tramp when he first ran in 2015. He chided Jeb and later Hillary for supporting the war, which is where the myth of him being a peacenik comes from. Dems need to learn from that and stop being scared.
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Jeff @gojeffgo.com · 07/10/2026
I don't need a movie about every tech billionaire to know they are bad. Also, I don't give a shit about their backstory.
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Ben Novack @titlecharacter.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
So this means we need to put Barron or Tiffany in an x-wing, right?
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The Alternate Histoween 🎃 @althistorian.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
For you nerds out there: imagine using the Tarkin Doctrine on elections.
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Ben Novack @titlecharacter.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
CHA doubling as de facto 'willpower' and making Sorcerers all, like, super-sexy or ultra-convincing fireball machines is... kinda one of my favorite/least favorite parts of D&D classes. Yes, *obviously* the combat mage doubles as the obvious diplomat if there's no bard. Duh.
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🎃Darin S Pumpkins🎃 @darinself.com · 07/10/2026
*taps sign*
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S.E. Fleenor @sefleenor.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
What if all our elected officials saw themselves as part of us? What if they all jumped in front of danger for the people they represent instead of throwing us under the bus?
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Rob (the floor one) @floorisbed.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
ELON MUSK: [speaking into watch] what should i say to mark zuckerberg WATCH: hello mark zuckerberg ELON MUSK: no no I’M not mark zuckerberg, i’m elon MARK ZUCKERBERG: [to watch] hello
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Ben Novack @titlecharacter.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I mean has that grantwriting strategy been tried?
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Ben Novack @titlecharacter.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Oooh I misread that context very dramatically. Thanks.
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Ben Novack @titlecharacter.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
This whole administration has been horror or (very) dark comedy and right now, all of a sudden, it’s a fucking slapstick? What the hell
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Ben Novack @titlecharacter.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Oof yeah after that experience I’d change my name from Dave Cummings too.
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Ben Novack @titlecharacter.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Luckey has a broad understanding of humans and human behavior, as opposed to Elon, who has read a lot of blog posts about Homo sapiens and thinks he has a good read on them.
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Ben Novack @titlecharacter.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
The other day I saw he was losing ground in polls and was curious how that was happening in this political environment. Guess this helps me understand.
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Ben Novack @titlecharacter.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
If they released them one at a time, if they ever got one wrong it would snap the chain of success. This way they could have any amount of error and come across looking good.
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Pwnallthethings @pwnallthethings.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
If the random chance of birth is your biggest achievement and proudest thing in your life, idk, what are you even doing lol.
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 06/10/2026
interesting that conservatives were militantly “we must reward hustle” when the target was affirmative action at elite universities and now, when faced with the success of south asians and other groups, it is “i think we are too meritocratic”
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Picard Tips @picardtips.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Picard ethics tip: The fact that a conflict has many sides does not imply that every side has merit.
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