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Tim Thomas (he/him)

@xeric.me
329 followers 1K following 612 posts

Texas native plants, dogs, urbanism, transit. Heat tolerant, cold-sensitive. Former E-bike commuter. Videogame infrastructure developer. Home owner/not a landlord. He/him. @tthomas48

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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 29/09/2026
From my RSS feeds: blog.google/company-news...
blog.google
Google is a technology partner for the launch of America.gov.
Google partners with America.gov to use Gemini to help 100 million people access federal services faster. See how we are modernizing public access.
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 29/09/2026
They could have been, but they mostly added features, waited for the competitor they were copying to fall apart, then destroyed the feature.
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letithappenalreadymama @pnutsmama.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
MY KIDS ARE GAY WHY DO YOU WANT THEM HARMED, LINDA? AS A PARENT I AM VERY MUCH NOT COMFORTABLE WITH THAT
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 27/09/2026
I also understood why black parents were *pissed* about the "separate but equal" going on. Definitely no *equal* happening.
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 27/09/2026
I really gained a better understanding of this visiting Central High School in Little Rock. It is the most amazing high school building I've ever seen. It looks like an ivy League college and it's huge! It was obviously the white community's pride and joy and they walked away rather than integrate.
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 26/09/2026
Would need jobs that could be done with transportation/mobility problems. So some level of desk jobs. The goal is not really productivity, but to have a dignified way to get a helping hand up.
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 26/09/2026
One thing I've been thinking about - city jobs that pay cash at the end of the shift and that you can just show up for. This would be mostly beautification work. Preventing homelessness would be so much cheaper than helping people get out it.
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 25/09/2026
I have seen 10 movies in the theater since May.
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 25/09/2026
This movie sounds great. One thing that my son and I were talking about is that we have not seen a single ad for it past a "coming soon" movie poster at the local theater. Advertising feels really broken right now. www.rogerebert.com/reviews/forg...
rogerebert.com
Forgotten Island review: The "Puss in Boots" team delivers another animated winner
A raucous folktale filled with unique characters and situations, from the team behind "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish."
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 23/09/2026
This is sad. Netflix needs more sitcoms. Peacock with Stumble, Reggie Dinkins, and the Paper is clearly leading, but so pricey. Also they like to cancel their sitcoms too.
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 21/09/2026
Like I never wrote my plays with the expectation of money, but now that that's off the table I'm even more focused on just amusing myself and my friends.
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 21/09/2026
I waffle on this constantly, but I keep coming out more on the side of AI destroying capitalism. At least as far as art is concerned, although maybe everything. If there's no money to be made because AI can do it all, then all you're left with is the human connection and act of creation itself.
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 16/09/2026
How do the "we're doing tree trimming in your neighborhood" spam texts keep getting through? They're fundamentally the same text every time, I don't understand why basic spam filters aren't catching them. Also is this the world of AI agents?
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 16/09/2026
Yes? For me it was a fairly long time where it was a slog (at least a year). Then jumping from 5k to 10k was ndb. I also found out I have bunions and turns out that actually is not just bumps on your feet, but goes all the way up to your hips so it can also be worth checking with a dr.
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 14/09/2026
Isn't this the entire Republican brand now? Take any positive relationship, government service, or media and inject racism, sexism and/or scams?
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Laurie Voss @seldo.com · 14/09/2026
For the last 2 years I have been tracking a generational change in the nature of software development, and I think I've finally decided where all of this turmoil is going to end up. It's good news, but not for everybody. seldo.com/posts/we-are-all-product-…
seldo.com
We are all Product Engineers now | Seldo.com
Agents are eating the software development lifecycle from the bottom up — code generation already gone, review and ops following fast. What remains is figuring out what people actually want, which can't be automated or scaled. That job is called product engineering, it pays $240k, and nobody's training for it.
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Aleksandra Vaca @transiticsnews.com · 10/09/2026
I’m a Texan trans kid who almost died because of Ken Paxton. The world should know what he’s done. This was very difficult for me to write, but given what's at stake, I cannot bear to stay silent about what I went through at Paxton's hands. He must not be rewarded for what he's done to trans kids.
transiticsnews.com
I’m a Texan Trans Kid Who Almost Died Because of Ken Paxton. The World Should Know What He’s Done.
Regardless of Talarico’s recent statements on trans people, Paxton cannot be rewarded for the extreme suffering he’s inflicted on me and tens of thousands of Texan trans kids.
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 12/09/2026
Like. Anyone who's ever worked on military or NDAed projects knows these tools exist and how to use them.
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 12/09/2026
I feel like the AI hacks don't emphasize how many tools already exist to allow your internal services to pull down packages, images, etc from a local server on the LAN without going to the Internet at large. If you need an airgapped sandbox off the shelf products have solved pretty much everything.
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Gus Bova @gusbova.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Kind of a lovely story with this one. Judith Moyers (you might know as creative partner/spouse of Bill Moyers, who passed last year) is now a first-time published poet at 91: www.texasobserver.org/poem-beware-...
texasobserver.org
Poem: Beware the Perfect Day
Now is a perfect day, good and fresh, clear and bright...
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dan solomon @dansolomon.com · 09/09/2026
i genuinely don't know if this helps them in an election, hurts them, or does absolutely nothing in either direction. neither do any of the people doing these things! but i care about the dignity of trans people and disabled people and i don't think those things should be for trade in any case
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 09/09/2026
They built a bunch of "luxury" housing in Austin and the complex down the street from me is now offering 1263 sq/ft - 3 beds for $1,190*. And there are still more new units being built. Making it easier to build means more units. More units mean cheaper rent. YIMBY works. * It might be cheaper now
1 bed/1 bath $915, up to 3 bed/2 bath 1263 square feet for $1,190.
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Josh J Architect @jjarchitect.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Work smart not harder
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 08/09/2026
www.energy.ca.gov/estimated-ga...
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 06/09/2026
An urbanist mantra from "The girl who fell beneath fairyland" I'm a monster."... The Minotaur glanced up at her. "So are we all, dear," said the Minotaur kindly. "The thing to decide is what kind of monster to be. The kind who builds towns or the kind who breaks them."
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 06/09/2026
I have so many quotes from these books in my memories. These are the only books I've done that with. They are so beautiful and drive me to such devastating catharsis. I read them all to my kids. They are super-fun books to read. So many big words and tongue twisting sentences.
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 06/09/2026
YES. Raskin's "The Tattooed Potato" is amazing. My dad read several times to me and I read to my kids.
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 02/09/2026
4YOs frequently also just delightful agents of chaos. My youngest was into this and is slightly color blind. But I think mostly was into it for the chaos.
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 31/08/2026
PBS keeps reposting this and the headline drives me batty. It mirrors anti-refugee language. In the article: "climate change is really making this part of the Mediterranean, especially the eastern part of the Mediterranean, really unsuitable for native species," So is the problem the new fish?
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 30/08/2026
How does this chart against alcohol consumption? Craft beer was the main "hobby" I spent money on during that time.
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Laura Chapin @laurachapin.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
"For the next two minutes, Cloud detailed three issues impacting women that she believes deserve more attention than Freedom: domestic violence, sexual assault and food insecurity." www.nytimes.com/athletic/754...
nytimes.com
Natasha Cloud calls Enes Kanter Freedom ‘irrelevant,’ urges WNBA to ban him league-wide (Gift Article)
“I will talk about real issues that face women, and it’s not our trans human beings,” Cloud said.
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 30/08/2026
They replied to my review that wasn't good and they were going to try to fix it. I don't think they could have fixed and targeted it to me this quickly, but for the past few days it has always been creating timers. Just 2 to 3 of each one. I miss Google Assistant.
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 30/08/2026
I set a lot of phone timers in my life. Mostly for cooking. After moving to Gemini I got timers correctly set about 2 out of 5 times. The other 3 it was trying to collaborate on a project with me. Right after a fail Google asked me to rate it. I gave 2 out of 5 stars and explained why. 1/2
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 29/08/2026
I actually came to my views on the police decades ago when an officer came to a local meeting asking for raises. This led me to look at their data and the data radicalized me.
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 29/08/2026
Just thinking about things like this: Abbott blocks state agencies from spending money on Flock cameras share.google/cefQh0Yt6f6q...
share.google
Abbott blocks state agencies from spending money on Flock cameras
The order came as The Texas Tribune was preparing to publish an investigation detailing how a state agency has devoted at least $30 million to building the state’s Flock surveillance network.
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 29/08/2026
The funny thing about "Defund the Police* is that while currently viewed as a failure and overreach it has a lot more moderates looking at their local police and things like Flock cameras and questioning "what exactly are the police doing with the huge gobs of money we give them".
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Joseph Laycock @josephlaycock.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Dallas Morning News reported that Texas has suspended 6% of registered voters without telling them Texans can use this link to check their voting status: goelect.txelections.civixapps.com/ivis-mvp-ui/... People who have been purged can still register before October 5. Tell everyone you know.
goelect.txelections.civixapps.com
IvisMvpUi
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 28/08/2026
I live in Texas and this is still one of the top reasons I keep reaching for the induction burner. No one needs extra heat in their kitchen at 5pm in August in Texas. Just basic tasks like boiling water for pasta add so much heat with gas.
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 27/08/2026
On brand for us historically.
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 26/08/2026
Why can't adults have the algorithm free timeline?
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 26/08/2026
I love this thread. I'm also fascinated with this topic because some of my coworkers have reported conversations where chatbots are hiding information or being combative. This isn't something I've experienced and I wonder if even with chatbots social niceties will get you more productive outcomes.
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Texas Observer @texasobserver.org · 25/08/2026
New from Kalyn Gensic: "I imagine that most people heard this tirade and saw a blustering politician gearing up for election season. What librarians saw was more alarming. We saw a hostage situation taking shape."
texasobserver.org
Come and Take Them, Dan Patrick
An Abilene public school librarian has a message for the lieutenant governor and his book-banning crusade.
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 25/08/2026
Obviously doing this would be a huge WPA style undertaking. But between this and all the remediation West Texas oil country is going to need as the market shifts away from fossil fuels, this infrastructure is probably necessary in any case.
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 25/08/2026
I would love to see Texans eat way less beef and buy and re-prairie half the state as state parks. We need more parks, it would be a massive carbon sink, and could hopefully reduce wildfire risk. (Prairie tends to have density that holds a lot more moisture than introduced feed grass)
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 25/08/2026
I'm also curious. I've never figured out Perdenales at Caesar Chavez southbound (northbound seems to always work for me).
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 25/08/2026
You can think this is a metaphor or a side-effect, but many Southern Baptists businessmen I've known see business and church creation as "ministry".
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 24/08/2026
Austin's not on this list! This is a list of places that are good for real estate speculation. Home equity should be accrued by paying off your loan, not by increases in home value caused by scarcity. I'm so excited Austin is becoming an affordable and accessible city again.
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 24/08/2026
To your original question I think Wired tends to be the go to place for this journalism and the writers there frequently have longer form books.
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 24/08/2026
I do think those two things are different. LLMs are a bad product that might be good, but are so expensive that everything is being thrown against the wall to see what sticks. Programmers use LLMs productively. There is at least one product there. Crypto is literally just scams all the way down.
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Tim Thomas (he/him) @xeric.me · 24/08/2026
It's not really that interesting. It's just about capturing investor money. Tech salaries are mostly too high to run a company on just a good product until they scale to lots of customers. First usually gets the most money. It's literally just an episode of Shark Tank.
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