Ben Holmen
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benholmen.com
Ben Holmen
@benholmen.com
draw on my art project: @kilopx.com
join my meetup: phpxmsp.com

Big tall anti-entropy machine
Software engineer + general maker
Always curious about everything

Wisconsin, USA | benholmen.com

...let's go exploring!
Pinned
I built a ridiculous 1000 pixel display that takes an hour to draw an image and I'm now asking the internet to draw on it (what could go wrong?)

Please submit some 40×25 pixel art at kilopx.com!
Reposted by Ben Holmen
There’s so much need in Minnesota right now. Businesses are closing and rent is due soon.

If you want to help people here, there are links to rent relief & other vetted mutual aid funds on standwithminnesota.com. Please boost and donate what you can.

Thank you 🫶🏻
Stand With Minnesota Donation Directory
Stand With Minnesota is a hub for supporting, learning, and taking action to support Minnesotans impacted by ICE and federal enforcement.
standwithminnesota.com
January 29, 2026 at 3:20 PM
Reposted by Ben Holmen
Okay I think I've mapped out ICE politics as of Monday night
January 27, 2026 at 2:47 AM
Reposted by Ben Holmen
Protests happen, but most of what is happening in Minneapolis isn’t protesting.

More accurate terms:
- observers
- witnesses
- volunteers
- neighbors
- residents
- people
One thing that irks me: people keep calling the folks on the streets in Minneapolis protestors. They are not generally there to protest, they are there to observe and document. This is the product of organizing and mutual aid. It is telling that these acts of citizenship are seen as protest!
January 25, 2026 at 2:12 PM
Reposted by Ben Holmen
We had such a moving vigil on my corner. Held a long moment of silence, introduced ourselves to each other. I thought we might be standing out there on our own (it wasn’t advertised by anyone as a planned spot) but ended up in a circle with 20 other people who are all doing stuff for community.
January 25, 2026 at 1:45 AM
Reposted by Ben Holmen
this may not be much, but if anyone needs a website or help updating one for their immigration-related group or cause, especially if you’re in the Midwest, please let me know. I do this for a living. DMs are open
January 25, 2026 at 3:09 AM
Dismantle ICE. Prosecute these murderers. Impeach, remove, and charge the people who set this into action.
You have to read this. Firsthand affidavit from one of the women who was there and recording the video. She talks about how Alex Pretti was directing traffic when she arrived. She watched him be killed in front of her. She's afraid to go home, worried she'll be arrested.
January 25, 2026 at 1:49 AM
Reposted by Ben Holmen
this photo. minneapolis. 💜

📷️ Alex Kormann/Star Tribune
January 23, 2026 at 10:04 PM
Reposted by Ben Holmen
His name is Liam Ramos, and he is 5. He was abducted from Minneapolis and trafficked to a detention camp in Texas.
This picture making the rounds on reddit, Columbia Heights. I'm not OK.
January 21, 2026 at 11:27 PM
Come join me and Boss Man Chris!
January 19, 2026 at 7:12 PM
Trying something new with Chris today - a little open pair programming / chat. Join us!
So @benholmen.com and I are going to get on Zoom around 2pm EST and hang out—maybe work on a project, maybe chat.

If that sounds like fun, you're invited!

I'm gonna post a zoom link closer to when we get started. I'll reply or quote this post when I do.
January 19, 2026 at 4:03 PM
My art project is coming along nicely - I now have a 4 note prototype to prove out some first ideas

I'm going to be so sick of these notes
January 18, 2026 at 8:00 PM
Can you imagine being the software engineers, engineering managers, product managers, designers, QA testers, and devops that built and run this? Cashing out your palantir equity for "deportation targets"? Accomplices and ghouls, all of them
January 15, 2026 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by Ben Holmen
These peaceful observers I spoke to had ICE show up at their homes in what they see as attempts at intimidation. ICE has somehow been accessing Minnesotans' private data in likely violation of state law, according to privacy advocates.

share.google/J00lpWzPzOu2...
Privacy advocates: ICE using private data to intimidate observers and activists
MPR News has looked into reports that federal agents have accessed private data to track and intimidate anti-ICE activists since the immigration crackdown surged in Minnesota in December. Privacy advo...
share.google
January 13, 2026 at 1:02 PM
Reposted by Ben Holmen
The Horn of Gondor is just a really fancy whistle.
January 13, 2026 at 1:41 PM
Reposted by Ben Holmen
Want to help people in Minneapolis right now? Here are a lot of ways to help!
@mplsmutualaid | Linktree
Clearinghouse of mutual aid for our neighbors
linktr.ee
January 12, 2026 at 2:16 PM
Just donated. Join me:
The needs have intensified x10 since I shared this fundraiser earlier in Dec.

Help us help our neighbors in Minneapolis:
PayPal.me/lyndalepto
Hey guess what, you can help!

We're collecting funds to support our neighborhood elementary school families with basic needs (food, winter gear, etc.).

Donate, repost, share the link with friends/neighbors, etc. Thank you! ❤️

paypal.me/lyndalepto
January 11, 2026 at 7:44 PM
Just donated. Join me:
Pentz Homes will be doing a rolling food drive to support our struggling local businesses and help the families who are afraid to leave their homes. You can help in two ways! Shop at local immigrant-owned stores and donate the goods, or send us your funds and we will do the shopping for you.
January 11, 2026 at 7:44 PM
Reposted by Ben Holmen
January 7, 2026 at 12:59 AM
Reposted by Ben Holmen
I've seen this passed around a bunch and skimmed it and nodded in agreement (because obviously the new mac OS interface design is bad), but I didn't actually sit down and read the whole thing until just now.

God, it's just brutal.

tonsky.me/blog/tahoe-i...
It’s hard to justify Tahoe icons
Looking at the first principles of icon design—and how Apple failed to apply all of them in macOS Tahoe
tonsky.me
January 6, 2026 at 2:26 PM
Good morning, keyboard warriors
January 5, 2026 at 2:26 PM
Tomorrow's sunrise will be a little bit earlier than today. We did it
We've turned the corner on sunset! It's getting later each day, even though sunrises continue to get later.

Next milestones:
Shortest day on Dec 21
Latest sunrise on Jan 3

Pretty charts: benholmen.com/sunlight/
January 4, 2026 at 4:50 AM
This is one of my favorite intrusive facts
our kid “do you ever think about how your bones are always wet?”
January 4, 2026 at 4:27 AM
Sometimes you fart in your snow bibs and don't smell anything, then a minute later you sit down

Poof!
January 3, 2026 at 11:17 PM
Reposted by Ben Holmen
Keep tabs on your inner radio brainradio.fm
brainradio.fm
The earworm scrobbler
brainradio.fm
January 3, 2026 at 4:05 PM
Scaling up 👀
January 3, 2026 at 2:38 AM