Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

staring blankly into the abyss

@ianmosby.bsky.social

4.4K followers 670 following 3K posts

Settler historian of food, health and colonialism | hapless area man | amateur squirrel theorist | against fascism | sometimes make music: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/thrums/vast-spaces-without-reprieve

distrokid.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

staring blankly into the abyss @ianmosby.bsky.social · 2d

As part of my effort to make art and get off the internet, I recorded a new album of weirdo experimental ambient folk music. This one inspired by the sound of degrading cassette loops, thrift store guitars, and the work of artists like Grouper, Jim O'Rourke, Florist, Hana Stretton and Claire Rousay.

Twin Rivers by Thrums

Stream and Save Twin Rivers - Distributed by DistroKid

distrokid.com

1 5

staring blankly into the abyss @ianmosby.bsky.social · 6h

It probably won't surprise anyone to learn that CSIS is racist as hell but this is still pretty horrifying.

The distrust revealed in one word — ‘aftercare’ — meant I had to leave CSIS. A book excerpt from an agency pathbreaker

A former colleague, a Turkish Muslim, told me that he’d excelled at a technical exam required for a promotion but that his candidacy was rejected. When he filed a grievance,

www.thestar.com

4 10

Reposted by staring blankly into the abyss

The Author, Séamas O'Reilly @seamas.bsky.social · 17d

These very true words from Steve Hely have given me tremendous comfort over the years.

Writing a novel— actually picking the words and filling in paragraphs— is a tremendous pain in the ass. Now that TV’s so good and the Internet is an endless forest of distraction, it’s damn near impossible. That should be taken into account when ranking the all-time greats. Somebody like Charles Dickens, for example, who had nothing better to do except eat mutton and attend public hangings, should get very little credit.

14 210 870

Reposted by staring blankly into the abyss

Kristine @kjay1122.bsky.social · 8h

How it started/how it's going

David Ortiz + young Vlad Jr at the 2010 HR Derby

Daaaaaaa.... Yankees looz! (Ortiz & Vlad post-game after the ALDS)

18 84

staring blankly into the abyss @ianmosby.bsky.social · 7h

Early Modern historians staring blankly into the abyss while Thiel spews off complete nonsense.

staring blankly into the abyss @ianmosby.bsky.social · 7h

Jack Handey level Deep Thoughts

Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · 9h

thiel, man, what the fuck are you talking about

He describes the plot of Watchmen, a 1986 graphic novel involving superheroes grappling with moral questions about humanity against the backdrop of impending nuclear war:

The antihero Ozymandias, the antichrist-type figure, is sort of an early-modern person. He believes this will be a timeless and eternal solution – eternal world peace. Moore is sort of a late-modern. In early modernity, you have ideal solutions, ‘perfect’ solutions to calculus. In late modernity, things are sort of probabilistic. And at some point, he asks Dr Manhattan whether the world government is going to last. And he says that ‘nothing lasts forever.’ So you embrace the antichrist and it still doesn’t work.

Thiel later finds biblical meaning in the manga One Piece, discussing how he believes it represents a future where an antichrist-like one-world government has repressed science. He believes that the hero, Monkey D Luffy, represents a Christlike figure.

In One Piece, you are set in a fantasy world, again sort of an alternate earth, but it’s 800 years into the reign of this one-world state. Which, as the story unfolds, gradually gets darker and darker. You sort of realize, in my interpretation, who runs the world and it’s something like the antichrist. There’s Luffy, a pirate who wears a red straw hat, sort of like Christ’s crown of thorns. And then towards the end of the story, transforms into a figure who resembles Christ in Revelation.

Thiel, along with a researcher and writer at Thiel Capital, explored these ideas at greater length in an essay for the religious journal First Things earlier this month.

1 3

staring blankly into the abyss @ianmosby.bsky.social · 1d

This is genuine madness. We are so fucked.

Yet according to recent estimates, generative AI now accounts for roughly 40 percent of the United States’ gross domestic product. In other words, if the AI spending boom falls apart, it could take down the entire economy with it.

1 5 10

Reposted by staring blankly into the abyss

jam @socialistboat.dad · 1d

Stella Sacco
@antlervel.vet
It's really funny that The Art of War is treated as this like alpha male book when it's clearly meant to be read by ancient Chinese failsons because it's all "please don't forget you have to feed your troops" and "if someone asks if you're going to attack them consider lying about it"
April 23, 2024 at 1:28 AM © Everybody can reply
486 reposts 45 quotes 1.9K likes 4 saves

3 1.3K 5.6K

staring blankly into the abyss @ianmosby.bsky.social · 1d

Detroit was clearly the lesser team. Which is why I really wanted them to win.

staring blankly into the abyss @ianmosby.bsky.social · 1d

I predicted this. God help us all.

staring blankly into the abyss @ianmosby.bsky.social · 1d

Seattle opens a portal into hell. They extract a game ending single. The world heaves.

staring blankly into the abyss @ianmosby.bsky.social · 1d

Seattle opens a portal into hell. They extract a game ending single. The world heaves.

staring blankly into the abyss @ianmosby.bsky.social · 1d

The game ends in a walk-off murder. The judge is not sympathetic. The MLB is sentenced to hard labour.

1 1

staring blankly into the abyss @ianmosby.bsky.social · 1d

The ghost runner appears but is ejected from the game. The umpires begin to plot their revenge. The game remains tied, 2 to 2. Always 2. Always 2. The number of the beast.

1 3

Reposted by staring blankly into the abyss

Emily Andras @emandras.bsky.social · 1d

I don't remember a time before this baseball game

8 28 250

staring blankly into the abyss @ianmosby.bsky.social · 1d

"We all lose in the end, death is the only escape, annihilation is the only victory" the announcers announce during the 14th inning stretch. The crowd boos themselves.

1 1

staring blankly into the abyss @ianmosby.bsky.social · 1d

The heart of madness is centered on a specific cell phone branded stadium in Seattle. Every person there just feeling like human garbage yet cheering regardless. They may never leave this hell.

1 4

staring blankly into the abyss @ianmosby.bsky.social · 1d

Spitting contest—distance and volume being the main metrics—seems the only way this game will end.

staring blankly into the abyss @ianmosby.bsky.social · 1d

Enjoying every second of this disaster

Reposted by staring blankly into the abyss

Pyramid Chad @pyrameadhead.wifeguy.online · 1d

Every time

Tweet from hotgirlhala: "this does not help your cause" - guy who hates you and your cause

37 210

Reposted by staring blankly into the abyss

Dr. Damien P. Williams Wants A Better Sociotechnical Paradigm @wolvendamien.bsky.social · 2d

*Lil Jon Voice* States' Rights to What

4 650 2.7K

Reposted by staring blankly into the abyss

Sonja Drimmer @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social · 1d

People think the first thing Gutenberg printed was the Bible. This is false. The first things he printed were a political prophecy, propaganda about the Turks’ threat to Christendom, & a popular school text. If you want a parallel to AI, that’s it: making $ from conspiracies, racism, & school slop.

Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · 2d

really nice piece on this btw from @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social sonjadrimmer.com/blog-1/2025/...

"The Printing Press Democratized Knowledge": When Slogans Masquerade as History — Sonja Drimmer

The phrase is said so frequently it seems, like the mechanism it celebrates, to mechanically replicate itself.  It's become a favorite catchphrase among tech boosters of any sort (see my post on...

sonjadrimmer.com

7 110 320

staring blankly into the abyss @ianmosby.bsky.social · 2d

It should be on all the streaming services, though some take longer to post new uploads than others.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w1A...

Maundering

YouTube video by Thrums - Topic

www.youtube.com

staring blankly into the abyss @ianmosby.bsky.social · 2d

Twin Rivers by Thrums

Stream and Save Twin Rivers - Distributed by DistroKid

distrokid.com

1 5

staring blankly into the abyss @ianmosby.bsky.social · 2d

Yes, because they were expecting their favorite artist to not be shit.

staring blankly into the abyss @ianmosby.bsky.social · 2d

No Good Art Comes From Greed.

No Good Art Comes From Greed | Defector

The packages arrived square and thin and carefully wrapped on Saturday afternoon. There were three of them, but only one was mine. If I could have rejected my package, sent it back from whence it came...

defector.com

1 1

staring blankly into the abyss @ianmosby.bsky.social · 2d

Lol, this company just shut off all the water in the neighborhood without telling us. Who knew the swampdonkeyvac at Gmail aka We Suck 24/7 was not reputable.

staring blankly into the abyss @ianmosby.bsky.social · 2d

You had me at Drill Slurry.