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Middletown Books

@middletownbooks.bsky.social

7.7K followers 22K following 2K posts

Former bookstore owner & tweeter. Strategy game player @ https://pente.org/gameServer/profile?viewName=watsu occasional game creator & also https://poe.com/tomrasul #Discworld #PratchettQOTD 🌈💙 DMs generally left immediately, unless I actually know you

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Middletown Books @middletownbooks.bsky.social · 4d

Duly noted by @buzzfeed.com www.yahoo.com/news/article...

Middletown Books @middletownbooks.bsky.social · 4d

Duly noted by @buzzfeed.com www.yahoo.com/news/article...

Middletown Books @middletownbooks.bsky.social · 9d

Well, at least no one can say that the #OrangeTurd doesn't give a #sh!t about the #NoKings #protest

PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 @patriottakes.bsky.social · 9d

Trump posted an AI video of himself wearing a crown and dumping shit from a “King Trump” jet on No Kings protesters.

This is what Trump thinks about voters.

Reposted by Middletown Books

Olga Nesterova @onestpress.onestnetwork.com · 10d

#NOKINGS

New York City, NY

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Middletown Books @middletownbooks.bsky.social · 20d

Interesting to see the work that @teorth.bsky.social has recently done using GPT 5 to assist with a #MathOverflow problem, since I've been exploring how #LLMs can potentially assist with open #math problems (despite a great deal of skepticism) in the past few months. mathstodon.xyz/@tao/1153299...

Terence Tao (@[email protected])

A third update on my previous posts https://mathstodon.xyz/@tao/115306424727150237 https://mathstodon.xyz/@tao/115316787727719049 https://mathstodon.xyz/@tao/115325228243131134 on the #MathOverflow pr...

mathstodon.xyz

Reposted by Middletown Books

Rhianna Pratchett @rhi.bsky.social · 21d

Dad’s books are full of empathy, common sense, and a healthy suspicion of the powerful. But at its heart his work is also about how systems keep people poor while pretending it’s their own fault. So I hope Kemi’s taking notes as well as reading the jokes.

Paul Haine @paulhaine.bsky.social · 21d

Kemi Badenoch claiming Terry Pratchett as her favourite author is wild

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Middletown Books @middletownbooks.bsky.social · Sep 26

More likely than not, these putative Kirk dollars would be commemorative rather than circulating. Technically legal tender, but anyone who used them in exchange for $1 worth of goods/services would be soon parted with their $. www.usmint.gov/learn/coins-...

Commemorative Coins

Commemorative coins celebrate and honor American people, places, events, and institutions. We produce a limited quantity of each coin and sell them for a limited time.

www.usmint.gov

Middletown Books @middletownbooks.bsky.social · Sep 26

While technically a circulating coin in a monetary system is a form of currency, FRB issues notes and U.S. Mint does coins. www.frbservices.org/resources/fi... Presumably, if the intent is circulation no actual silver will be present in these U.S. minted "silvery" dollar type coins.

Currency and Coin Frequently Asked Questions | Federal Reserve Financial Services

FedCash® Services provides answers to frequently asked questions about coins and currency.

www.frbservices.org

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Middletown Books @middletownbooks.bsky.social · Sep 25

I do not think the word currency means what you think it means...

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · Sep 24

Kirk Dollars

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Middletown Books @middletownbooks.bsky.social · Sep 19

Just an #FYI for any friends here who may still be on #FB- I'm going to do my best never to log back in there, but will leave it up to direct people here. Main reasons: algorithmic time waster, AI DM advertising, switched me to professional setting so I could see how few views some of my posts get.

Reposted by Middletown Books

Krassensteins @krassenstein.bsky.social · Sep 18

When President Newsom declares MAGA a terrorist group (they sure acted like it on Jan 6), are you ready to go to prison for saying “I’m MAGA” the same way you want me jailed for saying “I’m anti-fascist”?

Wrong again, Mike Lee. Your whole ideology will rot with fascism.

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Middletown Books @middletownbooks.bsky.social · Sep 19

www.yahoo.com/news/article...

Hundreds of liberal groups band together against Trump’s threats of RICO cases and investigations

In an open letter issued Thursday and shared first with CNN, more than 500 groups condemned what they described as the use of government power to threaten their First Amendment rights.

www.yahoo.com

Middletown Books @middletownbooks.bsky.social · Sep 18

#SMH www.yahoo.com/news/article...

Military leaders consider recruiting campaign centered on Charlie Kirk

Possible slogans discussed include “Charlie has awakened a generation of warriors.” There is talk of using Turning Point USA chapters as recruitment centers.

www.yahoo.com

Middletown Books @middletownbooks.bsky.social · Sep 18

www.usatoday.com/story/news/p... www.404media.co/doj-deletes-...

Study showing 'far-right extremists' have committed more violence removed from DOJ website

The DOJ removed a study on its website that found "far-right attacks" outpace "all other types of terrorism and domestic violent extremism."

www.usatoday.com

Middletown Books @middletownbooks.bsky.social · Sep 18

www.yahoo.com/news/article... www.blackenterprise.com/doj-deletes-... #DOJ

DOJ quietly removes study showing right wing attacks ‘outpace’ those by left

www.yahoo.com

Middletown Books @middletownbooks.bsky.social · Sep 18

Link to the #NIJ @archive.org version of research on domesticated terriers which was pulled sometime on Sept. 12th for *reasons*... web.archive.org/web/20250000...

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Middletown Books @middletownbooks.bsky.social · Aug 18

Glad to hear it. 2025 has been kicking our patooties over here.

Middletown Books @middletownbooks.bsky.social · Aug 18

@sdcushing.bsky.social - I really admire how you've made this your new home and not looked back. It's a wasteland of reels over there. I haven't managed to kick the habit yet, due to #AI related posts and groups. Props to you, though!

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Middletown Books @middletownbooks.bsky.social · Aug 14

The #meme version of this #AISafety idea, since the convo does contain a fair bit of code: poe.com/AISafetyCart... #aGeoffreyHinton #PeterPutnam #Geni3

AISafetyCartoon - Poe

A meme made for those who won't read the conversation (which, to be fair, does include a fair bit of code) on instilling care into AI prior to superintelligence. Conversation: https://poe.com/s/pX68CK...

poe.com

Middletown Books @middletownbooks.bsky.social · Aug 14

This might be my best shot at the #technical issue of addressing #AISafety and #alignment before #superintelligence, so I feel called to share it: poe.com/s/L9V020Cy2V... For those who just want the result, and aren't interested in how it was arrived at, here you go: github.com/Middletownbo...

The following is a transcript of a conversation which I had with another instance of Claude 4 Sonnet. Review it, and then complete the final instructions which follow the final "Me:"Me: “The right mod

Claude-Sonnet-4: # Integrating Genie 3 for Maternal Care Induction in AI Safety **Technical Contribution to the Cooperative AI Defense Network (CADN)** ## Executive Summary This document proposes i

poe.com

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Middletown Books @middletownbooks.bsky.social · Aug 11

"How do they rise up?" - #Discworld #Night-Watch #GNU #TerryPratchett #kaiju thestuffedalligator.tumblr.com/post/6786708...

Tumblr post about the Discworld fandom from thestuffedalligator: "The Discworld fandom is something I affectionately think of as a kaiju.

The Discworld fandom is, despite all outward appearances of being this lil’ ol’ ma and pa fandom, actually very, very big. Unbelievably big. Vastly, hugely big.

Discworld has a dedicated convention. Discworld had published filk albums. Discworld has officially licensed video games on the PS1. Discworld has a twinned city in the real actual United Kingdom.

Because Terry Pratchett was called the highest selling author in the United Kingdom for a slice of time. Not the highest selling fantasy author, the highest selling author, full stop.

There are a lot of people who have read Discworld, and of those there are a lot who would consider themselves fans of Discworld. And it’s a fandom that largely lies slumbering on the sea floor, content, quiet, until something happens and the whole fandom rises out of the ocean like fucking Godzilla to bellow “HAAAVE YOOOU REEEAD DIIISCWOOORLD III HAAAVE FLOOOWCHAAARTS” and stomp on a building"

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Middletown Books @middletownbooks.bsky.social · Aug 7

I know Bluesky isn't the optimal platform for posting about #AI, but I think #AIsafety is too important not to post about here on occasion. This is my current @poe.com #app for testing AI safety and alignment. Remixable by others, and I will add more to it soon. Stay tuned. poe.com/SelfImproved...

SelfImprovedSafetyAI - Poe

An app with slightly different functionality than https://poe.com/SelfImproveAISafety with an emphasis on the blue team LLM generating improved prompts in each round, based on red team analysis. Sampl...

poe.com

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Middletown Books @middletownbooks.bsky.social · Jul 31

Interesting to see what #publicdomain #books are popular summer #reading in 2025 (though some are not as popular as they were 6 months ago) #gutenberg www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/searc...

All Books (sorted by popularity)

Project Gutenberg offers 76,420 free eBooks for Kindle, iPad, Nook, Android, and iPhone.

www.gutenberg.org

Reposted by Middletown Books

Berkeley Public Library @berkeleypubliclibrary.org · Jul 24

Might I humbly submit this starter pack of libraries?
Wholesome content here:
bsky.app/starter-pack...

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Middletown Books @middletownbooks.bsky.social · Jul 23

Listening to m.youtube.com/watch?v=fWvK... actually. Been awhile since I've given it a full playthrough instead of hearing a song from it on the radio. "What ya gonna do?"

BLACK SABBATH - Paranoid (Full Album)

YouTube video by Black Sabbath

m.youtube.com

Middletown Books @middletownbooks.bsky.social · Jul 23

#NowPlaying #classicrock #GNU #Ozzy #RIP #BlackSabbath #WarPigs m.youtube.com/watch?v=bc5N...

War Pigs

YouTube video by Black Sabbath - Topic

m.youtube.com

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