Niels Grotum
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ngrotum.bsky.social
Niels Grotum
@ngrotum.bsky.social
150 followers 230 following 680 posts
Pronounced with the umpty.

(he or they)
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Reposted by Niels Grotum
goodlawproject.org
I thought I could not be shocked by what prominent transphobes feel able to say about me. Turns out I was wrong.

Here is Richard Dunstan, a prominent commentator closely associated with the Sex Matters charity, speculating that I enjoyed being sexually assaulted as a child.
December 1, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Reposted by Niels Grotum
kierongillen.bsky.social
Shared Fantasy, the first sociological monograph about roleplaying games, is about a period when established players are dealing with a new wave of younger players with different priorities. The period is 1978.
jamiesmart.bsky.social Jamie Smart @jamiesmart.bsky.social · 1d
A game where you can do anything and they’re mad that people are doing anything.
November 30, 2025 at 11:11 AM
ngrotum.bsky.social
Had to look up who Matt Mercer is because I am An Old and yeah, this seems fine.
theangelremiel.bsky.social Ian Rennie @theangelremiel.bsky.social · 1d
The truth is that more people playing DnD today know who Matt Mercer is than know who Gary Gygax is and with good and appropriate reason.
November 30, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Reposted by Niels Grotum
seamas.bsky.social
RIP Tom Stoppard who did so much incredible work, not least writing every single line of dialogue in Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade.
November 29, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Reposted by Niels Grotum
blipstress.bsky.social
I see some book piracy discourse, and, to make a positive argument in favor of buying books, your marginal ability to influence what books get published and support the careers of writers you like is massive compared to most other forms of media.
November 24, 2025 at 5:54 PM
ngrotum.bsky.social
Sometimes The Onion is fierce, brutal satire, sometimes it's just a delight.
theonion.com The Onion @theonion.com · 1d
Local Yak Makes Plea For Greater Understanding Between the Sexes https://theonion.com/local-yak-makes-plea-for-greater-understanding-between-1819564117/
Local Yak Makes Plea For Greater Understanding Between the Sexes
November 29, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Reposted by Niels Grotum
cjzero.bsky.social
top notch mascottin'
November 29, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Reposted by Niels Grotum
vincemancini.bsky.social
Caught Stealing is now free on Netflix. Unfairly overlooked banger, imo vincemancini.substack.com/p/caught-ste...
'Caught Stealing' is the Best Y2K Indie Crime Movie Since the Y2K Era
Darren Aronofsky's gourmet 'Go' joins 'Weapons' and 'Sinners' in bringing back movie magic.
vincemancini.substack.com
November 29, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Reposted by Niels Grotum
gaius.bsky.social
There is a direct correlation between how fake your job is and how much value you see in AI
carnage4life.bsky.social Dare Obasanjo @carnage4life.bsky.social · 3d
A study by Dayforce shows 87% of executives use AI for work, compared to 57% of managers and just 27% of employees.

I think this explains the massive disconnect we see in how CEOs talk about AI versus everyone else. It also raises the question of how useful it truly is for frontline work?
Execs are embracing AI more than their employees are, new research suggests
Research from HR software company Dayforce suggests that executives are leaning into AI far more than their employees.
www.businessinsider.com
November 29, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Reposted by Niels Grotum
theonion.com
Man Who Thought Fleetwood Mac’s ‘The Chain’ Was Over In For Thrill Of His Fucking Life
Man Who Thought Fleetwood Mac’s ‘The Chain’ Was Over In For Thrill Of His Fucking Life
BOSTON—Prematurely assuming he had reached the end of the 1977 rock masterpiece, local man Peter Verran, who thought Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain” was over, was reportedly in for the thrill of his fucki...
theonion.com
November 29, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Reposted by Niels Grotum
nedraggett.bsky.social
Hell with it, I'm just going to post the whole thing here via screencap and alt text. It's Kaleb Horton, man, his writing always deserves the second read, especially since it could have just easily been lost forever like so much else. Read it, share it.
A look at forgotten Hollywood landmarks By Kaleb Horton Let's say you come in from down south, and you're looking for an unsung movie landmark. So you fly in to LAX, rent a car, blow right past Hollywood, leave Los Angeles county heading north, go over the Grapevine, gape at the monumental hills and, wow, there really is a Smokey Bear Road, then you turn off the air conditioner when the sign tells you. Once you come down the grade too fast and see the world's loneliest Denny's, you're well on your way to what you're looking for – the middle of nowhere. You're going to Kern County to find the spot where Alfred Hitchcock filmed one of the greatest scenes in movie history, the crop duster sequence from "North by Northwest." It takes place in Indiana, of course, but the Indiana road sign and the imported corn field can't deceive this Bakersfield native. The parched and desolate heat of the scene feels too much like Kern County. The scene people know off-hand — Cary Grant running from an airplane — isn't why "North by Northwest" is a classic. The film's greatness, as was often the case for Hitchcock, lies in its build-up, its suspense, its mood. The plane moment is almost anticlimax. It is those five minutes before Grant's desperate escape that constitute a mathematically perfect suspense scene. So expert is Hitchcock's hand that he creates suspense, a slow burning dread, with no camera tricks and no music in broad daylight. Grant's character is a prototypical James Bond. His perfect suit, fast wit, high-alcohol tolerance and effortless charisma have got him out of every predicament so far. In the city, among people, he has powers. Take him away from people, put him nowhere, and he's just like us — totally helpless. He has no powers: His suit is no good out here; his million-dollar tailoring and perfect haircut is just vanity now. No amount of pretending can provide escape. Here, is the one place where he can die, and he gets by on the grace of God. All he can do is wait for what's coming. So when you seek the lost landmark of this scene, you're looking for an idea as much as a place. You're on Highway 99 now, going 30 miles north of Bakersfield, looking for an unassuming patch of dirt that carries spiritual weight. The scene was filmed neart Garces Highway to the west of Delano. You'll think there's a handy exit for it. There's not. You'll probably get lost in Delano, counting on a connection. You're at once a million miles from Hollywood and a hundred miles away. It's lonely. The horizon sprawls forever like there's nothing past it. There are broken down trucks on the side of the road, plumes of smoke from faraway fires. You'll find Garces eventually. You'll pass a bar called Rosy's Place, abandoned houses, an oil field, a prison, a cemetery, a sign that says "we clean headstones," and a whole lot of gold-on-brown punctuated by an occasional trailer or car going faster than you. You're looking for where Garces meets Corcoran Road. That's where this "North by Northwest" scene was filmed. You'll get a vague idea where it is but you'll never be exactly sure, since there's little impetus for clear signage 10 miles from a prison. Maybe Corcoran Road is unlabeled. Besides, that Indiana sign and the prop cornfield haven't been there in 56 years. If you're anything like me, you'll lose the light and call it a day, unsatisfied with the route you took. You return to I-5 northbound. From the 5, you'll meet Route 46, and go through a place called Lost Hills, then back in to the location from Corcoran Road instead. That's how Hitchcock probably did it. More intuitive. Still in the middle of nowhere, but on your way to Corcoran Road, you're right next to another Hollywood landmark: Blackwells Corner, James Dean's last stop. It's a glorified Texaco, and gas is 50 cents a gallon more than it should be. They sell Jelly Bellys and '50s kitsch artifacts — plates with Marilyn Monroe's face on them, and so forth. They really figured out how to cash in on death. You don't want to stop here. But I stopped. I asked the kid at the Blackwells Corner counter how to get to Corcoran Road. He gave me a look that said "there's no reason to go there," and then wearily told me where to go anyway. I was about 8 miles from the destination. Going there is a meditative experience. You're not just going to the middle of nowhere. You're going to the perfect nowhere. Going alone, in the hypnotic heat of the Central Calfiornia Valley, you might even forget what year it is. There is no reason to believe the road would be so well preserved for half a century, intimately tied to the career of an actor born in Bristol 111 years ago, but it has been. There's an abandoned house. A barn with a cross on it. But almost nothing has changed in 56 years. At some point new lines were added on the road. There's overgrowth where there didn't used to be overgrowth. A couple discarded Budweiser cans from who knows when, but mostly it's identical. This is the same sleepy loneliness that Alfred Hitchcock used to make great art in 1959. And that may sound dull, but tranquility is the point. You stand on that dirt and there's no distraction from what's in your soul. It's an inner destination, not an outer one. I told my grandma about it when I got back to Bakersfield. She told me her Uncle Harold thought it was the prettiest road in America. And she showed me a picture of a Corcoran grade school class posing in the dirt with Grant and Hitchcock. It's just a field trip picture. The kids are fidgeting, many with arms folded, some shielding their eyes from the sun, all with obedient smiles. They'd all be in their sixties now, but they'd remember where this road is. It emphasized the ugliness of James Dean's last stop becoming a place to sell T-shirts. It's about what we preserve, and what we don't, and what we remember, and what we don't. It's easy to find shrines to morbidity and hard to find meaningful places. For those, you have to go looking.
November 26, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Reposted by Niels Grotum
natetice.bsky.social
Now up on @yahoosports.bsky.social.

I wrote about the explosive Chicago Bears offense.

sports.yahoo.com/nfl/article/...
Bears' offense is humming under Ben Johnson, and it's thanks to more than just Caleb Williams' development
With the Bears, the discussion always turns toward Caleb Williams, and his play has certainly been encouraging. But Ben Johnson's offense builds truly builds out from another area.
sports.yahoo.com
November 21, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Reposted by Niels Grotum
nevillemorley.bsky.social
With this, and still more with the laments of academics about marking, it becomes clear: GenAI is an energy vampire, feasting on our frustration and misery. The agonies of colleagues at having to waste time on this crap must be especially delicious.

thesphinxblog.com/2025/11/27/a...
Are We Human, Or Are We Chancer?
It’s weird that I haven’t seen any discussion of this, as it seems improbable that the robots would choose the University of Exeter’s Classics Department as the bridgehead for world conquest, but t…
thesphinxblog.com
November 28, 2025 at 8:19 AM
ngrotum.bsky.social
You've gotta be thankful.
Patti Harrison on The Capital Room telling us that she can buy the most delicious wine now. Good for her!
November 27, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Reposted by Niels Grotum
belovedofoizys.bsky.social
Publication day! I spent so long building a mahoosive dataset and GIS that it would be a waste not to share the results. The Greeks didn't build many amphitheatres, but gladiatorial epigraphy has been found on huge numbers. Where did eastern gladiators fight?

www.researchgate.net/publication/...
(PDF) Venues for Spectacle in the Greek East: Architectural Adaptation and Cultural Adoption
PDF | The scarcity of canonical amphitheatres in the culturally Greek eastern parts of the Roman empire has been used as evidence to suggest a... | Find, read and cite all the research you need on Res...
www.researchgate.net
November 26, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Reposted by Niels Grotum
wittywebhandle.bsky.social
Microsoft Logo w/ the Four Humors written on individual blocks of the window. Orange is Sanguine Green is Melancholic Blue is Phlegmatic Yellow is Choleric
November 26, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Reposted by Niels Grotum
soren-lorenson.bsky.social
Just a reminder that the people who run AI companies talk like this when amongst themselves and when you ask me if I'm anti-AI, well, I'm anti whatever the fuck this is
From Empire of AI by Karen Hao "Sutskever now spoke in increasingly messianic overtones, leaving even his longtime friends scratching their heads and other employees ap-prehensive. During one meeting with a new group of researchers, Suts-kever laid out his plans for how to prepare for AGI. "Once we all get into the bunker-" he began. "I'm sorry," a researcher interrupted, "the bunker?" "We're definitely going to build a bunker before we release AGI," Suts-kever replied matter-of-factly. Such a powerful technology would surely become an object of intense desire for governments globally. It could es-calate geopolitical tensions; the core scientists working on the technol-ogy would need to be protected. "Of course," he added, "it's going to be optional whether you want to get into the bunker."
November 27, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Reposted by Niels Grotum
iotasubscript.bsky.social
This may be old news for other people, but is a real "today I learned..." for me... Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft is freely available as scans (some of the articles have been transcribed as well, but for everything I need it's scans). de.wikisource.org/wiki/Paulys_...
Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft – Wikisource
de.wikisource.org
November 25, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Reposted by Niels Grotum
ldobsonhughes.bsky.social
UK now at the point where the former Chair of the Racial Equalities Commission is calling for campaigns of terror against people of colour on the streets of the UK
jdportes.bsky.social Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 6d
Trevor Philips in the Times, calling for a Trump/Miller-style of random deportations based on skin colour.

archive.ph/RlXPj
Second, we need to enforce the policy with a vigour that has reduced flows at America’s southern borders by 90 per cent, and in Denmark by 95 per cent. Crucial to the Trump programme is an aggressive policy of removals, including snatching suspected illegals off the street. One friend tells me Latino parents are now so afraid to be seen out and about that the other parents have a rota to walk the Latino children to and from school.
November 24, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Reposted by Niels Grotum
depthsofwikipedia.bsky.social
R. H. Bing (October 20, 1914 – April 28, 1986)[1] was an American mathematician who worked mainly in the areas of geometric topology and continuum theory. Bing's father was named Rupert Henry, but Bing's mother thought that "Rupert Henry" was too British for Texas. Thus she compromised by abbreviating it to R. H.[5] Consequently, R. H. does not stand for a first or middle name. When Bing was applying for a visa, he was requested not to use initials. He explained that his name was really "R-only H-only Bing", and ended up receiving a visa made out to "Ronly Honly Bing".
November 24, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Reposted by Niels Grotum
rutgerbregman.com
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.

They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
November 25, 2025 at 9:26 AM
ngrotum.bsky.social
Alright, that's it. Calling time on language.
BBC News headline from Nov. 23: "Is phubbing ruining your relationship? Here's how to fix it"
November 23, 2025 at 10:59 AM
ngrotum.bsky.social
"Pseudo-Christians, y'all indifferent, kids in prisons ain't a sin? Shit! / If even one scrap of what Jesus taught connected, you'd feel different."

(It's the El Popeducto, you see.)
andylevy.net andy™ @andylevy.net · 8d
crucifixion ain’t no fiction
the pope on the mic
November 23, 2025 at 10:18 AM
ngrotum.bsky.social
A new challenger arises.
The anti-doping inspector from AUNTY DONNA'S HOUSE OF FUN stating that he is the thirstiest he's ever been.
November 22, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Reposted by Niels Grotum
abstracttruth.bsky.social
Happy anniversary to the Max Headroom incident, the greatest example of signal hijacking.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Hea...
screen grab from video of the incident. Dude dressed up like Max Headroom wearing sunglass is laughing.
November 22, 2025 at 1:17 PM