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Nick LaLone

@nicklalone.com

1K followers 1K following 2.6K posts

Geospatial computing, disaster, and workforce dev, and vintage tech researcher at RIT. Will skeet about old tech, games, history, and the intersection of tech and theory. I use SM as a random note space but try and stay focused. https://nicklalone.com/

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · Jul 11

Bit of a weird #academicsky guy.

I focus on last mile issues unmet before the "new" revolution in tech.

Will post across soc/tech/play focusing on tiny details.

Previously focused on Emergency Management (EM) but blue sky and grey sky have switched places. Broader applications of EM now needed.

Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 1d

Tron 2.0 the game and the animated series on disney really showed that at least someone understood the franchise. Why those folks weren't involved is beyond me.

Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 4d

Oh you mean literally... I thought this was a metaphor!

Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 4d

When what a person says and what a person believes that person meant is in disagreement, some believe the fault is the listeners. Then power gets in the way of negotiation.

I think a lot about Alphonso Lingis during these times.

That design and communication share this issue is a feature.

Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 4d

Yeah, being in academia is constant peril.

Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 8d

Why aren't we talking more about thnickles?

Reposted by Nick LaLone

Mark Hurst @markhurst.bsky.social · 9d

Here's my live Techtonic interview with Luddite Club members - including Lucy Jackson, featured in the WSJ story:
www.wfmu.org/playlists/sh...
(click "pop-up player")

Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 10d

But what about robot feelings?! WHAT ABOUT ROBOT FEELINGS>>!

a cartoon drawing of a robot with tears coming out of his eyes

ALT: a cartoon drawing of a robot with tears coming out of his eyes

media.tenor.com

Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 10d

What is your favorite #boardgame about space or logistics or space logistics?

Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 10d

I've gone from getting back on the addiction to social media train to having a healthy distance. It's having an effect that i'm not noticing what's happeningg to the platform which worries me.

So, thanks for posting this sort of thing.

Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 10d

I hope this includes geomagnetic storms / auroras.

Had to do so much research into that space a billion years ago and it's so fascinating.

Rarer than a thunderstorm but can be much more devestating in the right scenarios.

Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 11d

Though maybe this works better.

Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 11d

Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 11d

And so I poke at how we play for an answer i'll never be able to find unless I end up in some sort of Matty Mac falling into a black hole in Interstellar.

But I am also told that I should be avoided, that i'm an idiot.

Who knows what's correct, maybe i am?

It's selfish of me, that's for sure.

Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 11d

I get frustrated because I constantly hear about late stage capitalism. It is immeasurably frustrating in the same way that the constant directionality of tech is.

We've agreed to a decision someone made, somewhere, that has been replicated to such a degree that its truth we can't go against.

Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 11d

Even the possible escapes from these things is based on their belonging to modernity.

I've often used the example of cutting down and burning a forest then giving the former residents pencils made from the wood and telling them to, "tell your story, take back your power."

Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 11d

It's such a strange and wonderful thing to think about.

COVID really pointed out how fragile everything is, much like Friday blowing up everything Crusoe built in Friday, the Other Island.

On the hand, modernity is often as an all-encompassing trap we celebrate being stuck in.

Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 11d

Robinson Crusoe & Friday, the Other Island form the foundation of my work. It is always there

On the one hand, re-establishing modernity in the midst of disaster is seen as heroic and wanted.

On the other, it is a prison we must learn to escape when disaster allows us to see outside of culture.

Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 14d

This paper from @markriedl.bsky.social and company matches many of the background efforts we've been pursuing here at RIT.

Shall We Play a Game? Language Models for Open-ended Wargames
arxiv.org/abs/2509.17192

Maybe of interest for @sebastianbae.bsky.social.

h/t: @justusrobertson.bsky.social

Shall We Play a Game? Language Models for Open-ended Wargames

Wargames are multi-faceted, multi-player depictions of conflict in which participants' decisions influence future events. Wargames are often used to explore the strategic implications of decision-maki...

Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 18d

This scene is finally in the anime and it didn't disappoint at all.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFWw...

Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 18d

This is sort of hilarious where in Guy Ritchie's King Arthur it's a heist film but the heist is....they're gonna steal the whole kingdom.

Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 18d

A pop up when I hit post that says, "Why aren't you writing?"

Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 18d

I've been reading His Majesty the Worm and a bunch of #ttrpgs looking for some good approaches to what TTRPGS are and how they work.

What are your favorites?

Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 18d

Man, I haven't seen this set of cards since 85. What a blast from the past.

Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 18d

Been fretting over an essay but finally got some inspiration and have been outlining it in my brain.

Finding joy in writing again is rare.

Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 23d

Back when we first met, we used to go to "Jo on the Go" in San Marcos for coffee. It's since closed but we had a business card of an artist we liked who had art there.

Just after we lost Joe (middle), she had this commissioned. Jackson left us mid-seizure years ago.

Most important object we own.