Sean O'Hara
@noculottes.bsky.social
Author, translator. Polyglot, polyamorous, polygonal. Knower of things. Mostly real.
My posts may be licensed for training data in large language models and generative AI at a cost of US $1000 per word.
My posts may be licensed for training data in large language models and generative AI at a cost of US $1000 per word.
Pinned
Sean O'Hara
@noculottes.bsky.social
· Feb 22
New short story available on Amazon/Kindle Unlimited: A Portion for Foxes.
Bronze age refugees find their migration blocked by neolithic warriors. In generations to come, the outcome of their confrontation will give rise to a mighty empire.
amzn.to/3QuZE44
Bronze age refugees find their migration blocked by neolithic warriors. In generations to come, the outcome of their confrontation will give rise to a mighty empire.
amzn.to/3QuZE44
In retrospect, Philip K. Dick and Douglas Adams were the real hard sci-fi writers, and guys like Clarke and Heinlein were writing fantasy novels.
December 18, 2025 at 5:15 PM
In retrospect, Philip K. Dick and Douglas Adams were the real hard sci-fi writers, and guys like Clarke and Heinlein were writing fantasy novels.
This is like hyping artificial insem8nation as a replacement for sex. "You won't need to go through the physical exertion anymore."
But also the semen is stored inside the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
But also the semen is stored inside the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
I have grown to believe that excessive wealth does something to your brain that is analogous to a serious head injury
December 15, 2025 at 7:30 PM
This is like hyping artificial insem8nation as a replacement for sex. "You won't need to go through the physical exertion anymore."
But also the semen is stored inside the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
But also the semen is stored inside the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
Never mind movies you’ve watched multiple times, name a movie you’ve watched once and would never watch again.
I Stand Alone.
I Stand Alone.
Never mind movies you’ve watched multiple times, name a movie you’ve watched once and would never watch again.
Slither
Slither
Never mind movies you’ve watched multiple times, name a movie you’ve watched once and would never watch again.
Interstellar.
Interstellar.
December 11, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Never mind movies you’ve watched multiple times, name a movie you’ve watched once and would never watch again.
I Stand Alone.
I Stand Alone.
Reading Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep for the third time. Weird how my view of it has changed over the years.
1990s: Usenet in space? Awesome \m/
2000s: Usenet in space? What a ridiculous anachronism.
2020s: Whatever the protocol, Vinge totally nailed the use of social media to organize genocide.
1990s: Usenet in space? Awesome \m/
2000s: Usenet in space? What a ridiculous anachronism.
2020s: Whatever the protocol, Vinge totally nailed the use of social media to organize genocide.
December 10, 2025 at 3:04 AM
Reading Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep for the third time. Weird how my view of it has changed over the years.
1990s: Usenet in space? Awesome \m/
2000s: Usenet in space? What a ridiculous anachronism.
2020s: Whatever the protocol, Vinge totally nailed the use of social media to organize genocide.
1990s: Usenet in space? Awesome \m/
2000s: Usenet in space? What a ridiculous anachronism.
2020s: Whatever the protocol, Vinge totally nailed the use of social media to organize genocide.
What skill did you master that you will never, ever use again?
As a one hour photo tech, I had to load photographic test strips into a cartridge by touch while they were in a light-proof bag.
As a one hour photo tech, I had to load photographic test strips into a cartridge by touch while they were in a light-proof bag.
What skill did you master that you will never, ever use again?
When I was a radio producer in graduate school I became expert at editing interviews on a reel-to-reel tape recorder - cutting bits of sound with a xacto razor and splicing the tape together again with special editing tape.
When I was a radio producer in graduate school I became expert at editing interviews on a reel-to-reel tape recorder - cutting bits of sound with a xacto razor and splicing the tape together again with special editing tape.
December 8, 2025 at 1:44 PM
What skill did you master that you will never, ever use again?
As a one hour photo tech, I had to load photographic test strips into a cartridge by touch while they were in a light-proof bag.
As a one hour photo tech, I had to load photographic test strips into a cartridge by touch while they were in a light-proof bag.
I've come to the horrifying realization that Olivia Nuzzi is what Rory Gilmore would have become if Logan's dad hadn't told her she sucked at journalism.
December 7, 2025 at 12:32 AM
I've come to the horrifying realization that Olivia Nuzzi is what Rory Gilmore would have become if Logan's dad hadn't told her she sucked at journalism.
Bringing back station wagons would be good because they were designed for highways with a maximum speed of 55mph. Let's make traffic slow again.
Sean Duffy on slashing fuel economy standards: "This rule will actually allow you to bring back the 1970s station wagon. Maybe a little wood paneling on the side. We can bring back choice to consumers."
December 4, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Bringing back station wagons would be good because they were designed for highways with a maximum speed of 55mph. Let's make traffic slow again.
There is only one eugenic rule that is actually good, and that's the one we had before we knew about genetics: Don't have kids with close relatives.
Historian of eugenics here. I don't normally like to retweet bad arguments, but this is such a fundamental misunderstanding of eugenics, I think it's important to point out. I don't have time to debunk all of the ways this is inaccurate, but I'll highlight a few things and then recommend some books🧵
December 4, 2025 at 1:44 PM
There is only one eugenic rule that is actually good, and that's the one we had before we knew about genetics: Don't have kids with close relatives.
Listening to some high school students grapple with the concept of retro-futurism and fighting the urge to explain that Star Trek was plain futuristic, not retro.
December 3, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Listening to some high school students grapple with the concept of retro-futurism and fighting the urge to explain that Star Trek was plain futuristic, not retro.
Always funny when people claim that "Black Friday" is supposed to be positive descriptor and not an indictment of holiday commercialization.
November 28, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Always funny when people claim that "Black Friday" is supposed to be positive descriptor and not an indictment of holiday commercialization.
Americans getting upset that people in other countries want to call us by a different term than "Americans" is certainly rich.
And no, arguing that it's rude to use an exonym to refer to citizens of a country doesn't work when that country is a global hegemon. What even is this country?
And no, arguing that it's rude to use an exonym to refer to citizens of a country doesn't work when that country is a global hegemon. What even is this country?
November 26, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Americans getting upset that people in other countries want to call us by a different term than "Americans" is certainly rich.
And no, arguing that it's rude to use an exonym to refer to citizens of a country doesn't work when that country is a global hegemon. What even is this country?
And no, arguing that it's rude to use an exonym to refer to citizens of a country doesn't work when that country is a global hegemon. What even is this country?
Catholicism Wow! is real.
He said "Amen" straight into the drop
Lmao Pope Leo threw a rave for an archbishop's 75th birthday this is kind of incredible
Lmao Pope Leo threw a rave for an archbishop's 75th birthday this is kind of incredible
November 22, 2025 at 5:07 AM
Catholicism Wow! is real.
I think it's telling that the MAGAites breaking with Trump right now are all woomen -- Boebert and Taylor-Greene over Epstein and Loomer over overt Nazism.
November 20, 2025 at 1:43 PM
I think it's telling that the MAGAites breaking with Trump right now are all woomen -- Boebert and Taylor-Greene over Epstein and Loomer over overt Nazism.
Coming around to the idea that AI use is a form of idolatry.
November 14, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Coming around to the idea that AI use is a form of idolatry.
Time for bar trivia.
November 14, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Time for bar trivia.
Anyone who's spent time around evangelical Christians should recognize this framing -- rapists have no agency and are seduced by their victims, even when the victim is a literal child.
A teenager in Florida with a homeless parent wanted money for braces and ended up having sex for money with powerful men, setting off a chain of events that would have a dramatic impact on her life and help upend the political career of Representative Matt Gaetz. nyti.ms/49PSkL9
November 14, 2025 at 12:23 AM
Anyone who's spent time around evangelical Christians should recognize this framing -- rapists have no agency and are seduced by their victims, even when the victim is a literal child.
This I believe: biographers should devote no more than one chapter to their subject's childhood, and no space at all to family history beyond a brief introduction to the parents unless there is something extraordinarily compelling there.
November 14, 2025 at 12:08 AM
This I believe: biographers should devote no more than one chapter to their subject's childhood, and no space at all to family history beyond a brief introduction to the parents unless there is something extraordinarily compelling there.
I dream of a day when somebody makes a Frankenstein movie where Victor is under 25.
November 12, 2025 at 10:33 PM
I dream of a day when somebody makes a Frankenstein movie where Victor is under 25.
The main thing I've learned this week is that Sarah Kendzior is the last of the resistance grifters that smart people take seriously.
November 12, 2025 at 7:27 PM
The main thing I've learned this week is that Sarah Kendzior is the last of the resistance grifters that smart people take seriously.
Convincing you to read my novel by the first sentence. Share yours if you want.
Hero Complex, the first volume of My Dark & Fearsome Queen.
Hero Complex, the first volume of My Dark & Fearsome Queen.
November 11, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Convincing you to read my novel by the first sentence. Share yours if you want.
Hero Complex, the first volume of My Dark & Fearsome Queen.
Hero Complex, the first volume of My Dark & Fearsome Queen.
Allons enfants de la Patrie,
Le jour de gloire est arrivé !
Contre nous de la tyrannie
L'étendard sanglant est levé,
Entendez-vous dans les campagnes
Mugir ces féroces soldats ?
Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras
Égorger vos fils, vos compagnes !
Le jour de gloire est arrivé !
Contre nous de la tyrannie
L'étendard sanglant est levé,
Entendez-vous dans les campagnes
Mugir ces féroces soldats ?
Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras
Égorger vos fils, vos compagnes !
November 10, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Allons enfants de la Patrie,
Le jour de gloire est arrivé !
Contre nous de la tyrannie
L'étendard sanglant est levé,
Entendez-vous dans les campagnes
Mugir ces féroces soldats ?
Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras
Égorger vos fils, vos compagnes !
Le jour de gloire est arrivé !
Contre nous de la tyrannie
L'étendard sanglant est levé,
Entendez-vous dans les campagnes
Mugir ces féroces soldats ?
Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras
Égorger vos fils, vos compagnes !
I thought removing monuments was anti-historical.
1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️
November 9, 2025 at 2:28 PM
I thought removing monuments was anti-historical.
Tell me you've never read a serious book on military operations in your life without saying it.
Hegseth: "We must wage an all-out campaign to streamline the Pentagon's process, to unshackle our people from unproductive work and to shift our resources from the bureaucracy to the battlefield. Our objection is simple: transform the entire acquisition system to operate on a wartime footing."
November 7, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Tell me you've never read a serious book on military operations in your life without saying it.
At this point every leftist who ever said Horseshoe Theory is nonsense owes America an apology.
The pattern continues.
"Li previously ran as a Democratic candidate for Congress, describing herself as a “tree-hugging progressive,” and sought the endorsement of the Democratic Socialists of America."
www.rawstory.com/snap-2674253...
"Li previously ran as a Democratic candidate for Congress, describing herself as a “tree-hugging progressive,” and sought the endorsement of the Democratic Socialists of America."
www.rawstory.com/snap-2674253...
GOP strategist tells Americans about to lose food assistance to make ‘better choices’
Republican strategist Lindy Li on Friday told the 42 million Americans expected to lose food assistance starting Saturday that they should be “making better choices” so that they don’t have to rely on...
www.rawstory.com
November 1, 2025 at 6:51 PM
At this point every leftist who ever said Horseshoe Theory is nonsense owes America an apology.