Oliver Plaschka
@rainlights.net
Writer, translator & classically trained hodad
(F&SF&everything. PhD from HD, sometimes teaching at HHU. 70s proghead, middle-aged father, decent tour guide, very bad surfer.)
GER/ENG
☄️ www.rainlights.net
(F&SF&everything. PhD from HD, sometimes teaching at HHU. 70s proghead, middle-aged father, decent tour guide, very bad surfer.)
GER/ENG
☄️ www.rainlights.net
Reposted by Oliver Plaschka
For a while I had the urge to put a dedicated amount of music onto tape to listen to it while walking. Not "all there is" online
Searched for old style cassette players. And they are all klutzy today
Then I found this interesting video. Walkmen are literally #lostech D:
youtu.be/2DWtkSVNvTg?...
Searched for old style cassette players. And they are all klutzy today
Then I found this interesting video. Walkmen are literally #lostech D:
youtu.be/2DWtkSVNvTg?...
Why are cassette and CD players so bulky now?
YouTube video by The Verge
youtu.be
January 25, 2026 at 2:51 PM
For a while I had the urge to put a dedicated amount of music onto tape to listen to it while walking. Not "all there is" online
Searched for old style cassette players. And they are all klutzy today
Then I found this interesting video. Walkmen are literally #lostech D:
youtu.be/2DWtkSVNvTg?...
Searched for old style cassette players. And they are all klutzy today
Then I found this interesting video. Walkmen are literally #lostech D:
youtu.be/2DWtkSVNvTg?...
Reposted by Oliver Plaschka
URSULA K. LE-PLOW 🤗😁😂👏
January 24, 2026 at 1:45 PM
URSULA K. LE-PLOW 🤗😁😂👏
Great essay on Pluribus, AI and everything
@indrapramitdas.bsky.social, author of The Devourers, reflects on Pluribus, the transformation–of people, countries, art–without consent, and why we hate the hivemind just as much as Carol:
Resisting the Hivemind: Pluribus, Generative AI, and Empire - Reactor
While its creator tell us that Pluribus is not about advent of generative AI, it's difficult not to spot the many places where the fledgling tech and extraterrestrial hivemind overlap.
reactormag.com
January 24, 2026 at 12:58 PM
Great essay on Pluribus, AI and everything
Samuels Geschichte verdient Aufmerksamkeit.
January 24, 2026 at 9:18 AM
Samuels Geschichte verdient Aufmerksamkeit.
Reposted by Oliver Plaschka
WOW, this is the earliest known group of chess pieces in the world! 🤩
It includes two foot-soldiers, two mounted riders, an elephant with rider, a figure driving two horses, and a figure driving a three-horse chariot. Ivory, AD 700s.
Samarkand State Museum-Reserve, Uzbekistan. 📷 me
#Archaeology
It includes two foot-soldiers, two mounted riders, an elephant with rider, a figure driving two horses, and a figure driving a three-horse chariot. Ivory, AD 700s.
Samarkand State Museum-Reserve, Uzbekistan. 📷 me
#Archaeology
January 21, 2026 at 4:40 PM
WOW, this is the earliest known group of chess pieces in the world! 🤩
It includes two foot-soldiers, two mounted riders, an elephant with rider, a figure driving two horses, and a figure driving a three-horse chariot. Ivory, AD 700s.
Samarkand State Museum-Reserve, Uzbekistan. 📷 me
#Archaeology
It includes two foot-soldiers, two mounted riders, an elephant with rider, a figure driving two horses, and a figure driving a three-horse chariot. Ivory, AD 700s.
Samarkand State Museum-Reserve, Uzbekistan. 📷 me
#Archaeology
Frage für die Germanisten und Mittelalter-Nerds: Oswald von Wolkenstein benutzt in "Es fügt sich" ein sechshebiges Metrum und als Versmaß AAA-B-CCC-B usw.
Ist das was Bestimmtes, hat die Form einen Namen?
Ist das was Bestimmtes, hat die Form einen Namen?
January 23, 2026 at 1:18 PM
Frage für die Germanisten und Mittelalter-Nerds: Oswald von Wolkenstein benutzt in "Es fügt sich" ein sechshebiges Metrum und als Versmaß AAA-B-CCC-B usw.
Ist das was Bestimmtes, hat die Form einen Namen?
Ist das was Bestimmtes, hat die Form einen Namen?
Problem is billionaires like him tell governments what they need (in order to make more money), governments tell universities what they need to do (for great optics), and unversities don't want to feel "backward-looking", and so nobody has the balls to clearly come out against AI
Calling all the PhDs I know to make monumental annoyances of themselves (and honestly, who better)
January 23, 2026 at 9:12 AM
Problem is billionaires like him tell governments what they need (in order to make more money), governments tell universities what they need to do (for great optics), and unversities don't want to feel "backward-looking", and so nobody has the balls to clearly come out against AI
My day: discovering mold in the corners of my room
It's dead now
It's dead now
January 22, 2026 at 5:54 PM
My day: discovering mold in the corners of my room
It's dead now
It's dead now
The most remarkable band I recently discovered is actually several bands: Black Country, New Road started out as psychedelic post-punk and burnt through two male leads (one left for SA allegations, one for mental health issues) ...
January 21, 2026 at 10:23 AM
The most remarkable band I recently discovered is actually several bands: Black Country, New Road started out as psychedelic post-punk and burnt through two male leads (one left for SA allegations, one for mental health issues) ...
TFW you finally secured the perfect swimming course for your child and it's probably how Donald feels about his Peace Prize
January 21, 2026 at 10:05 AM
TFW you finally secured the perfect swimming course for your child and it's probably how Donald feels about his Peace Prize
First episode of Starfleet Academy, and the most controversial take seems to be to neither love nor hate it, so I'll say I think it's okay 😇
January 18, 2026 at 8:54 PM
First episode of Starfleet Academy, and the most controversial take seems to be to neither love nor hate it, so I'll say I think it's okay 😇
Back from a 30h trip to Munich: I went indoors surfing, crashed at an old friend's birthday party where I met many great people from really long ago, braved the Bavarian winter, petted several cats and finally reconnected with wider family.
800 km, 6h sleep, 5 coffees, 4 G&T, 1 ibuprofen. Phew
800 km, 6h sleep, 5 coffees, 4 G&T, 1 ibuprofen. Phew
January 18, 2026 at 4:15 PM
Back from a 30h trip to Munich: I went indoors surfing, crashed at an old friend's birthday party where I met many great people from really long ago, braved the Bavarian winter, petted several cats and finally reconnected with wider family.
800 km, 6h sleep, 5 coffees, 4 G&T, 1 ibuprofen. Phew
800 km, 6h sleep, 5 coffees, 4 G&T, 1 ibuprofen. Phew
Bluesky is finally showing reposts in lists now, which is great (and a major update they somehow didn't communicate?), but you can only enable or disable them globally via the following feed preferences, which is less than ideal.
January 17, 2026 at 6:01 AM
Bluesky is finally showing reposts in lists now, which is great (and a major update they somehow didn't communicate?), but you can only enable or disable them globally via the following feed preferences, which is less than ideal.
Awesome. We need T-shirts.
January 16, 2026 at 6:53 PM
Awesome. We need T-shirts.
Reposted by Oliver Plaschka
DORK TOWER still going strong!
It's a breaking DORK TOWER FRIDAY! Newsy new strip up now at the Mothership:
www.dorktower.com/2026/01/16/1...
Repost/Reblog/Repeat, thank you.
And hey - stay safe out there!
www.dorktower.com/2026/01/16/1...
Repost/Reblog/Repeat, thank you.
And hey - stay safe out there!
January 16, 2026 at 4:09 PM
DORK TOWER still going strong!
Reposted by Oliver Plaschka
Jetzt ist die letzte Gelegenheit, eines meiner Werke unkompliziert zu erwerben, bevor ich nächsten Monat im Bürgergeldbezug verschwinde.
Ernsthaft Interessierten sende ich gern die Backlist mit aktuellen Preisen und Bedingungen zu. E-Mail siehe Bio.
Ernsthaft Interessierten sende ich gern die Backlist mit aktuellen Preisen und Bedingungen zu. E-Mail siehe Bio.
January 16, 2026 at 12:07 PM
Jetzt ist die letzte Gelegenheit, eines meiner Werke unkompliziert zu erwerben, bevor ich nächsten Monat im Bürgergeldbezug verschwinde.
Ernsthaft Interessierten sende ich gern die Backlist mit aktuellen Preisen und Bedingungen zu. E-Mail siehe Bio.
Ernsthaft Interessierten sende ich gern die Backlist mit aktuellen Preisen und Bedingungen zu. E-Mail siehe Bio.
High Noon, solar edition
January 16, 2026 at 11:58 AM
High Noon, solar edition
Ich: macht sich tagelang einen Kopf, ob der Hinweis im Vorlesungsverzeichnis nicht zu passiv-aggressiv klingt
Literally erste Email einer Studentin: Kann ich auch nur die Hälfte der Zeit kommen
Literally erste Email einer Studentin: Kann ich auch nur die Hälfte der Zeit kommen
January 16, 2026 at 7:19 AM
Ich: macht sich tagelang einen Kopf, ob der Hinweis im Vorlesungsverzeichnis nicht zu passiv-aggressiv klingt
Literally erste Email einer Studentin: Kann ich auch nur die Hälfte der Zeit kommen
Literally erste Email einer Studentin: Kann ich auch nur die Hälfte der Zeit kommen
We need to show this to every student, colleague, friend who ever suggests to "just ask ChatGPT"
January 16, 2026 at 6:00 AM
We need to show this to every student, colleague, friend who ever suggests to "just ask ChatGPT"
Reposted by Oliver Plaschka
I don't use LLMs. They're just stochastic parrots that deliver a string of text that looks like the most likely response to a question that a consensus-human would emit. It's not an answer, it's an answer-shaped object that's wrong 25-75% of the time. Utterly useless to me.
RT if you've never had a tab of ChatGPT open 'just to do quick research'
January 14, 2026 at 12:59 PM
I don't use LLMs. They're just stochastic parrots that deliver a string of text that looks like the most likely response to a question that a consensus-human would emit. It's not an answer, it's an answer-shaped object that's wrong 25-75% of the time. Utterly useless to me.
I wonder if it was considered "nerdy" in his days to write metric poetry about imaginary cities et al, or if it was just the expected level of professionalism in writing, whatever you did.
Anyway, there aren't enough like him anymore.
Anyway, there aren't enough like him anymore.
Zothique
von Clark Ashton Smith
{Ich sollte unbedingt einmal wieder einen Abstecher auf den dekadenten Letzten Kontinent unter einer sterbenden Sonne machen.}
von Clark Ashton Smith
{Ich sollte unbedingt einmal wieder einen Abstecher auf den dekadenten Letzten Kontinent unter einer sterbenden Sonne machen.}
January 14, 2026 at 7:37 AM
I wonder if it was considered "nerdy" in his days to write metric poetry about imaginary cities et al, or if it was just the expected level of professionalism in writing, whatever you did.
Anyway, there aren't enough like him anymore.
Anyway, there aren't enough like him anymore.
crisp day at the job
January 11, 2026 at 11:08 AM
crisp day at the job
"The next step is Discipline", as Robert Fripp would have it. I'm trying to scale down my online time and might disappear for a couple of days.
I wish all of you a pleasant change of years, and I'll be back sooner or later.
I wish all of you a pleasant change of years, and I'll be back sooner or later.
December 28, 2025 at 8:42 AM
"The next step is Discipline", as Robert Fripp would have it. I'm trying to scale down my online time and might disappear for a couple of days.
I wish all of you a pleasant change of years, and I'll be back sooner or later.
I wish all of you a pleasant change of years, and I'll be back sooner or later.
Reposted by Oliver Plaschka
To introduce myself again: I am a shoggoth from Genoa, Italy, a mad sculptor of cosmic horrors since the late 90s, a digital illustrator and starving artist, a translator of Weird Fiction into Italian, and occasionally a writer. You can find me through linktr.ee/andrea.bonazzi while I'm still alive.
November 17, 2024 at 2:11 AM
To introduce myself again: I am a shoggoth from Genoa, Italy, a mad sculptor of cosmic horrors since the late 90s, a digital illustrator and starving artist, a translator of Weird Fiction into Italian, and occasionally a writer. You can find me through linktr.ee/andrea.bonazzi while I'm still alive.