Dominic 🇪🇺 🏳️🌈 🇺🇦
@theriotnrrd.bsky.social
Speaker to Users | digital flâneur | introvert but faking it | perdido en el corazón de la grande Babylon
Elsewhere:
- blog: findthethread.blog
- Enterprise Alchemists podcast 🎧 wherever good podcasts are downloaded
Downtime: 🚴♂️🚵♂️🏂⛷️📚
Elsewhere:
- blog: findthethread.blog
- Enterprise Alchemists podcast 🎧 wherever good podcasts are downloaded
Downtime: 🚴♂️🚵♂️🏂⛷️📚
Normally I would say that playlists put out as Apple Music Essentials are pretty reliable — but with Einstürzende Neubauten, I only agree with a handful of tracks. Sure, some of their stuff is challenging — but that’s the point, that’s what is essential.
Just listen to Silence Is Sexy, okay?
Just listen to Silence Is Sexy, okay?
November 28, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Normally I would say that playlists put out as Apple Music Essentials are pretty reliable — but with Einstürzende Neubauten, I only agree with a handful of tracks. Sure, some of their stuff is challenging — but that’s the point, that’s what is essential.
Just listen to Silence Is Sexy, okay?
Just listen to Silence Is Sexy, okay?
Interesting study that confirms some of the theories behind "Against The Grain": theconversation.com/the-real-rea...
Also notes the same point about elite capture which I wrote about in my own review: findthethread.blog/Book-Review-...
Also notes the same point about elite capture which I wrote about in my own review: findthethread.blog/Book-Review-...
The real reason states first emerged thousands of years ago – new research
New findings add weight to the theory that states didn’t just spring up from any kind of farming – it had to be grain.
theconversation.com
November 28, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Interesting study that confirms some of the theories behind "Against The Grain": theconversation.com/the-real-rea...
Also notes the same point about elite capture which I wrote about in my own review: findthethread.blog/Book-Review-...
Also notes the same point about elite capture which I wrote about in my own review: findthethread.blog/Book-Review-...
Why do people dislike #AI-generated content. aka slop?
When people sign up to receive writings from a16z, they are presumably hoping for some insight into the thinking of pmarca et al. If they can get the same insights by just prompting their own #LLM, what value does a16z add to the transaction?
When people sign up to receive writings from a16z, they are presumably hoping for some insight into the thinking of pmarca et al. If they can get the same insights by just prompting their own #LLM, what value does a16z add to the transaction?
A Remarkable Assertion from A16Z
A friend made me aware of a reading list from A16Z containg recommendations for books, weighted towards science fiction since that’s mostly what people there read.
nealstephenson.substack.com
November 28, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Why do people dislike #AI-generated content. aka slop?
When people sign up to receive writings from a16z, they are presumably hoping for some insight into the thinking of pmarca et al. If they can get the same insights by just prompting their own #LLM, what value does a16z add to the transaction?
When people sign up to receive writings from a16z, they are presumably hoping for some insight into the thinking of pmarca et al. If they can get the same insights by just prompting their own #LLM, what value does a16z add to the transaction?
“Mergitur, non submergitur”.
November 28, 2025 at 8:47 AM
“Mergitur, non submergitur”.
Considerate of the dishwasher to die just in time for Black Friday, I guess. I suppose we did get twelve years of service out of it, but this is the second time this particular fault occurs, and it is literally falling apart on the inside.
Any recommendations or dire warnings?
Any recommendations or dire warnings?
November 28, 2025 at 5:56 AM
Considerate of the dishwasher to die just in time for Black Friday, I guess. I suppose we did get twelve years of service out of it, but this is the second time this particular fault occurs, and it is literally falling apart on the inside.
Any recommendations or dire warnings?
Any recommendations or dire warnings?
Reposted by Dominic 🇪🇺 🏳️🌈 🇺🇦
Every prompt to chatbot software is “generate me some text.” If it generated you some text, it performed its function correctly. It never lies, it never wants anything, it’s text generating software that generates text.
Not wanting to disappoint you so much that it lies is the last quality I want in a computer.
November 28, 2025 at 3:25 AM
Every prompt to chatbot software is “generate me some text.” If it generated you some text, it performed its function correctly. It never lies, it never wants anything, it’s text generating software that generates text.
Reposted by Dominic 🇪🇺 🏳️🌈 🇺🇦
We are now further away from the theatrical release of Raiders of the Lost Ark (June 12, 1981) than it was from the year it takes place in (1936). We have reached the Indiana Jones event horizon.
November 27, 2025 at 12:49 AM
We are now further away from the theatrical release of Raiders of the Lost Ark (June 12, 1981) than it was from the year it takes place in (1936). We have reached the Indiana Jones event horizon.
Reposted by Dominic 🇪🇺 🏳️🌈 🇺🇦
1/ A longtime Wired editor just wrote a mush-brained essay about how he totally missed the political rot of Silicon Valley (& still doesn't get it).
But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that
But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that
September 24, 2025 at 6:36 PM
1/ A longtime Wired editor just wrote a mush-brained essay about how he totally missed the political rot of Silicon Valley (& still doesn't get it).
But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that
But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that
The fact nobody ever spots these things before they are unveiled is the biggest argument against the idea that a “human in the loop” can magically make #AI safe to deploy.
they are removing a big australian beach christmas artwork from redfern station (a huge train station) because it's ai garbage. kangaroos have koala heads and some animals have missing limbs and one of them is WEARING A BRA
November 28, 2025 at 5:16 AM
The fact nobody ever spots these things before they are unveiled is the biggest argument against the idea that a “human in the loop” can magically make #AI safe to deploy.
Okay, so in the space of a month I have managed to crack my first iPad screen and my first iPhone screen. Quite a record, considering I bought the very first iPad, while my first iPhone was a 4. I had reconciled myself to waiting for an OLED iPad Air, but can I last a year with a cracked iPhone?
November 27, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Okay, so in the space of a month I have managed to crack my first iPad screen and my first iPhone screen. Quite a record, considering I bought the very first iPad, while my first iPhone was a 4. I had reconciled myself to waiting for an OLED iPad Air, but can I last a year with a cracked iPhone?
So @gruber.foo says that Apple has "cracked down on scams and rip-offs in the App Store" — but the biggest scammy rip-off is still there, in that it's possible to buy ads against competitor apps *by name*. So gross, and a case in which both users' and developers' interests are aligned against Apple.
November 27, 2025 at 8:11 AM
So @gruber.foo says that Apple has "cracked down on scams and rip-offs in the App Store" — but the biggest scammy rip-off is still there, in that it's possible to buy ads against competitor apps *by name*. So gross, and a case in which both users' and developers' interests are aligned against Apple.
Reposted by Dominic 🇪🇺 🏳️🌈 🇺🇦
not beating the “AI art is lazy” allegations
November 26, 2025 at 7:47 PM
not beating the “AI art is lazy” allegations
In hindsight, the very low staffing levels at #Sonder locations may have been an early warning sign. Pity, I liked the experience — but evidently it did not work out. #travel
Sonder went into bankruptcy in the US earlier this month, bringing its European business down with it.
We look at how the Irish business performed, how the woes in the US led to its shutting down this week and reveal how it was investing in its European business.
thecurrency.news/articles/209...
We look at how the Irish business performed, how the woes in the US led to its shutting down this week and reveal how it was investing in its European business.
thecurrency.news/articles/209...
Inside Sonder’s collapse: A US bankruptcy drags down a stable Irish business - The Currency
On Tuesday, a creditors’ meeting was held for Sonder Hospitality Ireland Limited but it was largely a box-ticking exercise. The once high-flying US short-term letting company, which styled itself as a...
thecurrency.news
November 26, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Reposted by Dominic 🇪🇺 🏳️🌈 🇺🇦
This is my poorly-drawn meme pitch for you all to read Asunder by @kerstinhall.bsky.social aka My Favorite Book I Read This Year And It's Not Even Close. I actually NEED more people to read this book so we can yap about it together!!!!!!
November 23, 2025 at 10:07 PM
This is my poorly-drawn meme pitch for you all to read Asunder by @kerstinhall.bsky.social aka My Favorite Book I Read This Year And It's Not Even Close. I actually NEED more people to read this book so we can yap about it together!!!!!!
There are advantages to being an English-speaking country when English is the world’s lingua franca — but one disadvantage is that the whole world can easily join in on your domestic conversations, and attempt to influence them.
Polarization in the United States Has Become the World’s Side Hustle – Pixel Envy
Marina Dunbar, the Guardian: Many of the most influential personalities in the “Make America great again” (Maga) movement on X are based outside of the US, including Russia, Nigeria and India, a new...
pxlnv.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:06 PM
There are advantages to being an English-speaking country when English is the world’s lingua franca — but one disadvantage is that the whole world can easily join in on your domestic conversations, and attempt to influence them.
Reposted by Dominic 🇪🇺 🏳️🌈 🇺🇦
If I’m understanding this correctly, X is owned by a white nationalist who pays poor people of color in developing countries to pretend to be working class white Americans to scare other white Americans into being afraid poor people of color from developing countries are going to ruin America?
November 23, 2025 at 7:30 PM
If I’m understanding this correctly, X is owned by a white nationalist who pays poor people of color in developing countries to pretend to be working class white Americans to scare other white Americans into being afraid poor people of color from developing countries are going to ruin America?
I enjoyed hearing @juliaioffe.bsky.social talking to @andrewmueller.bsky.social about her new book, Motherland. In what sounds like a similar vein, I enjoyed Francis Spufford’s Red Plenty, about how the Soviet project started with such hope only to fall into rot and disillusion.
November 25, 2025 at 8:34 AM
I enjoyed hearing @juliaioffe.bsky.social talking to @andrewmueller.bsky.social about her new book, Motherland. In what sounds like a similar vein, I enjoyed Francis Spufford’s Red Plenty, about how the Soviet project started with such hope only to fall into rot and disillusion.
What does it mean that insurers are threatening to deny coverage for #AI failures? Maybe denial of claims and the resulting liability will be the thing that finally gets people to stop irresponsibly shoehorning AI into everything?
Artificial Insurance
For all the talk of AI transforming our society and economy, hard data on real world adoption is still very hard to come by. Benedict Evans’ latest update to his “AI Eats the World” presentation…
findthethread.blog
November 24, 2025 at 5:49 PM
What does it mean that insurers are threatening to deny coverage for #AI failures? Maybe denial of claims and the resulting liability will be the thing that finally gets people to stop irresponsibly shoehorning AI into everything?
In the run up to Black Friday and other frenzies of gift-buying, it's worth re-upping this post I wrote about why it's a bad idea to buy "smart" devices as gifts — and this was before kids' toys were likely to start spewing BDSM advice or worse.
The Internet of Unwelcome Gifts
It’s that time of year when many of us are out buying gifts for ourselves or others – or if you’re tight like me, waiting for the sales in the New Year to buy those big-ticket items. Ahem.…
findthethread.blog
November 24, 2025 at 2:06 PM
In the run up to Black Friday and other frenzies of gift-buying, it's worth re-upping this post I wrote about why it's a bad idea to buy "smart" devices as gifts — and this was before kids' toys were likely to start spewing BDSM advice or worse.
Reposted by Dominic 🇪🇺 🏳️🌈 🇺🇦
"here's the AI-written copyright analysis" and other phrases which make legal have a stroke
November 21, 2025 at 9:17 PM
"here's the AI-written copyright analysis" and other phrases which make legal have a stroke
Reposted by Dominic 🇪🇺 🏳️🌈 🇺🇦
Twitter accounts are based in Russia. BlueSky accounts are based in homes with, frankly, too many books, plants, obsolete cables, and pieces of rustic pottery, that could do with a bit of a tidying up, to be honest.
November 23, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Twitter accounts are based in Russia. BlueSky accounts are based in homes with, frankly, too many books, plants, obsolete cables, and pieces of rustic pottery, that could do with a bit of a tidying up, to be honest.
Put bike tyres to snow for the first time this winter — but not the last! There is no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong kit — and spirit. #cycling 🚲
November 23, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Put bike tyres to snow for the first time this winter — but not the last! There is no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong kit — and spirit. #cycling 🚲
This is why I am more productive when I travel. For me, the ideal work location is an airline lounge during a long layover: plentiful snacks, nobody to bother me, usually good WiFi. I have broken the back of so many projects in situations like that!
Yep.
Even with the aid of noise cancelling headphones, I find I often can't concentrate on my work due to knowing that someone could knock on my door needing something.
It's why I've made a habit of going to a coffee place to get work done.
Even with the aid of noise cancelling headphones, I find I often can't concentrate on my work due to knowing that someone could knock on my door needing something.
It's why I've made a habit of going to a coffee place to get work done.
Turns out it IS hard to be creative without a space where you can work undisturbed, while being pulled in about fifty different directions by other responsibilities, the needs of others, and general household drudgery, and at the mercy of a very fragile income stream
November 23, 2025 at 5:05 PM
This is why I am more productive when I travel. For me, the ideal work location is an airline lounge during a long layover: plentiful snacks, nobody to bother me, usually good WiFi. I have broken the back of so many projects in situations like that!
Reposted by Dominic 🇪🇺 🏳️🌈 🇺🇦
If you give me a smart home device as a gift you should know I am going to hit it with a hammer
So-called "smart" devices are pushed heavily for the holidays, but be mindful of what you're opting that gift recipient into. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...
Think Twice Before Giving Surveillance for the Holidays
With the holidays upon us, it's easy to default to giving the tech gifts that retailers tend to push on us this time of year: smart speakers, video doorbells, bluetooth trackers, fitness trackers,
www.eff.org
November 22, 2025 at 7:31 PM
If you give me a smart home device as a gift you should know I am going to hit it with a hammer
Reposted by Dominic 🇪🇺 🏳️🌈 🇺🇦
I just want to say this right now, if a person demands to see my or anyone else's genitals in the bathroom i'm putting their face in the nearest toilet and flushing
November 22, 2025 at 2:46 PM
I just want to say this right now, if a person demands to see my or anyone else's genitals in the bathroom i'm putting their face in the nearest toilet and flushing