arachnocapitalist
@arachno.capital
a short, sturdy creature, fond of drink and industry
try using @xblock.aendra.dev if bsky hurts lately
try using @xblock.aendra.dev if bsky hurts lately
Pinned
Reposted by arachnocapitalist
no, absolutely not, you all should've been nicer to my trans homies
January 7, 2026 at 6:15 PM
no, absolutely not, you all should've been nicer to my trans homies
Reposted by arachnocapitalist
Clean coders would literally rather give functions misleading names than write informative comments
January 7, 2026 at 5:33 AM
Clean coders would literally rather give functions misleading names than write informative comments
me: to chill out a bit I'm going to watch The Hunt for Red October (1990), the only good Jack Ryan movie which I've loved since I was ten years old
the Red October's cryogenic plant: *breaks down*
me: welp apparently Chernobyl is my new comfort watch, get rekt Comrade Dyatlov
the Red October's cryogenic plant: *breaks down*
me: welp apparently Chernobyl is my new comfort watch, get rekt Comrade Dyatlov
January 7, 2026 at 5:10 AM
me: to chill out a bit I'm going to watch The Hunt for Red October (1990), the only good Jack Ryan movie which I've loved since I was ten years old
the Red October's cryogenic plant: *breaks down*
me: welp apparently Chernobyl is my new comfort watch, get rekt Comrade Dyatlov
the Red October's cryogenic plant: *breaks down*
me: welp apparently Chernobyl is my new comfort watch, get rekt Comrade Dyatlov
Reposted by arachnocapitalist
it is 2006. i am reading thucydides. i am distressingly aware that my incredibly basic knowledge of military history apparently makes me more clever about this than the people running the country
it is 2026. people are referencing thucydides...
it is 2026. people are referencing thucydides...
People who fancy quoting the Melian Dialogue ("the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must") ignore the fact that Thucydides was clearly portraying this as the kind of hubris that squandered Athens' primacy and paved the way for a devastating peer war that it ultimately lost.
January 7, 2026 at 4:58 AM
it is 2006. i am reading thucydides. i am distressingly aware that my incredibly basic knowledge of military history apparently makes me more clever about this than the people running the country
it is 2026. people are referencing thucydides...
it is 2026. people are referencing thucydides...
Reposted by arachnocapitalist
We cannot see the origins of this system very clearly, but what we can see is even wilder: tributum - the tax - started conceptually as a military investment loan.
You paid tributum which paid for the army, but you got paid back out of the loot if the army won big (which it only sometimes did).
You paid tributum which paid for the army, but you got paid back out of the loot if the army won big (which it only sometimes did).
January 7, 2026 at 2:09 AM
We cannot see the origins of this system very clearly, but what we can see is even wilder: tributum - the tax - started conceptually as a military investment loan.
You paid tributum which paid for the army, but you got paid back out of the loot if the army won big (which it only sometimes did).
You paid tributum which paid for the army, but you got paid back out of the loot if the army won big (which it only sometimes did).
Reposted by arachnocapitalist
Which brings us around to my ultimate thesis, which is that the Roman Republic conquered the entire world it knew...because of woke.
January 7, 2026 at 2:07 AM
Which brings us around to my ultimate thesis, which is that the Roman Republic conquered the entire world it knew...because of woke.
Reposted by arachnocapitalist
Meanwhile the function of the system, because it is wealth-proportionate (but infantry wages are not) is to push resources *down* the socio-economic spectrum, whereas most ancient extraction works like rents, pulling resources up.
Which gets more households able to produce an infantryman to serve.
Which gets more households able to produce an infantryman to serve.
January 7, 2026 at 2:00 AM
Meanwhile the function of the system, because it is wealth-proportionate (but infantry wages are not) is to push resources *down* the socio-economic spectrum, whereas most ancient extraction works like rents, pulling resources up.
Which gets more households able to produce an infantryman to serve.
Which gets more households able to produce an infantryman to serve.
Reposted by arachnocapitalist
Cortana Halo is just Clippy after she transitioned
January 6, 2026 at 8:52 PM
Cortana Halo is just Clippy after she transitioned
Reposted by arachnocapitalist
"but that limits your interactions" yes that is exactly what it is supposed to do, you're not for everyone and don't have to be
January 6, 2026 at 5:48 PM
"but that limits your interactions" yes that is exactly what it is supposed to do, you're not for everyone and don't have to be
Reposted by arachnocapitalist
You can eat whatever food tastes good to you whenever you'd like. You can have pho for breakfast & an egg sandwich for dinner. It doesn't matter.
This place needs some Innocuous Discourse pronto. Quote this with a take that’s not political or aggressive
January 6, 2026 at 5:50 PM
You can eat whatever food tastes good to you whenever you'd like. You can have pho for breakfast & an egg sandwich for dinner. It doesn't matter.
industrial safety and resilience engineering, which is kind of job related but I go way too hard on it, I'm the kind of person who will break into USCSB Narrator Voice while watching Chernobyl and I nearly have a favourite youtube video about the Hyatt Regency walkway collapse
u heard sharon, everyone post about their esoteric interests right fucking now. for the good of the community, we need to be hyperfixationmaxxing.
i think this site really needs to figure out how to grow the non-politics verticals (the baseball moment was a good thing!) because i suspect a lot of the bad clusters come out of the political clusters driving 95% of ENG-lang posts
January 6, 2026 at 6:48 AM
industrial safety and resilience engineering, which is kind of job related but I go way too hard on it, I'm the kind of person who will break into USCSB Narrator Voice while watching Chernobyl and I nearly have a favourite youtube video about the Hyatt Regency walkway collapse
dried beans are a minor cooking miracle, for the price of a bit of scheduling and a tiny amount of hands-on work you get something that tastes impossibly better than what you'd pour out of a can
This place needs some Innocuous Discourse pronto. Quote this with a take that’s not political or aggressive
January 6, 2026 at 6:42 AM
dried beans are a minor cooking miracle, for the price of a bit of scheduling and a tiny amount of hands-on work you get something that tastes impossibly better than what you'd pour out of a can
if you want to read some on how the roman republic became haha heavy infantry printer go brr, hunt up @bretdevereaux.bsky.social's replies in this thread
It's fun when what I am blogging on fortuitously intercepts what I am working on re: scholarship. Revising a chapter and realizing that estimates for the size of the 'hoplite class' are actually a handy comparative benchmark for the full-throated absurdity that is the Roman mobilization system.
January 5, 2026 at 9:00 PM
if you want to read some on how the roman republic became haha heavy infantry printer go brr, hunt up @bretdevereaux.bsky.social's replies in this thread
Reposted by arachnocapitalist
Hot dish, with homemade cream of broccoli and cheddar soup. 🍽️🍜
January 5, 2026 at 6:15 AM
Hot dish, with homemade cream of broccoli and cheddar soup. 🍽️🍜
sportsball appreciators stay winning
Rough vibes on this website today, likely because people feel Hopeless and Helpless Because Can't Stop It and No One Who Is Supposed To Is Trying To So Now We're Fighting Each Other™. I recommend activities such as book, or potentially instrument if you like instrument, or even do talk on phone.
January 5, 2026 at 4:11 AM
sportsball appreciators stay winning
Reposted by arachnocapitalist
Incredible. Wisconsin-River Falls wins the Division III national title, upsetting the North Central Dynasty.
UWRF had 19 straight losing seasons until 2021, when they built the most prolific offense in CFB. This was their first playoff since 1996.
✍️ www.nytimes.com/athletic/693...
UWRF had 19 straight losing seasons until 2021, when they built the most prolific offense in CFB. This was their first playoff since 1996.
✍️ www.nytimes.com/athletic/693...
The D-III underdogs running college football’s fastest offense and trying to topple a dynasty
UW-River Falls is the smallest school in its conference. It's also led by the fastest and most prolific offense in all of college football.
www.nytimes.com
January 5, 2026 at 4:02 AM
Incredible. Wisconsin-River Falls wins the Division III national title, upsetting the North Central Dynasty.
UWRF had 19 straight losing seasons until 2021, when they built the most prolific offense in CFB. This was their first playoff since 1996.
✍️ www.nytimes.com/athletic/693...
UWRF had 19 straight losing seasons until 2021, when they built the most prolific offense in CFB. This was their first playoff since 1996.
✍️ www.nytimes.com/athletic/693...
Reposted by arachnocapitalist
Let the Sunday Funday begin! 🍽️🍜
January 4, 2026 at 7:17 PM
Let the Sunday Funday begin! 🍽️🍜
"run north and south!"
"no, no, I take it back, just north!"
"no, no, I take it back, just north!"
i take back every bad thing i've ever said about Week 18
January 4, 2026 at 7:18 PM
"run north and south!"
"no, no, I take it back, just north!"
"no, no, I take it back, just north!"
judging by my internal monologue this morning I might be 10-20x more annoyed by "LLM coding assistants are like interns or juniors" than I am by "monads are like burritos", just a fundamentally tragically bad perspective
January 4, 2026 at 7:02 PM
judging by my internal monologue this morning I might be 10-20x more annoyed by "LLM coding assistants are like interns or juniors" than I am by "monads are like burritos", just a fundamentally tragically bad perspective
appreciate u
repost to give those 2 or 3 followers who always like your weird posts a little forehead kiss & a grilled cheese cut diagonally
January 4, 2026 at 3:03 AM
appreciate u
ridiculously overprovisioned kitchen. high-output gas range, plancha, steam oven, ten feet of uninterrupted counter space with fridge and freezer underneath
if you could have one absolutely ridiculous thing in your house, money is no issue, what would you add?
January 3, 2026 at 11:37 PM
ridiculously overprovisioned kitchen. high-output gas range, plancha, steam oven, ten feet of uninterrupted counter space with fridge and freezer underneath
Reposted by arachnocapitalist
I have a much more optimistic take right now: tech has massive massive cultural problems but it did before AI. An explosion of *active learning* is potentially a really positive thing
We’re creating more code than we can maintain or understand. With an explosion of new code we’ll see a lot of the code go extinct
Even current projects that seemed well supported with company backing are dying without dedicated resources to maintain it
Even current projects that seemed well supported with company backing are dying without dedicated resources to maintain it
January 3, 2026 at 7:43 PM
I have a much more optimistic take right now: tech has massive massive cultural problems but it did before AI. An explosion of *active learning* is potentially a really positive thing
I'm reminded of david hines writing "anthropomorphized years" twitter sagas and then stopping because it got too depressing, but of course the years keep coming and they don't stop coming
January 3, 2026 at 8:40 AM
I'm reminded of david hines writing "anthropomorphized years" twitter sagas and then stopping because it got too depressing, but of course the years keep coming and they don't stop coming
Reposted by arachnocapitalist
Cowboy Bebop: not actual cowboys, title is lying
Firefly: they do transport cows at one point
Learn the difference
Firefly: they do transport cows at one point
Learn the difference
January 2, 2026 at 8:59 PM
Cowboy Bebop: not actual cowboys, title is lying
Firefly: they do transport cows at one point
Learn the difference
Firefly: they do transport cows at one point
Learn the difference
have we poked fun at those pauldrons yet or are we still chuckling at the "corinthian helmet" with The Fast And The Furious vibes
Ever since the first look at Matt Damon as Odysseus was revealed, Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of The Odyssey has faced questions about its historical accuracy. Now, the debut of its trailer has reinvigorated that debate. https://t.co/ww4vRRxNfY
January 3, 2026 at 6:22 AM
have we poked fun at those pauldrons yet or are we still chuckling at the "corinthian helmet" with The Fast And The Furious vibes