Ashley Flanagan
@ashflanagan.bsky.social
Ash • any pronouns • classicist @ academia ➡️ Game Designer @ Pipeworks ➡️ Destiny Historian @ Bungie ➡️ Senior Narrative Designer @ Hearthstone • personal account
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
See it's funny because he's talking about sending them to a concentration/torture-camp. Do you get the joke? It's about how he likes to send people to places to be tortured and/or killed. It's a funny joke. Why aren't you laughing at such a funny joke?
Trump: "Instead of pardons, some of my more enthusiastic staffers were already drafting the paperwork to ship Gobble and Waddle straight to the Terrorist Confinement Center in El Salvador."
November 25, 2025 at 5:23 PM
See it's funny because he's talking about sending them to a concentration/torture-camp. Do you get the joke? It's about how he likes to send people to places to be tortured and/or killed. It's a funny joke. Why aren't you laughing at such a funny joke?
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
"Testosterone replacement therapy" is steroids, he's on steroids. It's also gender-affirming care.
What the fuck this is
November 25, 2025 at 3:26 PM
"Testosterone replacement therapy" is steroids, he's on steroids. It's also gender-affirming care.
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
Cancel your WaPo subscription and send your money to an outlet that *doesn't* actively hate its readers.
ProPublica, Liberal Currents, Flaming Hydra, your local paper or alt weekly, whatever. Anything but this.
ProPublica, Liberal Currents, Flaming Hydra, your local paper or alt weekly, whatever. Anything but this.
At this point, the Washpost edit page is just trolling its readers.
This is today's actual house editorial.
This is today's actual house editorial.
November 25, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Cancel your WaPo subscription and send your money to an outlet that *doesn't* actively hate its readers.
ProPublica, Liberal Currents, Flaming Hydra, your local paper or alt weekly, whatever. Anything but this.
ProPublica, Liberal Currents, Flaming Hydra, your local paper or alt weekly, whatever. Anything but this.
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
Mastercard is bleeding, get in there. Make some calls. Get some cool family members in on it over thanksgiving
The lines are getting clogged from calls and Mastercard is feeling very pressured, they're looking into how to act in response. They're collecting information on callers to have a better understanding of who is calling in re the censorship issue
November 24, 2025 at 10:43 PM
Mastercard is bleeding, get in there. Make some calls. Get some cool family members in on it over thanksgiving
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
How the expletive deleted are people still on the covidaids conspiracy theory bullshit? Rhetorical question, and if they were to acknowledge the t-cell depletion and rebound being similar to the flu, they might have to acknowledge that they keep spreading flu misinformation too.
this paper goes out of its way to dump innuendo implying that COVID causes immunodeficiency comprable **TO HIV** yet nowhere does it mention that the t-cell depletion [and rebound] is comprable between covid and the flu www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
COVID-19 is “Airborne AIDS”: provocative oversimplification, emerging science, or something in between?
Immune dysfunction and systemic effects in HIV and SARS-CoV-2 infections are distinct, but share relevant similarities and downstream consequences. We…
www.sciencedirect.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:29 AM
How the expletive deleted are people still on the covidaids conspiracy theory bullshit? Rhetorical question, and if they were to acknowledge the t-cell depletion and rebound being similar to the flu, they might have to acknowledge that they keep spreading flu misinformation too.
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
a lot of falsehoods are getting repeated about b) by people who rightly believe a), and it doesn't help credibility.
a) The social harms of AI are vastly under-appreciated and go far beyond displacement of labor
b) The environmental harms of AI, though not trivial, are nevertheless small potatoes compared to many other industries like farming (and AI demand may even help accelerate electrical grid upgrades)
b) The environmental harms of AI, though not trivial, are nevertheless small potatoes compared to many other industries like farming (and AI demand may even help accelerate electrical grid upgrades)
weird header for an article about the very real dangers of modern industrial agriculture
November 25, 2025 at 5:18 AM
a lot of falsehoods are getting repeated about b) by people who rightly believe a), and it doesn't help credibility.
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
I didn't have an opinion on open-access journals until I saw half of covid conscious twitter passing around an open access lit review illogically claiming that covid is really a prion disease, and calling it a new study that found that covid is a prion disease that causes Alzheimer's.
apropos of this shit, one of my hobbyhorses - that i recognize i am in the minority on - is that open-access publishing is a fucking scourge on academic integrity. closed access journals used to make significant effort to determine "is this a quality paper", now anyone can print if they pay the fee
November 25, 2025 at 5:36 AM
I didn't have an opinion on open-access journals until I saw half of covid conscious twitter passing around an open access lit review illogically claiming that covid is really a prion disease, and calling it a new study that found that covid is a prion disease that causes Alzheimer's.
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
This is my favourite game. Every part of it sucks, but each part sucks in a way that GESTURES TOWARD something that would be awesome were it not undermined by every other part. It can't be improved because everything that's terrible about its load-bearing. Did I mention it's the best game ever made?
November 25, 2025 at 1:43 AM
This is my favourite game. Every part of it sucks, but each part sucks in a way that GESTURES TOWARD something that would be awesome were it not undermined by every other part. It can't be improved because everything that's terrible about its load-bearing. Did I mention it's the best game ever made?
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
Always funny when someone does the "hunter gatherers and medieval peasants actually worked 30 hours a week" claim because beyond not being actually true, yeah, they also lived and worked like peasants and hunter gatherers. You work an email job can go to school and the doctor and retire
November 23, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Always funny when someone does the "hunter gatherers and medieval peasants actually worked 30 hours a week" claim because beyond not being actually true, yeah, they also lived and worked like peasants and hunter gatherers. You work an email job can go to school and the doctor and retire
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
🙏 Games Workshop, you must let me write a Drukhari novel for the Black Library, it would be a hilarious turn of events in my life.
November 25, 2025 at 12:52 AM
🙏 Games Workshop, you must let me write a Drukhari novel for the Black Library, it would be a hilarious turn of events in my life.
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
Spoke to a number of devs about how, in the face of CEOs claiming gen-AI is the future, their declaration of being genAI free is making waves.
Indie game developers have a new sales pitch: being ‘AI free’
Indie game developers have a new sales pitch: being ‘AI free’
“We can produce results that meet our quality standards without its assistance.”
buff.ly
November 24, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Spoke to a number of devs about how, in the face of CEOs claiming gen-AI is the future, their declaration of being genAI free is making waves.
Isaac Chotiner showing up in someone's mentions feels like when Silent Hill 4 decided actually you don't have to go to Silent Hill, it can just show up in your house
November 25, 2025 at 2:44 AM
Isaac Chotiner showing up in someone's mentions feels like when Silent Hill 4 decided actually you don't have to go to Silent Hill, it can just show up in your house
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
Had the chance to play NORCO myself on a Steam Deck and can confirm it runs well. We added features to make things more comfortable, like using buttons to quickly cycle through selectables, and supporting both dpad & joystick for cursor control. There are a number of font options available as well.
November 24, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Had the chance to play NORCO myself on a Steam Deck and can confirm it runs well. We added features to make things more comfortable, like using buttons to quickly cycle through selectables, and supporting both dpad & joystick for cursor control. There are a number of font options available as well.
One year my mother didn't want to make mashed potatoes so she made a serious, concerted, week-long attempt to gaslight me that mashed potatoes are not a normal Thanksgiving food
yes, hello, I would like to place an order for everyone’s funniest stories of holiday food-related family grudges / drama / chaotic incidents / lore
I feel like we need this
I feel like we need this
November 25, 2025 at 2:16 AM
One year my mother didn't want to make mashed potatoes so she made a serious, concerted, week-long attempt to gaslight me that mashed potatoes are not a normal Thanksgiving food
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
1/ THREAD: This year ICE has sent a record 600 immigrant kids into federal shelters, more than in the previous four years combined. Data suggests some are being separated from their families.
For one 15-year-old, it began with a cracked windshield 👇
For one 15-year-old, it began with a cracked windshield 👇
November 25, 2025 at 2:01 AM
1/ THREAD: This year ICE has sent a record 600 immigrant kids into federal shelters, more than in the previous four years combined. Data suggests some are being separated from their families.
For one 15-year-old, it began with a cracked windshield 👇
For one 15-year-old, it began with a cracked windshield 👇
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
I'm hardly the only one, but I've been warning against the 'warrior' language and symbolism for years (foreignpolicy.com/2021/04/19/u...)
November 24, 2025 at 8:05 PM
I'm hardly the only one, but I've been warning against the 'warrior' language and symbolism for years (foreignpolicy.com/2021/04/19/u...)
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
Every bit of this only reinforces Joyce Carol Oates’ absolute roast of Elon Musk as fundamentally lacking in the ability to enjoy anything normally human. “I built a tool that can insult people in a social setting better than anything ever invented” is a real personal tell.
Everything about this might be the saddest thing I’ve ever seen
November 24, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Every bit of this only reinforces Joyce Carol Oates’ absolute roast of Elon Musk as fundamentally lacking in the ability to enjoy anything normally human. “I built a tool that can insult people in a social setting better than anything ever invented” is a real personal tell.
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
In Monrovia, California, protesters are purchasing 17¢ ICE scrapers from Home Depot and immediately returning them to create long lines and slow down the entire store. Their aim is to disrupt sales and convey a message opposing ICE raids occurring in their neighborhood.
November 23, 2025 at 11:37 AM
In Monrovia, California, protesters are purchasing 17¢ ICE scrapers from Home Depot and immediately returning them to create long lines and slow down the entire store. Their aim is to disrupt sales and convey a message opposing ICE raids occurring in their neighborhood.
Most of this isn't surprising if you think of LLM prompts as all fundamentally asking them to roleplay as a particular known type of guy. "Roleplay as a lying murderer trying not to get caught" and "roleplay as a guy playing Mafia" are different
i thought this was a joke but it isn't. bsky.app/profile/theo...
November 24, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Most of this isn't surprising if you think of LLM prompts as all fundamentally asking them to roleplay as a particular known type of guy. "Roleplay as a lying murderer trying not to get caught" and "roleplay as a guy playing Mafia" are different
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
This is gaming at its best: creating a safe virtual space to bring players together and help build stronger communities.
A group of immigrant rights organizers are helping people use Fortnite to practice what to do if they encounter ICE agents in the wild.
Inside an ICE Defense Training on Fortnite
A group of immigrant rights organizers are helping people use Fortnite to practice what to do if they encounter ICE agents in the wild.
www.404media.co
November 24, 2025 at 3:17 PM
This is gaming at its best: creating a safe virtual space to bring players together and help build stronger communities.
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
my partner and i can no longer buy a home together because they were fired by Rockstar, without warning,
*checks notes*
for talking about working conditions with their colleagues in a private union discord server.
🙂
*checks notes*
for talking about working conditions with their colleagues in a private union discord server.
🙂
EXCLUSIVE: So far it's been unclear what proof Rockstar Games has to justify its firing of 34 union members, who it claims were leaking "confidential information in a public forum".
PMG has now seen some of the messages which contributed to this decision being made.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TvW...
PMG has now seen some of the messages which contributed to this decision being made.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TvW...
The Messages Rockstar Saw Before Firing 34 Union Members
YouTube video by People Make Games
www.youtube.com
November 24, 2025 at 2:26 PM
my partner and i can no longer buy a home together because they were fired by Rockstar, without warning,
*checks notes*
for talking about working conditions with their colleagues in a private union discord server.
🙂
*checks notes*
for talking about working conditions with their colleagues in a private union discord server.
🙂
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
In self-interest but also general interest, folks: Black Friday is coming up, and small publishers/independent creators will always be a better choice than megacorps.
When the sales drop, please remember that!
When the sales drop, please remember that!
November 24, 2025 at 3:43 PM
In self-interest but also general interest, folks: Black Friday is coming up, and small publishers/independent creators will always be a better choice than megacorps.
When the sales drop, please remember that!
When the sales drop, please remember that!
Reposted by Ashley Flanagan
i'm going to sound sarcastic here but genuinely one of the most interesting aspects of LLMs is that they are proving that evil is real, by which i mean if you train them to do one bad thing they start doing other bad things that you have not trained them to do
At least once a month, Anthropic puts out an alignment paper d AI behavior where, if you saw it in a science fiction film, you‘d be screaming at the idiot scientists onscreen to stop development
www.anthropic.com/research/eme...
www.anthropic.com/research/eme...
From shortcuts to sabotage: natural emergent misalignment from reward hacking
Anthropic is an AI safety and research company that's working to build reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems.
www.anthropic.com
November 24, 2025 at 6:23 AM
i'm going to sound sarcastic here but genuinely one of the most interesting aspects of LLMs is that they are proving that evil is real, by which i mean if you train them to do one bad thing they start doing other bad things that you have not trained them to do