Chris Pressey
@cpressey.bsky.social
Chief Nonentity @ https://catseye.tc/ - Explorations in Programming Languages, (Techno-)Aesthetics & Advanced WTAF Studies. Opinions are my own.
Pinned
Chris Pressey
@cpressey.bsky.social
· May 30
THE FEELING WHEN you see that you might have to do more than the bare minimum in order to hold the line.
It's not lost yet. Keep it up!
#elbowsup #holdtheline #democracy
It's not lost yet. Keep it up!
#elbowsup #holdtheline #democracy
And then after you've caught the drug trafficker obviously the next thing you do is take over their country's oil industry. This is just standard police procedure, nothing "illegal" about it, haven't any of you ever watched Law and Order
Vance pushes back and says this was not illegal, arguing "Maduro has multiple indictments in the United States for narcoterrorism. You don't get to avoid justice for drug trafficking in the United States because you live in a palace in Caracas."
January 4, 2026 at 4:44 PM
And then after you've caught the drug trafficker obviously the next thing you do is take over their country's oil industry. This is just standard police procedure, nothing "illegal" about it, haven't any of you ever watched Law and Order
Keir Starmer yesterday: "I can be absolutely clear we were not involved in that"
Keir Starmer today: "The UK has long supported a transition of power in Venezuela"
Ehhhhh ok then why *wasn't* the UK involved in it? A coalition of UNSC permanent members might have made it look less illegitimate...
Keir Starmer today: "The UK has long supported a transition of power in Venezuela"
Ehhhhh ok then why *wasn't* the UK involved in it? A coalition of UNSC permanent members might have made it look less illegitimate...
January 4, 2026 at 9:58 AM
Keir Starmer yesterday: "I can be absolutely clear we were not involved in that"
Keir Starmer today: "The UK has long supported a transition of power in Venezuela"
Ehhhhh ok then why *wasn't* the UK involved in it? A coalition of UNSC permanent members might have made it look less illegitimate...
Keir Starmer today: "The UK has long supported a transition of power in Venezuela"
Ehhhhh ok then why *wasn't* the UK involved in it? A coalition of UNSC permanent members might have made it look less illegitimate...
So what happens when the Pax Americana dries up? The main reason the US was maintaining it in the first place was for "global prosperity in a post-Cold-War world", but those tariffs already signalled the days of that kind of thinking were over.
And if the US doesn't maintain it, it's really gone.
And if the US doesn't maintain it, it's really gone.
January 3, 2026 at 9:26 PM
So what happens when the Pax Americana dries up? The main reason the US was maintaining it in the first place was for "global prosperity in a post-Cold-War world", but those tariffs already signalled the days of that kind of thinking were over.
And if the US doesn't maintain it, it's really gone.
And if the US doesn't maintain it, it's really gone.
Again.
Trump is applying the "five-second rule" to warfare: If you shout "Peace Now!" within five seconds of dropping the bombs, then it's ok, you didn't actually start a war and you can carry on cooking.
“Trump says he has not declared war on Iran…But that’s not how Iran’s politicians and people will see it. Trump’s premature bragging about “spectacular” success, and threats of more and bigger bombs, sound like the words of a ruthless conqueror intent on total, crushing victory.”
January 3, 2026 at 2:43 PM
Again.
Reminder that YouTube is Google, LinkedIn is Microsoft, and Twitch is Amazon.
Reminder that AWS is Amazon, Azure is Microsoft, and GCP is Google, and that the number of web services hosted "in the cloud" and locked-in to one of these vendors, is massive.
Reminder that AWS is Amazon, Azure is Microsoft, and GCP is Google, and that the number of web services hosted "in the cloud" and locked-in to one of these vendors, is massive.
January 3, 2026 at 12:15 PM
Reminder that YouTube is Google, LinkedIn is Microsoft, and Twitch is Amazon.
Reminder that AWS is Amazon, Azure is Microsoft, and GCP is Google, and that the number of web services hosted "in the cloud" and locked-in to one of these vendors, is massive.
Reminder that AWS is Amazon, Azure is Microsoft, and GCP is Google, and that the number of web services hosted "in the cloud" and locked-in to one of these vendors, is massive.
Reposted by Chris Pressey
The Lantern Parade - Thomas Cooper Gotch, 1918
January 1, 2026 at 7:46 PM
The Lantern Parade - Thomas Cooper Gotch, 1918
Post a random picture or else everything will go bad in 2026
January 1, 2026 at 12:23 PM
Post a random picture or else everything will go bad in 2026
Gridoggerel (2025)
#digitalart #generativeart #javascript #gewgaw #experimentalart #rectilinear #aleatoric
catseye.tc/installation...
#digitalart #generativeart #javascript #gewgaw #experimentalart #rectilinear #aleatoric
catseye.tc/installation...
December 31, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Reposted by Chris Pressey
C64 Jenga: players run a random POKE each turn, first to crash C64 loses
10 P=0:PRINT "C64 JENGA"
20 X=INT(RND(1)*4096):Y=INT(RND(1)*4096):Z=INT(RND(1)*255):P=1-P
30 PRINT "PLAYER " P ": SET 1)" X "OR 2)" Y "TO" Z
40 INPUT "(1/2)"; C
50 IF C=2 GOTO 80
60 POKE X, Z
70 GOTO 20
80 POKE Y, Z
90 GOTO 20
10 P=0:PRINT "C64 JENGA"
20 X=INT(RND(1)*4096):Y=INT(RND(1)*4096):Z=INT(RND(1)*255):P=1-P
30 PRINT "PLAYER " P ": SET 1)" X "OR 2)" Y "TO" Z
40 INPUT "(1/2)"; C
50 IF C=2 GOTO 80
60 POKE X, Z
70 GOTO 20
80 POKE Y, Z
90 GOTO 20
I need everyone to make a shitpost game that fits into at most 3 posts on here before the end of the year otherwise thr sun will not rise again
Not enough shitpost games though
December 31, 2025 at 4:06 PM
C64 Jenga: players run a random POKE each turn, first to crash C64 loses
10 P=0:PRINT "C64 JENGA"
20 X=INT(RND(1)*4096):Y=INT(RND(1)*4096):Z=INT(RND(1)*255):P=1-P
30 PRINT "PLAYER " P ": SET 1)" X "OR 2)" Y "TO" Z
40 INPUT "(1/2)"; C
50 IF C=2 GOTO 80
60 POKE X, Z
70 GOTO 20
80 POKE Y, Z
90 GOTO 20
10 P=0:PRINT "C64 JENGA"
20 X=INT(RND(1)*4096):Y=INT(RND(1)*4096):Z=INT(RND(1)*255):P=1-P
30 PRINT "PLAYER " P ": SET 1)" X "OR 2)" Y "TO" Z
40 INPUT "(1/2)"; C
50 IF C=2 GOTO 80
60 POKE X, Z
70 GOTO 20
80 POKE Y, Z
90 GOTO 20
Reposted by Chris Pressey
L'unité dentaire Rathbone, vers 1930.
December 26, 2025 at 9:25 AM
L'unité dentaire Rathbone, vers 1930.
Public artists should think back to when they chose to become public artists and took that oath! You know, that oath that all public artists take when they graduate from public art school, where they swear to always perform for all people in all circumstances. The, uh. Satchmoatic oath, I think?
"Any artist cancelling their show at the Trump Kennedy Center over political differences isn't courageous or principled—they are selfish, intolerant, and have failed to meet the basic duty of a public artist: to perform for all people"- Kennedy Center spokesperson Roma Daravi
Kennedy Center vows to sue musician who canceled performance over Trump name change
The Kennedy Center is planning legal action after jazz musician Chuck Redd canceled an annual holiday concert. Redd pulled out after President Trump's name appeared on the building.
www.npr.org
December 30, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Public artists should think back to when they chose to become public artists and took that oath! You know, that oath that all public artists take when they graduate from public art school, where they swear to always perform for all people in all circumstances. The, uh. Satchmoatic oath, I think?
I don't know about resolutions.
I do know that there are still 1 proof language, 1 silly art-game, 1 programming language harness, and 1 gewgaw, that I'd really like to see get built.
I'll see what I can do.
I do know that there are still 1 proof language, 1 silly art-game, 1 programming language harness, and 1 gewgaw, that I'd really like to see get built.
I'll see what I can do.
December 30, 2025 at 11:25 AM
I don't know about resolutions.
I do know that there are still 1 proof language, 1 silly art-game, 1 programming language harness, and 1 gewgaw, that I'd really like to see get built.
I'll see what I can do.
I do know that there are still 1 proof language, 1 silly art-game, 1 programming language harness, and 1 gewgaw, that I'd really like to see get built.
I'll see what I can do.
Bézier Knots (2016)
#digitalart #generativeart #javascript #gewgaw #geometricart #knottheory #aleatoric
catseye.tc/installation...
#digitalart #generativeart #javascript #gewgaw #geometricart #knottheory #aleatoric
catseye.tc/installation...
December 29, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Reminder that "dark matter" and "dark energy" are not special kinds of matter and energy.
We have some observations and they don't add up. But we can *make* them add up if we posit there is some matter/energy out there that we haven't observed yet, and is thus "dark".
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
We have some observations and they don't add up. But we can *make* them add up if we posit there is some matter/energy out there that we haven't observed yet, and is thus "dark".
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Dark Energy may be changing and with it the fate of the Universe
A mysterious force called Dark Energy might be changing, in a way that challenges our current understanding of the nature of time and space.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 29, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Reminder that "dark matter" and "dark energy" are not special kinds of matter and energy.
We have some observations and they don't add up. But we can *make* them add up if we posit there is some matter/energy out there that we haven't observed yet, and is thus "dark".
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
We have some observations and they don't add up. But we can *make* them add up if we posit there is some matter/energy out there that we haven't observed yet, and is thus "dark".
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
#amreading.
p. 77: "Even in the humdrum world of two-value logic it is sometimes expedient to graph a problem with value lines that stand for something other than true and false."
p. 77: "Even in the humdrum world of two-value logic it is sometimes expedient to graph a problem with value lines that stand for something other than true and false."
December 28, 2025 at 1:44 PM
#amreading.
p. 77: "Even in the humdrum world of two-value logic it is sometimes expedient to graph a problem with value lines that stand for something other than true and false."
p. 77: "Even in the humdrum world of two-value logic it is sometimes expedient to graph a problem with value lines that stand for something other than true and false."
Martin Gardner
Logic Machines and Diagrams
1958
#historyoflogic #formallogic #formalproof #diagram #diagrams #retrobooks
archive.org/details/logi...
Logic Machines and Diagrams
1958
#historyoflogic #formallogic #formalproof #diagram #diagrams #retrobooks
archive.org/details/logi...
Logic machines and diagrams : Gardner, Martin, 1914-2010 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
157p
archive.org
December 28, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Martin Gardner
Logic Machines and Diagrams
1958
#historyoflogic #formallogic #formalproof #diagram #diagrams #retrobooks
archive.org/details/logi...
Logic Machines and Diagrams
1958
#historyoflogic #formallogic #formalproof #diagram #diagrams #retrobooks
archive.org/details/logi...
Maria Elena Vieira da Silva
(title not known to me)
(medium not known to me - guessing: oil on canvas)
(year not known to me - guessing: circa 1950)
web.archive.org/web/20170327...
#painting #abstractart #womensart
(title not known to me)
(medium not known to me - guessing: oil on canvas)
(year not known to me - guessing: circa 1950)
web.archive.org/web/20170327...
#painting #abstractart #womensart
December 27, 2025 at 11:45 PM
Maria Elena Vieira da Silva
(title not known to me)
(medium not known to me - guessing: oil on canvas)
(year not known to me - guessing: circa 1950)
web.archive.org/web/20170327...
#painting #abstractart #womensart
(title not known to me)
(medium not known to me - guessing: oil on canvas)
(year not known to me - guessing: circa 1950)
web.archive.org/web/20170327...
#painting #abstractart #womensart
The LCF architecture is a powerful idea: Represent a proof with a "correct-by-construction" abstract data type: The only operations it exposes are ones that create new valid proofs from existing valid proofs.
An equally powerful idea follows: EVERY correct-by-construction ADT is a proof system!
An equally powerful idea follows: EVERY correct-by-construction ADT is a proof system!
The de Bruijn criterion vs the LCF architecture
lawrencecpaulson.github.io/2022/01/05/L...
How the kernel works in a LCF theorem prover
cs.stackexchange.com/questions/12...
Isabelle Tutorial: System, HOL and Proofs
www.lri.fr/~wolff/tutor...
lawrencecpaulson.github.io/2022/01/05/L...
How the kernel works in a LCF theorem prover
cs.stackexchange.com/questions/12...
Isabelle Tutorial: System, HOL and Proofs
www.lri.fr/~wolff/tutor...
December 27, 2025 at 3:16 PM
The LCF architecture is a powerful idea: Represent a proof with a "correct-by-construction" abstract data type: The only operations it exposes are ones that create new valid proofs from existing valid proofs.
An equally powerful idea follows: EVERY correct-by-construction ADT is a proof system!
An equally powerful idea follows: EVERY correct-by-construction ADT is a proof system!
And then it was decided that it was a disease. Instead of just, y'know, different people are wired differently and we can accept that diversity.
Perhaps next we'll declare introverts neurodivergent. Then left-handed people. Then people who can't dance. Then...
Perhaps next we'll declare introverts neurodivergent. Then left-handed people. Then people who can't dance. Then...
RFK: “Where did all this autism come from? It never existed when I was a kid!”
“A Christmas Story”, a 1983 movie based on a 1971 memoir about a childhood in the 1930s: “This is my brother Ralphie. He has a ton of sensory issues and behaviors we don’t understand. Every family has a child like him.”
“A Christmas Story”, a 1983 movie based on a 1971 memoir about a childhood in the 1930s: “This is my brother Ralphie. He has a ton of sensory issues and behaviors we don’t understand. Every family has a child like him.”
December 27, 2025 at 1:40 PM
And then it was decided that it was a disease. Instead of just, y'know, different people are wired differently and we can accept that diversity.
Perhaps next we'll declare introverts neurodivergent. Then left-handed people. Then people who can't dance. Then...
Perhaps next we'll declare introverts neurodivergent. Then left-handed people. Then people who can't dance. Then...
The argument for labelling the app is possibly even stronger than for the fridge: The fridge is my possession, I could theoretically hire an engineer to run tests on it and discover these numbers. But I can't do that to Netflix, or Claude, or Wikipedia, or Bluesky...
I live in a reasonably civilized part of the world, where if you want to buy a new fridge, it has to have a label like this on it.
Imagine if every app you install also had to come with such a label.
My argument against the modern tech hellscape, including AI, is the huge lack of regulation.
Imagine if every app you install also had to come with such a label.
My argument against the modern tech hellscape, including AI, is the huge lack of regulation.
December 27, 2025 at 11:35 AM
The argument for labelling the app is possibly even stronger than for the fridge: The fridge is my possession, I could theoretically hire an engineer to run tests on it and discover these numbers. But I can't do that to Netflix, or Claude, or Wikipedia, or Bluesky...
Reposted by Chris Pressey
Baudelaire for the end of the year
December 26, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Baudelaire for the end of the year
Its origins are lost, it probably started off as a children's memory game, it switches between 4/4 and 3/4 time, its space complexity has been analyzed by Knuth, and it was the subject of a winning IOCCC entry in 1988 - that's my kind of Christmas song. #christmasmusic
December 25, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Its origins are lost, it probably started off as a children's memory game, it switches between 4/4 and 3/4 time, its space complexity has been analyzed by Knuth, and it was the subject of a winning IOCCC entry in 1988 - that's my kind of Christmas song. #christmasmusic
Colourring (2016)
#digitalart #generativeart #javascript #gewgaw #experimentalart #complementary #harsh #aleatoric
catseye.tc/installation...
#digitalart #generativeart #javascript #gewgaw #experimentalart #complementary #harsh #aleatoric
catseye.tc/installation...
December 24, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Meanwhile, the product of programming IS code. If you want to talk about the "meaning" of the software, that's requirements, not code.
That's why I have a lot less objection to vibe coding than to the other applications of LLMs.
The social and environmental and economic problems remain though.
That's why I have a lot less objection to vibe coding than to the other applications of LLMs.
The social and environmental and economic problems remain though.
Essentially, I think that LLM-generated dialogue only makes sense if you believe that the product of writing is words.
But the product of writing isn't words, any more than the product of justice is prisoners, or the product of love is weddings. The product of writing is meaning.
But the product of writing isn't words, any more than the product of justice is prisoners, or the product of love is weddings. The product of writing is meaning.
I had five fascinating conversations for this RPS piece, gathering perspectives on genAI chatbots in games, as seen in Where Winds Meet. Thanks to @meghna.bsky.social, @pyrofoux.bsky.social, @maxkreminski.bsky.social, and @chrisgardiner.bsky.social www.rockpapershotgun.com/horrible-bor...
December 24, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Meanwhile, the product of programming IS code. If you want to talk about the "meaning" of the software, that's requirements, not code.
That's why I have a lot less objection to vibe coding than to the other applications of LLMs.
The social and environmental and economic problems remain though.
That's why I have a lot less objection to vibe coding than to the other applications of LLMs.
The social and environmental and economic problems remain though.
Reposted by Chris Pressey
I mean yeah it’s an authoritarian takeover but can we take some comfort in the fact that the people doing it are INSANELY stupid?
December 23, 2025 at 8:15 PM
I mean yeah it’s an authoritarian takeover but can we take some comfort in the fact that the people doing it are INSANELY stupid?