nickbell 🆗️
@nick.aetheric-games.com
Indie game generalist at Aetheric Games some of the time, and game dev lecturer at Edinburgh College other times. Undercover, queerly neurospicy nerd, attempting to infiltrate the normals with a big coat and a fake moustache. https://aetheric-games.com
Reposted by nickbell 🆗️
Reposted by nickbell 🆗️
The defense team presses Lairmore on whether the sandwich really 'exploded.' They return to the photo of the sandwich and wrapper on the ground.
"That sandwich hasn't exploded at all, has it?" defense asks.
"It looks like a little bit is coming out towards the bottom," Lairmore replies.
"That sandwich hasn't exploded at all, has it?" defense asks.
"It looks like a little bit is coming out towards the bottom," Lairmore replies.
November 4, 2025 at 4:37 PM
The defense team presses Lairmore on whether the sandwich really 'exploded.' They return to the photo of the sandwich and wrapper on the ground.
"That sandwich hasn't exploded at all, has it?" defense asks.
"It looks like a little bit is coming out towards the bottom," Lairmore replies.
"That sandwich hasn't exploded at all, has it?" defense asks.
"It looks like a little bit is coming out towards the bottom," Lairmore replies.
Reposted by nickbell 🆗️
Border Patrol agent Lairmore testifies that he was not injured by the sandwich, but he felt the impact through his ballistic vest.
The sandwich came apart and "kind of exploded" on his chest upon impact, he says.
"I could smell the onions and mustard."
The sandwich came apart and "kind of exploded" on his chest upon impact, he says.
"I could smell the onions and mustard."
November 4, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Border Patrol agent Lairmore testifies that he was not injured by the sandwich, but he felt the impact through his ballistic vest.
The sandwich came apart and "kind of exploded" on his chest upon impact, he says.
"I could smell the onions and mustard."
The sandwich came apart and "kind of exploded" on his chest upon impact, he says.
"I could smell the onions and mustard."
@xkcd.com Hi Randall, accounting for drag, gravity, integrity of fillings etc, what kind of throwing power would one need to throw a subway sandwich at point blank range?
It's not in this article but the government asserts that the sandwich was thrown at "point blank range", which implies subway sandwiches have defined effective weapon ranges of varying lethality, and I would like to see the government's chart of these ranges.
Trial Begins for Man Accused of Lobbing a Sandwich at a Federal Agent www.nytimes.com/2025/11/03/u...
November 4, 2025 at 6:10 PM
@xkcd.com Hi Randall, accounting for drag, gravity, integrity of fillings etc, what kind of throwing power would one need to throw a subway sandwich at point blank range?
is *this* the torment nexus?
November 4, 2025 at 10:49 AM
is *this* the torment nexus?
Sci-Fi Author: In the sequel, Please Try To Understand The Torment Nexus, I imagined the randian C-suite tech bros who build the Torment Nexus, who are so out of touch that they can't help but loudly state that the Torment Nexus is just whatever has annoyed them lately.
CTO of bluesky: hold my beer
CTO of bluesky: hold my beer
November 1, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Sci-Fi Author: In the sequel, Please Try To Understand The Torment Nexus, I imagined the randian C-suite tech bros who build the Torment Nexus, who are so out of touch that they can't help but loudly state that the Torment Nexus is just whatever has annoyed them lately.
CTO of bluesky: hold my beer
CTO of bluesky: hold my beer
Reposted by nickbell 🆗️
This is the most ruthless act of union busting in the history of the UK games industry. Yesterday, @rockstargames.com unfairly fired over 30 employees for union activity.
We won't back down, and we're not scared - we will fight for every member to be reinstated.
We won't back down, and we're not scared - we will fight for every member to be reinstated.
BREAKING: Yesterday Grand Theft Auto VI maker Rockstar Games fired dozens of people, all of whom were involved in union efforts. A British union calls it "blatant and ruthless" union-busting. Take-Two Interactive says it was due to misconduct.
Here's the scoop: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Here's the scoop: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
‘Grand Theft Auto’ Studio Accused of Union Busting After Firings
Union says 30 and 40 people were terminated. Rockstar Games’ parent company cites ‘gross misconduct’
www.bloomberg.com
October 31, 2025 at 8:01 PM
This is the most ruthless act of union busting in the history of the UK games industry. Yesterday, @rockstargames.com unfairly fired over 30 employees for union activity.
We won't back down, and we're not scared - we will fight for every member to be reinstated.
We won't back down, and we're not scared - we will fight for every member to be reinstated.
Reposted by nickbell 🆗️
Bonus take: If you find yourself in a job where you feel afraid to talk about worker solidarity… you’re in a job that desperately needs worker solidarity.
I've seen a couple of people say you shouldn't talk to your coworkers about unions on work time or that a union is like fight club and you shouldn't talk about it at all.
While I think people have good intentions with these, I think you ultimately have to take calculated risks. Let me explain. 1/
While I think people have good intentions with these, I think you ultimately have to take calculated risks. Let me explain. 1/
November 1, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Bonus take: If you find yourself in a job where you feel afraid to talk about worker solidarity… you’re in a job that desperately needs worker solidarity.
Wait... do people understand "yellow paint" as literally "decals portraying yellow pigment"?
I've always understood it as a metaphor, i.e., "diegetic environment art details directing player attention." Like, scuff marks, lighting, prop types/distribution, maybe paint of some conspicuous colour...?
I've always understood it as a metaphor, i.e., "diegetic environment art details directing player attention." Like, scuff marks, lighting, prop types/distribution, maybe paint of some conspicuous colour...?
October 30, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Wait... do people understand "yellow paint" as literally "decals portraying yellow pigment"?
I've always understood it as a metaphor, i.e., "diegetic environment art details directing player attention." Like, scuff marks, lighting, prop types/distribution, maybe paint of some conspicuous colour...?
I've always understood it as a metaphor, i.e., "diegetic environment art details directing player attention." Like, scuff marks, lighting, prop types/distribution, maybe paint of some conspicuous colour...?
"tech agnosticism"
or
"what did you *think* the fascists were going to do with it?"
or
"what did you *think* the fascists were going to do with it?"
New incredible detail here: ICE says a match in its facial recognition app Mobile Fortify is a "definitive" determination of a person's status, and that this overrides birth certificates. This is an app ICE is using in the field to scan people
www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
October 29, 2025 at 5:56 PM
"tech agnosticism"
or
"what did you *think* the fascists were going to do with it?"
or
"what did you *think* the fascists were going to do with it?"
gonna tell mykids this is Hari Seldon and Gaal Dornick
October 27, 2025 at 10:16 PM
gonna tell mykids this is Hari Seldon and Gaal Dornick
Isn't it weird how there's this entrenched cultural refusal to understand Frankenstein in particular?
Even when an article like this is positive about it (like, not even one of the takes calling it "woke"), it's still called a "reimagining" and not just what the book is actually about.
Even when an article like this is positive about it (like, not even one of the takes calling it "woke"), it's still called a "reimagining" and not just what the book is actually about.
Del Toro's new Frankenstein adaption reimagines Mary Shelley's 1818 Gothic novel. Frankenstein was like a tech bro: "creating something without considering the consequences," he explains. n.pr/3L5exuu
Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro says 'I'd rather die' than use generative AI
Del Toro's new Frankenstein adaption reimagines Mary Shelley's 1818 Gothic novel. Frankenstein was like a tech bro: "creating something without considering the consequences," he explains.
n.pr
October 26, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Isn't it weird how there's this entrenched cultural refusal to understand Frankenstein in particular?
Even when an article like this is positive about it (like, not even one of the takes calling it "woke"), it's still called a "reimagining" and not just what the book is actually about.
Even when an article like this is positive about it (like, not even one of the takes calling it "woke"), it's still called a "reimagining" and not just what the book is actually about.
Reposted by nickbell 🆗️
Reposted by nickbell 🆗️
Lol, fuck off GDC you absolute ghouls.
If you cared about developers you'd not host it in a country where developers are at risk of extraordinary rendition, you'd have paid speakers and staff better throughout your history, and you'd not gatekeep talks and dev knowledge in a online fucking vault.
If you cared about developers you'd not host it in a country where developers are at risk of extraordinary rendition, you'd have paid speakers and staff better throughout your history, and you'd not gatekeep talks and dev knowledge in a online fucking vault.
GDC has said that leading games industry companies who choose to skip the event are sending a message to developers that they “don’t care”.
vgc.news/news/gdc-say...
vgc.news/news/gdc-say...
GDC says companies that don’t attend ‘send a message they don’t care about developers’ | VGC
GDC will undergo a revamp in 2026 as a ‘Festival of Gaming’…
vgc.news
October 23, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Lol, fuck off GDC you absolute ghouls.
If you cared about developers you'd not host it in a country where developers are at risk of extraordinary rendition, you'd have paid speakers and staff better throughout your history, and you'd not gatekeep talks and dev knowledge in a online fucking vault.
If you cared about developers you'd not host it in a country where developers are at risk of extraordinary rendition, you'd have paid speakers and staff better throughout your history, and you'd not gatekeep talks and dev knowledge in a online fucking vault.
Reposted by nickbell 🆗️
aside from the all of the horrific issues around ethics, accuracy, safety, cultural, racial and geographical bias, and so on,
isn't "making key command decisions" like, his entire job?
isn't "making key command decisions" like, his entire job?
October 17, 2025 at 10:53 AM
aside from the all of the horrific issues around ethics, accuracy, safety, cultural, racial and geographical bias, and so on,
isn't "making key command decisions" like, his entire job?
isn't "making key command decisions" like, his entire job?
Reposted by nickbell 🆗️
The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.
October 9, 2025 at 8:23 PM
The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.
Reposted by nickbell 🆗️
It cannot be made clearer.
If you continue to support the Harry Potter franchise in any way, you are directly funding the removal of trans people's human rights in the UK.
If you continue to support the Harry Potter franchise in any way, you are directly funding the removal of trans people's human rights in the UK.
October 9, 2025 at 10:14 AM
It cannot be made clearer.
If you continue to support the Harry Potter franchise in any way, you are directly funding the removal of trans people's human rights in the UK.
If you continue to support the Harry Potter franchise in any way, you are directly funding the removal of trans people's human rights in the UK.
October 7, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Reposted by nickbell 🆗️
ummm, yes?
So I guess the US was also a fascist country when FDR was putting Japanese Americans in internment camps, right?
October 5, 2025 at 9:48 PM
ummm, yes?
💯!!
Tbf, I think that a lot of folks in a CS context understand "we don't know how it works" as "it's a black box; studying its processes is not trivial." Which is right!
But outside of that context, most folks understand it as "it's a mysterious emergent phenomena beyond our ken!" Which is a lie.
Tbf, I think that a lot of folks in a CS context understand "we don't know how it works" as "it's a black box; studying its processes is not trivial." Which is right!
But outside of that context, most folks understand it as "it's a mysterious emergent phenomena beyond our ken!" Which is a lie.
as a girl with a PhD in natural language processing and machine learning it's actually offensive to me when you say "we don't know how LLMs work so they might be conscious"
I didn't spend 10 years in mines of academia to be told ignorance is morally equal knowledge.
We know exactly how LLMs work.
I didn't spend 10 years in mines of academia to be told ignorance is morally equal knowledge.
We know exactly how LLMs work.
October 5, 2025 at 9:28 AM
💯!!
Tbf, I think that a lot of folks in a CS context understand "we don't know how it works" as "it's a black box; studying its processes is not trivial." Which is right!
But outside of that context, most folks understand it as "it's a mysterious emergent phenomena beyond our ken!" Which is a lie.
Tbf, I think that a lot of folks in a CS context understand "we don't know how it works" as "it's a black box; studying its processes is not trivial." Which is right!
But outside of that context, most folks understand it as "it's a mysterious emergent phenomena beyond our ken!" Which is a lie.
Reposted by nickbell 🆗️
I don't know where this revisionism has come from about the suffragettes - people saying "if the suffragettes were around today, they'd be considered terrorists."
The suffragettes were arrested and tortured, sexually assaulted and beaten by the state. They *were* considered terrorists!
The suffragettes were arrested and tortured, sexually assaulted and beaten by the state. They *were* considered terrorists!
October 4, 2025 at 3:49 PM
I don't know where this revisionism has come from about the suffragettes - people saying "if the suffragettes were around today, they'd be considered terrorists."
The suffragettes were arrested and tortured, sexually assaulted and beaten by the state. They *were* considered terrorists!
The suffragettes were arrested and tortured, sexually assaulted and beaten by the state. They *were* considered terrorists!