Robin Johnson
@robinjohnson.bsky.social
Interactive fiction/gamedev/writer, audiodramatist
🎙️ Producer/writer/HPL in @midnightpals.bsky.social podcast
🏆 IFComp, Xyzzys
👨💻 XP: Gute Fabrik, Kythera
👾 versificator.itch.io
🌈ADHAu
covid is still a thing
nazis are bad
"ai" "art" is neither
he/him
🎙️ Producer/writer/HPL in @midnightpals.bsky.social podcast
🏆 IFComp, Xyzzys
👨💻 XP: Gute Fabrik, Kythera
👾 versificator.itch.io
🌈ADHAu
covid is still a thing
nazis are bad
"ai" "art" is neither
he/him
ha, "boring tunnels beneath Los Angeles"
November 10, 2025 at 8:28 PM
ha, "boring tunnels beneath Los Angeles"
Reposted by Robin Johnson
if the lesson you take from all this is that folk need to “vote better” in one or three or five years, or that we just need to elevate better faces to high places to get your desired result, consider:
air travel workers have this leverage all the time
not without great effort, but it’s there
air travel workers have this leverage all the time
not without great effort, but it’s there
November 10, 2025 at 12:30 PM
if the lesson you take from all this is that folk need to “vote better” in one or three or five years, or that we just need to elevate better faces to high places to get your desired result, consider:
air travel workers have this leverage all the time
not without great effort, but it’s there
air travel workers have this leverage all the time
not without great effort, but it’s there
I remember a system at my dad's work in the 80s where you saw each other's typing in real time
November 10, 2025 at 5:49 AM
I remember a system at my dad's work in the 80s where you saw each other's typing in real time
So far it's given absolutely no reason not to assume that
November 9, 2025 at 8:09 PM
So far it's given absolutely no reason not to assume that
I hope so; for what it's worth, I'm not giving up on it just yet
November 9, 2025 at 8:08 PM
I hope so; for what it's worth, I'm not giving up on it just yet
Do you expect the show to even consider that they've got a point? Joined life is portrayed as nothing but creepy borghood and total personality loss.
November 9, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Do you expect the show to even consider that they've got a point? Joined life is portrayed as nothing but creepy borghood and total personality loss.
Reposted by Robin Johnson
[sits backwards on chair] we have a lot of fun here at midnight pals, but there's nothing funny about failing to read Moonflow, the book that you should all be reading
bsky.app/profile/bitt...
bsky.app/profile/bitt...
My deranged splatterpunk horror book MOONFLOW about a trans shroom dealer getting lost in a haunted forest and running afoul of evil lesbian hippies and their bound fungus god is available for preorder!! Buy it today or look really uncool!
www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/bitte...
www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/bitte...
Moonflow
Annihilation meets Manhunt in three-time Hugo Award nominee Bitter Karella’s debut horror novel—a gloriously queer and irreverent psychedelic trip int...
www.hachettebookgroup.com
November 9, 2025 at 6:00 PM
[sits backwards on chair] we have a lot of fun here at midnight pals, but there's nothing funny about failing to read Moonflow, the book that you should all be reading
bsky.app/profile/bitt...
bsky.app/profile/bitt...
cool! (I'm not expecting proof, I just didn't know that, thank you!)
November 9, 2025 at 4:12 PM
cool! (I'm not expecting proof, I just didn't know that, thank you!)
Did old PC screens ever actually do that, though? Maybe a block of text could appear line-by-line from the top down, but I don't think you ever had to wait to see character by character appear (unless someone was typing in real time)
November 9, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Did old PC screens ever actually do that, though? Maybe a block of text could appear line-by-line from the top down, but I don't think you ever had to wait to see character by character appear (unless someone was typing in real time)
Waiting for the text to appear does my head in anyway. For the typewriter effect in Detectiveland (versificator.itch.io/detectiveland) I just have the text appear all at once, with a fast but smooth scroll-down and a typewriter sound effect, and it works fine.
November 9, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Waiting for the text to appear does my head in anyway. For the typewriter effect in Detectiveland (versificator.itch.io/detectiveland) I just have the text appear all at once, with a fast but smooth scroll-down and a typewriter sound effect, and it works fine.
I don't think any text ever actually appeared like that because of hardware limitations, at least not since typewriters/telex-type terminals/golfball printers, which would definitely have started on the next line
November 9, 2025 at 4:00 PM
I don't think any text ever actually appeared like that because of hardware limitations, at least not since typewriters/telex-type terminals/golfball printers, which would definitely have started on the next line
I'm interested - who do you think it's punching up to? The only "punching up" moment I remember was the politician saying "This individual happened to be nearby and was wearing a suit," which I admit got a laugh.
(Someone else said it's about covid policy failure, but I don't think it really fits)
(Someone else said it's about covid policy failure, but I don't think it really fits)
November 9, 2025 at 11:57 AM
I'm interested - who do you think it's punching up to? The only "punching up" moment I remember was the politician saying "This individual happened to be nearby and was wearing a suit," which I admit got a laugh.
(Someone else said it's about covid policy failure, but I don't think it really fits)
(Someone else said it's about covid policy failure, but I don't think it really fits)
oh god just nationalise it it's fine
November 9, 2025 at 11:06 AM
oh god just nationalise it it's fine
Yes - you can't excuse a narrative decision with a circumstance from the same narrative, as if that circumstance wasn't up to the same writer (see "the Thermian argument", if you haven't already)
November 9, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Yes - you can't excuse a narrative decision with a circumstance from the same narrative, as if that circumstance wasn't up to the same writer (see "the Thermian argument", if you haven't already)
The test not existing isn't relevant. The book does pass, I think, with Elizabeth and Justine (briefly).
(I don't think I have a particular problem with GdT's Frankenstein not passing, but I'll listen to anyone who does.)
(I don't think I have a particular problem with GdT's Frankenstein not passing, but I'll listen to anyone who does.)
November 8, 2025 at 6:30 PM
The test not existing isn't relevant. The book does pass, I think, with Elizabeth and Justine (briefly).
(I don't think I have a particular problem with GdT's Frankenstein not passing, but I'll listen to anyone who does.)
(I don't think I have a particular problem with GdT's Frankenstein not passing, but I'll listen to anyone who does.)
I'm not sure; the deaths aren't there to motivate Victor to create the monster, they're the consequences of him doing that. They motivate him to seek vengeance against the monster, but the monster knows that, that's why he's doing it. (Plus, IIRC, four of the deaths are men, to two women)
November 8, 2025 at 6:25 PM
I'm not sure; the deaths aren't there to motivate Victor to create the monster, they're the consequences of him doing that. They motivate him to seek vengeance against the monster, but the monster knows that, that's why he's doing it. (Plus, IIRC, four of the deaths are men, to two women)
Nah Victor is Byron, the monster is Mary, and Percy is the frame-story wimpy twink captain who thinks the world is a doughnut shape* and sucks really bad at sailing
* he implies that if he sails past the north pole, he'll return home "via the cape of Africa or South America"
* he implies that if he sails past the north pole, he'll return home "via the cape of Africa or South America"
November 8, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Nah Victor is Byron, the monster is Mary, and Percy is the frame-story wimpy twink captain who thinks the world is a doughnut shape* and sucks really bad at sailing
* he implies that if he sails past the north pole, he'll return home "via the cape of Africa or South America"
* he implies that if he sails past the north pole, he'll return home "via the cape of Africa or South America"
A charitable (?) guess: someone "vibe coded" a security check by telling an AI to create a security check, so it's done its job and created something that superficially LOOKS like a security check, but that is all
November 8, 2025 at 5:59 PM
A charitable (?) guess: someone "vibe coded" a security check by telling an AI to create a security check, so it's done its job and created something that superficially LOOKS like a security check, but that is all
SPOILER FOR SECOND EPISODE
Maybe I'm sensitive, but for me the boke point was the implicit US exceptionalism in having the American Karen be the only one of the 'survivors' who understood there was anything bad about having no free will
Maybe I'm sensitive, but for me the boke point was the implicit US exceptionalism in having the American Karen be the only one of the 'survivors' who understood there was anything bad about having no free will
November 8, 2025 at 4:25 PM
SPOILER FOR SECOND EPISODE
Maybe I'm sensitive, but for me the boke point was the implicit US exceptionalism in having the American Karen be the only one of the 'survivors' who understood there was anything bad about having no free will
Maybe I'm sensitive, but for me the boke point was the implicit US exceptionalism in having the American Karen be the only one of the 'survivors' who understood there was anything bad about having no free will