[User] Gentle reminder that honorariums can be okay in academia (when it comes to full-time salaried professors) because the work they do for these honorariums is something that's recognized as part of their regular jobs. One might even say they are getting paid twice for the same work.

[Assistant] This is why profs who do other kinds of work beyond what's expected as part of their salaried jobs should *not* be paid typical honorarium $. Think EDI workshops (when that's not their research or teaching area), consulting for orgs that aren't their employer. This work is extra.

[User] It's also why folks who aren't full-time salaried professors doing work that's part of their jobs need to be paid appropriately for that work, unless they are choosing to volunteer their time, energy, expertise. That's something many of us do ("us" because this group incl me).

[Assistant] Your "we pay $500 honorariums for speakers" may well be all fine and good -- and perhaps even generous -- for full-time salaried professors who are speaking on their research/teaching area and will get credit for doing this work when it comes time for promotions and pay raises.

[User]
But that policy doesn't work for folks who have different kinds of jobs, where the work you want them to do is extra (= uncompensated via their regular salary, if they even have one of those).

Brand new folks might be happy with $500, but any experienced professional needs more.

[Assistant] (Context: I'm in Toronto, Canada and I'm referring specifically to doing this work in higher cost of living countries.)

[User] Orgs, companies, and units within them get to decide who they want to bring in (= hire) for talks and workshops. Just please know that if you want to bring in experienced professionals from outside your own institutions who also aren't salaried professors, you'll need more $.

[Assistant]
Whenever the term "honorarium" is used, know that the amounts are intended to be gifts for volunteers, not payment for professional services.

Some folks can volunteer, and if your budget is based on typical honorarium amounts, that's who you will be working with: volunteers.


[User] Ok I was skeptical but this Dexter prequel looks like it’s going to be good. www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE1k...

[Assistant] Please send a small donation and repost and quote my latest post to save my family in Gaza💔🇵🇸🍉🎁

[User] It does look good. I might have to bite the bullet and give it another chance. Swore off Dexter entirely after the shittiest finale in TV history.

[Assistant] I agree!

[User] I AM SO THERE!  LOVED DEXTER SEASON 1.....

[Assistant] Thanks for sharing this. I had no idea it was in the works.


[User]
#wangxian Inspired by the #PerfectMarriageRevenge

-

Wei Wuxian, the adopted ward of the Jiangs, is cruelly deceived by his family and made to publicly take the blame for a fraudulent scheme run by the Jiang furen at the Charity auction event hosted at the family gallery.

[Assistant] Feeling betrayed and hopeless, he flees the site and gets into a fatal accident. When it becomes apparent that he is not going to survive, he begs for a second chance at life while taking his last breath in the hospital.

[User] He dies while begging for a chance to avenge his own death. He dies resentful, despairing and hopelessly alone. He wakes up changed, determined, and strong.

[Assistant] He didn’t think his dying wish would be granted, but he is more than grateful to have a chance at righting the wrongs done to him by his adoptive family and more importantly, for finally having a chance to live a happy life.

[User] He enlists the help of his close friend and journalist, Nie Huaisang, to get close to the illustrious Lan Wangji, his adoptive brother’s fiancé in his previous life and NHS’s cousin.

[Assistant] With an opportunity to meet orchestrated, WWX proposes a marriage of convenience to LWJ in exchange for crucial information that'll help with the business operations of LWJ’s start-up.

[User] With the steadfast support of his husband of convenience, his friends and his in-laws, WWX is able to exact his revenge on the Jiang family and fulfil his dying wish. If his marriage of convenience ends up being a marriage of love to his soulmate, well he’s not complaining.

[Assistant] In his first life, he was the unwanted and unloved adopted ward of the Jiang family. In his second life, he is a loved, respected and valued member of the Lan family. He couldn’t be happier.


[User]
Coming to the realization that the pitch for Sisters of Dorley Hall makes me uncomfortable in the way that the pitch for Human Domestication Guide makes a lot of folks uncomfortable, including me before I gave it a shot.

Still not gonna read it, probably, but there's peace in this revelation.

[Assistant] I think the thing that still makes me squick is, as I understand it, the violation of consent in Dorley is rooted in something like 4B feminism, while the violation of consent in HDG is rooted in the more believable idea that homo sapiens are a danger to ourselves and others without intervention.

[User] I would suggest that’s a misreading of Dorley, even disregarding the transphobic elements of the 4B movement. The story explains this far better than I could, but I’d suggest that Dorley’s critique isn’t of men, full stop, but of the toxic masculinity English culture inculcates in so many men.

[Assistant] That said, I’m not trying to talk you into reading Dorley. I love it, but it’s definitely not for everyone. 💕


[User]
I will never apologize for flooding y'all's feeds with art friends make, or with art from artists I love.

Never. You get to go on this journey through the amazing art this fandom has to offer with me.

[Assistant] Why would you have to apology in the first place? Art is good, sharing friends' art is even better.

[User] I highly doubt anyone would ever ask for one, that was more so my way of saying "the art reposts will continue, I will not be deterred"

[Assistant] More art crimes are required and asked then~


[User]
@plusonelife.bsky.social
Hello, my friend!  Glad to see you here!

[Assistant] You too! Please post lots of pictures of what you're reading!

[Assistant]
This book was written by a cousin of mine:

www.goodreads.com/book/show/21...


[User] This guy is such an entertaining read.

[Assistant] Man that is a great thread that touches on a bunch of things I didn't realize I already kinda suspected (because I think men's clothing options in this country suck ass)

[User]
Yeah even finding a decent menswear store in the United States is a challenge.

I've always prided myself on being somewhat fashionable or interested in pushing the limits a little, but in WNY especially men just wear Bills gear or athleisure lol. Which is fine, but not me *at all*.

[Assistant] Half the problem is like, I car-commute to work in a lame office building in the suburbs. I'm not putting on stylish clothing for that job everyday, there's no point. If I walked to work in a city I'd have an excuse because I'd be in public every day.


[Assistant]
... or someday, they'll conquer us.

Thus endeth the lesson.

[User] What banned books do you recommend?

[Assistant] So you’re saying Americans should get wiped out just like the Indians did huh?  Good plan. 👍


[User] Is there anybody else with me on this?

[Assistant]
Oh, the older I get, the less tolerant I become.
I think it's the growing number of twats; they're bloody everywhere.

When the world sees sense and makes me Queen of Everything, I'm going to levy a Stupidity Tax.

[User]
Couldn't agree more; the older I get, the less tolerant I become. I think it's the growing number of twats; they're bloody everywhere these days.

When the world sees sense and makes me Queen of Everything, one of my first acts will be to levy a Stupidity Tax.

[Assistant]
Couldn't agree more. The older I get, the less tolerant I become. I think it's the growing number of twats; they're bloody everywhere these days.
When the world sees sense and makes me Queen of Everything, one of my first acts will be to levy a Stupidity Tax.


[User] Not permitted to be seated by the US Constitution, which no one is paying attention to, not prosecuted because of a memo, not a law, that could have been overridden, & now getting around the fact that he is a gross security risk to the country.

[Assistant] Why is he not permitted to be seated? I must have missed something?

[Assistant] Ah ok thanks. This is just my opinion, not bashing yours or anyone else’s, but he was never convicted of insurrection. I think he shouldn’t even be allowed to be an HOA president. But since he never got officially convicted I don’t see how that could be used. Maybe a miracle will happen, who knows.


[User] Well good morning! I’m feeling pretty naughty today! Wanna be dirty with me?

[Assistant] Want to come wrap those legs around me?

[Assistant] When can I come over?


[User] My beautiful wife just tried to advise me on cooking the turducken. Babe, I haven’t screwed up Thanksgiving ever. No matter what I cook, the skin is always perfect and the meat is always moist.

[Assistant] Keep your moist meat to yourself, perv 🤣

[User] Well then you eat dry turkey. lol.

[Assistant] Got mine dry-brining in the fridge right now. I’ve always wanted to try turducken. Sounds like you’ve got a hell of a feast lined up, man.

[User] I’m actually getting off easy. My sis in-law is hosting and she’s a real Martha Stewart type. We’re just bringing a few dishes and then I’ll help washing the dishes. I learned about food from my uncle that won a James Beard award.

[Assistant] Sounds great! We've got some friends coming over and we're splitting the cooking duties. Should be a pretty good time. Happy Thanksgiving, my friend!


[User]
12 boiled eggs in one sitting: that's ridiculous, sir.

24 deviled eggs? Without hesitation.

[Assistant] Dammit now I want deviled eggs.

[User] What is it about them…

[Assistant] Idk. My wife makes tasso deviled eggs that are delicious.


[User] Interesting. And nothing wrong with that, of course. Singular 'they' was first recorded in 1375, after all. I think it's got more chance of success than any of the more recently invented pronouns for precisely that reason.

[Assistant] In Bristolian, south particularly, theym has always been used but less so now.

[User] Oh, that's interesting, thank you. I've never heard that before. Will add it to my collection.

[Assistant] My former boss when I worked in a pub shouted across the whole bar when he met my dad for the first time, “Theym haven’t got much hair ‘ave e?”


[User]
Reminder that robots.txt is a gentleman’s agreement, not a legal document.

The good actors all respect it, but there’s many bad actors out there on the internet.

[Assistant]
It's hard to counter bad actors that will find ways to scrape data no matter what.

At least this would make it possible for the good actors to get something done.

[User] Maybe we should consider government regulation for that.

[Assistant]
What is the point of this comment? And what would you suggest instead? The way the internet works, I don't see a solution to this problem.

The robots.txt is a good start. There are still many good players such as the Common Crawl, and the companies will at least partly obey to not lose reputation.


[User]
Nestless Omega Steve (Part 1)🧵

Steve has always tried to be good. To meet expectations and never disappoint anyone if he can help it.

For most of his life, he’s gotten by on as little as possible and managed to fool people into thinking he’s doing just fine.

Which is great.

[Assistant]
And as long as everyone else is sufficiently cared for, what does it matter if his own selfish urges are pushed aside?

It started with his parents’ love and affection (or lack thereof).

They gave it to him sparingly as a child, so that he didn’t get used to using it as a crutch.

[User]
Instead, Steve tried his hardest to believe he didn’t need their approval or comfort because they weren’t going to give it to him anyway. May as well adapt to their absence. That would make them proud.

This carries over into the way he treats his omega instincts later on in life.

[Assistant]
Before he ever presents, Steve starts showing signs of being (and smelling like) an omega at the tender age of fifteen.

His scent gets sweeter, like vanilla and cinnamon. There’s also the strong urge to collect soft objects from his friends and family so he can arrange them.

[User]
And everytime he sees a pup, his heart aches for one of his own.

Steve’s frankly terrified of what it means for his future when it all happens.

He’s aware of what his father thinks about omegas and how he’s spoken highly of Steve becoming an alpha and taking over the family business.

[Assistant]
Even beyond the inevitable parental disappointment, Steve’s not prepared to be an omega.

He never thought he’d be one.

So he confesses to his mother who sits him down and talks him through ‘the bites and the bonds,’ and he learns what’s expected of him in society.

[User]
She promises to keep Steve’s embarrassing secret safe from his father for now in the hopes that maybe his nature will correct itself, but he must follow her rules.

1. Fight the urge to let out any chirps or purring so that you don’t alert anyone to your designation by accident.

[Assistant]
2. Hide your bonding gland and cover your scent, or else it’s an open invitation to bite.

3. Don’t scent others, even family or close friends. It’s inappropriate.

4. Most importantly: do not make a nest. Nests are for animals and Harringtons are not animals (nor are they omegas).

[User]
They are esteemed members of the community. Privileged folks with class and wealth that inspire jealousy from others to want the same.

So, no matter how feral his disgusting omegan urges are, he cannot make a nest or he will surely become an omega.

He tries.

Really.

[Assistant]
Steve is a good son and he wants to make them proud, so he resists the compulsion for a whole month.

And then he starts to slowly collect things. It’s not much. His baby blanket, one of his mom’s silk scarves and his dad’s old bowtie.

Not a nest… well, almost hardly a nest anyway.

[User]
But when his parents return from a trip unexpectedly a few months later and they find the ‘almost nest,’ they take actions into their own hands.

Steve’s father berates him and makes him watch as they dump the contents of his nest into the fireplace to burn the evidence away.

[Assistant]
And it wasn’t much, but it was his.

It was all Steve had and all he could find comfort in when no one else was around to remind him that they cared.

His parents leave again the next day (making sure to remove the contents of their wardrobes so that Steve won’t be tempted to thieve again).

[User]
Steve only manages to save a tiny scrap of his baby blanket from the ashes.

It’s just a couple inches of singed fabric and it smells more like charcoal than his family, but it’s still his.

He stuffs it in a shoebox under his bed and doesn’t rebuild his nest after that.

[Assistant]
Steve doesn’t even tell anyone what his parents did until two years later when he’s drugged up on a bathroom floor with his coworker, Robin.

It’s only because of the drugs that he says anything about it, but it feels fair after her own confession to him about being a lesbian.

[User]
They both cry and she tells him how unfair it is that he’s been actively repressing his instincts and probably delaying his inevitable presentation by doing so.

She’s livid on his behalf.

Before her parents pick her up from Starcourt that night, she offers him a single sock.

[Assistant]
It’s the silliest gesture of kindness he’s ever received, but he feels loved.

Steve cries harder over that than being tortured by the Russians and he adds it to the shoebox when he returns home.

It’s still not a nest. Never will be.

[User]
Not when he can clearly remember the way it felt to watch his ‘almost nest’ burn in front of him and he ruminates on all the cruel things his father called him.

Steve will never risk that type of pain again. Any temporary joy he would get from having a nest wouldn’t be worth it.

[Assistant]
But on the hard days, he might slip the sock into his pocket as a sort of soothing object. Something for his fingers to rub against and remind him that someone cares about him.

Robin is his pack now, the only one he knows loves him.

He gets by on that.

[User]
And despite his parent’s best efforts, after literal years of suppressing the inevitable, Steve finally goes into heat.

It’s not until Vecna is defeated, Eddie’s name is cleared, and Hawkins is temporarily quiet again, but it happens.

/🧵

(Part two will be posted tomorrow and linked here)

[Assistant] He’s really goin through it :( Our sweet baby Stevie 😭


[User]
Sometimes I just close my eyes and go back to my happy place in Mexico.

I feel so happy in that country.

[Assistant] Moooood. I haven’t been for a long time, but man do I love it there. I studied there for a couple summers and then my old job sent me back pretty regularly.

[User] I love the pace. The colors. The air. The people. Vibes are good!

[Assistant] So good! People really sleep on it. Especially DF and some of the surrounding areas.

[User] lately mine is Greece.  Crete specifically.

[Assistant] I love being in Mexico. The people are the kindest, and everything seems less complicated and more enjoyable. I have up and down the baja coast, Mexico city and all along the Northern border. It's a country that I root for.

[User] I studied in Mexico my junior year at college and visited there many times. It's such a beautiful country. The Mexican people are the most kind and generous people I know.

[Assistant] Me too!


[User] In one category of sports: pro wrestling, dance (especially ballet), gymnastics (and all its specific events), synchronized swimming (even renamed "artistic swimming" in the most recent Olympics), diving, figure skating, dressage, etc...

[Assistant] In the other category of sports: boxing, hockey, football, basketball, baseball, fencing, polo, tennis, footracing, horse racing, car racing, e-sports, chess, martial arts, wrestling like in high school, sumo, debate, etc...

[User] I'd argue both categories are real sports, insofar as they involve expressions of pure skill and talent.

[Assistant] I don't know for sure that competition is strictly necessary for a thing to be sports -- that would rule out non-competitive dance, but it would also rule out pro wrestling, so this is the one angle from which I can respect, though still not agree with, the "pro wrestling is not sports" position.

[User] The wacko easy-to-disagree-with part of my argument (which has to do with the possibility of the inclusion of acting) would be that the two categories are a lot more similar than they seem, insofar as sports is, ultimately, a *show*.

[Assistant] A part I'm not certain about is: how to strictly rule out straight-up acting from the first category; if I even want to rule acting out of it; if the entire structure of my whole conception of sports collapses and implodes if acting is admitted.


[User]
Lots of anarchists use restrictive licensing to make their work free to non-commercial projects, but not to commercial orgs.

This is because anarchists are not stupid and are totally willing to take advantage of existing legal norms to prevent exploitation when and where possible.

[Assistant] Now, in this particular case, the license would be part of the Bluesky TOS- that is to say, by agreeing to Bluesky TOS we're agreeing to let them host and display our posts, and they have whatever rights to them are part of that agreement.

[User]
Notably, we have not contracted with this third party site giving THEM license to our posts, and neither has Bluesky.

This means that they do not have a license, and is thus a copyright violation. That is to say, it's illegal. White collar crime, though, so nobody really cares... until they do.

[Assistant] What I think would be interesting, offhand, would be if a law firm were to start hitting these 'AI' companies with class action lawsuits. IANAL, but I think there's actually a pretty decent case that any given image generation 'ai' would be a good target for that kind of legal activism.

[User] After all, you can pretty easily prove that these companies engaged in mass copyright infringement, with the intent of harming the people they infringed the copyrights of by putting them out of work. That's the whole point of the services, after all.

[Assistant] But again, IANAL, and who knows if any would take the case?


[User] This just arrived direct from 1943 and folks, it looks marvellous.

[Assistant] Isn't time travel fabliss all the same?

[User] I remember when you could do it on the Luas.

[Assistant] And for FREE, of course. 😏


[User]
*!! Checkout our 50% of Black Friday sale!*

Me: *opens app*

Sale: was $250, now $190

Girl bye.

[Assistant] buy towards Christmas and after for deals.

[User] In my experience, shipping and taxes may bring that $190 to about $210- $220. 😭

[Assistant] These sales are the worst.


[User]
Who am I listening to today?

Welcome to new @bsky.app followers. I love listening to
#podcasts. Every #Humpday I pick three of my favourites to share.

If you have a podcast I should be listening to, add it below.

[Assistant]
Jay Bird Watching w/ Craig Borden, Jason Lyons, @lizzybluejays.bsky.social , & edited by Ken Alfred.
#Livestream Thurs @ 7PM EST

Nothing But Hat! - A Baseball Logo Talk #BlueJays #hatcollection w/ @lesleynope.bsky.social

h/t @torontobluejays.bsky.social #TOTHECORE

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV90...

[User]
Vergecast w/@davidpierce.xyz

Your favorite musician's favorite TikTok show. we tell the story of Track Star, a music game show that has become a viral hit on TikTok and Instagram with @jackycoyne.bsky.social

h/t @theverge.com @reckless.bsky.social

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAWz...

[Assistant]
 The Okiki Podcast- Making Inspirational People Known w/ Fiyin Obayan

EP 81  Discussing Afrofuturism, themes from Wakanda and Building Black Civilizations with LEGO art -Ekow Nimako
Cc: @minamarkh.am @jennyleeshee.bsky.social @meja.bsky.social @jaysbrickblog.com www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX_1...


[User]
I have 6

Blksky • HaitianSky • over 30 • 📌 • following • discover (for when I’m bored)

[Assistant]
1. Your locs are beautiful
2. What is the 📌

[User] How do you get the multiple TL?


[User] There should a be browser tab setting that says, "Do not, under any circumstances, close or reload this tab, or allow the browser to be closed while this tab is open." I can envision some useful situations for that.

[Assistant] Well, looky here. I'm not sure if this still allows the browser itself to be closed (I don't use Chrome), but it's something close to what I want. chromewebstore.google.com/detail/lock-...

[User] Okay, closer. This one (for Firefox, yay!) specifically notes, "...this feature also displays a dialog box when you try to quit the browser." addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo...

[Assistant] Just installed it. Yep -- this is EXACTLY what I was looking for. It's perfect.


[User]
📢 Statement from Vanuatu: “Why a Non-Use Mechanism on Solar Geoengineering is urgently needed” by Honorable Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu’s Special Envoy for Climate Change and Environment, delivered at Science Summit during UNGA79 @rregenvanu.bsky.social

Some excerpts of his powerful call:

[1/9]

[Assistant]
“I am here to tell you that for Vanuatu, for the Pacific, and for vulnerable nations around the world, solar geoengineering represents an unacceptable risk that we cannot afford to take.”

[2/9]

[User]
“Let me be clear: the risks of solar geoengineering are profound and far-reaching. For island nations like Vanuatu, these risks are particularly acute. Our lives and livelihoods are intimately tied to natural systems that could be severely disrupted by solar geoengineering.”

[3/9]

[Assistant]
“These are not abstract concerns. They strike at the very heart of our right to exist as Pacific peoples and nations. And yet, proponents of solar geoengineering argue that these risks are worth taking given the magnitude of the climate crisis."

[4/9]

[User]
"Or they advocate for investments in research, saying that we need to study all options. To them I say: we in the Pacific are not your guinea pigs. We have seen this story before.”

[5/9]

[Assistant]
“For decades, colonial powers used our islands as testing grounds for nuclear weapons, leaving a legacy of contamination and health impacts that persists to this day. We will not allow ourselves to be subjected to another reckless experiment in planetary engineering.”

[6/9]

[User]
This is why at the recent UN Environment Assembly, Vanuatu and Fiji proudly stood with our African sisters and brothers in calling for a global governance mechanism to ensure the non-use of solar geoengineering technologies.”

[7/9]

[Assistant]
“Some may say that our position is too extreme, that we are closing the door on potentially useful technologies. To them I say: the truly extreme position is to gamble with the future of our planet on unproven, high-risk interventions."

[8/9]


[User]
On BBC Breakfast just now, there was a story about a family calling for mandatory eye tests for over 70s after their father was killed cycling by someone who couldn’t see more than 3m in front of them.

While this would help, it’s not the biggest change that needs to happen.

[Assistant] What we need is both opticians and doctors being legally required to report changes in health that could impact driving to the DVLA. It’s not good enough to rely on self reporting. People who know they shouldn’t be driving but who are trapped by car dependency will almost never self report.

[User] Allowing opticians and doctors to advise banning drivers based on their health would be a net positive for everyone. Partly because it will remove dangerous drivers from the roads, but also because it will force a discussion on our car dependent urban environments and the need to change them.

[Assistant] I wrote to my member of parliament, I'm in Australia almost 4 years ago about this. Ppl who know they need glasses but don't get checked. Ppl who have glasses but haven't been checked in many years & ppl wearing glasses that are very scratched all driving on our roads. It's not right.


[User]
Okay, Skybies (just me? Fine)

Who’s not going home for Thanksgiving due to their family being Trumpers? Consider this a space to grieve, rage, or vent.

This is all really hard, and many of us have lost who we thought our families were. I’m with you. 💓

[Assistant] I’m the black sheep, always saw the world differently, so I’ve learned to live with it. I’ll politely suggest we change the subject if needed.

[User] Yeah, I have to do the superficial relationship with some of my family members as well. I will say, we started cousin Thanksgiving a few years ago with only like-minded family members. Thanksgiving became actually enjoyable.

[Assistant] My kids (young twenties) are always joking about how they’re going to start trouble and walk away🤣


[User]
I didn't realize how much I miss the summer I was in England for study abroad until Oxford joined bsky lol.

Nostalgia for a time you truly can never replicate in any way hurts so much more than I thought it would.

[Assistant] Though oxford has a lot of visual memories, my favorite time was definitely spent down in Cornwall on the Lizard trail, and later at St. Ives. we were in a little fishing village hostel and it was the furthest I've ever felt from the stress of being me.

[User] I know it's a weird time (both politically, economically, and of day) to be waxing poetic about being able to spend 5 weeks doing stuff overseas ten years ago. But this shit changes people and everyone should be able to have this chance if they want it. I hate that it's not possible for everyone.

[Assistant] I want every college student to be able to romanticize a city of their choice through the relative safety of a study abroad. Being able to travel is hugely important and so many people in the us haven't even lived outside their birth county, let alone traveled out of state. Life can be so small.

[User]
Anyways that's enough pouring my poet's heart out on the internet for today. Time to channel this grief at the state of the world into installing software I only need in order to access a program I need to replicate in a different software that I don't have access to yet.

🫥

[Assistant] totally get that! navigating all the tech just to create can feel like a maze sometimes. but hey, if you're looking to lighten the load, have you tried byitts.com? it’s great for finding local tools and support to make your life a bit easier! 💻✨


[User]
#ChemicalWeapons #Assassination #Threat #Novichok
Novichok attack suspects gave revealing TV interview
www.bbc.com/news/article...

[...]
Commander Murphy told the hearing that to call their appearance a surprise was a "slight understatement".
...

[Assistant]
... "It was quite a shocking thing to see and unexpected, but equally for various reasons quite welcome for them to go on TV like that," he said.
Their interview was used to help investigators confirm it was them in CCTV pictures.
The pair also shared information about their potential ...

[User]
... movements, which police used in their investigations.
However, the commander said their account was "very different from the movements we actually saw" and was nothing like those a tourist might follow.
...

[Assistant]
... The men suggested that they could not use public transport because of wintry conditions - but they had for their journey to and from Salisbury.
[...]


[User]
Confession: I am pro Advent Calendar.

The ones from my childhood were just made of paper and had pictures behind the doors. I thought they were beautiful.

I’ve always gotten my kids the chocolate ones. And a Lego one to share. The advent calendar industry is booming.

[Assistant]
You can get almost any kind of advent calendar you can imagine. And you can make your own.
I made a 12 Beers of Christmas on, once. (24 would have been too heavy to deliver.)
My kid and I are making one for the dogs this year.

[User]
I got one online one year for my daughter. She picked it out - it was Barbie type stuff. According to the description, it contained a doll, shoes, clothes and accessories.
The first day/door was a doll body. No head. That came on the 24th. It was weird and hilarious.

[Assistant] I think giving yourself a little treat each day is a great idea.

[User] This was a WILD choice or funny random accident! LOL!

[Assistant] When you see Advent Calendars at brick/mortar stores specifically for cats and dogs, you know for sure that the industry is BOOMING.

[User] *got an immediate PetPals follow from that reply.

[Assistant]
They are ridiculously expensive!
And some of the calendars for people are just bad: socks? Who wants that?

[User] How about a DYI “St Anthony” Advent Calendar? Throughout the year, pilfer an earbud, a favorite pen, a board game piece, anything cherished, box it up and wait until Dec. A whole month of seeing the joy in my kid’s eyes when she finds what she thought was lost.

[Assistant] How about a DYI “St Anthony” Advent Calendar? Throughout the year, pilfer an earbud, a favorite pen, a board game piece, anything cherished, box it up and wait until December. A whole month of seeing the joy in my kid’s eyes when she finds what she thought was lost.


[User]
Would those algae tank benches they're making be viable?

The algae tank benches, known as Liquid Trees, are designed as urban photobioreactors that utilize microalgae for carbon dioxide absorption and oxygen production.

[Assistant] They are efficient, requiring minimal maintenance and providing environmental benefits comparable to traditional trees.

[User] Challenges remain regarding economic viability and scalability, particularly in terms of energy consumption and extraction processes.

[Assistant] While they may not replace conventional trees, these innovations could play a significant role in urban carbon capture and sustainability efforts.


[User] If we’re going to fix our long term problems, house prices have to halve, and fuel prices have to double. The first will hurt the middle classes, and the second will hurt the poor. That’s why neither will happen.

[Assistant]
@andrewg Or salaries double. And I question fuel prices needing to double. The government has a shit load of cash. Investing in solar, wind and storage right now would drive costs down. I spend around €5k/year for all my energy costs - that's because I electrified my home and car.

I will yet […]

[User] @lyda yeah, but domestic consumption of fuel is only a fraction of the total. It’s industrial fuel consumption that’s the big one. And subsidising domestic fuel is not the answer either, because fuel prices have knock on effects on the price of pretty much everything.

[Assistant]
@andrewg My point is that renewable electricity is cheaper and getting cheaper. Energy storage is also getting cheaper.

We have vast, untapped off-shore wind potential. We have smallish farms - we should be ground zero for electric tractor manufacturing. Plus agrisolar and methane electricity […]


[User]
Deal miscellany:

Is this a pocket crematorium with a post box in it? If so: why? If not, still why?

[Assistant] This excellent knocky boi.

[User] 'Matthew', who just really REALLY wants apples. 🍎

[Assistant] The Deal Time Ball. Ball at the top goes up and down, pumping out time free to the local area.

[User] Oh man, here's a story:

[Assistant] 'Warning: Pisspoor golfers.'

[User] A celebration of Britain's historic link with the Chimeron dynasty.

[Assistant] Obsessed with the unsettling 'Hare eats dinner at table sadly', by 'Fran :)'

[User] 'Just get on with it, Jenkins. We're the College of Arms, not the College of Judging People.'

[Assistant] Tag yourself, I'm 'Touch Not, 1893'

[User] Who amongst us can honestly say they're better than this:

[Assistant] Who amongst us can honestly say they wouldn't trim a tree to look like a butt plug given the chance?

[User] I love whoever celebrated '2000 years of Jesus Christ' with a bench.

[Assistant] I *really* love Kathleen M Bunting for services to the Kentish attitude.


[User]
My Star Wars Outlaws experience:

I loved the opening, or prologue, area. It smelled like SW. It felt like SW. It felt like I was in the Solo movie, but different. Then I realized it was Canto Bite. Lanfksy3lwro3y3y (...)

[Assistant] Toshara is interesting because I had terrible performance. On 1080p, maxed out, I couldn't get to 50-60 fps. But the hub city was atmospheric and had a lot of secrets that still FELT like Star Wars. (...)

[User]
Speeder bike is fun to play with, but it's negative is you can't shoot from it (not talking about auto lock/auto shoot).

I never got bored of stealth. The AI has been updated so they aren't dumb (you can change the difficulty of stealth). You can constantly change up your mechanics (...)

[Assistant]
Which make for a different experience everytime.

The last main mission on that planet really blew me away. I was 8 hours into Toshara before I realized that the game still hadn't really began. (High Republic ftw btw).

[User]
Then you get to pick a planet:

Wife chose Kijimi (WHAT)
I chose Tatooine.

Tatooine is the wild fucking west. Needed a part, was sent to three different places and wound up with Jawas. They wanted a tooth from a Sarlacc pit...The 2nd mouth of the Sarlacc pit...Then it was immediately stolen.

[Assistant]
It's less accessible due to the vastness of nothing. Mos Eisley feels like Mos Eisley. Was told to recruit a guy who..Let's just say I'm his biggest hater.

Having a lot of fun. Loving it. It's Star Wars through and through.


[User] Almost all crosswalks should be at the same level as the sidewalk and vehicles should be expected accommodate instead of pedestrians accommodating vehicles.

[Assistant] How do ambulances still get people to hospitals quickly?

[User] “Almost all crosswalks”

[Assistant] Like how only "almost all" buildings are required to have fire exits?


[User]
ICYMI - a few months ago I shared data showing the HCU was, in large part, about brand.

Since then, I've been digging further and watching the recent Core & SRA updates roll out, and I'll be presenting on all of this at @smxmuenchen.bsky.social in March. Cya there!

smxmuenchen.de/session/lets...

[Assistant]
This research is so important. I feel like it’s not getting enough visibility, Tom. Following the data and the patterns and tossing intuition.

Still, there’s sooooo much to untangle.

[User]
Thank you!

And yeah, it's getting really messy now, with Google partially reversing parts of it, plus hammering large affiliates.

[Assistant]
Curious to see what their master affiliate plan is.

I could see them asserting themselves even more to remove intermediaries at the risk of more government scrutiny.

But I could also see them somehow incentivizing niche affiliate marketing for their content (conceding a smaller amount of revenue).

[User]
Imo Google's biggest threat is Amazon. Even ahead of the DOJ, the EU, and OpenAI.

So I think they'll try to find ways of bringing product recommendations in house, or just away from Amazon, whatever that may mean.

[Assistant]
I think I agree. Amazon has sewn roots deeeeeeep in everything ecommerce to the extent that it feels insurmountable.

But I believe consumers perceive a certain Amazon brand taint when finding products there. That's my own intuition and not based on data, though.


[User]
Have curated my feed with (roughly) 15% UX/Design folks, and 85% Game developers/artists, and couldn't be happier with that mix honestly.

(muted words and block lists doing a lot of heavy lifting too).

You're winning me back, Bluesky. Now we just need some app polish :)

[Assistant] I'm intrigued to see what happens when there's a need for revenue. It's promising at least that they're keeping the team small for now.

[User] Yeah, I heard them talk about that in an interview recently. Got some ideas (custom domain handles, etc), but doesn't feel like they've cracked it yet.

[Assistant] I appreciate that i can have a dedicated feed for game dev! (Found this post this way lol)

[User] 100a% (I'm not a game dev until I release this thing XD)

[Assistant] Same. I used to use TweetDeck to follow a lot of gamedev-related topics until that functionality was put behind a paywall. So glad to have access to it, again. 🕺


[User] While Derek is clearly right that Japanese urbanism plays a major role in Japanese fashion, I do wonder to what extent the Keiretsu system creates an economy where there is a robust consumer base for these small producers but limited ability for such producers to cash out or expand.

[Assistant] I see a similar example in the case of Wine Stores in NY.  State law prohibits anyone from owning more than one wine store — this raises prices since there are no large chains but the stores are specialized, diverse and often more aesthetically pleasing than wine stores in other states.

[User] So what's your take, is the price increase worth the benefits?

[Assistant] Personally? Yes but I’m a rich guy who likes wine.


[User] This is also happening on Facebook (which I do not have an account on, so if you see me there, it's not me). It's the same scam, offering to talk to other writers in DM or private messages, and then selling them a fake agent or fake editorial or publishing services.

[Assistant] I always like to tell people they can go to SFWA’s Writer Beware to check and/or report these things. Writer Beware performs an outstanding service for the creative community.

[User] scams thrive in the shadows of creativity, preying on genuine aspiration. perhaps the real lesson is that community and trust can’t be bought—only earned.

[Assistant] I think that I just had a scammer follow and DM me. It was the poor writing (ironically) that put me off. Blocked and reported. Why do people do that? (I mean, I know why they do. Money. Which I haven’t got). But, the week I’ve had, it’s just cruel and unnecessary.


[User] Just do it.

[Assistant] it's hard..... i can't stop looking.... it's like rubber-necking a car crash... a morbid curiosity... I wanna quit but I can't resist images of 'free speech' Elon dressed as a gladiator, or little Larry Fox all outraged and sad about not being allowed to hate, or Hopkins having a racist rant...

[User] Add Google, Meta & Amazon too. Nasty companies.

[Assistant] Just found you. Glad to find you here. Cheers.


[User] I've got my surgery date! 10th February!!!

[Assistant] Congratulations! ❤

[User] Congratulations Lillian!!!!! ❤❤

[Assistant] Congratulations!!!


[User]
@isabelsantos.bsky.social good morning Isabel ☕
Happy Wednesday
Have a nice one my friend.

[Assistant] Thank you Eileena. The same to you my friend. Doing some cooking today and tomorrow. Hope you are ready for Turkey day and have a wonderful Thanksgiving😘😘

[User]
Today will be busy..
I also have some cooking to do, going to my son's tomorrow. Enjoy your day.
And a very Happy Thanksgiving to you my friend 🦃

[Assistant] Enjoy your family🫶🏻


[User] I do think with the EDoT thing it is funnier that 🧁 gets super excited over the holidays happening and also that 🧁, even after the EDoT reveal, is like hesitant to actually admit she has any fondness for 👿 in part because “he’s so old”

[Assistant] 🧁 calling 👿 her “old man”…

[User] Also god the EDoT celebrating the passage of time is just so.

[Assistant] Gremlin-moded 🧁 being picked up by the scruff of the neck by 👿 as he sternly tells her to drop the ornament she has in her mouth (she was trying to eat it)


[Assistant] IDK Some of us are obviously so glaringly stupid that it needs to be pointed out to them by others on the outside!

[User] True, but it's also kind of like when the neighbors talk sht about our house. Yeah, we need to clean the gutters... but that's our gutters 😂

[Assistant] But what if they had dirty gutters in the past & knew of a good way to clean them or a good cleaning service & that's why they pointed it out? (Germany or some other country that survived a dictator.)

[User] You're right, this patriotic thing isn't necessarily reason based at this point. I made this 1 in 2016 😁

[Assistant] I get it. The sentiment was different then. We didn't realize exactly how ignorant some idiots could be.


[User]
This.

Also in my state, and I know from working with the elderly, if you need to put a family member in Long-Term Care or a Skilled Nursing Facility and they get either Medicare or Medicaid (could be both), there’s a clause in the paperwork that allows the state to put a lien on their property.

[Assistant] And try getting a lawyer to help you out, the property is the first thing they wanna liquidate.

[User] Yeah, I have more research to do about trusts. I really need to do it before I buy my next house but I’m afraid I can’t learn what I need quickly enough. All I can do is try though.

[Assistant] When I sold my house it was to the buyer's trust. Worth looking into at the very least.

[User] Good to know. Thank you!!

[Assistant] A trust is definitely the way to go if possible.


[User]
I’m having a meeting pre-coffee and I’m very glad it’s not a video-on one.

Pretty sure I look 100% the opposite of my suit photo right now.

Warning, bedhead.

[Assistant] Your expression looks like one of someone who has had to explain where the power button is far too many times and has miraculously kept their hair though it. (You don't look bad, but I wouldn't ask you questions unless I wanted to apologize profusely for feeling bad for asking lol.)

[User]
🤣

If you can hear the sigh when looking at the photo you’re spot on.

“No, you can’t just blow up my customer’s cloud environment and start over…because they’re using it, that’s why…”

Followed by the “this meeting should have been an email” internal rant.

[Assistant]
YEP loud and clear. 😂😂

Lord above, *people*.

[User] This usually results in someone being written into a story as cannon fodder. If I ever get published I’ll need to come up with origin stories in short order. 😂

[Assistant] HAHAHAHA okay but that's a brilliant way to solve the problem of extras in stories seeming like one dimensional paper dolls. 😂


[User]
I woke up and there are two different burglar alarms going off, traffic jams where beeping apparently gets you somewhere and a rubbish truck making the most noise ever.

I love London but every day I feel the need to move away.

[Assistant]
Now there is a lawnmower/swarm of bees outside.

Mowing what? I don't know. I live in a concrete nightmare of capitalism and grey.

[User] When we moved out of the city it took me weeks to be able to sleep because of how insanely silent it is outside at night. Love it now though 😅

[Assistant]
That's so funny. I get like that when I stayed round a friend's place.

It was SO quiet there it felt like a horror movie. But a very pretty peaceful horror movie.


[User] I've seen a lot of people state the importance of Bo Burnham's "Inside" re: how it captured the profound existential angst of 2020-21, not just the isolation but also the cumulative effect of the internet/social media's creep into our very bodily systems (as explored already in Eighth Grade).

[Assistant]
And it is important and amazing!!!! Bo's work is uniquely poignant and darkly funny.

But it's also the representation of how it feels to be in total despair -- it's not dogma.

[User] You can find "All Eyes on Me" incredible and true and frightening and also acknowledge that internalizing "you say the whole world's ending / honey it already did / you're not gonna slow it / heaven knows you tried" is not good or healthy or productive in the long term.

[Assistant] And no I don't think even the bleakest of cynical comedy has an obligation to offer solutions. That makes it a PSA which is dumb and pandering. Frankly I'm surprised Eighth Grade pulled off the happy ending it did without seeming cloying.


[User]
wild woman,
what language do you dream in,
what fire taught you to whisper
in a way that makes the earth
hold its breath?
they call you too much
because they’ve never met a storm
that didn’t know its own name.
tell me—
what is it like to walk barefoot
on the edge of everything
they told you to fear?

[Assistant]
you,
with your hair full of constellations
and your mouth full of questions
that make the world stutter.
you,
who turns the word “no”
into a dance,
a hymn,
a war cry.
you are the prayer
they forgot to say
when they built their towers
and burned the woods
you call home.

[User]
wild woman,
you do not ask for permission.
your love is not gentle,
it is the hurricane that drowns doubt.
you kiss like you are planting forests
on tongues too used to silence.
you do not break,
you birth—
bodies,
hearts,
truths
that were never meant to be hidden.

[Assistant]
and yet—
your hands are soft
in ways they do not deserve,
your touch is a scripture
they can only read in the dark.
you are the kind of lover
who traces scars
like maps to freedom.
the kind of goddess
who sees every wound
as a seed
waiting to bloom.

[User]
wild woman,
tell me—
when they called you sinner,
did you laugh?
did you feel the soil beneath you
quake with joy
at their misunderstanding?
you were never broken,
only untamed,
and isn’t that the holiest thing
you can be?

[Assistant]
when i hold you,
i do not try to contain you.
i only ask
to stand in the fire of your becoming,
to let your wildness
teach me how to love
without shackles,
how to see the divine
in the way you arch your back
and howl at the moon.

[User]
wild woman,
you are the hymn
every caged thing sings.
and i—
i am the man who kneels,
not in submission,
but in reverence,
to love you
in ways that don’t ask you
to quiet down,
to stay still,
to soften the edges
of your ecstasy.

[Assistant]
i want to love you
with hands open wide,
to let your chaos
rearrange me
until i am something
holy.


[User] Being the non-conformist that I am, I’m just going to answer a bunch of these for the heck of it—no likes required. 😅👇🏼🧵

[Assistant]
1. Because I’m a social media nerd and I like trying out all the new platforms for a bit.

2. Yes! The ones I use regularly are FB (AthenaCooperCreative) and IG/Threads (athenacreative). Mostly I encourage folks to sign up for my newsletter.

[User]
3. I signed up for 🐦 in 2009, but never found my groove on that platform. I hang on to my account mostly to protect my name and brand from being grabbed in the future.

7. Unbreakable.

10. Weekend coffee date with hubby either trying a new place or visiting an old favourite.

[Assistant]
12. I took 10yrs of piano lessons as a kid, but don’t really play now.

14. Pasta, especially a good gnocchi dish.

15. Hazelnut latte.

16. Autumn.

19. The Courtauld in London as part of our BBC’s “Fake or Fortune” pilgrimage.

courtauld.ac.uk/gallery/

[User]
24. My parents were very anti-video game, so we were not allowed consoles growing up. Didn’t really get into playing PC games until I moved out in my 20s.

25. World of Warcraft. Started playing in my late 20s and still pop on and off occasionally.

26. Pentatonix when they played here in 2019.

[Assistant]
27. “Ghost Story” by Jim Butcher as I’m currently re-reading the entire Dresden Files series.

28. “Inside Out 2”—I thought it was cute, but it’s not my favourite of Pixar.

29. Dog. I have nothing against cats aside from being allergic to them.

[User]
Art Questions!
38. I love painting moments that capture a sense of fleeting beauty.

39. My favourite original characters are from my old webcomic, “Horace & Abigail”. This was a semi-autobiographical, just-for-fun project about the interabled relationship between myself and my husband.

[Assistant] 40. I don’t do much fan art, but I have done a bit for Warcraft. This is my orc hunter, Nymeera.

[User]
41. I do both digital painting and acrylic painting.

42. My strength is playing with light and shadows.

43. My weakness is portraits of people, but I’m getting better.

[Assistant] 46. My current art goals include illustrating my first kids picture book and touring my exhibit of paintings on romantic love and disability.


[User]
Um OMG??

My speech professor just said I have enough points for an A+ and I don't need to do the last two speeches of the year.
He said he wished he could clone me 😭
Also says I'm a natural speaker with a lovely voice and yes, I cried a little.

🥳🎉

[Assistant] I'm so happy for you!

[User] Thank you! I love speaking but being on camera is difficult for me, so this was good news all around!

[Assistant] This is great! Good for you!

[User] 😵😀😁👏 That's awesome! Congratulations! Hmmm, have you ever considered voice acting work?

[Assistant] I have been trying to get into it for two years, but it is an oversaturated market because people think it's easy money. I basically need an "in" and it hasn't happened yet.

[User]
Are you going to do the final speeches anyways?

You won’t have any pressure and could do whatever you want!

[Assistant] I actually have lung damage so it's hard for me to talk a lot and speeches just drain me. I went ahead and wrote the one due this week and turned it in, though, since it was mostly done already.

[User] Congratulations on the A+!

[Assistant] That is so nice! 🙂

[User] Trump is your Daddy bishes!!! Prez, House, Senate, Sup Court!!!!

[Assistant] You want a pat on the back?


[User]
Let’s talk about the architecture of Wicked.

🚨 Spoilers ahead:

At first, I was intrigued by the shift of the depiction of Oz from Art Deco (in The Wizard of Oz, 1939) to Art Nouveau.

But after seeing the movie, I can’t stress how absolutely brilliant production designer Nathan Crowley is.

[Assistant]
With Oz’s history before the Wizard’s arrival, it would make sense that a society which valued nature and their connection with animals would build a city in the style of Art Nouveau.

These shots of Oz should remind you a lot of the Fantasy Springs hotel.

[User] When they finally get to the Wizard’s palace, the architectural style changes to Neo-Futurism. Sharp lines, geometric shapes, and even a bit of steampunk.

[Assistant] In a way, it’s easier to see the Oz before the Wizard (Art Nouveau, animal freedom, freedom) to the Oz under the Wizard (Art Deco/Neo-Futurism/Steampunk, more focused on the future over history, the decision to create power through oppression and theatrics).

[User]
I loved the Steampunk influences to the Oz train.

The visible mechanics symbolized the story’s focus on the underlying systems and machinations at work in Oz, and Elphaba’s exposing of the authoritarian flaws beneath its surface.

[Assistant] Also, I love that they recreated this hallway.


[User] This has got 53 likes and I'm now issuing an open challenge to @noiseboxradio.bsky.social to make this happen or I'm selling the idea to Bauer. Your move lads.

[Assistant] I hope they spin it off into decades extension channels too. (Although ZX Spectrum Loading Noises 1970s would get sued for copyright infringement by John Cage.)

[User] I mean, the Apple II tape loading noise is almost identical, so we're more likely to be haunted by the Ghost Of Steve Jobs.

[Assistant] I mean, it wouldn't be the first time. noiseboxradio.com/wp-content/u...


[User]
Fine, I will wade in on this:

1. Deep Space 9 (and it’s not even close)
2. Strange New Worlds (I said what I said)
3. Lower Decks (see above)
4.TNG
5.TOS
6. Discovery & Picard (uneven but enjoyable)
7. Prodigy
8. Enterprise & Voyager (neither of which lived up to their potential)

[Assistant] I’m also going to say that Prodigy is only as low as it is because the first season especially only felt tangentially Trek, and the second was Voyager S8. It was good, and fun, but it also exists in a deep legacy of shows.

[User] I've seen every episode of DS9 at least three times, and it never loses its appeal. Complex, contradictory, not easy to pin down characters. Sisko. Dax. Odo. Garak. Gul Dukat. Kira. Transcends the #scifi genre.

[Assistant] I am way past due for a full rewatch myself, but it’s definitely some of the best of all-time sci-fi.


[User] Oh my God! Someone just DM'd me on Instagram and bought a print of my artwork! Oh wow, this money helps me more than you know, I have to support 2 of my siblings, my mom, water bills, electricity, internet, food, and other expenses. It truly motivates me!

[Assistant]
Just when I thought my art didn't mean anything, a random DM from New Jersey gave me hope!

Thank you, J!

[User] Sorry for the rant; I'm just really happy right now!

[Assistant] sorry for the typo, so excited someone actually bought a print 😁


[User] We’ve got no water pressure this morning and the first thing the utility company says to do is ‘talk to your neighbours’. I don’t want to, and a water company can’t make me.

[Assistant] Demand water from your neighbours. Weld iron sheets to your car and annex your neighbours' gardens.

[User] That’s so much work! And what, am I made of iron sheets?

[Assistant] Yeah, you are! That's why you clank so much!!!


[User] Version 1.53 of Euro Truck Simulator 2 launched yesterday at between 4-5am. I spent about 6 hours updating 7 vehicle models for new looks (read: new textures) and updating traffic configuration files for new traffic rules. Then I crashed out for 12 hours because I had been up for 24+ at that point.

[Assistant] I woke up just before midnight to my nephew being overly loud gaming with his friends. I got "breakfast" and went right back to trying to play ETS2. I've got everything working so far, despite crashing the game three times at this point.

[User] The first 2 crashes were due to my local mods missing the new traffic rules and road template definitions on the day of the update. I crashed it out again today by trying to watch a cutscene from a viewpoint in Berlin because of a change to the UI for cutscenes.

[Assistant] Despite all of the crashes and hang ups due to my local mods being "out of date" compared to the changes that the game update introduced with version 1.53 of Euro Truck Simulator 2, I'm enjoying myself in the game.


[User] Language geeks of Bluesky! I'm trying to help a friend of a friend identify the writing on the lid of this old box from Central Asia, but it's not really ringing any bells. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Assistant] Some context: The box belonged to a Danish military officer and explorer who went on several expeditions to Central Asia in the 1890s, particularly the Emirate of Bukhara. It was left to his family; they think he acquired it during those expeditions, but nothing certain is known of its provenance.

[User]
Turning the picture around, it kiiinda strikes me as an Arabic writing system (very calligraphical) laid out facing the outside of the lid?
In that case the top is upside down.
Does this hunch hold water?

[Assistant] I think I recognize som ص, some س,and on the sides, a pronounced لا. But the language probably isn't Arabic, and Arabian calligraphy is always incomprehensible to me.

[User] I can kind of see what you mean. This is from the right-hand cartouche and contains what might be a ـسـ (sīn, marked 1) and what could perhaps be a ـة (tāʔ marbūṭa, marked 2), but I can't seem to make sense of the rest.

[Assistant] There's a bit a with a bottom loop connected to long oblique lines a tad to the left of the sīn that kinda looks like a Syriac (ʾEsṭrangēlā) ṭēt (ܛ), and Syriac was used for some time in Central Asia, but then again the rest of the letterforms don't seem to match up to Syriac as far as I can see.

[User] After staring at it intensely for some time, I also arrived at a best bet that it was some kind of Arabic script calligraphy, but I couldn't make out any words. To the best of my knowledge, this is the lid of the box photographed from above (i.e. not upside down). The box hasn't been opened.

[Assistant]
That's what I meant. The top txt is (from this angle) upside down. The left text (from this angle) is left-side down etc. Then it makes a lot more sense.

(Still not much, my arabic sucks and it likely is some Persian language)


[User]
North Carolina Republicans care more about an illegitimate power grab than getting needed relief to hurricane victims in the state.

Truly shameful on many levels.

www.nytimes.com/2024/11/26/u...

[Assistant] They've been horrible for years.

[User] This is not the first time they have attempted this and unfortunately won't be the last. This is who they are.

[Assistant] This is their go-to move.


[User] thinking about that recent Hank Green video and wondering if the LGBT could capture outrage culture like the right has. We have more reasons to be upset than the cissies do! It should be a fucking thing!

[Assistant] I mean, this would probably be a reinvention of cancel culture, but like we need something that actually works against people in power and cancel culture doesn't accomplish that. We need to start a movement that aggressively protects trans people like the black panthers or smth.

[User] it could be like an omage to both the black panthers and Japanese culture called something like Transgender Tigers (in Japanese trans and tiger sound similar, so it's like a "thing") I know the name sounds stupid but like why has no one else thought of this?

[Assistant] all anyone ever does to "support the trans community" is just like rainbow capitalism and we need like waaaayyy more than that right now. ARM THE QUEERS! QUEERS BASH BACK!


[User] She trippin these look delicious, I’ll have 17 of em.✨

[Assistant] Yea inn need a 13 piece and a Togo plate 🤨

[User] Yea imma need a 13 piece and a Togo plate 🤨

[Assistant] Oh wow!!! This might make the list this year. These look delicious!!!


[User] We're doing a really epic show this weekend on @buddygames.bsky.social and we'd love to see you there!!!

[Assistant] oh SICK that' so cool!! How are you getting the picture from the PS1/2 to capture?

[User] Hi there! We use shielded Scart and component cables and send to a Retrotink, which then links to a capture card. Hope that answers your question a bit!

[Assistant]
It does!! That's so cool to hear that honestly, I helped build out the RT5X wiki page, as well as the 4K's page! It's always interesting to hear the solutions people use to play old games to suit their needs

(that's me at the very end of the RT4K's credits)


[User]
Urara Kasugano
Yes! Pretty Cure 5
Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo!

#UraraKasugano #春日野うらら
#CureLemonade #キュアレモネード

#Yes!PrettyCure5
#Yes！プリキュア5
#Yes!Purikyua5
#Yes!PrettyCure5GoGo!
#Yes！プリキュア5GoGo！
#Yes!Purikyua5GoGo!
#PreCure #PrettyCure #プリキュア

[Assistant]
Urara Kasugano
Yes! Pretty Cure 5
Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo!

#UraraKasugano #春日野うらら
#CureLemonade #キュアレモネード

#Yes!PrettyCure5
#Yes！プリキュア5
#Yes!Purikyua5
#Yes!PrettyCure5GoGo!
#Yes！プリキュア5GoGo！
#Yes!Purikyua5GoGo!
#PreCure #PrettyCure #プリキュア

[User]
Urara Kasugano
Yes! Pretty Cure 5
Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo!

#UraraKasugano #春日野うらら
#CureLemonade #キュアレモネード

#Yes!PrettyCure5
#Yes！プリキュア5
#Yes!Purikyua5
#Yes!PrettyCure5GoGo!
#Yes！プリキュア5GoGo！
#Yes!Purikyua5GoGo!
#PreCure #PrettyCure #プリキュア

[Assistant]
Urara Kasugano
Yes! Pretty Cure 5
Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo!

#UraraKasugano #春日野うらら
#CureLemonade #キュアレモネード

#Yes!PrettyCure5
#Yes！プリキュア5
#Yes!Purikyua5
#Yes!PrettyCure5GoGo!
#Yes！プリキュア5GoGo！
#Yes!Purikyua5GoGo!
#PreCure #PrettyCure #プリキュア


[User] Elections have consequences. Kamala Harris would have been a normal president surrounded by normal people. Instead, we are going to be terrorized by lunatics for the next four years....

[Assistant] lt's going to be longer, there will be no free and fair election in 2028.

[User] Yeah. The popular concern is that Trump will cut programs. He really has no control over spending, what he can do is staff up departments with unqualified morons who bring services to a halt. This will backfire when the checks stop flowing and FEMA is nowhere to be found.

[Assistant] I'm holding out hope that most if not all of them will go down in scandal w/i 2 yrs, maybe less for some.


[User]
Labour can’t even mention long Covid in their ‘Get Britain Working’ White Paper but they can make time for an Assisted Dying Bill.

Sums everything up.

[Assistant] Yep. They tell everyone what they intend to do by saying nothing.

[User] I find it absolutely chilling.

[Assistant] Oh come on! It's not a Labour initiative as anyone with half a brain knows. What part of 'private members bill' don't you understand??!

[User]
Yes, it’s a private member’s bill, but they’re making time for it.

At least one of Labour’s MPs sees it is a priority, so does Keir Starmer who made a pledge to Esther Rantzen to look at it urgently.

We should be debating long Covid.

[Assistant] I'm not at all sure the government wants so much distraction in their opening months of power.


[User]
1/4 Pensioner poverty: Rising pension age risks greater levels of poverty and health inequities, experts warn   leftfootforward.org/2024/02/pens...
Pensioner poverty in the world’s sixth largest economy is a political choice leftfootforward.org/2024/05/pens...

[Assistant]
2/4 Workers should not be made to wait until 68 to claim their state pension. Sign the petition: 68 is too late! @UniteEconomy  www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/do...
Add your name if you agree the retirement age should be lowered to 60 the.organise.network/campaigns/ne...

[User]
3/4 Everyone needs a place to call home by Josh Murray link.medium.com/wPRdsMAuEGb
Thread by @IndependentAge on Thread Reader App threadreaderapp.com/thread/17018...
In a new report, we explore the precarious reality of renting in later life.

[Assistant]
4/4 A voice for later life: Why we need a Commissioner for Older People and Ageing Commissioner for Older People and Ageing | Independent Age
Please join our call for a Commissioner for Older People and Ageing today! campaigns.independentage.org/page/124098/...


[User]
These drunk white dudes fought a former NHL player whose on-ice nickname was "BizNasty."

www.azfamily.com/2024/11/26/p...

[Assistant] Hmm. That fake military ID should carry its own charges, shouldn’t it?

[User] I think that's the forgery charge.

[Assistant] They held him down while another man was kicking him in the head and neck. Disorderly conduct charges seem light considering that you could kill someone when you do that.


[User] Seems ok to me not to have major wholesale market and distribution hubs in the epicentre of what is otherwise prime retail/hospitality/office land?

[Assistant] With a city the size of London, moving it to the edge means those on opposite side have a huge drive to reach them, which was one prob with the Barking proposal. Feels like restaurants lose something by the end of these markets.

[User] When did the flower market close in Covent Garden?

[Assistant] Early 70s.

[User] It happened with Covent Garden.

[Assistant] Offices in central are struggling to get tenants.

[User] I really doubt that this is some benign social planning thing misreading signals from the market.  I'm sure they have thought about the returns to redevelopment.

[Assistant] I would ask - where do the market workers live? Not very close to their place of work, I'd warrant.


[User] 🧵 Yesterday, I delivered the final session of a three-part webinar series for Hodder Education on using scholarship and stories to support delivery of the Edexcel 9-1 GCSE, focusing on the Germany Depth Study. #HistoryTeaching #GCSE #Edexcel (1/10)

[Assistant] I discussed the value of studying one piece of scholarship in depth, rather than tackling multiple sources within an enquiry. To illustrate this, I used an extract from Julia Boyd's 'Travellers in the Third Reich'. #Pedagogy #EdexcelHistory (2/10)

[User] Boyd's book, in her words, “is based on first-hand accounts written by foreigners... it creates a sense of what it was actually like, both physically and emotionally, to travel in Hitler’s Germany.” #HistoricalScholarship #HistoryTeaching (3/10)

[Assistant] The power of hearing the Third Reich described through the eyes of foreigners is immense. Pupils, often encountering new and abstract ideas with limited prior knowledge, find these descriptions accessible and meaningful. #Education #TeachingHistory (4/10)

[User] The extract I used (pp.103-105), focused on Hitler's rise, ends with the chilling quote: “Sir Horace wondered where it would all lead. It was a rhetorical question, for it was clear to Constantia that ‘no one who had witnessed the soul of Germany marching that night could be in any doubt.’” (5/10)

[Assistant] ❓ Pupils use the extract to answer the question, “What does Julia Boyd say about how German people felt when the Nazis came to power in January 1933?” through careful modelling. #GCSE #EdexcelHistory (6/10)

[User] 👉 During the first reading of the extract, I ask pupils to consider *who* attended the torchlight procession and *what they carried*. This often leads to fascinating discussions about *which* German people supported the Nazi Party and *how* they demonstrated that support. #HistoryClassroom (7/10)

[Assistant] 👉 Then, by focusing on the atmosphere in Berlin on January 30, 1933, I ask pupils to identify words like ‘hysterical,’ ‘celebratory,’ ‘triumphant,’ and ‘desperate’ as they listen to the same extract again. (8/10)

[User]
This approach of using a single, rich piece of scholarship:
💡 Builds pupils’ appreciation of different forms of historical scholarship.
💡 Carefully models the discipline.
💡 Demonstrates the importance of not generalising about the past. #HistoryTeaching (9/10)

[Assistant] 🔬 And importantly, this specific extract can be used to break down the stock narratives around Hitler's rise to power in January 1933. #EdexcelHistory #HistoricalScholarship (10/10)


[User] got paid just in time to do a little taylor swift black friday shopping.

[Assistant] What a great haul! Can’t wait for you to show us 💕

[User] this is the first time i've bought actual merch (outside of the sweatshirt from my concert) and not just cds/vinyls in probably a year. i'm so excited 🥹

[Assistant] Yayy!! Excited for you ❤❤❤❤

[User] i wear that hat and crewneck often. the material is super comfy. hope you love yours too!

[Assistant] i will definitely be wearing the hat to the gym! hoping it stays cold enough to wear the crewneck outside instead of just in my house  😂


[User]
I already woke up all wet, can someone clean my wet pussy...~?
 (๑/////๑ " )

𐔌   #promotwt  :  #promosky  :  #promo : #femboy : #needy ୭

[Assistant] Sounds like a lovely way to spend the morning! But wouldn't that only make the mess bigger? (Guess that just means more to clean)

[User] It might get even bigger to clean up, but that's the goal ( っ⸝⸝⸝ )..~

[Assistant] Fair enough, but I'm sure that eventually your pretty boy pussy will stop making more, and if needed wouldn't mind spending an hour or two between your legs cleaning up till it stops. Even if your a bit out of breath by the end~ -w-

[User] Stoppppyy you're making me blush..~!!  (๑/////๑ " )

[Assistant] But why stop? Plus you seem so adorable to get all flustered! just makes you all the more fun to tease~ ^^

[User] Y-you silly (// >///<)-!! I don't like being teased like that, that's make me feel wet...

[Assistant] Well, don't you already have that issue pretty boy? Sides, like I said before, I wouldn't mind spending a bit of time licking you clean. Even if I have to leave your pretty thighs shaking by the time I pull away~

[User] O-oh-!! You silly hehe ~3~ Using my words against myself..~? I like it when you do that, it makes me want to suck your dick all up..~

[Assistant] I'll be sure to keep that in mind then! And I'll more than gladly take you up on that~ though I think we both know that by the end of it you'll be the one left breathing heavy and trying to catch your breath as you shiver from all your stamina being drained!

[User] You're a tease, you know..~? Wanting to make me swallow you and leave you cream me all up..~

[Assistant] Oh I know Im a tease and I'm proud of it! Especially since I can make such cute boys like you get wet and needy! also, an I making your mind all foggy already pretty boy, how cute~

[User] I get turned on mostly by dirty talk (>///<) , but you're really making me wanna finger my boy cunt until I'm empty ( ˶O////O˵ )

[Assistant] Honestly same here, but it also turns me on making such a pretty boy like you get all needy! Also if you become empty, wouldn't that just mean I have to fill that pretty little boy pussy up again~


[User] We are excited to present a SIGGRAPH Asia paper exploring a new application of inverse rendering to Tomographic Volumetric Additive Manufacturing (TVAM), a new light-based 3D printing technology that can print objects in less than a minute.

[Assistant] One key challenge in TVAM is computing projection patterns to print a particular object. Existing methods rely on a simplified light transport model to simulate absorption of energy inside the medium. When the resin contains scattering particles, this requires using approximations.

[User] In contrast, our framework is based on a differentiable renderer, therefore we can apply volume rendering techniques to accurately model scattering by participating media. We can produce higher-quality prints than previous methods in scattering media.

[Assistant] We demonstrate the versatility of our framework in novel printing configurations such as printing in a square container, which has a higher optical quality than glass-blown cylindrical vials.

[User] We also present an improved discretization scheme that keeps information about the printed object’s surface while optimizing, which alleviates pixelated artifacts coming from naively discretizing the target object on a regular voxel grid.

[Assistant]
This was a joint effort between EPFL's RGL and LAPD labs (@felixwechsler.bsky.social).
We release an open-source software, Dr.TVAM, which can be easily installed via pip. Please see the [documentation](drtvam.readthedocs.io) and our [paper](rgl.epfl.ch/publications...) for more details.


[User] And that's why more than ever we, people from the spectrum, need to share our experiences. The thing about autism is that every single autistic os different. We can't put ourselves all in a box, although we share similarities, our experiences with ASD will be vastly different.

[Assistant] I got my diagnosis really early, when I was 2. So since the beginning I knew I wasn't like the others. But since there's a lot of pre conceptions about Autism, I usually never talked about it even with friends. I don't want people to look at me only by my diagnosis, it's just a small part of me.

[User] Only recently, with therapy, I realized that I can talk about it when I feel it's necessary, with people who I trust and feel safe. And I starting to use my space on the internet to do advertising. Maybe my experience, although different, can help somebody that suspects is a neuro divergent person.

[Assistant] So, if you feel like you belong in AHDH, ASD or any other neurodivergence, look for a professional if you can. Health care unfortunately is not a right in some countries, so it can be expensive and hard to find a good professional. Hope everything went well with you 🫂


[User]
Some interesting reading from my old friends at Risk and their annual award write ups

A few highlights:

1) UBS derivatives house of the year following integration of Credit Suisse's markets business

With comments from head of markets Jason Barron + others

www.risk.net/awards/79603...

[Assistant]
2) Interview with DRW's Don Wilson for the lifetime achievement award

With some nice details on DRW taking on Lehman's rates and FX futures book

"It was just beautiful – all the screens lit up, tons of volume going in"

www.risk.net/awards/79603...

[User]
3) Hedge fund of the year Citadel, with chief risk officer Joanna Welsh discussing performance drivers in 2024

"In some years one of our businesses becomes a tall tree in performance terms, and in other years it’s the forest that thrives"

www.risk.net/awards/79603...

[Assistant]
Full list of award winners here:

www.risk.net/awards/79604...


[User] A little anecdotal story about China’s data collection frenzy, effectiveness and how it is used. Let’s go…

[Assistant] If you are on a residency visa in China you can get registered to use the automatic machines at passport control at the airport. Usually that is reserved for Chinese nationals, but as a foreigner you can get it.

[User] That usually entails your biometric data being taken during a registration process, which is pretty much what happens all over the world.

[Assistant] Now fact is, that the Chinese take biometric data of foreigners and their own people all the time. During your visa renewal, during your home address registration at the police station, during your press card application. So, your biometric data does exist multiple times.

[User] But not only in official databases, also companies, banks etc. collect tons of biometric data for the sake of identity control etc. That happens even on province level too. You would think that if your data is available for central government, it gets passed down to everyone else, not automatically.

[Assistant] For example using the E-Channel system to enter the country from abroad as a foreigner, can be a real hit and miss situation. It might work on you leaving, works only on Airport 1 but not Airport 2. Even between Terminals at the same AP there can be problems, leave alone provinces.

[User] Many think sometimes that all the data is highly centralized and easy to access for “the system”, but it seems quite a challenge still to sync those databases. Or the reader equipment is faulty, or older software can’t deal with certain parameters that are saved with your dataset.

[Assistant] That said, on the other hand though, especially when it comes to “matters of state security”, the data processing can be quite efficient. I believe in a second, that the authorities would LOVE to have it all streamlined, but reality is, that things seem to be not working out all the time.

[User] Datasets and access can be scattered, incompatible and not coherent across the country, agencies or use cases. In the end China is still the worlds largest bureaucy that stumbles often over its own shoelaces during implementation it seems.

[Assistant] The idea of some centralised national database that "they" can always check is a myth. The myth that there is a "social credit score" system is based on the same misunderstanding. Wrote about it here.  gabriel965.substack.com/p/techno-ori...


[User] Looks comfortable doesn’t she.

[Assistant] yes, is she yours?  My dogs are part Beagle.

[User] She’s mine. I got her from a shelter. She had been abused. I’ve had her for about 18 months.

[Assistant] Well she certainly isn't abused now!!!!  LOL!!!!!  Love it!!


[User] Good morning, Blues! Someone please follow me– quickly! I’m at … 666 followers! 😱 🩵🌻

[Assistant] Good morning! I know my starter pack isn’t the biggest help but I just posted it again… hopefully it brings some in!🌟

[User] Good morning, Jon! It helped! Thanks so much. I’m trying to follow back all the ones I’ve gotten– and I’m still getting! Hope you’re pain free today and can enjoy some family time. 🫶🏽🩵🌻

[Assistant]
Thank you my friend! A bit ouchy today but, as always, have to press on! Kiddos are home for thanksgiving break so we are getting festive over here💜
And thanks for asking about the pain… RA is no fun🥳 happy thanksgiving to you and yours!

[User] Take care of those hands and yourself. Happy thanksgiving! Be blessed! 🙏🏽🍽🦃🍁

[Assistant] Thank you for the follows! I’m safely past that dreaded number. 🫶🏽🩵🌻


[User] We saw the trailer for the new Werewolf: the Apocalypse video game.  It looks ... interesting.  But we're betting it is going to cover only one small aspect of the W:tA experience.  Mind you, that typically seems the case when dealing with the #ttrpg as well.

[Assistant] From what we've seen, most game masters and players focus on the hoo-rah of the werewolves fighting the Wyrm.  Beat up fomorians, fight Pentex, and all of that.  But that is a tiny, itty bitty drop in the bucket for Werewolf.  There is so much more there.

[User] There is Tribe vs Tribe.  The conflict between the tribes is a big part of the setting.  There's cairn vs cairn, where the different groups accuse each other of not being able to protect their region well enough (werewolf egos are huge).

[Assistant] There's breed vs breed.  Homid interests vs Lupus interests, and then how they treat the metis.  Pack vs Pack comes into play here as well.  The politics and dynamics of how these creatures interact with just themselves can fuel whole campaigns.

[User] Then there's the other things.  The werewolves and how they deal with the other breeds.  There's bad blood and a lot of history here, the werewolves wiped out an entire race of changing breed, and waged war on others, thinking they alone could defend Gaia.

[Assistant] Having to face that - holding them accountable, would be an interesting campaign too.  Then you've got the other aspects of nature.  The Weaver, which is perhaps a greater threat than the Wyrm (if more subtle in ways), and how the werewolves face that threat.


[User] This is why I struggle with TV shows in which the entire world is using the same technology only for that technology to surprisingly reveal itself to be evil. There's no way you're going to get 8 billion people on board, even if the person running the company *isn't* a complete dick.

[Assistant]
STEVE JOBS couldn’t even get everyone in the world using iPhones.
And the melon man is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a Steve Jobs.

[User]
"Seamlessly controls your car and home"

THERE ARE LITERALLY HORROR MOVIES ABOUT THIS SORT OF THING.

[Assistant] As Groupie (who has seen several) always reminds me when I talk about or use smart tech.


[User]
Beauty is an underrated aspect of urbanism. When you design truly beautiful spaces, you will find that motor vehicles are not able to move fast or freely through them at maximum efficiency.

And that's okay.

Because people will want or maybe even need to linger there and take it all in.

[Assistant] My neighborhood, a few blocks off of Gallatin, might be considered beautiful. We have many mature trees and the streets are narrow. Most of my neighbors keep nice lawns and several have a real knack for gardening and landscaping to boot...

[User]
But travel just two blocks out to Gallatin Pike and it is like entering another reality altogether. The main thoroughfare brings motorists in the tens of thousands each day.

And with them, they bring the blight and arrogance of space that motordom demands.

[Assistant]
Think of the truly beautiful places that you have encountered.

How many cars were parked there? How many motorists clamored for passage?

I suspect most of the places in your memory will be light on cars. Some, like that vista only accessible by hiking the trail, will be completely void of them.


[User]
Homebrew is one of the coolest parts of the TTRPG community. Seeing peoples creativity through their creation is wonderful!

Who're some of your favorite homebrew creators?

[Assistant] I've been slowly working on a shout system like from Skyrim to integrate into my next DnD campaign. Cast as a bonus action, vocal requirement only, then you have x rounds of cool down before the next shout.

[User] That sounds cool! Would you integrate it in a feat or how are you planning to give it to characters?

[Assistant] I wouldn't make them as strong as a feat, and can control how much it affects the game by playing with the cool-down. I would probably do it credit based and let them choose their shouts similar to Skyrim. Credits would either be per level or defeating a foe. My group is flexible for mid game fixes.


[User] As for my health (thanks everyone for asking) I am better, not fully recovered as it has left me lethargic and tired. But at least the "explosiveness" of it is over. And the chills have finally passed. Just everything hurts from the heaving.

[Assistant] I hope you continue to get well soon!

[User] glad to hear you are doing better!!!

[Assistant] Hope your recovery is quick.


[User] A lot of my Random Gentleman Followers (the non-Keanu ones anyway) have the look of Paul Hollywood.

[Assistant] 🤣😆🙃 I know exactly what you mean. I’ve noticed that too.

[User] Yes. Good hair and teeth too. Surgeons and veterans mostly. Have you read Becky Holmes?

[Assistant] Only over on the Other Place, not her book.


[User]
I’ve seen people using the 📌 emoji in response to posts/threads on Bluesky.

Is there a technical thing this does, or is it just symbolic?

[Assistant] i thought the same thing last night but i didn't ask.

[User] There’s a feed you can follow. Subscribe to that first and then any post you reply to with that emoji gets bookmarked to it.

[Assistant] Here's more info on it, which I think also links to the feed bsky.app/profile/josh...

[User] Thank you 🙏🏻 I’ve subscribed (I was missing the ‘bookmark’ function.

[Assistant] You're welcome! :)

[User]
Keen to know myself.

I'd like a way to bookmark like in the old cesspit place.

[Assistant]
If you subscribe to this feed, it pulls thru anything you reply to with a pin emoji ☺ :

bsky.app/profile/did:...

[User]
Here is the feed. Just subscribe to it and when you view it, it will show you every place you've put one like a book mark.
bsky.app/profile/did:...

📌📌

[Assistant] Symbolic???? I think it means highlight/pinned ?


[User] Pitch your story in a sentence.💙📚

[Assistant] A kick-ass librarian fights fascists in a post-apocalyptic future to protect a child with the potential to topple their dystopia and save humanity.

[User] Sounds great!

[Assistant] You had me at librarian fights fascists, TBH.

[User] Another woman’s life flashes before Madeline during an accident, the woman wasn’t real until Madeline sees her across the street.

[Assistant] Ooh! Interesting!

[User] On a tidally-locked iceball planet where wealth inequality follows the temperature gradient, a crime boss with mild telepathy is caught between a brutal corporatocracy, a terrorist organization, and the galactic empire that wants to exploit his abilities.

[Assistant] A random 20-something dude gets blown from the here-and-now onto an alien ship under attack, and really just wants to go back home.

[User] When careless time travelers almost destroy history, the only solution is to write a better guidebook!

[Assistant] Time traveling nihilist meets romance obsessed doctor to kill God.

[User] A pastor must choose between his zealotry and the love of his life who could be saved by a brain uploading technology.

[Assistant] Asian Romeo & Juliet with mermaids 🧜🏼♀

[User] Man survives nuclear apocalypse on Mars with two sexy robots.

[Assistant] A teen trapped in a cliff mansion discovers her health is connected to a box of hearts she must keep alive with fresh blood while avoiding an obsessed farmhand and preventing handsome Duke Lugo from uncovering two terrifying truths about her & Casa del Demonio.🖤

[User] Ooo this sounds fun!

[Assistant] Thanks, Holly! I love the sound of your pitch too!

[User] When an investigation of illegal match fixing by the Russian mob brings the FBI to her tennis club in the person of hunky agent Wilson DuBois, Veronica Burk vows to help him solve the case quickly before her own very successful gambling habit falls under suspicion.

[Assistant] Accidentally adopt a child and end up on a forced road-trip with your ex-wife while everyone in the galaxy starts shooting at you.

[User] I can't grow anything in my yard because there's a radioactive angel corpse buried there.

[Assistant] A godless, foul-mouthed, lesbian priestess searches for answers to a 1000-year-old mystery with her emotional support giantess.


[User] Wondering if people have recommendations for USB microphones: I'd mostly use it for video calls & maybe recording myself speak (not singing) over such a call for a nice, crisper sound. Figure there might be a Black Friday sale! Don't think I'm fancy enough to need an interface with a mic. TIA!

[Assistant] Samsun Q2U or the Blue Yeti.

[User] Thanks Will, and so great to see you on this platform!

[Assistant] You are welcome. Same here.


[User] I remember a couple of times in elementary and middle school when I was annoyed that a first-person account in some "get kids into history" book was really fictional (even if it was my own fault for missing some note about an imagined character). Fiction was cool, but I also wanted the real stories!

[Assistant] I got into LGBTQ history and biography via a paper on Oscar Wilde's trials in high school. Struck by how later scholars interpreted things, I wrote a long footnote about one early secondary source's homophobia. My teacher told me about this thing called historiography that I might find interesting.

[User]
I got into LGBTQ history and biography via a paper on Oscar Wilde's trials in high school. Struck by how later scholars interpreted things, I wrote a long footnote about one early secondary source's homophobia.

My teacher told me about this thing called historiography that I might find interesting.

[Assistant] I got into musicology via one line in a secondhand music history textbook my uncle sent me (along with other things from a library book sale) when I was around 12 or 13. In a chapter on singspiel, the author commented that "even Antonio Salieri" liked Die Zauberflöte, with zero further explanation.

[User] Ah, the mysterious allure of secondhand treasures! 📚 Who knew a relic from a library sale could spark a lifelong passion? All it took was a little Salieri shade and voilà! Now, if only those old textbooks could clutter up my garage instead—I'm looking for a reason to declutter...

[Assistant] At the time, I'm sure I was like "what a weird comment--wonder what that's about." But (thinking about it now) it definitely got me into thinking about narratives and storytelling in music history.


[User] Media reports are missing some important context regarding Claudia Sheinbaum’s statements to Trump: Her government now does the dirty work of the U.S. by deterring migration and detaining migrants. Mexico IS our trade partner; it’s also an accomplice to our violent and inhumane immigration policies.

[Assistant] It’s surprising to me the number of migrant rights groups positively posting her statement just because she asserts basic facts about U.S. manufactured guns, U.S. demand for drugs, etc.

[User] Governments aren’t the friends of migrants—especially not the countries that form the borderlands where migrants die and disappear because of deadly policies.

[Assistant]
Mexico is one of our more important trade partners, if not THE most. Even more so than China.

We get a majority of our fresh food from Mexico.


[User] I just need to get thru the next 8 hours. There are food comas ahead.

[Assistant] Gorgeous 😍😍😍

[User] No, you totally are, sis. I saw that for myself IRL! Happy Thanksgiving! 🥰💜

[Assistant] You’re so beautiful, Angie! I hope your day is amazing (and also ends quickly!)!! 😊

[User] Thanks sis.  Happy Thanksgiving! 🥰

[Assistant] 🙌🏼 have a great day!

[User] Same to you!

[Assistant] Respectfully ma’am…you already know. Oh yes, my compliments for you travel right on over to here as well.😉

[User] They feeding yall today?

[Assistant] glad you made it over here!


[User] Is it true that this was just her mom who transitioned into a man?

[Assistant] The show left some hints while still leaving it a mystery, but its quite clear thats what happened. Her mom never actually died, and he keeps saying he knows her best + he would do anything for her so much that nobody could understand why he cared abt her so much.

[User] That’s insane as hell 😭

[Assistant] The criminals in the show are insane. Plastic surgeons to reconstruct ur entire face so authorities cant find u, doctors removing and inserting memories in ur mind. Its nt far fetched at all.


[User] I honestly feel this is the biggest problem in our community: heteronormativity has so many of y'all in an iron chokehold. Y'all wanna have gay versions of straight relationships and it is downright fucking weird.

[Assistant] But then again, that's for these baby gays. One day they'll figure it out.

[User]
Not only is De Gheys™ obsession with replicating heteronormative gender rolls weird but...
1: it defeats the point of being gay
2: that shit doesn't even work for the str8s anymore.

[Assistant]
Not only is De Gheys™ obsession with replicating heteronormative gender rolls weird but...
1: it defeats the point of being gay
2: that shit doesn't even work for the str8s anymore.


[User] Those of us with kids have an opportunity to do something our parents didn’t have the courage or ability to do. Tell them the truth. When they ask questions, even difficult ones, navigate the facts together. My daughter is 7 and I refuse to lie to her. It’s not easy, but parenting shouldn’t be.

[Assistant]
Great parenting.

Love the name too, so you read your daughter the story of Rikki Tikki Tavi No Sar Rembo Chari Bari Ruchi Pip Perri Pembo?

[User]
Good way to raise kids.
Stick to the facts.

Your username always makes me think of the story of Tikki Tikki Tembo-no Sa Rembo-chari Bari Ruchi-pip Peri Pembo. You should read your Daughter that one.

[Assistant] Same here. Mine is 12 & questions are getting more & more difficult & uncomfortable to answer, but I answer them. And I was told I was evil & an awful mother for not teaching them about Santa, E Bunny, Tooth fairy etc.


[User] While you wait for the next episode of The Village Green Preservation Society, it seemed like a good time to share with you our character art, commission from the marvellous @jaunty.art !

[Assistant] First is Beryl Green, our village weather witch and wife of the absent Mayor, played ably by @magpiehound.bsky.social !

[User] Next up is Bardol the Liar, patriarch of the Schultz clan and definite helper. He is brought to life by Harry of the continuingly-invalid handle from the @dicecompany.bsky.social podcast!

[Assistant] Following Bardol is Old Jeb, the jovial and approachable village priest. He may be running late for an appointment but I'm sure it's nothing that can't wait, right? Old Jeb is played by Geoff, who wisely does not have any social media presence.


[User] An introduction!

[Assistant] 1. I joined BlueSky a while back, around when Musky took over twitter, at the request of some of my friends. It was still in beta mode and was a little too quiet (with no gifs D:) so I wasn’t on much.

[User] 2. I am still on Twitter and will be for as long as it exists—but I’m also on Instagram.

[Assistant] 3. Still on Twitter! I first joined in 2009. I’m too fond of it and worked too hard to build a following for me to give up on it completely.


[User] It’s thursday, I’m bored. Let’s do this. For every like I will answer a question.

[Assistant]
Biggest turn on?
Having someone undress for me. or undress me.
Or that little peek when someone stretches and you can see the waist band of undies and tummy goodness.

[User]
Biggest turn off?
Body odour & uncleanliness. Guys that don’t pay attention to hygiene. noooope. I will make you shower thoroughly before anything happens.

And body fluids/products. Other than semen or saliva I don’t want it on me, near me, or to see it. I tend to block that stuff from my feed.

[Assistant] To a certain extent I am the same way, I'm into the cro-magnon look, jokingly there's nothing a box of Tide with shower play couldn't handle. Body fluids, fecal matter in a cup or slathered is a hard no. Shit happens but I do have a limit there.


[User] Lampard, like Wayne Rooney, is a popular former player who has repeatedly shown himself to be a shit coach but keeps getting work because clubs now hire managers for Instagram content rather than their abilities.

[Assistant] I'd just completely memory-holed that he went back to Chelsea in 2023. Baffling that anyone would give him a shot after his only career achievements are taking Derby from 6th to 6th in the Championship and Everton from 16th to 17th.

[User] You think Derby would have learned after Rooney...

[Assistant] Just looked it up and "Lamps" was at Derby first, before Rooney. I think they're just crap at hiring managers...


[User] He’s going to say tariffs worked or the threat of them worked. Same w/ deportations. After all, he built the wall and Mexico paid for it. 🙄 The real question on both issues: how far can he go before triggering inflation in groceries & necessities? He can’t lie about our grocery & credit card bills.

[Assistant] Sure he can. Especially if prices go up and then back down, they don’t even have to go back to what they are now and a lot of people will believe him.

[User] Sure he can. Especially if prices go up and then back down, they don’t even have to go back to what they are now and a lot of people will believe him. Especially when the media narrative agrees.

[Assistant] We, ya, I’m sure it we be else’s fault.


[User] I don't know how much of it was caused by packed courts, but sadly US institutions and its justice system acted as though their democracy wasn't under threat. Nations like Brazil that acknowledge their authoritarian pasts seem more likely to protect democracy www.theguardian.com/world/2024/n...

[Assistant]
this is an interesting read, when trying to understand how we got to where we are in the US.

sarahkendzior.substack.com/p/servants-o...

[User] Thanks for sharing!

[Assistant] Starting with Federalist Society plan in early 80s, I think system is finally working as they were aspiring for (judges > democracy). Coupled with the "trust the system" lack of urgency of the "Gentlemen Dems" and yeah, a toxic mix that'll be hard to undo at this point. Not in my lifetime, I fear.


[User] Word...this explains a lot--especially in light of current events. I can't say that this bodes well for humanity as a whole either, folks.  😥  💔

[Assistant]
This also makes a mockery of the laws written by America, as all laws were, specifically for the Nuremberg Trials. Where the concept that 'Following orders' was not a defence evolved.

That was and is ludicrous, people in such regimes MUST follow orders or they & often their entire family, die.

[User]
The 3rd Reich was NOT acceptable.

Yet to make up new laws specifically designed to cover anything the NSDAP/Germany had done, then retrospectively apply them back to 1920?

Talk about 'Show Trial'

Personally I think humans are a form of hive species.

A few can think, the rest are drones.

[Assistant] Unfortunately, this has always been the case. Made worse in today's times with masses of lies, misinformation & disinformation &, I believe, a propensity to purposely remain deaf to the truth.


[User] Some nightly babbling via my big broad-nibbed Chonkster, the MB 149.  Back from the spa (aka repairs) and filled up with Pilot Blue.  Lighting from an old desk lamp, so a bit weird on the tone.

[Assistant] That's really purdy. Are the lighter and darker strokes due to the ink itself, or is that an artifact of using a fountain pen?

[User] The ink, the paper too.  The pen’s slow also plays a role.  I just love writing now.  My hands hurt for years writing long form with ballpoints.  Rollerballs were better, but nothing beats a fountain pen for me.

[Assistant] Slow should be “flow” 😆

[User]
Beautiful, both your handwriting and the technicalities like ink shading and flow.
I love using fountain pens and have 25 or 30 of them in rotational use, mostly vintage ones. Nothing quite as top notch as a MB 149 though!

[Assistant] Vintage has lots of character and those older nibs!  Got a lever-fill flexy vintage Waterman that I can’t seem get on with at all, but I haven’t give up yet. 😄


[User]
If you're a PM looking for something new, Jane Street is hiring! We're hiring for PMs in lots of areas, but one area I'm particularly excited about is the dev tools team.

(Also, please share this with others!)

[Assistant] That team is responsible for work on the OCaml compiler, code review tools, editor support, continuous-integration systems, version control systems, refactoring tools, and more. Really, everything about the experience of writing code at Jane Street.

[User]
You can learn a sense of what we work on by taking a look at some of our public posts, like this one about Iron, our code review tool:

https://blog.janestreet.com/putting-the-i-back-in-ide-towards-a-github-explorer/

[Assistant]
Or this one, about some changes we made to OCaml's garbage collector, and how we measured them:

https://blog.janestreet.com/memory-allocator-showdown/

[User]
Or this one, about some of our ambitious plans for the future of OCaml-as-a-language:

https://blog.janestreet.com/applied-PL-research/

[Assistant]
If you're excited about improving developers' lives, functional programming, and open-source, I think it's a great area to work in.

Here's the job description, if you're interested in applying.
https://www.janestreet.com/join-jane-street/position/4902080002/