JoshuaACNewman

JoshuaACNewman, 2 months ago to random

Always ask someone else to take a look at your great idea before you go into production.

JoshuaACNewman, 7 months ago (edited 7 months ago) to random

One of my favorite things about promoting Shock: is that I get to hang up a flag that attracts just the kinds of people I want to talk with. It’s my favorite thing to bond over overlapping taste.

Come see me at #PAXUnplugged on Dec. 2!

(My LEAST favorite thing is when they say "I CAN'T BELIEVE you haven’t read P.B. Juckleworm's ‘Iron Pickle' decology!"
Just tell me what you like! Don't make demands on creators! It doesn't build a good relationship.)

(@annaleen, @bruces, @ann_leckie, @older)

JoshuaACNewman, 7 months ago to random

How long before we discover Mike Johnson’s sexual abuses and securities fraud? Is he going to be outed as gay by his favorite sex worker? How many illegal immigrants will we find he employs?

I don’t know what the thing is, but I’m actually and consistently amazed by how many accusations are admissions with the Fascists.

I actually thought maybe some of them weren’t venal grifters crushed with internally generated shame, but just misled. But now I think it’s maybe all of them.

JoshuaACNewman, 10 months ago to random

Where do a centaur’s pubes begin? Where do they end?

JoshuaACNewman, 8 months ago to random

Warning: does not protect ears from high amplitude radio signals.

@nyrath
https://entertainment.ha.com/itm/movie-tv-memorabilia/costumes/astronaut-space-suit-6-piece-ensemble-from-2001-a-space-odyssey-mgm-1968-/a/7278-89403.s#

JoshuaACNewman, 9 months ago to random

Hey, space sci fi nerds, you’re probably already following @alexriesart , @nyrath , and @Nick_Stevens_graphics but if not you’re in for a delight!

JoshuaACNewman, 8 months ago to random

@nyrath it occurs to me that you might not be following @jeffzugale but I bet you want to.

JoshuaACNewman, 7 months ago to random

“People are curious, what does Mike Johnson think about any issue under the sun?’” he said In his first interview as Speaker… “I say, ‘Well, go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it. That’s my worldview.’”

Really.

Your view is that the corners of all fields should be left unharvested so anyone who needs food can take it from your fields?

… that you must pay your workers fully at the end of every day?

… that, every seventh year, all debt is abolished and all slaves go free?

JoshuaACNewman, 4 months ago to mst3k

I’ve been going through old drawings and photos with my parents.

Somehow, somewhere around 1980, when I’d be about 7, I drew this picture of Gamera. I remember watching afternoon monster movies with my friends Jason and Mikey up the street. I can’t imagine where else I’d know him from. It would be over a decade before #MST3K.

JoshuaACNewman, 11 months ago to random

Listening to @annaleen and @charliejane at Readercon like we’re rebuilding the civilized* world!

*There’s good reason to think that civilization might not be worth it, but I like the part where we get to find out about all our people everywhere and then meet up on a hill outside Boston.

JoshuaACNewman, 3 months ago to random

…I…guess for something good..?

JoshuaACNewman, 1 month ago to random

In Netanyahu's view, support of antisemitism serves the function of supporting Israel.

Bibi Netanyahu is a committed, powerful antisemite.
https://mastodon.social/@LiberalEd/112338611422296377

JoshuaACNewman, 9 months ago to random

Electronics Guys: Be sure to take into account the internal resistance of your batteries!

Me: Is there an empirical chart? Because you can't measure that with a multimeter.

Electronics Guys: It's important!

JoshuaACNewman, 1 year ago to random

You may be wondering: is there a #ttrpg inspired by Jack Vance, Ursula Le Guin, Gilgamesh, Conan, and the Torah... that DOESN'T fund the fucking Pinkertons?

And if so, do they publish a game that is easy to pick up, beautifully written by award-winning storytellers, & plays over coffee or through a long, sexy Bronze Age Sword & Sorcery campaign?

And, again, doesn't pay for FUCKING PINKERTONS?

GOOD NEWS! It's on SALE for FUCK THE PINKERTONS DAY*!

*every day

https://glyphpress.com/talk/product/the-bloody-handed-name-of-bronze-codex-edition

An enormous, pale crocodile with a green gem in its forehead — the queen of its river — negotiates with a human sitting in the sand at the shore. The human seems relaxed as she explains that the approaching army from which she hids is much more sustenance than her little, skinny self, and she could bring them here for the crocodile to feast upon. The crocodile will concede, with the caveat that each time she hungers, the little mortal will feel her hunger.
A priestess, richly dressed, leads an enormous auroch, dressed as richly, to the temple for sacrifice.
A beleaguered hero, missing a finger, fends off a hail of arrows with a small, vicious-looking bronze sword. If you ask me, I don't think they're gonna make it.

JoshuaACNewman, 7 months ago to random

This common behavior is an indication of some serious flaws in the design principles of a CLI.

The “string of characters that wraps at the edge of the screen” has little to do with how computers work and more to do with the limitations of the surplus teletype and radar screens that were conveniently available to experiment with after WWII.

(As I often do, and you should too, more is in the alt text)

JoshuaACNewman, 10 months ago to random

@annaleen I imagine you already know about this (and I suspect are a reference for it) but I’ve been enjoying the Fall of Civilizations podcast. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fall-of-civilizations-podcast/id1449884495

JoshuaACNewman, 6 months ago to random

Hey, @lumpley has published a revised (since 2017, which is an astonishing amount of time ago) explanation of what “Powered By the Apocalypse” means!

https://lumpley.games/2023/11/22/what-is-pbta/

JoshuaACNewman, 8 months ago to random

JoshuaACNewman, 3 months ago to StarTrek

I think the writers of Voyager think that Tom is hot?
#startrek #startrekvoyager

JoshuaACNewman, 9 months ago to random

Don't forget: The Luddites were ENGINEERS. They knew EXACTLY what they were talking about. They weren't against machines. They were against machines making it impossible for them to live.

So they threw their clogs, “sabots”, into the machinery.

JoshuaACNewman, 6 months ago to random

Composing a really good toot

JoshuaACNewman, 8 months ago to random

I love building electronics like this. It’s meditative. But it is reeeally slow.

JoshuaACNewman, 5 months ago to random

It’s eerie how much @annaleen tends to talk about the shit I happen to be into at the very moment they talk about it.

The latest episode of @ouropinions is about speculative ecosystems — exactly the class I’m starting to teach next week (along with rocket science via Kerbal and my magnum opus class, Making What You Want).

When I’ve done it before, it’s been the whole class working on parts of a single big ecosystem, applying Darwinian principles to their creative discretion.

JoshuaACNewman, 3 months ago to random

Every week, I play Kerbal Space Program with my students. A couple of weeks ago, everything from students to computer weren't working, so I pivoted to playing with LEGO gears.

Once the computer was working, the kids didn't want to play video games anyway. They wanted to build stuff.

Lesson plans are cops.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/thinking-on-your-99478523?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

JoshuaACNewman, 2 months ago to random

It might at some point occur to the promoters and purveyors of VR and AI that it might not be a great strategy to ice out all the artists and sex workers who could ever make it matter.

A culture is made out of sex* and art.

• There are associated, sex-like things, like friendship and tribal membership. But those are not generally considered taboo.