Mastodawn

#HashtagGames #DescribeAMovieBadly
Poor operational security allows a critical financial transaction to vanish without trace. The CEO, facing bankruptcy and jail, becomes abusive, violent and suicidal, before being transported to an alternate timeline where his brother is dead, his ex-boss has killed a child, and most disturbingly, his wife is a librarian. He appeals to God and is returned to the main timeline, where the company's customers, determined not to be dependent on a single supplier, bail out the company. The movie ends with no changes to operational security being made.
A heartwarming, holiday favourite for generations.

Ben Aveling 4d ago

Jay Kuo 4d ago

This needs to be made clear.

(Rare work post, you know what I do)

Yes I'm a fan of the creative team that produces Pluribus. Yes, it's an Apple TV show. Because yes, Android users can get the Apple TV App on Google Play, subscribe to it, and watch the show.

Yes I still ask the interview question "Do you like creative people?"

The X-Files producers had a problem: Season 1 was a big hit, but where would they get ideas for another 24 episodes for season 2?

A sci-fi nerd / Twilight zone fan from Virginia went to film school, saw season 1 of the X-Files, and thought it was the coolest show ever. He wrote a fan script for it.

The X-Files producers saw his fan script, and said "This is really good!" So they hired him to be a writer for X-Files season two.

He worked on the X-Files for 7 years.

Then he had a weird idea for a disturbed show about a high school chemistry teacher that becomes a meth dealing drug kingpin.

Great Movies and TV, are made by great Movie and TV makers. Creative people, working together, to produce something new.

Human beings love stories. Some of us go so far as to say that human beings need stories.

Sometimes I think that people forget that our role is to support creative people.

I've never met Vince Gilligan. I don't know him personally. I don't know if he's a nice person.

I only know his work.

Or more accurately, the output of his work. The tiny bit that makes it through all the rough drafts and bad takes, and didn't get cut in editing, and that studios released.

And I know that he didn't produce his shows by himself. He was part of a team, that is in turn part of an entire ecosystem of people and companies and organizations that support the production of creative work that we all enjoy.

I like creative people, and the ecosystem that supports them.

No Twilight Zone? No X-Files.

No X-Files? No Breaking Bad.

No Breaking Bad? No Pluribus.

It's easy to see how the world would be missing something if those never happened.

What's harder to see, is that there are other stories that didn't happen because we didn't support Black producers in 1959.

Ben Aveling Dec 13

Show thread

Weltschmerz à Gogo Dec 13

@ErikUden

No, if Grok says it's true, then it must be true. You'll just have to adapt. Anyway, you were so good in 'Memento', and I really loved your work in 'Priscilla, Queen of the Desert'. You're such a great actor, Jeremy Corbyn!

Ben Aveling Dec 10

Electronic Frontier Foundation Dec 10

Losing anonymity online “means that personal private data is able to be collected and retained and stored and breached, maybe used by bad actors linking your identity to the sites that you visit online,” EFF’s Molly Buckley told Michigan Public. https://www.michiganpublic.org/politics-government/2025-12-08/michigan-bill-would-require-parental-consent-for-teens-on-social-media

Michigan bill would require parental consent for teens on social media

Michigan lawmakers are weighing legislation that would require major social media platforms to verify users’ ages and obtain parental consent for anyone under 18.

Michigan Public

Ben Aveling Dec 3

Bluesky has a 300 character limit?
I guess the sky really is the limit.

Ben Aveling Dec 1

Mark Holtom (aka Kingbeard)Nov 24

The Christmas book tree by Hatchards books at St. Pancras Station in London. I was going to make a special trip to see it but it turned out my train was there. The little booths have speakers that tell you a story while you sit

Ben Aveling Nov 30

Show thread

Ben Aveling Nov 30

Sympathy to anyone involved who is trying to do non-genAI stuff.
But if you are pushing LLMs at this point, you deserve to be fed your own dogfood.
@GossiTheDog

Ben Aveling Nov 28

Site Reliability Enby Nov 28

I'm looking for other trans people born in the UK who live abroad, who applied for a GRC and got denied with a request for documentation that is nonexistent or otherwise impossible to obtain, despite living in an approved country/state.

I'm a UK citizen who transitioned while living in an approved territory. I obtained a court order in July 2024 that legally changed my name, with gender transition explicitly stated as the (mandatory) reason for change, and was used in conjunction with a doctor's letter to update the name and gender marker on my my driver's license - this represents the complete legal gender recognition process available in that state.

The Gender Recognition Panel has now requested additional "evidence of a change of gender in an approved country or territory" beyond what I've already provided. The problem: as a UK citizen born in the UK, I cannot obtain a US birth certificate from any state. The court order and state ID are the only documents that exist.
The GRP appears to expect documentation (like amended birth certificates) that only exists for people born in those territories, not for UK citizens who obtained recognition there.

As I no longer live in the UK and would not return under any circumstances given the current government, I do not have a UK doctor, so there appears to be literally no way it would be possible for me to have a correct birth certificate.

I'm exploring legal action and it would strengthen the case significantly if this is a systemic issue affecting multiple people.

You can either reply or message me privately here, or if you would rather, DM me for my discord or signal contact info.

Ben Aveling Nov 28

Show thread

Cassander Nov 27

@maxleibman If "device hoarding" is bad, imagine how immoral "money hoarding" must be! I'm sure there's a Washington Post or NYT editorial about how utterly repugnant it is to hold onto unimaginable piles of wealth when other humans are cold and hungry.