Kit Rhett Aultman

@roadriverrail@signs.codes
611 Followers
458 Following
7.8K Posts

Signs & Codes Founder. I talk a lot about #ttrpg and especially #WorldOfDarkness (#WoD), #ham #radio, #edm, #retrocomputers, and all sorts of #foss stuff, especially systems software.

I'm #trans, #nonbinary, #transfeminine, #polyamorous, #kinky, and polymorphously #queer.

Gendernon-binary
Pronounsthey/them
Websitehttps://rhettaultman.com
Kit Rhett Aultman2h ago
Ludic 🧛9h ago

Great news everyone! Thomas Ptacek at Fly.io published "My AI Skeptic Friends Are Nuts", and it was shoved in front of me enough times that I have sentenced him to a swift death. Godspeed, Thomas, I pray that your incineration is speedy and painless.

https://ludic.mataroa.blog/blog/contra-ptaceks-terrible-article-on-ai/

Contra Ptacek's Terrible Article On AI — Ludicity

Kit Rhett Aultman12h ago
LRRR 13h ago
REUSE THIS ONE OVER AND OVER UNTIL WE ALL DIE:
Kit Rhett Aultman14h ago
Rabbit Cohen16h ago
I love samples in music. I can feel so lost in a song, and then it's like "Oh hey, it's my friend Amen Break! From drums!"
Kit Rhett Aultman15h ago
Cory Doctorow16h ago

ETA: GOOD NEWS!

https://mastodon.social/@Mastodon/114709820512537821

In reading an important discussion of the IP assignment in the new Mastodon.social ToS:

https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/35086

I was GOBSMACKED to discover the new ToS has a "binding arbitration waiver," which takes away your right to sue, no matter how badly the service abuses you.

These are profoundly unethical, terrible clauses. They should never, ever appear in "adhesion contracts" (that is, contracts that you merely click through, rather than negotiating.)

New Terms of Service IP clause cannot be terminated or revoked, not even by deleting content · Issue #35086 · mastodon/mastodon

Summary Since it first opened, mastodon.social has operated without any sort of explicit IP grant from the users to the service, which is unusual for a social networking service. Today Mastodon ann...

GitHub
Kit Rhett Aultman15h ago
Wrenasaurus Tex21h ago

Today the Supreme Court issued its ruling on the United States. v Skrmetti and it's heartbreaking. I thought that Chase Strangio gave a solid argument for the plaintiffs but the conservative judges thought differently.

And so now this ruling sets a precedent that will not only negatively affect trans teens but could, and most likely will, affect trans adults and their ability to access gender affirming healthcare.

This is a terrible blow to the Equal Protection and Privacy Clauses of the 14th Amendment.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jun/18/tennessee-supreme-court-gender-affirming-care-skrmetti

US supreme court upholds Tennessee ban on youth gender-affirming care

Ruling is devastating loss for trans rights supporters in case that could set precedent for dozens of other lawsuits

The Guardian
Kit Rhett Aultman18h ago
I'm not on HRT or any similar medical interventions, and I'm decades past being legally a child, but the Skrmetti decision today has been extremely dehumanizing to read and consider. I am decidedly not okay.
Kit Rhett Aultman4d ago
Bruce Hallman4d ago
A photo that I snapped an hour ago of the San Francisco #NoKings protest. I estimate about 150,000 people in total.
Kit Rhett AultmanJun 11
Prof. Emily M. Bender(she/her)Jun 11

"Part of our task in the face of generative AI is to make an argument for the value of thinking – laboured, painful, frustrating thinking."

"[W]e also need to hold our institutions accountable. [...] university administrators are highly susceptible to the temptations of technology-driven downsizing, big tech donations, and the appearance of being on the cutting edge."

https://activehistory.ca/blog/2025/06/11/on-generative-ai-in-the-classroom-give-up-give-in-or-stand-up/

Kit Rhett AultmanJun 11
Phoenix ️‍️‍🌈️💛🤍💜🖤Jun 8

Please help @OhJoySexToy survive - they're doing a great job for body positivity and diversity while also giving awesome advice about sexuality, health, and helping you find the best toys for you and/or your partner(s)! They also feature some amazing guest artists. I've discovered some new favourite people who make comics through this site. And I just got myself an ebook to support them.

https://www.ohjoysextoy.com/12-years-pledge-drive-2025/

#OJST #Webcomic #PledgeDrive #BodyPositivity #SexPositivity #Diversity #Inclusion

12 Years & Pledge Drive 2025

TWELVE YEARS. That's 3,160 pages of comics, broaching every subject and topic we can under the umbrella of sexual joy and positivity. Each of you who visits the site, every artist who contributes, every dollar we receive in support: None of it is taken for granted and the site only exists because

Oh Joy Sex Toy
Kit Rhett AultmanJun 11
NashJun 11
Deep Blue is 30 years old and was capable of defeating chess grand champions. It could be housed in a single cabinet. ChatGPT spans untold data centers devouring massive amounts of electricity and it got its ass whipped by an 8 bit gaming console from the 1970s.

ChatGPT Lost a Chess Game to a...
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iamBullivantJun 7

Alan Turing died by suicide on 7 June 1954. Turing was convicted of gross indecency in 1952 and given a choice between imprisonment and probation. His probation would be conditional on his agreement to undergo hormonal physical changes designed to reduce his libido. Turing's conviction led to the removal of his security clearance and barred him from continuing with his consultancy for GCHQ. He was denied entry into the United States after his conviction.

#AlanTuring #GayRights #OnThisDay

Show threadHugs4friends ♾🇺🇦 🇵🇸😷Jun 7
@bullivant #ZealousReligionIsPoison
Show threadKid ManiaJun 7
@Tooden @bullivant
Show threadHarriettMBJun 7
@bullivant Turing was an amazing (and gay) man who saved the world then from Nazi rule with his work. He was treated abominably, with horrific cruelty and destroyed by hate because of his sexuality. It’s so shocking that our governments have returned to mistreating people via recent SC ruling wilfully misinterpreted by the ‘equalities’ & human rights commission. In yesterday’s papers a columnist wrote that trans people should accept perceived reduced rights. #TransEquality
Show threadiamBullivantJun 7
@HarriettMB Absolutely Harriett. The return to chemical castration given it's legacy is horrifying.
Show threadHarriettMBJun 7
@bullivant It bothers me greatly that Starmer and his Labour MPs are gradually, insidiously, sliding all the worst aspects of what Trump is doing in the USA into the UK, through media and press promotion, through the SC [per that appalling biologically ignorant gender ruling], through pressure groups, through privatisation etc.
Show threadGhostOnTheHalfShellJun 7

@HarriettMB @bullivant

I haven’t seen anything easy to find through a cursory search, but I highly suspect somebody like storm is connected some way to the Silicon Valley crowd in the US. Very likely if you dig around enough you’ll find some association also with traditional conservative organizations like heritage foundation or one of the other similar societies

Show threadIsabel RuffellJun 7

@HarriettMB @bullivant

Graun not changing, then.

Are the #EHRC or #Labour serious in thinking we will come quietly?

On which note, is anyone maintaining a list of transphobic companies and orgs rushing to comply?

Show threadHarriettMBJun 7
@iaruffell @bullivant The lovely @Pamela1960 regularly posts such information, and links to articles, rulings, opposition etc. #TransEquality
Show threadiamBullivantJun 7
@HarriettMB @iaruffell @Pamela1960 Thanks for the information, Harriett.
Show threadMaggie MaybeJun 7
@HarriettMB @bullivant WTF even is that article?! “Perceived” reduced rights? As if trans people are misunderstanding what is happening but they should just shut up and get used to it?? 😡
Show threadJess👾Jun 7
If there was actually some "middle ground" that everyone accepted, I might be willing to negotiate. But when one side of the negations is literally calling for trans genocide and will ultimately accept nothing else, then fuck it. My position is 100% equality or bust.
@HarriettMB @bullivant
Show threadOnePlanet 💖🇺🇸 🌎Jun 7

@JessTheUnstill

Same

Show threadHarriettMBJun 7
@JessTheUnstill @bullivant The middle ground is ‘equality’ There is no other negotiation and there should never be. It doesn’t matter if it’s a discussion of women’s rights, disabled persons rights, mens rights, single parents rights, rights for those with learning difficulties, gay rights, lesbian rights, rights for immigrants or visitors, trans people’s rights - everyone is entitled to those same rights. Once any government or society starts down a road of less rights for some people, it’s a quick step to less rights for more people -
Remove autonomy so women can’t control their reproductive choice, but not from men - only from women…
Remove options to wear a headscarf - women in some religions are singled out…
Remove options for choosing your partner - men and women are singled out, and forced or arranged marriages become ‘normal’
Remove options for single parents - their children are take away and adopted elsewhere, or put in some kind of training school/institution - Racism & religions and colonial occupiers still do this.
Remove options for gay people, and revisit the horrors inflicted on Alan Turing again. The UK government has even suggested some kind of chemical castration for specific types of offender [cheaper than incarcerating them, I guess]
Remove options for trans women [hardly anyone is mentioning trans men - but the same nightmare applies for them] - no sport participation, no toilet facilities, reduced employment options, no treatment in hospital which is allowed if you are not trans but need the same perfectly legal and approved drugs.
Equality is the only middle ground. Everything else is literally Nazi and we’ve been there and seen that.
Show threadEpistatacadamJun 7
@HarriettMB @JessTheUnstill @bullivant I'd love to know when the human rights I grew up with, started to become divided into parts that everyone could have, those some might be better able to have, and finally those certain people weren't entitled too. I actually believe in Human Duties but I'm in a minority, but I think it would make it harder for politicians to excuse themselves from delivering others rights.
But I'd like to see politicians pay a price for denying others their rights!
Show threadJess👾Jun 7

Those human rights didn't exist back then either. Just ask minorities.

@epistatacadam @HarriettMB @bullivant

Show threadEpistatacadamJun 8
@JessTheUnstill @HarriettMB @bullivant I agree, but there was a consensus amongst most people that they should, and we made progress. The USA was hard to bring up to the standard of the rest of the world but it made progress too. Some even there recognised the wrongs done to the indigenous populations, not to mention the slaves and indentured labourers.
Hence my preference for human duties, you can sue someone for failing to perform their duties to you. The USA would now be in 1st Place.
Show threadNiniJun 7
@HarriettMB @bullivant "accept perceived reduced rights"... hm, why should they exactly? Guess you're saying they're just going to be treated as lesser because they're less human now, is that it? If not then why are you trying to deny freedoms offered to others on the basis of social dress?
Show threadHarriettMBJun 7

@nini I think you need to read my recent post, and read it correctly.
Here it is again. At the very least you owe me an apology for even suggesting I’m trying to deny freedoms to anyone, especially on the basis of social dress.
🤬🤬🤬. Read it, understand it and then fuck off.

The middle ground is ‘equality’ There is no other negotiation and there should never be. It doesn’t matter if it’s a discussion of women’s rights, disabled persons rights, mens rights, single parents rights, rights for those with learning difficulties, gay rights, lesbian rights, rights for immigrants or visitors, trans people’s rights - everyone is entitled to those same rights. Once any government or society starts down a road of less rights for some people, it’s a quick step to less rights for more people -
Remove autonomy so women can’t control their reproductive choice, but not from men - only from women…
Remove options to wear a headscarf - women in some religions are singled out…
Remove options for choosing your partner - men and women are singled out, and forced or arranged marriages become ‘normal’
Remove options for single parents - their children are take away and adopted elsewhere, or put in some kind of training school/institution - Racism & religions and colonial occupiers still do this.
Remove options for gay people, and revisit the horrors inflicted on Alan Turing again. The UK government has even suggested some kind of chemical castration for specific types of offender [cheaper than incarcerating them, I guess]
Remove options for trans women [hardly anyone is mentioning trans men - but the same nightmare applies for them] - no sport participation, no toilet facilities, reduced employment options, no treatment in hospital which is allowed if you are not trans but need the same perfectly legal and approved drugs.
Equality is the only middle ground. Everything else is literally Nazi and we’ve been there and see that.

Show threadNiniJun 7
@HarriettMB Not you, the EHRC, when have I ever been against you? I'm sorry for not being clearer upon that. I did read what you had said and agree with you, of course I do and I just regret I wasn't clearer on that.
Show threadaproitzJun 7

@HarriettMB @bullivant

I hope, they never accept this. #Trans #Rights are #Human Rights and every #Man and #Woman and #Queer and #Trans is/are #equal.

Show threadKris Dreemurr (they/them) of the Pnictogen WingJun 7
@bullivant incidentally, the ice-cold handling of Alan Turing suggests that the English authorities did break George Orwell through similarly extreme means, but the official story of course is that #Orwell renounced leftism. ~Chara
Show threadiamBullivantJun 7
@kris_of_pnictogen I hadn't realised that about Orwell, Kris. Thank you. And, yes, the way the way that they handled Turing, who had as much credit for winning the war as anyone else, was utterly brutal.
Show threadKris Dreemurr (they/them) of the Pnictogen WingJun 7
@bullivant it's only guesswork but surely the better attuned readers of Orwell know that his novels are commentaries on trends in his own society. 1984 / 1948, it scarcely matters; the same British civil service _handling_ exists in both times.
Show threadIanMoore3000Jun 7
@kris_of_pnictogen @bullivant I'm not sure Orwell actually renounced leftism.
Show threadKris Dreemurr (they/them) of the Pnictogen WingJun 7
@IanMoore3000 @bullivant oh that goes without saying! yet the official narrative is...uh....
Show threadDermot RyanJun 7

@kris_of_pnictogen @bullivant Thing is, when asked by a UK propaganda unit for a list of writers who would be useful for the purposes of anti-Soviet propaganda, he gave them instead a list of people he'd compiled of his own volition who he thought of as communist-sympathetic. Fairly petty too, describing Seán O'Casey as "very stupid" while he had the opportunity.

https://historyireland.com/george-orwell-sean-ocasey/

George Orwell & Sean O’Casey – History Ireland

Show threadDermot RyanJun 7
@kris_of_pnictogen @bullivant I don't think this necessarily counts as him renouncing left-wing politics, but his essays (and the private correspondence mentioned in History Ireland) make it very clear that he was very "patriotic"
/pro-England, and that latterly coloured his views on other subjects, including saying the Empire was necessary for England's material well being.
Show threadKris Dreemurr (they/them) of the Pnictogen WingJun 7
@dermotryanie @bullivant oh. oh dear. I thought Orwell was more clear-headed about that stuff
Show threadDermot RyanJun 7
@kris_of_pnictogen @bullivant He's an interesting character in the essays and journalism. Often insightful, and then pretty reactionary, or even ignorant.
Show threadHugs4friends ♾🇺🇦 🇵🇸😷Jun 7
@dermotryanie Pet theories can be like that. Was 1984 in a way an allegory - fiction and prediction, which was actually used as a manual (we joke about it, I know). @kris_of_pnictogen @bullivant
Show threadDermot RyanJun 7
@Tooden @kris_of_pnictogen @bullivant Yeah, it's an enduring work of fiction, so it works on a few levels, I think
Show threadKris Dreemurr (they/them) of the Pnictogen WingJun 7
@dermotryanie @bullivant yeah. I was appalled by how he wrote about Tolstoy for example
Show threadDermot RyanJun 7
@kris_of_pnictogen @bullivant I'll check that out
Show threadKris Dreemurr (they/them) of the Pnictogen WingJun 7
@dermotryanie @bullivant oof that looks like a very complicated literary feud and not the come-to-Jesus narrative which mainstream U.S. and English discourse forces, obscenely, onto Orwell's disillusionment.
Show threadFrançois @PragueJun 7

@bullivant @kris_of_pnictogen

His work was still classified at the time due to t he cold war. A unsung hero.

Show threadAlexis Sophia 🏳️‍⚧️Jun 7
@bullivant the UK government have proposed bringing back imposing these same hormonal procedures on criminals. Turing's treatment was the first thing I thought of when I saw the story in the press.
Show threadiamBullivantJun 7
@sophiarose Yes Alexis. The talk of enforced chemical castration is appalling.
Show threadEstarriol, lucozade dragonJun 7

@sophiarose @bullivant

Britain is rapidly becoming a truly horrible place.

Rampant racism, open homophobia, gov backed transphobia, anti abortion prosecutions, feels like all the hard won yards in the last 50 years are being wiped away every day.

Show threadiamBullivantJun 7
@Thebratdragon @sophiarose Agreed. That it is happening under a self-described 'Labour' government is very dispiriting.
Show threadTim SticklandJun 7
@bullivant
During his childhood, Alan Turing lived for a while in St Leonard's, East Sussex.
#AlanTuring
Show threadAndy Linton  ✅Jun 7

@bullivant Letter from Brian Randell to Alan Turing's mother dated 27 November 1975 which was the one of thefirst public acknowledgments of his genius and the critical work he did in WWII.

The letter is on display at Bletchley Park.

I got my first computing job working for Brian seven years after he wrote this important letter.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Randell

Show threadiamBullivantJun 7
@artnacrea Interesting share, Brian. Thank you.
Show threadnLupo  Jun 7
@bullivant And it was just because he was gay. I even heard that he named one of his computers after his boyfriend.
Show threadiamBullivantJun 7
@nlupo I hadn't heard that. Interesting, thank you.
Show threadXenotarJun 7
@bullivant Dark Ages (which is returning)
Show threadiamBullivantJun 7
@xenotar I am afraid so.
Show threadDaughter of DiscordJun 7

@bullivant

Edit: Now with alt-text!

Show threadiamBullivantJun 7
@CosmickTrigger 😂
Show threadMichel Serné 🇳🇱 🇪🇺Jun 7
@bullivant Alan Turing get a (small) parc named after him in my hometown Velsen (Netherlands).
Newpaper article about this parc (dutch): https://www.jutter.nl/alan-turing-thuis-tussen-de-wetenschappers-en-oorlogshelden/
Alan Turing thuis tussen de wetenschappers en oorlogshelden - Jutter | Hofgeest

IJmuiden – De laatste dag van februari was voor wethouder Jeroen Verwoort een heuglijke. Samen met Astrid Oosenbrug, voorzitter COC Nederland en voormalig IT politica van het jaar, en de jonge maar razendslimme cyber agent Valentijn mocht hij vandaag eindelijk het Alan Turingpark, tussen de Marconistraat en de Westerbegraafplaats onthullen. Verwoort is uitermate geïnteresseerd in […]

Jutter | Hofgeest
Show threadiamBullivantJun 7

@michelserne Good. There's a couple of statues to him in the UK.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Alan_Turing

Show threadyuhasz01Jun 7

@bullivant

Alan Turing a tragic loss for science and humanity at the hands of puny minded English bigots.

Show threadStarkRGJun 7
@bullivant And I doubt I will ever not be pissed off about that. He deserved the highest of honours. He was caught because he reported a crime, someone he'd slept with stole from him and the cops were more concerned with the fact that the person was a man than they were that he was a thief.
Show threadiamBullivantJun 7
@StarkRG Absolutely. The way that he was treated was appalling, particularly given his contribution to the war effort.
Show threadMaggie MaybeJun 7

@bullivant as someone who has been to prison and been on probation, it’s not worth it to take probation if they are really trying to punish you. You just end up with more time later when you violate probation. It’s not worth it if they’re really after you, even if you don’t have to agree to chemical castration it’s usually still not worth it.

I have known many men in prison who choose to max out rather than get out on parole and start to rebuild their life, only to get thrown back in prison because they missed an AA meeting or got laid off from their job through no fault of their own. Then you just end up with a parole violation, you lose everything you’ve built, if it’s not terrible it’s easier to just stay there and get it over with.

Show threadiamBullivantJun 7
@maggiejk Thanks for the share Maggie.
Show threadCatJun 7
@bullivant I get him
Show threadCrtlzlifeJun 7
@bullivant since nobody mentioned, but the movie "imitation game" is the story of his life. Great to watch
Show threadTodd UnctiousJun 7
@Laserfocused85 @bullivant The Imitation Game is only loosely based on Turing's real story. Many things are simply made up, such as the police being interested in him because they suspected he was a spy. In actual fact he involved the police when he was burgled by friends of a gay man he'd had an encounter with, and that's how he came to be in trouble https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/nov/20/the-imitation-game-invents-new-slander-to-insult-alan-turing-reel-history
The Imitation Game: inventing a new slander to insult Alan Turing

The wartime codebreaker and computing genius was pursued for homosexuality, but nobody – until film-makers came along – accused him of being a traitor, writes Alex von Tunzelmann

The Guardian
Show threadJfrenchJun 7

@bullivant "suicide" still to me has a question mark over it.

When I was young my textbook said "experimenting with arsenic" and failed to mention his sexuality.

When I heard the fuller version it never made sense.