Downer, Debbie
@braindouche.bsky.social
gay feral pixel programmer
I won't shut up about web accessibility, Dune, Factorio, Hellraiser, fountain pens and related kinks, and cursive handwriting.
It is illegal for you not to show me pictures of your cat.
Trans rights are human rights
she/her
I won't shut up about web accessibility, Dune, Factorio, Hellraiser, fountain pens and related kinks, and cursive handwriting.
It is illegal for you not to show me pictures of your cat.
Trans rights are human rights
she/her
Pinned
Downer, Debbie
@braindouche.bsky.social
· Nov 28
@braindouche.bsky.social as promised you were right and I was wrong Bluesky is exactly what I needed
I'm having this carved on my tombstone.
It's infuriating because the simplest dumbest version of effective altruism isn't bad. Do underperforming underprivileged students need books, desks, or food and medicine? Important question to ask.
The problems started when nerds tried to optimize the whole thing and became spreadsheet-brained.
The problems started when nerds tried to optimize the whole thing and became spreadsheet-brained.
I consider myself, for the record, vaguely EA-inspired with my giving strategy, just, I firmly don't think AI safety is a high priority compared to saving the lives of my trans siblings, and I prefer efforts by and for trans people, not saviourism
People who think they're Effective Altruist and not Rationalist, but who are deeply concerned with "AI Safety", are generally implicitly or explicitly concerned with Yudkowsky's basic framework for loss of control and doom.
September 17, 2026 at 5:37 AM
It's infuriating because the simplest dumbest version of effective altruism isn't bad. Do underperforming underprivileged students need books, desks, or food and medicine? Important question to ask.
The problems started when nerds tried to optimize the whole thing and became spreadsheet-brained.
The problems started when nerds tried to optimize the whole thing and became spreadsheet-brained.
Watching Shishi has been incredible. He debuted in the top division maybe half-cooked? He keeps learning, he keeps getting better, and it is so much fun to watch him grow.
He has not reached his final form yet.
He has not reached his final form yet.
So totally unrelated to the quoted post I did wanna talk about Ukraine’s other pro rikishi, Shishi
A classic Big Galoot. Debuted before the smolderingly sexy pouty Aonishiki
Calls his stable master’s wife mama. Loves nominal puns. Instead of ‘ureshii’ he says ‘ureshishi’. He’s kind of a rikishishi
A classic Big Galoot. Debuted before the smolderingly sexy pouty Aonishiki
Calls his stable master’s wife mama. Loves nominal puns. Instead of ‘ureshii’ he says ‘ureshishi’. He’s kind of a rikishishi
September 14, 2026 at 6:34 AM
Watching Shishi has been incredible. He debuted in the top division maybe half-cooked? He keeps learning, he keeps getting better, and it is so much fun to watch him grow.
He has not reached his final form yet.
He has not reached his final form yet.
Reposted by Downer, Debbie
This is the image he conjured in my mind.
If you ever wanted visual evidence of how far the Overton window has shifted just think about how refreshingly normal this guy looks compared to guys now. Back when this photoshoot dropped we all agreed this was the most unsettling thing we’d ever seen.
If you ever wanted visual evidence of how far the Overton window has shifted just think about how refreshingly normal this guy looks compared to guys now. Back when this photoshoot dropped we all agreed this was the most unsettling thing we’d ever seen.
September 11, 2026 at 3:35 PM
This is the image he conjured in my mind.
If you ever wanted visual evidence of how far the Overton window has shifted just think about how refreshingly normal this guy looks compared to guys now. Back when this photoshoot dropped we all agreed this was the most unsettling thing we’d ever seen.
If you ever wanted visual evidence of how far the Overton window has shifted just think about how refreshingly normal this guy looks compared to guys now. Back when this photoshoot dropped we all agreed this was the most unsettling thing we’d ever seen.
I was at work in a prison library. One of the inmates told me about a plane crash when he came in for his shift that morning. He sounded amused.
The inmates mostly spent the day on block working the phones to find out about loved ones and talking about their feelings. The white guards were jumpy.
The inmates mostly spent the day on block working the phones to find out about loved ones and talking about their feelings. The white guards were jumpy.
But that feeling of a shared bond among all Americans in the early weeks after the attack is something I’m so glad I got to experience. Because it’s the thing that I think we’re missing the most today.
September 12, 2026 at 9:03 AM
I was at work in a prison library. One of the inmates told me about a plane crash when he came in for his shift that morning. He sounded amused.
The inmates mostly spent the day on block working the phones to find out about loved ones and talking about their feelings. The white guards were jumpy.
The inmates mostly spent the day on block working the phones to find out about loved ones and talking about their feelings. The white guards were jumpy.
TIL Hunter S. Thompson was fucking alive for 9/11 and writing for fucking ESPN for some reason.
anyway, the American id understander himself, Hunter S. Thompson, the next week for goddamn ESPN of all places. the party's over, folks.
September 12, 2026 at 8:56 AM
TIL Hunter S. Thompson was fucking alive for 9/11 and writing for fucking ESPN for some reason.
This is what it looks like when a Midwestern man finally, irreversibly turns into his dad (complimentary)
I realized recently that, though I didn't understand it at the time, a large reason I chose to go into the hotel business as a career was that hospitality is honest work.
And part of me wonders if society feels like it's cracking because we're being told this isn't important anymore.
And part of me wonders if society feels like it's cracking because we're being told this isn't important anymore.
September 12, 2026 at 8:31 AM
This is what it looks like when a Midwestern man finally, irreversibly turns into his dad (complimentary)
Fat Carrie now, you cowards
I am super excited for the new Carrie and simultaneously angry she's not fat. Please gimme a Fat Carrie one time, I BEG of you!
September 11, 2026 at 1:44 AM
Fat Carrie now, you cowards
Reposted by Downer, Debbie
I am super excited for the new Carrie and simultaneously angry she's not fat. Please gimme a Fat Carrie one time, I BEG of you!
September 11, 2026 at 12:10 AM
I am super excited for the new Carrie and simultaneously angry she's not fat. Please gimme a Fat Carrie one time, I BEG of you!
There are two sorts of people in this country: either you're a "my new car has low mileage, only 22k!" or you're a "my new car has low mileage, only 140k!"
September 10, 2026 at 4:43 AM
There are two sorts of people in this country: either you're a "my new car has low mileage, only 22k!" or you're a "my new car has low mileage, only 140k!"
Reposted by Downer, Debbie
A cartoon from April 2025: Unattended children...
comicss.art/comics/181/
Illustration made with CSS.
Source code: comicss.art/comics/181/u...
#css #cartoon #joke
comicss.art/comics/181/
Illustration made with CSS.
Source code: comicss.art/comics/181/u...
#css #cartoon #joke
September 9, 2026 at 4:43 AM
A cartoon from April 2025: Unattended children...
comicss.art/comics/181/
Illustration made with CSS.
Source code: comicss.art/comics/181/u...
#css #cartoon #joke
comicss.art/comics/181/
Illustration made with CSS.
Source code: comicss.art/comics/181/u...
#css #cartoon #joke
I am in the middle of topic 17 of 20 in a homework task with no deadline and I am STRUGGLING. It doesn't help that I'm familiar with the topic but I still need to pay attention to details that may be different from what I'm familiar with.
I'm almost done! Why isn't that enough motivation!
I'm almost done! Why isn't that enough motivation!
September 9, 2026 at 1:52 AM
I am in the middle of topic 17 of 20 in a homework task with no deadline and I am STRUGGLING. It doesn't help that I'm familiar with the topic but I still need to pay attention to details that may be different from what I'm familiar with.
I'm almost done! Why isn't that enough motivation!
I'm almost done! Why isn't that enough motivation!
I use it for work because I have to and I hate every minute and I do it anyway. What does that make me? An ai trash panda? An ai hypocrite? An ai collaborator? I'm not an ai moderate because I don't think ai in its current incarnation is a reasonable compromise in the right circumstances.
September 9, 2026 at 1:20 AM
I use it for work because I have to and I hate every minute and I do it anyway. What does that make me? An ai trash panda? An ai hypocrite? An ai collaborator? I'm not an ai moderate because I don't think ai in its current incarnation is a reasonable compromise in the right circumstances.
You know, the older I get the more appealing I find the idea of embodying the monstrousness of queerness.
I say "idea" because actually doing that would take more effort than I really want to expend most of the time. I'm a lazy monster.
I say "idea" because actually doing that would take more effort than I really want to expend most of the time. I'm a lazy monster.
September 9, 2026 at 12:14 AM
You know, the older I get the more appealing I find the idea of embodying the monstrousness of queerness.
I say "idea" because actually doing that would take more effort than I really want to expend most of the time. I'm a lazy monster.
I say "idea" because actually doing that would take more effort than I really want to expend most of the time. I'm a lazy monster.
Ok, what chapter of the bad economy are we in now? The last three job listings I opened on LinkedIn were closed in 12 hours or less
September 6, 2026 at 10:44 PM
Ok, what chapter of the bad economy are we in now? The last three job listings I opened on LinkedIn were closed in 12 hours or less
So I took a spin through the pro-ai side of bsky and like... I kind of get where the proslop contingent is coming from, but I'm suddenly a lot worried that silicon valley is going to try to pass a Computer's Bill of Rights in the near future, granting machines personhood
September 6, 2026 at 8:37 AM
So I took a spin through the pro-ai side of bsky and like... I kind of get where the proslop contingent is coming from, but I'm suddenly a lot worried that silicon valley is going to try to pass a Computer's Bill of Rights in the near future, granting machines personhood
Evopsych dipshits will try to tell you that boys are barbarians and women are clerics when in fact all of us are bards with 100% of our stat points in charisma
If there is a single universal lesson to take from evolutionary psychology, a branch of study that is largely filled with bunk and bullshit, it's that cooperative social behavior is highly adaptive
I could go on for like. Probably ever. About how cool and important it is that evolutionary pressure has repeatedly selected for cooperative social behavior across every single part of the animal kingdom
September 6, 2026 at 6:00 AM
Evopsych dipshits will try to tell you that boys are barbarians and women are clerics when in fact all of us are bards with 100% of our stat points in charisma
Like, AI is genuinely revolutionary at some things, but it's stuff nobody actually needed or could have gotten a lot cheaper, like Somewhat Better Stack Overflow Search, or Significantly Better But Still Not Quite Useful OCR for Cursive.
I have to build an app for work and I’m using AppSheets for maximum simplicity, and I find it hilarious that Gemini can’t even figure out basic asks for something so on rails as AppSheets. How is this worth destroying the world economy for again
September 6, 2026 at 5:00 AM
Like, AI is genuinely revolutionary at some things, but it's stuff nobody actually needed or could have gotten a lot cheaper, like Somewhat Better Stack Overflow Search, or Significantly Better But Still Not Quite Useful OCR for Cursive.
By the honor of Khaless's four hairy testicles WHY are you not following Diane Duane? Is it because you hate fun?
…Right, where were we? Quirky images stored ini the iPad. Doubtless a longish thread…
A fabulous spacegoing dolphin by old friend Rick Sternbach.
A fabulous spacegoing dolphin by old friend Rick Sternbach.
September 6, 2026 at 4:48 AM
By the honor of Khaless's four hairy testicles WHY are you not following Diane Duane? Is it because you hate fun?
There's a Masonic Lodge on the moon. It was chartered by the Grand Lodge of Texas, who deputized Buzz Aldrin and gave him the proper paperwork to do whatever he needed to do to make that happen while he was there. It's known as Tranquility Lodge as it's located in the Sea of Tranquility.
Tell me a fun fact.
September 6, 2026 at 4:11 AM
There's a Masonic Lodge on the moon. It was chartered by the Grand Lodge of Texas, who deputized Buzz Aldrin and gave him the proper paperwork to do whatever he needed to do to make that happen while he was there. It's known as Tranquility Lodge as it's located in the Sea of Tranquility.
Paging @victoriascott.bsky.social
Lesbian baristas have successfully co-opted both realtree camo and harley davidson shirts. Total cultural victory
September 4, 2026 at 6:33 PM
Paging @victoriascott.bsky.social
I don't expect anyone to really understand how much I'm crashing out over this, but "woogle" is my made up coding test word. I put woogle in code to see where it comes out so I can debug, and it's a fake word so it's easy to find and clean up after.
My professional safe word escaped containment.
My professional safe word escaped containment.
September 4, 2026 at 8:04 AM
I don't expect anyone to really understand how much I'm crashing out over this, but "woogle" is my made up coding test word. I put woogle in code to see where it comes out so I can debug, and it's a fake word so it's easy to find and clean up after.
My professional safe word escaped containment.
My professional safe word escaped containment.
Severe case of hoagie mouth, surprises noone
September 4, 2026 at 7:14 AM
Severe case of hoagie mouth, surprises noone
Reposted by Downer, Debbie
Making a game that sucks is way harder, and way more valuable than making nothing at all.
September 3, 2026 at 6:48 AM
Making a game that sucks is way harder, and way more valuable than making nothing at all.
So if I enjoy Hells Belles, My Demon Roommate and Cafe Latte, what's another web series I should follow?
September 2, 2026 at 11:09 PM
So if I enjoy Hells Belles, My Demon Roommate and Cafe Latte, what's another web series I should follow?
Reposted by Downer, Debbie
(sigh) I miss the LJ that was.
Email from LiveJournal that we've been together for 23 years. Which firstly, no, I left you when the Russians bought you. And OMG FFS 23 YEARS. NO.
September 2, 2026 at 8:48 AM
(sigh) I miss the LJ that was.