David
@querydavid.bsky.social
Powered by coffee and tiny notebooks, now in Fiji 🇫🇯
International development and humanitarian stuff and public policy. Also Muay Thai. 🥊
Migrating from the former bird app (@queerdavid) 🏳️🌈 views my own
International development and humanitarian stuff and public policy. Also Muay Thai. 🥊
Migrating from the former bird app (@queerdavid) 🏳️🌈 views my own
Pinned
David
@querydavid.bsky.social
· Aug 18
The Iliad, or The Poem of Force
Simone Weil The Iliad, or The Poem of Force 1945
theanarchistlibrary.org
Rewatched The Odyssey, which led me to re-read Simone Weil's The Iliad, or The Poem of Force. "The whole of the Iliad lies under the shadow of the greatest calamity the human race can experience—the destruction of a city." I think about this line all the time. theanarchistlibrary.org/library/simo...
I just stopped by the Erawan Shrine and someone left TWO BOXES of KRISPY KREME doughnuts as an offering to Brahma. Extremely high-agency move, this person is going to quickly have all their wishes fulfilled and have an army of devas on their side.
September 15, 2026 at 2:21 PM
I just stopped by the Erawan Shrine and someone left TWO BOXES of KRISPY KREME doughnuts as an offering to Brahma. Extremely high-agency move, this person is going to quickly have all their wishes fulfilled and have an army of devas on their side.
My brain is imploding in a gay bar in BKK that is playing this track, which I think I haven’t heard since it was released youtu.be/X4RDB-mMDJg?...
Madonna - American Pie (Official Video) [HD]
YouTube video by Madonna
youtu.be
September 13, 2026 at 5:45 PM
My brain is imploding in a gay bar in BKK that is playing this track, which I think I haven’t heard since it was released youtu.be/X4RDB-mMDJg?...
I was reminded by my photo library that I started taking PrEP 11 years ago, this weekend. So now, that’s most of my adult life.
I wonder if anywhere there is a serious ethnographer looking into the effects of it on stigma and attitudes among MSM.
I wonder if anywhere there is a serious ethnographer looking into the effects of it on stigma and attitudes among MSM.
September 13, 2026 at 11:18 AM
I was reminded by my photo library that I started taking PrEP 11 years ago, this weekend. So now, that’s most of my adult life.
I wonder if anywhere there is a serious ethnographer looking into the effects of it on stigma and attitudes among MSM.
I wonder if anywhere there is a serious ethnographer looking into the effects of it on stigma and attitudes among MSM.
I find it weird the METR folks had to use Codex to parse all the OAi/HF hacking data. CS and the social sciences already have a lot of non-LLM tools for text analysis, corpus linguistics etc. I feel like there’s a lot of juice in marrying those tools with an orchestrator.
September 5, 2026 at 6:14 AM
I find it weird the METR folks had to use Codex to parse all the OAi/HF hacking data. CS and the social sciences already have a lot of non-LLM tools for text analysis, corpus linguistics etc. I feel like there’s a lot of juice in marrying those tools with an orchestrator.
Briefly got trapped in an elevator today!
Of course, my first thought was “surely this is not really a big enough problem to hit the elevator’s emergency call button” and so I called the building receptionist on my cell. By the time they had arranged to send help, it started moving again.
Of course, my first thought was “surely this is not really a big enough problem to hit the elevator’s emergency call button” and so I called the building receptionist on my cell. By the time they had arranged to send help, it started moving again.
August 28, 2026 at 5:07 PM
Briefly got trapped in an elevator today!
Of course, my first thought was “surely this is not really a big enough problem to hit the elevator’s emergency call button” and so I called the building receptionist on my cell. By the time they had arranged to send help, it started moving again.
Of course, my first thought was “surely this is not really a big enough problem to hit the elevator’s emergency call button” and so I called the building receptionist on my cell. By the time they had arranged to send help, it started moving again.
Rewatched The Odyssey, which led me to re-read Simone Weil's The Iliad, or The Poem of Force. "The whole of the Iliad lies under the shadow of the greatest calamity the human race can experience—the destruction of a city." I think about this line all the time. theanarchistlibrary.org/library/simo...
The Iliad, or The Poem of Force
Simone Weil The Iliad, or The Poem of Force 1945
theanarchistlibrary.org
August 18, 2026 at 4:49 AM
Rewatched The Odyssey, which led me to re-read Simone Weil's The Iliad, or The Poem of Force. "The whole of the Iliad lies under the shadow of the greatest calamity the human race can experience—the destruction of a city." I think about this line all the time. theanarchistlibrary.org/library/simo...
I saw the Odyssey again (in IMAX) and I was crying even more than the first time?
August 7, 2026 at 3:36 PM
I saw the Odyssey again (in IMAX) and I was crying even more than the first time?
It would be amusing to see the demographic breakdown of ppls first reactions to the acronym/abbreviation “MSS”:
Manuscripts?
Ministry of State Security?
Maven Smart System?
Manuscripts?
Ministry of State Security?
Maven Smart System?
August 6, 2026 at 5:05 AM
It would be amusing to see the demographic breakdown of ppls first reactions to the acronym/abbreviation “MSS”:
Manuscripts?
Ministry of State Security?
Maven Smart System?
Manuscripts?
Ministry of State Security?
Maven Smart System?
Chilling milestone passed: first time seeing a person wearing a garment with a powered cooling system. In this case, a jacket with two intake fans to circulate air through a pouch encircling the torso.
August 3, 2026 at 4:42 AM
Chilling milestone passed: first time seeing a person wearing a garment with a powered cooling system. In this case, a jacket with two intake fans to circulate air through a pouch encircling the torso.
HOW DO THEY KEEP DOING THIS. Just absolute bangers every single day in your inbox.
TODAY: @jdconnor.bsky.social on the history, science, and technology of waiting in line. “Queuing theory is a real thing, with real math and real consequences for our lives. There are mathematical models for lines, and there are agent-based simulations.” flaminghydra.com/retractatus/
Retractatus
The thing about a retractable belt stanchion, in an airport, in a movie theater, in a shopping mall, is that it isn’t stopping anyone. You can go under, over, and around. You can just unhook the thing...
flaminghydra.com
July 25, 2026 at 1:17 PM
HOW DO THEY KEEP DOING THIS. Just absolute bangers every single day in your inbox.
I’m being told his real name was Maura Labingi, not Ishmael
July 19, 2026 at 4:31 PM
I’m being told his real name was Maura Labingi, not Ishmael
THE ODYSSEY WAS SO GOOD I was just bawling for like the final 30 minutes, you must see this in a theatre
July 19, 2026 at 6:50 AM
THE ODYSSEY WAS SO GOOD I was just bawling for like the final 30 minutes, you must see this in a theatre
been reading some “AI safety” literature and it is pretty weird how the specific obsessions of that camp filter out into everything. Biosafety being one tell, it otherwise seems odd that “positive pressure dwellings” get mentioned in this doc. Somehow suggests a lack of imagination ai-2040.com
AI 2040: Plan A
A detailed forecast and recommendation for how the US, China and the rest of the world should navigate superintelligence.
ai-2040.com
July 15, 2026 at 8:01 AM
been reading some “AI safety” literature and it is pretty weird how the specific obsessions of that camp filter out into everything. Biosafety being one tell, it otherwise seems odd that “positive pressure dwellings” get mentioned in this doc. Somehow suggests a lack of imagination ai-2040.com
Reposted by David
Okay. This is a big deal for me
Three years ago, writer Henry Bean told me he had a short story he'd finished in 2020, which he felt needed to be published
He'd been turned down everywhere
I read it
I was stunned
I took it to @jewishcurrents.bsky.social
It's up now, and it will change you:
Three years ago, writer Henry Bean told me he had a short story he'd finished in 2020, which he felt needed to be published
He'd been turned down everywhere
I read it
I was stunned
I took it to @jewishcurrents.bsky.social
It's up now, and it will change you:
The Event
“Something has taken place that we cannot speak of or know or even fully perceive, yet the fact of which sits before us.”
jewishcurrents.org
July 9, 2026 at 12:28 PM
Okay. This is a big deal for me
Three years ago, writer Henry Bean told me he had a short story he'd finished in 2020, which he felt needed to be published
He'd been turned down everywhere
I read it
I was stunned
I took it to @jewishcurrents.bsky.social
It's up now, and it will change you:
Three years ago, writer Henry Bean told me he had a short story he'd finished in 2020, which he felt needed to be published
He'd been turned down everywhere
I read it
I was stunned
I took it to @jewishcurrents.bsky.social
It's up now, and it will change you:
Reposted by David
That’s what happens when you get rid of the department of defense
July 7, 2026 at 1:24 AM
That’s what happens when you get rid of the department of defense
Omg what a way to celebrate 4 July, @jamellebouie.net and John Ganz get in to Godzilla (1998), a touchstone bad movie of my youth open.spotify.com/episode/4yrP...
Godzilla (1998)
Unclear and Present Danger · Episode
open.spotify.com
July 4, 2026 at 5:00 AM
Omg what a way to celebrate 4 July, @jamellebouie.net and John Ganz get in to Godzilla (1998), a touchstone bad movie of my youth open.spotify.com/episode/4yrP...
Watched “Godspeed You Black Emperor”, a 1976 documentary about a Japanese youth biker gang. Kind of fantastic, lots of killer B&W shots. (Yes, the Canadian band was named after the film). It’s on the internet archive, archive.org/details/Gods...
Godspeed You Black Emperor. 1976 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
Documentary following a member of a Japanese biker gang called the Black Emperors
archive.org
July 2, 2026 at 6:45 AM
Watched “Godspeed You Black Emperor”, a 1976 documentary about a Japanese youth biker gang. Kind of fantastic, lots of killer B&W shots. (Yes, the Canadian band was named after the film). It’s on the internet archive, archive.org/details/Gods...
Kind of loving that one of the consequences of the reflecting pool saga is an uptick in concern about public procurement. One of those very boring areas that is actually hyper important.
June 26, 2026 at 6:18 AM
Kind of loving that one of the consequences of the reflecting pool saga is an uptick in concern about public procurement. One of those very boring areas that is actually hyper important.
Didn't hear about this until just now. Wonder what it means for the Beijing Queer Film Festival this year. www.independent.co.uk/asia/china/c...
French embassy in China abruptly cancels Pride Month film programme
Screening for the films Enzo and Eat the Night has been cancelled in Beijing
www.independent.co.uk
June 25, 2026 at 7:41 AM
Didn't hear about this until just now. Wonder what it means for the Beijing Queer Film Festival this year. www.independent.co.uk/asia/china/c...
Seeing so much Claude prose these days.
It has a spine.
The use of language is like feathers. The framework is the cover. What is revealed is not truth-value, it’s a quiet quiet set of self-deceptions. It just hits differently, you know?
It has a spine.
The use of language is like feathers. The framework is the cover. What is revealed is not truth-value, it’s a quiet quiet set of self-deceptions. It just hits differently, you know?
June 24, 2026 at 11:12 AM
Seeing so much Claude prose these days.
It has a spine.
The use of language is like feathers. The framework is the cover. What is revealed is not truth-value, it’s a quiet quiet set of self-deceptions. It just hits differently, you know?
It has a spine.
The use of language is like feathers. The framework is the cover. What is revealed is not truth-value, it’s a quiet quiet set of self-deceptions. It just hits differently, you know?
Reposted by David
I’ve spent the last while writing a response to the Magnifica humanitas, the Papal encyclical on AI. Here it is.
tl;dr: while the encyclical is a reasonable summary of ethical critiques of AI, it is fatally compromised by alignment with the AI industry, reinforcing the worst of Catholicism. 1/22
tl;dr: while the encyclical is a reasonable summary of ethical critiques of AI, it is fatally compromised by alignment with the AI industry, reinforcing the worst of Catholicism. 1/22
Magnifica humanitas: the Papal Encyclical on AI From a Buddhist Monk’s Perspective
sujato.me
June 22, 2026 at 11:10 PM
I’ve spent the last while writing a response to the Magnifica humanitas, the Papal encyclical on AI. Here it is.
tl;dr: while the encyclical is a reasonable summary of ethical critiques of AI, it is fatally compromised by alignment with the AI industry, reinforcing the worst of Catholicism. 1/22
tl;dr: while the encyclical is a reasonable summary of ethical critiques of AI, it is fatally compromised by alignment with the AI industry, reinforcing the worst of Catholicism. 1/22
shot in the dark...anyone know what Malaysian artist Leon Lim has been up to in the last decade? Interesting visual artist and designer from Kedah who worked in NYC for some time, can't find anything post-2012. Apparently he was on a art-based reality show on Bravo? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Lim
Leon Lim - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
June 23, 2026 at 10:39 AM
shot in the dark...anyone know what Malaysian artist Leon Lim has been up to in the last decade? Interesting visual artist and designer from Kedah who worked in NYC for some time, can't find anything post-2012. Apparently he was on a art-based reality show on Bravo? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Lim
I feel like this is straight out of some kind of science fiction disaster movie, it’s fixing its own wifi problems
June 22, 2026 at 3:06 PM
I feel like this is straight out of some kind of science fiction disaster movie, it’s fixing its own wifi problems
LEMBAS MOONCAKE omg yes
Singaporean artist Leia Ham reimagined LotR as Tale of the Middle Kingdom, since Chinese name for China (Zhōngguó) means "The Middle Kingdom." Her concept art includes the Fellowship, armors, buildings like Bag End, props like Aragorn's banner and Fellowship brooches, and more. #TolkienTrewsday
June 17, 2026 at 7:04 AM
LEMBAS MOONCAKE omg yes