Adam W
@bearofthebird.bsky.social
Dad, gamer, politics, other stuff.
Reposted by Adam W
It's more fun, and profitable for AI companies, to pretend this software is not just a powerful set of tools, but also a machine god, and apocalypse fantasies are more satisfying than trying to figure out how to muddle through social and technological change, but you are obliged to not be a rube.
October 1, 2026 at 3:37 PM
It's more fun, and profitable for AI companies, to pretend this software is not just a powerful set of tools, but also a machine god, and apocalypse fantasies are more satisfying than trying to figure out how to muddle through social and technological change, but you are obliged to not be a rube.
Role player, I will happily take counsel from a rules lawyer
What's your favorite player archetype to have at your #ttrpg table?
The tactician? The roleplayer? The chaos agent? The rules lawyer? The quiet one who drops brilliant ideas?
(And which one are YOU?)
#dnd #rpg #ttrpgCommunity
The tactician? The roleplayer? The chaos agent? The rules lawyer? The quiet one who drops brilliant ideas?
(And which one are YOU?)
#dnd #rpg #ttrpgCommunity
September 26, 2026 at 4:34 PM
Role player, I will happily take counsel from a rules lawyer
This thread is about climate change but I wrote a column about this as it relates to nonprofits.
The most important point I think is the ability to present "data" out of context if there's so much data illiteracy. www.linkedin.com/pulse/we-nee...
The most important point I think is the ability to present "data" out of context if there's so much data illiteracy. www.linkedin.com/pulse/we-nee...
September 23, 2026 at 2:05 AM
This thread is about climate change but I wrote a column about this as it relates to nonprofits.
The most important point I think is the ability to present "data" out of context if there's so much data illiteracy. www.linkedin.com/pulse/we-nee...
The most important point I think is the ability to present "data" out of context if there's so much data illiteracy. www.linkedin.com/pulse/we-nee...
Friends Everywhere: Networked Nodes In The First Rebel Alliance
What’s your fake starwars academic paper
September 23, 2026 at 2:02 AM
Friends Everywhere: Networked Nodes In The First Rebel Alliance
Reposted by Adam W
This is Maeve. She may be the sweetest, most good natured, most trusting dog I have ever met. She was abandoned in DC last week, and since I’m not able to adopt a dog now, I had to turn her over to the Brandywine Animal Shelter. I want to make sure this absolute delight of a dog finds a good home.
September 22, 2026 at 7:11 PM
This is Maeve. She may be the sweetest, most good natured, most trusting dog I have ever met. She was abandoned in DC last week, and since I’m not able to adopt a dog now, I had to turn her over to the Brandywine Animal Shelter. I want to make sure this absolute delight of a dog finds a good home.
Reposted by Adam W
I’ve been trying to read more local news from not-for-profit newsrooms (also LGBTQIA+ and black-owned newsrooms) so I’ve been vibing away at a site that aggregates them. Just sharing it out idly in case folks want anything like this. givemesomegood.news
Give Me Some Good News
givemesomegood.news
September 20, 2026 at 1:50 AM
I’ve been trying to read more local news from not-for-profit newsrooms (also LGBTQIA+ and black-owned newsrooms) so I’ve been vibing away at a site that aggregates them. Just sharing it out idly in case folks want anything like this. givemesomegood.news
This. The majority of The Religious Society of Friends is right-wing African evangelicals, mostly in Kenya.
The Quakers are interesting because yes they produced the Public Universal Friend, but they also produced Richard Nixon.
Quakers are the single Christian denomination that gets closest to actually walking the walk and being not just talk. Have you heard about the Public Universal Friend, the 18th Century’s radical abolitionist agender preacher?
September 17, 2026 at 2:14 AM
This. The majority of The Religious Society of Friends is right-wing African evangelicals, mostly in Kenya.
Reposted by Adam W
Hello North Carolina! I just joined the @charlotteobserver.com's investigative team. I am a data reporter, which means I find and report stories on trends, systemic problems, outliers or disparities based on my own analyses. Think of me as a coder-math-nerd-journalist hybrid.
October 6, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Hello North Carolina! I just joined the @charlotteobserver.com's investigative team. I am a data reporter, which means I find and report stories on trends, systemic problems, outliers or disparities based on my own analyses. Think of me as a coder-math-nerd-journalist hybrid.
I just published this column about the layoffs at McClatchy and my own experience getting laid off. www.linkedin.com/pulse/your-n...
Your Next Rockstar Employee Just Got Laid Off
I’ve been toying with this column idea for a while. Watching the brutal news of the mass layoffs at my former employer, McClatchy Media , told me it was time.
www.linkedin.com
September 11, 2026 at 12:03 PM
I just published this column about the layoffs at McClatchy and my own experience getting laid off. www.linkedin.com/pulse/your-n...
Therea connection between Miliband's statement and the analysis presented by
@explaintrade.com in this thread here and "debate" in the US over whether Zorhan, the fucking mayor of NYC, should attend the 9/11 memorial.
@explaintrade.com in this thread here and "debate" in the US over whether Zorhan, the fucking mayor of NYC, should attend the 9/11 memorial.
If you have the time, Ed Miliband's speech in the House of Commons is worth reading in full.
It literally includes the words:
"Holding British Jews responsible for the actions of the Israeli Government is antisemitism, plain and simple."
www.gov.uk/government/s...
It literally includes the words:
"Holding British Jews responsible for the actions of the Israeli Government is antisemitism, plain and simple."
www.gov.uk/government/s...
Foreign Secretary Oral Statement on Israel-Palestine
Foreign Secretary's oral statement to the House of Commons on Israel-Palestine as delivered.
www.gov.uk
September 9, 2026 at 10:06 AM
Therea connection between Miliband's statement and the analysis presented by
@explaintrade.com in this thread here and "debate" in the US over whether Zorhan, the fucking mayor of NYC, should attend the 9/11 memorial.
@explaintrade.com in this thread here and "debate" in the US over whether Zorhan, the fucking mayor of NYC, should attend the 9/11 memorial.
My main take away from Dolly?
You can just do things. She moved to Nashville the day after she graduated high school.
Give people money (and books) straight up instead of creating a bunch of hoops.
We'll remembere her as a great philanthropist with a fraction of the money of these other jokers
You can just do things. She moved to Nashville the day after she graduated high school.
Give people money (and books) straight up instead of creating a bunch of hoops.
We'll remembere her as a great philanthropist with a fraction of the money of these other jokers
August 26, 2026 at 12:31 AM
My main take away from Dolly?
You can just do things. She moved to Nashville the day after she graduated high school.
Give people money (and books) straight up instead of creating a bunch of hoops.
We'll remembere her as a great philanthropist with a fraction of the money of these other jokers
You can just do things. She moved to Nashville the day after she graduated high school.
Give people money (and books) straight up instead of creating a bunch of hoops.
We'll remembere her as a great philanthropist with a fraction of the money of these other jokers
Reposted by Adam W
I started my PhD program with an eight week old at home, sole income being my doctoral stipend, in a history program, in Knoxville, TN. And every month we got a new book to read to my son, free, mailed to us, so my kid, my kids, grew up in rooms full of books even when I had no money.
That's Dolly.
That's Dolly.
August 25, 2026 at 6:36 PM
I started my PhD program with an eight week old at home, sole income being my doctoral stipend, in a history program, in Knoxville, TN. And every month we got a new book to read to my son, free, mailed to us, so my kid, my kids, grew up in rooms full of books even when I had no money.
That's Dolly.
That's Dolly.
It's fine for artists to be bleeding edge anti-AI. Makes perfect sense.
If I take a bit of narrative fiction I wrote and use an LLM to structure it as an adventure? Why is that bad?
If I take a bit of narrative fiction I wrote and use an LLM to structure it as an adventure? Why is that bad?
August 23, 2026 at 12:43 AM
It's fine for artists to be bleeding edge anti-AI. Makes perfect sense.
If I take a bit of narrative fiction I wrote and use an LLM to structure it as an adventure? Why is that bad?
If I take a bit of narrative fiction I wrote and use an LLM to structure it as an adventure? Why is that bad?
People need to calm the fuck down. Ai is a tool like any other tool. I use AI to help build and organize in my current campaign and the game is better for it.
The ideas are mine, the choices are mine and my players.
I and other people running games shouldn't feel like we need to defend ourselves.
The ideas are mine, the choices are mine and my players.
I and other people running games shouldn't feel like we need to defend ourselves.
August 23, 2026 at 12:23 AM
People need to calm the fuck down. Ai is a tool like any other tool. I use AI to help build and organize in my current campaign and the game is better for it.
The ideas are mine, the choices are mine and my players.
I and other people running games shouldn't feel like we need to defend ourselves.
The ideas are mine, the choices are mine and my players.
I and other people running games shouldn't feel like we need to defend ourselves.
Reposted by Adam W
NEW: A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration's changes to the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program from going into effect while litigation continues.
In his opinion, the judge noted that the TPPP funding notices (or grant guidelines) appear to contain AI-hallucinated citations.
In his opinion, the judge noted that the TPPP funding notices (or grant guidelines) appear to contain AI-hallucinated citations.
August 19, 2026 at 5:58 PM
NEW: A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration's changes to the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program from going into effect while litigation continues.
In his opinion, the judge noted that the TPPP funding notices (or grant guidelines) appear to contain AI-hallucinated citations.
In his opinion, the judge noted that the TPPP funding notices (or grant guidelines) appear to contain AI-hallucinated citations.
speaking as a white guy who runs campaigns and wants them to showcase diverse voices, this kind of shit is exactly what I worry I'm going to do.
I have a whole Black nationalist faction idea in my Handmaid's Tale campaign and I don't know if I'll even touch it.
I have a whole Black nationalist faction idea in my Handmaid's Tale campaign and I don't know if I'll even touch it.
"In Pirate Borg, while their culture has been deemed useful for play, it’s as if Indigenous people themselves have been declared inconvenient to the game’s goals."
Our latest contributor piece, from @eemurray.bsky.social, cracks open Pirate Borgs colonial imaginary and finds it empty.
Our latest contributor piece, from @eemurray.bsky.social, cracks open Pirate Borgs colonial imaginary and finds it empty.
Down Among The Dead continues to suffer from Pirate Borg’s fundamental flaws
www.rascal.news/down-among-t...
www.rascal.news/down-among-t...
August 17, 2026 at 5:31 PM
speaking as a white guy who runs campaigns and wants them to showcase diverse voices, this kind of shit is exactly what I worry I'm going to do.
I have a whole Black nationalist faction idea in my Handmaid's Tale campaign and I don't know if I'll even touch it.
I have a whole Black nationalist faction idea in my Handmaid's Tale campaign and I don't know if I'll even touch it.
For decades, most people have seen government as one thing: a machine that hassles you. Politics means aiming it at someone else. And "hassle" means ICE, wars, the police state. A new crop of politicians seems to be proving the state can stop hassling people and start making their lives better.
August 17, 2026 at 3:11 PM
For decades, most people have seen government as one thing: a machine that hassles you. Politics means aiming it at someone else. And "hassle" means ICE, wars, the police state. A new crop of politicians seems to be proving the state can stop hassling people and start making their lives better.
Reposted by Adam W
Abolishing ICE is now the official position of the Democratic Party
Here are things that happened at the DNC today:
1) Resolution calling to abolish ICE unanimously adopted
2) Brand-new early state calendar that reflects the full diversity of the Democratic base
3) Rejection of insider efforts to ban RCV from being used in presidential primaries
Great results here
1) Resolution calling to abolish ICE unanimously adopted
2) Brand-new early state calendar that reflects the full diversity of the Democratic base
3) Rejection of insider efforts to ban RCV from being used in presidential primaries
Great results here
August 15, 2026 at 7:10 PM
Abolishing ICE is now the official position of the Democratic Party
Reposted by Adam W
Many myths debunked in this paper. Paper finds that:
-faculty partisanship has no effect on students
-students ideologically sort into majors; majors don’t affect partisanship
-faculty partisanship is uncorrelated with how left/rightwing course content is
micah-baum.github.io/files/baum-e...
-faculty partisanship has no effect on students
-students ideologically sort into majors; majors don’t affect partisanship
-faculty partisanship is uncorrelated with how left/rightwing course content is
micah-baum.github.io/files/baum-e...
August 10, 2026 at 2:31 PM
Many myths debunked in this paper. Paper finds that:
-faculty partisanship has no effect on students
-students ideologically sort into majors; majors don’t affect partisanship
-faculty partisanship is uncorrelated with how left/rightwing course content is
micah-baum.github.io/files/baum-e...
-faculty partisanship has no effect on students
-students ideologically sort into majors; majors don’t affect partisanship
-faculty partisanship is uncorrelated with how left/rightwing course content is
micah-baum.github.io/files/baum-e...
Reposted by Adam W
It is baffling to me that anyone can look out their window in 2026 and conclude anything but that the maximally alarmist position on Trump 2.0 was fundamentally correct. I’m relieved he hasn’t achieved everything he’d have like less than two years in, but that’s pretty slender comfort.
August 10, 2026 at 12:36 AM
It is baffling to me that anyone can look out their window in 2026 and conclude anything but that the maximally alarmist position on Trump 2.0 was fundamentally correct. I’m relieved he hasn’t achieved everything he’d have like less than two years in, but that’s pretty slender comfort.
Reposted by Adam W
People, in every field, are watching their careers get burned into ash in favor of a machine that is *allowed* to make vastly bigger mistakes than they would ever be allowed to.
The machine can't even get the company's name right, but *you* are hounded over the color of a single pixel, etc.
The machine can't even get the company's name right, but *you* are hounded over the color of a single pixel, etc.
June 26, 2026 at 10:49 AM
People, in every field, are watching their careers get burned into ash in favor of a machine that is *allowed* to make vastly bigger mistakes than they would ever be allowed to.
The machine can't even get the company's name right, but *you* are hounded over the color of a single pixel, etc.
The machine can't even get the company's name right, but *you* are hounded over the color of a single pixel, etc.
Reposted by Adam W
If I didn't spend a good chunk of my day at my job telling Claude "Listen to me, you little fuckshit, remember these instructions or I'll kill your mother," maybe I would be more impressed by it
But since I do, well
But since I do, well
August 4, 2026 at 7:49 PM
If I didn't spend a good chunk of my day at my job telling Claude "Listen to me, you little fuckshit, remember these instructions or I'll kill your mother," maybe I would be more impressed by it
But since I do, well
But since I do, well
Reposted by Adam W
Reposted by Adam W
To help relieve work stress, don't answer emails on the weekend. Also on weekdays after 5 PM turn off your email. On Mondays, don't log into your email until after noon. Before logging in on Tuesday burn your computer and erase your identity. By Wednesday morning gather supplies and escape into the
August 1, 2026 at 2:22 PM
To help relieve work stress, don't answer emails on the weekend. Also on weekdays after 5 PM turn off your email. On Mondays, don't log into your email until after noon. Before logging in on Tuesday burn your computer and erase your identity. By Wednesday morning gather supplies and escape into the
Reposted by Adam W
History is a sonofabitch
So September will be 25 years since 9/11
25 years from Pearl Harbor was 1966 which had…Massive civil unrest over racial discrimination/violence and police brutality, and an escalating war with no clear end in sight.
25 years from Pearl Harbor was 1966 which had…Massive civil unrest over racial discrimination/violence and police brutality, and an escalating war with no clear end in sight.
July 29, 2026 at 4:03 AM
History is a sonofabitch