Dan Diffendale

GenAI is a wonderful technology for generating infinite toil. We will be painstakingly undoing its damage for generations. We’ve already made a superfund site of our collective knowledge.

“Good afternoon. My name is [redacted] and my wife and I have been at OMDC since April 15 2025,” reads a handwritten note, wrapped around a lotion bottle that was thrown by a man held captive inside the Otay Mesa Detention Center (OMDC) on Sunday. “It’s cold here all the time and the food is poor,” the missive continues. “For 280 days we haven’t eaten a single piece of fruit, banana, apple, orange, or anything fresh. We are all in one big room with no doors or windows. We can’t see any grass or trees. We are all constantly sick.”

“For 280 days we haven’t eaten a single piece of fruit, banana, apple, orange, or anything fresh. We are all in one big room with no doors or windows. We can’t see any grass or trees. We are all constantly sick.”

Conditions in a San Diego concentration camp, via message hurled out in a bottle.

Digital Drawing. In the centre, a thylacine/tasmanian tiger is depicted mid-run. Behind it are the silhouettes of thylacine bodies lined up in rows against a red background.

Thylacine

I'm a Columbia Heights resident. ICE is still here, terrorizing, breaking laws, harassing people, causing chaos. Tell your family and friends. No matter what this administration's minions report: Nothing Has Changed.

shame the dirk gently books never had as much cultural saturation as the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, I think about the Electronic Monk about 30x daily

People say "cruelty is the point" but it's really death. They want people dead to have their ethnic cleansing and they're going to engineer every situation so people die but not in a way they'll go to trial for murder.

Unlivable conditions to make unliving people.

bsky.app/profile/mike...

drawing of an ivory tablet with the alphabet c. 675 BCE

How damn cool is this object:

Lime, Mortar, and Concrete Podcast Episode · Build Like a Roman · 06/02/2026 · 25m

Episode 4 is now available:

Roman Lime, Pozzolan and Concrete

#romans #rome #history #archaeology #brick #tiles

A photograph I took quite early on New Year's Day, 2019, while walking on the Isle of Purbeck during the research for my book Ring The Hill, not long before I did a tweet using the photo and this same caption. I imagine it won't have as much impact here, since loads of people have since reused it, and the phrase is now more widely known. It is still very very true, though. Lots of things are solved by walking. Although not everything, obviously.

Solvitur ambulando is my favourite Latin phrase. It means "it is solved by walking".

Four footprints, two languages, one tile hn. sattiieis. detfri segnatted. plavtad herennis. amica signauit. qando. a- ponebamus. tegila(m)   Detfri of Hn. Sattis signed with a footprint. Amica of Herens signed when we were laying out…

Katherine McDonald’s truly marvelous “Four footprints, two languages, one tile”deserves your time: “Two slaves, working in conditions that were no doubt very difficult, taking a little time to mess about as friends and enjoy each other’s company.” katherinemcdonald.net/2016/01/14/f...

I'm not much of a podcast guy, but obviously I had to give this a listen; recommended! clear, accurate, concise

I'm not much of a podcast guy, but obviously I had to give this a listen; recommended! clear, accurate, concise

@theromansoc.bsky.social is offering students a unique opportunity to do a placement and to join the 2026 summer excavations at Falerii Novi, with the BSR and the University of London @ics.bsky.social

Applications are open until 28 February 2026:
www.romansociety.org/Grants-Prize...

DOCTOR: I told him he needed to get out to a show, that was how he would cure his depression.

CHOTINER: So you learned this technique in school?

DR: No, not— listen it was good advice. Pagliacci was in town.

C: Right. Is it standard to give advice before learning a patient’s name?

DR: Now look

This is actually very interesting because that’s what people get wrong about the Middle Ages as well. Simply put: you might know how to build aqueducts from self healing concrete but you might lose the need *and* capability to do so. Three separate things. Many misunderstand how societies adapt. 1/

An Unexpected ‘Indian’ Language in the Middle East Delighted and motivated by the positive response to my recent article, Greek, the Asian and African Language, my mind has been occupied by an eagerness to share another example of historical l…

I found this ancient language story from @dannybate.bsky.social absolutely fascinating. #langsky

THREAD. ICE is in the news, and rightly so, but a lot of the commentary fails to see how the underlying surveillance tech, militarization, infrastructure, policies/practices/training, and corporate profiteers are shared by other domestic agencies and repressive bureaucracies in other countries.

A year ago: We need TAXES on the WEALTHY

Now: We need a cleansing fire

“Screenshot of a promoted Reddit post by u/AYAGDOS. The post reads: ‘Navigating gender dysphoria? Join our confidential, cross-country study of 18–25 year olds to tell your story, challenge preconceptions, and have YOUR experience reflected in the science.’ Below is a banner graphic with the Northwestern University logo and the text ‘TRANS OR GENDERQUEER? SHARE YOUR STORY.’ The image shows a close-up of a hand with light pink nail polish, partially painted blue, held up against a blurred background. A link to ayagdos.org and a ‘Learn More’ button appear at the bottom, along with Reddit vote and share icons.”

If you see this, don't participate. It's a rigged study by Lisa Littman and unethical researcher J. Michael Bailey meant to undermine access to care. Spread the word.

The people telling you op sec doesn’t matter, group infiltration doesn’t matter don’t have the same goals as you

Nodding and recalling every centrist dipshit who accused trans activists of "hysteria" as a US state passes a "bathroom bounty hunter" bill

cc: @portablesound.bsky.social

There's apparently body cam footage of Alex's murder. Do people know this?

This lets you know that a demand for body cams is USELESS and in fact just a way to give more money to the killers.

It is tough here right now in Minneapolis but Greg Bovino crying to the paper about how he’s getting his ass handed to him by plant sale moms has been a real pick me up

Gary Larson: In my cartoon I invented Cow Tools as a cautionary tale

Cows: At long last, we have created the Cow Tools from classic newspaper comic Cow Tools

A day late here, but more like "growing unease with, or hostility toward" the idea of Palestinians having homes

The U.S. has announced 'Phase 2' of the Gaza ceasefire. Here's why it doesn't matter for Palestinians. For Palestinians in Gaza, Phase 2 of the ceasefire offers little hope that it will fundamentally change the status quo Israel has established over the past three months, which many refer to as "a new form of genocide."

"Phase 2 [..] has started."

"Over the past three months, Israel has created a status quo on the ground in Gaza that Palestinians say is still genocidal."

"These are the conditions it will be seeking to maintain in Phase 2."
#Gaza #Palestine #Israel #USA #Genocide

Again it is something that people in previous eras have commented on but I still find it just astonishing to witness in my own: fascism is somehow the natural ideology of loser men, just all of our most pathetic and contemptible instincts rendered into a worldview.