Deffers

You mentioned it in one of your videos (I remember you used the telescopes zinger but I can't remember which vid) but he wasn't the subject of his own video.

Part of the problem with him in specific is he's mad nobody read his newest ToE paper he didn't get peer-reviewed and it's 450 pages long.

It's that fascinating tug of war between a brain that definitely exists and has real limits and an ineffable presence which maybe doesn't really exist but just sometimes shows up and starts shoving shims in every seam of those limits and prying before disappearing just as quickly as it appeared.

You might be bringing in notions of added value from your old job into this space that don't apply. People sub to you as much for the common cause as for the exclusive content, sometimes public posts can be a value-add for premiums. Example: that tip on Anthropic. Trust your supporters to trust you!

I've wondered if this is the tradeoff of the premium model you've introduced-- it's morally completely valid, of course, and I respect you making money off the work you do, but I figure it might also give bad actors an opportunity to crib if they think less people will read those ones.

Imagine the Dynasty Warriors franchise. Now remember the time that Nintendo got a Legend of Zelda spinoff for it. Now, imagine that the entire legal profession as a whole got one too where you play as Sam Altman, who has no moves except quitting to title or dying. A Musou game's worth of lawyers.

Dropping by to let you know I *do* know who Neil Breen is and I do watch RLM. Some of us know!

Also, your vids remind me what physics actually is, not popsci speculative trash, and took me back to a time where I followed along with the math of an open-door string theory lecture because it's fun.

Every time it comes up, Megalopolis sends me into a fugue state. Despite this, I'm gratified to see it coming up again.

Really enjoying that one quote about that one journalist who refuses to be named. Also really enjoying the fact that, by putting them in the section about "AI skeptic" journalists mad at you without *confirming* said journalist themselves is an AI skeptic, it seems like obfuscation.

Important to let people know that consulting firms that make their money preventing unionization have taken that book's concepts and developed them further specifically for "polite" society. Obviously their intentions are bad but tracking those docs down might provide people with more light reading.

I think this kind of taxonomy of mental incapacity will become very useful, not just because we're on our own with health crises like COVID but because I feel the ruling class wants to put underclasses in cognitive debt, so more people will need help navigating stuff like this.

Saw this yesterday but I have to come back to make a grim report: Just saw the phrase "bullshitisation" out in the wild. It would appear we're actually headed in the other direction. We're gonna be looking back and praising Doctorow for his measured use of neologism.

Supporting evidence for my hypothesis that Meshuggah time signatures are so complex that they encode a secret psionic network shared between all fans.

...Did the gingham shirt guy at the Epic Steakhouse thing happen to you?

Gotta level with you, Ed, I legitimately thought your "Microsoft Now" post a few hours ago was some sort of avant-garde meme I was too sleep-deprived to get. Then I saw this graphic design and at first that belief was CONFIRMED until the sinking feeling started hitting real hard.

The Unofficial Homestuck Collection Takedown "lol," said the scorpion, "lmao"

Unfortunately so. If you've got a few hours to kill:

blog.giovanh.com/blog/2025/08...

The Unofficial Homestuck Collection Takedown "lol," said the scorpion, "lmao"

Yes. If you've got a few hours to kill:

blog.giovanh.com/blog/2025/08...

Ever so slightly upgraded PFP. I have to-- after all, I'm going back to streaming again starting tonight!

Not your usual wheelhouse but a few years ago they tried making a Gollum *licensed videogame.* It was fucking terrible, complete failure. And yet they're back at it again.

Something's going on here. I cannot fathom what. Someone wants Gollum to be the next big hit.

Looking into the transmission of that concept and its transformation across time to the present day is both a) fascinating and b) infuriating. William Walker Atkinson has a lot to answer for.

I appreciate the PlagueofGripes deep pull. Did not expect to see that *here.*

I'm glad you liked it!

I remember when you were describing this concept in terms of a zine some months back and, then as now, my main reaction is I'd be super down to participate.

Process uploads as usual. This one was so, so involved. :(

The worst possible #Artfight2025 scenario, I think-- try to upload in the last five minutes, fail to go through, miss uploading a mass attack involving four people. DEEP pain. @h4ngman.bsky.social's thief character was one of the two centerpiece characters-- the rest of the people aren't on here.

I do Blender and 2D art and this at least passes the smell test. I think there might be more going on, though, because "just telling" still works with 2D artists doing 3-point perspective and your theory doesn't (yet) cover why that might be. Simplification's probably still in play though.

As usual, here are the construction lines. Pretty simple for this style, as you can see-- but small objects cause trouble with perspective at the fixed line width. And don't forget about figuring out the lighting and shading later!

Another attack for #Artfight2025! This time we've got a piece for Toesterguy on Tumblr! I tried to find a simpler art style so I could rack up more pieces for #TeamCrystals. That's not what I ended up finding, but I think what I did find looks pretty good! #digitalart #digitalpainting

The panopticon-logic doesn't actually provide a meaningful resolution that doesn't in some way further burden or impose on the hypothetical victim. You could tie that to the re-traumatization aspect of the practice of callouts and localize the evolution that way.

Also your friend's suggestion to "make the situation right" by apologizing to the hairdressers was patently insane even in a universe where feelings are wrong? Like, if a customer shared those feelings we're already off-script, but also sharing them to seek absolution? Customer service nightmare!

This is a pink-outlined sketch of the original character from the first post.

This is cleaned lineart produced from the original sketch.

This is an absolute trainwreck of a rudimentary landscape sketch layered on top of the more-or-less clean line art from the previous step in the process. The landscape sketch is drawn in a vastly thicker pen size.

This is the finished landscape without Salvador on it, with a patch of dirt where she would go instead.

Here are some progress pieces from the project. Yes, I did in fact render the dirt under the grass. No, it was not a good use of time, but it does subtly affect the final outcome. Just a little bit. I used oil paint effects pretty heavily in the background. Still think it has a tidy feeling to it.