Aug 13Playing the BluesThe most shocking thing about Twitter Blue is just how uniform the vibe and interests of its users are. The genres of media on apps like YouTube and Netflix are broad enough that there’s no one person who’d watch them or want to remove the ads from them. These platforms…Politics10 min readPolitics10 min read
Jul 2Terraforming: Deleted ContentThe following is a section I deleted from my article on The Outer Worlds and imperialism. As it’s not supported by the in-game text, I didn’t think it belonged in the essay, but I do think it came out nice, so here it is. Like Fallout, Outer Worlds views its…Video Games2 min readVideo Games2 min read
Apr 1The Internet Archive is VitalIt’s always easier to romanticise a concept when it’s something that could happen in the future rather than something that’s happening now. I think that goes some way to explaining peoples’ fascination with concepts like time travel, Web3, or hovercars. It also explains the way that the internet and the…Politics6 min readPolitics6 min read
Jan 14Field Report II: Deleted ContentLast weekend, I published a review of the previous six months of Halo Infinite updates. In the interests of space, I cut a few items from that article: a review of the new mode Covert One Flag and longer assessments of the original Forge maps Argyle and Detachment. …Media2 min readMedia2 min read
Nov 12, 2022The Nanophage: Can a Signal Destroy Hardware?Note: The following article contains minor spoilers for Observer. In Bloober Team’s horror sci-fi, Observer, there’s a disease that is communicated electronically but still physically degrades people. At first, I thought the idea of this illness, “the nanophage”, was ridiculous. How do a bunch of abstract computer commands materially damage…Technology12 min readTechnology12 min read
Oct 30, 2022PainPain is not just a feeling. It’s a way of thinking. It’s the involuntary abdication of any belief in a world beyond the body. Your perceptive field shrinks, recoiling from the room until it encompasses only that locality of yourself in which the warning system blares. It seems like the…Short Story2 min readShort Story2 min read
Sep 25, 2022Queen Elizabeth Was Not Someone to CelebrateImagine that there’s this colossal corporation that ran authoritarian governments across the world, killed tens of millions, pioneered the use of concentration camps, sold people into slavery, destroyed the material prospects of countless nations, and generally committed atrocities the globe over. Then, imagine that after a few centuries of that…Politics6 min readPolitics6 min read
May 28, 2022TimelinesOne night I dreamed a dream. As I was scrolling down my timeline, Across the sneeze-encrusted screen flashed posts from my account. For each tweet, I noticed two streaks of RTs, One belonging to me and one to my mufo. After the last post from my account flashed before me, I…Poetry1 min readPoetry1 min read
Apr 3, 2022The Pervert’s List I#1: Bulb of Saur #2: I’ve a Saur #3: Vine of Saur #4: The Charming Salamander #5: The Charming Chameleon #6: Charred Zard #7: The Squirting Turtle #8: Warter Turtle #9: Blasting Turtle #10: Catering Pillar #11: Metaphorical Pod #12: Butter is Free #13: Weed All #14: Hakuna #15: Matata …2 min read2 min read
Mar 6, 2022Against Hate and Suffering During the Ukrainian InvasionI’ve not said much about Ukraine on social media. This has been in part because I want to respect the limits of my understanding of that country and neighbouring Russia. While I know various things about these two nations, plenty of other things, I don’t, and I do not want…Politics8 min readPolitics8 min read
