Deep dives in the topics of the day. Space, Tech and AI are my work experiences Politics is my passion, jokes my joy See @d2fl_alt for X algo info.
Cherokee National Forest
Joined May 2009
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Tom Finnell retweeted
A kid from a small town steps onto a flight headed to an unfamiliar part of the world, taking on a level of responsibility most people their age haven't even thought about yet.
Those years are defined by long night watches, missed birthdays, cold meals, and the quiet bonds built with the people standing next to them through the hard days.
When the uniform finally gets packed away, that mindset stays with them. Veterans bring all of that experience back home into our neighborhoods, businesses, and local communities. They just keep showing up, solving problems, and looking out for the people around them.
Thank you to everyone who stepped forward, took the oath, and served.
If you served, or have family who wore the uniform, share their branch or where they were stationed in the replies so we can honor them today.
🤖 Made with AI
ALT Veterans Day, 2026
Tom Finnell retweeted
Two days after the election, James Carville was already picking the first fight for the new majority, and it isn't groceries. He's been in this mood since March, when he said he wanted his Trump Derangement Syndrome to get worse.
I think that's a gift to Republicans. Democrats won on affordability. Every hour the new majority spends on payback is an hour not spent on rent and gas, and voters notice that. Meanwhile the DSA-aligned activists want something bigger, changing how the system itself works, not just who runs it.
Which side do you think wins that fight in January?
Tom Finnell retweeted
🎵 Grok Imagine Music is here! Wow 🤯
You can now add custom music to your Grok Imagine videos without leaving the platform.
Here’s how to get started:
-Open Grok Imagine and select a video you’ve created.
-Open the Music panel.
-Create a new track.
Describe the music you want, including the genre, mood, instruments, and tempo. And it creates the lyrics for you.
-Generate your track and preview it.
-Use the audio timeline to select the exact section you want.
-Apply it to your video!
Your generated tracks are saved in your library, so you can reuse them in future creations.
My tip: When generating music, think about the emotion you want your audience to feel. A good soundtrack can completely transform a scene.
I love that we can now create videos and add music in the same workflow.
Have you tried Grok Imagine Music yet?
Here’s the first track I created 😅👇
🤖 Made with AI
Tom Finnell retweeted
I went through the whole Joe Rogan interview with David Grusch, not just the reptilian clip everyone is passing around. Here's what the full thing looks like once you sort it out.
Things Grusch says he personally witnessed of the phenomenon itself: one. A video. A pan, not a close-up, of three or four bodies. He says he didn't get a good look, couldn't tell gender, won't say when or where. That's the entirety of his firsthand evidence.
He's admirably clear about this, by the way. "As far as I can remember, I have no experience with the phenomenon." Never saw a craft. Never saw a being. No sighting, no encounter, nothing.
Everything else comes from somewhere else.
Roughly 40 things he was told by sources he won't name. The reptilians. The dead Greys alongside them. US personnel hurt and killed. Our guys shooting the reptilians dead. Telepathy. Underwater bases the size of city blocks. The whole catalogue of craft shapes and occupant types.
Around 20 things he flags as his own hypothesis. Sentient plasma. Psychotronic countermeasures. Bio-engineering. AI disclosing before the government does.
And about 25 moments where Rogan presses for a detail that could actually be checked and he goes "I don't know," "I never had access," "I'll let the government handle that one." Dates, locations, numbers, origins, how many of our people died. All withheld.
One piece of firsthand evidence, and a very large amount of everything else.
Here's why that matters more than the scaly gorillas.
The move I expect from the serious UFO crowd is to quietly drop the reptilians and keep the crash retrievals. Treat the embarrassing part as an outlier and carry on.
You can't do that. It's all one sourcing chain. Same unnamed friends, same classified rooms, same confidence in his voice. He doesn't present the reptilians as weaker than the rest. He presents them exactly the same way.
So if his word is good enough for crash retrievals and recovered bodies, it's good enough for seven foot scaly gorillas in a Tic Tac. And if it isn't good enough for the scaly gorillas, it was never good enough for the rest of it.
You don't get to keep only the half that flatters the narrative.
Tom Finnell retweeted
Are you tired of constantly seeing posts from people trying to make it into the new Creator program and asking for help?
Many don't realize that the 500k threshold is just a door to get you in the room. Once you're there, they're going through all your posts with a fine-tooth comb to see if you will be accepted.
Don't do things to get to 500k that will keep you out of the program once you get through the door. Do you get that?
Tom Finnell retweeted
So many people missinterpret what this "deadline" means. As well as how the 500K impressions are tallied. As always, let me know if I get any of this wrong.
People are already in the new program. Some have received payouts. This upcoming date is the opening of the application process for people who are in the OLD program.
We were precluded from joining until the old program ended, so we weren't able to "double dip". Tomorrow at 8pm Eastern Time, there will only be ONE program.
The 500K impressions is NOT a deadline. It is a sliding window that drops numbers off the end and adds new ones to the beginning. You can hit it anytime to trigger the application process.
If you have 15K to go, that means you have to do 15K MORE than what you did 3 months ago. Because those impressions fall off.
Beware of big spikes falling off the end. As they pass out of the 90-day window, they can actually cause your number to go backward.
And just because you can apply, this does not mean you will be accepted. They do a lot of research into your account before you can get into the program.
ALT VHTL Ledger
Tom Finnell retweeted
Regular is $3.80 here. Up 50 cents since early summer.
That is still 35 cents under the AAA national average of $4.15, which just set a Labor Day record. The last time Labor Day cleared $3.82 was 2012.
Diesel is the number that matters. National regular can sit under $4.20 while diesel just tagged about $5.90, an all-time high. Freight, food, and harvest run on that fuel. Gasoline demand fades after the holiday. Distillate does not. It is treading on the $1/mile barrier.
Orinoco is not a pump rescue. That crude sits around 8 to 10 API. It needs naphtha or light oil just to move, then an upgrader or a Gulf coker to become product. Wright already said the kink is refining capacity and the feel-it window is 12 to 24 months. A 65-billion-barrel headline does not cut today's crack spread.
The war set the crude floor. Thin gasoline stocks and smashed foreign refineries set the product floor. Extra-heavy inventory in Venezuela does not refill a diesel tank in Ohio this week.
Tom Finnell retweeted
There are still unanswered questions about the new OCR program, and I will use @DrClownPhD just released video as an example.
1. Does my analysis of this video grant me a qualified impression? I shared the video using X's own mechanisms. SInce I did not create the video myself, does that disqualify this post?
2. Does the video itself qualify because it is a derivitive of the MAGA man them that is rampant. DrCown did not originate this meme character.
3. Does DrClown get any credit for the video that I shared throught the X post video link? And by credit, I mean money. There is nothing in the OCR terms about video impressions.
Got any other questions about the program?
Tom Finnell retweeted
Here are a few nuances on the rules. These have been confirmed by the team and the Help. @grok will confirm.
When you quote another post, the quoted post does not get a home timeline impression. That goes to you, the quoter. The quoted post could get scored better for new feed requests if you interact with it.
But just because you quote it, it does not mean it is eligible for OCR rewards. You have to add something signifigant to the quote. An addition or correction, or another implication of what was quoted, etc. If you just add a line or two, or simply restate what is in the quote, or worse use "This" or an emoji, you won't be credited.
Reposts are the opposite. When you do a bare repost, that shows the original post to your followers. All the impression credit goes to the original author. The repost gets the 25% haircut that all reposts and replies get.
If you disagree with this, let me know in the comments.
Here are the official rules for the new X payout program, 'Original Content Rewards.'
Please note the bottom of the image for guidelines -
- Only post original content that has never been posted to X before - Anything that has ever been posted before on X is off limits. Old memes? Historical videos already posted? A news clip someone else posted on X already - these are outright.
If the content was not created by yourself, it is not allowed on X. Videos from other platforms are not allowed. Memes from other platforms are not allowed. Images from anywhere on the internet you found and want to share because they are interesting - not allowed.
- Use quote, react, or repost to share content already on X - if you copy and paste anything already on X and post it yourself, this is prohibited.
- Never download or upload content created by other X users - This one makes sense, use quote or repost to share those.
If you are a creator, as in you actually make videos, memes, images - your good
If you are a field news reporter and record your own videos from the field - your good
If you are neither of these and just someone who likes to share information, memes or videos on X, you are not good.
Tom Finnell retweeted
How do you stand on the 0.01 clock controversy over this thrilling game? I was elated when it appeared that WM had won the game. Like many, I groaned when the officials put 1 second back on the game clock, giving Michigan another go at a Hail Mary, and they were successful.
The Big 10 has defended giving the Wolverines another shot at winning. I am not convinced.
I don't like the Wolverines. I was really cheering for Western Michigan, who deserved this win for playing out of their league as a 4 touchdown dog.
#SEC all the way.
Tom Finnell retweeted
Faizon Brandon just did something no SEC quarterback has done in a first start since Cam Newton in 2010.
13 of 17 for 226 yards. Three touchdown passes. Two rushing scores. Zero picks. Tennessee 56-9 over Furman in front of 101,915 at Neyland. And the Dolly Parton Memorial Tribute was icing on the cake for the fans.
Brandon is the youngest starter in program history. First true freshman to open a season under center since Brent Schaeffer in 2004. The five total touchdowns tied the freshman mark Casey Clausen set against Arkansas in 2000 and Tyler Bray matched against Memphis in 2010.
Clausen and Bray did it all through the air. Brandon ran for two of his.
Georgia Tech is next week. Furman is not.
Tom Finnell retweeted
As of 8pm Eastern, X is still dead silent about the premium bug on iOS. Word has reached the general news feeds now.
Either X took the day off or they are all at a College Football game. I use the web, or my Pixel. My iPhone is on the charger.
Tom Finnell retweeted
Do you think deploying Starlink v3s is more useful than catching Ship back at Boca Chica? – at Wildwood Lake, TN
Tom Finnell retweeted
I think you will like this. I reformatted my pinned "Algo Explainer" article to make it more useful for the non-technical reader.
Instead of exploring the code changes, it now concentrates on what these changes mean to YOU the X user.
Give it a spin. See if it clicks now. Let me know if it doesn't.
As for this last drop, unless you have more than 250K followers, it really doesn't have much you need to know.
ALT Algo Article Update Banner
Tom Finnell retweeted
Every day I give you the technical changes in the algorithm. But what does it all mean? For those of you not deep in the jargon, I made this short video explaining what happens to your post the instant you hit "send". Share with anyone who needs it. Should I do more?
🤖 Made with AI
Tom Finnell retweeted
We are all waiting for under the hood: Post visibility diagnostics .
My mentor always shared the things from open source code.
According to open source code the report is generated on the 11th day for the previous month.
Let's wait for the 11th September.
Tom Finnell retweeted
Make It Ugly Sub Club Spotlight!
Today's spotlight: @d2fl (Tom Finnell), resident algorithm detective, dad joke connoisseur, and the only man I know who can go from writing haikus to arguing about dwell time in the same breath.
Tom has been a subscriber since day one. Before that, he was a supporter sharing my X theories with his audience. Back then, his niche seemed to be fighting with the Krassenstein brothers. I respected the hustle.
Then he became obsessed with building tools to help figure out payouts, visibility, and the algorithm and giving them to his subs. Between writing haikus, fighting with flat earthers (thank you for no longer doing that, Tom, I was about to mute you because I couldn't stand that crap in my feed), and dad jokes. So many dad jokes.
He's a patriot in the truest sense. Cares about our country. Seeks truth, a conspiracy buster at times. And he and I have spent many hours arguing about the platform, the algorithm, and best practices. He speaks with authority. I'm convinced no one can be, but I'm happy to test stuff out and make my best guesses. It's a fun dynamic. Like a scientist and a street preacher arguing about the weather.
Tom used to be a regular in the Sub Spaces but isn't there as often anymore. I think it's because I've given up on figuring X out. I just want some decent visibility, but I'm not willing to negotiate my style or habits to get it. So there isn't much to argue about anymore. But we do agree on one thing: growing via follow trains is very bad for your account. We're aligned on that. A small but important victory.
He tracks how X ranks posts and shares analysis on ranking changes, dwell time, original-content signals, and visibility filters. He also reports on local developments in Bradley County, Tennessee; public meetings on power plants, potential data centers, resident concerns. The man has range.
Thank you,Tom, for the $2, the tools, the arguments, and for being here since the beginning. If X is keeping you up at night and you're obsessing endlessly over your stats, Tom might be your soulmate. Go follow @d2fl. Or just send him a dad joke and see what happens.
Tom Finnell retweeted
Does anyone else have a complimentary subscription to Premium+? Have you had an issue with Grok and Grok Bot reading your correct subscription level? @benjitaylor
This is a continuing issue for me, starting with when it took 2 days for X to recognize the complimentary sub.
And I can't even change the paid subscription! So I am stuck. Useless free bot and useless Grok Heavy app that can't even do 720p or 15 sec videos.
ALT d2fl Complimentary subscription to Premium+
Tom Finnell retweeted
X dropped a new algorithm snapshot tonight.
The score did not change.
What changed is what can get thrown out before the score matters.
Brazil election accounts can be removed from For You unless you already follow them.
Posts from topic discovery take a 50% cut if you do not follow the author. That is steeper than the usual 25% out-of-network haircut.
The pinned article will be updated in the morning.
Visibility checks now run on Following as well as For You. Adult and video labels can drop a post before Phoenix ranks it.
Same weights as August. Same dwell setting. Same reply math.
If reach moved this week, look at labels and eligibility. The ranker is the same machine. – at Wildwood Lake, TN
🤖 Made with AI
Tom Finnell retweeted
X has developed a new bug. Several people including me are capped for follows at 7,500.
I thought it was because of a screw up earlier in my account when I switched over to the free Premium Plus gifted by my grok heavy subscription. It's popping up everywhere.
Don't keep bumping into the limit because that will eventually flag your account. Just let it go until they sort it out.
Anyone else being limited for following people at 7500? – at Wildwood Lake, TN
🤖 Made with AI
