mos_8502 :verified:

Retrocomputing Maker and Designer in Ontario, Canada. I make stuff without promising a delivery date. I don't do crowdfunding, but I do gratefully accept Patreon and Ko-Fi support for what I do. 

Buy me a coffee!: https://www.ko-fi.com/mos_8502
Become a Patron!: https://patreon.com/Studio8502
Buy my products!: https://www.tindie.com/stores/studio8502/

Public Key

npub1qnufz4pycufk27kkeev5g0fgm0w0tqexsly674s2uwy0tynk5ymsk5hzwk

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsqf7y32sjvwym90ttvuk2y855dhh84svng0jd02c9w8z84jfm2zdcpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsslrxl6

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1qnufz4pycufk27kkeev5g0fgm0w0tqexsly674s2uwy0tynk5ymsk5hzwk

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Last Notes

2024-09-07 21:35:44

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The shadow of Project Mogul is cast far and wide, a shade so pervasive that people forget it even exists. A hilarious legacy for a project that ended in failure.

2024-09-03 08:27:12

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I have an abiding fondness for shell scripting. Not Bash, though. Csh or better yet rc.

2024-09-02 13:43:53

COFFEEEEEEEEE

2024-08-31 23:54:07

Here's a quick peek at test footage. Video from my iPhone, audio recorded with the AT2020 mic and Zoom H4n Pro. No processing done on either, just lining them up and exporting.
https://studio8502.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/113/058/850/695/492/651/original/19c3912dd78d4df8.mp4

2024-08-31 20:07:13

Nobody calls Chess "retrogaming", and it's about 2,000 years old.
Just because it's old doesn't mean it's bad. It's good or bad on its own merits, age is not a factor.

2024-08-31 18:54:14

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And it’s still very clear how much they lifted from Motif when designing GTK. Lineage will show.

2024-08-30 16:11:02

All the motif example code I see is awful. And not because the motif function naming scheme is fugly (it is!), either.
They store all their widgets in globals. Why would you do that? Why not make a custom structure type to manage your Motif window, so it's more modular?

2024-08-30 03:28:03

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Perl is awk with airs and graces.

2024-08-30 02:22:26

You know, an anime about a vending machine doesn’t need to have that much of a banger theme song.

2024-08-29 19:46:21

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Let's not forget this little chestnut:<code>#define var __auto_type<br><br>#define let __auto_type const<br></code>

2024-08-29 19:29:25

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I also do this:
#define guard(V) if ((V))
Which lets me do
guard (myVar != NULL) else { return; }

2024-08-29 19:14:41

We need a third option between mute and block. A social media equivalent of slamming the phone down with your ass. The crack slam.

2024-08-29 18:10:57

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I was just saying, as a non-fan of rust, that Redox has it right - trying to get a big, established project to accept code in a whole new language is more trouble for everyone than it’s worth.

2024-08-28 18:25:36

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Current Motif can do antialiased fonts through Xft, and has no problem with high bit width colour. The chiseled visual style seems a bit crusty but does make it obvious what is and is not interactive.

2024-08-28 05:37:36

One of these days I'm going to get a wild hair up my arse and set myself up a little Motif-based BSD installation so I can pretend computing is still as cool as it was in the 90s.
https://studio8502.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/113/037/555/198/989/577/original/da9e3437347f53b7.png

2024-08-27 23:27:42

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I blame university bookstores.

2024-08-27 21:28:16

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*unix lover rage activated*

2024-08-27 19:35:05

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Some motherfuckers don’t want to fix shit, they just want to be right.

2024-08-27 01:42:45

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Bacon jam?

2024-08-26 22:20:42

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Nothing softens resentment like a pile of cash and an all expenses paid resettlement to a planned community somewhere in Utah where nobody will try to bloody murder them.

2024-08-26 20:43:14

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Not to put too fine a point on it, but how you can enter Canada and *ever* want to leave is beyond my comprehension. Plus we'd be lucky to have you.

2024-08-26 02:40:25

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I’ll find something in the camera roll…
https://studio8502.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/113/025/536/613/116/466/original/8788db695d2caaa4.jpeg
https://studio8502.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/113/025/536/768/012/648/original/10ae8740d5277f82.jpeg

2024-08-26 02:02:04

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I have a 21” Trinitron monitor and a 27” Trinitron TV, both in my office.

2024-08-25 04:22:18

In the pile I got today was the cutest little photo printer.
It seems to work, but the ink seems to have expired. In 2007.
Maybe I'll gamble on a new ink for it for a laugh.
https://studio8502.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/113/020/272/843/141/227/original/9c090f5334b001fc.jpeg

2024-08-25 00:54:48

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MVC wins every time.

2024-08-24 19:00:14

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An imagined band of Palestinian “ingluorious basterds” who target IDF personnel and Likud officials would be entirely within bounds as far as I’m concerned.

2024-08-24 18:39:20

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See that's one of the things that pisses me off. A military response was arguably appropriate, but not *this* response -- there's no world where this level of destruction is the appropriate response to a terror attack.
If it had been me in charge, I would have sent in spec ops with orders to get the hostages back dead or alive, but not to so much as muss the hair of anyone not actively engaged in hostile action.

2024-08-24 05:34:21

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Fucking hell. What was he *trying* to make?

2024-08-24 04:03:47

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I can give it a go, but my skills in FreeCAD aren't quite caught up to what I pulled off in Fusion 360. Your thing sounds easy enough though.

2024-08-24 03:23:37

New graphics card (GTX 1060) has 1x DisplayPort, 1x HDMI, and 2x DVI. None of that is a problem, except that it means I have to re-wire the monitors because currently it's connected with Mini DisplayPort-to-VGA for the smaller screen and Mini DisplayPort-to-HDMI for the other.

2024-08-24 01:47:50

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That scope went from my least favorite thing on my bench to top 5 with the addition of the arm.

2024-08-23 23:42:08

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The DSLR can send video over usb, but it’s awful and slow. The HDMI output is equally terrible. If I want decent 1080p out of it, I have to record to SD.

2024-08-23 19:27:01

This is deeply cursed, but standards compliant. https://github.com/guillermocalvo/exceptions4c

2024-08-23 19:16:11

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I had been using dd for like 20 years before it twigged in my defective brain that setting the block size to match what the target drive expected would speed it up.

2024-08-23 07:50:41

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Oh. That one. Yeah, sorry, Mac OS 9 is still a no go. I have a hacked 9.2.2 that works on my dual 1.42GHz G4 FW800, so it’s probably possible, but way beyond what I can do.

2024-08-23 07:37:58

It still strikes me as a bit weird that anyone cares about my projects. Don’t get me wrong, it’s awesome, but it’s also really weird.

2024-08-23 04:07:01

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Sentinel 65X Mini, actually.

2024-08-22 02:32:40

When did the DNC become The Oscars for political junkies?

2024-08-22 02:03:50

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I believe those are called “golfers”.

2024-08-22 00:48:46

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Pick one of them. Them’s the breaks.

2024-08-21 17:31:26

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So by volume, 1 part xanthan gum, 14 parts each tapioca and potato flour, and 28 parts rice flour.

2024-08-20 20:43:10

This would be the state in which board would arrive from the fab house. SMD parts all installed, but through hole parts needing doing. Most are obvious -- but the clock port needs installing before the controller ports, with attention paid to cutting the pins close, so they don't interfere with placing the controller ports.
#Sentinel65X
https://studio8502.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/112/995/812/298/565/241/original/7a5c0487c10fa0cc.png

2024-08-18 20:11:09

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Those things rise again because the left got soft. If fashy language immediately got the speaker a hospital stay and a proctologist consult, we’d have fewer fascists.

2024-08-18 04:42:35

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Okay, so it's not crazy then? Nice.

2024-08-18 04:35:50

Physically removing unused pins (say, like, NC pins) from a TQFP footprint: Smart or stupid?
Specifically, the 100-pin TQFP I'm dealing with has 18 pins on the left and right edges, in four groups, which serve no function, and whose removal would make routing simpler. Is editing the footprint to remove the pads for the unused pins going to cause a problem?

2024-08-18 02:45:04

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I just buy MSG in bulk because it stores so well.

2024-08-17 02:41:39

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The two major pinouts I cannot change are the SRAM and the CPU.

2024-08-16 23:36:37

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I start twenty things that fail for every one that succeeds, and I’m given to understand that’s better than average.

2024-08-16 18:17:03

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After induction and basic training, you pic your MOS and go to school for 18 months. That covers service aboard ship and ashore in general, and how to do your actual job.

2024-08-15 22:25:59

I like to relax by brainstorming ideas that I never have to actually implement. So feel free to ignore this thread.

2024-08-15 19:58:19

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Hence bioengineering. The gland I imagine is living tissue engineered to be ignored by the immune system, fed by your own bloodstream.

2024-08-15 19:35:47

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Hope they enjoy smelling like a gorilla with scurvy and chronic diarrhea, and going balder than a shaved Filipino boy running away from the Republican National Convention.

2024-08-15 19:15:29

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Yes. This exactly. This encapsulates perfectly my biggest gripe in tech: people coming up with complicated new solutions (like CSV) to problems that were solved decades ago.

2024-08-14 05:43:15

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X is not a great basis. May I recommend looking at PostScript?

2024-08-13 22:08:48

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So loosely speaking, this hastily drawn diagram shows my understanding of the system as we seem to be proposing it:
https://studio8502.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/112/956/520/828/741/431/original/010ca37f1cfdabf3.png

2024-08-13 06:01:30

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So much simpler than bending leads out -- and it lets you cut the lead before you solder, making a nicer finish.

2024-08-13 05:51:00

Next Kdenlive test: overlays of text and graphics, and fade in/out of same.
https://studio8502.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/112/952/674/545/194/093/original/c4170b8e7c457f45.mp4

2024-08-10 23:27:16

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I will look at 500mA current limiters. I figure one for each port ought to do.

2024-08-10 22:58:23

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My single biggest criticism of a lot of neo retro designs is using 5V DIP parts in 2024.

2024-08-08 02:59:12

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BSD and LSD come from the same place. This is not a coincidence.

2024-08-05 23:36:46

Calling it now: I predict that Ventoy is being pushed so hard via astroturfing because it's being used as a vector for some type of state-sponsored malware/rootkit/surveillance package/botnet/whatever.

2024-08-05 23:25:18

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I do have a smaller Kodak point-and-shoot that might work for overhead shots -- plus a mound for my phone. It's just a question of getting enough light on the bench.

2024-08-05 23:21:11

Trying out the DSLR on the workbench overhead boom. I'm thinking what I need is a hot shoe adapter to mount one of my little lights on it.
https://studio8502.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/112/911/502/397/273/397/original/e792d3c2753c97b7.jpeg

2024-08-05 22:19:15

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Yeah, I'm brainstorming for (much) later, in whatever I do next after Sentinel.

2024-08-05 21:52:42

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Here is a pie in the sky idea, tell me if it's nuts.
What if VERA in terms of general "how it works from the CPU's perspective", but it output a physical resolution of 1920x1080, from an integer-scaled resolution of 640x360?

2024-08-05 21:39:29

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What types of packages do ECP5 come in? Not just BGA I hope.

2024-08-05 21:34:54

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UEFI Direct-kernel booting: "What's a bootloader?"

2024-08-05 21:20:31

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Is there a smaller footprint version that maybe does 4 bits, like an 8-pin part?

2024-08-05 20:05:58

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What I wonder is how much work it would be to create a second DAC, one that output greyscale - 256 shades of grey is enough to handle any GEM/Mac like GUI someone wanted to make, or might have interesting gaming applications.

2024-08-05 19:58:33

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It’s educational if nothing else.

2024-08-02 02:59:04

Antisemites and islamophobes are inferior.
Homophobes are inferior.
Transphobes are inferior.
Racists and eugenicists are inferior.
The right wing is inferior. I refuse to pretend that they aren’t.

2024-08-02 00:16:52

My treat to myself this payday is buying Kitsune Tails at launch.

2024-07-31 22:23:22

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Excellent question. The idea is that it will fit into a Mini-ITX case *or* into a console-style case. Other than that it be a top-loader, I really wanted to leave room for people better at 3D modelling than I am to contruibute.

2024-07-31 07:41:50

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What amuses me is that the major bad guys in her incredibly empurpled barely-edited “novel” Atlas Shrugged aren’t communists or even anyone vaguely on the left in our sense, but oligarch types who use government influence to bend the market in their own favour.

2024-07-31 07:40:13

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Her philosophy is essentially a reframing of Aristotelianism, bent around into a pretzel to push a worldview of staunch individualism and a total rejection of any form of spirituality or altruism. It’s all *extremely* Russian in the manner of thinking - calling her pessimistic does a disservice to glass half empty types.

2024-07-31 07:37:38

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She was a miserable woman, a ball of un-healed trauma filled to bursting with 100% justified resentment of the Soviet Union, and spent her life blaming everything wrong with the world on what she saw as the drive to reduce people to components of a collective. It seems never to have occurred to her that there are both good and bad collectives, just as there are good and bad individuals.

2024-07-31 07:29:25

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Based on what I know of her life and character, she would absolutely *detest* the modern GOP, for their misogyny, anti-abortion bullshit (Rand was 100% pro-choice, which is the nicest thing you can say about her), and the slavish ignorance and racism of their politics -- Rand viewed racism as the most base form of collectivism, which she viewed as the root of all human evil. It's weird how someone who was so wrong about so much could still manage to come to the right conclusions on certain issues.

2024-07-31 07:25:52

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You're correct, but as a tangent, it might amuse you to know that Ayn Rand *loathed* Republicans.

2024-07-31 06:46:45

I think this might be clever -- rather than buying something to ground the ESD mat, I hook it to the ground of the soldering station through one of the screw holes in the chassis.
https://studio8502.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/112/879/281/886/216/215/original/e3fda48d2c11eca4.jpeg

2024-07-31 06:19:23

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Well that would seem counterproductive, as there would be nothing left to ground the mat.

2024-07-31 05:25:46

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Wait, as in stick the banana plug into the ground hole in a mains receptacle?

2024-07-28 23:59:49

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Are you familiar with apropos? It's basically a search engine for man pages. Try this at your terminal emulator:apropos compile
and you will get a list of man pages that match the search string.

2024-07-28 23:51:55

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I wonder what you would get if you took an LLM and trained it exclusively on Debian’s man pages.

2024-07-28 01:32:34

Buying for your small electronics business in 2024:
Mouser: 100% above board. Holy shit expensive.
LCSC: Way more legit than you’d assume. Also way cheaper than you’d assume.
AliExpress: A mixed bag. Some legit, most shit. Stick to things that are harder to fuck up like connectors.
UTSource: This is your last resort. Here be chaos: you might get a bargain, you might get a brick in a box.

2024-07-24 05:27:22

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The "no-clean" fluxes out there ought to be labelled "can't-clean".
Here's what you can do for a cheap DIY flux that does work: get a couple pieces of violin string rosin, grind it up fine, and dissolve it in 99% isopropyl alcohol. Add a few drops of glycerine to stabilize it.

2024-07-24 04:17:04

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Also maybe see if @npub10u0…y6g0 has any if that fancy flux that he sold me.

2024-07-24 04:10:23

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Get yourself a KSGER T12 soldering station while you’re at it.

2024-07-24 03:15:00

KiCad gives you a really bad impression of just how small 1206 parts art, let alone 0402 or 0201.

2024-07-21 20:47:06

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The conventional wisdom would be for her to choose a white man as running mate. Pete Buttigieg maybe, he’s popular.
But hear me out: Tammy Duckworth.

2024-07-17 18:58:19

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It is so important that people raised under capitalism learn the difference between personal property (without which socialism has no purpose for all that production) and “the means of production”, what Capital calls “private property”.
The only reason socialism cares about your personal property is making sure it was produced and sold in a way that benefits the workers who made it.

2024-07-17 16:13:43

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Adding crunch is fine, but too much is just fucking the player about. What if each scroll had an invocation or evocation that had some small utility effect, and casting multiples in certain orders triggered more powerful effects, but you had to figure that out?

2024-07-15 23:24:36

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Oh, right, the ZX81 used static RAM. 1K, if memory serves. Does it have the address lines to support a larger SRAM?

2024-07-15 23:19:50

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Aren’t they just small DRAMs?

2024-07-15 20:34:18

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My limited understanding is that it has to do with their behaviour as refugees in Arab nations, but personally I get the feeling that it’s because they’re not actually Arabs, but descendants of the same people as the Jews.

2024-07-15 20:21:51

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Everyone in that part of the world hates Palestinians. I mean, I don’t and you don’t, they’ve never done shit to us, but Arab nations loathe them. They hate Israel more, but the only use they have for Palestinians is as someone else for the Israelis to murder. Meanwhile, the West can’t afford to lose access to Israel for surveillance hardware in the region, so until Israel does something to someone that the political word at large actually cares about (which is not to say that nobody should care, of course they should!) they will turn a blind eye.

2024-07-15 20:17:28

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Do you want the real explanation, in my opinion?

2024-07-15 00:29:36

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Even if that frenzy leads directly to their movement fracturing and going to war with itself, leaving it unable to enforce its will?

2024-07-15 00:13:17

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This also applies to “nonviolent” protests. Any protest inherently says “do what we say or else”.

2024-07-15 00:10:44

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Ultimately all politics is violence, because the threat of violence is what motivates finding alternatives. Absent the threat of violence, no government has any power at all.

2024-07-14 07:10:59

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It’s a perfectly legitimate stance. I disagree with it on several points, but certainly not to the level of an unfollow.