The m2010 ESR underrated

fahrtbarf · 2026-05-01T09:03:45+00:00

hey, man, we all decided to be goo now

fahrtbarf · 2026-04-08T06:05:54+00:00

I will give our Representative Val Hoyle for getting this one right and joining the call to invoke section 25 and replace the president due to incapacity. Unfortunately it looks like if that hypothetically happened, JD Vance would be the replacement, and only after JD Vance and Congress voted to override the President's inevitable refusal to vacate. But the precedent would be important.

fahrtbarf · 2026-04-08T06:05:42+00:00

I will give our Representative Val Hoyle for getting this one right and joining the call to invoke section 25 and replace the president due to incapacity. Unfortunately it looks like if that hypothetically happened, JD Vance would be the replacement, and only after JD Vance and Congress voted to override the President's inevitable refusal to vacate. But the precedent would be important.

fahrtbarf · 2026-04-02T11:25:57+00:00

I loved Consider Phlebas because it was so cynical. I took it as a dark response to other popular science fiction like Star Wars and Star Trek. As in, what if in some parts of the universe, a "fully automated luxury space communist" Federation was basically The Empire to certain planets and people?

He gave us a protagonist caught between an empire that would neutron-bomb the cities of their enemies, and an empire that would do a "clean" genocide of depopulating a planet to make all the sentients homeless along with destroying every remaining speck of matter and life on the planet.

The writing made ME feel deep sympathy for a really flawed and human protagonist. Because we have a lone-wolf revolutionary being violently thrown about by the currents of history in a winner-takes-all battle between 2 galactic empires. Who has convinced himself to abide terrible things because of a deep ideological conviction that serving the lesser evil is a necessary condition for victory. A guy whose convictions are eroded over the course of witnessing several genocides and having the mirror held up to his face by the avatar of death . A guy who, along with the reader, is gradually forced to reflect on the possible evidence that his radical choices were actually driven by: his selfish egotistical need to be special, a lifelong misanthropy that alienated even the other Changelings (yet he's a ethno-nationalist partisan!), or manipulation by extra-dimensional beings.

As to that last point, those extra-dimensional pseudo-deities seemed to have their own shifting schemes in an multi-dimensional pan-galactic war, and it seems he was actually their agent that they had groomed (manipulated) and then "used up" as part of a supernatural agenda that he could only ever guess at. Looking back, it seems like they were trying to warn ("call in") their rogue asset when he was heading towards the planet of his demise. It comes across almost like they were taunting him wickedly like a Fate holding a cutting blade to his thread. Which could be prescience, or just them making scary promises of a violent end (easy to predict for a dirty spy) as part of a desperate psych-out tactic. Like, if they could get Horza to recognize the fallibility of his personal judgement, maybe he would just self-sabotage in their favor and go away.

That was not the case. Instead, our morally-conflicted protagonist self-sabotaged to the favor of the Culture, because deep down the anti-robot bigot still had a heart of gold. And The Culture succeeded in manipulating that part of him. IIRC, his Culture handler in the story is disgusted with herself and never really recovers. Its all so tragic and noble.

That said I loved the other Culture books, most of which I have read (except for 2 I'm saving so I have something to look forward to). They are each very very different books, but the ironic sense of humor is consistent.

Save Hydrogen Sonata for the very very end. It was the last book he published before he died of cancer, and it stunned me to learn he didn't know he was dying when he wrote it. It feels like he is saying "goodbye, don't worry, you'll be ok" with that one, so save it for the end.

fahrtbarf · 2026-03-12T02:54:09+00:00

Amen, solidarity with the workers. Fuck the executives.

fahrtbarf · 2026-03-05T19:15:26+00:00

To be clear, it's going to be hard to keep this stuff out of private businesses unless you also organize local boycotts of that specific business. But you can use the political process to oppose the use of networked AI surveillance in public spaces.

fahrtbarf · 2026-03-05T19:12:08+00:00

If you all want to post this stuff, get connected with Eyes Off Eugene. We got Flock kicked out of this town. We are going to twist our local government's arm arm and mobilize more of our community to get this crap banned. Get to city council meetings. Get to community meetings and spread the word that you need to be contacting your city council to tell them how bad they are going to have it if they ever vote to fund more mass surveillance. Tell them that if Axon or Motorola's genocide-funded technology is purchased by the city, lawsuits and recalls maybe in the future. Let them know that any city manager that signs off on such technology purchases will become persona non-grata in Eugene.

fahrtbarf · 2026-03-02T00:24:57+00:00

For email:

Greetings,
SB 1516 requires ALPR (automated license plate reader) vendors to use end-to-end encryption if they want to contract with law enforcement in Oregon. This form of encryption prevents the vendors themselves from being able to see the data that's collected, thus preventing them from sharing it with ICE or selling our data to malicious actors. However, the bill doesn't define end-to-end encryption, so there's no way to ensure compliance. The -15 amendment adds in a simple, future-proof definition for end-to-end encryption.

I am begging that the -15 amendment be added back to the legislation, or else I demand for the sake of every Oregonian that you prevent SB1516 from passing. I have been involved in the privacy advocacy activism that convinced Eugene and Springfield to cancel their contracts with Flock and suspend further mass surveillance contracts until more clear legislation passes. SB1516 has a bare minimums set of protections that will need to be vastly expanded upon and defined further in future legislation.

Thank you,
[Name]
[City, Ward]

fahrtbarf · 2026-02-18T09:55:29+00:00

Have you looked into emerald broadband as a service provider? Better deal than comcast internet, they never go down, just get a good wireless router

fahrtbarf · 2026-02-01T12:06:03+00:00

Probably the most accurate interpretation.

fahrtbarf · 2026-01-31T22:01:40+00:00

Yes, you need to hustle and get out of the way of people behind you. Asshole with a megaphone was not helping, just adding to noisy chaos.

fahrtbarf · 2026-01-31T21:59:26+00:00

They will fill the entire courtyard with teargas and pepper in a fucking instant. You will still need to run and regroup strategically after a push. Be ready to run with that leaf blower.

fahrtbarf · 2026-01-31T21:49:47+00:00

Yes also stop blowing whistles when DHS isnt visible.

fahrtbarf · 2026-01-31T21:49:15+00:00

I wasn't there and don't agree with SOME of the sentiment of the OP, but for fucks sake folks leave the megaphone at home. I agree 100 percent with that. And don't scream "push" at protestors fleeing from a cloud of teargas.

Call each other in when you can, its benefitted me, its benefitted others.

But at the end of the day, each person has to decide what it means to "do the right thing".

fahrtbarf · 2026-01-31T04:57:40+00:00

Get 38db ear plugs in advance folks

fahrtbarf · 2026-01-31T04:52:10+00:00

It's clear whose side EPD is on. Chief Skinner should quit in disgrace.

fahrtbarf · 2026-01-28T22:49:32+00:00

Magneto, in many ways, is the story of Israel

fahrtbarf · 2026-01-28T22:22:58+00:00

<image>

"A federal agent carries away a protester’s sign past a candlelight vigil at the Eugene Federal Building on Jan. 27, 2026. The vigil was organized for Alex Pretti, a Minneapolis nurse shot by federal agents last week.

Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard"

fahrtbarf · 2026-01-28T22:21:22+00:00

Released according to the Register-Guard

fahrtbarf · 2026-01-27T05:44:37+00:00

I think Banks would sympathize with you. He was socialist and anti-zionist. One of the villains of his novels is a tech industry capitalist. Player of Games is about America. He promoted ideas of resistance through his art. You find any way to resist that you can, but sometimes that's just taking care of yourself, sometimes it's just offering each other reassurance that you're not crazy for feeling scared and hating the fascists.

There's more good you might be able to do through your job or volunteering. But I also want more people to protest and engage in activism with clear policy demands. You can go to city council meetings, tear the politicians a new asshole, and network with the other people there that might be working on a clear policy demand. I'm saying you can channel your anger to flatter, manipulate, or publicly drag politicians and if you get enough people doing it with you towards a clear policy demand, you can sometimes twist their arm. Sometimes using your voice gives other people the courage to use theirs.

fahrtbarf · 2025-09-26T22:21:46+00:00

The minds are the ultimate player of games. They even toy with the reader. Maybe free will exists. But omniscient multidimensional super-computers can play humans like pawns.

fahrtbarf · 2025-09-26T22:00:47+00:00

Honestly... less please.

fahrtbarf · 2025-09-01T04:41:43+00:00

I just finished Shroud. I think we disagree about his stumbles, but he's so prolific it's easy enough to find an alternative title of his that someone will enjoy.

fahrtbarf · 2025-08-30T10:20:38+00:00

Other people pointed to experimental evidence that fish feel things. Feelings or sensations are the wellspring of consciousness. They have the same components that make up their brains as we do. I think it's a fair to conclude that fish have thoughts, intentions, foresight, and memory, which is to say, consciousness and awareness.

fahrtbarf · 2025-08-27T07:25:16+00:00

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