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John Bull

@garius.bsky.social

27K followers 1.1K following 21K posts

He/Him. Author. Historian (inc of obscure Military Holy Orders). Strategy streamer. Tech/Transport Strategist. Editor of @lonrec. Orient fan. Business/Writing: [email protected]. Agent: @pastpreservers.bsky.social

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John Bull @garius.bsky.social · Mar 10

The latest in my history of home computers is live. Covers the era of Commodore, Atari and Jack Tramiel.

He was a brutal manager. But also an Auschwitz survivor, and that shaped him, and his legit drive to build a better world.

This warning from him hit home, right now.

every.to/the-crazy-on...

One day in 1982, Michael Tomczyk, who had led the project to develop the Commodore 64, found himself sitting in Jack Tramiel’s office. Tomcyzk had just returned from a trade show in Hanover, Germany. During the course of their conversation, Tomczyk mentioned how impressed he’d been with the Autobahn highway network on the way there.

"I built that road," Tramiel told him matter-of-factly.

“Jack went on to explain that during World War II as a teenager he had been selected to work on the road gangs,” Tomczyk remembered. “He said that it was one way to survive, because they had to feed the people that did that kind of hard labor, or they wouldn't work. ‘We built good roads,’ he said.”

Tramiel had never hidden the horrors in his past. He was proud that he had helped build a better future through Commodore and Atari. However, the longer he lived, the more concerned he became that people would forget what that future had cost. And that which is forgotten can be repeated.

"You know," Tramiel said once, "it's hard to believe it really happened. But it can happen again. In America. Americans like to make rules, and that scares me. If you have too many rules you get locked in a system. It's the system that says this one dies and that one doesn't, not the people. That's why I don't hate the German people. Individuals, yes. Rules, yes. But not all Germans.

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Brian Eno News @dark-shark.bsky.social · 15m

"Liminal is set in the borderlands between song and non-song (or 'nong' as we call it)": Brian Eno and Beatie Wolfe's new album in their own words www.musicradar.com/music-tech/r...

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Ryoga Rocket @ryogarocket.bsky.social · 3h

This is my dance about how much transphobes suck.

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John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 37m

US about to no CB war Greenland because the President is angry at Norway

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Peter Mandler @petermandler.bsky.social · 1h

Join us for a roundtable on 'The Modern British City' in January at Senate House, London, with Simon Gunn, Erika Hanna, Owen Hatherley, Peter Mandler, Otto Saumarez Smith and Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite, followed by wine! www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Roundtable: 'The Modern British City'

www.history.ac.uk

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Ideas Roadshow @ideasroadshow.bsky.social · 2h

🎲 💯 Let's play! A well-preserved boardgame with exquisite decorations!

As long as there’ve been human societies, games have played a significant role in how people interact w/ each other & how we live our lives.

🎬 A Cultural Exploration: ideasroadshow.com/chess/

🏺 #archaeology 🗃️ #arthistory

Alison Fisk @alisonfisk.bsky.social · 23h

The Royal Game of Ur is the world’s oldest playable boardgame!

Played by Sumerians in ancient Mesopotamia about 4,500 years ago!

It is a two-player race game, the rules of which have been deciphered from a cuneiform tablet.

Game from the Royal Cemetery of Ur. 📷 British Museum

#Archaeology

British Museum photo showing a two-player board game with gaming counters known as the Royal Game of Ur. Dated c. 2,500 BC.

The game board is composed of a hollow box made of wood adorned with shell plaques. There is a drawer at one end for storing game pieces and dice. The top of the board is covered with twenty square-shaped off-white shell plaques, each bordered with dark-blue lapis lazuli. The shell squares are intricately decorated with blue inlaid patterns including dots inside circles and eye-shapes. Five squares are inlaid with flower-shaped rosettes with red limestone and blue lapis lazuli petals.

The game board is roughly rectangular in shape. Viewed from above in the photo, on the left side of the board is a block of 12 squares made up of 4 across by 3 down. On the right side of the board is a block of 6 squares made up of 2 across by 3 down. The two blocks are joined by two squares extending between the second square down on the end row of the left block and the second square down on the first row of the second block.

Dimensions H: 2.40 cm, L: 30.10 cm, W: 11 cm, (W 5.70 cm at narrowest part)

Beneath the board are 14 disc-shaped gaming counters. On the left are 7 white pieces, inlaid with 5 spots of blue lapis lazuli. On the right are 7 black pieces inlaid with five white spots.

Between the game pieces are three tetrahedron-shaped dice. L to R: Dark blue, brown, cream.

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Wolfgang Bremer @wolfgang.bremer.co · 3h

Tesla is now selling a Model 3 Turn Signal Stalk Retrofit for $595. 😳

An expensive upgrade to bring back what they removed: the classic turn signal stalk. 🫣

First create a problem, now sell the solution for a premium. 💸

Innovation is important but great UX makes users’ lives easier, not harder. 😉

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Lucy Betteridge-Dyson @lmbd1418.bsky.social · 2h

Was great to be back on @ww2tv.bsky.social last night for a wee chat with Woody about Jungle Commandos. If you missed it, you can catch up here:

Jungle Commandos: The Battle for Arakan, Burma 1945

YouTube video by WW2TV

www.youtube.com

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Dr Ieithydd (Carys) @yrieithydd.bsky.social · 17h

I still do not have a cat #ProofOfCat

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Lucy Betteridge-Dyson @lmbd1418.bsky.social · 1d

Happy Publication day to me! 🥳
Jungle Commandos is out now! @ospreypublishing.bsky.social

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Matthew Willis (Naval Air History) @navalairhistory.com · 17h

Mum and Dad have reached Keld on day 8 of their Coast to Coast challenge and are now safe in their B&B with its view over Swaledale

View out of a window over a gently rolling hillside

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Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · 12h

As burnt out designers continue to search for career pivots that give their life meaning, many are turning to itinerant raiding across the Mediterranean

HELL-azear @lazear.bsky.social · 12h

Becoming the sea peoples at the insinuation my work is mycenean.

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C.A. Pinkham @eyepatchguy.bsky.social · 13h

I’m not kidding when I say these weird ass costumes and antics are actually an extremely effective tactic from a media standpoint bc when enough people do them, the media can’t fully scrub them out

The Daily Show @thedailyshow.com · 14h

The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.

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Catsuka @catsuka.bsky.social · 1d

"Niccolo", the 2nd 2025 graduation short film from french Gobelins school, is online.
Directed by Clémentine Di Prizio, David Florian, Axelle Granet, Sirui Liu, Hugo Michalet & Njolai Pachomius.
Full film >> www.youtube.com/watch?v=O515...

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John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 14h

this is art

Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · 14h

"The views expressed by users @kaioken8026, @mrright8439, and @ZxZNebula ... do not alter the Court’s analysis."

The Court holds, based upon a full consideration of the context in which “Not Like Us” was published, that a reasonable listener could not have concluded that “Not Like Us” was conveying objective facts about Drake. The views expressed by users @kaioken8026, @mrright8439, and @ZxZNebula, and the other YouTube and Instagram commentators quoted in the Complaint, Am. Compl., ¶¶ 73-74, do not alter the Court’s analysis. In a world in which billions of people are active online, support for almost any proposition, no matter how farfetched, fantastical or unreasonable, can be found with little effort in any number of comment sections, chat rooms, and servers. “[T]hat some readers may infer a defamatory meaning from a statement does not necessarily render the inference reasonable under the circumstances.” Jacobus, 51 N.Y.S.3d at 336.

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Brendel @brendelbored.bsky.social · 14h

Drake sitting there reading about how good the judge thought the song was and how everyone really enjoyed it

The song contains lyrics explicitly accusing Drake of being a pedophile, set to a catchy beat and propulsive
bassline. "Not Like Us" went on to become a cultural sensation.

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Nathan Grayson @nathangrayson.bsky.social · 14h

we're live!

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John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 15h

Yup

John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 16h

i'm out of wine but there's a cat on me

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John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 18h

"DA YANKEES LOSE!"

Janet Hill @saskajanet.bsky.social · 21h

Thar she glows! A Blue Jay visits the garden to see if the peanut feeder is up yet (it is) #birds

Blue bird with pointy crest is perched on a black metal shepherd’s crook looking over its left shoulder at the viewer. Late afternoon light from behind makes a warm glow.

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Janet Hill @saskajanet.bsky.social · 21h

Thar she glows! A Blue Jay visits the garden to see if the peanut feeder is up yet (it is) #birds

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Stellaween? @antlervel.vet · Apr 13

MARK KNOPFLER: Here comes Guitar George
ME: Why do they call him that
MARK KNOPFLER: He knows all the chords
ME: Ah

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Retro Tech Dreams @retrotechdreams.bsky.social · 18h

Bang and Olufsen Beocord 8000 Cassette player (1980)

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bflmouse.bsky.social @bflmouse.bsky.social · 20h

Kitty chaos in 3.. 2.. 1..
#proofofcat

A black cat and a grey tabby cat relaxing on a black and blue plaid blanket

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Ephemeral Enigmas @ephemeralenigmas.bsky.social · 2d

New blog post time!

This week's game is Zombie Incident, a MSX platformer with a 3DS remake that only uses one button, but adds nonlinearity and RPG-esque wrinkles to spice things up. Said wrinkles don't stop repetition from kicking in eventually, but the ideas sure are neat!

#blog #gaming

Zombie Incident

I’m probably being a bit harsh considering the origins of this game and the limitations of the MSX, but I suppose I’m doing that because I truly love the ideas being presented here. I can envision …

ephemeralenigmascom.wordpress.com

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John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 1d

"We should find who did this"

Kitty next to bag of food pushed off the siflde and chewed through

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