Mezentine
@mezentine.bsky.social
Chicago-based. Bikes. Books. Photography. Lot of politics.
Pinned
Mezentine
@mezentine.bsky.social
· Apr 29
"Peace if possible.
Justice at any rate."
I came across that quote a few years ago while reading a biograph of Timuel Black. I think about those words.
I think about those words a lot.
Justice at any rate."
I came across that quote a few years ago while reading a biograph of Timuel Black. I think about those words.
I think about those words a lot.
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One of the really nice things about Bluesky (as opposed to, say, Facebook) is that I can stop scrolling and enjoy a video like this without having to spend the next week having similar videos dominating my TL. It's a real relief to feel free to just look.
November 25, 2025 at 9:16 PM
One of the really nice things about Bluesky (as opposed to, say, Facebook) is that I can stop scrolling and enjoy a video like this without having to spend the next week having similar videos dominating my TL. It's a real relief to feel free to just look.
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i think the trailer opened with like, yknow, people biking or driving roads in a sunset-y pnw type setting.. not sure.
i just remember they were going *hard* on the analog teenage / adult angst nostalgia stuff, this was within the past 4 years
i just remember they were going *hard* on the analog teenage / adult angst nostalgia stuff, this was within the past 4 years
can anyone help me find a game
i remember a game trailer event having something that looked, graphically like Lost Records, but had the characters messing with audio cassette tapes? it was a very 80s & 90s stranger things type nostalgia throwback piece. i dont think it was paranormal? hmm
i remember a game trailer event having something that looked, graphically like Lost Records, but had the characters messing with audio cassette tapes? it was a very 80s & 90s stranger things type nostalgia throwback piece. i dont think it was paranormal? hmm
November 25, 2025 at 11:36 PM
i think the trailer opened with like, yknow, people biking or driving roads in a sunset-y pnw type setting.. not sure.
i just remember they were going *hard* on the analog teenage / adult angst nostalgia stuff, this was within the past 4 years
i just remember they were going *hard* on the analog teenage / adult angst nostalgia stuff, this was within the past 4 years
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what kind of explanation would someone you barely know even be able to give for why they don't want to go out again? there's rarely any useful info to be gleaned from that
November 25, 2025 at 11:28 PM
what kind of explanation would someone you barely know even be able to give for why they don't want to go out again? there's rarely any useful info to be gleaned from that
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unless youre in some kind of ongoing relationship going out on dates is entirely conditional imo. that's how it used to work! if you didnt want to go out again you would decline to set up another date! the constant availability via text has fucked us all up
November 25, 2025 at 11:27 PM
unless youre in some kind of ongoing relationship going out on dates is entirely conditional imo. that's how it used to work! if you didnt want to go out again you would decline to set up another date! the constant availability via text has fucked us all up
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im sorry but people are fucking babies about this. unless it was someone youve been seeing for a month or more OR someone youve gone on four dates with or more (whichever comes first) I think it doesn't even count as "ghosting". Grow up! People used to just not call each other back!
The Great Ghosting Paradox
Is there a social phenomenon that’s as infuriating—and as commonplace?
www.theatlantic.com
November 25, 2025 at 11:26 PM
im sorry but people are fucking babies about this. unless it was someone youve been seeing for a month or more OR someone youve gone on four dates with or more (whichever comes first) I think it doesn't even count as "ghosting". Grow up! People used to just not call each other back!
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The specificity of the accusations here also pisses me off to rahtid because there *is* someone who was in TTRPG spaces that *is* Black who *did* behave like this, and who *did* get exposed for it. It is way too nasty to accuse a TOTAL stranger of behaving like that person. (3/3)
November 25, 2025 at 4:07 PM
The specificity of the accusations here also pisses me off to rahtid because there *is* someone who was in TTRPG spaces that *is* Black who *did* behave like this, and who *did* get exposed for it. It is way too nasty to accuse a TOTAL stranger of behaving like that person. (3/3)
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And I'm saying this b/c, my non-Black followers: Being white/white passing and actively choosing to look at a *Black man* and say these things is racist as hell. It is! Whether this person was thinking about that aspect or not. (Also colorism is in there imo but if I speak on that I'll cuss.) (2/3)
November 25, 2025 at 4:07 PM
And I'm saying this b/c, my non-Black followers: Being white/white passing and actively choosing to look at a *Black man* and say these things is racist as hell. It is! Whether this person was thinking about that aspect or not. (Also colorism is in there imo but if I speak on that I'll cuss.) (2/3)
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Given that the person Ify is talking about here has deactivated I'll break my usual rule of "don't quote to dunk" to say this:
You reap what you sow. And if you didn't want this, then you should learn better ways of letting out people who are in your head rent free, because this was racist. (1/3)
You reap what you sow. And if you didn't want this, then you should learn better ways of letting out people who are in your head rent free, because this was racist. (1/3)
AHT! AHT! We not deleting after you finally got me to address this. You got your statement. Live with it.
November 25, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Given that the person Ify is talking about here has deactivated I'll break my usual rule of "don't quote to dunk" to say this:
You reap what you sow. And if you didn't want this, then you should learn better ways of letting out people who are in your head rent free, because this was racist. (1/3)
You reap what you sow. And if you didn't want this, then you should learn better ways of letting out people who are in your head rent free, because this was racist. (1/3)
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Much like the Carpathians or the Pyrenees, the Great Lakes both define a border and also a zone of exchange and shared culture.
It's also amazing that a guy who grew up in Toronto's east end, worked for Eaton's, and was generally very Canadian could also very authentically play a certain sort of "Chicago Guy." Uncle Buck is probably the best example of this.
November 25, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Much like the Carpathians or the Pyrenees, the Great Lakes both define a border and also a zone of exchange and shared culture.
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Wouldn’t it be nice? Aren’t we lying to ourselves a little bit when we say “Well it’s complicated, you can’t just do that.” What if we could just do that? What if the people who spend their lives making others feel afraid could be made to feel afraid themselves? What if they could be stopped?
November 25, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Wouldn’t it be nice? Aren’t we lying to ourselves a little bit when we say “Well it’s complicated, you can’t just do that.” What if we could just do that? What if the people who spend their lives making others feel afraid could be made to feel afraid themselves? What if they could be stopped?
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Banks understands the degree to which many of our moral convictions and ethical frameworks are, intrinsically, products of powerlessness and he wants to poke and prod at how we might feel differently if we did have power. Total power. How would the *parameters* of our decision making differ?
November 25, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Banks understands the degree to which many of our moral convictions and ethical frameworks are, intrinsically, products of powerlessness and he wants to poke and prod at how we might feel differently if we did have power. Total power. How would the *parameters* of our decision making differ?
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But neither is he *condemnatory*. Rather, he is fascinated with violence and its *justification*. And I think in doing that he writes in ways that many of us on the leftward side of things find simultaneously compelling and a little distressing.
November 25, 2025 at 5:32 PM
But neither is he *condemnatory*. Rather, he is fascinated with violence and its *justification*. And I think in doing that he writes in ways that many of us on the leftward side of things find simultaneously compelling and a little distressing.
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Between these two chapters, it’s becoming increasingly clear that this is the Culture book about violence. And it is, in some ways, about indulging in the fantasy of violence, the fantasy of total power. Banks is not celebratory, exactly, the book certainly will complicate that.
November 25, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Between these two chapters, it’s becoming increasingly clear that this is the Culture book about violence. And it is, in some ways, about indulging in the fantasy of violence, the fantasy of total power. Banks is not celebratory, exactly, the book certainly will complicate that.
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We return to Sma, enjoying a perfect day, with bright fluffy clouds, laughing schoolchildren on the streets, and Skaffen Amtiskaw idly making a daisy chain of flowers as she recalls a time when it defended her from marauders looking to kidnap her by effortlessly destroying all of the attackers.
November 25, 2025 at 5:28 PM
We return to Sma, enjoying a perfect day, with bright fluffy clouds, laughing schoolchildren on the streets, and Skaffen Amtiskaw idly making a daisy chain of flowers as she recalls a time when it defended her from marauders looking to kidnap her by effortlessly destroying all of the attackers.
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It does sound nice.
November 25, 2025 at 5:15 PM
It does sound nice.
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Now this nice young man isn’t here to kill the Ethnarch, nothing like that. He’s just here to take him away somewhere as punishment, somewhere nice but where he won’t be allowed to leave, to live out the rest of his days. Doesn’t that sound reasonable? Doesn’t that sound humane?
November 25, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Now this nice young man isn’t here to kill the Ethnarch, nothing like that. He’s just here to take him away somewhere as punishment, somewhere nice but where he won’t be allowed to leave, to live out the rest of his days. Doesn’t that sound reasonable? Doesn’t that sound humane?
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And that sometimes when the Culture does this, the leaders who receive these tremendous gifts do *not* share them with everyone, but choose to hoard them, use them to entrench their own power! Our friend the Ethnarch promised he would “stop the killings” in return for these miracles, and he did not.
November 25, 2025 at 5:12 PM
And that sometimes when the Culture does this, the leaders who receive these tremendous gifts do *not* share them with everyone, but choose to hoard them, use them to entrench their own power! Our friend the Ethnarch promised he would “stop the killings” in return for these miracles, and he did not.
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And that sometimes when the Culture does this, the leaders who receive these tremendous gifts do *not* share them with everyone, but choose to hoard them, use them to entrench their own power! Our friend the Ethnarch promised he would “stop the killings” in return for these miracles, and he did not.
November 25, 2025 at 5:10 PM
And that sometimes when the Culture does this, the leaders who receive these tremendous gifts do *not* share them with everyone, but choose to hoard them, use them to entrench their own power! Our friend the Ethnarch promised he would “stop the killings” in return for these miracles, and he did not.
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And the figure at the foot of the bed outlines for him, in slightly more circumspect terms, how The Culture, being marvelously generous and altruistic and as pacifistic as possible prefers, when possible, to interfere in other societies by offering life; medicine, anti-aging, health for all
November 25, 2025 at 5:08 PM
And the figure at the foot of the bed outlines for him, in slightly more circumspect terms, how The Culture, being marvelously generous and altruistic and as pacifistic as possible prefers, when possible, to interfere in other societies by offering life; medicine, anti-aging, health for all
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Alright we’re back! And dropping in, in media res, into the bedroom of…a political leader of some sort, the Ethnarch, awoken in the middle by a strange and disquieting stranger sitting at the foot of his bed. A stranger who has disabled every security system and is just smiling at him.
November 25, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Alright we’re back! And dropping in, in media res, into the bedroom of…a political leader of some sort, the Ethnarch, awoken in the middle by a strange and disquieting stranger sitting at the foot of his bed. A stranger who has disabled every security system and is just smiling at him.
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I still think the state should cut all power lines to the Broadview facility immediately, while there are no victims imprisoned there
a lot of interesting tidbits in this story about rep. lauren underwood’s visit to the broadview ice jail.
as always, take everything dhs says with a grain of salt. but it sounds like the feds’ terror in chicago is far from over.
chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
as always, take everything dhs says with a grain of salt. but it sounds like the feds’ terror in chicago is far from over.
chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
November 25, 2025 at 3:50 PM
I still think the state should cut all power lines to the Broadview facility immediately, while there are no victims imprisoned there
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me and my wife leaving the mall and trying to remember where we parked
November 23, 2025 at 11:50 PM
me and my wife leaving the mall and trying to remember where we parked
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I can't speak for what was said at the protests, but seeing people react to an anodyne statement like "sacred spaces should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law" as if it were a vicious slur is clarifying.
Zohran Mamdani chastised a Manhattan synagogue that hosted an event promoting migration to Israel and settlements in occupied territories. His stance further tested his strained relationship with pro-Israel Jews in New York.
Mamdani Response to Protest Inflames Tensions with Jewish Leaders
The mayor-elect chastised a synagogue that hosted an event promoting migration to Israel and settlements in occupied territories. His stance further tested his strained relationship with pro-Israel Jews.
nyti.ms
November 25, 2025 at 2:35 PM
I can't speak for what was said at the protests, but seeing people react to an anodyne statement like "sacred spaces should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law" as if it were a vicious slur is clarifying.
Sacks here basically admitting to my thesis that, for the ownership class, AI is just sort of a totem for the fantasy of turning capital into more capital with as little intercedence as possible by the market, the public or frankly labor.
You have to keep giving money to avoid collapse and if there’s collapse you have to give more money. It’s called the free market.
November 25, 2025 at 3:15 AM
Sacks here basically admitting to my thesis that, for the ownership class, AI is just sort of a totem for the fantasy of turning capital into more capital with as little intercedence as possible by the market, the public or frankly labor.