Author | Lightnews

James Nostack @semsu.bsky.social · 2d

I absolutely agree with you, but there is a culture that no elite should ever be held accountable. Changing that culture is some of the most important work grassroots protest can do.

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James Nostack @semsu.bsky.social · 4d

I think it's that he took Ivanka there when she was young.

James Nostack @semsu.bsky.social · 4d

Nixon *committed suicide* in Marvel World, after being exposed as a conspirator to overthrow the government

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James Nostack @semsu.bsky.social · 4d

I'd think the only way to do it is to have a long series of lectures on what it is that makes the law "legitimate." But that's probably not super useful for, say, Wills & Estates

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James Nostack @semsu.bsky.social · 4d

We need to bring back knaves and knavery

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James Nostack @semsu.bsky.social · 4d

Not knocking his work, which I've generally enjoyed. But the skills that make you a good supers comics writer are probably not the skills that would make an advice columnist

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James Nostack @semsu.bsky.social · 4d

When I think of cautious yet robust reasoning & the cool, restrained voice of wisdom, I think of Grant Morrison

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James Nostack @semsu.bsky.social · 4d

The thing is, I think you can make a decent argument that LLMs are qlipppthic entities--a husk of something, masquerading as the real thing. I don't want to contradict Our Reality's Sorcerer Supreme, but worshiping a qlippoth seems like poor form

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James Nostack @semsu.bsky.social · 4d

No--I haven't blocked Ted Cruz

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James Nostack @semsu.bsky.social · 5d

@gerryconway.bsky.social did a Spider-Man story in like 1989 where ICE (INS) was a threat to people, and had their own deranged, xenophobic Captain America stand-in. People always knew these guys were bad news

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James Nostack @semsu.bsky.social · 5d

Can you do this with Requiem? Far, far less popular, less likely to spread

James Nostack @semsu.bsky.social · 5d

I agree with you, but I don't think this is *entirely* on The Olds. Tech gets confusing because of UX changes. From 1980 to maybe 2010 if I got into a car I knew what everything did, and it was the same in every car. At this point, each car has a unique interface

James Nostack @semsu.bsky.social · 8d

I think that's true--but also, Mamdani is okay with his constituents eagerly wanting things, whereas a huge chunk of the Democratic Party apparatus is designed to tell people that good things are impossible for Reasons, so don't expect anything from your betters.

James Nostack @semsu.bsky.social · 9d

25 years later, Perfect Dark is an amazing multiplayer game. But wow, the level designs are extremely busy and hard to map mentally--sewer and G5 Building especially

James Nostack @semsu.bsky.social · 22d

All I can say is that there were approximately one zillion young men who saw that movie in 1999 and didn't catch that it was making fun of them

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James Nostack @semsu.bsky.social · 22d

I felt like I was the only person who saw the movie and could see it was satire. "I'm anxious about my masculinity, guess I gotta join a regimented cult and hurt people, that's what Real Men are all about."

I haven't seen it in 20 years but damn it left an impression

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James Nostack @semsu.bsky.social · 22d

The thing I've had to learn is that institutions, corporations, and the Democratic Party don't particularly value freedom, even their own. They value *comfort.* And sure, eventually the monster will get them too, but there are a lot of other victims to go through first

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James Nostack @semsu.bsky.social · 22d

Redding is like Bay Area retirees living alongside feral descendants of 1849 gold rush.

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James Nostack @semsu.bsky.social · 25d

He enabled a large number of really talented people to do some really excellent work. It's almost impossible to imagine my childhood without his influence, and I expect millions of others would say the same. That's a pretty solid legacy

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James Nostack @semsu.bsky.social · 26d

I have *never* had a cat that understands pointing. "Yup, that's your finger, or as I call it, your upper toe. Um, it's very nice, what do you want me to do with this?"

Cat who understands pointing is a game changer

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James Nostack @semsu.bsky.social · 26d

Example?

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James Nostack @semsu.bsky.social · 26d

Any story about Trump's America has to touch on how a bunch of privileged people did not see the threat coming (and in some cases still don't!)

This type of dimension story's generally overused IMO but @jamesgunn.bsky.social is using it well: a genuine problem rather than a one-off curiosity. 8/8

James Nostack @semsu.bsky.social · 26d

AND I really like that Chris can't even see the problem at first. Which I, and a lot of other liberal White folks, couldn't see in 2015--despite a lot of evidence we should have taken much more seriously. 7/

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James Nostack @semsu.bsky.social · 26d

We see this contrast, by the way, in S1 vs. S2

S1, you take out the White Dragon and his goons scatter. You take out butterfly hub and the problem is solved

But in S2, how do you punch your way out of this? 6/

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James Nostack @semsu.bsky.social · 26d

And consequently "good violence" no longer is a tool in the toolbox. Sure, beating up Nazis is worth doing, but you can't punch ten million civilians into renouncing Nazism, so what are you even doing? (Which opens up critiques of violence if you're so inclined) 5/

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