Several hundred people --many of them workers at the Veterans Hospital -- held a vigil near the Portland Veterans Hospital to commemorate Alex Pretti, a Minneapolis ICU nurse who was shot dead by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.John Rudoff/Sipa USA/AP Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free _Mother Jones Daily_. A peaceful protest in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday broke into chaos as federal agents deployed tear gas on demonstrators—including families with young children. Thousands of protesters marched through the city and gathered in the blocks surrounding the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building. According to _the Oregonian_, just minutes after the crowd arrived at the facility, federal agents launched tear gas, pepper balls, rubber bullets, and flash-bang grenades after some demonstrators approached the security gate. Labor leaders from over 20 unions led the march to the ICE building, with many protesters participating as part of the “Labor Against ICE” rally. > Video shared with me by attendee at the ICE protest in Portland, OR earlier this evening where federal agents tear gassed peaceful protestors—including children, disabled and elderly: > > — Marisa Kabas (@marisakabas.bsky.social) 2026-02-01T04:09:52.219Z Portland City Councilor Mitch Green wrote in a social media post that he was tear gassed in the crowd: “Federal agents at the ICE facility tear gassed children. We must abolish ICE, DHS, and we must have prosecutions. I expect to see enforcement of our city code prohibiting the use of tear gas.” > I just got tear gassed along with thousands of union members, many of whom had their families with them. Federal agents at the ICE facility tear gassed children. We must abolish ICE, DHS, and we must have prosecutions. I expect to see enforcement of our city code prohibiting the use of tear gas. > > — Mitch Green (@councilorgreen.bsky.social) 2026-02-01T01:23:34.948Z Portland’s city code bans selling, furnishing, transporting, carrying, possessing, or using tear gas weapons within the city limits. The code does not apply to “members of the armed forces of the State of Oregon and the United States in the performance of their official duties,” but federal agents are not exempted under the statute. The Portland Police Bureau posted on X on Saturday night that they closed a major street to prevent drivers from being affected by the tear gas. Portland Mayor Keith Wilson released a statement late Saturday night, saying that it was a “peaceful daytime protest” that “posed no danger to federal forces.” “To those who continue to work for ICE: Resign. To those who control this facility: Leave,” he continued. “To those who continue to make these sickening decisions, go home, look in a mirror, and ask yourselves why you have gassed children. Ask yourselves why you continue to work for an agency responsible for murders on American streets.” Wilson said later in the lengthy statement that the city would carry out an ordinance that went into effect in January that imposes financial penalties on facilities where chemical agents are deployed. The crackdown against protesters in Portland comes one day after a nationwide uprising where hundreds of demonstrations took place across the country to demand federal agents leave American towns and cities.

_Continued FromPart 1_ It's late-afternoon in a working class part of town. The houses are spacious, but they're cramped together, as if a city planner 80 years ago had a quota to fit as many homes on a block as physically possible. There's a man walking down the street, heading home. He walks the same path he's taken over the last 16 years, but this might be the final time. He's dying. For the last few days, he'd been experiencing rolling fatigue, along with random spells of exhaustion and sleepiness. He figured he just needed to catch up on his rest tomorrow; can't do it tonight, because tonight's important. He's about to learn "tonight" is a concept he might not experience. The symptoms had been manageable up to now. He opens the door of his house, and immediately collapses. His wife is close enough to catch him and keep him awake. She notes the lack of color in his face, as if he's suffering from serious anemia. He weakly claims to be okay and is back on his feet within a couple of minutes. She implores him to go to the doctor, or at least call off his plans for the night. He assures her that he just needs to take a quick nap, and that he'll be alright. She brews him a cup of tea, which he drinks before falling unconscious. I can see it clear as day, but I don't know what it means. I don't recognize the man or his wife. But I can see this man dying, like a plea for help that will never come. * * * Back in the food court, I was staring straight forward at nothing. Someone kept waving their hand in front of my face. "Jackie. Hey, Jackie; what are you looking at?" Suddenly, the wave turns into a clap, and I'm snapped out of whatever spell I was in. I didn't know how much time had passed, but I was awakened to Mike holding a very thin file and looking down at me with concern. "You alright?" I rubbed my eyes and stretched a bit while signaling for Mike to take a seat. "Yeah, I'm fine. What'd you find out?" "You were right: 'Elise Thorne' doesn't exist." "Figures. Everything about this is preposterous." "However, I _did_ find the kind of printer that she mentioned. In the current local black market, only one fits the description: it's at a fence that does business out of an abandoned public school book repository in McKinley Park." And, the plot thickens. I took out another cigarillo and lit it. I'm trying to dash forward, but I'm still at fifth place. "How do we know this is related at all?" "Because the racket's run by a 'Roger Thorne'; A man who notably does _not_ have a wife, sister or other association with anyone named, 'Elise'." That's all I needed to hear: This was a set-up. Someone wants me to crash that party, but I don't know who and I don't know why. "It's crazy that a huge fencing operation pops out of nowhere right under our noses, and we didn't notice." "...I've known about this operation, Jackie. And they've been in business for a while. These guys... they're not who you're looking for, trust me." "Friends of yours?" "No. I... may have obtained an enterprise-level server rack from them a while back, but that was expressly a professional exchange." "Mikey, for one reason or another, these people are now on my radar. This whole thing stinks to high heaven; I have to figure out what's going on." I could have dropped this. I could have written this off as a potential trap set for me that will never spring. I could have considered "Elise Thorne" a prank. All of this could have been avoided. But I'd never be able to let it go. Call it curiosity, call it obsession, call it paranoia; the wave had emerged, and we had to ride it to the end. Mike's jaw locked, because he knew that trying to change my mind would be futile. "Of course." Mike opened up the file and laid out the information he could find, and these people weren't amateurs. Their secrecy didn’t show in what Mike found; it showed in what he didn’t. This man could typically piece together the hierarchy of any outfit, with robust dossiers describing every person involved. However, with this operation, he was only able to track down two collaborators. And the information found was next to useless. "I'm just going to throw this out there: You don't have to do this. Whoever that woman was, it sounds like they're fucking with you. It sounds like a wild goose chase." He was probably right. At best, I find nothing and look like an idiot. But with how these people are moving, the absence of evidence isn't the evidence of absence. Elise Thorne may not be real, but there's still something going on. And I really don't like not knowing what's going on. I stood up from the chair and Mike followed suit. He looked at me shocked, "You're going over there now?" "The night's fading." I put my coat and hat on, because if I'm going out to investigate the shadows of the city, I might as well look the part. I couldn't spend all night having hallucinations of the damned; a mystery was afoot, and it was time to figure out exactly what was going on. _To Be Continued..._ [ https://hisvirusness.com/textbook-case-part-2 ]

At the beginning of 2025, I needed to buy new headphones since the pair I had for almost seven years stopped working on one side. I was a bit strapped for cash, so I found a pair on clearance. After about eight months of use, they stopped working on one side, kinda proving why they were on clearance to begin with. I bought a new pair, on the regular shelf, and so far, they've been great. It has everything I look for in a pair of headphones, right down to _being wired_. I mentioned to someone that I was buying new headphones and when they saw a wired pair, they asked, _"Why didn't you just get Bluetooth headphones?"_ It's because I have a bad experience with Bluetooth headphones, so much so that it's turned me off from ever buying Bluetooth headphones for the foreseeable future. And I will have those opportunities, since wired headphones aren't going anywhere, despite what the hype-machine would have you believe. When Apple first nixed the headphone jack a decade ago, I felt two things: * Even happier that I didn't buy Apple products, and * Nervous that the market would follow suit. Thankfully, the market didn't follow suit (for the most part). Not for lack of trying, as trendy-tech tailriders still come out of the woodwork to say shit like, _"You still use wired headphones? Do you still have a tape player, too?"_ Which is a dogshit comparison. The format migration from audio tapes to CDs was off the back of _CDs being a materially superior format_. Better sound quality, easier navigation, you don't have to _rewind_ CDs; there were a myriad of reasons for the consumer to switch. Bluetooth headphones do not have that. In fact, they have reasons _not to_ migrate. I'll put it to you like this: You buy a pair of Bluetooth headphones. When you first take them out of the packaging, you probably won't be able to use them right away because of the battery's charge. You charge the battery, now you have to pair them with your device, which is going to turn from inconvenience into nightmare if you plan on using _more than one_ device. Finally, you can use your headphones; but the audio... may sound weird. Why is that? Well, that's our old friend **compression** : in order to cut down on latency while maintaining a consistent and sturdy connection, the actual audio signal is compressed heavily, which degrades the audio's quality. The amount of compression is different across devices, and is not user-controllable. Over a few months, the battery will start to degrade, which you _will_ notice when it stops holding a consistent charge. And you can't just replace the batteries (after all, who replaces batteries nowadays; this isn't the 1980's), so your only recourse is to buy another pair of headphones. There's a reason why, ten years later, 3.5mm to USB-C adapters are still a readily-available thing: **Because the headphone jack works**. Hell, USB-C itself is a wired interface still used on high-end devices that have ditched the headphone jack, specifically because the alternatives haven't proven _why they should be the singular standard_. I think the general reason for the forced-obsolescence of the headphone jack has to do with one thing and one thing only: that it's tech from the 1950's. We can't have our sleek and shiny gizmos shipped with ports designed before the moon landing! Having mid-1900's microtech that still does what it says on the tin better than the modern alternative proves the tech's **longevity and maturity**. Mature tech is predictable; predictable tech is debuggable; debuggable tech _respects the user's right to control their tech_. Trying to force obsolescence and alternative adoption in the face of mature engineering is _anti-user_ , _anti-consumer_ and _continues the ugly trend of allowing Apple to steer the course of the tech market_ , even in small part. Some tech is just timeless, and there's a reason why many designs and concepts seem to stick around forever. Trying to force them out based purely on trends isn't evolution, it's the complete opposite. And if you disagree, you better not use a layout created 150 years ago to tell me about it. [ https://hisvirusness.com/im-staying-wired ]

Celebrate the New Year with me as I recount the (read: my) wins of 2025, and toast to a hopeful 2026! Well, here we are. It's the end of 2025: a landmark year... for me. Well, not really; if I'm being honest, the year had its ups and downs. A lot of downs (like, _a lot_), and that's okay. By the way, yes: You're probably reading this in 2026. Well, I'm _writing_ this on New Year's Eve 2025. While I probably will end up posting this early, I won't be refreshing the feed until the new year, so don't get confused. While you may be reading this after the fact, _you are still ringing in the new year with me_. Bathroom's in the back, there's Pepsi and pizza in the corner: Make yourself comfortable. I wanted to reflect on this past year, talk about all the positive stuff that happened, what that means for the upcoming year and how I can start 2026 on the right foot. Then, I got hurt at work. On the last working day of the year, and probably the only working day this week, my day was cut in half because of a nasty fall I took. I'm okay, but my right knee got badly scraped and my right thumb got really screwed up. Just like that, my brain flashed to frustration, infuriation and resentment. I immediately wanted to blow up on everything and everyone. But, I didn't. After a few deep breaths and a cool down, I refuse to let myself. So, we're still doing it. We're going with the original plan. We _are_ going to cover the good stuff that went down this past year. Because let's be clear: Despite all of the failure, setbacks and bullshit, **_I ABSOLUTELY FUCKING SUCCEEDED_**. * :: The Textbook Case * :: This WHOLE PLACE! * :: hVmark * :: Going (And Staying) Dry * :: Gainful Employment * :: Heading Into 2026 * * * ### // The Textbook Case It's not much, but at the very least, it's _a start_. And to me, that's all that matters. My problem with _The Textbook Case_ is less about writer's block and more about... well, a litany of other issues I'm working on. So many versions of _Part 2_ have been discarded just because I didn't like the direction they were going in. Is it perfection? Is it a lack of confidence? Could it be self-sabotage? Maybe it's a complex mix of all three. Regardless: Small wins. And _Part 1_ being done is just that. Also, _Part 2_ is at least _80% done_. We're talking mid-January, and I promise absolutely nothing. * * * ### // This WHOLE PLACE! Why don't we bring up the elephant in the room? This website, and the feed that broadcasts out of it. I was able to accomplish something that I've wanted to do for _years_ , and do so in a way that I'm more than happy with. For so long, concept after concept just didn't fit what I not only wanted this site to look like, but what I wanted it to _feel_ like. And, yes: **I did dabble in WordPress/Jekyll/etc.** They either presented workflows that didn't gel with me, or couldn't do _exactly what I wanted_ without extensive modification. I figured at that point, I might as well just make my own tiny CMS, which I did. One day, I just began; and brick by brick, this place came _alive_. It does _exactly_ what I want it to do, consistently and efficiently. So much so, that it led to the creation of another cool web design project... * * * ### // hVmark Of course, we can't talk about web site wins without bringing up _hVmark_. This site's backend had scaled so perfectly, that when I had the idea to give the site some Markdown-adjacent functionality, getting something up and running was relatively straight-forward. Also, yes: the idea for hVmark came **after** the site's creation. Making a custom markup was never part of the original plan, but after writing this Batman post, I realized I liked writing in a style that felt like I was scribbling in the margins. But, hard-coding HTML longform markup sucks. A lot. But, what if I didn't need to do that, while also not having to rely on external dependencies? Thus, hVmark was born. Then, it evolved over time, being iterated on until I felt comfortable releasing the vanilla spec as FOSS. I never said it was _perfect_ ; I just said it worked... for me. What started as an experiment became a curiosity, which then became a useful tool. And I could not be happier with how this turned out. * * * _"Yes, we get it: you're proud of yourself. You're turning into a broken record."_ That's fair. I made some cool stuff and I'm happy. Though, it has admittedly overtaken a lot of the conversation on my end, and it is something I do have to work on heading into the new year. But let's not get bogged down by all the easy wins. Let's get into the real thick of the thin. The real shit in the gravy. The real... meat... in the potatoes. **I'm bad at food puns.** * * * ### // Going (And Staying) Dry Eight months now. I can't say I haven't been tempted, but it gets easier the longer it goes on. I'll just leave it at that for now. * * * ### // Gainful Employment This was more of a late win. Throughout the year, consistent work was not easy to come by, so 2025 was full of isolated jobs and whatever I could make from the ~~wonderful _and_ lucrative~~ gig economy. During peak, I got my foot in the door somewhere, and I'm hoping to slam it open. ...We _really_ don't think about how violent that metaphor is, do we? Yes, this was during peak. _Peak_ means _seasonal_ , and _seasonal_ means _temporary_. I'm working hard to hopefully not be _temporary_. And, worst-case scenario, I opened up my network of references for the next opportunity that comes along. * * * ### // Heading Into 2026 Despite the bumps in the road, I'm feeling good about the upcoming year. I'm constantly moving forward, and when it feels like I'm not, I'm _at the very least doing my best_. And I hope you're doing your best. Happy New Year, get home safely, don't drink and drive, and if you hook up with anyone tonight, the child you end up producing is more than likely going to be a Virgo. And Virgos are **awesome**. [ https://hisvirusness.com/new-year-old-me ]

Well, this is it. We've come to the final week of 2025. As such, that puts us right at Christmas Day. If you celebrate: **MERRY CHRISTMAS!** If you don't, then I'm sorry that most things are closed today. At least you got a day off... unless you didn't; if that's the case, I already apologized. If you're _actually_ reading this on Christmas, odds are it's because you follow the feed. I don't have a large readerbase, but I see you guys. Thank you for sticking around. I hope I made you laugh, made you think and made you feel whatever's the complete opposite of the emotions felt while doom-scrolling. I hope the end of your year is pleasant, that your stomach is full, and that the murderous rage you feel towards Uncle Randy is at least manageable. And don't you fret: 2026 will have even more barely thought-out unhinged nonsense from yours truly, so _**stay tuned for _even more_ bullshit!**_ See you in the new year... unless the sun explodes. And if that's the case, then **piece, bitches!** Happy Whatever-The-Fuck, - Paul (hV) [ https://hisvirusness.com/happie-hollandaise ]

* 📖 **Writing:** [_The Textbook Case: Part 2_] (procrastination blows) * 🖥️ **Tinkering:** Linux Mint normie usecase test; making @note support hVmark * 🎮 **Playing:** _Fallout 4_ w/ Sim Settlements * 😴 **Practicing:** Not sleeping (still awesome at it) Same shit, different day(s). I recently wired hVmark functionality into this page to replace the hard-coded HTML that was used before. The implementation isn't as... obtuse as /nexus, so it's a lot more accessible on this side, which is important for a page that's meant to be intermittently edited. **_AMENDMENT:_** It's been a bit since I wrote the above, and I gotta say... hVmark has made things **so** much easier. To whoever created hVmark: Thank you, good sir. You are a gentleman and a scholar. * :: Chrome Is Fxcking Up! * :: Site-Wide Design Refine * :: Pfft, More Like The Snowy City... * :: Subtennial Incoming... * * * ### // Chrome Is Fxcking Up! If you're on mobile and reading this in Chrome (or a Chromium-based browser), odds are you're in reader mode because the site looks tiny and zoomed out. This is a very recent phenomenon. For some reason, Chrome is no longer respecting text scaling based on viewport (or, at least, it's not respecting _mine_). For months, everything rendered fine without needing the usual "viewport" meta tag in the header (which actually breaks the layout here). But now, Chrome has decided to stop cooperating. And no, I'm not going to “fix” it. This site was designed desktop-first; working on mobile was always a bonus, not mission critical. The site still loads, and you can still read and navigate, but I'm not going to bend over backwards just because Google quietly changed behavior. If you're on Firefox Mobile, you're fine. Everything seems to be working normally. **Netscape ftw**. * * * ### // Site-Wide Design Refine I added the above section to this page a few days ago, and I've been ruminating on it. That's mostly because in a way, it does go against a priority of mine that I put a lot of work into: Accessibility. The site was designed desktop-first, however it was not designed to be _desktop-only_. You might be thrown off by that based on the snide comments made on the mobile version of /nexus, but it's true. Viewing on desktop is _recommended_ , but not required, and it's only because of my exhaustion at the notion that the modern web **must** be mobile-first. That's not to say I dislike the mobile web. It's quite the opposite: I love it. I love being able to access the internet anywhere, on any device. I just _prefer_ to use computers. When it comes to driving down the information superhighway, I'll take a hacked-up Chromebook before a cell phone any day. While the site was designed desktop-first, there were considerations and concessions made toward the mobile UX. The site works the way it does because in its current form, it's meant to dynamically adjust based on viewport size (without explicitly setting a meta viewport tag). The reason it's important for the viewport metatag to be absent (or, right now, inert) is because including it broke the layout. It's a delicate (and, admittedly hacky) dance. Is it the proper way to do it? Probably not, but I really don't care. It _was_ working. And if you're on any mobile browser that isn't mainline Chrome, it still is; even Chromium-based browsers like Brave are behaving correctly. Despite my insistence on not fixing it (which I do still stand by)... I wanted to see if I could at least _nudge_ Chrome to do what I want. In the process, I started making small design changes. A little change here, a little change there; by the end, the site started looking a _lot_ different. The biggest change obviously has to do with the ASCII header at the top of every page. It was a stylistic choice added a couple of weeks after the site was created, and getting it to cooperate with viewports across the board has been a pain in the ass since. But, that's not the reason it was retired; that's chalked up to evolving design goals. As much as I love ASCII art and look for any reason to include ASCII art, its specific inclusion in that element doesn't fit what I was going for. And honestly, the current overall design is closer to my vision of it now, and I'm very happy with how it looks. Will I always be happy with it? More than likely not. But until the day that I feel a complete CSS overhaul is necessary, I'm very happy with the results right now. _"Yeah, that's all well and good, but what about 'nudging mobile Chrome'? Did you figure out a way to get it to behave?"_ ...No. I'm still futzing around with it here and there. So for now, if you're using mobile Chrome, I guess it's page zoom and Reading Mode until you can get to a computer. If you have any ideas, feel free to get in contact or leave a comment. * * * ### // Pfft, More Like The Snowy City... Heavy snow officially hit Chicago overnight. From the lake to Cicero, everything got caked in a continuous blast of snow. Then, within 18 hours, it all started melting away. And now, we probably won't see another heavy snow storm until March. _"Wow, that's pretty early for snow..."_ Not really; this has actually been a pattern for the last few years. Mid-to-late October or early November, we'll get hit with a violent storm, but the snow won't stick. Then, it's just isolated flurries and snow showers. It does signal one important thing: It's officially time for everyone in the city to switch up their traffic habits. If you're on the road, you gotta start covering your brakes more to brace for a slide, and if you're on foot, you have to be extra vigilant near roadways since snow magically makes people forget how to drive (especially in Rosemont). Stay extra safe out there, peeps. **_UPDATE:_** This was added on November 10th; it's November 14th, and it feels like a summer day. That's Chicago: If you don't like the weather now, wait a few minutes. * * * ### // Subtennial Incoming... The _HisVirusness YouTube Channel_ is almost at **100 SUBSCRIBERS**. It's pretty surprising, but if you notice the first upload on the channel (and how many times it's been reuploaded by others since then), it starts to make a little more sense as to how we got here. It's nothing to shake a stick at, and honestly, I'm going to feel further compelled to start making more original content on there. Not to say I'd be on a regular schedule, but at least putting in more effort than I currently am... which is none. I do have some ideas (one of those, of course, is ~~outlined~~ displayed above), so _Stay Tuned For More Bullshit_. However, _temper your expectations_. After all, this does wrap back around to me pushing myself to start what I finish. And to be totally frank, I'm willing to have gaps between uploads if it means other projects in the pipeline are done, or at the very least actively being worked on. It is pretty exciting, though. Wonder how long until I get _**✓** verified **✓**_. I had a chance to way back when, but I stupidly turned it down. [ https://hisvirusness.com/now ]

It's Christmas time again. That means it's time for people to discuss their gadgetry, typically in the context of wanting the hot new gadgetry out, instead of the old, busted and played-out gadgetry that they've been using for the last six months. Through all of that ~~useless noise~~ , I came across something I haven't seen or heard in a while. It's an older joke, but it seems to be making the rounds again: **Android devices are so cheap, even thieves don't want them**. And, of course, _Samsung Galaxies_ are name-checked the most, since they're the largest Android brand. Whenever I've heard it said, or if it was specifically aimed at me, it was always supposed to be taken as ridicule. _"Man, no one wants to steal that cheap cellphone you got."_ Good. Especially since we live in Chicago, and theft is always a possibility. I just don't see it as an insult. Granted, if someone tries to insult me by calling me broke, I'm unfazed because... well, that's just the truth. But someone _not_ wanting your stuff because of its lack of monetary value? That’s security; that's a feature, not a bug. If someone stole one of my laptops today, they’d get nothing. They wouldn't be able to log in, and if they took it to a pawn shop, the shop wouldn't even bother because it’s running Linux instead of Windows. Now, if this theft were to happen, say... 12 years ago? It would be a different story. Back in 2009, I stopped using Windows on my laptops. Windows 7 proved it wasn't fit for portable hardware (and even XP had its own shitty hiccups), which started my adoption of Linux. A used $50 netbook running Crunchbang ran a lot better than a brand-new netbook running Windows. Instead of wiping Windows entirely, I'd keep a small partition on disk with a solo user that wasn't password protected. And that partition would be laced with keyloggers and other goodies that could potentially feed me back information. After all, it was my laptop. __I can do what I want.__ While there's no record of me having a laptop stolen and then mysteriously getting back, I can tell you that _if_ you did something similar (**NOT SAYING THAT YOU SHOULD** , but _if_...), you'd probably end up with enough intel that'd buy you a new machine. In short, what I'm actually getting at is, **cheap hardware is a flex**. An even bigger flex is **if the hardware was going to be e-waste**. Especially if it outperforms over-marketed, over-priced, locked-down, planned-obsolesence _trash_. Taking something cheap and making it into something _usable_ is way more impressive than paying too much for weak hardware. [ https://hisvirusness.com/cheap-does-not-mean-bad ]