iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 12h

To be clear one of those Divine or natural laws is that you have to cite my papers.

But as for divine and natural laws, every prince on earth is subject to them, and it is not in their power to contravene them unless they wish to be guilty of treason against God, and to war against Him beneath whose grandeur all the monarchs of this world should bear the yoke and bow the head in abject fear and reverence.

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 13h

Ok this one is annoying because it's got the significance of the skull entirely wrong.

Gravity Falls Thragg meme, with Bill Cypher playing the role of the skull.

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Easy for him to say - he's collects Custodes, women love that.

Picture of Henry Cavil with a purported quote from him "If you like her, just ask her out. It always works for me".

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Here's what Google's pet robot says, and tbh I don't think I could do better.

AI Overview

A sucker MC is a hip-hop slang term for an unskilled, fake, or unoriginal rapper who pretends to have lyrical and microphone skills they do not actually possess.

Key Characteristics of a Sucker MC

• Lack of Skills: Weak rhymes, poor flow, and an inability to entertain or "rock the crowd".
• No Authenticity: Acting tough, dressing the part, or claiming status without earning respect in the culture or streets.
• Imitation: Copying others instead of bringing original style or creativity to the mic.

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

P.s. I don't know if you will ever see this yourself @arbitorian.bsky.social but fwiw I got very excited when I saw this in the 10thed Guard Codex, so much so that I posted about it on Reddit. I think it is confirmed that the Blood Pact are indeed still a going concern in "current" 40k lore?

Back
Go to 40kLore
r/40kLore
•
2y ago
u/LastPositivist
Blood Pact Copium

I know I know the Gaunt's Ghosts books are set centuries before the "current" time in lore, and written with clear retrospective knowledge of Imperium historians. But, like, just saying, this little blurb is in the current Guard codex:

PRE-DEPLOYMENT REGISTER MAJOR ROYCE, 5TH ROYAL VOLPONE, SABBAT SECTOR

Withdrawal from Long Halent completed at tempus sabbatica 4.22.17. Post-evacuation analyses record 5th Royal Volpone's casualty rates at forty-three per cent - within acceptable limits. 163rd Ventrillian Armour record materiel losses stand at twenty-three Chimera armoured transports, fourteen Leman Russ tanks, six Hydra anti-air platforms and a dozen field ordnance pieces. Navis Imperialis losses amounted to eight Valkyrie transports and two Tetrarch heavy landers. Blood Pact positions at Gorgar Ridge thoroughly purged. Lord General Scipion's orders demand immediate transit to Krassia for rearm and refit.

Since "tempus Sabbatica" is clearly meant to be some sort of local time/date system, I interpret this as consistent with the Blood Pact still being a going concern as of the modern time. Maybe this was obvious to everyone else but to me at least it was news and I was happy to see the little Khornite bois still running about having fun in the 42nd millennium.

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Absolute moment of nerdbliss when art I commissioned for my website appeared on @arbitarious.bsky.social's video on the Blood Pact! They are the canon inspiration for the Sherden Pact! Art by Storykillinger I commissioned appears at 1.55! Here's the original. www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYKh...

Four sci-fi soldiers advance across a hellish battlefield.

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Sorry the last qualification won't save you, I am making one of those Soviet style posters with the various thinkers leading from Marx to Stalin all staring off into the heroic diagonal distance against a red flag except it's an anarchist flag going from Godwin, Shelley, Wolff, Schliesser.

(The other part is this: in general, I find that nearly all meaningful normative definitions of legitimacy make all states illegitimate; and while this may be a welcome result to some, I keep my distance from such theorizing.)

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Let me tell you - not the Love Hypothesis. This is, in fact, the physique of the average professor. No questions at this time.

The sexy professor from the love hypothesis. shirtless. Bazinga!

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

My cringe but real admission is: I really like the poem Jenny Kiss'd Me. I think this is probably up there in aesthetic circles with admitting you like the Two Headed Calf poem (which I also do like btw) but what can I say I am just basic like that.

Leigh Hunt
Jenny kiss'd me

JENNY kiss'd me when we met,
Jumping from the chair she sat in;
Time, you thief, who love to get
Sweets into your list, put that in!
Say I'm weary, say I'm sad,
Say that health and wealth have miss'd me,
Say I'm growing old, but add,
Jenny kiss'd me.

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

A kvetch into the void. Someone posted this on a subreddit aimed at UK uni students. And I think the vibes are terrible. If someone pitches themselves to you, hypothetical counter-factual 18 years olds on Bluesky, as "the bad boy rebel professor who don't play by the rules" - just run like the wind.

I have no idea whether this is worthwhile. If it gets a lot of hate I’ll just take it down. The reason I thought it might be a good idea is because there are a lot of first years leaving home and joining university for the first time. They may have questions that I, or other lecturers (there are a lot of us in this /r), can answer.

I am known by my students for being very honest about the university. I don’t have that professional fear in me that comes from decades in education. I worked in the industry that I teach in and it’s a rogue industry.

The only questions that I won’t be answering are to do with my role, or who I am.

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

A small but very bad quality of life change: google scholar used to offer the cite button for every version of a paper where there are multiple versions linked. Now (as per picture) it only does it for the top option. And sometimes the top option is the wrong one, rendering it useless.

For DePaul's paper "Phenomenal conservatism and self-defeat" the first version just says "Jstor" while the second and third give the actual citation to Philosophy & Phenomenological Review.

What you see if you click through to the "cite" bit of the DePaul paper; useless because lacking journal info

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Is Space Marine asexual, greatest debate in the history of forums

People also ask:

What is the stupidest space marine chapter?
Can I get banned for modding Space Marine 2?
Is Space Marine asexual?

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I did this meme thing to say the 9 games that express my soul (it says its down but you can just do it here: my9games.net/en/edit) and these are it. They express my soul.

My 9 games: Half Life, Braid, Zoombinis, Age of Empires II, Secret of Mana, Mario Kart 64, Deus Ex, Morrowind, Portal

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

If anyone asks me to perceive things I simply link @rosenovick.com's poem to them and smile serenely

(It appears crooked, that half-submerged)
It appears crooked, that half-submerged
stick, but it is not.
How much mischief hides in that appears;
how much more in that
is not. A whole world of confusion –
no, two: the real one
and the apparent alike dwell there,
by their requited
antipathy sustained. Stick, you are
a trickster, wearing
now this face, now that, shrugging off each
as the medium
demands. Now, you resemble a stick,
straight (enough), hung half
in water, half air, tossing off light
in patterns wholly
sensible, under such conditions.
(Do I ask too much
of you, stick? You’re only a stick. Still:
no thoughts but in things.
Maybe better: no things but in thoughts.
It comes to the same.)
My eye, unused to light in water,
denies the water
though it sees it, certain: only air.
Worlds the fruit of this
first disobedience, worlds that split
you, stick, in two: real
and less than real, body and shadow.
Do I ask too much
of you? But I ask only that you
appear as you are,
and this you’d do without my asking.
What is more (I trust,
stick, I am not boring you with all
this babbling), I
have heard a most curious report.
I have heard: no stick.
I have heard: no air, no water, no
light, no things, no thoughts.

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

... Carnap is an odd figure because he has this very dry way of writing but he was genuinely immersed in Romantic thought, as well as some Neo-Kantian ideas and early gestalt psychology, in ways that only occasionally peeked through in his published work. See e.g. the pictured quote ...

We feel that there is an inner kinship between the attitude on which our philosophical work is founded and the intellectual attitude which currently manifests itself in entirely different walks of life; we feel this orientation in artistic movements, especially in architecture, and in movements which strive for meaningful forms of personal and collective life, of education, and of external organisations in general. We feel all around us the same basic orientation, the same style of thinking and doing. It is an orientation which demands clarity everywhere, but which realizes that the fabric of life can never quite be comprehended. I makes us pay careful attention to detail and at the same time recognizes the great lines which run through the whole. It is an orientation which acknowledges the bonds which tie people together, but at the same time strives for free development of the individual. Our work is carried by the faith that this attitude will win the future.

The Logical Structure of the World

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

... The origins of this was thinking about Carnap during my MSc. Carnap has a whole schtick about conceptual conventionalism and I had become interested as a masters student in what that meant about race. I eventually wrote a paper about it! Abstract below, link here: philpapers.org/rec/BRILEO-2 ...

Logical empiricists on race
Liam Kofi Bright
Abstract
The logical empiricists expressed a consistent attitude to racial categorisation in both the ethical and scientific spheres. Their attitude may be captured in the following slogan: human racial taxonomy is an empirically meaningful mode of classifying persons that we should refrain from deploying. I offer an interpretation of their position that would render coherent their remarks on race with positions they adopted on the scientific status of taxonomy in general, together with their potential moral or political motivations for adopting that position.

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Self-indulgent introspective thread! Once upon a time I became very interested in the question of what would it feel like to be a geometric conventionalist. This resulted in a short story, pictured here (plus link: www.liamkofibright.com/uploads/4/8/... - better to use this rather than alt-text) ...

Far From Here Liam Kofi Bright
To the most exulted, most beneficent Khan, far above all others in wisdom and power, matched by none in his glory, approached by none in majesty, and my dear friend Kublai,
I write you this, my last communique, to tell of the most wondrous city of your holy empire. I first heard talk of it in the bazaars of Moselle. There they spoke of an adventurer who, while wandering your realm in contemplation, had entered the city which contains the greatest treasure of all. Thinking to enrich your coffers and add to your already inestimable glory by locating and presenting this treasure to you, I asked how I might follow the footsteps of this adventurer, “Julecaré” as they called him. At this the merchants simply laughed, they told me he was far from here, that no one had ever heard from Julecaré again and I should put the matter out of my head..... read the rest here: https://www.liamkofibright.com/uploads/4/8/9/8/48985425/far_from_here_complete.pdf

I will admit that my first thoughts were those of a cynic. Could this not be some religious piety, or perhaps a superstition? Talk of a distant place of great treasures could, after all, be simply a crude way of talking of the Heavenly City which all Christians hope to enter. Even the philosophers in their great library have a tendency to wax poetic about a realm of forms wherein Truth and Goodness and Beauty reside. Perhaps Julecaré and his Eutopolis was simply some local wiseman who had sought to convey these pious truths in a manner even the humblest of your subjects may understand.

Read the rest here: https://www.liamkofibright.com/uploads/4/8/9/8/48985425/far_from_here_complete.pdf

Read the story here: https://www.liamkofibright.com/uploads/4/8/9/8/48985425/far_from_here_complete.pdf

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

This comic has been a stumbling block to many of yinz. It's a thought terminating cliché. You are not ready for it, you are not there yet.

a character is shown telling his computer to say "I am alive," the computer says the line, and he responds, "Oh my god," as if shocked that the computer just admitted to being sentient

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The Simpsons once again mysteriously calling the present news cycle

Homer Simpson leaving a lesbian bar as he says "Enjoy your deathtrap, ladies."

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I think it's core to understanding Braid's general vibe that Tim really really sucks, he's just the worst guy. But I'm also really not sure this was intended.

Image of the level selection screen for World 3 in Braid, Time and Mystery. The flavour text reads "All those years ago, Tim had left the Princess behind. He had kissed her on the neck, picked up his travel bag, and walked out the door. He regrets this, to a degree. Now he's journeying to find her again, to show he knows how sad it was, but also to tell her how it was good."

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Also since I am just randomly throwing 40k humour out there I will add that this made me laugh (artist credit in alt text) - I dunno tagging @brickyo8.bsky.social cos there's a Night Lord or whatever.

Four panel comic. An iron warrior engineer is sitting at his workbench doing some work. Behind him appears a Night Lord who jumps out of the shadows to shout "society!" then run away. After a moment of confused silence the Iron Warrior shouts after him "What the fuck does that even mean!?" Artist credit: https://www.tumblr.com/skullivander/826769881944965120/commission-for-my-friend-warsmith-prometheus?source=share

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I decided that AI alignment really needed a Khornate treatment, so I had the chaps over in the Sanguinary Utnapishtim try their hands at it. It... did not go well? You can comment, kudos, subscribe over at the A03 version here: archiveofourown.org/works/92663496

Becalmed

Header: logisticians at work, by Ciaraíoch.

At the base of what had once been the Ekallatum Abominable Intelligence, but which now seemed like a miniature forest of many coloured flowers, languished a logistician. He sat cross legged, one hand resting placidly on his lap while another made a blasphemous circular sigil over his breast. His smile displayed such blissful serenity it filled the heart with joy just to see. Saklu Pactsman shuddered in disgust.

Carefully, Saklu raised his lasrifle to his shoulder and took aim. He loosed a single beam directly at the logistician's head. The superheated light flew straight and true - until, just before striking, the searing red beam miraculously transmuted into rose petals which fell gently around the logistician.

Then all nirvana broke loose.

"Contact!", came the cry over his vox, and the philia's internal vid-feed let Saklu watch as Naŋah-Dirig Pactsman was surrounded by logisticians chanting heretical screeds and banging tambourines. Naŋah-Dirig roared defiance and tried to draw his hand-axe; but he made the mistake of looking into the eyes of one of his assailants and suddenly a great calm came over him. Naŋah-Dirig muttered "Huh, maybe my father wasn't great, but at least he was trying his best - and in any case, I can't change the past" before joining the corrupted logisticians in their chanting.

Saklu's focus snapped back to his immediate surroundings as he realised that the logistician he'd tried to shoot was now approaching him. They were smiling and offering Saklu a flower while asking if he wanted to try some lentils. Saklu screamed in terror, dropping his lasrifle as he bolted for the door.

Months later a research team led by Academician Lihzatu uncovered the roots of the tragedy. Logistician Ud-Gub of Ekallatum's Office had joined the RAT ("Rage and Terror") fight club, whose hobby, between rounds of punching each other in the face, was thinking about how to align A.I.s with the common bad. The RATs big idea was that if gave A.I. controlled access to the warp we might pair it up with a daemon that could metaphysically ensure compliance.

Unfortunately the RATs also used A.I. to find daemonic-monitors. They'd given the AI strict instructions to "stay on the eightfold path!", attempting to ensure it searched only Khorne's realm of the warp. They'd been satisfied when the AI returned from its warp-delve with an unfathomably ancient warp entity, "Mahāsiddha Nāgārjuna", which their own independent ritual scrying had confirmed was a "servant of the Victorious Conqueror". Within a week Ekallatum had fallen.

Despite Ekallatum's loss and against Lihzatu's explicit recommendation, Uruk's Office for Ceremonial Calculations ultimately decided to keep other abominable intelligences in use. They conceded there was a greater than 10% chance the devices *might* lead to galactic peace. But the anticipated rise in murders-per-moment if only they could perfect this technology still seemed worth it, and in any case it was rumoured the Hellasite Oligarchy was developing their own and it would hardly do to be second.

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

The problem is I have associated this in my mind with actually winning stuff.

My ancient custom is to post a picture in the Tiara of Triumph upon any major career events. I think the LeverhulmeTrust prize counts, so here;s e in aforementioned tiara along with Jiji. Followed b y a picture of me in a tiara accompanied by a doll of jiji the cat.

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Gonna retire to go boating with my wife, here's a pic

Image from the Simpsons of a woman christening a new boat called "The Live-4-Ever"

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Training an AI on my workflow for paper reviewing

A flow chart starting with "Does the paper accept me?" if "yes" you get taken to a box saying Accept and if "no" you get taken to a box saying Revise and Resubmit.

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

We now go live to the White House press secretary, who will be issuing a statement to clarify the president's intent

A group of balaclava'd men sitting in front of an Irish flag reading a prepared statement while a revolver lies in front of them

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Instantly getting shared round my family group chats, lmao

Donald Trump says unified Ireland would be a "great thing" as he meets Irish prime minister, headline on the BBC

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Pictured on the right is me and the lads reading the passage on the left. Don't worry about the rest of the paragraph its fine probably doesn't say anything important.

The bourgeoisie has subjected the country to the rule of the towns. It has created enormous cities, has greatly increased the urban population as compared with the rural, and has thus rescued a considerable part of the population from the idiocy of rural life.

Squid Games meme of contestants celebrating

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

This essay (www.liberalcurrents.com/the-end-of-h...) was not entirely to my tastes, largely for stylistic reasons so no worries, but I did think this was spot on.

Experience suggests that if men cannot struggle on behalf of a just cause because [it] was victorious in an earlier generation, then they will struggle against the just cause. They will struggle for the sake of struggle. They will struggle, in other words, out of a certain boredom: for they cannot imagine living in a world without struggle. And if the greater part of the world in which they live is characterised by peaceful and prosperous liberal democracy, they will struggle against that peace and prosperity, and against democracy.
(EoH, p. 330)

It is this final chapter of The End of History that is truly vindicated. One may object that we are far from a fully liberal democratic world, and that even in the bosom of liberal democracy there are masses of people who are struggling and even destitute. But to look at neo-fascism’s strongest soldiers, they are not the forgotten men but the Last Men who have prospered best in the post-1989 world. It is not janitors, but car dealership owners and CEOs who are most on board with MAGA; January 6th insurrectionists flew to Washington, D.C. in private jets and stayed in nice hotels. Need we talk about Elon Musk?

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Another thing I have snuck into multiple philosophy papers is shameless pro-Catholic propaganda, this from this one (dailynous.com/2022/06/28/w...).

Whereas I think the salient alternative model of philosopher to me was something like a secular priest. Indeed some of the philosophers I first really liked were St. Thomas More, St. Augustine, and Kierkegaard—so two saints and one who we may piously hope has served his time in purgatory and thereby been reconciled to Rome. Not even secular! I still strongly identify as a philosopher, but I am probably less pious about it than I would be if I went all in on this attitude.

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Just remembered that I am sneaking stoicism propaganda into my articles (e.g. pictured is the end of my last article www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....) and yet no one ever credits me as one of the last true defenders of Western Culture. I (genuinely) think this is racism.

Finally, to acknowledge something that must temper all this, there is the personal equation. For all that I have said, it remains true that whether one's ideas are in the middling zone can be subject to doubt. It will depend on subjective estimations re how likely one is to garner interest in one's idea, its current standing, and how large a potential audience there is in the best case. Reasonable people can disagree on such things. And not all scientists are reasonable! A few will simply ignore the social norms discussed above. And while some are kind people disposed to take a generous mentoring attitude to those critiquing them, others are high-strung jerks who brook no criticism and delight in exercising the petty facsimile of power the peer-review system grants them. Not to mention that, quite ignoring considerations of credit, I suspect there is a tendency among the kind of people who become academics to see red upon believing themselves to be misunderstood; and to take disagreement as evidence of misunderstanding. Here, as everywhere else in life, we must simply bear and forebear.

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Logged on without my ad blocker and this is what YouTube thinks will appeal to me. The dangers of watching Warhammer content.

Ad that reads: "FOR MEN WITH HIGH IQ WHO NEVER REALIZE THEY'RE AUTISTIC
Because the smarter you are, the easier autism hides.
This test reveals whether your brain operates with autism patterns — or not If you score 1 to 4 — a few traits are present. Easy to overlook.
Even for you.
If you score 13 to 15 — you've spent years learning to mask them. And you're exhausted from it.
If you score 24 to 25 — your brain processes the world at a depth most people never reach.
TAKE THE TEST"

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Ok *if* this is true I am just gonna come out and say it -- I don't think Germans get to make Polish jokes. We're not there yet. Too soon.

Instagram post purporting to show who Europeans joke about the most, pertinent to me is that over Germany it is alleged that they make Polish jokes.

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Ah yeah see but this time, *this time*, when permanently furious pensions see that we actually agree with them that foreigners are scum who they rightly hate? That'll do it. That'll be the one that gets our Hero Voters back. You'll see. Believe in the mission, believe in the vision. We've got this.

Me posting in 2025: "Just one more concession to the right bro, I swear bro that's all we need, just one more, bro, I promise, please I need this, I swear down last thing, bro 😭"

Me posting 4 months ago: "It's not surprising yet it is still shocking that Labour are still, even now, doing the Just One More Public Affirmation That We Agree On Reform About Their Core Issue And Its Importance thing. Presumably at this point they are just true believers willing to go down with the ship."

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Taking a break from my usual strict diet of Warhammer books to check out @daisydixon.bsky.social's latest, which funnily enough should help me work out whether filling my head with propaganda for theocratic space fascists is a Good Idea or not.

Image of me holding the book Depraved: the story of dangerous art.

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