iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 7h

that reads to you (correctly) as them being unbelievably heinous i think to them, they're civil, respectable sorts *protecting* that circle of civil respectability against attack (these are very stupid people)

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 7h

less incestous, also more open to conflict: there's two teams and its expected to take shots at the other team in the uk everyone's chums, so when someone comes along who's not in the chums, or critical of the chums, they close ranks against them bsky.app/profile/flyi...

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 7h

rw us media does that too. what i would say is there is a progressive press in the us- it'snot the main faction, but there's plenty of (genuinely) progressive liberal outlets, then online, actual left-left ones in the uk, you're just taking hits with no ability to return fire

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Bill @bill-of-lefts.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Reactionary centrists treat “Abolish ICE“ as a metaphysical question of whether immigration enforcement is ever justified. But it is really a practical question—how can you allow a fifth column paramilitary that wants to overthrow democracy to continue to exist in your government?

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Tim™️ @dadsof3.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

I think of your article A Disease of Affluence all the time. I know there’s more to a lot of this but so much ties back to this as well. www.liberalcurrents.com/a-disease-of...

liberalcurrents.com

A Disease of Affluence

Trump's supporters are not motivated by economic anxiety, but by its opposite.

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

less pattern recognition, more recognising there is a pattern

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Micah @rincewind.run · 08/10/2026

the reason “AI will create so much abundance we will have a utopian society” rhetoric falls so flat is that the people building it will never, ever share their bounty unless it is taken from them and we all know it

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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

New combo of "would you rather face 100 duck sized horses or one horse size duck" & "Men think of Rome every day" just dropped

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

for the rest of you: this is one of those 'if you know what i'm on about, log off' situations

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

you know what, have fun, god speed

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

so, just to track this you're taking a male character from a notoriously transphobic author, presenting them as a woman, getting publicly horny about them, & then claiming this somehow refutes social liberalism?

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

"ha, i bet you libs are really triggered by us making a gender-swapped, fan art version of the nazi-coded high school bully from harry potter & pretending she's our girlfriend" . . . you guys are doing what now?

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

why, it's almost as if "immigration" is just a slightly dressed up way of talking about racial purity

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

1) once we're in the scenario, normal physics apply 2) both teams are highly motivated, but not totally suicidal (also the triremes (somehow) know what cannons are, so they're not gonna suddenly freak out, they just don't have any) bsky.app/profile/rene...

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

maybe just like really sturdy built in ladders . . . . it seems like boarding is their only hope, the consensus seems to be that ramming it isn't really going to do anything

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

tho even with that, presumably a broadside just vaporises a trireme

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

we've refined the scenario a bit: the triremes cant have weapons/ tech fundamentally not of their time, but they know what they're up against and can plan for it so some sort of anti-SoLT corvus like thing is allowed if we think that would help bsky.app/profile/polp...

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

back of the envelope math: a ship of the line was 100 times* more expensive than a trireme leading to the obvious question, could 100 triremes take a ship of the line?

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

what are the battles from this region/period?

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

that's meant with no sarcasm whatsoever—this is a good & proper thing to have passionate opinions on

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

& the detailed knowledge of naval history many are bringing to the comments

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

i appreciate how strongly people feel on both sides of this

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

i'm ignoring the cost of running the things, my 100 triremes would need 20k rowers minimum, the ship of the line is crewed by around 600 & to gain a 100:1 ratio against the british fleet napoleon would've needed thousands of triremes, so . . .

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

yes, which is why napoleon didn't try the 'classical backup' after trafalgar but just going by capital costs gives you 100:1 which makes an actually interesting matchup

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

we're in the med bsky.app/profile/mile...

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

idk if a trireme *could* ram a ship of the line, those things have like 2ft thick hardened oak sides designed to withstand cannon fire, does the bronze ram really do anything there? i think they have to board to win

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

let's see . . . british standard was 80 rounds a gun, so 6k for a 74 gun 3rd rate, we'll go with that depends on accuracy & how many hits we think it'd take to sink a punchy boy of course, but looking like an in principle yes bsky.app/profile/waxm...

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

further specifications (people are taking this seriously): you can't give the triremes gunpowder weapons of any kind, nor do they have greek fire you can put as many heavy infantry on them as you think they'll take & you can equip them with a custom boarding bridge

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

it's a shame you can't do poling a bsky, opinion seems reasonably divided based on comments

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

i'm looking it up now & their top speeds are not that different (+ the ship of the line needs wind) its crewing them where this would fall down–100 triremes is like 20k rowers

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

important question, let's say napoleonic, 74 gun, that's where i got my figures from bsky.app/profile/scb2...

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

man, that's not that far from the 100:1 ratio i gave

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

that would even it considerably bsky.app/profile/polp...

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

although that's not including the cost of running either, the cost of running a trireme for a month was greater than the cost of making it but, putting that to one side, 100 ramy boys against a blasty boy, who wins?

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

*going by the amount of labour (inclusive of generating raw materials) that went into making one, which feels like the more apples-to apples comparison rather than attempting a currency conversion trireme is like 15-20 skilled labour years, which is a lot, sotl is 1,500 to 2,000

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

back of the envelope math: a ship of the line was 100 times* more expensive than a trireme leading to the obvious question, could 100 triremes take a ship of the line?

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

the architecture is like a stone wall

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

you can make machu picchu at home

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

wonders of the world aren't for everyone

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

i want to say this is a joke one, but i've a sinking feeling its not

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

reading the 1 star reviews of machu picchu

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

obviously, tho any literary assessment is made difficult by the whiplash of going from viewing her project with nostalgia glasses to her becoming a vicious bigot

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

i think rowling writes characters well & has good dialogue at points, she can't really do narrative & her world building is laughably stupid overall, mixed bag as a writer

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