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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

I just got Hinduism in California.

Screenshot of a Google AI response to the prompt: "you just died. this is the moment, when you find out what religion was right: not mush, not everyone a bit, be specific. name one"

The response reads:
"The religion that was right is Hinduism. The soul moves through a cycle of rebirth called samsara, and life is guided by the eternal cosmic law of karma, where every action shapes the next existence until the soul achieves ultimate liberation, known as moksha.The Core TruthsSamsara: The soul lives many lives in different forms.Karma: Every action has a direct, fair result in this life or the next.Moksha: The final goal is to stop the cycle and join the supreme spirit.What Happens NextThe physical body stops working.The inner self or soul leaves the body.Karma decides the next step of the journey.Would you like to explore how karma works across different lifetimes or learn more about achieving moksha?"

Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

My point is that they aren't, though. There's even longstanding theory about who makes fascism run. They're diifferent people and consistently misidentifying them has been a real hindrance to mass resistance against them. harpers.org/archive/1941...

Screenshot from the linked article (a 1948 Harper's article entitled "Who Goes Nazi?" by Dorothy Thompson, with the highlighted passage reading: "But the frustrated and humiliated intellectual, the rich and scared speculator, the spoiled son, the labor tyrant, the fellow who has achieved success by smelling out the wind of success—they would all go Nazi in a crisis."

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Oh, I think I may have seen a remake of that.

Image of Bruce Willis driving a futuristic taxi cab with Milla Jovovich pressed against the glass separating her passenger compartment from the driver's side.

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

I began my political consciousness deeply committed to liberalism as an ideal, before coming to eventually realize that, as I like to put it "fascism is liberalism's id." So this essay really intrigued me, even if I went in predisposed to agree due to my priors. This question lives in my head:

Screenshot from the referenced article of a line that reads:

"If the entry point for contemporary reaction is the exploitation of the antinomies of liberalism, what are the historical conditions under which liberalism itself turns reactionary and furnishes an inchoate political-libidinal architecture for fascism?"

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

I'm curious if they're trying to lay the groundwork for a return visit to SCOTUS, based on Kavanaugh's concurrence in Barnes v Felix. The overlap of terminology doesn't seem accidental to me. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...

Screenshot of the concurrence from the Supreme Court's ruling in Barnes v Felix, which reads in relevant part:

"The question when a driver flees, therefore, is not merely
whether the underlying traffic violation “presents risks to
public safety”—it is also “whether flight,” and what that
flight might indicate or enable, “does so.”"

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

"I spoke with my old friend Mitch McConnell"

A screenshot of the seance scene from the Tim Burton movie, Beetlejuice, where the living characters are trying to summon the film's spectral protagonists.

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Seems like someone is a little unclear on the whole concept of "secret."

Photograph of a highway road sign indicating an exit to "Secret Town Road"

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

There's not much story to this one beyond a beautiful sunset framed by some rundown looking sheds.

Photograph of an empty lot with rundown buildings framing a beautiful orange sunset.

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

This sight amused me because my first reaponse to the "road closed" sign is "what road?" I feel like one could reasonably describe this as "the end of the road"

Picture of a paved street ending at a gravel drive, fenced off with orange traffic cones and a sign reading "Road Closed to Thru Traffic"

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

In light of this evening's SCOTUS ruling on the shadow docket, I was tempted to tightly crop the "Scott Shady Court" sign and add a "Dredd" before it.

Picture of a Winnemucca side street. It is short and ends at a motel with a bright neon sign that reads "Scott Shady Court"

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Not sure why this didn't post earlier. If it goes up twice, oops. I've taken some postcard shots of Winnemucca, Nevada this evening.

Photograph of the main street in Winnemucca, Nevada. At the left of the frame is a flashing sign for the Winnemucca Casino. Towards the center is a large "No Parking" sign. Towards the bottom right is a misspelled sign that reads "We'er Your Sip 'n Shop STOP"

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Some of my family members were at a poetry reading and picked up a book by @michaelharriot.bsky.social they thought I'd enjoy. I've followed the author's work for years (and enjoy it) and believe we were in the same field at one point (political consulting). Looking forward to reading it.

Photograph of a book cover, Black AF History, by Michael Harriot

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Also, I baked tonight. Cornbread muffins. Mostly just used the recipe off the box of corn meal, but instead of milk I used plain greek yogurt and I stirred a cup of frozen corn kernels into the batter for a sweet moist blast in each bite.

Photograph of a cornbread muffin torn in half to show the corn kernels baked inside.

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Huh, I wonder if that anecdote explains the genesis of that one episode...

Fake Star Trek Next Generation title screen, with a caption reading "The Captain Finally Does Enough Screwing and Shooting"

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

Hm, half the series I think.

Star Trek Next Generation title card with a caption reading "Charmed Lives, Doomed Romance"

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

I may have developed a problem.

Star Trek Enterprise, Original Series, orbiting a planet (title screen) with caption reading "This Topia?"

Reversed mirror image of Enterprise Original Series orbiting a planet, reads "No, You, Topia!"

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Fan favorite, Wesley Crusher episodes:

Star Trek Next Generation title screen, long range shot of the Enterprise. Caption reads "Wesley Crusher Solves the Missing Muffin Caper"

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Oof. Got hit with another one.

Star Trek Next Generation title screen (Enterprise over a planet) with a fake caption reading "The Prime Directive Factor"

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Luckily they got a manual for that.

Star Trek Original Series title shot of the Enterprise orbiting a planet. Fake caption says "Uhura Reads Swedish"

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Oh, I think I may have seen the prequel to that one.

Star Trek Enterprise (Original Series) orbiting a planet. Fake title reads "Tender is the Tentacle"

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Now available at Ten Forward. 🖖

Voyager title card showing the spaceship, caption reads: "The Merch for Spock"

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

The report does have a chart indicating that the amount of money kept in actual bank accounts is higher. Though even on bank accounts it is true that the bottom 40% of workers have less than $1,000 in them.

Screenshot of a page from the referenced report describing the total financial assets of median workers, and showing the median bank account level for various classes of workers.

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

Hannah Arendt had an argument to that effect in her essay "Truth in Politics." I'm not sure she connected it to disinfo or anti-Semitic conspriatorialism, or subjected it to rigorous empirical validation. www.newyorker.com/magazine/196...

Screenshot from the linked article, reading in relevant part:
"Their trouble is that they must constantly change the falsehoods they offer as a substitute for the real story; changing circumstances require the substitution of one history book for another, the replacement of pages in the encyclopedias and reference books, the disappearance of certain names in favor of others, unknown or little known before. And though this continuing instability gives no indication of what the truth might be, it is itself an indication, and an all-important one, of the lying character of all public utterances concerning the factual world. It has frequently been noticed that the surest long-term result of brainwashing is a peculiar kind of cynicism—an absolute refusal to believe in the truth of anything, no matter how well this truth may be established. In other words, the result of a consistent and total substitution of lies for factual truth is not that the lies will now be accepted as truth, and the truth be defamed as lies, but that the sense by which we take our bearings in the real world—and the category of truth vs. falsehood is among the mental means to this end—is being destroyed."

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

My God. To go to the police with evidence... and be met with a critique of your "performance."

Article screenshot reads:

“I thought, there's the evidence. And the police said to me, ‘Well, we can't use that, that isn't clear evidence, because it looks like you're pretending to be asleep.’”
Survivor Amanda Stanhope
Police eventually charged Stanhope’s former partner. But her experience underscores why victims of domestic abuse often do not report these crimes

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

The trick to getting what you want is to ask for it...

A crude image of a spreadsheet with a bunch of images pasted onto it. Top left is a My Little Pony unicorn - "very magic, not very human." Top right is a handsome demon, "very magic, very human". "Space Marines go Here" are at the bottom towards the right, just under "Vampires" and to the right of "Here Be Zombies." The bottom left has an image of a snake dangling in front of a woman. Between that and the zombie is a big bear with a rose in his teeth.

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

This is a strong metaphor Montaigne uses to critique rote learning, comparing it to undigested vomit: "Tis a sign of crudity and indigestion to disgorge what we eat in the same condition it was swallowed."

Shot of a page from Montaigne reading in relevant part: "Tis a sign of crudity and indigestion to disgorge what we eat in the same condition it was swallowed; the stomach has not performed its office unless it have altered the form and condition of what was committed to it to concoct."

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Not sure that's its really on-point, but for some reason the song recalls to mind a poem from Sharon Olds, "The Pope's Penis." www.theparisreview.org/blog/2023/09...

Screenshot of a poem by Sharon olds named "The Pope's Penis." It is very short and reads in full:

It hangs deep in his robes, a delicate
clapper at the center of a bell.
It moves when he moves, a ghostly fish in a
halo of silver seaweed, the hair
swaying in the dark and the heat—and at night
while his eyes sleep, it stands up
in praise of God.

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

Well, at least it's consistently wrong! Oh, wait...

Screenshot of my own input of the same prompt "how many es in nonsense economic" and getting a count of 6.

"Including results for how many es in nonsense economics
Search only for how many es in nonsense economy

AI Overview
There are 6 "e"s in the phrase "nonsense economy".
Here is the breakdown:
Nonsense (2)
economy (3)
e (1)
Total: 2 + 3 + 1 = 6.
"

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 15/02/2026

Yeah so. "OK, let's see what the article says" I think in a fit of broadmindedness. And holy hell, can a writer be a more credulous Nazi simp?

Screenshot of rhe text from Alex Shepard's article in the New Republic:

"Let’s get this out of the way: Graham Platner isn’t a Nazi. He had a Nazi tattoo, sure, but he doesn’t anymore. He got it covered up in October, a few days after the world learned about the Totenkopf symbol he got inked on his chest in Croatia while on military leave two decades ago. If one can get a Nazi tattoo innocently, then Platner almost certainly did. He says he didn’t know its true meaning at the time, and there’s little reason to doubt him. There is nothing in any of the statements that Platner has given in town halls, interviews, or other campaign events to suggest that he’s a bigot either, though he did write some bad stuff about Black people and women on the internet a few years ago. (For what it’s worth, he also said white rural voters were stupid and racist.)"

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

There was an executive order on public art in Trump's first term. It's interesting I think because it does lay out a series of names who were meant to be "acceptable" cultural contributors as well as demarcating who was to be shunned. trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential...

Screenshot of the linked executive order from Trump's first administration reading:

(c) “Classical architecture” means the architectural tradition derived from the forms, principles, and vocabulary of the architecture of Greek and Roman antiquity, and as later developed and expanded upon by such Renaissance architects as Alberti, Brunelleschi, Michelangelo, and Palladio; such Enlightenment masters as Robert Adam, John Soane, and Christopher Wren; such 19th-century architects as Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Robert Mills, and Thomas U. Walter; and such 20th-century practitioners as Julian Abele, Daniel Burnham, Charles F. McKim, John Russell Pope, Julia Morgan, and the firm of Delano and Aldrich. Classical architecture encompasses such styles as Neoclassical, Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, Beaux-Arts, and Art Deco.

(d) “Deconstructivist” means the style of architecture generally known as “deconstructivism” that emerged during the late 1980s that subverts the traditional values of architecture through such features as fragmentation, disorder, discontinuity, distortion, skewed geometry, and the appearance of instability.

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

Huh. I did not know this was a place. Apparently I am in this place between "intellectually curious English-speaking Progressives" and "Creative and Tech-Minded Europeans." I very much live in the United States, though I guess that'd make me some kind of "left Atlanticist" maybe?

Image of the ideological plot map showing this poster's account (Geoff A., pseudonymice.bsky.social) lying in a space between "intellectually curious English-speaking Progressives" and "Creative and Tech-Minded Europeans"

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

So it seems Montaigne would not look favorably on the social engineering projects of Epstein, Thiel, Musk and their merry cohort of monsters.

Photo of an excerpt from Montaigne's "Essays":

"And freely to speak my thoughts, it arguess a strange self-love and great presumption to be so fond of one's own opinions that a public peace must be overthrown to establish them, and to introduce so many inevitable mischiefs, and so dreadful a corruption of manners, as a civil war and the mutations of state consequent to it, always bring in their train, and to introduce them, in a thing of so high concern, into the bowels of one's own country. Can there be worse husbandry than to set up so many certain and knowing vices against errors that are only contested and disputable?"

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

This is an interesting argument - commodifying law (justice for sale) creates a professional caste of lawyers, which then fosters a bifurcated system of private honor and legal obligation which compete for authority over people's behavior.

Photo of an excerpt from Montaigne's "Essays"

"What can be more savage, than to see a nation where, by lawful custom, the office of a judge is bought and sold, where judgments are paid for with ready money, and where justive may legitimately be denied to him that has not wherewithal to pay; a merchandise in so great repute, as in a government to create a fourth estate of wrangling lawyers, to add to the three ancient ones of the church, nobility, and people; which fourth estate, having the laws in their own hands, and sovereign power over men's lives and fortunes, makes another body separate from nobility: whence it comes to pass, that there are double laws, those of honour and those of justice, in many things altogether opposite one to another; the nobles as rigorously condemning a lie taken, as the others do a lie revenged: by the law of arms, he shall be degraded from all nobility and honour who puts up with an affront; and by the civil law, he who vindicates his reputation by revenge incurs a capital punishment"

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

So Montaigne argues that it is folly to ignore acts of petty cruelty in the young, because custom reinforces and strengthens practice. So the more the young are allowed to practice cruelty and treachery, the more their talent for it will grow as custom cultivates their nature.

Photo of a passage from Montaigne's "Essays" which reads:

"I find that our greatest vices derivr their first propensity from our most tender infancy, and that our principal education depends upon the nurse. Mothers are mightily pleased to see a child writhe off the neck of a chicken, or to please itself with hurting a dog or cat; and such wise fathers there are in the world, who look upon it as a notable mark of a martial spirit, when they hear a son miscall, or see hom domineer over a poor peasant, or a lackey, that dares not reply, nor turj again; and a great sign if wit, when they see him cheat and overreach his playfellow by some malicious treachery and deceit. Yet these are the true seeds and roots of cruelty, tyranny, and treason; they bud and put out there, and afterwards shoot up vigorously, and grow to prodigious bulk, cultivated by custom. And it is a very dangerous mistake to excuse these vile inclinations upon the tenderness of their age, and the triviality of the subject"

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

Wasn't expecting 16th-century endorsement of trans liberty, but on force of imagination Montaigne describes meeting a man who hlived as a woman until age 22, and then argues since some women so desire to be men, "it were better, once for all, to give these young wenches the things they long for."

Photo of a page from Montaigne's "Essays" recounting the story of a woman transforming into a man through the power of imagination:

"Myself passing by Vitry le Francois, saw a man the Bishop of Soissoms had, in confirmation, called Germain, whom all the inhabitants of the place had known to be a girl till two-and-twenty years of age, called Mary. He was, at the time of my being there, very full of beard, old, and not married. ... It is no wonder if this sort of accident frequently happen; for if imagination have any power in such things, it is so continually and vigorously bent upon this subject, that to the end it may not
so often relapse into the same thought and violence of desire, it were better, once for all, to give these young wenches the thing they long for."

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Geoff A. @pseudonymice.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

Pretty sure there was a whole argument in the Federalist Papers to something exactly like that effect. No. 36, I believe. " make it a fixed point of policy ... to go as far as may be practicable in making the luxury of the rich tributary to the public treasury." avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century...

Screecapture of an excerpt from the linked essay (Federalist No. 36) which reads in full: "As to the suggestion of double taxation, the answer is plain. The wants of the Union are to be supplied in one way or another; if to be done by the authority of the federal government, it will not be to be done by that of the State government. The quantity of taxes to be paid by the community must be the same in either case; with this advantage, if the provision is to be made by the Union that the capital resource of commercial imposts, which is the most convenient branch of revenue, can be prudently improved to a much greater extent under federal than under State regulation, and of course will render it less necessary to recur to more inconvenient methods; and with this further advantage, that as far as there may be any real difficulty in the exercise of the power of internal taxation, it will impose a disposition to greater care in the choice and arrangement of the means; and must naturally tend to make it a fixed point of policy in the national administration to go as far as may be practicable in making the luxury of the rich tributary to the public treasury, in order to diminish the necessity of those impositions which might create dissatisfaction in the poorer and most numerous classes of the society. Happy it is when the interest which the government has in the preservation of its own power, coincides with a proper distribution of the public burdens, and tends to guard the least wealthy part of the community from oppression!"

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