iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 15/08/2026

I thought this usage was interesting, back when I found it in my great aunt's house back in '77. It was published in 1918, before the end of the war. I've since come to believe that there's only been 1 world war. WWI was just the last in a long series of wars between European colonial empires.

Cover of a battered old book, titled, "Collier's New Photographic History of the Word's War.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 26/03/2026

He had a good last few months, but left us this morning. It still doesn't seem real. Farewell, mighty hunter.

Old gray cat sitting on a damp patio, looking up at the roof.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 19/02/2026

No, you're the one saying you've done research, but won't show it. But you also think that platforming Nazis is a good thing.

"I have long been of the mind that it's silly to argue against 'platforming' these people. They already have big followings. Exposing them to the normies is a good thing: much more likely to be a counterweight than a boost."

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 10/02/2026

This is completely missing the point, which isn't that the books have only sold 37 copies because they're bad, but that she's LYING about how many books she's sold, and how much money she's made.

Critical Nostalgia‬ ‪@highway62.bsky.social‬ posts:
Seeing some "She only sold 37 books on Amazon!" and folks, ain't a one of my titles sold more than that when self-published.

I get it. She's a scammer and a slopper but if we're talking about sales as arbiters of a minimum of quality, you've already been suckered.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 15/01/2026

Horatius at the Bridge Then none was for a party; then all were for the state; Then the great man helped the poor, and the poor man loved the great. Then lands were fairly portioned; then spoils were fairly sold: The Romans were like brothers in the brave days of old.

But the Consul's brow was sad, and the Consul's speech was low,
And darkly looked he at the wall, and darkly at the foe.
"Their van will be upon us before the bridge goes down;
And if they once might win the bridge, what hope to save the town?"
Then out spoke brave Horatius, the Captain of the Gate:
"To every man upon this earth, death cometh soon or late;
And how can man die better than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers, and the temples of his Gods,
"And for the tender mother who dandled him to rest,
And for the wife who nurses his baby at her breast,
And for the holy maidens who feed the eternal flame,
To save them from false Sextus, that wrought the deed of shame?
"Hew down the bridge, Sir Consul, with all the speed ye may!
I, with two more to help me, will hold the foe in play.
In yon strait path, a thousand may well be stopped by three:
Now, who will stand on either hand and keep the bridge with me?'
Then out spake Spurius Lartius; a Ramnian proud was he:
"Lo, I will stand at thy right hand and keep the bridge with thee."
And out spake strong Herminius; of Titian blood was he:
"I will abide on thy left side, and keep the bridge with thee."
"Horatius," quoth the Consul, "as thou sayest, so let it be."
And straight against that great array forth went the dauntless Three.
For Romans in Rome's quarrel spared neither land nor gold,
Nor son nor wife, nor limb nor life, in the brave days of old.
Then none was for a party; then all were for the state;
Then the great man helped the poor, and the poor man loved the great.
Then lands were fairly portioned; then spoils were fairly sold:
The Romans were like brothers in the brave days of old.
Now Roman is to Roman more hateful than a foe,
And the Tribunes beard the high, and the Fathers grind the low.
As we wax hot in faction, in battle we wax cold:
Wherefore men fight not as they fought in the brave days of old.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 15/01/2026

Here is a map of Europe at the time, showing where Hitler invaded from. Now, you might be convinced that, say, Lithuania is in Siberia, but I think that the people of Lithuania would be surprised to find that out. Now please, this is not worth all the fuss. Leave off the insults and let it go.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 15/01/2026

Sigh. Does it start in Poland? Is it winter in what's now Belarus and Ukraine in June? Here's a map that shows Siberia. It is a part of Russia that Nazi Germany very, notably never got anywhere near. It's okay to stop talking when you realize you're wrong. There's no need to keep doubling down.

Map of Siberia, showing that it starts east of the Ural mountains.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 09/01/2026

It wasn't an accident, or poor judgement, or a failure of training. It was the point of the training.

"[...]he now understood why the army was organized as it was. It was indeed quite necessary. No rational form of organization would serve the purpose. He simply had not understood that the purpose was to enable men with machine guns to kill unarmed men and women easily and in great quantities when told to do so." - THE DISPOSSESSED, Ursula Le Guin

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 28/12/2025

Using AI to filter incoming submissions is effectively just arbitrarily purging a certain number of random submissions to reduce the incoming volume. Just come right out and say, "We delete 75% of submissions without even looking at them." file770.com/erin-underwo...

AI for Screening and Triage: Some publishers are either considering or have already started using AI to some degree to manage incoming submissions and to move through the digital slush pile to weed out submissions that did not follow the guidelines or other rules … as well as identifying AI generated writing. This may also help them to look for submissions that meet a specific publishing need quickly and efficiently to elevate it for human editorial review.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 12/11/2025

They voted against it quite vigorously, in 2020, and Democrats did nothing to stop it. On the contrary, they did everything they could to make sure Trump would be able to run again in 2024.

"The Beer Hall Putsch was a pathetic, comic-opera uprising that had no chance of succeeding. But 10 years later the Nazis ruled Germany.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 12/11/2025

It looks like we going to be losing the mighty Chaos the Cat soon. My heart is broken.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 10/11/2025

Democrats remain the party of McClellan, who fought the Confederates not with the idea of defeating them, but dragging the fight out until both sides were exhausted, then making a compromise peace that preserved slavery.

"That is not the game; the object is that neither army shall get much advantage of the other; that both shall be kept in the field till they are exhausted, when we will make a compromise and save slavery." -- Major Key, of McClellan's staff.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 31/10/2025

This, BTW, is what a WWII-vintage Smith Corona looked like. Useful within its operational parameters, but not much good for typing college papers.

A bolt-action M1903 rifle produced by the Smith Corona typewriter company during WWII.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 24/10/2025

Denying not just the Holocaust but all the other millions of deaths caused by fascists.

"The entire ideological basis of fascism is "I can hurt you if I want" and they are completely helpless when the person they threaten says, "And then?"

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 12/10/2025

Here, I'll even underline it for you, little guy.

Casualty: A person killed or injured in a war or accident.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 01/10/2025

Some people demand resistance, but don't want to think about what resistance looks like.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 31/08/2025

I have no idea who this person is, but I'm getting this vibe...

Nazi pretending that they're being bullied into being a nazi

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 15/08/2025

Chaos naps after a hard day of napping.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 15/08/2025

Chaos the cat surveys his domain.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 15/07/2025

Here, my man. This has helped me. This and the Sam Jackson line, "THAT'S RIGHT, YOU CAN'T KILL ME, MOTHERFUCKERS!"

I don’t like the phrase “A cry for help.” I just don’t like how it sounds. When somebody says to me, “I’m thinking about suicide, I have a plan; I just need a reason not to do it,” the last thing I see is helplessness.

I think: Your depression has been beating you up for years. It’s called you ugly, and stupid, and pathetic, and a failure, for so long that you’ve forgotten that it’s wrong. You don’t see good in yourself, and you don’t have any hope.

But still, here you are; you’ve come over to me, banged on my door, and said, “HEY! Staying alive is REALLY HARD right now! Just give me something to fight with! I don’t care if it’s a stick! Give me a stick and I can stay alive!”

How is that helpless? I think that’s incredible. You’re like a marine: Trapped for years behind enemy lines, your gun has been taken away, you’re out of ammo, you’re malnourished, and you’ve probably caught some kind of jungle virus that’s making you hallucinate giant spiders.

And you’re still just going “Give me a stick! I’m not dying out here!”

“A cry for help” Makes it sound like I’m supposed to take pity on you. But you don’t need my pity. This isn’t pathetic. This is the will to survive. This is how humans lived long enough to become the dominant species.

With NO hope, running on NOTHING, you’re ready to cut through a hundred miles of hostile jungle with nothing but a stick, if that’s what it takes to get to safety.

All I’m doing is handing out sticks.

You’re the one staying alive.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 04/07/2025

The Declaration of Independence remains a remarkable document.

"Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 18/04/2025

How many times is this going to come up? It was in a part of Poland that had been annexed to Germany a year before. And there were numerous concentration camps in Germany before that.