Tootfinder

Adding another post. This one is a bit less polished, but I want to get it out. As things get harder for everyone, I'm seeing a greater tendency to want to grasp onto revolutionary fiction such as #Andor. I think there's value in that, but it has to come with an informed critique.
> We are so thirsty for hope that we will drink it up, even when that hope comes from a fiction and the truth behind the hope is poison. In Andor, we see the worst elements sacrifice themselves for some of the best. The revolution goes through a process of purification, the complicated elements weeding themselves out to make room for the simplified good, as the rebellion unifies. In reality, this tends to be the opposite how things actually work.
> [...]
> [The Urban Guerilla movement of the 60's through the 80's] centered militant revolution. In doing so, they omitted or cut themselves off from the logistic support needed to sustain such revolutionary activity. The trauma of carrying out violence further isolated and radicalized them. Lacking infrastructure for trauma healing, their decay escalated and became unrecoverable. Ultimately, their revolutionary movements both emulated and reinforced the status quo they were trying to resist.
> There emerges a strange historical parallel that is difficult to see from within the dominant paradigm. The competitive politics of electoralism derives from heroic competition, where people (typically men) compete (often violently) for control over a territory or people. Thus the insurrectionary enters into the very same competition as a challenger, not against the system of domination but for control over it. The success of the revolution, then, does not abolish the system of violent domination but changes rather replaces its management.
> Many modern anarchists will be quick to point out the disconnect between ends and means. While authoritarian projects often assert that "the ends justify the means," and Andor implies the same, anti-authoritarian projects assert the ends and the means are not only united but are, in fact, the same.
This is still very much something I'm actively editing, but I'd still love feedback to help me refine it to it's final form. Typo catches and clarifying questions welcome.
#USPol

I have been a registered voter since roughly 1970.
I can remember rather few election contests in which I voted *for* a good candidate rather than voting *against* the worst candidate.
It bothers me - and it reflects poorly on our political system - that it is rare when a voter has a choice between two or more good candidates of which to vote for - and that it is far more common when a voter has to chose which is the least bad candidate.

Nuclear fusion plasma fuelling with ice pellets using a neuromorphic controller
L. L. T. C. Jansen, E. Petri, M. van Berkel, W. P. M. H. Heemels
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.02147

Nuclear fusion plasma fuelling with ice pellets using a neuromorphic controller
In reactor-grade tokamaks, pellet injection is the best candidate for core plasma fuelling. However, density control schemes that can handle the hybrid nature of this type of fuelling, i.e., the discrete impact of the pellets on the continuously evolving plasma density, are lacking. This paper proposes a neuromorphic controller, inspired by the integrate-and-fire neuronal model, to address this problem. The overall system is modelled as a hybrid system, and we analyse the proposed controller in…

Republican control of state legislatures is systematically associated with the rich being (and becoming) richer.
In short, American plutocracy seems to be a quintessentially Republican affair.
And that’s not all.
As we journey into the depths of US state politics, the plot will thicken.
We’ll find striking partisan differences in the language used in state bills.
We’ll see the many ways that Republicans help the rich and hurt workers.
We’ll see the impact pa…

Partisan Politics and the Road to Plutocracy – Economics from the Top Down
In this essay, I take a deep dive into the history of American plutocracy and its conspicuously Republican roots.

Waar zouden we zijn zonder David van Dam en een een goeie koppenmaker.
/2
https://www.volkskrant.nl/politiek/marjolein-faber-heeft-het-goed-gedaan-al-zegt-ze-het-zelf-ik-was-soms-tw…

In any case, day 2: Ursula K Le Guin.
As I've said elsewhere, part of her science fiction thesis is that "human" can encompass much more than what we mere Terrans think of it as, and that moral standing extends broadly throughout the universe. This is the antithesis of Tokens fantasy, wherein "race" is real and determines moral standing. For Le Guin, it's barely okay to intervene in complex alien politics unless you carefully ensure you're not causing systemic harms; for Tolkien, it's okay to ambush and murder orc children, because they are by nature evil.
Add to her excellent politics Le Guin's masterful worldbuilding and unparalleled range of plots, and you have the one author I loved as a decidedly liberal and naïve teen and love even more now that I'm an adult. She's an absolute legend and deserves a very high place on any list of women authors (or list of authors, period.).
For a short story, try "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" which you can read here: https://www.utilitarianism.com/nu/omelas.pdf
For fantasy "A Wizard of Earthsea" (also has a nice graphic novel adaptation), or for science fiction, "The Left Hand of Darkness" or if you want a more anarchist flavor, "The Dispossessed."
I'll close this with an amazing quote from her:
"""
We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art, the art of words.
"""

Pro-EU party in Moldova wins election despite heavy Russian interference. Majority in parliament seems certain.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2rdlj8ejgo

Moldovans await pivotal election result as leader warns of Russian interference
The vote is seen as critical for Moldova's future EU path, with the two main political forces thought to be neck and neck.

David Sirota says that while the United States is now
“immersed in corruption” in a way that seems like an inevitable part of politics,
it is the result of a decades long agenda by the wealthy to deregulate the campaign finance system
and to essentially make anti-bribery laws unenforceable.
“This is all part of a plan by a corporate movement that sees democracy — the government providing what people want — sees that as a threat.”

Master Plan: David Sirota on Trump & the Decadeslong “Plot to Legalize Corruption in America”
We speak with journalist David Sirota about his new book, Master Plan: The Hidden Plot to Legalize Corruption in America. Co-authored with Jared Jacang Maher, the book is based on their award-winning investigative podcast of the same name for The Lever. Sirota says that while the United States is now “immersed in corruption” in a way that seems like an inevitable part of politics, it is the result of a decadeslong agenda by the wealthy to deregulate the campaign finance system and to essent…

Some details about the recently updated/fixed https://thi.ng/color package: The color scheme creation strategy functions (analog/complementary/triadic/tetradic/monochrome etc.) are all accepting base colors in any format now, but do their computation and provide results in LCH space only. I've updated/extended the re…

NAACP sues Texas over congressional redistricting,
saying it strips Black voters of political power
The organization’s suit also says that the redrawn Texas maps violate section 2 of the Voting Rights Act
https://www.theguardian.c…