StarGrit

People "roll coal" it because it is kinda amusing to do it, and it is a middle finger towards people they perceive to be preachy.

I accidentally "rolled coal" in my 90s Landrover because I was in totally the wrong gear going up a steep hill. It was amusing in the way of "oh shit! I kinda just blew a load of black smoke in the driver face behind me".

Obviously, I don't do this deliberately.

It is following a magazine style. This is partly to elicit an emotional reaction and partly I suspect because the copy writer is bored and wishes they were writing novels instead.

Thanks. I was vaguely aware of who this person was. I was more referring to the schizophrenia.

No I am not.

Is there any direct evidence of what you claim? Otherwise this is speculation.

You become an expert by tinkering and experimenting.

I understand a lot about how bicycles work because I tinkered and built my own. It isn't exactly the same as hacking, but it is very similar. When you work on old bikes, motorbikes, cars you sometimes have to come up to novel solutions to problems.

The fact that you and the author can't see the similarities is exactly the issue I and others have pointed out.

I'm am aware of this raid and similar ones. It doesn't make you the main character or really that important. Whenever the EFF post something, I know it will be ignored by almost anyone that has power.

Believe it or not if you are an expert in almost field you will understand things that other people do not. A lot of people in those fields will feel that way you are describing.

There is nothing special about this because you happen to be able to do it with a computer/electronics/network.

I think the Ninja stuff tbh comes from like a lot of pseudo-eastern philosophy that people buy into when it comes to programming and/or videos games e.g. the CSS Zen Garden.

There is significant overlap between the two groups.

It literally isn't whataboutism.

It is a statement of fact about the nature of the US state (and would apply to most western ones tbh). Freedom of Speech is simply a privilege that those in power grant you when it is convenient to do so. It will be taken away when expedient to do so.

The post I was replying to seemed to believe it was a novel situation.

Freedom of Speech has and will be suppressed by various governments, with various reasons being given. This has been going on for longer than any of us have been alive.

e.g.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedition_Act_of_1918

There is nothing unique about what is happening now.

Maybe I am too dismissive/cynical, but my impression is that people who write stuff like this really want to think they are the main character in a movie.

The way it is written is a bit like the the Navy Seal, GNU-Linux copy-pastas.

If you go back and read these after knowing what happened over the last 30 years. It is difficult to take seriously. I feel similarly when reading "A declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace".

I feel that you are being deliberately obtuse. It is pretty obvious how they are intertwined.

I actually spoke to a friend of mine who basically knows a huge amount of history (he is at University doing some sort Masters in a related subject), because some of the replies on this subject in sibling threads are so ignorant they actually gaslite me.

> Regardless why is it strictly relevant what happened 250-800 years before the Iberian kingdoms expelled or exterminated their Muslim and Jewish population?

The Reconquista partially led to the Inquisition. The Reconquista started 711 and ended in 1492. How could it not be relevant?

Why do people always ignore what happened before a few hundred years before? The Moors invaded Spain and were advancing into Europe and moved into what is modern day France. It also ignores that Muslims and Christians would in-fight between themselves in what is now modern day Spain.

> London has pretty much a bit of everything. And even next door boroughs can be polar opposites.

People say this in defence of the city. But I was an occasional visitor (usually seeing Uni mates). My experience as someone that occasionally used to visit to see friends was usually awful and expensive.

Just getting in an out of the city is generally difficult on public transport. It is like a 3 hour train ride and then another hour or two on the underground. Driving used to be OK (I've done it twice), but I've heard it has got worse.

I've been in London quite a bit during my 20s and 30s. I hate the place and I never went back after 2018.

- It is really expensive. This is coming from someone that grew up in Dorset (which is known for being expensive).

- People are constantly rude and aggressive. Usually there is like no reason for it.

- I had to pay a fine on the underground even though I had the London Travel for car for it (forgot what it was called now). I was treated as a criminal and forced to pay a fine on the spot. It was total BS.

- I got fined for getting lost and driving down the wrong street. I was less than 1 minute on that road before I realised my mistake and got a £80 fine. Also total BS.

- I had a man scream in my face because I went in the wrong lane at a junction.

- Had some guy rapping his Grime single presumably to sell CDs / iTunes album. I thought I was in a skit. Everyone was just waiting for the dude to shut up. Everyone had that look on their face of "not this shit again", as if it happens often.

- I had a man try to mug me in a Train station (Euston).

After that last incident decided, I am not ever going back to London.

> I don't think anyone can go London and think it is all bad unless you just don't like urban places.

London is awful. I used live in Dorset/Hampshire, every weekend there is literally an exodus from London to Hampshire and Dorset. Half the people I work with that go to London for work, hate it. So, it isn't just me.

I've lived in Southampton, Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield (I used to travel a lot for work as a contractor / consultant) and while I wouldn't live in those places now, I don't hate them.

> The Spanish state (crown, army, church) had just gone through several centuries of horrific mass-murder of non-Christians in Spain, where the most brutal and sadistic thugs were politically elevated.

That is one hell of a gloss over of the the previous 500-600 years before the Inquisition and massively over-simplifies what happened. There wasn't really a Spanish state either, certainly not as we would understand it today.

TBF you couldn't pay me to Live in London.

I've heard stories of like high level Gaming PCs and other expensive items just being left in University Halls after those Students leave.