Jeff
@jefffreyspies.bsky.social
Wish I’d known I had ADD back then. Part of the problem but doing my best to limit the damage and help when I can. Can tell a hawk from a handsaw in most (many?) environmental conditions.
he/him/his
he/him/his
I’m pretty sure the fact that society at large is so dismissive of our ugly histories is a key part in why it comes across so boring in school
November 17, 2025 at 2:48 PM
I’m pretty sure the fact that society at large is so dismissive of our ugly histories is a key part in why it comes across so boring in school
I’m a hoary white man just rolling out of a futon in my parents basement, I feel wildly overqualified for this conversation.
November 17, 2025 at 2:20 PM
I’m a hoary white man just rolling out of a futon in my parents basement, I feel wildly overqualified for this conversation.
I’m pretty decent at geography as long as we stick to maps from the 1980s and cultures that made it into at least one Civilization game. Otherwise I go with Socrates, all I know is that I barely know shit.
November 17, 2025 at 2:09 PM
I’m pretty decent at geography as long as we stick to maps from the 1980s and cultures that made it into at least one Civilization game. Otherwise I go with Socrates, all I know is that I barely know shit.
But also a penis, and as such is eminently qualified
November 17, 2025 at 2:02 PM
But also a penis, and as such is eminently qualified
It’s at least plausible that he’s just very bad at his job? Men are allowed to do that ;-)
November 17, 2025 at 1:55 PM
It’s at least plausible that he’s just very bad at his job? Men are allowed to do that ;-)
To be clear, the UK is part of Europe through the modern period, Russia less so. Imperial Russia is a European satellite in was both similar and deeply inapposite to the US.
November 17, 2025 at 1:53 PM
To be clear, the UK is part of Europe through the modern period, Russia less so. Imperial Russia is a European satellite in was both similar and deeply inapposite to the US.
Anabaptist and Calvinist are still around from the Reformation (even if not still calling themselves that), as are Methodist, Baptist and other evangelical splinter groups from the 2nd Great Awakening, but are there any extant denominations that started from the 1st?
November 17, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Anabaptist and Calvinist are still around from the Reformation (even if not still calling themselves that), as are Methodist, Baptist and other evangelical splinter groups from the 2nd Great Awakening, but are there any extant denominations that started from the 1st?
My apologies, I was conflating a few centuries of political upheaval into a single argument. I do think the American experience is fundamentally different than the European (including the UK but not Russia, which I also see as quasi-European through that time frame.)
November 17, 2025 at 1:43 PM
My apologies, I was conflating a few centuries of political upheaval into a single argument. I do think the American experience is fundamentally different than the European (including the UK but not Russia, which I also see as quasi-European through that time frame.)
Reposted by Jeff
Lots of people been asking for book recommendations for help with background context for the Ken Burns RevWar documentary, so I’m very grateful to my past self for putting this together so that my current self can be lazy:
angrystaffofficer.com/2024/08/22/u...
angrystaffofficer.com/2024/08/22/u...
Understanding the Revolutionary Era: Recommended Reading List
As many of you know – and are no doubt really excited for – next years begins the semiquincentennial of the Revolutionary War here in the United States. Or, for those of us who have tro…
angrystaffofficer.com
November 17, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Lots of people been asking for book recommendations for help with background context for the Ken Burns RevWar documentary, so I’m very grateful to my past self for putting this together so that my current self can be lazy:
angrystaffofficer.com/2024/08/22/u...
angrystaffofficer.com/2024/08/22/u...
Ugh, I always forget about the 1st Great Awakening and jump right to the mid 19th C when I see the term. That’s sloppy on my part.
November 17, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Ugh, I always forget about the 1st Great Awakening and jump right to the mid 19th C when I see the term. That’s sloppy on my part.
Conceiving of and designing a system that is so fundamentally alien to the current power structure is a huge undertaking. That they recognize there is no simple answer is a recognition of the fact it would be revolutionary, and revolutions aren’t plan-able
November 17, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Conceiving of and designing a system that is so fundamentally alien to the current power structure is a huge undertaking. That they recognize there is no simple answer is a recognition of the fact it would be revolutionary, and revolutions aren’t plan-able
I admit I have many of the same concerns, especially about how it would scale, which is why I can’t say I’ve fully come around to it. But I’ve honestly been impressed by the level of thought serious advocates have put into it.
November 17, 2025 at 1:30 PM
I admit I have many of the same concerns, especially about how it would scale, which is why I can’t say I’ve fully come around to it. But I’ve honestly been impressed by the level of thought serious advocates have put into it.
It’s on me, I misread your initial reply, my apologies.
November 17, 2025 at 1:19 PM
It’s on me, I misread your initial reply, my apologies.
I don’t mean to dismiss PKD, I think I’ve read at least a dozen of his novels, a few of them multiple times. A Scanner Darkly is so well realized it almost drove me crazy the first time I read it. But he wrote *a lot* and some of his works from the 1960s aren’t great.
November 17, 2025 at 1:18 PM
I don’t mean to dismiss PKD, I think I’ve read at least a dozen of his novels, a few of them multiple times. A Scanner Darkly is so well realized it almost drove me crazy the first time I read it. But he wrote *a lot* and some of his works from the 1960s aren’t great.
Radio Free Albemuth might be a cheap shot, since it was published posthumously, but all of the VALIS trilogy is a complicated mess. Yes it’s brilliant at its core, but it’s incredibly uneven as a literary work.
November 17, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Radio Free Albemuth might be a cheap shot, since it was published posthumously, but all of the VALIS trilogy is a complicated mess. Yes it’s brilliant at its core, but it’s incredibly uneven as a literary work.
The Game Players of Titan is what immediately springs to mind, some of his early work was built around interesting ideas but half baked at best? And then much later in his career things like Radio Free Albemuth show the signs of his deteriorating mental health.
November 17, 2025 at 1:07 PM
The Game Players of Titan is what immediately springs to mind, some of his early work was built around interesting ideas but half baked at best? And then much later in his career things like Radio Free Albemuth show the signs of his deteriorating mental health.
I appreciate your point, but most of the advocates I know actively address that.
November 17, 2025 at 6:38 AM
I appreciate your point, but most of the advocates I know actively address that.
What I can say is that none of the carceral abolitionist I follow have ever said it’ll be easy, or pretend the solution is obvious
November 17, 2025 at 6:36 AM
What I can say is that none of the carceral abolitionist I follow have ever said it’ll be easy, or pretend the solution is obvious
That is not an argument I’ve heard before, I disagree but I have to consider it more.
November 17, 2025 at 6:33 AM
That is not an argument I’ve heard before, I disagree but I have to consider it more.