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Blake Patterson

@blakespot

Web dev at American U in D.C., dad, retrocomputing nerd, No Man's Sky explorer. I live in northern Virginia. (He/him) My blogs: :: bytecellar.com (vintage computing) :: nmsspot.com (No Man's Sky) :: nostalgicvirginian.com (Virginia memories)

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25.08.2023
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Latest posts by Blake Patterson @blakespot

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ICE arrested an Oregon shop owner who had her green card in her pocket: ‘They didn’t care’ Juanita Avila later helped expose ICE’s ‘arrest first, justify later’ tactics in a lawsuit that won a major victory for immigrants’ rights

NEW: ICE tackled + arrested Juanita Avila, an Oregon shop owner who is a legal permanent resident and had her green card in her pocket.

When she asked through sobs why they didn't believe her, one masked agent replied: “Because they lie all the time.”

Video + interview with her and her daughter:

06.03.2026 19:04 👍 1329 🔁 712 💬 28 📌 29
No Man's Sky screenshot showing a starship docked on a desert planet

No Man's Sky screenshot showing a starship docked on a desert planet

No Man's Sky screenshot showing a starship docked on a desert planet

No Man's Sky screenshot showing a starship docked on a desert planet

No Man's Sky screenshot showing a starship docked on a desert planet

No Man's Sky screenshot showing a starship docked on a desert planet

Caution: Mind the gap as you board or disembark.

#NoMansSky

#NMS #SciFi #ProcGen #games #gaming #gamers #spacegames #starship #screenshot #gametography #virtualphotography #PCgaming #PS4 #PS5 #Xbox #macGaming #Switch #Steam #HelloGames

07.03.2026 00:51 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

I don't want to login with a code sent to my email.

I HAVE A FUCKING PASSWORD.

HOW ABOUT WE USE THAT????

#authenticantion #WTF #whatthefuck #password #login #twotier #codes #internet #staggeringlyshitty #fail #auth #infosec

01.03.2026 17:55 👍 5 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Uncovered Georgia O’Keeffe Letters Confirm Paintings Were Veiled Depictions Of Basset Hounds SANTA FE, NM—Putting to rest a debate that had stirred in the art world for decades, newly uncovered letters from Georgia O’Keeffe made public this week confirmed long-running speculation that the pai...

“I want to tell you about the paintings—those flowers, Alfred—and all of the hearsay over what they supposedly represent, when the truth could not be more plain: They are basset hound dogs,” O’Keeffe wrote in a 1941 letter to her husband

27.02.2026 00:30 👍 971 🔁 96 💬 17 📌 5

People are always like what’s something you miss from the past and one of mine is antitrust laws

26.02.2026 23:06 👍 13112 🔁 3033 💬 52 📌 49

ABBA fit "in your arms" into one syllable.

#ABBA #SuperTrouper #music

27.02.2026 03:28 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Photo of a 3.5-inch microfloppy disk

Photo of a 3.5-inch microfloppy disk

A floppy disk reader. Damn, I feel old.

#vintagecomputing #retrocomputing #floppy #floppydisk #nostalgia #saveicon #photo #reddit #storage #diskdrive #ifeelold

27.02.2026 01:36 👍 7 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
“We will launch during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns,” according to the document from Meta’s Reality Labs, which works on hardware including smart glasses.

“We will launch during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns,” according to the document from Meta’s Reality Labs, which works on hardware including smart glasses.

At least one Meta employee thinks it's a good time to add facial recognition technology to glasses because we're too distracted by fascism to effectively protest www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/t...

13.02.2026 15:41 👍 283 🔁 158 💬 13 📌 36

I am sorry you've been sick. No one died from this error and I look forward to your future articles, just as I've enjoyed your insightful and always highly topically educated pieces for many years.

Thanks for explaining.

16.02.2026 01:20 👍 6 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
No Man's Sky Travaller Plush figure sitting on a desk in front of a computer setup with termial windows open

No Man's Sky Travaller Plush figure sitting on a desk in front of a computer setup with termial windows open

Look what was just dropped off on the front porch! It's the No Man's Sky Traveller Plush from YouTooz (linked by Sean a few months back)!

#NoMansSky #NMS #SciFi #procgen #spacegames #games #gaming #gamers #PCgaming #Steam #macGaming #Switch #PS5 #XBox #HelloGames #plush #plushie #merch #photo

16.02.2026 00:16 👍 5 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

It pisses me off that Elon Shitstain used Arthur C. Clarke speaking about the communications satellite, which he proposed in his writings, for a Starlink ad.

#superbowl #Spacex #shit #ArthurCClarke #superbowlads #TV #superbowl60

09.02.2026 01:46 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Closeup of CRT displaying the game Crash Bandicoot on a Playstation

Closeup of CRT displaying the game Crash Bandicoot on a Playstation

Nothing like playing on a CRT.

#Playstation #PSX #PS1 #CRT #reteogames #retrogaming #retro #vintagecomputing #retrocomputing #photo #macro #CrashBandicoot #games #gaming #gamers

08.02.2026 16:55 👍 6 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0

A new update is being teased by Sean Murray !

SPECULATION TIME !

07.02.2026 19:54 👍 14 🔁 3 💬 8 📌 0

I am watching Dreamscape (1984)

#movies #movie #film

04.02.2026 02:34 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Raging against Spanberger's win, the administration aims to turn VA into the next Minneapolis

Raging against Spanberger's win, the administration aims to turn VA into the next Minneapolis

Take a look around Virginia right now - things are PEACEFUL and CALM. But, here it seems the admin is about to bring violence and conflict to our beloved state.

They rage at Spanberger's win, so here come the troops.

#Virginia #VA #NoVA #FairfaxCo #Richmond #RVA #news #DC #ArlingtonVA

01.02.2026 20:31 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Flying out of DCA to New Orleans right now on a Bombardier CRJ900A. They just told us it's so cold out that the plane's water pipes are frozen and they can't serve coffee or tea and there's no bathroom sink water.

That's a first. It's cold. ❄️✈️

#flying #flights #American #planes #cold #DC #winter

29.01.2026 17:02 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Bottom happiness vs cleanliness - YOU CHOOSE (Cottonelle toilet paper variants)

Bottom happiness vs cleanliness - YOU CHOOSE (Cottonelle toilet paper variants)

CHOOSE

#hygiene #vs #cleanliness #photo #decisions #cottonelle

26.01.2026 15:26 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Apple IIe acting as a terminal to a Mac Studio connected wirelessly

Apple IIe acting as a terminal to a Mac Studio connected wirelessly

"Dialed" into the Mac Studio across the room (via WiFi232) for some IRCing on old hardware, here as the snow falls. ❄️

#Mac #macOS #terminal #vintagecomputing #retrocomputing #retrocomputers #AppleII #MacStudio #BBSing #IRCing #BBS #IRC #WiFi232 #telnet #computers #ByteCellar #photo

25.01.2026 15:35 👍 38 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 0
A group of American traitors / Nazis demonstrating in Washington DC

A group of American traitors / Nazis demonstrating in Washington DC

A little far-right demonstration in the nation's capital today.

(It seems curious to me as to why _their_ flags are upside down. Maybe they just got a little confused.)

#DC #traitors #WashingtonDC #America #protest #morons #hate #NoVA #DC #DMV #demonstration #flag #photo #news #worldnews #DCnews

23.01.2026 17:47 👍 5 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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ASCII characters are not pixels: a deep dive into ASCII rendering A look at how I used shape vectors to achieve sharp, high-quality ASCII rendering.

How about ASCII?

alexharri.com/blog/ascii-r...

22.01.2026 15:52 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
This guidance addresses only the use of administrative warrants to arrest aliens subject to final orders of removal issued by an Immigration judge, the BIA, or a U.S. district court judge or magistrate judge in their place of residence. This scoping is not intended to concede that an administrative warrant would be insufficient to arrest an alien in his or her place of residence prior to a final order of removal or where there is a final order of removal issued by an immigration officer.

This guidance addresses only the use of administrative warrants to arrest aliens subject to final orders of removal issued by an Immigration judge, the BIA, or a U.S. district court judge or magistrate judge in their place of residence. This scoping is not intended to concede that an administrative warrant would be insufficient to arrest an alien in his or her place of residence prior to a final order of removal or where there is a final order of removal issued by an immigration officer.

This is the Trump administration trashing the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution in pursuit of its mass deportation agenda.

Worse, a footnote to this memo suggest they won't even rule out authorizing home invasions with no judicial warrant for people not even ordered removed!

21.01.2026 22:22 👍 2768 🔁 803 💬 24 📌 27
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NASA quietly ends financial support for planetary science groups The U.S. space agency will quit funding several independent science advisory groups this year

NASA quietly ends financial support for planetary science groups

The U.S. space agency will quit funding several independent science advisory groups this year

www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasa...

21.01.2026 15:47 👍 80 🔁 46 💬 2 📌 4

How many bowls of Strawberry Awake would I need to eat to equal one bowl of Colon Blow?

22.01.2026 15:31 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
A horizon at twilight

A horizon at twilight

Dusk

#photograph #sunset #dusk #nature #trees #winter #NoVA #photo #photography #outdoors

21.01.2026 07:00 👍 12 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Chris Leibig for Delegate

There is a 'Firehouse' Democratic Primary in Alexandria, VA on Tuesday, Jan 20th

I am working in support of long-time Alexandria criminal defense attorney Chris Leibig. Vote, District 5 voters!

www.leibigfordelegate.com

#NoVA #AlexandriaVA #Alexandria #Virginia #Primary #Election #Democrats

20.01.2026 01:38 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Who still remembers mIRC and IRC?

"Who still remembers mIRC and IRC?" [reddit]

www.reddit.com/r/nostalgia/...

#InternetRelayChat #IRC #IRCing #chat #network #internet #computing #computinghistory #reddit #chatroom #IRCserver

15.01.2026 16:12 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

Ah. Sounded like you were wondering why. A modified version would explain it.

14.01.2026 14:39 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Amiga Pointer Archive

A browsable collection of Amiga mouse pointers.

heckmeck.de/amigastyle/a...

#Amiga #AmigaOS #AmigaDOS #CommodoreAmiga #vintagecomputing #retrocomputing #retrocomputers #mouse #WIMP #OS #GUI #nostalgia #tech #vintagetech #pixelart #UI

11.01.2026 18:03 👍 6 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0

Doesn't "jibe" (not "jive").

#language #lexicon #syntax #diction

11.01.2026 01:33 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai are cowards Once you’ve traded your principles for proximity to power, do you even run your own company?

Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai are cowards

www.theverge.com/policy/85990...

#Apple #Google #fail #X #musk #socialmedia #complicit #accountability #tech #technews #techtrends #news #iOS #macOS

10.01.2026 22:02 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0