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PaperclipPerfector  8hr ago (text post)   300 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for November 1, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Anybody out there use a trackball? Any advice on brands, essential features, designs?

I've used one for almost 3 decades. Currently have a kingston expert that's decent but the buttons aren't where I'd want them. Still miss the old marble fx for its button layout.

Might try a slimblade next.

I started with the Kensington Orbit almost 20 years ago and switched to the Kensington Expert when it died and haven't looked back.

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A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


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