iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

🚨Warning for Utah County🚨 I think the terrorists have developed some kind of stupidity space laser and they’re targeting Orem because everyone in the Smiths Grocery parking lot just simultaneously forgot how to drive.

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Reposted by Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰

BYU Redd Center for Western Studies @byureddcenter.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

🚨Lecture beginning in 1 hour at 11:00 MST🚨 Prof. Nicolas Rosenthal will be speaking on his new book, "Painting Native America: Indigenous Artists in the Twentieth Century" (@univnebpress.bsky.social 2026). Stream live at www.youtube.com/BYUReddCente... Or attend in person in B192 JFSB.

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Ended my speaking tour on a high note Monday w/ great Dept. of American Studies BA, MA, & PhD students & faculty at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in Budapest. But now worried that such a positive final experience will overshadow the preceding stress/exhaustion & tempt me into such madness again. 🤣

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

We outlaw hacking, building nukes, etc., & regulate misc activities that represent realized or *potential* threats, and yet, these billionaires’ AI toys are allowed to do things that would get us arrested. Money’s power is bonkers. I’m no doomsday alarmist, but…come on! www.bbc.com/news/article...

bbc.com

OpenAI bots meddled with US government agencies, including SEC and Census

OpenAI said its bots accessed public data from a range of institutions during test exercises.

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

YES IT MATTERS! Because AI tools aren’t free (or increasingly will not be), have huge environmental impacts, carry security risks, etc. You know what carries no such problems? Simply memorizing your address and phone number. You know, like a gazillion past humans have and still do just fine…

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

4 research talks in Hungary (1 more to go) & 1 keynote in Slovakia done. W/ a cold brewing, I was looking forward to settling in early tonight. Obviously thrilled to find my hotel locked & dark. Better yet, when I called they said there was no reservation for me. I sorted it, but still. 😵‍💫

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Ok Microsoft, I admit to being mad that you intrusively added copilot AI tools to Office apps instead of making them opt-in features. But guess what will NOT soften my anti-AI stance—making Office app browser logins redirect to a Copilot chat agent instead of the Office app I actually logged in to 😤

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Getting a flat in a foreign country where I don’t speak the language was not a stress I needed today. However, I was grateful to have my hope in humanity restored after a Good Samaritan graciously saved the day. Similar to my Romanian experiences 25 years ago, Hungarians too are a generous people.

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Even in the Netherlands my Dutch surname is rare, so it’s silly that I was secretly hoping the agents at passport control would say something like, “Hey! You’re Dutch! Welcome back!” Now, time to see if there’s a fresh stroopwafel place in the airport and break a calories-per-hour record.

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Hoping to see others boycotting attendance in solidarity.

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Preach. We love it. Better yet, the students love it.

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Ok, hear me out. A Lord of the Rings remake, but with these two taking the One Ring to Mordor:

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Some crazy loud thunder shaking the Kimball Tower here at BYU. My windows rattled, I swear.

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Saw a dude walking across campus using a spoon to eat out of a 1/2 watermelon. After each bite he did a flamboyant high leg kick, tilted back, & went “Mmm!” When I was student here 25 years ago there was yo-yo guy, unicycle guy, etc. Now BYU has watermelon guy. New generation, new eccentrics.

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

RT if you've never had a tab of ChatGPT open, period.

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

On paper it doesn’t seem like CAKE covering Black Sabbath’s War Pigs should work as well as it does. youtu.be/NhmvKYbi7iY?...

youtu.be

War Pigs

YouTube video by Cake - Topic

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Oh hooray! The @librarycongress.bsky.social website's search function is down. 😭 Surely, this won't cause undue stress for my students who have weekly assignments requiring them to use it to find primary documents! 🤦

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Campus HVAC shoulder season is here—when nighttime temperatures aren't low enough to trigger the system to enable heat the following day but cold enough in my office to make me consider wearing gloves.

static.klipy.com

Ron Swanson Feeling Frigid

ALT: Ron Swanson Feeling Frigid

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Politics always provide material for comedians to parody and satirists to poke at, but never has an administration so regularly written the jokes for them. You can’t make this stuff up. 🤦‍♂️

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Somehow it's September already, the 1st day of the semester at BYU, and 1st day of college for my daughter. Grade 38ish for me. This morning my son said he hoped I "teach super awesomely." Me too son, me too. All the best vibes to my coworkers and students. See y'all on the other side!

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

When the rising generation looks to our nation’s leaders, do they see a direct enough correlation between integrity and success. If anything, they see endless examples of how cheating pays off and negative consequences are few and far between for many.

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

It's always a treat to do these episodes with friends, especially when I've been following the progress of their book projects for years.

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Today’s AM grocery store stop: they were playing this jaunty tune that my kids have liked dancing to in the car. My saxophone-hating wife even agrees it’s a banger. Unsure about the lyrics, but on vibes I’m taking it as a good omen for the semester, which starts Wednesday. youtu.be/bc3Sw3sJQYw?...

youtu.be

SAINT MOTEL - My Type

YouTube video by SoundRecording TM

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Honored to accept a Public Scholarship Award today in recognition of my work at the @byureddcenter.bsky.social, hosting the @writingwestward.bsky.social podcast, & managing the Intermountain Histories digital public history project. I’m so lucky to have institutional support for such endeavors.

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Moved daughter in to her freshman apartment. My child is a college student. How terrifying and exciting! Nice view too!

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

I’m giving these BYU American Studies Program custom chucks my award for best faculty swag ever. 😍

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

The internet made so much info available & advanced search tools like Boolean operators enabled sifting through it. Now, separating true from false, useful from useless, reputable from dubious, etc, is a mess. We’re just supposed to trust what tech companies feed us We can’t have nice things.

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Reposted by Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰

Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

universities are not run by leftist profs they are run by corporate profiteer board members siphoning public $$ to tech partnerships "An Inside Higher Ed analysis of SEC filings turned up dozens of presidents paid handsomely for sitting on corporate boards." www.insidehighered.com/news/governa...

the 10 presidents in Inside Higher Ed’s analysis who earned the most from outside board service in 2025.

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Reposted by Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰

Robert Komaniecki @komaniecki.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

TLDR; using generative AI (even in supervised educational contexts) is allowing students to complete tasks quickly but greatly impeding their actual comprehension Duh

economist.com

Does AI stop children from learning?

New data show the peril and promise of the technology

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

1 of 2 talks I'm giving in Debrecen, Hungary. I've learned a lot in the past by presenting my scholarship to & engaging with foreign audiences about transnational & international aspects of my work. If any friends coincidentally happen to be in town, let me know! www.facebook.com/events/27377...

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

I’ve always said that if I could have any mental superpower, it would fluency in every language on earth. After 2,000 days, I’m not quite there yet. It’s been fun though. I could have been very happy as a foreign language or linguistics scholar (especially historical linguistics).

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Reposted by Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰

Dan Silverman @dmsilverman.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

I‘m far from an AI doomer, but it is amazing how many serious voices — on LinkedIn, no less! — are sharing stories about how AI slop is quickly becoming one of the top problems they see in academic writing and research “AI will 10x our research!” doesn’t seem to be surviving encounters with reality

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Swapped Duolingo to Hungarian in prep for Sept., mostly to refresh my pronunciation. It's so "foreign"! No cognates/overlaps w/ EN. I lived on the RO-HU border for my first 5 months in Romania (27 years ago!). I was learning Romanian but had to know HU pronunciation for the many HU surnames there.

static.klipy.com

Man's Hilarious Confused Look

ALT: Man's Hilarious Confused Look

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

I stopped by a grocery store on my way to campus this morning for some weekly lunch supplies & they were playing George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord.” I’m taking that as a good omen for the week. All Things Must Pass is my favorite post-Beatles album. Probably by a long shot. youtu.be/nrCSqbqDYrk?...

youtu.be

George Harrison "My Sweet Lord" 1970 (Audio Remastered)

YouTube video by lucio sampaio

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Reposted by Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰

Matt Seybold @mattseybold.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

One of the more insidious ideas being incepted via right & center attacks on HigherEd is that college experiences are homogenous. The heterogeneity of the US system is one of its greatest strengths. Their goal of homogenization is served by an illusion of homogeny, just homogeny of the wrong sort.

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

What if billionaire tech moguls diverted a fraction of their AI investments & seriously* funded public libraries, education, or other public goods. It's a wild idea—using wealth/power to improve the society & systems that enabled your prosperity in the 1st place. 🤔 *not token PR-driven philanthropy

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Entire AM freaking out after google locked me out of a HUGE project account I manage, said they couldn't verify ownership, gave no alt sign in options, all account recovery options failed, & all forums said it was lost. Hours-long panic attic. Long story short, miracles happen. Prayers answered.

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Next month I'm doing a speaking tour in Hungary & Slovakia (with a free weekend in Romania) & hope to have some spare hours (& energy!) to play tourist. Requesting recommendations in/around these cities: - Eger, Miskolc, and Debrecen, Hungary - Prešov, Slovakia - Baia Mare / Maramureș, România

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

MUST LISTEN, esp. in #Utah Nothing I like more than praising overly-humble friends & this pod rightfully lauds @thermokarst.bsky.social's rare talent for communicating science to the public w/ clarity & hope, while not pulling punches. #GrowTheFlow #GreatSaltLake podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1...

podcasts.apple.com

#1715 Can We Save Great Salt Lake?

Podcast Episode · Listening to America · August 3 · 58m

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

I think internet bylaws require I post this timeline cleanse (even if unrelated to prof. life). My fam thought that our older😿 was lonely (younger cat died in Nov., age 5), so against my better judgement I surprised them w/ Dutchie (Hendrika van Rensink, the Duchess of MeowTown). What have I done?!

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Dang. Books like this win multiple awards for a reason. So good.

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Outdoor Recreation History in the West anthology sent to the press to go out for reader reports. Phew! It was truly exciting to work with such amazing authors doing so much SUPER COOL work! Relieved to (finally!) have it off my desk & willfully ignoring the many editorial steps in my near future. 😬🤣

static.klipy.com

Johnny Rose: I Believe In This Team (Schitt's Creek)

ALT: Johnny Rose: I Believe In This Team (Schitt's Creek)

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Reposted by Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰

CZEdwards @czedwards.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

THIS. People educated enough in the specific subject to pull the data together don’t need LLMs; people without the knowledge to weed data from the bullshit are at the mercy of the LLM. They’re obsequious Dunning-Kruger machines. Designed to flatter midwits and the technologically obsolete.

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Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃‍♂️⛰ @brendenwrensink.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

I don’t know what kind of party one throws with approximately 50 bottles of Gatorade, 10 bottles of pedialyte, 1 box of saltines, and 7-8 things of Old Bay Seasoning, but it appears the two dudes next to me at the grocery self checkout do know and have plans.

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