iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Al Sweigart @alsweigart.bsky.social · 4h

Looking at a slide from an old talk where I mentioned the adage, "Luck favors the prepared."

Al Sweigart @alsweigart.bsky.social · 7h

Hmmm... so I have a ton of AI-generated apps that are actually kind of nice. But I don't want to register a new domain for each one because that'd be too expensive. Should I just set up subdomains? Like markdown.inventwithpython.com for my markdown editor? Would that look more professional?

markdown.inventwithpython.com

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Al Sweigart @alsweigart.bsky.social · 7h

If you're in Brooklyn and have been meaning to learn to code, it's about a week until my Python tutorial at NYC Resistor on Sun, Oct 11: www.eventbrite.com/e/computer-p...

eventbrite.com

Computer Programming for Absolute Beginners (in Python)

This tutorial for absolute beginners goes through basic programming concepts, Python syntax, and a few fun programs along the way.

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Pookleblinky @pookleblinky.bsky.social · 26/05/2025

Saying that chatgpt can be used as a disability aid for ADHD is pretty much saying you have no idea what the fuck you are talking about, and don't particularly give a shit whether people get harmed.

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Al Sweigart @alsweigart.bsky.social · 23h

My friend and his husband just launched their independent publishing company Labradillo Co. The children's book "Chonky the Chocolate Lab and the Trick to Treating Others Kindly" comes out later this month! labradillo.com

labradillo.com

Chonky the Chocolate Lab

What happens when a Chocolate Lab can't enjoy what Halloween is famous for? He takes matters into his own paws!

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Al Sweigart @alsweigart.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I love these classic video games.

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Brad Lander @bradlander.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Yehonatan Ovadia – a Hasidic Jew and Israeli citizen who has lived in the U.S. on a visa since 2022 – is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center (a notorious federal prison) and facing deportation … for his criticism of Israel on religious grounds.

nytimes.com

A Hasidic Jew Protested Against an Israeli Flag. He May Be Deported.

Yehonatan Ovadia, who opposed the mounting of the flag in a small New York town, belongs to a Hasidic branch that is anti-Zionist. He is now in ICE custody.

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Al Sweigart @alsweigart.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I generated a Flip Dot Display visualizer tool. I plan on making some programming tutorials where you write programs to generate sequences for it. The tool itself has over 50 transitions (each dot flips exactly once) built in: inventwithpython.com/flipdotart/

inventwithpython.com

FlipDotArtDisplay Demo

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Al Sweigart @alsweigart.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Finally set up a blog of random thoughts and various LLM compilations/output that I think others might find useful. It's intended to be a random resource of mostly text and lists: inventwithpython.com/detour/

inventwithpython.com

Detour Through The Junk Drawer

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Al Sweigart @alsweigart.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I had to do some web testing, and I looked at a browser that didn't have ad block installed. Jesus, is this what the rest of you are looking at all day, every day? No wonder everyone has gone insane.

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Al Sweigart @alsweigart.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I've redesigned my Scroll Art website. Scroll art is made from program loops and print() to generate endless, scrolling animations. They are suitable for beginners learning to program, but can grow into boundless sophistication and creativity. scrollart.org

scrollart.org

The Scroll Art Museum

Programmer art that begins in the terminal.

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The New Arab @thenewarab.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

At least 966 Israeli settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem this morning, under the protection of Israeli police The incursion took place during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, amid repeated mass settler raids on the mosque compound and restrictions on Palestinian worshippers

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A.R. Moxon @juliusgoat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

To people who don’t believe that Kermit the Frog is real: What is the basis for your morality? Where does your moral standard come from?

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Al Sweigart @alsweigart.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I found an old usb flash drive that had "32" printed on it. It was 32 megabytes. It was an old usb flash drive.

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Al Sweigart @alsweigart.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I call this "cleverbait". It's like ragebait, but instead the headline is a setup for the reader to make the obvious joke. It makes dumb people feel clever and want to share the article with their punchline, even though every other easily-manipulated twit came up with the same one.

Headline: "Amazon's delivery drones are annoying an entire Texas neighborhood, and there's nothing they can do about it"

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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 27/09/2026

Google finally updated some of its satellite images of Gaza and my god, it's horrific. The entirety of Rafah has been demolished. The majority of Khan Younis is in ruins. Entire towns completely leveled and erased of the map.

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Casey Explosion @caseyexplosion.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

We had amazing ideas from the NFT bros like "what if you could OWN Mario in Mario Kart?" and other dogshit brainfarts because their only priority, their only consideration with doing anything is whether or not it's a worthwhile investment. Playing a game for the enjoyment? It simply didn't occur.

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Casey Explosion @caseyexplosion.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

And I get the same vibe from AI proponents; They simply don't understand art, and think it's beneath them. They don't understand the appeal, they come from a techbro mindset and think art is a solved equation and anything that isn't photorealistic or extremely high detail is failing at the goal.

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Al Sweigart @alsweigart.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

If you're in New York and have been meaning to learn to code, I have a 3-hour Python tutorial for complete beginners at NYC Resistor on Sunday, Oct 11. www.eventbrite.com/e/computer-p...

eventbrite.com

Computer Programming for Absolute Beginners (in Python)

This tutorial for absolute beginners goes through basic programming concepts, Python syntax, and a few fun programs along the way.

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Reposted by Al Sweigart

Pookleblinky @pookleblinky.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

JK Rowling's death will be funny as hell because it'll be Charlie Kirk but wizard-themed. The worst and stupidest fucking people you have *ever* seen, dressed as wizards and crying and producing terrible genAI slop of a suspiciously Charlie Kirk-like Harry welcoming her to heaven etc

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Jesse Hawken @jessehawken.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

All these stories about adult children cutting off their parents depend on the parents as the main source and not their kids

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James Ryan @jdryan08.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

NYC spends approximately $200,000 a year for every inmate in the corrections system. It spends about $27,000 a year for every student enrolled in CUNY.

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Al Sweigart @alsweigart.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Thinking about using a local LLM to grab posts to buy-nothing and freecycle groups and repost them to each other. Would this be useful? What downsides am I not thinking of?

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Better Things Are Possible @internethippo.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Humoring conservatives & acting like they make good points over the last 30 years brought us here. You never have to listen to them for the rest of our lives. It's time to treat career arsonists with the contempt they've earned instead of imagining a fake world where they're reasonable interlocutors

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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

It is breathtaking. Like many things these days it is hard, but necessary, to figure what is a continuity and what is a rupture. EdTech has always been a private sector parasite feeding off the public sector. The rupture is AI EdTech is experimenting on the rich instead of the poor.

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-𝚖𝚘𝚡 @moxiest.art · 21/09/2026

liberation of the camps, a rescue of all people sent to foreign prisons, reparations to the victims, general right to return for all the people we have trafficked, a general pardon for all immigration violations, and a streamlined citizenship or permanent residency status we've got a lot to do

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Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

The anniversary of Jamal Khashoggi's murder is Oct. 2.

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Al Sweigart @alsweigart.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Uh... welcome to the revolution, comrade?

60 Minutes headline: "This is the first time in my adult life where tehre's been an issue that's come up that I feel like is going to directly impact me," says Dave Lowe, a lifelong conservative Republican who lives near a proposed data center in Texas.

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Al Sweigart @alsweigart.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Hey, anyone into astronomy and willing to give me feedback on my interactive globe apps? (They're for the planets, sun, various moons.) DM me.

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c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Brilliant mathematician Emmy Noether was initially barred from teaching at University of Göttingen because she was a woman. She taught for 4 years as a "guest lecturer" under David Hilbert's name. Hilbert, exasperated at the stupidity of the rule: "Gentlemen, this is not a bathing establishment."

artsci.tamu.edu

From Algebra to Airplane Crashes, Emmy Noether’s Lasting Influence on Mathematics

Emmy Noether, whom some consider the “Mother of Modern Mathematics,” continues to shape modern research and the studies of mathematicians today; including research into the investigation of airplane c...

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Al Sweigart @alsweigart.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

This is what Democrats' ads look like when they are throwing trans people under the bus. This is what Democrats' ads will look like when they are throwing YOU under the bus.

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Coach Finstock @coachfinstock.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

I love that ChatGPT is basically "Ask Jenny McCarthy a question"

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Robert Dallas Gray @robertdallasgray.com · 17/09/2026

oh we are actually doing roko's basilisk now then. for the fucking love of god

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Al Sweigart @alsweigart.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

AI is a technology, but primarily it's a religion.

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Allen Downey @allendowney.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Which comes first, public opinion or policy? That's a recurring question in my book-in-progress, You Would Choose Now. Here's an example from Chapter 2. In 1992, a majority of Americans — about 61% — said gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve in the armed forces.

Line chart titled “Allow homosexuals to serve in the military?” Subtitle “Percent in favor,” ANES 1992–2012. Estimated support rises from roughly 61% in 1992 to about 85% by 2012, with a shaded uncertainty band around the time-series line and survey points as dots.

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Al Sweigart @alsweigart.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

To clarify, your health insurance "deductible" is the amount you pay, which is different from the "co-pay" which is also the amount you pay, which is also different from the "premium", which is the amount you pay.

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Better Things Are Possible @internethippo.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

“Abolish ICE” was immediately met with eye rolling condescension and after events proved that policy correct, and support *among Democrats* for it exploded to like 80%, it didn’t move party leaders at all. How is this tenable

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Al Sweigart @alsweigart.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

In my next book I talk about the Turing test. I wrote, "I can be convinced any software is an excellent conversationalist if it agrees with my opinions and laughs at my jokes." Uh... actually I think I just perfectly described CEO AI psychosis...

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Al Sweigart @alsweigart.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Either nobody goes to the camps or we all go to the camps. 🏳️‍⚧️

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Adrienne @adrienneleigh.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

A WHOLE LOT of trans people are citing to the last decade of UK politics as a reason they think anti-trans Dems winning is worse FOR THEM than anti-trans Repubs. And a whole lot of US liberals aren't engaging with that example at all while pontificating about why trans people are wrong and stupid.

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Al Sweigart @alsweigart.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

How do you pronounce hexadecimal numbers? For stuff like like 4C I say "four cee", but even numbers like 40 in hex I'll say "four zero" instead of "forty". For me, "forty" always means forty in decimal. Do other people do this?

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