iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 20h

It's Friday! You've made it through the week. You deserve an eel. don't you? Come on...don't be shy. You know you do. Go ahead...take one from the tub. You've earned it. 🗃️🧪

Excerpt from an early modern alphabet primer for the letter E. There is an uppercase E in the upper left corner, and a lowercase e in the upper right. Along the top, between these letter, it reads: "Eel, live Eels."

Below this is a black and white drawing of a woman (we'll call her Gemmenelda), sitting in front of a large wicker basket, handing an eel to a small girl. The woman is perched on a stool of some sort, and has a scale in her hand for weighing out eels. she has a hat, and an apron, and a shirt with what might be polkadots. Or they might be little ladybugs (except she's English, so they're probably ladybirds). Gemmenelda has a somewhat smug smile on her face; as smug as eels, really.

The girl (we'll call her Jesmerolda) is holding a basket in her right hand, and is reaching out for the eel with her left. Odds are she's gonna pop the eel in the basket, and hope it doesn't slither out. She's wearing a plain dress and a hat or bonnet and little black shoes. Eel-gettin' togs.

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Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 20h

I GOT TO VOTE FOR TRAINS! Fuck yeah Front Range Passenger Rail!

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Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 19h

Your reminder that ICE should be presumed lying when it claims someone "weaponized their vehicle" against them. It's never true. It never happens. It's always a lie.

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Victoria Strauss @victoriastrauss.com · 22/06/2026

If you've been wondering what E.D.E. Bell has been vagueposting about lately, here's some context for you. smh

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John Wiswell @wiswell.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

I unfollowed Bell a long time ago over her treatment of authors. Their stories aren't mine to tell, but I didn't want to associate with her. Jason is far more considerate in this article than I could have been in the same circumstances.

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Ghostly Bree @mostlybree.kitrocha.com · 06/10/2026

I kind of hate the "Lucy and the football" metaphor for things like Blue Texas and shit because I feel like that implies we're suckers and fools for trying. Fuck that, kick with everything in you every fucking time. By the time we hit that ball our leg is gonna be titanium. 😂

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Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 06/10/2026

Truth in advertising, I guess?

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Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 08/10/2026

This is the most 2026-ass lede. Perfect encapsulation of the entire era.

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Ankarah @ankarah.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

I'm 60 and my dad passed 10 years ago - I can still remember him reading books to me, I remember which books those were, and I can remember how he read certain lines to me. I miss him, but remembering him reading to me has been a huge comfort. I have no doubt your kid will have those moments too.

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Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 08/10/2026

Such a good thread both for letting you know what's going on in Paris and for showing standard police tactics. Telling protesters to disperse while blocking all the exits, singling people out with the intent to harm, and using tools that we know cause serious bodily harm? That's the cop playbook.

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Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 09/10/2026

My god, this opening statement. This is the good shit.

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ElieNYC @elienyc.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

When I started writing about Supreme Court expansion, you couldn’t get the question *asked* in a poll. The first time I saw it actually polled, it was 8%. Now, we here.

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Robert Rath @robertrath.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

CALIFORNIA: Can’t believe people are casually talking about us hypothetically getting nuked by Iran. So upsetting. HAWAII: … CA: It’s like, crazy right? Can you imagine Americans not caring if you’re nuked? HI: [checks phone, turns off erroneous North Korean missile alert] CA: Wild brah. Wild.

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Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The press coverage of the Academy of Natural Sciences has gone from "Oh how sad" to sounding like a hostage negotiation. Which maybe sounds bad, but elected leaders, the press, the people online, all saying "You don't have to do this, man" is better than mourning. share.inquirer.com/YTQg0s

share.inquirer.com

Philadelphia shouldn’t give up on the Academy of Natural Sciences’ historic museum | Editorial

The Academy's 150-year-old building faces roughly $150 million in deferred maintenance costs. While that may seem daunting, it is not insurmountable.

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William Gibson @greatdismal.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Pretty sure this contained my first taste of Wm. Burroughs. Found it on rotating wire racks in a local drugstore when I was about 13. Cost a me a quarter and a dime!

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Brosephus @brosephus.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

If there's ine thing the majority population in America has been able to do is trick immigrants and some minorities into believing that white adjacency is real and beneficial. Then, when things get bad, the majority shows their true behavior. What's old becomes new again.

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Aviel Roshwald @avielroshwald.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Why would an aspiring autocrat want to support the cultivation of critical thinking?

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Brett "Solidarity 2026" Banditelli @banditelli.org · 30/06/2026

Here it is, after years of having this shot in my head, chasing the murder the night before the full Moon: dozens of crows flying in front of the Moon, my first edit. 🪶

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Brett "Solidarity 2026" Banditelli @banditelli.org · 27/09/2026

SUPER excited for this, after a year of chasing the angle, 30 minutes of waddling around up and down a parking garage, and over 6 hours of editing: A murder of crows flies towards the camera, in front of the full Moon, set to Blind Guardian's "Nightfall" and the sound of the crows themselves. 🪶 🐦‍⬛

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Ankarah @ankarah.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Thanks to how you've written that, I've learned that if I google apocalyptic-AI-cult-built-around-fanfic-author, google's AI thinks I'm giving it a fiction prompt. So I now have that plot summary, whee. Hey, I was just trying to make sure I was thinking of the same cult, that there isn't a new one.

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Stephen Totilo @stephentotilo.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

NEW: In January, I was sent a threatening and absurd email by Bobby Kotick's lawyers It was unsettling I've wanted to tell readers about it, but didn't want to step on Mikhail's toes. Now that his report is out, here's my experience of standing up for my work www.gamefile.news/p/bobby-koti...

gamefile.news

Bobby Kotick’s lawyers sent me a bad email (and later apologized)

Part of a broader strategy by the former Activision CEO to shape press coverage

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

This is absolutely correct, but I worry that "truth and reconciliation" will sound too foreign to Americans who have long been allergic to truth and/or reconciliation. I'd just say "we're finally going to hold people who broke the law and violated the Constitution accountable for their crimes"

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Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Obviously none of this is true, but incidentally: It is wild to talk about tax revenue as “profits.”

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Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

There's no real point in arguing with his mouth noises, particularly not when preaching to the Bluesky choir, but this is *noteworthy* nonsense. If the revenue were real (it's not), then it would be revenue *of the United States government,* equally available to a Democratic Congress to spend.

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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Sure, the 2024 election was one too, but 2026 might be the clearest intelligence test ever presented to the American electorate. Taken at face value, he's saying he stole hundreds of billions from the gov't, hid it somewhere Congress can't reach, and he pinky swears he will give you a piece. Really.

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Kingfisher & Wombat @tkingfisher.com · 28/09/2026

Hmm, I seem to be doing a #bloomscroll instead of working. Oh well. The Ultra Violet Salvia greggi is living up to its name here.

Many sage flowers against a dark red path. They are very violet.

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Kingfisher & Wombat @tkingfisher.com · 28/09/2026

This gorgeous little blue guy is West Texas Grass Sage, Salvia reptans. It forms an airy clump for much of the year, then flowers into this.

The small flowers of a sage held over fingers. The color is a blue to make strong men weep.

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Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 26/09/2026

like I suspect many of you on This Website, I think a core reason why I find Eliezer Yudkowsky and his rationalist and effective altruist satellites so intensely annoying is because I had a VERY similar “being a super weird, pretentious, hyper-literate kid” experience - I just, you know, grew up.

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Ankarah @ankarah.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The song? You mean Earth Wind and Fire's September, right? This month's required listening?

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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Why learn science? Because lots of things can seem like a big scary conspiracy theory when you don’t understand how the world works! Empower yourself by learning about facts and evidence and reality. As a bonus, it’ll lead to a healthier and more prosperous society for others around you.

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Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins @ajcousins.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

This is not deporting people. Literally. Legally. There is a deportation process and this isn't it. This is rendition. This is disappearing people.

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Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 23/09/2026

It is so frustrating to me that at no point in the entire campaign season when Trump was extolling the incredible, wonderful value of all our American oil that nobody said "LOOK YOU FUCKER, THE PEOPLE DON'T GET THAT MONEY, THEY PAY IT."

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Ankarah @ankarah.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

ugh I hate that I keep having this problem, I think Electronic Arts or Early Access. And I hate everything about the term Effective Altruists.

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The Questionable Authority @questauthority.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Noises Off is every bit as important a film to watch as My Cousin Vinnie, if you want to be a litigator.

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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Have you ever tried to read a scientific journal article and been told “you don’t have access, pay to download this article?” Did you know that the author of that article gets $0 if you pay? Instead, you can email the author and ask for a free copy! I’d be delighted to help and answer questions!

Screenshot of a scientific journal paywall

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ElieNYC @elienyc.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I must say that I went with an Nvidia card instead of an AMD when I bought my gaming rig a couple of years ago. If I can ever afford another one (big "if" at this point), I will certainly go with an AMD, BASED SOLELY on the complete odiousness of Jensen Huang. He is for sure one of the bad guys.

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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Lots of people in the replies, including several who I’ve blocked, believe that research ethics approval doesn’t matter and is just annoying red tape. And that children is why natural scientists need to learn some history and social science.

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Kathryn Tewson @kathryntewson.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The "never could, frankly" in the question about using a map is mindblowing. This dude is 12 years older than I am! Did he spend his entire life from 1980 to Mapquest standing by the side of the road going 👉👈🥺?

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 24/09/2026

"Don't play games with me" -- Sen. Kaine isn't buying it when Overton repeatedly refuses to directly answer questions about whether she's aware of discussions within the administration about rolling back tobacco safety regulations (she clearly is but doesn't want to admit it)

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Ankarah @ankarah.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

We need LOTS of moments of people publicly fact checking this way. A segment of the public needs to hear this over and over. Which is weird because a lot of the public has grown up getting vaccinated, and vaccinating their children.

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Leah McElrath @leahmcelrath.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

AP Stylebook warns against anthropomorphizing AI systems: “Avoid language that gives them human characteristics… Instead, explain what a system does, how well it performs, who built it and who could be affected by it.”

APStylebook @APStylebook
X.com
Artificial intelligence systems do not think, feel, want or understand. Avoid language that gives them human characteristics. This is called anthropomorphizing, when we ascribe human traits, emotions or behaviors to non-human things, such as animals or inanimate objects.
Instead, explain what a system does, how well it performs, who built it and who could be affected by it.

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Ankarah @ankarah.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I was ok with this as a reading experience until this part and wow, would have very much enjoyed hearing your reaction on livestream! Also I am now tempted to watch this thing, and yet afraid that it is indeed as bad as you say it is.

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Matt Seybold @mattseybold.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

A point @annakornbluh.bsky.social has frequently made about labor intensification is that colleges cut support staff, offload essential work that support staff did onto faculty, then wonder why faculty aren’t being as “productive.” What once took our Asst. Dir. an hour, easily takes me twice that.

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Mike Masnick @masnick.com · 21/09/2026

We're going to see more of these bogus stories trying to rehabilitate the image of DOGE bros who happily did massive damage. The premise of "oh we really thought we were helping" is a lie.

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Lectured on FDR's First Hundred Days today and almost paused to say "look, I know this sounds weird, but Congress actually used to pass laws and stuff"

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Tom Massie posted a calendar labeling the days of work Mike Johnson canceled because of him.

Tom Massie tweet:

Here’s a calendar to show the days
@SpeakerJohnson
has cancelled in Congress. September 17 was canceled to avoid a vote on my Hegseth impeachment. The last two weeks in September were canceled to avoid a vote on releasing more Epstein files. He’s closing Congress to stop me.

Below there is a congressional calendar from July to December.

July 1-2 are labeled Rules retreat.
September 17 is labeled Hegseth Holiday.
September 22 to October 2 are labeled Epstein Recess.

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Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

So. You're a medieval abbot & the king is visiting. What will you feed him? Eel! (obvs) In 1434 the 12 yr old King Henry VI stayed at Bury St. Edmunds for a bit & while he was there he ate all the usual things. You know...swans, pheasants, pike, & eels in "not moderate numbers." 🗃️🧪

Meme. Medieval painting of Henry VI on his throne, seated on a fancy pillow. Behind him are the flags of England & France, & he's receiving the sword of a man kneeling in front of him. Six courtiers stand just around him. Four are wearing crowns (less fancy than Henry's), & two are priests. The two on the far right are whispering to each other.

The kneeling man has a foot slipping outside of the frame of the picture. Has he maybe come from outside, to tell this version of Henry that's he's just a painting? This might explain Henry's concerned expression.

On the far right are a group of knights with their hands clasped over their stomaches, as if they'd eaten from the dumpster behind a seafood restaurant & are now regretting it. On the right are a group of wealthy looking people. One is offering a scroll, & another is pointing to his own hand, as if to ask if he, too, is only an illustration.

Meme txt reads:
"To Henry VI,
in infant bands crown'd king
Another plate of eels bring"

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