iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Anna Merlan

TODAY: @raxkingisdead.bsky.social on what we’ve seen in the men of Cornell University. “I want to diagnose it. I’m the naive fool who believes that in diagnosing it, I can cure us all of it.” flaminghydra.com/gentlemen-an...

flaminghydra.com

Gentlemen and Scholars of the Ivy League

I heard the two men talking, this morning, before I saw them. Then I saw them, and then they saw me, walking up the steep ramp toward them to the pedestrian bridge over the expressway. Their talking s...

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Reposted by Anna Merlan

Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 8h

It's always a good idea to follow @annamerlan.bsky.social down a rabbit hole. What's real anymore, you ask? www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

motherjones.com

A bookseller confronts a mysterious company hunting his rarest books

Was a Kentucky retailer targeted by a destructive AI "predator"?

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Anna Merlan @annamerlan.bsky.social · 21h

Every beautiful goth woman in Los Angeles was at Vidiots tonight watching Only Lovers Left Alive. Also a bunch of men who basically managed to dress themselves

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Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 28/09/2026

Bookseller Brandon Thomas DiSabatino started receiving strange emails from a company requesting large and odd orders. DiSabatino quickly became concerned that the company might be trying to buy his books for an ulterior—and to him, sinister—purpose: to ship rare books to an AI training facility.

motherjones.com

A bookseller confronts a mysterious company hunting his rarest books

Was a Kentucky retailer targeted by a destructive AI "predator"?

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Reposted by Anna Merlan

Maria Bustillos @mariabustillos.com · 29/09/2026

Check out @todseelie.bsky.social's photographs—taken 20 years apart—of Dead Moon's Toody Cole, with a touching essay about being young and DIY forever, AND why @joemacleod666.bsky.social was shocked at 'Primetime' flaminghydra.com/issue-657/

flaminghydra.com

Lunar return / Underrated movie

Tod Seelie relives the history of Dead Moon; Joe MacLeod’s cinema shock

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Maria Bustillos @mariabustillos.com · 29/09/2026

Observed by a very young photographer who never forgot really breathtaking, love this one by @todseelie.bsky.social

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Reposted by Anna Merlan

yazikus @yazikus.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

"They built their own home over many years, on raw land in Clackamas, Oregon, after a brief stint homesteading in the Yukon. They ran a local music store, Captain Whizeagle’s, which was known for its “pay what you can, when you can” approach to retail"

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Anna Merlan @annamerlan.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

My overnight oats were no longer sparking joy so I put them in some pumpkin waffle batter and turned them into oat-y Belgian waffles. Follow me for more tips you did not ask about and did not follow me for

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Anna Merlan @annamerlan.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Great British Bakeoff has a throuple this season. First person to write an essay about this loses

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Anna Merlan @annamerlan.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Journalism gets the goods: Tim Tebow "pauses" his partnership with this wealth seminar company after @kieraevebutler.bsky.social's investigation. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

motherjones.com

Tim Tebow “pausing” Christian seminar promotion after our investigation

“I think the allegations are extremely serious."

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Reposted by Anna Merlan

Brandon Bishop @brandontbishop.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

"both emails sought one specific rare book, a self-published work by the conceptual artist Chris Burden. The book contains barely any text; it’s mostly images of the artist’s work, and it is exceedingly hard to find." Again, not backlogs of unsold airport thrillers. Going to keep emphasizing this.

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Reposted by Anna Merlan

jims @jims.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

i have a hot take regarding the upcoming american midterms; every year your candidates should get slightly smaller. in 2030 every elected representative should be 2 inches tall and ride a beetle to work. they should sleep under a mushroom and wear doll clothes. they should crave the falling boot,

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Reposted by Anna Merlan

Cambridge Skeptics @cambskeptics.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Trump’s answer to warnings about AI is not evidence but masculinity: a powerful machine merely requires a sufficiently dominant man to control it. Technical risk has been recast as another test of whether the president looks tough. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

motherjones.com

The Trump administration’s hard-on for AI, explained

“No dooming. America will be AI DOMINANT!”

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Reposted by Anna Merlan

Dan Froomkin/Press Watch/Heads Up News @froomkin.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

"The Trump administration’s decision not to invite the leading international election observation body to monitor crucial US midterm polls fuels fears of serious human rights concerns around the upcoming elections, Human Rights Watch said today." www.hrw.org/news/2026/09...

hrw.org

US: Trump Administration Rejects External Election Observers

The Trump administration’s decision not to invite the leading international election observation body to monitor crucial US midterm polls fuels fears of serious human rights concerns around the upcomi...

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Reposted by Anna Merlan

Rick Ward @rickward.com · 25/09/2026

It’s stories like these that have me holding on to my small collection of signed first editions, free of later copyedits and full of errata (e.g. the original 3rd Grant edition of The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger with fascinating anachronisms and no explanations, only events).

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Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 25/09/2026

Tell us what you think: Does a company with this website actually exist? Read the story before you decide... www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/0…

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Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 25/09/2026

We see your Western Massachusetts lesbian KN-95 bar story. We raise you "bookseller tries to figure out if the company that posts close-ups of trout eggs that's trying to buy his entire inventory is actually AI scheming to slice up rare books to scan them" story.

motherjones.com

A bookseller confronts a mysterious company hunting his rarest books

Was a Kentucky retailer targeted by a destructive AI "predator"?

718255

Reposted by Anna Merlan

Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 25/09/2026

When it comes to athletes, it doesn’t get more wholesome than Tim Tebow. The Christian company that he leads seminars for: Not so much. @kieraevebutler.bsky.social spoke to several Life Surge employees who claim that the company is using high-pressure tactics to push their $10,000-$40,000 courses.

motherjones.com

The Gospel of high yields: Inside Tim Tebow's favorite wealth seminar

Life Surge pairs Christian celebs with hard-sell pitches. Some attendees ended up deep in debt.

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Reposted by Anna Merlan

Caroline @hairoline.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

This story is nightmare fuel but I did laugh out loud at @annamerlan.bsky.social deploying Blade Runner strategy to try to suss out a chatbot

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Anna Merlan @annamerlan.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

[Jonathan Richman voice] I was dancing in the Covid-conscious lesbian bar

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Reposted by Anna Merlan

John Gary @johngary.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Deeply pleasurable article about a deeply weird corner that feels like a sign pointing to where we're headed. Pretty bummed that Crystal didn't reply "what's a turtle."

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Reposted by Anna Merlan

Anna Merlan @annamerlan.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

NEW: I came across a bookseller who was afraid that a mysterious company trying to buy some of his rarest books was going to use them to train AI models. I went down the rabbithole with him, and was confused and altogether existentially weirded out by what I found www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

motherjones.com

A bookseller confronts a mysterious company hunting his rarest books

Was a Kentucky retailer targeted by a destructive AI "predator"?

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Reposted by Anna Merlan

weather and noise @notthattherese.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Excellent but deeply unsettling story.

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Reposted by Anna Merlan

Maggie McNeill @maggiemcneill.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

As a librarian who used to do acquisitions, I can assure you that NO library buys obscure books in bulk; it would be a complete waste of precious funds. Any bulk buyer which tells you it is buying for libraries is lying to you.

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Reposted by Anna Merlan

Ashe @pondscum.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Incredible way to describe AI bots: "...the ‘people’ we spoke with were not able to sit in chairs, brush their teeth, dream of fields or understand a cartwheel.”

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Reposted by Anna Merlan

Atlas Shvitzed @therafischwartz.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

This hits on what is i think going to be a defining emotional response to the coming age: The horror of feeling like you're in safe, charted waters, only to discover that alien predators you didn't even know *could* exist have in fact been circling for months without your ever having noticed.

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Kiera Butler @kieraevebutler.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I am a sports ignoramus and knew nothing about Tim Tebow till I started work on this investigation with @pablo.show into the Christian investment seminar events he speaks at like 10x/year. It was quite the introduction to him! www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh7s...

youtube.com

We Investigated the Christian "Scam" Fronted by Tim Tebow | PTFO

YouTube video by PABLO TORRE FINDS OUT

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Anna Merlan @annamerlan.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

motherjones.com

A bookseller confronts a mysterious company hunting his rarest books

Was a Kentucky retailer targeted by a destructive AI "predator"?

17885386

Reposted by Anna Merlan

John Saward @rbuas.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Really truly spectacular pictures here from Tod

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Reposted by Anna Merlan

Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 23/09/2026

Right-wing commentators were quick to make the connection: that “woke,” feminine, or nonbinary people can’t be trusted in their warnings on AI. “There is no committee or regulatory body with a ‘they/them’ that will make any good decisions,” far-right activist Chris Rufo declared.

motherjones.com

The Trump administration’s hard-on for AI, explained

“No dooming. America will be AI DOMINANT!”

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Reposted by Anna Merlan

Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 22/09/2026

Trump has turned “a debate about technology into a debate about who’s got the phallus.”

motherjones.com

The Trump administration’s hard-on for AI, explained

“No dooming. America will be AI DOMINANT!”

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Reposted by Anna Merlan

Tal Lavin @swordsjew.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

fuck yes the best teen movie of all time

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Reposted by Anna Merlan

Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 22/09/2026

ALSO TODAY: @annamerlan.bsky.social on Ten Things I Hate About You, the only good teen movie of her dreary, glasses-wearing youth. “This is objectively wrong: the subsidiary characters and weird subplots make the film” flaminghydra.com/the-only-goo...

flaminghydra.com

The Only Good Teen Movie

Once upon a time in the early 2000s, when I was very young and more impressionable than I realized at the time, every single fucking teen movie was about An Ugly (Glasses-Wearing) Girl Who Is Finally ...

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Reposted by Anna Merlan

Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 22/09/2026

It’s now increasingly obvious that Trump and his administration view AI technology as something akin to a large, dangerous dog that only a masculine owner can control.

motherjones.com

The Trump administration’s hard-on for AI, explained

“No dooming. America will be AI DOMINANT!”

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Reposted by Anna Merlan

Raven of @theravenof.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

"It’s now increasingly obvious that Trump and his administration view AI technology as something akin to a large, dangerous dog that only a masculine owner can control." is everyone just exhausted by this whole mode or

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Anna Merlan @annamerlan.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

New: I wrote about the addled gender politics of the Trump administration's support for AI. (Because I could not stop noticing it and I had to put that somewhere so I could stop noticing it all the time) www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

motherjones.com

The Trump administration’s hard-on for AI, explained

“No dooming. America will be AI DOMINANT!”

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Anna Merlan @annamerlan.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Fasting is so useful, it's such a great way to confirm that I absolutely hate fasting

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Anna Merlan @annamerlan.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Hope everyone has fun atonement plans

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Peter @notalawyer.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

a lot of people act like there's a trade being offered where we give up trans athletes in sports and in exchange fascism is defeated forever

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Anna Merlan @annamerlan.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Everyone in Los Angeles is always standing in line for the first time in their entire lives and I think that’s so special

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Anna Merlan @annamerlan.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Millennials get a lot of unfair flack, but every so often I think of the “heckin’ doggo” phase of the internet and I think we should all be jailed just for that

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Reposted by Anna Merlan

BevoOne @bevowon.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Pick up a copy of Bright Nights also. A great book of photography.

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amanda moore 🐢 @noturtlesoup17.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

“The worst place ever I’ve been in my life," Sakariye Abdi Mohamed, a Somali asylum seeker, told me over the phone from Guantanamo Bay last week. Sakariye is one of 7 or 8 Somalis who are being held at Gitmo. They say guards tell them the order to keep Somalis at the facility comes from DC.

motherjones.com

The Trump administration is imprisoning Somali immigrants in Gitmo

“Nobody tell us that we’re going to Guantanamo Bay.”

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