iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 13/04/2026

In a feat of incredible brand consistency, you can't even log in to IRS's Free File Fillable Forms without doing mental arithmetic. This is why I wrote a tax calculator in python: github.com/b-k/py1040 . I do the math there, then copy to FFFF and everything goes fine.

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 16/03/2026

duckduckgo implemented my dream feature: an option to 🚫 block sites from your search results which are spam, AI-generated noise, or otherwise not worth clicking through to. It's made search engines tolerable again.

A close-up screen-shot of search results, something from academia.edu, with a menu overlead, including a "block this site from all results" option.

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 07/03/2026

I like the stuff on direct-from-China sites because somebody had the idea, convinced a committee to commit funds, hired engineers and/or designers to think hard about the details, set up a factory and warehouse. It's the ultimate in committing to the bit.

A mushroom-looking thing, and a woman with it stuck in her mouth. Diagrams explain that it vibrates and lines on your face will disappear after you use it.

A porcelain ghost (white-sheet type) giving you the finger.

A woman in a silicone chin-strap type mask. Diagrams show that it turns down-arrows on your face into up-arrows.

A child under a flannel blanket convincingly shaped and colored like a cabbage leaf.

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 14/02/2026

Donut mug: not toplogically equivalent to a donut nor a coffee mug.

A coffee mug with a picture of a donut on the side and a hole though the mug. It also has the usual mug handle.

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 12/02/2026

Every year, I check for changes on IRS tax forms, and I get to see all the little improvements most will never notice: better kerning, boldface where appropriate, removing excess italics. It's subtle, but they're living documents under constant revision.

The 2024 IRS form 8863. As dull as a tax form should look; maybe the only thing that stands out is a big black caution icon. There are several yes/no questions.

This year's f8863. The "caution" icon has been removed, and the yes/no markers are now boldface and don't have extra spaces around the em dash—which is what most style guides recommend.

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 29/01/2026

Used the above-mentioned kid's show theme song at karaoke somewhere in CDMX and it killed. Not that my singing was any good, but music for kids is so perfect for karaoke: always good vibes and everybody knows the words.

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 03/11/2025

#FediBookFair I know a lot of you escape the horrible of our world by reading about fictional interpersonal conflicts, but me, I read math books. Things make sense, there are no bad guys, there's always a new challenge on the horizon. With all that in mind, I […] [Original post on xoxo.zone]

Text: "Topology: The interesting parts." between a pointillistic hedgehog and a pointillistic balloon dog.

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 18/09/2025

The worst kind of shrinkflation: discovered that Everclear is now lower-alcohol (I.e. watered down) when the camp stove wouldn't light until the tenth try.

Left: a bottle of 190 proof everclear; right: 151 proof everclear. Background: paint thinner.

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 20/08/2025

I'm not one to do the whole "My kid coulda done that" schtick at the art gallery, but c'mon, Pablo Picasso, what are you doing here?

Really, the kind of horse a five-year old would draw, basically a circle with scratchy legs and sort of a head and tail. This is a 1937 sketch Picasso did for Guernica.

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 16/07/2025

So nice waking up to fresh solar panels

Rooftop solar in foreground, low-rise city in background.

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 09/07/2025

Notebook of a tween who just discovered death metal? Nope, Pablo Picasso at the Reina Sofía.

A woman in Picasso's style, eyes looking scratched out, tears looking like nails on her cheek, lots of teeth.

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 12/05/2025

NYC rooftops are greener than in the movies.

Looking south from the 30th floor of a hôtel on 24th St in Manhattan. Most, but by no means all, rooftops have trees and other green space.

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 24/04/2025

The tiny desk, performer view. It really is just a desk.

Just a crappy office desk, with some trinkets on one edge, and a mic on a stand in the center. Good lighting from the windows.

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 19/04/2025

The DC Science Writer's Association's big-deal annual event, Professional Development Day, is happening soon. Given that the national science writer's conference was cancelled (due to budget cuts due to *waves hands* all this) this is the best science-writing […] [Original post on xoxo.zone]

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 10/04/2025

The first thing you have to explain to people when you explain intellectual property is that you can't patent or copyright an idea, only the expression of a idea. Here's what it looks like when somebody thinks "IP" and "ideas" are synonyms:

A tweet from immigration and customs enforcement bragging that they stop the illegal crossing people, money, products, and ideas.

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 27/01/2025

Stonewall's pivotal rôle in U. S. history and pushing toward equality is nice and all, but more importantly: FREE POPCORN.

Bowl of bar popcorn, with m&ms on top. There's a table card with the bar's name, Stonewall Inn.

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 15/01/2025

Here's the slide rule I've had since I was a kid (not because I'm that old, but because who doesn't have a slide rule phase). Pulled it out because @mqbs has a webapp that makes slide rules fun again, with slide-rule friendly exercises: mshron.github.io/slide-rule-practice

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 30/12/2024

Bandcamp's stats page for how often your work was listened to has an option to play Defender on the chart.

Top of the plot has options like Plays, Sales, &c, and All-time, 30 days, 60 days, Defender. The main body is a bar chart, with only data at one end (40 plays today), and a pointy spaceship and aliens flying around on the chart.

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 05/10/2024

Pausing to admire how well the USB-C standard is working. Between the two of us on this work trip, we have three laptops and four telephones, and all we had to bring for power and data xfer were two little wall adapters and three cables.

A display of about twenty pre-USB-C wall adapters on a concrete floor.

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 11/09/2024

How did @danielnazer know I'm writing a topology textbook?

A toot, really about the U.S. presidential debate. "Great night for people who enjoy torturing themselves with an excruciating activity that cannot help them or the world in any possible way."

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 22/08/2024

Used to be that you had to be some kinda rocket scientist to fly a satellite, but IXPE (NASA'a interstellar x-ray polarimetry explorer) is mostly run by students editing python scripts. That could be you. Reporting by @liz […] [Original post on xoxo.zone]

IXPE the interstellar ibex, gazing forth from the stars.

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