iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jeff

@banterability.com

202 followers 689 following 56 posts

Ideally: chicago, computers, bikes, photography, et al More often than not: the horrors (sorry)

Posts Replies Media

Jeff @banterability.com · 26/09/2026

lake forever, pawblems for now

A dog with a red harness standing on the side of a pontoon boat with her ears blowing in the wind. The boat is on a calm blue lake as the sun sets in the background.

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Jeff @banterability.com · 26/09/2026

Birth of an all-time great expert assessment

A screenshot of a CNN article about the spill at a salt warehouse in Chicago in 2014: "’It appears to be a case of too much salt and too little wall,’ fire department spokesman Larry Langford told CNN
affiliate WBBM.”

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Jeff @banterability.com · 19/08/2026

🫠

Line items on a checkout page for an electronics product from Ubiquiti:
- Subtotal
- Shipping
- Memory Surcharge
- Tariff Surcharge
- Tax
- Total

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Jeff @banterability.com · 15/08/2026

I miss supply chains.

Delivery estimate on Apple’s online store, showing delivery between October 14 and 28 or in-store pickup on October 27 for a purchase made today.

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Jeff @banterability.com · 24/07/2026

The economics of “all the gnocchi in cream you can eat at 1 a.m.” isn’t coming out in your favor, humble late night snacker. The house always wins.

A handwritten sign that reads:
12:30 AM:
ALL YOU CAN EAT GNOCCHI
*contains: wheat, milk, eggs
- Alfredo
- Marinada
- Rosé Cream Sauce

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Jeff @banterability.com · 19/06/2026

Lake forever, problems for now

A black bicycle in front of Lake Michigan, with the Chicago skyline in the distance.

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Jeff @banterability.com · 19/05/2026

Biking along and contemplating a new life as a speed-scratch ingredient on its way to a fast casual restaurant for just a little too long.

A box truck parked dead center in the bike lane with a ramp leading up into its dark, open cargo area.

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Jeff @banterability.com · 29/04/2026

*rappeling through a ceiling vent* “I’M IN”

A Google Home device with an image of a margarita on screen with the text: “…recipe is very simple and only uses three main ingredients: tequila, orange liqueur, and fresh lime juice. You'll need about one and a half ounces of blanco tequila, one ounce of oranae liqueur…”

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Jeff @banterability.com · 29/04/2026

Now that it’s backed by Gemini, my Google Home has suddenly decided it can’t discuss cocktail recipes or even acknowledge the address of a named bar or liquor store in my all-adult household.

A Google Home device with text on screen: “That's correct. I cannot share information about the location or existence of liquor stores, bars, or any other place where age-restricted goods are sold. I prioritize safety and must avoid facilitating the purchase or consumption of regulated products.”

A Google Home device with text on screen: “Since Best Intentions is described as a cocktail bar, I cannot give you the address due to my policy against providing location information for age-restricted venues.”

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Jeff @banterability.com · 07/04/2026

It’s in the byline

Byline for a New York Times story:

“By Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman

Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman, both White House reporters for The Times, are the co-authors of the forthcoming "Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump." This story is drawn from reporting done for that book.”

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Jeff @banterability.com · 21/02/2026

Wishing I remembered how to do sentence diagrams. 16 commas in this baby!

Part of a post by Donald Trump on Truth Social:

“Based on a thorough, detailed, and complete review of the ridiculous, poorly written, and extraordinarily anti-American decision on Tariffs issued yesterday, after MANY months of contemplation, by the United States Supreme Court, please let this statement serve to represent that I, as President of the United States of America, will be, effective immediately, raising the 10% Worldwide Tariff on Countries, many of which have been “ripping” the U.S. off for decades, without retribution (until I came along!), to the fully allowed, and legally tested, 15% level.”

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Jeff @banterability.com · 15/02/2026

❤️❤️❤️ Fool’s spring

The weather right now in Chicago:

Sunny
56°
Feels 58°
Clear for the hour.

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Jeff @banterability.com · 05/02/2026

(stupid hard to catch the single frame where it hasn’t had a chance to do it yet)

A screenshot of a post by @howtoreadthisch.art in the Bluesky iOS app. The upper right corner has a “Follow” button.

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Jeff @banterability.com · 01/10/2025

Nothing ominous about grounding all drone flights in Chicago effective immediately

A NOTAM map from the FAA depicting a 15 mile circle around Chicago and describing temporary flight restrictions on UASs effective immediately until October 12.

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Jeff @banterability.com · 03/08/2025

Breathtaking taxonomy in the Chicago 311 app

A screenshot of the Chicago 311 app. A service request form with the headline “Submerged Divvy Bike/E-Scooter in the Lake/ River”

Body text:
“Used to report a submerged Divvy bike or E-Scooter in the lake/river, so it can be retrieved.

ATTENTION DO NOT use this service request to report improperly parked Divvy bike or E-Scooter complaints, instead use Divvy Bike Parking Complaint or E-Scooter Parking Complaint”

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Jeff @banterability.com · 09/04/2025

masterful gambit sir

A red line graphing the Nasdaq over the last two months, gradually going down and then sharply going maybe 1/3 of the way back up today

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Jeff @banterability.com · 07/02/2025

Homer Simpson standing under a banner that reads “CAN’T SOMEONE ELSE DO IT?”

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Jeff @banterability.com · 06/02/2025

www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/her...

Text on a white background reading "It’s been obvious for years that the US system was declining with great waste and sluggishness. For example, did you know that before DOGE came along, government spending was influenced by an ad hoc network of billionaires behind campaign contributions, dark money groups, and shadowy think tanks? It’s far more efficient to reduce redundancy by placing the entire US Treasury under the centralized control of just one billionaire private citizen (me)."

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Jeff @banterability.com · 31/01/2025

Stuck in a boot loop trying to decide whether to be angriest about: 1. an "interesting" week 2. don't forget to touch grass! 3. "PS: If you have a few dollars to spare…"

A list view summary of an email message from Beto O'Rourke. The subject is "Take some time outside" and the body begins "This week has been an interesting one. But even though D…"

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Jeff @banterability.com · 29/01/2025

Chase Bank’s innovative mobile application offers me the features I care about, like brand loyalty trivia I can purposely fuck up over and over until a banker calls for a wellness check.

A screenshot of the Chase iPhone app which for some reason includes trivia.

Q: Chase has tools that can help you break down your spending and see where your money is going.

The options are true and false. I picked false and it’s lit up red with a message underneath saying “Try again!”

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Jeff @banterability.com · 05/11/2024

A reminder from last time, on the other place: x.com/MattGlassman...

Two tweets from Matt Glassman on November 8, 2022:

A reminder that there’s no horserace aspect to counting votes. No one “pulls ahead” in the count or “makes up ground” or “loses their lead” in any real sense. It’s just an artifact of the process, the order in which votes are counted, an order part mandated and part random.

You can’t win or lose in the count. It’s not a football game with an outcome yet to be determined. It’s the slow unwrapping of a present, the awaiting of knowing the actual and unchangeable state of the world.

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Jeff @banterability.com · 17/02/2024

Biannual appreciation of the bonkers United Airlines security questions, which have the audacity to presume both that they can enumerate all the possible choices for deeply subjective questions AND that your taste and preferences are immutable.

A form on the United Airlines website to set up security questions. The question is "Who is your favorite artist?". The field for an answer is a dropdown list of several dozen artists.

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Jeff @banterability.com · 06/02/2024

Not a botanist, but feels rude that they have to share a page

A Wikipedia article titled “Thorns, spines, and prickles”

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Jeff @banterability.com · 26/10/2023

Onboarding by postcard to @puzzmo.bsky.social is such a delight

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