iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 03/10/2026

just spitballing here, but could a (sane) administration federalize the sections of interstate that are for-profit public/private partnerships and just tell the grifters to pound sand? like, make interstates free again?

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 01/10/2026

"disagree and commit" only works when the disagreement and a discussion about it happen _before_ a decision is made. if not, "disagree and commit" is just "shut up and do what you're told" with lipstick on.

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 26/09/2026

this morning‘s random youtubing included the following: “if you’re judging wealth by purchasing power, you’re likely working harder and earning more while getting poorer” — @bennjordan.bsky.social the rest of the video was interesting, but that line in particular hit pretty hard.

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 08/09/2026

‘what do you do for a living?’ jet bridge operator: “i drive a hallway.”

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 09/07/2026

oh: “i was born in the 80’s ffs. it’s a wonder i have any taste at all.”

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 09/06/2026

the gnawing fear that the food you cook is actually terrible but your friends are incredibly kind.

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 28/05/2026

i wish that “weekend at bernie’s” had a different title. if it were “weekend at arthur’s” or something i could make a crack about the cabinet propping up a near dead President Arthur without being sad the DNC and the media sank bernie sanders and gave us our current situation.

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 26/03/2026

because if you allow for mail-in ballots, you don’t have the opportunity for voter intimidation. obviously.

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 19/03/2026

“nothing has hurt the history of architecture as much as the notion that it is a history of architectural _techniques_, instead of a history of architectural _ideas_ — which took their techniques when and where they found them.” — parapheased from ‘the decline of the west’ by oswald spengler

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 21/02/2026

OH: “the people with the money don’t have the balls, the people with the balls don’t have the money.” hearing that hurt me deeply in a necessary way.

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 13/02/2026

NC people, it’s worth showing up for the primary. your choices on the non-fascist side are: - center right big business (Roy Cooper) - no meaningful positions (Colon) - religion-first messaging (Quick) - some old weathy folk and the guy who wants to flip over a table: www.justicewithdues.org

justicewithdues.org

Dues for Congress

The official site of Justin Dues — antiestablishment, reform-focused US Senate candidate for North Carolina. Explore his Project 2030 platform to restore integrity, fight corruption, fix healthcare, p...

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 08/12/2025

i can’t unhear the _influencer accent_. the strong upward lilt at the end of a phrase, like they’re asking a question instead of making a statement. it’s most prevalent in gen z influencers, but also can be heard in many millenial content creators.

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Erika Hall @erikahall.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

If “AI” did the thing, organizations would be bragging about the outcomes instead of jawing endlessly about the tools.

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 21/11/2025

every democrat fighting for a seat in next year’s election should include ‘publishing the names and photos of every ICE agent’ in their pitch

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 13/11/2025

felt necessary to share this with otter people

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John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

This is legit why exec level in a lot of places are obsessed with copilot. It takes their word salad and turns it into a word salad that sounds smarter (but isn't).

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 13/11/2025

can anyone point me toward a `core.async.flow` example that’s nontrivial? what lit the light bulb for you? #clojure

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 12/11/2025

hey folks: take care of your people. if you’re in a position of influence or leadership, take care of your people. if they look up to you, take care of your people. even if you think maybe they need to have some sense slapped into them from time to time, take care of your people.

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 08/11/2025

can someone please tell me how i can both: - make the world a better place - continue be secure in my ability to eat and sleep under cover given: - not born/already rich chatGPT has been no help

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 01/11/2025

on a woodworking forum i frequent: “good enough” is the difference between fine woodworking and “it’s fine” woodworking. the same is true for software. shop shelves don’t have the same rules as kitchen cabinets.

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 28/10/2025

the end of SNAP benefits, if prolonged, will risk the existence of independent grocers in rural areas, and the big chains move in. just like smaller farms will be forced to sell to bigger companies because of the tarriffs. and that smaller hospitals will just vanish with the changes to medicare.

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 08/10/2025

now would be a good time to read up on Ferdinand Marcos and the ‘communist threat’ in the Philipines in 1972.

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Wil Wheaton ❌👑 @wilwheaton.net · 23/09/2025

Never forget and never forgive the people who voted for him. They did this to us, and they must be forced to carry the shame for the rest of their miserable lives. We warned them, and they made fun of us. They own this. They own this forever, and I will never let them forget it.

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Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

DISNEY: "OK, we are putting Jimmy Kimmel back on the air. You can resubscribe now." ME: "I unsubscribed because you immorally bowed to fascism. I'm not going to resubscribe because you immorally bowed to finances."

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Emoji Meadow @emojimeadow.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

🌼🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺 🌺🌺🌱🌱🌱🧀🌺🌱🐁 🌺🌱🌱🌺🌺🌺🌺🌱🌺 🌺🌱🌺🌺🌺🌺🌱🌱🌺 🌺🌱🌱🌺🌺🌱🌱🌺🌺 🌺🌺🌱🌱🌱🌱🌺🌺🌺 🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌼🌺

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 19/09/2025

in case you’d like to see what i do with my free time, @creekshanty.us occasionally updates with some garden stuff.

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 18/09/2025

don’t let the censoring of Kimmel and the obvious corruption of the associated merger distract you from Epstein.

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 11/09/2025

there’s this joke whose punchline—“a good start”—keeps running through my head, for some reason. i can’t remember the rest of the joke, but it doesn’t seem important.

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 07/09/2025

new garden space, first year question: if i’m producing as much as i can, how much can i grow? (obviously, four beds are dedicated to flowers but _other than that_) answer: enough that now i find myself with a freezer and pantry full of food and a weight problem

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 04/09/2025

from a list of advice for pilots, but generally applicable: “you start with two bags: a full bag of luck, and an empty bag to put your experience in. the goal is to fill up your bag with experience before you run out of luck.”

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 03/09/2025

me: “i’m not saying LLMs should have rights—“ her: ‘they’ll probably have rights before we do.’ and i just -

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A.R. Moxon @juliusgoat.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

Child abuse aficionado James Dobson dead at the tragically advanced age of 89.

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 19/08/2025

“i knew this day was inevitable—it just happens to be today” is a strong line. _the apothecary diaries_ doesn’t disappoint.

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 14/08/2025

wild. newrelic sold my email address to some biz loan folks.

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 18/06/2025

something that should really be bothering you: every administration official knows they are committing crimes. they suspect that the minute they are out of office they will be prosecuted for these crimes. it is in their best interest to never leave office.

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 07/04/2025

Prediction: ten years from now there will be a lot fewer people learning English as an additional language

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Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 06/04/2025

Not now, plague of atomic rats.

Guardian headline: 'They're everywhere: workers warn of rat infestation at Somerset nuclear plant'

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 20/03/2025

anyone setting a meeting start time for something like 09:17 deserves the anxious mess i’m going to be when i get there

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 14/03/2025

anyone else expecting schumer’s next financial disclosure to be illuminating?

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 14/03/2025

open question: i am considering emigrating from the US. europe is potentially faced with a two-front conflict with the US west and Russia east, so that’s not really a safety improvement. i’m leaning heavily toward #Uruguay. is there anyone who has made this move and/or can offer some insights?

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 14/03/2025

tfg helping leon hawk teslas on the white-house lawn is going to be the visual for this administration for every history textbook in the future. assuming there is a future that includes history textbooks.

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 10/03/2025

my fave film genres: 5. love is complicated, fantasy or sf edition 4. it’s not what you think it is, macro scale 3. bad things happen to bad people 2. turns out we’re all a little weird 1. unlikely heroes overthrow the evil status quo bonus: person gets into trouble, then gets out of trouble

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ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com · 07/03/2025

oh: “she’s the kind of person that tells her restaurant employees to check with their accountant”

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