iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I'm so inspired by the French kids. They are demanding teachers and learning. They are showing a proportionate response to austerity. Their union is aligning with public service workers' organizations.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Amazon developed the "statistically improbable phrase" as a unique identifier for books, and now LLMs are redefining writing as the calculation of statistically probably phrases. Jamaica Kincaid: "There is a world of something in this, but I can't go into it right now..."

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Pro tip- find a companion who will be there when you're having a lovely time, and take a photo. Thanks @msophiej.bsky.social

a man with a bald head and prominent glasses, in a blue button shirt, smiles and sits in an airy restaurant dining room, with floor-to-ceiling windows facing green space.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I volunteer as the control group if anybody wants to study whether Meta Muse makes life better

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

it's odd how abuser language flows so naturally for these people.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

These so-called thought leaders go through the most perverse contortions to justify their own supremacy. No one should take them seriously.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

The difference between this and dead internet slop is real, recognizable, and essential.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Reality TV turned him into entertainment. That became a bloated brand, which millions of people are conditioned to perceive as power and success. The rest is dystopia.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

People literally out here just saying anything

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

One tenured professor who is a Koch Chair of Free Enterprise, making $300,000. Four lecturers, each making $50,000. The average salary of this group is $100,000. Please keep this hypothetical but plausible situation in mind when hearing things about higher ed.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Lepa Radić, Yugoslav partisan fighter, tortured for three days and put to the gallows by Nazis at age 17. They told her she could save her life by naming names. "My comrades will reveal themselves when they avenge me."

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

BJ Novak on this list has become a real-life parody of one of his characters.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Hasan Piker would not be controversial in a functioning democracy.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

September is my nation-envy season. I wish we had songs like this. I wish we had the history to back them up. youtu.be/bhfalJWnVUk

youtu.be

Corrido de la Independencia

YouTube video by Cía. Infantil de Televicentro de Armando Torres - Topic

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I still have to do the nine clicks to get around the paywall, but this is a very promising title. www.chronicle.com/article/harv...

chronicle.com

Opinion | The Ivy League’s Surrender to AI Is Insane

When college leaders drink the corporate Kool-Aid, the liberal arts die.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

A corduroy jacket that I wore in grad school has been waiting in the closet for me to fit into it again, but today it went to the vintage clothing store. So there's that.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

"La historia es nuestra y la hacen los pueblos." Salvador Allende, 11 Sep 1973.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Pull the plug. The AI race that is reportedly tilting towards killing us all is entirely optional.

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Reposted by Ben Chappell

Jay Troyer @gr8flbluejay.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Criselda Vasquez, American, The New American Gothic, 2017, oil on canvas, 72 x 48 in, private collection The artist's father, portrayed in the painting, was kidnapped by ICE on 31 March 2026

201308635017

Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

The Critical University Studies Seminar is off and running at the Hall Center for the Humanities, University of Kansas!

13 people gather smiling before a projected sign announcing Critical University Studies Seminar opening discussion, Sep. 3, 2026.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

He did wish it on so many people

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

I share the curiosity about this- and it looks like quite a bit has happened. GoogScho says the book's been cited over 2000 times, 400 since last year.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

The band names on this bill have a rhythm that tickles my brain.

A graphic image of a cassette tape accompanies the text "Replay Lounge presents: Flower Gun, Figure Model, Small Uncle, Notebook. August 27th 6pm-9pm/All ages."

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

KC Tenants Union won a rent strike in Kansas City, in case you need good news. They are leading the way.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Grieving for Dolly Parton goes on and now it's Fred Hampton's birthday. We have to hold onto the memory of those who brought people together in unforeseen ways.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

30 years since I started grad school, first cracked open a page of Marx, and thought what have I gotten Iinto

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Reposted by Ben Chappell

Bryan 🌐 🇺🇦 Slava Ukraine personal opinions only @papootx.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Letter To Kids From Dolly Parton Imagination Library Dear Imagination Library Graduate. My, how time flies. It seems it was only yesterday when your family and friends read you your first story. You were iust a baby. Now you're five years old and about to go to school. How exciting

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Way too many occasions to think about this these days

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

"Let them eat ramen" when people already do...

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

By the time white people were saying or being called woke, it was already a reference to generations of Black political thought. So situating the white trend as an origin erases the anti-Blackness that I think is always present in anti-woke.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

When previously unspeakable positions win by 1% it's a huge deal

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Voting early, Kansas don't forget to say No meant No.

A man in glasses wears a sticker reading "My vote honors Kenneth Graeber, A vet," and holds a small paper zine titled "DSA Guide to the August 4th election in Lawrence, KS #LFKDSA

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

That one's way too hard for me because I loved so many.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Starting on a long journey home, hope I haven't angered any gods

A deep yellow moon rises over the red roofs of a historic European town, alongside the bank of a river where two ships are docked

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Could we find a way to put some daylight between the worst person in the world and the richest person in the world? Maybe something with distribution?

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

With a lot of world cup visitors in the states this summer, the timeless topic of American "portion sizes" came up again. I agree that it's a real contrast

A hand holds a bottle of Bavarian helles beer, half-liter size.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

The American people are concerned

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

At some point, reading the articles of impeachment will be indistinguishable from a filibuster

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

An outrageous anti-intellectual attack, in which a president who holds unearned tenure vetoes the achievement of a scholar on what can only be ideological grounds. This institution was so important in my own formation but now, actions like this negate its legitimacy.

expressnews.com

UT border surveillance scholar was a shoo-in for tenure. UT denied him.

American Studies scholar Iván Chaar López fears UT’s unexplained tenure denial violated his academic freedom amid scrutiny of controversial fields.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

This is also an extremely practical reason to make labor organizing a core component of every major.

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