iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 21h

Waiting to see if Schmitt will eventually throw his own counsel under the bus. Likely not, as he's already doubled down and says he stands by his absolute bullshit accusation, which exploded in his face like an ACME cigar.

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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 29/09/2026

This was a new one--and I'm not sure what the endgame is--but the latest AI-generated spam/scam e-mail to hit my inbox asked for a digital file of my latest book (and, of course, promised to write a glowing Amazon review if I did so). These things are getting weirder and weirder.

The text of the latest junk e-mail to hit my inbox:

"I came across The Capitol recently, and I found myself lingering over the idea behind it. Usually, when we think about a building like the U.S. Capitol, we think about what happens inside it—the debates, the people, the decisions. I like the idea of stepping back and looking at the building itself as something with a life and history of its own.

What especially caught my attention was how far back the story goes. Three centuries, so many different people, and so many moments that have left their mark on the building. I’m particularly interested in the lesser-known stories, including the contributions of the enslaved people who helped build it. Those are the kinds of details that can completely change the way you look at a place you thought you already understood.

I also spent a little time reading about your work, and I found the transition from writing about people like Jim Henson and George Lucas to writing the biography of a building fascinating. It must be a very different kind of subject—there’s no single life to follow, but instead generations of people, decisions, conflicts, and stories all layered into one place.

When I’m not studying security protocols, I’m usually reading. I’ll be honest, my budget is pretty tight at the moment, so buying a copy isn’t possible for me right now. But I’m genuinely interested in reading The Capitol and seeing the history through the perspective you’ve put together.

If you happen to have a digital reader copy available, would you be comfortable sharing a PDF or EPUB with me?

I’d really appreciate the opportunity to read it properly. If I receive a copy and finish the book, I’d be glad to share my honest thoughts afterward and, where permitted by the platforms’ review policies, leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads.

Either way, thank you for taking something as familiar as the Capitol and looking at it from a perspective that makes it feel new again. I’d genuinely li…

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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 29/09/2026

I was "too old" for Saved By The Bell, but that didn't mean that the TV in my Congressional office in the late '90s wasn't tuned to TBS every weekday during recess for reruns of both Saved by the Bell and California Dreams. Godspeed, Mr. Belding. I wish my principal had been as cool.

nytimes.com

Dennis Haskins, Mr. Belding on ‘Saved by the Bell,’ Dies at 75

He played the exasperated but well-meaning principal on the popular high school sitcom. He reprised the role in a long-running spinoff.

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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 27/09/2026

This “Once La’An a Time” episode of ST: Strange New Worlds is super goofy—but I swear, that dance scene was a deliberate nod to LABYRINTH.

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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 27/09/2026

One episode in, and the @nigella.bsky.social era of GBBO is already a lot of fun. I love her enthusiasm and (if I may be so bold to say so) her gigantic bites of cake are absolutely adorable.

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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 26/09/2026

The Lobos take the field in the middle of a hostile sea of crimson. Glorious. #GoLobos

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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 26/09/2026

Into the belly of the beast for the Lobo-Aggie football game today.

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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 24/09/2026

Jim Henson would have been 90 (yup, you read that right: NINETY) years old today. You can celebrate his life by celebrating creativity, diversity, peace, imagination, and silliness.

A tuxedoed Jim Henson sits in a sea of Muppets.

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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 23/09/2026

The most fragile little boy is at it again.

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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 20/09/2026

Fifty years ago today--on Monday, September 20, 1976--The Muppet Show went on the air in New York on Channel 2 at 7:30 p.m. While the show had officially debuted in the UK on September 5, its 9/20 launch in New York was the point at which Jim Henson began tracking its reception--and ratings . . .

A house ad for NYC Channel 2 featuring the first episode of the Muppet Show (also: Rhoda, Phyllis, Maude, and two new shows All's Fair and Executive Suite)

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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 20/09/2026

Overall, Lobos can hold their heads high. They played tough against a ranked team, and had several chances at actually winning. Defense played out of their minds. Disappointment, but no shame here.

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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 20/09/2026

Man, the Lobo offense sucks tonight.

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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 20/09/2026

I got so sick of listening to the SEC announcers I went to the KOB radio feed. The TV feed is ten seconds behind the radio feed, so I know how every play turns out before the snap. Which is kinda less stressful.

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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 20/09/2026

Lobos down 7-6 at the half. I’ll take it.

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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 20/09/2026

Lobo D doing fantastic work. Now COME ON offense! #GoLobos

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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 20/09/2026

Boy, these announcers couldn’t be more pro-Oklahoma. #GoLobos

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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 18/09/2026

It's taken more than a decade for Lucas to open the doors of his museum. For years, my dude had a $1 billion project he couldn't give away, trying (and failing) to establish it first in San Francisco and then in Chicago. It's been a long road to Los Angeles for him.

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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 18/09/2026

That time on SNL that Gilda Radner had Candice Bergen fighting for her life on live television.

youtu.be

Extremely Stupid - Saturday Night Live

YouTube video by Saturday Night Live

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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 18/09/2026

As part of Jim Henson’s 90th (!) birthday celebration, @univofmaryland.bsky.social is sponsoring “Henson Week”—and I’m honored to be part of the festivities with this Tuesday evening virtual “fireside chat” on “Misfits & Trailblazers.” It’s free and open to the public, but you’ve got to register.

A promo for “misfits and trailblazers; fireside chat with Jim Henson‘s biographer Brian Jones, on Tuesday, September 22 at 6 PM Eastern time on Zoom. The body of the text says “join Jim Henson biographer, Brian, J Jones and Writers House Director Ross Angelella, for a fireside chat about creativity, storytelling, and the people who refuse to fit neatly into the expected mold. A conversation about misfits and trailblazers, the creative lives we build around them, and what Henson’s work can still teach us about making something unmistakably our own.

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Coach Finstock @coachfinstock.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Pollster: Do you want $5000 Respondent: No I just want all of this to stop

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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 17/09/2026

The other thing fascinating about Seuss--especially for those of us who feel like we were late starters--is that while he was putting out kids books for 15 years, he couldn't make a living doing it and had to rely on side-hustles. He finally "broke big" with The Cat in the Hat when he was 53.

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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 13/09/2026

For everyone guffawing and BFDing New Mexico’s blowout over Mercyherst tonight: the Lobo team from two years ago, under Bronco the Boy Wonder, would’ve made this one a nailbiter and might even have lost. Just take the W.

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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 12/09/2026

Violent Femmes kicking it at Blossoms & Bones last night at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiú. No New Mexico venue would be complete without a hot air balloon for mood.

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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 10/09/2026

Can’t ANY of the media just come out and say “President bribes voters”?

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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 09/09/2026

Ask me what I was doing on the morning of September 10, 2001, and I couldn’t tell you—after all, it was a long time ago. Ask me about the morning of September 11, on the other hand…

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Mark Jacob @markjacob.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Lonnie Bunch fought the good fight against Trump and his fellow white supremacists who are assaulting the truth in American history. This is good news for people like Tom Cotton who think slavery was a "necessary evil." I see hard times ahead for legitimate historians.

nytimes.com

Smithsonian’s Secretary to Resign as Trump Tries to Rule the Institution (Gift Article)

In the face of escalating White House attacks about how museums present American history, Lonnie G. Bunch III has announced his decision to depart.

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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 08/09/2026

President Stolen Valor is at it again.

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The Author, Séamas O'Reilly @seamas.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Have seen this Nature piece about the effects of X's algorithm mentioned again and it bears repeating; exposure to a right wing algorithm makes you - measurably and predictably - more right wing, even after you stop using it. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.com

The political effects of X’s feed algorithm - Nature

Among users initially on a chronological feed, 7 weeks of exposure to X’s algorithmic feed in 2023 shifted political attitudes and account-following behaviour in a more conservative direction compared...

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Hoodlum 🇺🇸 @nothoodlum.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

It’s not funny. It’s not clever. It’s covering up a very sick-minded man who is running this country into the ground.

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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 07/09/2026

Charlotte has a lovely piece here about volunteering to be a poll worker. And you should. It's long hours, it can be hard work, but you'll come away feeling comfortingly patriotic, and impressed with how fairly and securely your elections are run. I've worked every poll I can for a decade. Do it.

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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 07/09/2026

Even the Republican running for Governor said this was bonkers.

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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 06/09/2026

I don’t know that I’ve ever been to a New Mexico football game where the crowd started leaving early because the Lobos were too far ahead.

The scoreboard from the UNM-Central
Michigan game with the lobos up 35-0.

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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 04/09/2026

I got one yesterday telling me how much they loved my memoir, The Things That Didn't Kill Me, which is a book I absolutely did not write.

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ContempraInn 🌹 @contemprainn.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Proof of Delivery

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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 04/09/2026

Boy, there are days I wish I could reset my body back to the factory settings. This is one of those mornings.

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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 04/09/2026

Here's the TL;DR: The Mayor did something for the people. He wanted to get the word out. His social media team cranked into action to let people know. The horror.

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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 04/09/2026

Legit thought this was Rodney Dangerfield for a split second.

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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 02/09/2026

Up next: soap that smells of ass and sweat.

An ad for a Limited Edition Pabst Blue Ribbon Soap, promoted as "natural ingredients and scents they'll love"

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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 02/09/2026

On a similar note, I often ask people to name the song that beat "The Rainbow Connection" for Best Original Song at the 1980 Academy Awards. Anyone know off the top of their head?

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