iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Brian Spears @briankspears.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I realized during the writing of this post that, according to Wikipedia at least, my house is slightly older than this palace, though according to me, my house is slightly less shmancy.

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Brian Spears @briankspears.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

A lot of men around my age—I’m 57—see stories about sexual assault less egregious than this and remember stuff they did that they didn’t think I was bad at the time. But rather than acknowledge that they harmed people and need to deal with it, they say that women have gotten too sensitive now.

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Brian Spears @briankspears.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

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Brian Spears @briankspears.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I realized during the writing of this post that, according to Wikipedia at least, my house is slightly older than this palace, though according to me, my house is slightly less shmancy.

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Brian Spears @briankspears.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I have no idea what I’m about to do to myself with this but it’s almost certainly not good for me.

A bottle of brown alcohol from a store in Romania that reads (I think) IANCV and the motto beneath it translates to “Justice and Strength”

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Brian Spears @briankspears.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Went to grad school but still work in food service

A coffee stand in Palas Mall in Iași Romania named Dr Coffee

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Brian Spears @briankspears.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

One good thing about being in Europe now is that it does me absolutely no good to refresh my social media scrolls until around 4:00 or 5:00 pm because almost no one I know is online before then.

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Brian Spears @briankspears.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I bought these telling myself that they’ll help me learn to read Romanian.

One small poetry collection and one comic book sized kids book both in Romanian

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Brian Spears @briankspears.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I can never let my children see this quote or they’ll repeat it back to me nonstop.

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Brian Spears @briankspears.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

My wildest take about the current issues with AI is that it all stems from our use and love of video game cheat codes.

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Brian Spears @briankspears.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I can never let my children see this quote or they’ll repeat it back to me nonstop.

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Brian Spears @briankspears.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I’ve never studied Latin but I feel like this is a top notch business name for a notary.

A sign outside a Bucharest notary office that says Legitimus.

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Brian Spears @briankspears.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The best music for a long train ride is country and blues. 90’s jangle rock is pretty decent too.

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Brian Spears @briankspears.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Is it a coincidence that Freedom 250 sounds like a mid-season NASCAR race held at the Iowa Speedway?

Blue trucker cap with a circle of 13 white five-pointed stars and Freedom 250 inside the circle

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Brian Spears @briankspears.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

This kind of thing is why I will forever be ride or die for New Orleans

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Brian Spears @briankspears.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Just picked up my first set of postcards for my Patreon subscribers. We visited the Muzeul Național Cotroceni in Bucharest with the people from Fulbright Romania. There's still time to get in on the first mailing. www.patreon.com/BrianSpears/...

patreon.com

Brian Spears: We toured the Muzeul Național Cotroceni in Bucareșt today, and I picked up some postcards for my top tier subscribers. There’s still time to

We toured the Muzeul Național Cotroceni in Bucareșt today, and I picked up some postcards for my top tier subscribers. There’s still time to

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Brian Spears @briankspears.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

patreon.com

Brian Spears: We toured the Muzeul Național Cotroceni in Bucareșt today, and I picked up some postcards for my top tier subscribers. There’s still time to

We toured the Muzeul Național Cotroceni in Bucareșt today, and I picked up some postcards for my top tier subscribers. There’s still time to

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GOLIKEHELLMACHINE @golikehellmachine.com · 23/09/2026

basically, we are a particularly stupid klingon punk band who [star trek time travel nonsense] found ourselves in late 70s england and who [more time travel nonsense] have come back to eradicate the american punk scene in favor of ours, which sounds better in the original klingon

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Brian Spears @briankspears.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Gonna try to get good enough at reading Romanian to take this on while I’m here.

A copy of Aesop’s Fables translated into Romanian

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Josh Levin @joshuablevin.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

This story is adapted from the second episode of my independent sports history podcast Replay Booth. Please listen and please subscribe to the Replay Booth newsletter! pod.link/aHR0cHM6Ly9m... www.replaybooth.show/p/replay-boo...

replaybooth.show

Replay Booth, Episode 2: A History of Football in One Trick Play

What exactly did my grandfather see at LSU’s Tiger Stadium in 1944?

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Brian Spears @briankspears.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Gonna try to get good enough at reading Romanian to take this on while I’m here.

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Brian Spears @briankspears.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

You know, the fact that I'm now on Eastern European time should provide me with a large chunk of the day when I'm less distracted by social media. So long as I take advantage of it. Hmmm.

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I Scare You Like Sound Dog @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 20/09/2026

See what I mean, just openly conceding that some people should be barred from some bathrooms as a minor point when that very image was one of the major touching points for the support and opposition to Jim Crow

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Laura Belin @laurarbelin.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

New post by Ed Tibbetts @edtibbetts.bsky.social : Ashley Hinson's convenient conversion Hinson is trying to convince Iowans she’s something she’s not: A bipartisan problem-solver trying to lower your costs. #IASen www.bleedingheartland.com/2026/09/19/a...

bleedingheartland.com

Ashley Hinson's convenient conversion

Ed Tibbetts: Ashley Hinson is trying to convince Iowans she’s something she’s not: A bipartisan problem-solver trying to lower your costs.

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Brian Spears @briankspears.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

If you are of a certain age (early to mid Gen X I would guess) then for a minute this was the fanciest beer you’d ever seen on tv. I bet you can even sing the jingle.

Plastic liter bottles of Lowenbrau lager on a shelf in Romania

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Brian Spears @briankspears.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

There will certainly be a Patreon post about this adventure. But not today. You can take a look at it here. All the posts so far are free, though that's about to change. If you'd like a handwritten postcard a month from Romania, you can sign up for the $10 tier. www.patreon.com/cw/BrianSpears

patreon.com

Brian Spears — Writing and photos about spending a year in Romania

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Brian Spears @briankspears.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Four flights involving three countries and two continents in 24 hours (or so, I'm delirious and don't know what time is anymore) is not a fun thing to do. Especially when you're bringing two small dogs with you. But we're here in Romania for the next nine months. It's going to be an experience.

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Brian Spears @briankspears.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Man, if Zach Nunn and Marianette Miller Meeks are voting for this in hopes of looking bipartisan and getting some distance from Trump in Iowa, they’re cooked. We’re flipping those two seats.

Anthony Adragna @AnthonyAdragna
News: Here are the seven House Republicans who just backed a war powers resolution on Iran led by @RepMoulton.
ー @RepTomBarrett
一 @WarrenDavidson
— @RepBrianFitz
- @NancyMace*
—@RepThomasMassie
-@ReMMM*
— @ZachNunn*
* first time backer
clerk.house.gov/evs/2026/roll3.
10:40 PM • Sep 15, 2026 • 1,054 Views
G...

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Brian Spears @briankspears.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

They would look even more disapprovingly at me if they had any idea just how many flights they’ll be on today.

My two dogs, a white terrier mix named Carson and a black terrier mix named Guillermo del Toto, sit in their carriers at the airport for the first leg of their epic journey that will involve four flights and two continents as we make our way to Romania for the next nine months.

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✪ Beware the Gray Ghost ✪ @jongraywb.blacksky.app · 15/09/2026

What a powerfully stupid time to be alive.

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Brian Spears @briankspears.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

One of the big problems with these tools is that they promise to save you time and work both in the speed in producing the final product and in the planning, so employers expect higher productivity. But the products can’t come through with that on either count and so we wind up with this mess.

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Brian Spears @briankspears.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

By this time tomorrow I should be changing planes for the first of three times as my family and I make our way to Romania where my wife will be a Fulbright Scholar this year. I am contemplating anxiety medications right now.

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Brian Spears @briankspears.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Make a band edible: Better Than Eggs-ra

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Brian Spears @briankspears.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

My latest post for my Patreon, Eating Popeyes in Romania. This is more personal history. It's also the last free one of this length I'll be posting. The $5 per month tier gets you access to everything I post, and for $10, you'll also get a handwritten postcard from Romania mailed to you each month.

patreon.com

How I Got Here | Brian Spears

In the summer of 1976, when I was 7 years old, my family moved from Lake Jackson, Texas, a suburb of Houston, to Big Branch, Louisiana, an u

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Brian Spears @briankspears.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

El Assico is living up to its reputation I see

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