iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Reminded by NYT’s Word of the Day of my first experience with the writing of Nicholson Baker, which made such an impression on me and turned me into a forever-fan of his imagination and precise, evocative language.

NYT Crossplay Header
Word of the Day
FERMATA spelled out with gameplay tiles.

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Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

My thoughts exactly.

IG reels post of Shailene Woodley at Emmys red carpets in voluminous gold sequined pants and ill-fitting, plunging, sky blue sleeveless top, burgundy opera-length (p)leather(?) gloves, hideous statement necklace, and severely pulled back, middle-parted hair. Caption reads: No.

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Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

L’shanah tovah 🍎 🍯 🕊️ ❤️

Cartoon-like color illustration of pomegranates, a shofar, an apple, and a jar of honey.

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Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Now, if this bronze Etruscan baby were painted orange and given a blond swoop of forelock…

Swaddled infant, [grumpy / gassy-looking and somewhat resembling DJT.]
Etruscan, San Casciano dei Bagni, Bagno Grande, end of 3rd-2nd century BC
Bronze
San Casciano dei Bagni

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Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Some signage from the Etrucans at Legion of Honor in SF @famsf.bsky.social

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Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Cauldrons, pyxis, and compotes.

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Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

This one reminded me of Matisse’s “Dance”

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Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Earthenware. I like the sense of circumnavigate movement around many of these wine mixing bowls.

Red-figure stamnos (mixing or storage jar)
Vatican Group G 113
Etruscan, Vulci, 360-350 BC
Terracotta
Side A: Griffinomachy

The image on this Etruscan red-figure stamnos developed from Attic Greek vase-painting technique. It depicts a scene from Greek mythology; the young man fighting a griffin is based on the legendary battle between the one-eyed Arimasps attempting to steal the Scythian gold and the griffins guarding it.
Arimasps usually wear clothes that mark them as uncivilized, unlike the young man here, who is nude except for his helmet.

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Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Etruscan jewelry 😍

1. Necklace with
alternating pendants
and beads
Etruscan, 5th century BC
Gold and faience (beads)
Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago,
H. N. Higinbotham (Gift, Purchase)

2. Pair of dress clasps
Etruscan, 5th-3rd
century BC
Gold and enamel
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco,
California Midwinter International
Exposition, through M. H. de Young

3. Pair of earrings
Etruscan, 5th-3rd century BC
Gold and blue glass
Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago,
H. N. Higinbotham (Gift, Purchase), 1941

4. Pair of earrings "a baule" Etruscan, second half of 6th century BC
Gold
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California
Midwinter International Exposition, through
M. H. de Young

5. Necklace
Cypriot (glass) and Etruscan
(gold),
mid-5th century BC
Gold and glass
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California
Midwinter International Exposition, through M. H.
de Young

6. Necklace with pendants
Etruscan, Narce, Monte
Cerreto necropolis,
Tomb of Gold, ca. 650 BC
Gold
Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia, Rome

Necklace with
alternating pendants
and beads
Etruscan, 5th century BC
Gold and faience (beads)
Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago,
H. N. Higinbotham (Gift, Purchase)

Detail, Necklace
Cypriot (glass) and Etruscan
(gold),
mid-5th century BC
Gold and glass

Close-up, Pair of earrings
Etruscan, 5th-3rd century BC
Gold and blue glass

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Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

More Etruscan writing and inscriptions. I’m fascinated by this “lost” language, subsumed by Latin once the Romans came to power.

Skyphos (two-handled drinking cup)
Etruscan, Caere (modern Cerveteri), Sorbo necropolis, Regolini-Galassi
Tomb, 675-650 BC
Silver
Inscription (at foot): larthia [(I am) of Larth/ I belong to Larth]
Musei Vaticani, Museo Gregoriano Etrusco, Vatican City

Hemispherical cup
Etruscan, Caere (modern Cerveteri), Sorbo necropolis, Regolini-Galassi
Tomb, 675-650 BC
Silver
Inscription (below the rim): larthia [(1 am) of Larth / I belong to Larth]
Musei Vaticani, Museo Gregoriano Etrusco, Vatican City

Fragment detail of the Liber linteus zagrabiensis (Linen book of Zagreb), the longest-surviving Etruscan text and the only known linen manu-script. Dating to the mid-third century BC, it is considered Europe's oldest book. Purchased in Alexandria in 1848 and brought to Zagreb, Croatia, in 1867, the manuscript was identified as Etruscan in 1892.
Current scholarship indicates that it lists ritual sacrifices and prayers in a calendar format.
The incomplete preservation of the Liber lintes is the result of its history. The original linen sheet, which contained the full text, was cut into strips and repurposed as wrappings for an Egyptian mummy during the Ptolemaic Dynasty, its secondary use ultimately saving the book due to Egypt's dry climate.

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Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Amazing to see this artifact of Etruscan augury, the Liver of Piacenza. Has never before left Italy (!). Each zone of the liver is inscribed with deity’s name.

Model of a sheep's liver Etruscan, Piacenza, Settima di Gossolengo, end of 2nd-1st
century BC
Bronze
Inscription in Etruscan
Musei Civici di Palazzo Farnese, Museo Archeologico, Piacenza

The Liver of Piacenza
This model of a sheep's liver is a unique Etruscan religious artifact. The life-size bronze model was found near Piacenza and dates to the end of the second century BC. One of the main concerns of Etruscan priests was interpreting the will of the gods by examining the entrails of sacrificed animals, particularly the livers of sheep. This model, probably used for teaching purposes, is arranged into regions corresponding to the domains of specific deities, with each area inscribed with its deity's name. It likely mapped the gods' influence zones and mirrored the organization of the heavens. Unusual features on the sheep's liver were interpreted as messages from designated deities. Priests interpreted these signs and advised appropriate actions, enabling worshippers to align their behavior with the forces of the universe, a central tenet of Etruscan belief.

Close up of the right side of the model.

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Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Quick visit to SF this morning to see ETRUSCANS exhibition at @famsf.bsky.social Still up for another couple of weeks! www.famsf.org/exhibitions/...

Caeretan hydria (water jar)
Attributed to the Eagle Painter, Greek, Caeretan, active
530-500 BC
Etruscan, Caere (modern Cerveteri), 520-510 BC
Terracotta
Heracles and lolaos attacking the Hydra.

Vase in the shape of a cockerel Etruscan, Viterbo, ca. 650-600 BC Terracotta, bucchero
Inscription of the Etruscan alphabet.

Bracelet (armband)
Etruscan, Caere (modern Cerveteri), Sorbo necropolis, Regolini-Galassi
Tomb, 675-650 BC
Gold

Votive figure of Vanth Etruscan or Campanian, found near Mount Vesuvius,
425-400 BC
Bronze

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Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

RIP, Dolly. I got to see her perform live only once back in 2011 at the Hollywood Bowl. She was a complete force of nature.

Dolly Parton, on a stage with acoustic guitar, her signature “Dolly” in lights behind her. July 22, 2011

Dolly Parton singing “Little Saprrow” on stage with array of tall candles projected behind her at the Hollywood Bowl. July 22, 2011.

Dolly on stage with a big 9 to 5 projected behind her in tangerine, teal, and hot pink.

Pre-show view of audience and clam shell at the Hollywood Bowl for Dolly Parton concert. July 22, 2011.

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Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Quote skeet with a game released in the year you were born

• run adven
WELCOME TO ADVENTURE!! WOULD YOU LIKE INSTRUCTIONS?
yes
SOMEWHERE NEARBY IS COLOSSAL CAVE, WHERE OTHERS HAVE FOUND FORTUNES IN TREASURE AND GOLD, THOUGH IT IS RUMORED THAT SOME WHO ENTER ARE NEVER SEEN AGAIN. MAGIC IS SAID TO WORK IN THE CAVE. I WILL BE YOUR EYES AND HANDS. DIRECT ME WITH COMMANDS OF 1 OR 2 WORDS. I SHOULD WARN YOU THAT I LOOK AT ONLY THE FIRST FIVE LETTERS OF EACH WORD, SO YOU'LL HAVE TO ENTER "NORTHEAST" AS "NE" TO DISTINGUISH IT FROM "NORTH".
(SHOULD YOU GET STUCK, TYPE "HELP" FOR SOME GENERAL HINTS. FOR INFORMATION ON HOW TO END YOUR ADVENTURE, ETC., TYPE "INFO".)
-－

YOU ARE STANDING AT THE END OF & ROAD BEFORE A SMALL BRICK BUILDING.
AROUND YOU IS A FOREST. & SMALL STREAM FLOWS OUT OF THE BUILDING AND DOWN & GULLY.
east
YOU ARE INSIDE A BUILDING, A WELL HOUSE FOR A LARGE SPRING.
THERE ARE SOME KEYS ON THE GROUND HERE.
THERE IS A SHINY BRASS LAMP NEARBY.
THERE IS FOOD HERE.

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Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

I regret to inform you that… www.instagram.com/p/DcGoMgFGxw...

Title: The new Herman Melville statue in
New Bedford is... hot.

Boston Globe feature by Meredith Goldstein

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Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Wonder whether this is *really* an exclusive, or just something being said in tribute to Deadline / Nikki Finke often claiming to haves exclusives. 😂 lamaterial.com/p/nikki-fink...

Teaser blurb from LA Material email

Headline: For decades, Nikki Finke was
Hollywood's most-feared journalist.

The entertainment reporter's bruising commentary made her one of the most-read - and in some quarters, most-despised — journalists in town. When she died in 2022, she left behind an
unpublished book that features her telling of Hollywood history. This week, we exclusively revealed that her estate is shopping the manuscript.

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Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Picking up birthday cake for mom’s 83rd at the local Filipino bakery.

2100

Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Finally making the nostos with Nolan to Ithaca.

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Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Instead, we got Trump Dump State Fair.

“Trump Arch with some beautiful new yellow expanding foam”

Trump l’oeil. “They got the Wile E Coyote wallpaper aTrump's State Fair.”

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Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

A real President would’ve had something constructed on the scale of the Chicago World’s Fair with semi-permanent structures that could dazzle and endure for months and months.

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Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

I collected Freyja’s ashes this morning. I wasn’t expecting the memento of her paw print. Totally lost it when I opened the envelope with that inside. Now she’s with our other dogs in the the living room (the ones who aren’t buried in the backyard), Marty and Shadow.

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Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

So relieved. Surgeon said it was a successful procedure, no complications. My mom will stay overnight for observation as originally planned and be released to my care tomorrow. I’ll have a huge assist from my brother, an RN, too, over the next several weeks. Thank you for all the good vibes! 💗✨

Electronic update board in hospital waiting room: “Patient is in recovery.”

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Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Please give a thought to my mom undergoing total shoulder replacement (rTSA) surgery this afternoon. Here she is surrounded by her three grandchildren (my nephews) at her 80th birthday celebration a few years ago.

150

Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Thank you, Stephen. 🙏❤️ She was my gorgeous, golden-eyed, midnight-hued wolf-pet. I’ll remember her luminous fur, eyes, and spirit forever.

030

Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Happier times. Freyja of the shiny black fur, long limbs, shaggy tail, tall ears, pointy snoot, narrow chest, high voice, searching eyes, and playful soul.

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Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Freyja at the dog park, running in slo-mo.

020

Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

The dog in Tarkovsky’s _Stalker_ looks just like Freyja. (@joshuarothes.bsky.social already knows this.)

Still from Stalker: a man lies on his side in a canal with a few inches of water as a black German shepherd dog rushes up to him.

120

Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Some context, the short version:

It's a hard day for me here. I had to put my dog, Freyja, to sleep last night. Very sudden. I thought she was just in need of some antibiotics for a possible UTI, but the emergency vet discovered a mass occluding her urethra. Even with surgery, prognosis not good. Without, her bladder was filling and painful unless hospitalized. Not wanting to prolong her suffering, I opted to say goodbye at 3 am this morning. She was not yet 7 years old. She was mine for 6 years 5 months 11 days. Not enough.

230

Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

The end of her last day. I watched the sun rise and set for her. Sat under the moon for her. Breathed in the cool night air for her. Drank in the scents for her.

Dusky sunset / crescent moon in blue hour sky

Crescent moon hangs fuzzily behind citrus tree branches heavy with last years fruit and leaves

Silver crescent moon among silhouettes of tropical trees against a lavender sky

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Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

There’s such a lovely evening night and cool breeze outside. I took Pi out for a Freyja memorial stroll. She will inherit all Freyja’s walkies with me.

1101

Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Last pic of Freyja before she left this plane at 3:18 am. I had to make the hard decision no dog owner wants to, but that most of us have to face at the very end. Rest in peace, my sweet pet.

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Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Did my civic duty. 🗳️ #CAprimary

White metal County of Santa Clara Registrar of Voters Official Ballot Drop Box on caster wheels, secured to a lamp post in a library parking lot on a sunny, blue sky day Sunday afternoon.

140

Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

Ootions at Barebottle Brewery in Santa Clara. 🍻

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Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

Concordance in the feed.

Right below Karl’s “Nothing but guys” post, @mobydickatsea.bsky.social post appears in my feed: “we eighteen men with our thirty-six arms, and one hundred and eighty thumbs and fingers, slowly toiled hour after hour.”

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Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

I mean, it kind of did, over time. Not all at once.

Reagan in western attire and white cowboy hat beside Gorbachev in a white cowboy hat, smiling, in easy conversation with one another.

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Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

Nova lox, cream cheeses, red onion, capers 🥯

All the above ingredients placed atop two halves of a toasted bagel on a blue and white dish.

170

Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Didn’t realize this guy was running for Senate in Texas as a Dem.

030

Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

I see them listed elsewhere in a list of candidates on page 8. I assume neither submitted candidate statements for inclusion in the booklet.

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Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Neither Tom Steyer nor Xavier Becerra appear in this CA election booklet. (??) There’s a blank spot where maybe Swalwell used to be. (?) Betty Yee’s candidate statement still appears, bc she just dropped out in the last week. And, as usual, a bunch of kooks with no party affiliation and no chance.

Front cover of the California Primary Election Guide Booklet from the Secretary of State, Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D.
Election Day is Tuesday, June 2, 2026
Don’t forget to vote!

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Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

ex-Twitter’s “Community Standards and Safety” is terrible, but Meta runs a close second. This user’s charming handle should’ve been a tip off about their racial invective-laden comment I reported.

We reviewed your report and found that fuck_you_and_your_grandma11's comment does not go against our Community Standards. 5h

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Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

Also, looking at just the titles of articles in ToC, wasn’t sure whether this was some kind of subtle meta commentary by the editors of the magazine.

Titles of articles in table of contents:

*Endure and evolve
*How to rebuild a pond
*Let the games begin
*Talking out of both side of your mouth
*Money talks
*The measure of an idea
*Think pieces

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Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

@carlosfnorena.bsky.social Your outrage echos my reaction to reading this interview with UChicago President Paul Alivisatos in the latest issue of the alumni magazine. Namely, cynical snort followed by sigh of consternation, if not defeat.

Q: What is the vision for education and for innovating in that aspect of the University's work?

A: We should always hold fast to teaching students how to think, not what to think. This is a moment of profound change and great opportunity in this regard. In the years ahead, we will excel at teaching students to think with machines and to never lose sight of how to think without them.
With artificial intelligence, we are entering a period in which computational and statistical modes of thought will shape and indeed accelerate nearly every domain of inquiry. To be educated in this era means learning to use computational and statistical modes of thought well enough to deploy them ethically, skeptically, and ambitiously. This is where the work of educating students about how to think with machines and how to think without them becomes so critical.
Our task is to teach students not simply to use these tools but to understand them deeply enough to judge them critically, deploy them creatively, and preserve the distinctly human habits of mind that make genuine inquiry possible.
Some courses will integrate these tools deeply, and in some cases help students develop new ones.
Other courses will deliberately set them aside. The point is that faculty should be able to design the right intellectual environment for the learning they are trying to cultivate, while students learn to move ethically and intelligently across those different settings.

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Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

Opening Day Negroni. Pre-celebrating first W of the season. #LetsGoDodgers 💙

AG Perino Sweet Vermouth, Emptess 1908 Indugo Gin, Campari on countertop behind a rocks glass mixed Negroni w/ un-aesthetically cut clementine wedge.

010

Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

Dinner location this evening is just a short hop away from “the best Indian astrologer and psychic in California.” (!!) Bold claim.

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Xina @ciw.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Double WordleBot whammied today. (New badge unlocked?)

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