iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Esvalt earlier: “Some scientists argue civilization-threatening bioweapons are a fantasy. I wish they were correct, and that I've wasted years building defences.”

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“Vaccines will be ineffective against competently designed pandemic weapons. Russia may not be competent yet, but future AI will democratize competence. “We should stockpile pandemic-proof PPE and install germicidal far-UV and glycol misters in public spaces.”

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“None of this means the Irkutsk pathogen will cause a pandemic. “But the response clearly indicates that Russia believes an epidemic is possible – and that the responsible agent is likely a pandemic weapon or otherwise embarrassing for the government.

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“Russian authorities have surely sequenced the Irkutsk pathogen, but refuse to identify it. “Physical lockdown indicates it cannot be controlled with prophylactic antibiotics, implying engineered pan-resistance or that it isn't plague at all.

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alyson “october” greaves @badambulist.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

MIT Media Lab’s Kevin Esvalt: “Russia's five-hospital quarantine, FSB involvement, and…hazmat use in response to the death of a single researcher at a weapons-lineage Irkutsk lab are inconsistent with a lab-acquired plague infection, which would have been treated with prophylactic antibiotics.

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It’s so funny to imagine what the UK could be like if it took seriously any of its cultural icons—that aren’t wizards, Shakespeare, or in possession of good fortune but in want of a wife. We could have Tyranid statues at Heathrow. Perhaps a grisly frieze depicting Servitor conversion at Gatwick.

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It's over 75 here, too. Not even all immunosuppressed people are getting it.

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We had our flu shots last week on the NHS. The NHS isn't paying for COVID shots any more except for the very old and very young, so we were going to get our (private) shots today, but the pharmacy was out. Rescheduled for next Monday. Irritating, but no more: the pharmacy is just across the road.

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Someone please reassure me that the industrial machinery for rolling and folding croissants was invented by Gene Wolfe (the father of Pringles) …

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Tip: the convention rates at the Crowne Plaza don't offer much of a discount off the regular rate—I've got a hotel chain loyalty card so I figure I'll just book that way.

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It's quite different to a fan-run SF convention *or* a comiccon: more like a litfic/crime festival. They pay authors a speaking fee and charge for admission to each panel/reading/event. (Although access to public areas including the dealer room is free, and you can buy a weekend all-events pass.)

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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Cymera SF Festival in Edinburgh comes close to this? It's run like a literary festival, only guests of honour get more than 1 panel (ever), the program is strong on the business of writing (not fandom), and it's about 50% writers by volume, so usually 30-60 pros and a large number of aspiring.

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I am sure this is all true. Hawthorn smell and is pollinated by blowflies because remains of Merlin’s body are still rotting in the trunk?

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Joe Slater @joeinaustralia.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Wise visitors refused fairy food: it was tainted with toxic honey made from monkshood, foxglove, and bog rosemary, and made one hallucinate. The introduction of rhododendron gardens in the Victorian era allowed fairies to step up production, with astonishing effects on English literature.

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Petergeist Clines @peterclines.com · 04/10/2026

It's worse than that: the boy bees cum so hard their balls explode and their crotch falls off dragging their intestines out through the hole and then they die messily. Leaving their dick behind. DEATH BY SNU SNU IS REAL!

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Don't want to keep being THAT guy... BUT... If you have any interest at all in this Space Zombies From Mars Kickstarter I keep blabbing on about, today's the LAST DAY for the early bird bundles. They essentially give you free figures when the stretch goals unlock. And I bring this up because...

kickstarter.com

Space Zombies From MARS! Red Dust II.

A 6" action figure line featuring astronauts and zombies. The Nameless Toy Company's first offering in the 'Nameless Universe.'

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Fairies are just a bee species that's discovered aposematic camouflage, which is why they disguise themselves as humans (a large apex predator). Because fashion changes much faster than phenotype they come dressed as Victorian ladies and gentlemen in hoopskirts and top hats. With stingers.

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Chuck Wendig @chuckwendig.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Things I hate about LLMs: that novelists are being challenged to prove they wrote their own work. Things I don't hate about LLMs: that they give me an excuse to put "trap streets" in my work—really obscure archaisms and eldritch neologisms!

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“GOTTA LEARN AI OR BE LEFT BEHIND.” Good. Fuck off! Leave me behind! Enjoy your artbarf rapture, your janky Temu future. I’ll be back here looking at real birds and writing weird, also real, books.

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Former West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt was entirely correct when he called the USSR "Upper Volta with missiles"—and Russia is about 50% of the USSR with an additional 35 years of post-imperial decay on top.

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OK so, I just bought my membership(s) for the 2027 Eastercon in Glasgow at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. I wonder how I will ever make the trip there … (spoiler: I know the Crowne Plaza quite well, been going to cons there since ~1995.)

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