iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Yesterday’s NYT Connections had a huge hint to the purple category (Greek letters inside phrases) in the top row: DELTA HIDDEN INSIDE MODEL TANK. Bet Wyna loved coming up with that!

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 12h

My college class group chat was talking about this guy who walked in and delivered a bomb threat during one of our finals and this detail in the news report (by @vermontgmg.bsky.social and Adam Lalley) was funny to think about today - the guy wanted a cell phone to call the police and no one had one

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 29/09/2026

2. Diagnosing how to make my Lenovo laptop work after my son dropped it, leaving the screen dangling and nothing working. It involved opening the laptop casing and removing the display cable. No actual guide on how to do this existed in Google

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 26/09/2026

Digitising my DVD collection to create a home media server and it’s been a trip down memory lane. I had forgotten how much I loved This Life

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 18/09/2026

I added a fun feature to my reading journal app that allows me to capture my bookshelf. The practical part is this allows me to stop accidentally buying 2 copies of the same book. The fun part is I can also scan books into the app with a barcode scanner. Beep! New book in. Beep! Beep!

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 17/09/2026

Good to see Mark Carney and Andy Burnham celebrate today’s Everton goal

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 16/09/2026

I made exactly one (1) joke a couple of years ago about the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and now autocorrect thinks American Pest should be Mercian Pest like I’m Alfred the Great talking about Ceolwulf II

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 09/09/2026

I like that today’s NYT Connections board has words 16 to 1 letter long in descending order

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 08/09/2026

Decided to solve the NYT Tuesday puzzle normally instead of downs-only and set my Tuesday puzzle time record, even with few fat finger typos. 2:33

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 04/09/2026

I’m curious about what the authors of this paper think the policy implications here should be, if schools like Kumon significantly improve math and reading scores for lower costs than public spending, but do so mostly for the wealthier families that purchase tutoring

Kumon Up:
Private
Tutoring
Centers and Student
Achievement
Joshua Goodman &
Samuel Nitkin
SHARE
in
WORKING PAPER 35671
DOI 10.3386/w35671
ISSUE DATE August 2026

Private tutoring chains like Kumon and Sylvan have expanded rapidly in recent decades.
Combining data on business locations, household spending, and district test scores, we study who uses these centers and how they affect academic skills. Nearly half of tutoring users are from the top income decile, with Asian and White households five and two times as likely to purchase tutoring as Black and Hispanic households. A staggered differences-in-differences design shows the opening of a district's first chain center raises district-wide math and reading scores by 0.02-0.03 standard deviations, at a much lower cost than public spending typically producing similar gains. Math effects are largest for White and Asian students, so that center entry widens racial achievement gaps, though less so in more racially integrated districts. These private investments help their users, deepen educational inequality, and shape outcomes by which state accountability systems and families judge schools.

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 03/09/2026

RIP Gloria Steinem, whose death I learned about from seeing the dedication in My Life on the Road posted today. A very moving dedication

THIS BOOK IS
DEDICATED TO:
Dr. John Sharpe of London, who in 1957, a decade before physicians in England could legally perform an abortion for any reason other than the health of the woman, took the considerable risk of referring for an abortion a twenty-two-year-old American on her way to India.
Knowing only that she had broken an engagement at home to seek an unknown fate, he said, "You must promise me two things. First, you will not tell anyone my name. Second, you will do what you want to do with your life."
Dear Dr. Sharpe, I believe you, who knew the law was unjust,
would not mind if I say this so long after your death:
I've done the best I could with my life.
This book is for you.

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 03/09/2026

Going down the rabbit hole of micro dramas it turns out there’s a whole set of dramas about alphas including “Fated to My Homeless Billionaire Alpha” and “Mated to the Alpha and His Beta”

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 03/09/2026

Been on a bit of a Steve Cavanagh binge ever since my mystery and thriller book club chose Fifty-Fifty as its book for last month. Eddie Flynn as the swashbuckling lawyer who defends the innocent in outlandish crimes with gratuitous murders along the way seems to be the common theme

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 02/09/2026

In case you were interested in other microdramas, there’s also Fated To My Forbidden Alpha, Do Not Disturb: Lady Boss in Disguise!, Wings of Fire: The Dragon Slayer is My Ex-Lover, Duke With Benefits, The Call Boy I Met in Paris, and Love Me, Bite Me

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 02/09/2026

There’s a category called Microdramas on Peacock and every show just looks bizarre. Like the streaming equivalent of a B-movie or pulp fiction, except without the kitsch/camp

Peacock Microdramas

STRAIGHT
A PREGNANCY
Straight A Pregnancy

30 DAYS
TILL I MARRY
MY HUSBAND'S
NEMESIS
30 Days Til I Marry My Hus...

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 02/09/2026

Back when I was an editor, I used to nitpick about italicised full stops / periods. They changed the spacing ever so slightly, but enough to be noticeable. Especially obvious if the typeface used a square instead of a circle for the full stop. Here’s an example I created using Verdana

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 31/08/2026

I’ll abandon the books mega-thread and just post about each book I’ve read. Re-read Song of Achilles after watching the Odyssey. The Patroclus / Achilles relationship I found still as beautifully delineated as ever, but this time around I found Briseis even more compelling & was incensed by Pyrrhus

Cover saying;

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

The
SONG OF ACHILLES

A NOVEL

MADELINE MILLER

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 30/08/2026

I learned today, after a total of almost 20 years or so in America, that apparently you Americans have a different meaning of “oblong” from me and from Brits and most of the rest of the English-speaking world

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 27/08/2026

Anyway I was following a discussion of covers that turn you off (ha) from reading a book, but that reminder of Hujar was a reminder of his very striking photo of his friend and former lover David Wojnarowicz

Peter Hujar
David Wojnarowicz
1981
Gelatin silver print
On view
MoMA, Floor 2, 202

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 27/08/2026

Even if you know the cover of Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life, you may not know the image is a 1969 photo by Peter Hujar, titled Orgasmic Man

Book cover featuring a black and white photo of a man, saying

MAN BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST

A LITTLE LIFE

HANYA YANAGIHARA

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 23/08/2026

Free association time: The Browns are in Cleveland, Ohio. McKinley is from Ohio. Mt McKinley was renamed Denali. Therefore the Browns are living in Denali.

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 21/08/2026

On the one hand, targeted ads can be creepy. On the other hand, sometimes they let you know the dog art Etsy store has the vintage print you didn’t even know you needed

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 21/08/2026

That’s right, I made a Chashnik reference instead of going with the more obvious Malevich

Il'ya Chashnik
Suprematism1920

https://collections-images.lacma.org/images/31549/31549-1-primary.webp

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 19/08/2026

Okay if I’m going to have insomnia at least I can solve the first NYT Spelling Bee with the -ER letter combination

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 19/08/2026

Today’s NYT Spelling Bee - first time I’ve seen E and R together!

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 19/08/2026

Daughter’s bear sleeping with the pillow and blanket I made for it using a pair of old socks that had holes in the heels. Much better use of my sewing materials than darning the holes

Photo of a small teddy bear lying on a tiny pillow and covered by a tiny blanket

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 19/08/2026

I saw this in the DC subreddit and I cannot emphasise enough just how much I want this Metro wand

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 18/08/2026

Starting a new mega-thread for books read as the previous one was getting unwieldy. Finished Patrick Radden Keefe's London Falling. Definitely my favourite nonfiction book this year. I enjoyed the original New Yorker article that was the basis of this book, and Keefe expanded it into so much more

Cover of London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family's Search for Truth by Patrick Redden Keefe

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 15/08/2026

Saturday NYTXW went super smoothly. Some really nice answers too. Now to look up the meanings of “trou normand” and 2-Down. 6:31

Screenshot of NYT Crosswors completion screen saying: Congratulations!
You finished a Saturday puzzle in
6:31
* 3 Day Streak
4 8:53 Faster Than Your Average
Want to play another crossword?
Visit the Archive.
Play The Midi. Today's theme:
"Land of Oz"
>

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 15/08/2026

The Mamdani name is everywhere. I’m reading Patrick Radden Keefe’s excellent London Falling, and suddenly Zohran’s dad is being quoted

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 15/08/2026

Life takes unexpected turns. I don’t remember what I thought my 40s would be like when I was younger, but I don’t think I envisioned spending Friday nights sewing little pillows for my kids’ stuffed toys to sleep on

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 13/08/2026

Count Binface got asked by an American interviewer to put his position in American political terms and this was the result… (Via WokeratiMarty on Twitter)

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 12/08/2026

Classic Singaporean social media thread: trying to figure out where a hospital’s food comes from because it tastes so good

Reddit thread from r/askSingapore:

u/enukimushruum • 4h
Any insiders know where Tan Tock Seng hospital chocolate muffin is from

Maybe my standards are low but it's probably the densest moistest chocolate muffin Ive ever had does anyone know
个

Conscious-Wear2645 • 4h
Very high chance its made in-house. Just like CGH inpatient food has a really good brownie too.
... Reply

chermineee • 4h
Made in-house!
... Reply

MangoDangoLango • 4h
Made in house probably. I had some really good pizza slice and chocolate cake when my kiddo was hospitalised too
… Reply

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 11/08/2026

Similarly, violent crime has dropped so much in Philadelphia (where people were screaming that violent crime would rise with the election of Larry Krasner) that Philly homicide detectives now have the time and resources to work through their backlog of cold cases

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 11/08/2026

One of my favourite comments I've seen from Reddit - about how in online debates, if it's a familiar debate, people often slot your comments into the most common agreed-upon side that they think you slot into

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 11/08/2026

Not true, I also remember when he announced his marriage using what seemed to be a police sketch artist drawing

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 10/08/2026

Finished Ally Condie’s The Girls Trip today. I was looking forward to this because I enjoyed The Unwedding, but this book was a mess. The entire reason for the trip turns out to be ridiculous, and there doesn’t seem to be any reason Ash keeps a certain secret from Caro until the point it is revealed

Book cover

ALLY CONDIE
#1 New York Times Bestselling Author of The Unwedding
THE GIRLS TRIP

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 09/08/2026

Found out Lego does special partnerships with other Danish firms. Now I want to see a Lego Ozempic pen injector and a Lego Royal Dansk butter cookie tin

Photo of a Lego Maersk Dual-Fuel
Container Vessel
1516 pcs/pzs
$149.99

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 08/08/2026

No matter how many times I read this poem it always gets to me

The Two-headed Calf
BY LAURA GILPIN

Tomorrow when the farm boys find this
freak of nature, they will wrap his body
in newspaper and carry him to the museum.

But tonight he is alive and in the north
field with his mother. It is a perfect
summer evening: the moon rising over
the orchard, the wind in the grass.
And as he stares into the sky, there
are twice as many stars as usual.

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 07/08/2026

One thing interesting about this young lady singing the anthem is that she emphasises the “our flag was still there” line. It’s so much the point of Key’s lyrics – the whole song is about checking whether our flag is still there, and if it yet waves. Yet many other singers emphasise the line before…

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 07/08/2026

Interesting note from a @inquirer.com story about an arrest this week for a 2014 murder: violent crime in Philadelphia has declined so much that homicide detectives have started going through the backlog of unsolved cases to solve cold cases apple.news/A4FnS7AxFTh2...

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 06/08/2026

Random fact: Singapore’s football association is the oldest in Asia and the 8th oldest in the world, above Argentina.

Table showing top 10 oldest football federations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_football_associations_by_date_of_foundation

Rank
Football Association /
Federation
Year
Founded
Country
Continent

The Football
Association (The FA)
1863
England
Europe
2
Scottish Football
Association (SA)
1873
Scotland
Europe
3
Football Association of
Wales (FAW)
1876
Wales
Europe
4
Irish Football
Association (IFA)
1880
Northern Ireland
Europe
5
Danish Football
Association (DBU)
1889
Denmark
Europe

Royal Dutch Football
Association (KNVB)
1889
Netherlands
Europe

New Zealand Football (NZF)
1891
New Zealand Oceania

8
Football Association of Singapore (FAS)
1892
Singapore
Asia
9
Argentine Football Association (AFA)
1893
Argentina
South America
10
Royal Belgian Football
Association (RBFA)
1895
Belgium
Europe

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 03/08/2026

An example of UI that is trying to be helpful but ends up being annoying is when iPhones capitalise the next word when entering in names or addresses for a contact... I always invariably hit the shift and accidentally de-capitalise the name because no other name-input form does that

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 31/07/2026

POMPE POMPE II: OUT OF TIME POMPE III: THE FLOOR IS LAVA

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 31/07/2026

The Tom Holland one is a total head scratcher until you see the following photo

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 31/07/2026

Zendaya and Tom Holland drawing each other always makes me laugh

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 31/07/2026

Was so happy to find this recording of the Polka Dot Door theme song. One of the shows I watched quite a bit as part of my raised-by-TV childhood. IIRC it either came before or after Rainbow

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 30/07/2026

Looks like CONCACAF is joining UEFA in opposing the FIFA proposal to sell shares of the World Cup. For reference, North America and the Caribbean makes up about 20% of World Cup broadcasting rights revenue, and UEFA about 32%. So that's over half of all broadcasting revenue against the proposal

Statement on behalf of Concacaf and its 41 Member Associations
Concacaf is a confederation united by the love of our game, where football comes first. Guided by this philosophy over the past ten years we have built, from the ground up, an organization founded on service, transparent governance, and the long-term stewardship of football.

History has shown FIFA and the football family what happens when the custodians of the game lose sight of these values.

With this in mind, Concacaf today convened a meeting of the presidents of its 41 Member Associations, together with its President, Council members, and its FIFA Council members, to discuss a proposal developed and presented by the FIFA President to establish ‘FIFA Forward Enterprise’ and sell interests in the FIFA World Cup to private investors.

During the meeting, the membership expressed deep concerns about the lack of due process surrounding the proposal, the artificially short deadline imposed, and the absence of any review or approval by the relevant FIFA governance bodies. In addition, the need for private equity investment to fund new and existing FIFA Forward programs following the most profitable FIFA World Cup in history was questioned.

The discussion reinforced the need for greater transparency and proper governance.

For these reasons, Concacaf and its 41 Member Associations have:

Rejected the proposal;
Tasked their FIFA Council Members with engaging FIFA to determine how existing vast FIFA reserves could be used to increase FIFA Forward funding for football development across our region; and
Tasked their FIFA Council Members with instructing the FIFA President to ensure that any matter follows the proper governance processes via staff and FIFA Council, in accordance with the FIFA Statutes.
Through these actions, Concacaf reaffirms that football's future—and its greatest asset—must remain in the hands of our football family.

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 30/07/2026

This month I’m trying not to be the type of reader who only likes the beginning of things - completed 3 novels that I started in early June, and finished another 4 books I started this month.

Still from Mad Men, showing Faye, holding a phone handset and speaking to Don Draper, saying “Well, I hope you're very happy,
and I hope she knows you only like the beginnings of things.”

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Daryl Sng @darylsng.com · 30/07/2026

I finally finished Emma Jane Unsworth’s Grown Ups. First third was a bit of a slog, as Jenny, the protagonist, is every cliche of an Instagram influencer wannabe, and super unlikeable. Plus she has a troubled relationship with a flighty palm-reading mother and it was starting to sound cliched

Cover of novel, saying

"TENDER."
"INCREDIBLE.*
JESSIE BURTON
CANDICE CARTY-WILLIAMS
"DAZZLING."
MARIAN KEYES
GROWN UPS
A NOVEL
EMMA JANE UNSWORTH

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