iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 3h

Ehhh, it's kind of a thing. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_...

en.wikipedia.org

000

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 13h

I had the same thought. A screaming fake.

100

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 14h

My jaw was on the floor throughout THE SPINE OF NIGHT. It's fully animated, which might not be what you want, and it's sword-and-sorcery fantasy as much as horror, but it has some cosmically unsettling sequences. I was surprised it didn't attract a bigger following. But yes, Kwaidan is the greatest

040

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 14h

When YOU start a war, it will therefore be a professional, high-standard operation, and I for one am excited to see what you choose in terms of targets, goals, strategies... No, you know what, following up on this thought will do that thing where people get in trouble for talking.

020

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 22h

RETURN TO OZ (1985), streaming now on Disney+

110

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

You do not get to be on the left and be a Nazi. You do not get to be on the left and be a Nazi. Who cares how Nazis vote. You do not tolerate Nazis. You destroy Nazis. Jesus fucking Christ

000

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

**written in German** Literal Nazis on the left? Fuck no. Zero tolerance for antisemitism. There is no tent, no electoral calculus that is worth it.

000

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Anytime you're a dad and you go out in public with kids sans wife, you tend to get weird reactions. People don't expect it, and that's insane, because it happens all the time and we dads all comment on having this experience. So it's a thing that's normal but people aren't normal about it.

080

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

DuckDuckGo is just as good with results, no learning curve with the UI, and it is very easy to turn off all AI.

050

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Reagan and the peacekeeping force in Lebanon was a foundational example. Clinton and troops in Somalia after Mogadishu. And then Clinton and Bush both did not respond to the Cole attack.

0210

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

It's also, uh, I hate to say it and sound like a hawk, a really bad strategy. Pulling back after terrorist attacks on bases and embassies in the 80s and 90s was a thing that showed al Qaeda their strategy was working.

1393

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I think this is the best of many fine arguments in favor of term minutes. Right now there are many Republicans who would vote against all of this, but won't because of webs of deals and debts to other Republicans, on top of the usual concerns about reelection.

010

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

My sister and I made it through one episode. She said "How did they make Galadriel a loose cannon cop who has to turn in her badge and gun?" and that was it for us.

110

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Dang, I was accidentally close to a haiku there. How about: A little weathered But still here in October Butterfly and beam

020

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

A little weathered but still holding up. Butterfly and beam in October.

110

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

They're so progressive for a Texas institution, they allow Plato!

1100

Reposted by David A. Conrad, Ph.D.

Movies Silently @moviessilently.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

EYE’s channel has been scrubbed from search results and those bastards at Google did it during the Pordenone silent film festival too 😡 I still want to know what “violation” an archive posting mostly pre-1920 films committed

514039

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

This is why everyone needs to switch to DuckDuckGo until Google allows those summaries to be turned off by the user.

020

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

It's the H-Bomb argument all over again.

010

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

This guy again, and again, and again. Why still here? Why not dragged back to hell years ago as one of Satan's failsons?

Damien in the original The Omen, flanked by Lee Remick and Gregory Peck, a dead-ringer for Tucker Carlson

000

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

A kid in one of my classes perked up when I mentioned gambling (in the context of a history lecture), so I told him Warren Buffett's quote about it being a tax on ignorance. Seems like the kind of quote that haunts you for years, hopefully.

020

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I remember watching the documentary The Dissident, which depicts a Jeff Bezos who was *seemingly* angry about Jamal's death and willing to call for justice. That must have lasted about a week, if it was authentic at all.

010

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Yasunari Kawabata? I don't think of him as a war collaborator, but I don't know his life or work very deeply. Go on?

100

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Contact YouTube, get them to restore the account of Amsterdam's EYE Filmmuseum. I've you've ever used YouTube, chances are you know how often their "moderation" gets it flagrantly wrong. Tell them! YouTube, Settings, Feedback.

042

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I just sent them feedback via their Feedback form. Bottom of Settings.

040

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I've been to that museum! Located right on the IJ. YouTube will presumably say an algorithm got it wrong, but their algorithm regularly gets it wrong. Time to put adult humans in charge there.

170

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Or since you're a big social media account and it's Halloween season, you could call it "SpOoOkY Nazi BOOar ☠️🥧", it might still work, I dunno.

000

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Yep. My dad was in dementia care at the age of 68, just a couple of years ago, and it's all very geared toward people much older than he was.

130

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I've turned off free ones I've accidentally started.

010

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I'm also confused as to how Trump didn't manage to mess that one up.

000

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

"I don't think we've learned anything… the world today is in a more dangerous situation than it has ever been," Winton said in 2014.

030

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

It's no wonder the word "dirtbag" came so easily to mind. These two look like Jesse Pinkman's friends.

010

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Japan. (In the 1930s the Depression is a big part of the story, but struggles for college grads in the 1920s is an interesting point to mention even in passing.)

Excerpt from Bordwell's Ozu and the Poetics of Cinema: 'Nowadays you have to have knowledge to get ahead' was already anachronistic in 1923. By the early 1930s, there was a huge oversupply of college graduates, and in 1936, 44 per cent of graduates could not get jobs. Typically the major companies recruited their staffs from only a few prestigious schools.

021

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

(I mean, I love Ryan North's Dinosaur Comics, and it's the same handful of clipart images for over 20 years now.) (Everyone was posting about the great ASW yesterday and it's, what, stock photos?)

000

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I know this is a crazy analogy to make, nobody should make it, but Art Spiegelman drew extremely simple little mice and (deservedly) won a Pulitzer. I think Randall Munroe is (deservedly) taken seriously, and it's literal stick figs. The story does most of the lifting IMO, and WHN has that for days.

100

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Why was this seller letting Muse do this AND still telling Muse not to do it again UNLESS Muse checks with him first? Do not use Muse to interface with people! My sympathy level is very low here, but my anger, like Usman's, is high.

1750

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

"No one is off the table" Looks like literally everyone is back on the menu, boys

010

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

(Of course it doesn't have Dolly's subversiveness, but that's something you don't get from a single Dolly hit anyway. It's a cumulative thing. "Two Doors Down" is magnified by "You're the One That Taught Me How to Swing," etc.)

110

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

We've had far, far worse from this era of absurdly long #1 runs.

110

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

As much as I prefer the plink & jangle of Austin country over whatever Nashville does - and as much as country peaked in the 70s, but what music didn't - I'm not gatekeepy enough to deny a sentimental banger. This isn't Linda, it's Dolly. A little cringe, a little cloying, but catchy and unassuming.

100

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I'll push back on this in a few ways. (I once had my choice of topic for a history term paper and went with cosmic cowboys; I'm weird about country.) First, anyone plausibly analogous to Linda is in rare air. But with Linda it's all about the plaintive cry, and Ella does not have that. HOWEVER...

100

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

And surely better than whatever will beat its run next year.

000

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

A good radio country song! I heard it (here in central Texas) on one of my non-commercial radio stations, either Sun Radio or KUTX, and although obviously polished it fit right in with their usual alt Americana fare. I'm sure it's the best new "longest run" song in many years.

100

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

The only person who specifically should not have a drink on their desk in the workplace is Emilia Clark in that one Game of Thrones scene.

000

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Well, but meanwhile they're ripping into a Black Marxist for too much Black, not enough Marxist.

000

David A. Conrad, Ph.D. @davidaconrad.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I'm not a TV guy or a 21st-century guy, but most of those seem pretty defensible to me. "Bizarre" seems like a bizarre reaction to what seems very typical prestige-normie stuff. Personally my list would have Bluey, Avatar, Over the Garden Wall... but I get it.

150