iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

BREAKING: There are *payphones* in the dugouts at MLB games. Are they caught in a time warp or something?

It’s always to a newspaper’s benefit to take advice from @johnmcintyre, but of the advice, this one above all: “Don’t fuck with the crossword.” johnemcintyre.blogspot.com/2026/10/its-...

johnemcintyre.blogspot.com

It's not just the crosswords

Suzanne Loudermilk once posted on Facebook about the two things that most impressed students when I spoke at her Writing for the Media clas...

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Deb Amlen @debamlen.bsky.social · 7h

Is it possible that there is dissent in the cult, sorry, club?

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Deb Amlen @debamlen.bsky.social · 15h

OK, I’m calling it: I am just not a pumpkin spice person.

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mindloftdaily.bsky.social @mindloftdaily.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Today's Stet is live — five sentences, one wrong word each. Spot the slip and fix the copy. @debamlen.bsky.social Play today's puzzle here: mindloftdaily.com/stet

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Deb Amlen @debamlen.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Reporting after a day at the Easton Garlic Festival, where we consumed garlic butter cookies, garlic cannoli, deep fried garlic w/garlic aioli, masala fries with garlic sauce, garlic bread with garlic ricotta dip, black garlic something, and many other things that, shockingly, involved garlic.

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Ben Zimmer @benzimmer.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I spoke to @vulture.com about the nerdy pastime of "gridspotting," tracking down the provenance of crosswords in movies and TV shows.

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Deb Amlen @debamlen.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Love that stuff … I don’t blame you!

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Deb Amlen @debamlen.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Tamarind Carolina Reaper hot sauce. I had to taste this all the way through the process and now my pores hurt. I think I’m going to call this FAFO Sauce. Tamarind concentrate, water, apple cider vinegar, roasted onions/Reaper peppers, honey, pineapple, salt and regret.

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Deb Amlen @debamlen.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Sorry, that should say “being vaxxed can save the lives of those who are immunocompromised”

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Greg Proops @gregproops.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

See how it sounds?

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Deb Amlen @debamlen.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

mRNA flu shot ✔️ Covid booster ✔️ Flu is coming early this year (Yay, us!) so please get vaccinated as soon as you can. Being sick sucks, wastes your PTO on something avoidable, and can save the lives of those who are immunocompromised

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Deb Amlen @debamlen.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I will tell you what: a string quartet and about 100 Queen fans can shake a church when “We Will Rock You” is played.

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Deb Amlen @debamlen.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

IMPORTANT UPDATE: It’s a string quartet.

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Deb Amlen @debamlen.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Just checking: This is the stage set up for what is supposed to be a Queen tribute band concert. In a church (no problem), lots of candles (spiffy), classical music playing (ok), three chairs, and two music stands (wait, what?) A question for the crowd: Are we in the right place?

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Deb Amlen @debamlen.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Practicing for the Olympic balance beam tryouts

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Deb Amlen @debamlen.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Fine. I will put on a hoodie to go to dinner. But I don’t have to like it.

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

This warning from David Letterman to the media from just a year ago feels sadly too relevant today. He is right: You can't appease a tyrant.

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Deb Amlen @debamlen.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Welcome to your Jenga condo in Hell

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

White House correspondents, D.C. bureau chiefs, and media execs: The German government expelled Dorothy Thompson from the country in August 1934. She's remembered and respected today for her important coverage and analysis over the next decade of the German regime. Be like Dorothy Thompson.

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Deb Amlen @debamlen.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Two people with happy lox bellies. #loxfest

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Deb Amlen @debamlen.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Yeah, no. You don’t get to rewrite history now, Joe. You were a useful idiot and a useful idiot you shall always be

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Deb Amlen @debamlen.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

“Hello, police? She’s not giving me any of her snacks. Can you please talk some sense into her?” (Photo: Carly Amlen)

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Deb Amlen @debamlen.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

PE WINDOW: The amount of time that needs to be spent feigning illness or cramps (uterus owners only) in the school bathroom in order to be excused from Phys Ed.

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Deb Amlen @debamlen.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Annual reminder that I will not be giving up my flip flops or willingly putting on a sweater.

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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

The Onion has created a machine that will kill everyone on Earth that is coincidentally running out of money and the only way to slow it down is if my staff and I take a six-week vacation to Cabo San Lucas.

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Deb Amlen @debamlen.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I don’t know how many times I’ve killed off poor Percy, but the spam texts keep coming. Now they’re moving on to home repair

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Deb Amlen @debamlen.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

When people voted for him because “he’s a businessman” and “a billionaire who can do the same for our country,” all I could think was yeah, but dont you remember that the vast majority of billionaires are amoral and corrupt?

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The Mouthy Renegade Writer @mouthyrenegade.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Your Sunday morning sermon, from me to Y'all. "Don't be a bigoted asswipe." - Mouthy 86:47

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Deb Amlen @debamlen.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Yes, those certainly are pangrams, thank you for sharing.

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Deb Amlen @debamlen.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Oh really? Who’s going to tell her?

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Deb Amlen @debamlen.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

@mapquest.com , I love you. You work well, cut out all the BS of those other nav apps, and you let me have a rainbow unicorn as an icon 🩵

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Deb Amlen @debamlen.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Update: I filed it under “Something else” instead of “Name is wrong” and it was accepted.

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Deb Amlen @debamlen.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

It won’t take my report. Clicking the checkmark does nothing. They must be getting tons of them.

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Deb Amlen @debamlen.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

LANDLAWD: An expression of frustration directed at the person or persons who own your home.

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Deb Amlen @debamlen.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Sanity check needed: Say aye if you knew the term “Debbie Downer” *before* 2004, when Rachel Dratch made her a character on SNL. I knew it as a child back in the late 15th C., but search indicates that Dratch’s character was the first instance. I feel like I’m being gaslit by the entire internet.

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Deb Amlen @debamlen.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

A new study from MIT (admittedly performed with some limitations) shows that users of ChatGPT or other AI systems show weakened brain neural connectivity among participants who used the AI to write an essay. The brain-only group’s connectivity was the strongest. www.media.mit.edu/projects/you...

media.mit.edu

Project Overview ‹ Your Brain on ChatGPT – MIT Media Lab

Check project's website: https://www.brainonllm.comWith today's wide adoption of LLM products like ChatGPT from OpenAI, humans and businesses engage and u…

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Deb Amlen @debamlen.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

I have written and signed an Executive Order renaming Lake Superior to Lake Obama. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

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