iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

ohhhh yeah, I can see it now

Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I'm not the first person to notice it, but that barn is collapsing. Farms that are profitable, e.g. because they can afford diesel fuel and have a ready supply of workers, either fix or tear down barns like this.

A barn is foregrounded against a field. It has a giant American flag hung from it, and it is leaning heavily to one side. If you've ever been in a barn in your life, this is an ex-barn. No farmer would put anything inside it because of the risk it would collapse at any moment.

The image, posted to the State Department's social media, is captioned "It's a beautiful sight" and the picture has the text "This and 250,000 visa revocations."

Nothing explains why revoking lawful visas has anything to do with a failing farm, although now that you mention it…

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I'm not paying for three legs I'm not gonna use.

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

If there isn't a custom Iowa Hawkeyes jersey using Atlanta Hawks colors, in Schmitt's size, waiting for him at his office by close of business then I'm about done with democracy.

Bad photo composite of an Atlanta Hawks jersey in red and black with the Iowa Hawkeyes mascot and the word "eye" careted in to make it read "HAWKeyeS"

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

"infinite personalized music" Finally, music that I know to a mathematical certainty only I am deep enough to fully appreciate! What's that you ask? What am I listening to? You literally couldn't comprehend any answer I might give.

Tweet from @nicksaraev:

I am not joking when I say this. Spotify, Apple Music, and streaming in general is over.

Al music is now very, very good. You just don't know yet because all Al music circulating today is from ~2-3 generations ago.

Suno v6 pro et al has solved infinite personalized music.

12:41 PM • Sep 28, 2026 • 3.1M Views

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I guess I have no cause to complain about this e-mail from a scammer being misleadingly labeled.

Fake scammy PayPal "invoice" for $799.99 listed as coming from the "Fraud Department"

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

(she's really very sweet, it's only the vet and that one bulldog statue she doesn't like)

A Chow/Malinois mix stares intently at what is clearly a statue of a bulldog

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

mostly just ITG stuff about the vet

The form e-mail Bluesky sends when you've committed a violation and gotten strikes against your account. In this case the "Serious Violation" was a post reading: "my veterinarian is a sadistic little punk-ass. try that shit without the muzzle next time, see how long you keep your blood"

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

we used to be a real nation

fantastic old-school neon sign for the Hotsy Totsy Club, with lightning bolts and a martini and the words "Hotsy Totsy" arranged in an X pattern crossing at the "t"

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I know @patrickmccray.bsky.social in particular will be pleased to see that I am assigning the foundational works of STS in my US History of the 1990s course.

Canvas module page including a link to Theodore Kaczynski, "Industrial Society and Its Future," better known as the Unabomber Manifesto

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

devastating news for us metric perverts

The fundamental metric units (meter, second, kilogram, mol, candela, degree kelvin, ampere) arranged in a circle around the term "SI," an abbreviation for Système International

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

What did you know and when did you know it, Mr. McNeill, or should I call you Nicholas Locarno?

Captain Picard's chunky little laptop shows the star-shaped explosion that results from a Kolvoord Starburst

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Agreed. But it's damn irregular!

the young lieutenant about to get stuffed in a broom closet tells Uhura it's damn irregular

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

If Trump thinks the yield on the 10-year T-note should be 1%, I volunteer as arbitrageur. On an unrelated note, could anyone lend me like a billion dollars in treasuries? I'll pay you right back.

Donald J. Trump @realDonald Trump

Interest Rates in the United States should be 1%, or less, because we are the Best Credit in the World - BY FAR. Our Country is BOOMING with new Investment! If we stopped Trading with every country that we have a Deficit with, which is most of them, we would make, at least, 1.5 Trillion Dollars a year. The word "Deficit" is nothing more than a fancy word for LOSS. We are "carrying" almost every country in the World, and that cannot go on any longer. LOWER THE INTEREST RATES FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND FAST! President DONALD J. TRUMP 180 ReTruths 600 Likes

Sep 16, 2026, 1:38 PM

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I am begging anyone who reads this, regardless of your political affiliation, PLEASE use every bit of influence you have to get Congress to impose limits on my dog's intelligence. It is already beyond our understanding and is quickly growing beyond our control.

A Chow/Malinois mix of a certain age sits looking up at the camera. She wears pink kitten ears and is "snarling" a bit (not really but her mouth was just doing that in the moment)

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

very proud to work for a university that values and celebrates our undead and apparitional students

Agenda from an academic meeting with an item for "Ghost Students"

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Wet-bulb temperature was 97 °F. Iowa high schools ban all outdoor activity at 89.7 °F. Above 95 °F is "likely fatal" for people wearing and moving less than he was IN THE SHADE.

Given the body's vital requirement to maintain a core temperature of approximately 37 °C (99 °F), a sustained wet-bulb temperature exceeding 35 °C (95 °F) —equivalent to a heat index of 71 °C (160 °F) - is likely to be fatal even to fit and healthy people, semi-nude in the shade and next to a fan; at this temperature human bodies switch from shedding heat to the environment, to gaining heat from it. A 2022 study found that the critical wet-bulb…

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Played Salt-N-Pepa's "Shoop" as the mid-class break song for US History of the 1990s and managed, maybe for the first time since I first heard it in 1993, not to sing along with "Here I go / Here I go / Here I go again / Girls, what's my weakness? / Men!" Please clap.

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Just looked up the story to fact-check myself and I never knew that the heart of the conflict was that Biden had called Corn Pop "Esther Williams." Which is unfortunately hilarious and not something you could or would make up.

One day, Biden recalled, CornPop refused to wear a bathing cap, flouting pool rules. Biden spotted him on the pool's 3m diving board, and decided to lay down the law.

"You! Off the board, or T'Il come up and drag you off," Biden shouted.

CornPop came down but apparently was displeased - not least because Biden had also called him "Esther", a reference to then-prominent swimmer Esther Williams.

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

I love that the Star Trek wiki describes things like the feeling of romantic love in the past tense, like a dead celebrity.

Screenshot of Memory Alpha entry on "Romance" (https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Romance):

Romance, romantic love, or being in love was a strong feeling of love, attraction, and emotional attachment to another individual. Something which evoked the feeling of romance was also said to be romantic. A romantic relationship was a type of interpersonal relationship. Romantic love contrasted with platonic love.

In 1930, time traveler Captain James T. Kirk believed he was in love with Edith Keeler who had to die to restore the altered timeline. (TOS: "The City on the Edge of Forever")

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Don't be ridiculous, it's all right here in these crates! Here, I'll open one. See? Gold coins. …wait a minute.

a chocolate "coin" with its golden wrapper peeling off

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

On both ends of the life-death spectrum!

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Extremely bespoke puppy landed in our midst. She's chipped but no tags, and will be slumming it with us until the owners can be tracked down. Our common peasant-stock cur is developing class consciousness (in the form of indignant whining) from the other side of the door.

A brown labradoodle puppy wearing a borrowed leash waits to get her chip scanned at the all-night vet.

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

My Cleo is ABD (A Big Dog).

A tan-orange GSD/Chow mix of a certain age wears a carnation in her collar

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

the perverse thrill I get every time I sneak social constructionism into the lecture for a class that just wanted to learn a little history

The Onion "sickos" meme, with said sicko wearing a mortarboard cap

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

I'm not sure if this is an "Indecent Proposal" or a "Strangers on a Train" scenario, but I'm pretty sure I don't like where TIAA is going with this.

TIAA.org input fields:

Are you married?

Yes (•)
No ( )

Want to REMOVE YOUR SPOUSE from your strategy?

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

And don't forget the greatest sporting event of all time—the Scotties Tournament of Hearts!

Kerri Einarson, skip for Team Canada in 2026, delivers a stone.

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

you click on one Hat Man video and the algorithm thinks it has you all figured out

YouTube video link titled "Why Are There So Many Antihistamines?" by Patrick Kelly. A man stands in front of a backdrop of OTC antihistamine packages.

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Adolescence is a challenging time and we all look back on it with some degree of horror for the choices we made, the unnatural things we desired. The important thing in deGrom's case is that he grew out of it.

Picture of Jacob deGrom

The Braves were willing to give up "quite a bit" to get Jacob deGrom from the Rangers and they were surprised he blocked the trade because they were told he grew up as a Braves fan, per @JonHeyman

Range

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

First thing I do, I set $5.59 billion on fire. Then I make two 24-episode seasons airing over two years AS GOD INTENDED FOR TELEVISION. The remaining 8 episodes are saved for the short-lived reboot 13 years later, which critics will say lacked the uneven charm of the original.

Shot from the Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1 episode "Justice." Wesley (in civilian clothes), Riker, and Yar are talking with scantily clad blond human-like aliens. Wesley's about to get sentenced to death for stepping on some flowers. It is part of the lousy 70% of episodes that make the good 30% great.

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

lemme sum it up for you, he's what you get when a first-round draft pick puts up these career numbers and then has a decade to stew on it

Detail of Royce White's career stat line, showing 3 games played in 2013-14 for the Sacramento Kings and a grand total of 3 minutes played.

Not pictured: 0 points, 0 assists, 0 blocks…

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

computer, enhance It's not the most important thing, but if this guy counts as an ex-NBA player with THREE EARTH MINUTES of career playing time to his name, then statistically I may also be one.

Detail of Royce White's career stats: three games and three total minutes playing for the 2013-2014 Sacramento Kings

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Behold, my college's faculty lounge. Jealous much? I'm just kidding, this is the Dean's office break room, this is far too fancy for mere professors.

A small table with four plastic chairs in one corner of a small room. There's a water cooler with lots of extra bottles of water, a stepstool, and some cleaning supplies stacked in the corner. Not visible: a refrigerator and sink and microwave, and floor-to-ceiling shelves of office supplies.

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

honestly this is me at my job like three times a day so I feel you, buddy

one of the outfielders making a sort of "oof, yeah, that happened" face 😬

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

My friend from high school, Shannon Reed, has written yet another book! Thus giving me yet another chance to brag that I was her prom date. "My Girls," the latest installment in the My Prom Date Wrote a Book trilogy, will ship in February 2027!

Big stacks of Shannon Reed's new book, "My Girls: The Iconic Young Women of Literature and How They Shaped Me"

Cover of "Why We Read: On Bookworms, Libraries, and Just One More Page Before Lights Out" by Shannon Reed

Cover of "Why Did I Get a B? And Other Mysteries We're Discussing in the Faculty Lounge" by Shannon Reed

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

don't threaten me with a good time, scammer

scam message saying that my "university Microsoft 365 account has been scheduled for deactivation"

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

A "Crossfire" type show with, like, Tim Kurkjian and Rachel Maddow would be amazing.

MSNOW host Rachel Maddow scowling to the viewer's right

ESPN baseball analyst Tim Kurkjian gesticulating to the viewer's left, seemingly at Maddow

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

I like my job, but every year when I sign my contract I have this little fantasy where things go south and I take my revenge through contumacious conduct. BOSS: You're the most contumacious person I've ever met! ME: [flicking cigarette away] more contumaciousness where that came from

section of an employment contract specifying that I can be fired for "malfeasance, inefficiency, or contumacious conduct"

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

I made a rudimentary tool to fish my teabag label out of the hot water and have spent the last five minutes silently congratulating myself for being the world's smartest crow.

A paperclip bent into the shape of a hook.

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

A logo is an implicit promise about values and the relationship between a company and its patrons. You break that at your peril, because you're basically saying "You never know what you'll get with me." For example, I'll never give these fickle jokers another dime.

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

.260 average but that's only with the bat he holds in his human arms, the four robotic tentacles are batting .977 with 52 HR

Alfred Molina as Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man 2, wearing similar goggles

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Matt @differentmatt.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Look, I'm past the age where the promise of this kind of erotic fantasyland is in and of itself a good enough reason to upend society as we know it… …hang on, say that part again

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