iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Evan Kirshenbaum @evankirshenbaum.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

And it's often retroactive. Here's the law in California. It's an arrest until they decide it isn't. But if you tried to get away before that, it would have been resisting arrest.

California Code, Penal Code - PEN § 849.5

Current as of January 01, 2026 | Updated by Findlaw Staff

In any case in which a person is arrested and released and no accusatory pleading is filed charging him with an offense, any record of arrest of the person shall include a record of release. Thereafter, the arrest shall not be deemed an arrest, but a detention only.

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Evan Kirshenbaum @evankirshenbaum.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

I rarely take things being handed out outside a venue, but I made an exception for this one. #Valkyries

A poster reading

THANK YOU
GABBY & COACH
WILLIAMS NAKASE

EXCLUSION IS NEVER
THE ANSWER

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Evan Kirshenbaum @evankirshenbaum.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

What do you think of James Hogan's 1979 "The Two Faces of Tomorrow"? A different sort of AI training paradigm, but the scene in which Hector fries an egg is a hoot. (In the shell because it had internalized that it wasn't supposed to break eggs.) Also this explanation to a reporter

"If the cat's got fleas, one guaranteed way of getting rid of them is to throw the cat in the incinerator," Chris came in. "Intense heat is a fail- safe way of killing fleas."

"The problem is it kills cats too," Ron said. "But when you gave me the problem you didn't tell me I wasn't supposed to do that. You assumed my own common sense would tell me that part of it. Except I happen to be a computer. I don't have any common sense."

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Evan Kirshenbaum @evankirshenbaum.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Same panel, I believe only in Dave Whamond's "Reality Check", January 16, 2014. But Breathed had them in the same strip on 6/11/17.

BILL THE CAT AND CATHY SUE EACH OTHER OVER INTELLECTUAL RIGHTS TO THE WORD 'ACK'...

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Evan Kirshenbaum @evankirshenbaum.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

There might be special rule changes for this tournament, but these are the 2 (of 5) relevant reasons for VAR from the 2026/27 Laws. The underline indicates changes. "Cards" was changed to "red cards", so the yellow wasn't reviewable. "Mistaken identity" is (only) for "Did I miss who tripped him?"

c. Red cards

DOGSO (especially position of offence and positions of other players)

serious foul play (or reckless challenge)

violent conduct, biting or spitting at another person

using offensive, insulting or abusive action(s)

clearly incorrect second caution

d. Mistaken identity (red or yellow card)

If the referee penalises an offence but has clearly misidentified the player who committed that offence, only the identity of the offender can be reviewed.

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Evan Kirshenbaum @evankirshenbaum.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Then there are six hidden as "probably fabricated", all of which are reasonably good, if bare-bones.

EVAN KIRSHENBAUM

COMPUTER SCIENTIST

> 316 STRENGTH <

GROK 4.20 SAYS

SOFTWARE ENGINEER AND AI RESEARCHER KNOWN FOR WORK ON LANGUAGE MODELS AND EARLY CONTRIBUTIONS TO ONLINE COMMUNITIES.

EVAN KIRSHENBAUM

COMPUTER SCIENTIST

> 316 STRENGTH <

MISTRAL 3.2 24B SAYS

EVAN KIRSHENBAUM IS A RESEARCHER IN THE FIELD OF COMPUTER SCIENCE, WITH PUBLICATIONS ON MACHINE LEARNING AND

DATA ANALYSIS.

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Evan Kirshenbaum @evankirshenbaum.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Claude Opus gets me quite well, Gemini, Kimi, and GLM are close, but not quite right. Deepseek is right, but on a completely different aspect of my history, GPT-5.4, GLM (yeah, they were in the first cluster, too), GPT-5.5, and Mistral just make shit up about me.

EVAN KIRSHENBAUM

HP LABS COMPUTER SCIENTIST

> 241 STRENGTH TOP 25%

CLAUDE OPUS 4.8 SAYS COMPUTER SCIENTIST AND RESEARCHER ASSOCIATED WITH HP LABS, KNOWN FOR WORK IN MACHINE LEARNING, SOFTWARE SYSTEMS, AND LANGUAGE TECHNOLOGIES.

EVAN KIRSHENBAUM

CREATOR OF ASCII PHONETIC ALPHABET > 68 STRENGTH TOP 70% <

DEEPSEEK V4 SAYS

SOFTWARE ENGINEER AND CREATOR OF THE KIRSHENBAUM PHONETIC ALPHABET FOR REPRESENTING IPA CHARACTERS IN

ASCII.

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Evan Kirshenbaum @evankirshenbaum.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

I don't think that they have jurisdiction for sense 1, but I'm willing to see them give it a shot.

de-pose /də'pōz/

verb

past tense: deposed; past participle: deposed

1. remove from office suddenly and forcefully. "he had been deposed by a military coup"

Similar:

overthrow

overturn

topple

2. LAW

testify to or give (evidence) on oath, typically in a written statement.

"every affidavit shall state which of the facts deposed to are within the deponent's knowledge"

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Evan Kirshenbaum @evankirshenbaum.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

Wait a minute. You only just(!) finished writing it? I pre-ordered it over a month ago!

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Evan Kirshenbaum @evankirshenbaum.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

You mean "Watchmen" wasn't a documentary? Imagine watching this and thinking "What a good idea!"

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Evan Kirshenbaum @evankirshenbaum.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

Not according to the USPS: “This new language in the DMM does not change any existing postal operations or postmarking practices, but is instead intended to improve public understanding of postmarks and their relationship to the date of mailing.” public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2025-20740.pdf

SUMMARY: The Postal Service is adding section 608.11, "Postmarks and Postal Possession,"

to the Domestic Mail Manual (DMM). This new section defines postmarks, identifies the types of Postal Service markings that qualify as postmarks, and describes the circumstances under which those markings are applied. It also advises customers of how to obtain evidence of the date on which the Postal Service accepts possession of their mailings. This new language in the DMM does not change any existing postal operations or postmarking practices, but is instead intended to improve public understanding of postmarks and their relationship to the date of

mailing.

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Evan Kirshenbaum @evankirshenbaum.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

That's the law in California. leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_....

ARTICLE 5. Single-User Restrooms [118600-

118600.] (Article 5 added by Stats. 2016, Ch. 818, Sec. 1.)

118600. (a) All single-user toilet facilities in any business establishment, place of public accommodation, or state or local government agency shall be identified as all-gender toilet facilities by signage that complies with Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations, and designated for use by no more than one occupant at a time or for family or assisted
use.

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Evan Kirshenbaum @evankirshenbaum.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

Really? I'm pretty sure they used to, and the DRAE doesn't put a regional note on it. I remember asking Mexican coworkers about "norteamericano" a decade or so ago, and they were both clear that not only did it refer to people from the US, but they wouldn't use it to refer to Canadians or Mexicans

norteamericano, na

1. adj. Natural de América del Norte. U. t. c. s.

2. adj. Perteneciente o relativo a América del

Norte o a los norteamericanos.

3. adj. estadounidense. Apl, a pers., u. t. c. s.

SIN.: estadounidense, americano, angloamericano, yanqui, gringo, grencho.

SINÓNIMOS O AFINES DE norteamericano, na

estadounidense, americano, angloamericano, yanqui, gringo, grencho.

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Evan Kirshenbaum @evankirshenbaum.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

I don't know if they've tweaked their rules on this since then, but as of 2015, they said that for non-medical doctors, they use the title "only if it is germane to the holder's primary current occupation", only if it's earned, and only if requested to. (archive.nytimes.com/afterdeadlin...).

Dr. should be used in all references for physicians, dentists and veterinarians whose practice is their primary current occupation, or who work in a closely related field, like medical writing, research or pharmaceutical manufacturing: Dr. Alex E. Baranek; Dr. Baranek; the doctor. (Those who practice only incidentally, or not at all, should be called Mr., Ms., Miss or Mrs.)

Anyone else with an earned doctorate, like a Ph.D. degree, may request the title, but only if it is germane to the holder's primary current occupation (academic, for example, or laboratory research). Reporters should confirm the degree holder's preference. For a Ph.D., the title should appear only in second and later references.

Do not use the title for someone whose doctorate is honorary.

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Evan Kirshenbaum @evankirshenbaum.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

The crowd at my corner in Mountain View, CA, is only a couple of hundred or so, but we do have an axlotl and àl wizard. And it's still early.

An axlotl at the No Kings rally in Mountain View, CA

A wizard at the No Kings rally in Mountain View, CA

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Evan Kirshenbaum @evankirshenbaum.bsky.social · 05/09/2025

The Valkyries are in the playoffs! (And we'll be out of the country. We scheduled the trip for after the season, because c'mon…they're an expansion team. Sigh.)

Valkyries' final scoreboard 84-80 over Wings

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Evan Kirshenbaum @evankirshenbaum.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

Socrates warned that books were bad. [Phaedra, 275]

"For this invention will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to use it, because they will not practice their memory. Their trust in writing, produced by external characters which are no part of themselves, will discourage the use of their own memory within them. You have invented an elixir not of memory, but of reminding; and you offer your pupils the appearance of wisdom, not true wisdom, for they will read many things without instruction and will therefore seem [275b] to know many things, when they are for the most part ignorant and hard to get along with, since they are not wise, but only appear wise."

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Evan Kirshenbaum @evankirshenbaum.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

Lots of American flags (and a fair number of LGBTQ+ flags and a few Mexican and Ukrainian). LOTS of cars honking in support. (Pretty much continual.) Lots of drivers and passengers taking video as they drove by. Maybe seven or eight drivers expressing MAGA sentiments. #NoKings Medford, OR

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Evan Kirshenbaum @evankirshenbaum.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

Up in Ashland for the Shakespeare festival. Glad to be out here in Medford with a few thousand new friends.

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Evan Kirshenbaum @evankirshenbaum.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

What you see in the rear-view mirror.

Virginia license plate "I0H22A" in mirror image

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Evan Kirshenbaum @evankirshenbaum.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

Pre-ordered a week ago. (I don't remember where I noticed that it was available.) Love the cover and really looking forward to it.

Screenshot of Amazon page showing pre-order date of May 13, 2005

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Evan Kirshenbaum @evankirshenbaum.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

You had a better angle than I did. 😄

Joan Baez at the Mountain View May Day rally

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Evan Kirshenbaum @evankirshenbaum.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

I'm sorry. You leave your what?? 😄 (Yes, I know what it means, but I always ask for a translation to check that I'm reading correctly, and I did a double take on that one.)

In March, I started a new habit: when I want to scroll, I leave my virginity and crochet a little instead. It's good
for the soul but it's a bit expensive - I have to buy

more

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Evan Kirshenbaum @evankirshenbaum.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

Steven Brust took this a step further in _The Phoenix Guards_

What followed was ten years of almost constant war between the Dragonlords of the Empire and the Easterners, during which the Easterners occupied the area and fought from the surrounding mountains. The Serioli, who departed the area to avoid any of the unfortunate incidents that war can produce, left only the name for the place, which was "Ben," meaning "ford" in their language. The Easterners called the place "Ben Ford," or, in the Eastern tongue, "Ben gazlo."

After ten years of fierce battle, the Imperial Army won a great victory on the spot, driving the Easterners well back into the mountains. The Dragonlords who had found the place, then, began calling it "Bengazlo Ford." The Dragons, wishing to waste as little time on speech as possible, shortened this to Benglo Ford, or, in the tongue of the Dragon, which was still in use at the time, "Benglo ara." Eventually, over the course of the millennia, the tongue of the Dragon fell out of use, and the North-western language gained preeminence, which rendered the location Bengloara Ford, which was eventually shortened to Bengloarafurd. The river crossing became the Bengloarafurd Ford, which name it held until after the Interregnum when the river was dredged and the Bengloarafurd Bridge was built. Should anyone be interested in finding this delightful city, it still stands, and the bridge still appears with the name we have cited, but the city was renamed Troe after the engineer who built the bridge, either because the citizens were proud of their new landmark, or because the engineer's name was short.

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Evan Kirshenbaum @evankirshenbaum.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

IANAL, but in California, at least, it would certainly seem to have been rape. 261(4)(a) would apply if the innies and outies were legally the same person, and 261(5) would apply if they weren't.

261. (a) Rape is an act of sexual intercourse accomplished under any of the following circumstances:

(4) If a person is at the time unconscious of the nature of the act, and this is known to the accused. As used in this paragraph, "unconscious of the nature of the act" means incapable of resisting because the victim meets any one of the following conditions:

(C) Was not aware, knowing, perceiving, or cognizant of the essential characteristics of the act due to the perpetrator's fraud in fact.

(5) If a person submits under the belief that the person committing the act is someone known to the victim other than the accused, and this belief is induced by artifice, pretense, or concealment practiced by the accused, with intent to induce the belief.

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Evan Kirshenbaum @evankirshenbaum.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

It's still the case (in CA, at least) that if two kids under 18 have sex, they are *both* technically guilty of "unlawful sexual intercourse". PC §261.5(b), in a chapter that still calls it "carnal abuse of children". It's not even the older one who's guilty or the instigator. They both are.

261.5. (a) Unlawful sexual intercourse is an act of sexual intercourse accomplished with a person who is not the spouse of the perpetrator, if the person is a minor. For the purposes of this section, a "minor" is a person under 18 years of age and an "adult" is a person who is 18 years of age or older. (b) A person who engages in an act of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor who is not more than three years older or three years younger than the perpetrator, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

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Evan Kirshenbaum @evankirshenbaum.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

About a hundred of us in Mountain View, CA, decided this would be a better use of our time.

Banner reading "MOUNTAIN VIEW VOICES FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE"

Sign reading "THE REAL SILICON VALLEY OPPOSES TRUMP"

Signs reading "America deserves DEMOCRACY NOT dictators" and "Twinkle, twinkle little CZAR Putin made you what you are"

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Evan Kirshenbaum @evankirshenbaum.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

Babka and Kooza are offended on behalf of their fellow felines, accused of crimes for such perfectly reasonable actions.

A Torby and a void sitting innocently in the hallway.

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Evan Kirshenbaum @evankirshenbaum.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

I always liked Robert Silverberg's notion that World's Fair, 1992 "contains many of the same words as Regans Planet, but they are generally arranged in a different order."

World's Fair, 1992, which is the book to which this introduction is appended, is a different book from Regans Planet. That is to say, it is not the same book as Regans Planet. It is quite another book entirely. It contains many of the same words as Regans Planet, but they are generally arranged in a different order. Perhaps the confusion arose because there is a relationship between the two books: they both concern the 1992 World's Fair. But they are about different people and different events, and they are written with different sentences. One can describe the relationship between the two books in these terms:

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Evan Kirshenbaum @evankirshenbaum.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

Am I the only one flashing on the Moscow embassy? If this is allowed, the next administration* is going to have to get rid of them. *Big assumption, I know.

In 1985, the building's columns and walls were found to be riddled with listening devices to such an extent that classified information had to be handled in the old embassy. Construction was halted and all Soviet workers were removed from construction work. Additionally, in retaliation, Soviet diplomats were not allowed to occupy their new chancery in Washington, D.C. The standoff was resolved in 1994 when American workers were allowed to partially dismantle and rebuild the chancery, replacing the top three floors with four completely new ones.

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Evan Kirshenbaum @evankirshenbaum.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

Today's protest in San Jose was larger than I expected! Some of the signs. #FiftyFiftyOne #protest

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Evan Kirshenbaum @evankirshenbaum.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

If there's ever been a clearer example of Chesterton's fence, I don't think I've seen it.

Chesterton's fence

"Chesterton's fence" is the principle that reforms should not be made until the reasoning behind the existing state of affairs is understood. The quotation is from Chesterton's 1929 book, The Thing: Why I Am a Catholic, in the chapter, "The Drift from Domesticity":

In the matter of reforming things, as distinct from deforming them, there is one plain and simple principle; a principle which will probably be called a paradox. There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, "I don't see the use of this; let us clear it away." To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: "If you don't see the use of it, I certainly won't let yo you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.

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