iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 18/06/2025

It also took me a bit to understand it but basically it’s just creating a BITCHIN ACRONYM

THE RULES
Create an ENTERTAINING and APT acronym from the letters provided. Use only the initial letters—use all of them, and in the order shown.
If there is a theme specified, your HYDRANYM should refer to it in some way. For example if the theme were HISTORY, and the letters given G F P M, a possible submission would be:
Greeks Found Perseus Manly.
On Thursday, June 19, we’ll publish a form where you can read—and vote—on the best 21 entries received, as judged by a panel of Flaming Hydra editors. Winners will receive bragging rights and their name and winning entry will be posted on the ANNALS of HYDRANYM page.

Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 23/08/2024

TODAY: as part of our LOST INTERNET series, @milesklee.bsky.social on.. [adjusts spectacles incredulously]… Zombo.com? flaminghydra.com/r/defa8032?m...

A screenshot of zombo.com which is just those words in janky letters and font

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 28/06/2024

TODAY: join us in defending the Internet Archive and protecting libraries!! An important appellate hearing is happening this morning, which you can read all about at the link below. And if you’re in New York and you spot our wheatpaste, please snap a photo and share. www.battleforlibraries.com

A pink wheatpaste poster that reads Defebd the Internet archive, we need digital libraries, let them own books. An owl sits atop a stack of books that all say BANNED on the side.

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 18/06/2024

In celebration of our one hundredth issue, we have also gotten our first DM from a robot lady!!! honored!! swooning!!

screenshot reads "Hello Flaming. How are you doing today" and a heart emoji

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 29/05/2024

If you are one of the impassioned readers who have commented on our unique black screen/white text format, i.e. you absolutely fucking hate it and it hurts your eyes, fear not! There's a way to make it display differently in Chrome.

How do I turn on Reading mode in Chrome?
Manage Reading mode
1. On your computer, open Chrome.
2. Go to a website with text that you'd like to read.
3. At the top right, select More More tools. Reading mode.
4. Under "Reading mode," use the toolbar to: Adjust the font: Select the Down arrow.

Adjust the font size: Select to increase the font size and to decrease it.
Google Help

https://support.google.com › chrome › answer

Use Reading mode in the Side panel - Google Chrome Help

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 21/05/2024

The first time we have been asked this question on Twitter, but certainly not the last!

Screenshot of a sentence that reads, "But also.... are you a cult?"

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 08/05/2024

A new, better media system is possible: radical reimaginings from Flaming Hydra's @mariabustillos.bsky.social www.thenation.com/article/soci...

There can be a symbiotic, mutually beneficial relationship between readers and the writers, editors, and artists who are fairly paid to serve them, on terms as clear as day: We make the best, most interesting, most well-written publication we possibly can, and if you like it, you pay us to continue. There’s no one else involved in the transaction whose agenda might conflict with its purposes. When the deal is that simple, we can treat one another with respect and camaraderie.

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 06/03/2024

This is... not accurate lol www.todayintabs.com/p/turn-aroun...

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 01/03/2024

Libraries are punk as hell. Matt Yglesias disagrees, so Osita Nwanevu put him in his place. (@ositanwanevu.bsky.social) flaminghydra.com/iss...

A t-shirt that says What's More Punk Than The Public Library

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 01/03/2024

What we are listening to as the world is ending, according to Luke O'Neil. flaminghydra.com/iss...

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 01/03/2024

The politics of goblins who are, frankly, sick of your shit. By Tom Scocca. flaminghydra.com/iss...

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 01/03/2024

Harry Siegel looks back on how computers are never going to be good at doing your homework. flaminghydra.com/iss...

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 01/03/2024

The inner workings of an editorial artist, by Jim Cooke. flaminghydra.com/iss...

Sketched grass with a foot emerging from it.

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 01/03/2024

Diana Moskovitz makes the case for trusting the government, but only for the weather: flaminghydra.com/iss...

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 01/03/2024

Kim Kelly (@kimkelly.bsky.social) is here to give you the newest in metal with Riff Wrecks Vol 2. flaminghydra.com/iss...

The words "Kim Kelly's Riff Wrecks" on a flaming background with a skull.

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 29/02/2024

The world burns, and music plays. Music plays and the world burns. Here are the songs that soundtrack our destruction. By Luke O'Neil. (@lukeoneil47.bsky.social) flaminghydra.com/iss...

A picture of Aaron Bushnell on a white background with the text, "I will no longer be complicit in genocide."

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 29/02/2024

Show us your mug! (Real mug, not your face. Tho you can show us that too) From Hydra Julianne Escobedo Shepherd (@jawnita.bsky.social): "FUN FACT: I got this mug for free from the New York Public Library when I got to interview fellow Hydra/my writing idol Myriam Gurba there, about her book Creep!"

A mug that says, "What are you reading now"

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 28/02/2024

ATTN: BLUESKY IT IS TIME FOR US TO LISTEN TO THE GOBLINS. LET'S LET THE GOBLINS SPEAK, FOR ONCE. (By Tom Scocca, @tomscocca.bsky.social) flaminghydra.com/iss...

A sinister looking green goblin carrying a blade.

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 28/02/2024

Harry Siegel thinks about how AI was imagined in a 1950's children's book—and the ways it failed then are the ways that it may fail now. flaminghydra.com/iss...

The Homework Machine—written in consultation with the Dr. Louis Robinson, Manager of the Mathematics and Applications Department, IBM—is sweet, mildly engaging kid stuff, with the children feeding information into the Professor’s machine so it can do their homework for them, and only realizing at the end that they did more work, and learned more, than they would have by just doing their homework, while learning Valuable Lessons about friendship and fairness, not to mention the machines.

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 26/02/2024

Jim Cooke opens up his sketchbook to show his thought process—and how an editorial concept goes from a brain to a page. flaminghydra.com/iss...

Jim Cooke's sketchbook showing an image of feet diving into seagrass.

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 26/02/2024

Bad news for Los Angeles: Your best friend is about to the National Weather Service. Honestly. By Defector's Diana Moskovitz (@dianamoskovitz.bsky.social) flaminghydra.com/iss...

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 23/02/2024

Anna Merlan went on a trip to Israel, paid for by Israel, as promotion for Israel. She reflects on the new meaning of Birthright. flaminghydra.com/iss...

A screenshot of a young couple draped in an Israeli flag. Next to them is a text box promising their safety in Israel on a Birthright trip.

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 23/02/2024

What if the only real thing left is Wikipedia? God, that's depressing. By Joe MacLeod flaminghydra.com/iss...

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 23/02/2024

How movies are becoming like vending machines. Single-serve, packaged, on demand. By Sam Thielman. flaminghydra.com/iss...

AI generated ghosts wearing different superhero costumes in a vending machine

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 23/02/2024

This world is filled with Iagos, by Maria Bustillos. flaminghydra.com/iss...

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 22/02/2024

A radically timely talk with Black feminist scholar, lecturer, writer, activist, publisher, and organizer *whew!* Barbara Smith, from k.e. harloe: flaminghydra.com/iss...

And now, they are trying to shut Black studies down, women's studies, queer studies. Critical race theory. They're trying to shut the whole thing down. I say to people: Do you see how successful we've been? The ignorant, narrow, and vicious white right wing—they see that young people’s minds are changing. Most young people want Palestine to be free. They say, no, no, no. We can't have people getting this kind of information.

Too late. Too late. The genie is out of the bottle. The stuff exists.

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 21/02/2024

Today's Hydra,@joemacleod666.bsky.social, is hosting an OSCAR MANIA THAT IS FREE. If you are in Baltimore, it is technically illegal for you not to go.

A chaotic flyer for an Oscar party hosted in Baltimore, promising prizes and more.

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 20/02/2024

[sees a bunch of writers making perpetual stew] No need to hog the soup, boy! Mightn't I have a sip?? By Joe MacLeod (@joemacleod666.bsky.social) flaminghydra.com/iss...

An image of stew being made with seasoning being poured in, by perpetual stew-maker, @DepthsofWikipedia aka Annie Rauwerda.

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 19/02/2024

IP is no longer a meal but a vending machine, slipped out of its pre-made packaging and delivered straight to the consumer, bland and tasteless. Sam Thielman (@samthielman@mastodon.social) breaks down one of the biggest conspiracies of the Information Age: flaminghydra.com/iss...

An image of comic book heroes who are now ghosts, trapped in a vending machine

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 16/02/2024

Why is Shirley Jackson suddenly more relevant than ever? In a piece of comics journalism, Carrie Frye depicts her timeliness: flaminghydra.com/iss...

A caption explaining the popularity of the Shirley Jackson story "The Lottery" when it first come out.

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 15/02/2024

Every single one of us knows this guy. This guy sucks. story by John Saward (@rbuas.bsky.social)

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 14/02/2024

Jennie Rose Halperin (@littlewow.bsky.social) decided to fulfill her dying mother's wish to get married. Except, it didn't go exactly as planned. flaminghydra.com/iss...

I asked my boyfriend to get engaged a month after she died, and from the outset, everything felt wrong. The jeweler made my ring incorrectly. We spent part of our engagement trip scattering my mother’s ashes, which blew in my face in the freezing Vermont wind. In photos from that time, I look like someone who has been crying a lot, with a pale, puffy face and a smile that stops at my mouth.

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 13/02/2024

"It feels wrong to admit, but there is more in here that interests me than there is in the average issue of The New Yorker." Yes, this story is about what made Playboy great. By Terry Nguyen. flaminghydra.com/iss...

Three Playboy covers from different eras, each model making a V with her legs.

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 13/02/2024

Is it possible to do something you love for work? Yes and no...but mostly no! By @joemacleod666.bsky.social flaminghydra.com/iss...

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 13/02/2024

Did you know contributor Tom Scocca (@tomscocca.bsky.social) has a podcast and it rules? indignity.substack.c...

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 12/02/2024

Amy Chu reflects on the weirdness of birthdays in Flaming Hydra's inaugural illustrated story: flaminghydra.com/iss...

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 09/02/2024

And, of course, art and comics from people like Trevor Alixopulos! All this, plus other brilliant and manic ponderings from your internet faves at Flaming Hydra. (Also, thanks for all the follows!!)

A comic that wonders whether or not folks have internal monologues.

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 09/02/2024

13. What would it ACTUALLY take to end the electoral college? By David Russell Moore flaminghydra.com/iss...

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 09/02/2024

10. Julianne Escobedo Shepherd calling out the mid-century aesthetic for what it is flaminghydra.com/iss...

A neat but boring mid century living room with nice chairs and a mid century couch from West Elm

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 09/02/2024

9. Exploring identity and history with Brian Hioe flaminghydra.com/iss...

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 09/02/2024

8. Yemisi Aribisala reflecting on how to sell a book with your belly-button: flaminghydra.com/iss...

An impressionist painting of a woman with her bellybutton

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 09/02/2024

7. Laurie Woolever wonder what the hell is a "corn-fed" chicken, anyway? flaminghydra.com/iss...

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 09/02/2024

6. How a class war is playing out in journalism, by Tommy Craggs flaminghydra.com/iss...

A worker overlooking an abandoned factory

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 09/02/2024

5. Anna Merlan kicking the hornet's nest of the polyamory discourse: flaminghydra.com/iss...

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 09/02/2024

3. David Roth (@davidjroth.bsky.social) getting lost in the desert. flaminghydra.com/iss...

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 09/02/2024

2. Osita Nwanevu dissecting Oppenheimer flaminghydra.com/iss...

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 09/02/2024

Since it is FRIDAY, let's look at the great stories we have published during our FIRST FULL WEEK of Flaming Hydra. And if you haven't joined yet...well, you are missing great content like: 1. Stupid things I did in my early 30s, Exhibit 362 by Arwa Mahdawi flaminghydra.com/iss...

A collection of annoying sayings like "Follow Your Passion" on a locker

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 09/02/2024

A look at "The Last Year", a work of fiction from the ineffable Miles Klee (@miles.bsky.social): flaminghydra.com/iss...

“May I see that photo?” I ask, pointing to the frame. Next to me, the lawyer’s assistant shifts and leans forward, almost imperceptibly.

“I… don’t believe it’s appropriate.”

“It’s a picture of you and Adam, then.”

“Why don’t we try to leave on good terms.”

“Amicably.”

“If you like.”

“He does exist, Adam,” I say. “You can’t pretend to be married when practicing family law. It wouldn’t be ethical.”

“I can print that contract right now, if you like.”

“I bet you could.”

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 09/02/2024

"My oldest kid keeps saying “fuck.” She’s three and a half." To be fair, Jonathan Katz's daughter brings up some good points. flaminghydra.com/iss...

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Flaming Hydra @flaminghydra.com · 08/02/2024

Flaming Hydra doesn't just do journalism; we have comics, too, like today's "Internal Monologue" by Trevor Alixopulos.(@trevoralixopulos@mastodon.social)

A glimpse of Internal Monologue by Trevor Alixopulos, where the main character wonders what other people's internal monologue sounds like.

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