iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 1h

I remain eternally grateful that *that* was my introduction to the guy.

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Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 3h

A cup? What is this, a kids meal? Get me a bucket.

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Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Too bad Republicans hate unions so much. They might actually learn something about solidarity and strength in numbers.

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Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I used to think Paul Ryan fit the bill, but nope, it’s this guy.

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Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Finally an English edition featuring the illustrations Tove Jansson made for the Swedish translation. Gorgeous artwork.

An illustration (in color) of Smaug attacking Bilbo and the dwarves.

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Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Check out this beauty that just came in the mail!

THE HOBBIT by JRR Tolkien, illustrated by Tove Jansson. A pink and blue hardcover book featuring a painting of Bilbo Baggins standing in front of Smaug’s mountain.

From the back cover:

“Whisked away from his comfortable, unambitious life in his hobbit-hole in Bag End by Gandalf the wizard and a band of dwarves, Bilbo Baggins finds himself caught up in a plot to raid the treasure hoard of Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon. Although quite reluctant to take part in this quest, Bilbo surprises even himself by his resourcefulness and his skill as a burglar!

This landmark new edition of The Hobbit presents J.R.R. Tolkien's full text with illustrations by Tove Jansson, creator of the Moomins, from a rare Swedish-language edition never before published in English. Jansson’s tender, whimsical drawings illuminate Bilbo’s journey –from the comfort of Bag End to the riddled dark under the mountain– adding fresh enchantment and quiet humor to every page.”

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Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Plus, repeatedly asking him “what did you know about Trump’s [corruption/crimes/health problems/etc.] and when did you know it?” until he snaps would be pretty entertaining.

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Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

The way I see it, the moment he gets in, everything is his fault and he lacks the bullshit powers to brush it off.

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Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

"Ugh, we already KNOW how we're going to decide, but people are angry at us for being hacks so now we have to make it look LEGITIMATE."

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Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I've found that works for almost any line in Moby-Dick

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Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

Leo Tolstoy:

A tweet from Jared Yates Sexton that reads “I…worked on this story for a year…and…he just…he tweeted it out.”

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Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Because he was TOO BUSY bottoming for the DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.

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Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

JK: And that school's name is *foghorn mercifully cuts off whatever horribly racist name she was about to say*

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autogynephagia @cas.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

my hot take is that everyone in the united states should get a vote, citizen or not, felon or not if you live and work here you should get a say

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bree bird 🇨🇦 @goose.ski · 05/10/2026

in fairness, everyone who lives and works in the US should have a straightforward, fast and low-friction path to citizenship. if that were made true, it would come out to roughly the same thing when combined with 1citizen=1vote

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Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Against the wall three dun filing cabinets. What a lark! Imagine the consternation of silver-clad archaeologists in aeons to come. /We speculate that the priests of the Bureaucracene laid to rest office furniture that had performed honourably./ (375)

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Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I read somewhere (here on Bluesky, I think) that whenever La Marseillaise was sung at parties in Hollywood around this time (inspired by the movie), Ronald Reagan would leave in protest. Which is probably apocryphal, but also probably happened.

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Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I have a sister living on the edge of Trump Country, MN, who's noticed the same thing.

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Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

"You know the reveille?" Stallo says. "That's the tune you wake up to, in the forces. Ba ba baddaba-da, ba baddaba-da, daaaaa dah. Okay. But what if you've gone deeper than that? If it's the last sleep? If you're that far gone, and they need you to come back, there's the Rouse." (363)

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Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

... about the dulce-and-decorum mendacity, and nod too still grimly proudful at standing ready pro patria mori. Contradictions ain't what they used to be, but then they never were. (360)

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Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

A soldier in particular could get teeth into Theirs not to reason why. Not that that wasn't its own kind of simpering. No one as sentimental as a soldier or so hard-headed either. You can ride two horses. Nod at the insight of Second Lieutenant Owen...

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Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Ooh, hadn’t heard of that one.

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Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Allardyce might have heard her say, —Life is just a prologue to a ghost story. (346)

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Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Shaggy man, shadow made of leaves, ghillie man, hedgerow man, eyes of nettles, dock-leaf beard. Hirsute and green. Do you help me? Guide me? Why do you walk with me, if you do, and if you are a you and not some mere dappling? […] Thank you, my lost trooper, my vegetable Enkidu. (344)

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Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

If you see this, recommend a short book. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

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Joseph Galbo @josephgalbo.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

If you're someone who hasn't read a book in a while because the time commitment feels overbearing, there are amazing books that are 100 pages. There are books of poetry and everyone would count those, too. Graphic novels are everywhere. Persepolis can broaden your world in one evening.

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Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Yeah, Candice Millard wrote about it in her book. It’s one thing to read about it, quite another to hear it sung aloud.

DESTINY OF THE REPUBLIC by Candice Millard

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Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I listened to the soundtrack once, shortly after reading Destiny of the Republic, and that song just fucked me up.

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Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Kicked out of a free-love colony for being too weird, assassinated the president, had some other misadventures in between.

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Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

You could’ve said the same about (and to) Graham.

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Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

For sluttiness, and glory!

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Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

My friends, know this: there would be no War on Christmas if Kris Kringle had respected the Black Friday Agreement. Now his armies have overrun November and threaten all October, but the line stops at Halloween! This is where we make our stand! This is where we fight!

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Moby Dick @mobydickatsea.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

everything was filled with sperm, except the captain’s pantaloons pockets

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Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Lindsay Graham, 2016: Donald Trump should not be our nominee. Trump: [reads out Graham’s personal cell at one of his rallies] Graham, 2016-2026: [cowers like a punk ass instead of calling out sociopathy of Cult Daddy] It’s like there’s a pattern here.

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Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Pretty sure the reuniting-with-loved-ones-in-Heaven bit is a very modern idea, whereas the afterlife according to the Bible is just endlessly praising God, forever. How is that any better than eternal nothingness?

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Comics in the Spooky Age 🧛‍♂️🧟‍♀️🎃 @comicsinthega.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The first Peanuts strip by Charles M. Schulz was published on October 2, 1950.

Four black and white panels of a boy and girl sitting on steps.
1st panel: Charlie Brown is approaching and the boy says:
"Well! Here comes ol' Charlie Brown!"
2nd panel: As Charlie Brown passes, he says "Good ol' Charlie Brown...yes, sir!"
3rd panel: "Good ol' Charlie Brown..."
4th panel: Once Charlie is gone, "How I hate him!"

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Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

What they meant was, they hired the lighting guy who was in charge of the last season of GoT.

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Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Were I an eccentric billionaire, I would spend a lot of money to revive this show. Without Sorbo, of course.

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Ursula K. Le Guin @ursulakleguin.com · 02/10/2026

Three more images from the Croatian edition of The Compass Rose, this time by Klasja Habjan!

The illustration for the story "The Water is Wide" shows two figures holding hands, facing away from the viewer, possibly walking toward the water.

The illustration for "Gwilan's Harp" shows a figure—mostly depicted in outline, apart from long hair and hands—kneeling at a harp.

The illustration for "Malheur County" shows a looming, silhouetted figure in the foreground, all in shadow, with a cane, and in the background a more detailed person with short black hair sits on a chair, their right knee bent, ankle resting on left leg.

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Ursula K. Le Guin @ursulakleguin.com · 06/07/2026

Four more images from the Croatian edition of The Compass Rose, this time by Klara Rusan.

The black-and-white illustration for the story "Intracom" shows a figure in a black dress on the right, facing a worm-like figure on the left. Both stand in front of a door; an arm sticks through the mail slot. Plates and food are scattered across the floor.

In the black-and-white image for "The Eye Altering," two figures sit in a room. One wears a white coat and sits on a chair; the other is wearing only shorts and sits on a neatly made bed. A large window behind both figures shows a dark hillside and a glowing object in the sky beyond.

In the black-and-white illustration for "Mazes," a nude figure seems to swim through a simple maze. What looks like grain awaits the figure in one corner; what look like fingers (though there are too many of them) overlap the edge of the maze in two places.

The black-and-white illustration for the story "Pathways of Desire" shows many figures in a body of water. Around the edges, long-haired figures in bikinis dance, their hair big and curly. In the center, four nude figures seem to be washing clothes.

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Ursula K. Le Guin @ursulakleguin.com · 09/06/2026

And four more images from the Croatian edition of The Compass Rose! These are by Daria Čičmir Marković.

Art by Daria Čičmir Marković for the story "The First Report of the Shipwrecked Foreigner to the Kadanh of Derb," which shows a black shape, somewhat egglike, with a corklike bit at the top. Inside the shape is a white cat, eyes closed happily, sleeping on its side.

Art by Daria Čičmir Marković for the story "The Diary of the Rose." In the middle of the black and white image is a rose; on either side there are two black shapes that might be large rocks. Both have squiggles through them. On the left stands a figure in a dress. On the white there appears to be a polar bear that is smelling the rose.

Art by Daria Čičmir Marković for the story "The White Donkey." This piece has a solid black background. In white appears the shape of a donkey, lying down, two legs visible to the viewer. Behind it are additional shapes that are hard to describe - one resembled an upside-down, half-peeled banana - and behind that, a much smaller figure with wings, wearing a dress.

Art by Daria Čičmir Marković for the story "The Phoenix" shows several flowers; at the bottom two smaller flowers grow up from the bottom of the frame, a crowned bird on the left one, while in the middle a figure sits on the flower's stem, glad in a black dress or coat, a huge white bird flying from her hand like a kite.

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Ursula K. Le Guin @ursulakleguin.com · 18/05/2026

Three more images from the new Croatian edition of The Compass Rose! These are by Laura Martinović.

The illustration for "Two Delays on the Northern Line" is a black and white image of puzzle pieces, not quite fitting together. At the bottom you see what looks like a page of a book and some small white shapes, perhaps pills, on a table next to it. In the bottom right corner piece, part of a train engine. In the middle left, a keyring with several skeleton keys. In the center, a person with short dark hair and a collared shirt. Several bottles overlap from the center piece to the center-top piece, and to the right there is a pile of envelopes.

The black-and-white illustration for "Small Change" consists largely of square shapes, perhaps boxes lines up along a central row; one has kitchen implements sticking out the top, and another is home to what looks like a horse. The outlines of three vases, done in white, are in the top left corner, and the box in the lower right has constellations. A white shape like a river of milk flows out of one box through the center of the image.

The black-and-white illustration for "SQ" shows a room with a checkered floor and bars on three sides. Behind the bars are people, some looming over the top of the bars, or trying to climb them. A sign reads "welcome" over the clearly locked doors.

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Ursula K. Le Guin @ursulakleguin.com · 04/05/2026

Last year, Croatian publisher Artikularij released a gorgeous illustrated version of The Wind's Twelve Quarters. Now, they're back for The Compass Rose, which has artwork by six different illustrators. These three illustrations are by Agata Lučić.

Black-and-white illustration for "The Author of the Acacia Seeds" by Agata Lučić shows plants and animals, some with cords connecting them, suggesting communicatoin. Three penguins stand together, a horse-like shape is plugged into a large leaf, a dolphin stands alone, a human figure is plugged into a shrub, and a dog or wolf is connected to a large tree-plant with five leaves. At the back, a portrait of a carrot is framed on a wall.

Black-and-white illustration for "The New Atlantis" by Agata Lučić shows a woman in a boat on the waves, raising one hand to a sun-star shape in the sky

Black-and-white illustration for "Schrodinger's cat" by Agata Lučić shows the figure of a human and a dog, outlined in white, against a background that shows three light-gray vertical pillars, and behind that, the suggestion of a plant.

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The Onion @theonion.com · 02/10/2026

Cashier Forced To Incorporate Humiliating New Phrase Into Every Customer Interaction theonion.com/cashier-forced-to-inco…

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