iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 22/09/2026

Imagine your address to world leaders at the United Nations. Would you oafishly brag about your own war crimes and crimes against humanity? Would you make your speech as bombastic, churlish, deceitful, bloodthirsty, transphobic, xenophobic, warmongering, and apocalyptic as possible? Sigh.

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 27/08/2026

Florida voters, read this breakdown of how (without legislative approval) $10 million of taxpayer funds from a Medicaid settlement were diverted to right-wing PACs in 2024. Key officials who were involved are candidates on your November 2026 ballot.

floridatrident.org

Sealed for seven months: Grand jury found $10 million “misappropriated” to Hope Florida

The panel found the money was taken from a Medicaid overbilling settlement and spent to defeat Amendment 3. Then it declined to charge anyone criminally.

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 07/08/2026

A good phone case feature would be miniature grappling hooks that pop out whenever the accelerometer detects that the phone is burrowing into the gap beside the seat cushions.

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 04/08/2026

Ray Bradbury's classic science fiction short story "There Will Come Soft Rains" was published in 1950, and it took its title from a poem written in 1918. It's a solid Bradbury story, and I thought I should point out that today is the day on which it takes place. short-stories.co/@raybradbury...

short-stories.co

There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury

The voice-clock sang, breakfast was ejected, but no doors slammed. The garage chimed and lifted its door to reveal the waiting car. The house sat alone in a city of rubble and…

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 03/08/2026

The Demodex mites that live on our eyelashes don't just hang on and eat the sebum oil from our faces. They also boink, lay eggs, and hatch cute widdle babies. Their lifespan is only a few weeks, so if you have any favorite mites, you should say something nice to them while there's still time.

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 02/08/2026

Those about to teach, we salute you. You hold the future of civilization in your hands, and we are grateful for your service.

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 25/07/2026

“The Normal is the good smile in a child’s eyes — all right. It is also the dead stare in a million adults." Peter Shaffer. Equus: A play in two acts. New York: Samuel French.

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 05/07/2026

We watched Edward Yang's "Yi Yi" (2000) last night, and I wept of it, and now I am a different person.

Still frame from "Yi Yi." A young Taiwanese boy schoolboy in a black suit and tie is standing up in a room with numerous empty chairs behind him. He is holding a notebook, from which he is about to a read a poem at a funeral.

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 13/06/2026

Liu Bolin. (2012). Boy and Girl with Line of Internet. Fiberglass. Artist site: liubolinstudio.com

Sculpture showing a female and male figure facing each other. They are standing nude with their arms beside them. Thousands of electronic cables are connecting them to each other, but otherwise they do not touch.

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 17/04/2026

Fans of #ThePitt who saw the season finale: 1. Make sure to wait for the credits scene. It will fix you. 2. I want to see a high school show like this, where a whole season is spent on a single school day.

Still frame from the season two finale of "The Pitt" showing two physicians speaking to each other in a busy emergency department. Their expression seems serious and they both look tired.

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 15/04/2026

May the winds of change blow the whole world round.

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 10/04/2026

VanderMeer is being VanderMeer again, so buckle up.

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 08/04/2026

Again — only smart, educated, experienced, responsible, and compassionate people should be in charge of the most important things. I'm horrified that some people think this is a controversial opinion.

Comic book image of a woman looking out a window onto a city skyline while she is saying "What a stupid time to be alive."

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 03/04/2026

The ancient song of elements, the song whose words we remember too late, too late. The song we sing in whispers as we cut the beam, hold the nail, and raise the hammer.

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 28/02/2026

Gottfried Helnwein. (1998). "Epiphany III (Presentation at the Temple)." Oil and acrylic on canvas. Artist site: www.helnwein.com

Painting showing nine men wearing standing in a semicircle behind a table. The men are wearing suits typical of the early 20th century. They are all facing the viewer, and they all have disfigured faces that resemble wounds suffered by soldiers in World War I. One man is wearing a bandage that covers most of his face. A young girl lies on the table before them, her bare feet and legs handing over one edge. She is wearing a clean dress that has a ruffle. Her head is facing the viewer but her eyes are closed.

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 31/01/2026

Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took in college. Science, Myth, & Value War, Revolution, and Morality Power, Violence, and the Individual Politics, Ecology, and Energy Modern Science Fiction

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 12/01/2026

Today, the Presbyterian Church (USA) published this gentle lesson about the mighty power of faith.

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 01/01/2026

Making the collards while standing in a kitchen in which the memories of my mother and my grandmothers are looking over my shoulder making polite but firm suggestions about getting all the stems and wondering if I'm using the right onions, and it makes me feel alive and blessed beyond words.

Photograph of 14 different kinds of collard leaves spread out on a plain surface.

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 24/12/2025

The light winds its way round our darkened world, and shows us all the path we must take to set aside our quarrels, to lay down our swords, to quench our anger, to forgive those wrongs done unto us. Come, friends, let us join the morning stars and sing together at last.

Night sky with a comet, probably Neowise. Photograph made in the summer of 2020 by Norbert L. Rühl.

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 16/12/2025

Thirty-three observations about life. (1/13) 1. Life is a series of dropping something, cursing, and stooping over to pick it up. 2. Life is a series of moments in which we wonder what to eat. 3. Life includes intervals between meeting dogs and getting fur and/or slobber all over you.

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 12/12/2025

Yeah, so you know the guy who invented these tangledy-dangley Christmas lights that look like light-up Spanish moss hanging from the drip edge? I’m going to fight that guy.

Photograph of a trash bin in a kitchen. The lid is partially open to reveal a big tangle of Christmas lights that have been partially shoved into the bin.

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 10/12/2025

The convergence of being retired and also being a homebody: It just occurred to me that I cannot recall using a vending machine of any kind since before COVID.

Photograph of two antique vending machines that dispense four five-cent U.S. postage stamps for a quarter.

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 03/12/2025

Precisely placing the bay leaves on what will become the hambone soup requires a careful balance of reverence and exuberance.

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 01/12/2025

I was just in a gas station parking lot where I met a golden retriever named Dolly. She was radiating utter joy and she wanted me to let everyone to know that (1) She loves you with her whole entire heart, and (2) There's nothing wrong with a little slobber between friends.

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 28/11/2025

Zhiyong Jing. (2023). My sunshine sleeps in your darkness. [Acrylic on wood panel.] Artist site: www.jingzhiyong.com

Painting showing a dark featurless plain and a gloomy sky beyond. In the far distance, we a silhouette of a man who is holding a torch or flashlight. In the foreground, we see a standing figure who is completely consumed in flames. Their arms are outstretched. Smoke billows from this figure into the sky.

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 27/11/2025

Till by turning, turning we come round right.

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 02/11/2025

Oliver Hermanus' "The History Of Sound" (2025) is a quiet meditation on love won and love lost, and a moving illustration of how deeply music can reach thoughts and feelings we can't quite express in other ways. My review here: letterboxd.com/floydwilbury...

letterboxd.com

A ★★★★½ review of The History of Sound (2025)

Oliver Hermanus' "The History Of Sound" is a quiet meditation on love won and love lost, and a moving illustration of how deeply music can reach thoughts and feelings we can't quite express in other w...

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 22/10/2025

Upon returning home, there is a liminal period when the traveling version of you has to allow the home version to regain control. You don't have to tip anymore. You don't have to stay dressed. You do have to cook. The traveling self wraps itself in a cocoon of forgetfulness and then slumbers.

An old-fashioned suitcase, with obvious scuffs and dents of many travels. The latches are unlocked but the suitcase is closed.

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 05/09/2025

Florida's long-running decline continues apace. #Publix seems to have decided not to provide COVID vaccines here at all.

Screen shot of Publix Pharmacy web page listing the states where they offer COVID vaccines. For Florida, the page says the COVID vaccine is "currently not available." No other state in the list has the same statement.

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 30/08/2025

Paul Davis. (2024). "Enthusiastic Presentation." Artist site: www.instagram.com/paulcopyrigh...

Hand drawing of a man in a business suit standing at an easel. He is looking at the viewer as if he is giving a presentation, and one hand is about to turn the the page on a large chart pad on the easel. A hand-lettered caption reads "Listen to reason, you ignorant fools."

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 26/08/2025

Humanities moment: Here's naughty Argonaut Jason being barfed out by the dragon that guarded the Golden Fleece. (The fleece hangs on the tree.) Athena watches, sensibly trying not to step in dragon slobber. This is a from a cup made by a potter named Douris near Rome, who made it around 480 BCE.

Classical Roman decoration on a cup showing a man with long hair being vomited up by a large dragon. A goddess in armor watches. The Golden Fleece is hanging from a fruit tree behind them.

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 24/08/2025

A ricotta soufflé, jerked shrimp tacos, dolmas in pomelo juice, BBQ butternut quesadillas, a grapefruit-smoked pork chop with peach pico de gallo, ginger-soy edamame, and half of a grape Pop-Tart found tucked under a bus seat walk into a bar. The bartender says, "Sorry, we don't serve food here."

Photograph of a dog with shaggy fur. Its head is facing the viewer but its eyes are concealed beneath all the fur.

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 07/08/2025

A good phone case feature would be miniature grappling hooks that pop out whenever the accelerometer detects that the phone is burrowing into the gap beside the seat cushions.

Line drawing of a grappling hook with a short length of rope attached to it.

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 30/07/2025

On why some meetings take so long.

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 16/07/2025

On this day in 1969, I was eight years old and about as wound up as a kid can possibly be. Everyone around me had to endure non-stop chatter about Apollo 11 leaving Florida to go to the freaking MOON.

Five images side by side of the launch of the Apollo 11 lunar spacecraft on top of a Saturn V missile. We see successive images of the rocket as rises from the ground and begins its journey to the Moon.

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 25/06/2025

The day after a death. The quiet space where words won't do. Laughter from another room. The hesitation to see who will sit in the empty chair. The smoke from the candle. Dust and birdsong. Waves crossing half the Earth to stumble and fall upon the shore. A shadow before, a shadow after.

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 22/06/2025

These awful new Alexa+ voices are saturated with vocal fry and whiny inflection. As a further annoyance, the voice for every Alexa device must be configured separately. The unmistakable goal here was to make the all the voice options as insufferable as possible. I do not understand why.

Photograph of fingernails being dragged across a chalkboard.

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 11/06/2025

This whole piece by @hcrichardson.bsky.social is superb. I was especially taken by the simple and clear advice she gives at the end on why we protest and how to do it effectively. I've linked the video to that section in case you want to see it before the #NoKings demonstrations on June 14th.

youtube.com

Politics Chat, June 10, 2025

YouTube video by Heather Cox Richardson

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 24/05/2025

Happy 84th birthday to Lucky Wilbury — our vagabond poet, Jack of Hearts, and Nobel Laureate.

Photograph of Bob Dylan as young man in New York City. He is sitting at a typewriter and smoking a cigarette.

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J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD @jeffmccullers.com · 26/04/2025

Princes and paupers. Faithful and apostate. A man's personal humility and the pageantry due his rank. An Egyptian obelisk taken by Caligula surrounded by mobile phones. Halberds raised and anti-drone weapons humming. The past is never past. The eternal weight of glory. The fullness of time.

Arial view of St. Peter's Square in the Vatican during the funeral mass for Pope Francis. An Egyptian obelisk is at the center surrounded by thousands of attendees.

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