iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by John M. Gamble

Ivan Turgenev's "Execution of Troppmann" is a short essay, published in 1870, that gives a first-hand account of the writer attending a public execution in Paris. Turgenev's details how the drunk, unruly crowd turned a somber moment into a carnival. A deeply moving essay; I encourage you to read it.

311336367

Reposted by John M. Gamble

neutral @neutral.zone · 22h

You can paste whatever you like. It's a completely user-controlled ingestion pipeline. Amazon has built a mechanism for importing supposedly high-confidence personal facts, and the input is just arbitrary text.

2132

Reposted by John M. Gamble

elias isquith @eliasisquith.blog · 11h

the absolute funniest thing i’ve been told about JD Vance from people who cover him is that he’s obsessed with charles de gaulle and thinks he’s his american reincarnation.

39864106

Reposted by John M. Gamble

brookswalsh @brookswalsh.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

I'm not an Apollo historian, but let me tell you my version of why Hamilton is a Real One™️ So she's briliant and everything, gets a job working on the Apollo programming. Important work! But it's not like NASA had daycare for employees, so one day ...

253

Reposted by John M. Gamble

James Goodwin @jamesgoodwin.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

"Congress may still have room to respond with a new law, but it can’t just say the court got the Constitution wrong." The hell it can't. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/05/m...

nytimes.com

Congress Is Supposed to Be More Powerful Than the Supreme Court. Why Isn’t It?

Trump and his allies in the Capitol have revealed a problem that has been developing for decades.

1119639

Reposted by John M. Gamble

Pookleblinky @pookleblinky.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Imagine how fucking rotted a person's brain has to be to submit a 50,000 line pull request and not perceive that what you are doing is *incredibly* embarrassing and antisocial. A vibecoder can no longer notice they're greeting people by spraying hot dogshit all over the place.

7652135

John M. Gamble @jmgamble.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

The obvious terrible person (and extremely terrible judge of character) of that bunch was George the Third. I'm only starting the book now, we'll see who else gets closely examined.

000

John M. Gamble @jmgamble.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

The copyright date on it 2004. Bush the Second was president of the U.S., Tony Blair was Prime Minister of the UK, Benjamin Netanyahu was taking a break from being Prime Minister of Israel*, India was transferring power from Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Manmohan Singh. _____ * Fine, Ehud Barak.

100

John M. Gamble @jmgamble.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

"The battle to reclaim democracy is going to be a difficult one." The receipt is still in the book. I bought it back in June 2009, and I forgot about it while it stood on the shelf.

Picture of the book An Ordinary Person's Guide To Empire, by Arundhati Roy.

The layout of the book is top third title, middle third a close-up picture of hands bound at the wrists by handcuffs, and the bottom third containing the author's name and the text "From the author of The God of Small Things"

ISBN 089608727-1 for those of you who need that information.

110

Reposted by John M. Gamble

Maggie Tokuda-Hall @maggietokudahall.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Here's the thing: most books that are banned don't make the lists that get circulated each #BannedBooksWeek. If you're a book creator and your book gets banned, please respond to this post with your book and its buy link on bookshop.org. That way we can support indies and banned books 💛

bookshop.org

Bookshop.org: Buy books online. Support local bookstores.

A better way to buy books online. Every purchase financially supports local independent bookstores.

14676355

John M. Gamble @jmgamble.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

But it does have one sequel, directed by Paul Schrader? Okay, I need to see both of these. www.imdb.com/title/tt0111...

imdb.com

010

Reposted by John M. Gamble

Chaucer Doth Tweet @levostregc.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Thys year banned bookes weeke ys also destroyed-to-scan-for-A.I. bookes weeke

114929

John M. Gamble @jmgamble.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I've only seen it when the author was making it clear that the expression was the negative of the usual terms. I've never seen it used as the default.

040

Reposted by John M. Gamble

Jeff Sharlet @jeffsharlet.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

The clearest and most succinct expression I've read of how, beyond the clear fascist rhetoric, the Prairieland prosecutions have terrifyingly expanded federal legal power, beyond the point many feds even wanted to go.

For other activists on the left — and on the right — the Prairieland case has set a dangerous precedent. Cadeddu, the federal defense attorney, told me that the most worrying of all the “terrorist acts” was vandalism. There is no dollar amount set on what sort of damage might qualify as an act of terror. Even throwing a snowball at an ICE vehicle during a protest and scratching the paint or damaging a taillight might qualify. “In theory, if you happen to be on a Signal chat with some people planning a protest, and one of the people at that protest — you don’t even have to know them — throws that snowball, you could be implicated in material support for terrorism, simply for helping to organize,” she says. “That’s the meaning of the case.”

7328153

Reposted by John M. Gamble

Benito Cereno @benitocereno.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Okay, since we agree it is basically October, here's what I tell myself you've been waiting for: A new list of recommended streaming horror and horror-adjacent movies for you to watch in time for Halloween -- movies on Netflix, Hulu, Shudder, Amazon Prime, and more boxd.it/XbLjo

boxd.it

New Screams to Stream for Halloweam 2026

If you’re reading this in October, there's a better than average chance that you might be looking for something spooky to watch this month, so I'm here to help you out with suggestions of good movies ...

76528

John M. Gamble @jmgamble.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Also, an explanation as to why it is bad. I got it on a second reading, but it wasn't immediately obvious to me, and I think someone even less media-savvy than me might not realize it at all.

020

Reposted by John M. Gamble

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 05/10/2026

this guy sounds like a minor character in legend of the galactic heroes

751179132

Reposted by John M. Gamble

Fietser @americanfietser.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

"But the handicapped need cars!" No, what they need are options in mobility. The tech exists to enable their freedom of independent mobility, but almost always what is lacking is the enabling infrastructure. Bike lanes and quality sidewalks serve everyone.

3857761395

Reposted by John M. Gamble

rose novick @rosenovick.com · 05/10/2026

don't really like how quickly "ai psychosis" has drifted from referring to actual psychosis to referring to "opinions about ai that i don't like"

6765

Reposted by John M. Gamble

Alex Awoos @alex-awoos-backup.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I feel like more people should be talking about this part

Screenshot from the article that reads, The Stud, San Francisco's oldest gay bar, was only able to have its Meta pages restored because of the bars popularity among gay tech executives with connections to Meta

3850272100

Reposted by John M. Gamble

Laurie! Live! @laurie-merrell.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Spent a delightful morning delivering hard copies of @injusticewatch.org's #CheckYourJudges judicial election guide! You can check out the online version here: 2026retention.injusticewatch.org

A photo of me holding a stack of printed Injustice Watch judicial election guides on Argyle in front of the elevated Red Line station with a big red sign that says Argyle

16215

Reposted by John M. Gamble

Libel @libeltheband.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I remember working in a bookstore in the early 2000s and Anne Coulter’s book defending McCarthy came in. I thought, “That has to be the end of her career - no Republican or conservative wants to re-embrace McCarthy.” I did not realize she was way ahead of the curve.

2478

Reposted by John M. Gamble

Block Club Chicago @blockclubchi.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

You can tour the Uptown Theatre as part of Open House Chicago this year. buff.ly/T4N8a8W

0223

Reposted by John M. Gamble

BOO Bolander @bbolander.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

how has nobody shown me this before? don't i have any real friends? why would you keep it from me like that? six fucking years?! youtube.com/shorts/-dxIq...

youtube.com

Skull Boy Tells a Joke (The Real One)

YouTube video by Tom Schalk

4272

Reposted by John M. Gamble

Tyler King @tyleraking.com · 29/09/2026

A key component of the Cambridge Analytica outrage was your friends subjecting you to data theft without your consent or knowledge. Facebook is running the same playbook on your text messages. Even if you’re not on Meta properties, they’re ingesting your interactions.

Aten installed Muse on both his iPhone and a Mac mini that he uses to test out various Al agents and tech. It took Meta a single day to begin "helpfully" pitching article ideas based on texts he'd sent to a podcast co-host.
When he asked Muse how it got the information, it said that it read banners from incoming texts. But that's not true, either.
After doing a little digging, Aten says Muse synced 187,000 lines from his Messages database, despite Full Disk Access being Off.

Unless Aten is the most popular person on the face of the planet, I sincerely doubt he'd gotten 187,000 lines of text in roughly 24 hours. What happened is that, without permission, Muse went into the app and downloaded the information.
He had not given Muse permission to access Messages, and full disk access was not enabled. It just went ahead and uploaded those texts anyway.
Muse can take "unexpected actions" indeed.

182012975

Reposted by John M. Gamble

Gwen C. Katz @gwenckatz.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Things Gavin Newsom has vetoed this week: -A ban on secretly recording people with smart glasses -A ban on ICE agents working for the state government -A ban on websites selling your data -A bill giving native tribes more say over water rights -A bill protecting transgender healthcare providers

297113024103

Reposted by John M. Gamble

Molly White @molly.wiki · 03/10/2026

you almost have to admire the effective altruists for coming right out and saying “we feel a keen debt to the criminal who stole the money that provided seed funding for Manifund, which is why we’re hiring her and paying her with some of it instead of returning it to FTX creditors”

11751145

John M. Gamble @jmgamble.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Is it made of a series of tubes?

000

Reposted by John M. Gamble

Funranium (AKA Phil Broughton) @funranium.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

At this point, Trump has done so much damage to Puerto Rico over two terms I'm just waiting for the Navy to draw up live fire exercises for San Juan.

27827

Reposted by John M. Gamble

Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Suella Braverman's book PATRIOT came out today. It's 503 grams, costs £30 and tells the story of one politician's struggle against reality. Mine is currently 99p on kindle. Weighs nothing. Is all about traitors and villains... And people love it. Choices www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0F2FHD18...

amazon.co.uk

Notorious: History’s Villains and Why They Matter

Notorious: History’s Villains and Why They Matter eBook : English, Otto: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

63874157

Reposted by John M. Gamble

Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Yeah the biggest human trafficking bust in 21st century US history went down in 2021. Operation Blooming Onion. They took down a $200 million slavery ring in Georgia. 100% H2A visa workers who immigrated legally. This was HUGE NEWS for anyone who was paying attention to farm worker & labor issues.

5343112

Reposted by John M. Gamble

Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

once again, they're telling us what they want to do

1337689

Reposted by John M. Gamble

Scare Smith 💀 @evilgalprods.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

this is going to bring Consequences for the production and I, for one, look forward to them

162

John M. Gamble @jmgamble.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

But they guaranteed "exceedingly standard grade" copper. Isn't that standard grade oxidation?

000

Reposted by John M. Gamble

The Fake History Hunter @fakehistoryhunter.net · 01/10/2026

What on earth! It's not even been a year and the quality is worse than it already was. I think I've been scammed. Time to write an angry letter ;)

1125653

Reposted by John M. Gamble

Gareth Watkins @garethwatkins.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Since everyone started talking about Yudkowsky last week, I think we should talk about the other person who created contemporary AI discourse: Nick Land. This will be written for a general audience, and for something more substantial I'd recommend @eruditorumpress.com's Neoreaction: A Basilisk

810139

Reposted by John M. Gamble

Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 01/10/2026

The Yuddite/rationalist primary defense mechanism is spurting out a big ink-cloud of thesaurus and number-laden complete nonsense, and then demanding that you waste your time "debating" them over it. The good news is that this trick is easily defeated by simply refusing to play the Debate Me game.

4358284

Reposted by John M. Gamble

Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The US has withdrawn from GRECO, the Council of Europe’s anti-corruption watchdog, which it has been a member of since 2000, ABC reports. Russia and Belarus are the only other countries to have left the group.

51614311

Reposted by John M. Gamble

Funranium (AKA Phil Broughton) @funranium.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Also, as I’ve reminded people many times before, cat eyes don’t work like human eyes do. Tuned for different wavelengths, different shaped pupils, and different density of receptors on the retina. The laser classifications are for your eyes. Lasers aren’t toys. Never have been. Not even for pets.

48017

Reposted by John M. Gamble

Funranium (AKA Phil Broughton) @funranium.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

[Fire Marshal overhears me talking to their deputy about Amazon Bullshit Lasers, pops head out of office] FM: What did you say the power cut off is? Me: 5mW for visible light. Why, you got one too? FM: Yeah, should be fine though. [shines it at wall] Me: [yoinks] I'm afraid I'm the judge of that.

514523

Reposted by John M. Gamble

the Mountain Goats @themountaingoats.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

bluesky does not seem to really be talking about this but today Stevie Wonder unleased 4 songs that didn't make "Songs in the Key of Life." music.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

music.youtube.com

Songs In The Key Of Life - The EP

EP • Stevie Wonder

542059657

Reposted by John M. Gamble

Alyssa S. @drsepinwall.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Yo!!! I thought this horrifying Alpha School that @benjaminjriley.bsky.social & @annieabrams.bsky.social had been alerting us to was 1 school. It’s 50 and growing… and paid for in Texas by voucher funds. Not just AI but psychological torture and degradation.

254

Reposted by John M. Gamble