iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

1597. Queen Elizabeth assigns William Shakespeare an impossible task. His solution is to invent a new form of comedy. Literary critics HATE this one weird trick! worldwarzero.substack.com/p/book-revie...

worldwarzero.substack.com

Book Review: The Merry Wives of Windsor

How Shakespeare’s “Worst” Play is Secretly His Finest

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

It's hard to pick a first domino in the wars the lead to our modern world, but a case can be made for Isabella I of Castille. I've done a revision of this article, especially the opening, continuing to refine the voice for the podcast. worldwarzero.substack.com/p/she-was-ne...

worldwarzero.substack.com

She was never supposed to be queen

The origins of Isabella of Castile

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

The Spanish Conquest wasn't fully Spanish, nor was it fully a conquest... open.substack.com/pub/worldwar...

open.substack.com

The Spanish Conquest was neither Spanish nor a conquest

Discuss.

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

All teenagers rebel in one form or another. Louis XI had the most literal teenage rebellion. He tried to overthrow his own father, the king of France. It did not go well.

open.substack.com

The Universal Spider

The origin of Louis XI

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

For more stories of the clash of civilizations that lead to our modern world, check worldwarzero.substack.com

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

By the way, on his trip up the Orinoco he passed very close to what would later be one of the world’s foremost gold mines at El Callao (in Venezuela). If the native peoples knew about it, they deliberately sent him in completely the wrong direction.

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

That expedition lead to the death of his son, the suicide of his second in command and his own eventual beheading.

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

He learned no lessons from this and after King James I let him out of prison in 1617 he again went looking for El Dorado.

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

He plundered his way back to England and ended up writing a popular book about the trip just to dispel the notion he had found a bunch of gold but was keeping it hidden.

Sir Walter looking jaunty with a feather in his hat

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

By this time they were 400 miles into the journey and the rainy season was in full swing. They found some awesome waterfalls and cliffs but no city of gold.

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

Raleigh made friends with some local denizens (Warao, Pemon) by convincing them he hated the Spanish as much as they did. They, guess what, convinced him there was a rich culture living in the mountains.

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

A Spanish shadow mission was following them but they blew their cover and Raleigh and his troops were able to surprise attack the Spaniards and capture an Indian who agreed to be their guide.

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

Sir Walter Raleigh (such a stupid git) set out in 1595 to find El Dorado by going up the Orinoco River. He started with 100 men. His Indian guide Ferdinando vanished (or was captured) in the jungle. One of his crew was eaten by a crocodile.

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

The myth of El Dorado, a city of gold, in South America was not put to bed until the 19th century when the continent was more conclusively mapped.

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

Pánfilo de Narváez was tricked by the Tocobagans of Florida to leave them alone and head north to “Apalachee,” a kingdom rich in gold. It didn’t exist, and all but four of his army died in the trek to find it.

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

The Nauset chief Epenow was abducted from his home in present day Martha’s Vineyard and taken to England. He convinced his captors he could show them the location of a gold mine. When they sailed him back close to his home, he jumped out of the boat and swam to shore.

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

Native Americans quickly figured out that telling Europeans you knew where gold was was a great to control them. 🧵

Epenow points the way (detail from an engraving)

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

“Members of Congress thought the bill was so important that they passed the measure even before they established pay for themselves!” oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/lighth...

oceanservice.noaa.gov

Do We Still Need Lighthouses?

Seafarers have relied on lighthouses for centuries. With GPS and other navigational aids, are they still needed?

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

“On August 7, 1789, Congress approved the Lighthouse Act—the first public works program undertaken by the new federal government—which established and supported lighthouses, beacons, buoys, and public piers.”

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Reposted by J. Ott

Brian Schmid @schmanthonyp.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

It’s so wild that the face of the organization that defiantly proudly said they would never accept colorization and ran a piece for decades about how pan and scan ruins the art of cinema is just doing this

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

A young girl stolen from one man by another; political and criminal consequences ensue. I’m speaking of course of Achilles and Agamemnon in The Iliad.

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Reposted by J. Ott

Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

when they close it all up, I do believe this will go down as the funniest video on the internet

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

People who say “do your own research” are badly misjudging the average person’s research skills.

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 29/06/2025

The show POKER FACE is metaphor for the life of an actor. Each week a new role to inhabit; an obsession with the truth; the mystery to solve of how a body ended up where it is.

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

All in all, one of the strangest dreams I’ve ever had. I woke up anxious thinking I needed to be coming up with more material for Nathan and HBO.

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

There was a subplot where the townsfolk needed to use up as much electrical power as possible so they put on a Peewee Hockey game. In the middle of shooting we stopped everything so Nathan and I could put our kids to bed.

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

I had a dream I got a job writing for Nathan Fielder. He started a film school where weird professors gave incomprehensible lectures, we made TV ads that toed the line between real and surreal. The whole thing culminated in a recreation of a small town that had to fight off mutant CGI alligators.

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

Ask me how you can save hundreds on Gecko life insurance!

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 01/06/2025

I don't see how Henry, pried open for all the world to see, survived. poets.org/poem/dream-s...

poets.org

Dream Song 1

Huffy Henry hid the day,

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

The most valuable Substack would be one that posts essays challenging the core beliefs of its subscribers. It would also be one that generates maximum unsubscriptions.

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

“Who can possibly stop this?!?” cried everyone who could stop this.

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 20/04/2025

I complain about the size of the Harvard endowment. But dey do got dat F U money doe.

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

The number of people on here preaching to the choir is maxed out. Like Mormon Tabernacle levels.

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

These are fine but does it bother anyone else that a starfish and a sponge have Human in the type line?

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

Brody winning for The Brutalist has an appropriately long speech. Brutalist was my pick from the Best Picture nominees but Anora is also very deserving. Indie film ascendant?

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

I’m not saying he’s a Nazi but he enjoys the “Tomorrow Belongs to Us” sequence of Cabaret unironically.

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

I’m a Sam Spiegel stan. People who have worked with Spielberg say he may be a better producer than director. Sir Ridley Scott also wears both hats well. Whoever is behind the current A24 run would be up there for me. Brian Grazer seems like a polymath who somehow also produces…

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J. Ott @john-ott.bsky.social · 25/02/2025