iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 16h

Interestingly, both issues have about the same practical effect on anyone's day-to-day life too!

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Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 16h

okay, we'll just pitch "the potato chip authorizes your bigotry" to Fox News. That oughta do it.

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Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 16h

but will this potato chip/machine god have hard muscles and rippling skin with hands that are firm, but gentle, rough enough to fight to protect them but soft enough to hold them tight and safe like the women they hate refuse to? WILL THE MACHINE GOD AUTHORIZE THEM TO HATE GAYS AND OR NONWHITES?

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Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 17h

Ah but have you considered telling them the exact bizarre homoerotic things they want to hear?

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Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I’ve got a speculative story about the evils of the death penalty in this country but every time I start it I get too angry and have to stop. Plus I don’t know that I trust myself not to make it as subtle as a stick of dynamite in a fertilizer factory.

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Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

It’s just evidence of stunted development and nonexistent media diet. So they’re frozen in the last set of books/movies they watched and also insane about it. Same reason why just saying “The Last Jedi” summons the chuddiest idiots on the Internet to yell at your mentions.

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Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Every argument for positive qualities of fraternities can be countered with “there’s a better and less toxic way to get that benefit without fraternities.”

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Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

It's easy to clown on people like this, but it's actually very revealing as to the role that religion plays in their lives: it is a permission structure that will be skinned on to whatever exercise of power they personally desire to wield. That's literally the only purpose religion holds for them.

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ceej @ceej.online · 04/10/2026

“how do we win back trump voters in 2026” we don’t. we create an environment where admitting to voting for trump is so socially embarrassing as to render them completely inert. you don’t “win back” trump voters. you demoralize them into staying home. you make it a dunce cap

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Pots and Plots @inthebookgarden.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

New #fantasy review from me today. The Tower of the Tyrant by J.T Greathouse. A deep, thinky novel with some glorious worldbuilding. potsandplots.blog/2026/09/24/t... #bookreview #booksky

potsandplots.blog

The Tower of the Tyrant by J.T. Greathouse: The Long Tail of History

The Tower of Tyrant by J.T. Greathouse is a thoughtful novel thay takes worldbuilding in new directions.

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Trump’s insider trading is, on its own, the worst corruption scandal in US history, with $$$ dwarfing Teapot Dome. So are Trump’s bribes-for-pardons. So is the Qatar bribe plane. So is all the Saudi money he (and Kushner) have pocketed. And the ballroom. And more. Each alone would be the worst.

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Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Again, you can always detect some faint embarrassment from Democrats when they talk about the ballroom, but “the president demolished a big part of the White House to build himself a palace with bribes from enemy powers” is, by an order of magnitude, the worst corruption scandal in US history

esquire.com

A Wealthy Russian Businessman Is Helping Fund Trump’s Stupid Ballroom. Nothing Sketchy About That, Right?

Surely, our president will face consequences for this insanity.

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Patrick Wyman @patrickwyman.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

At a really fundamental level Leo XIV is just a person with sound, well-reasoned, moral stances on the world and how life should be lived who isn't afraid to say those things in public. That kind of person simply does not make sense to business leaders and politicians for whom speech is convenience.

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Micah @rincewind.run · 02/10/2026

getting mad at the pope for not thinking the chatbot has a soul is easily the funniest thing I've read all week

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Rich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The Keynote Speaker at the Annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in March, folks.

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Nathan Tankus @nathantankus.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Not the least bit surprising but still extremely grim to read. time.com/article/2026...

Since returning to office, Trump has marveled at AI’s capabilities. He is increasingly in thrall to the tech executives courting him. In December 2025, Elon Musk returned to the Oval Office for a clandestine meeting. Trump spent hours asking Grok, Musk’s AI chatbot, questions about his presidency and legacy, according to an official present. At the time, Trump was ordering missile strikes against Venezuelan boats he alleged were smuggling drugs into the U.S. He asked Grok how Venezuelans would react if the U.S. captured Maduro. According to the official present, the chatbot responded that Maduro was a repressive and deeply unpopular dictator and that many Venezuelans would likely celebrate his downfall. After Trump ordered the mission to seize Maduro, the following month, celebrations broke out in the streets. Trump, according to officials, came away thinking Grok was ingenious.

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Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

A snappy name certainly. Maybe…Greater East Asia Coprosperity Sphere?

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Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Pretty “normal” guy I went to college with wants to tie the vote to “have completed public service” (e.g.military)

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Anthony Michael Kreis @anthonymkreis.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Can’t do student loan relief. Can’t mandate vaccines. Can’t help home owners. Can commit human rights abuses.

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Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Challenging my firm anti death penalty stance

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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

That's where I've been for a while. We can't even reach questions about the death penalty itself because we fail essential predicates such as "fair and consistent criminal justice system" and "reliable death penalty verdicts that leave no reasonable doubt" and, as shown tonight, "humane execution."

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Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Nope. Not today. I’ve had enough today I don’t need this today.

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Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Man I’ve got one really good frat story that involves a (then collegiate but eventually long time nba journeyman)- that broadly involves both of us being baffled by what we were seeing.

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Richard Swan @richardswanauthor.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The gorgeous cover for Blood Dynasty has been revealed! Art by the inimitable Philip Harris

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Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

There’s a vein of “don’t mock appearance,” but I do think you can derive intelligent conclusions about someone’s choices about how they present themselves. This type of dress suggests to me either impunity over how he looks, disdain of the idea of looking good, or a profound lack of self awareness.

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Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

As far as I can tell the idea of schools putting kids on hormones is just a complete fantasy. How or why would the school be involved with that?

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muscular baby jeb lund @mobute.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

A CT scan of Trump's brain probably looks like a QR code by now.

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InkFoundry @inkfoundry.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Inkmark finalists are going to be announced this week!!!!

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Jeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

They quoted me in this New Yorker piece about AI today. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

“Let’s say there’s a world or time line I exist in where A.I. has been subject to regulation. It is ethical. It has no footprint environmentally,” the novelist Jeff VanderMeer, a prominent critic of A.I., told me over the phone. “With those guardrails in place, would I read an A.I. book? All I can say is no. And the reason is, in part, because I want to read something coming from a particular mind.” Using A.I., he said, “feels like a betrayal of the whole point of why you’re a writer.”

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Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Sorta underselling this moment as he did it on 9/11 to try to cheer his team up. “People like music… right?” <jd Vance ordering donuts meme>

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Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

If memory serves we cultivated our characteristics that made them have strong unpleasant flavors especially in some preparation techniques. A quick search pulled this article, which may not be ideal but is directionally helpful to start a better review. www.reddit.com/r/todayilear...

reddit.com

From the todayilearned community on Reddit: TiL the Brussel Sprouts have been systematically bred to be less bitter and taste better since the 90s

Explore this post and more from the todayilearned community

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Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The effort to systemize detection or make it like a quantifiable process that can be applied with a sensitivity/specificity thing like in medicine is so far above my pay grade. Mostly I get a creeping sense I’m being lied to.

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Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

There’s this and that’s not even accounting for the “we developed superior cultivars of things that almost don’t resemble their original forms” thing that is within living memory. For example cultivating Brussels sprouts that have none of the negatives that made them the butt of jokes in the 80s.

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Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I’ll be honest skimmed it at 5 am while feeding a baby with zero coffee on board. I make no promises regarding quality… or even its general conclusions.

static.klipy.com

Awake But At What Cost? Sleepy Cat Meme

ALT: Awake But At What Cost? Sleepy Cat Meme

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Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

This is a… (sorry)… layup.

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Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The mandate of “Yes, and”

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Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

way back in the before times, like the proto-early-internet rumor days (early 2000s), there was definitely a persistent rumor that Helen Keller was a virulent racist and antisemite, which was presented either as A. Look at this idiot or B. Proof that even Helen Keller could see the "Truth"

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Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Bruce having to fight against the negative side effects of his gear would be a very niche, but potentially very amusing, B plot.

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Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Clocking the Young Turks from the jump as bad faith operators is one of my greatest perception check nat 20s.

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Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Come *on* no. Nope. They can’t be real. Uh uh.

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Sir Gobbersworth @sirgobbersworth.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

This will either be incredibly dumb and pointless OR incredibly dumb and ruin all of our lives (even further) There is no in between

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