iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

(and you are absolutely correct that * and • are extremely safe because they were in there early and everyone uses them all the time.)

anyway I'm not trying to be prescriptive here 😅😅😅 everyone's risk-tolerance-to-graphical-flourish thresholds may be different and that's okay! I just think it's useful to know how and why things might break, so you can decide whether or not you're okay with that.

The Unicode encoding of a star is different from the US-ASCII encoding in Dingbats! They look the same to your eyeball, but not to the computer that's deciding what it's going to display/read out loud.

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it's not just "what's got history" but "what was supported for old devices? what's common enough to be supported now? what will a reader see if this element breaks in each of these scenarios?"

so if you used "✦ ✧ ★" as your scene break, and Zapf Dingbats the font breaks, your result might look more like "F G H" instead. (Same encoded characters, different font.)

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that's a font! so you need to hope that downstream render engines support both your regular text font (almost certainly) and Zapf Dingbats (you might need to embed this one, and it may get squirrely in some cases).

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Lost In Translation: Study Finds Interpretation Of Emojis Can Vary Widely

and that's before you get into the differences between emoji on platforms and differences in human interpretation! I was looking for a picture and instead I found a whole supporting article: www.kpbs.org/news/2016/04...

kpbs.org

That sweaty smiley face emoji may be positive to some of your friends and negative to others. And depending on who you're texting it may appear entirely different on their device.

so when you're picking from your characters to flow some text, you (or your formatter) need to ask yourself things like "is this used often enough that it will be supported?" and "what happens if someone opens this on an e-reader from 2012?"

Unicode is standardized and there are 172,808 characters, including 3,972 emoji. The Wikipedia article on it notes: "This article contains uncommon Unicode characters. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode

en.wikipedia.org

Unicode - Wikipedia

jpnadia @jpnadia.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

over the life of digital writing in English, the character encoding standards have been extended many times. stuff that is in US-ASCII (for example, the letter "e", 127 characters) is safe. Extended ASCII (255 characters), also pretty safe. Basically everyone supports these small sets.

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but also some models of e-reader do a better job with embedded graphics than others. hands up everyone who's ever played Guess The Emoji while reading in e....

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jpnadia @jpnadia.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

ahahaha, no, just laughing because I can't read 💖💖💖

jpnadia @jpnadia.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

for a second I incorrectly thought this post read "(NOT asterisks)" and I was like, oh no, but asterisks are more reliable than graphic or padding stops? I can and do use this guy though •••?

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jpnadia @jpnadia.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I skip the acknowledgements when they're not as witty and wonderful as the rest of the book. Unfortunately for the two of you...

jpnadia @jpnadia.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I mean. I mask up, mostly, and I get sick WAY less than folks who don't. My immune system is basically normal but it's really nice, actually, to not get taken out by colds.

Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 22/09/2026

Reposted by jpnadia

DoorDash has ripped off more than 260,000 NYC delivery workers. We’re making them pay $131.5 million — the largest worker settlement in City history. This is New York, where hard work pays and greed will cost you.

DoorDash messed up.
They repeatedly left more than 260,000 NYC delivery workers underpaid or paid late, causing them immense stress and financial difficulty.
That's unacceptable.
We've secured a $131.5M settlement from
DoorDash - the largest worker settlement in NYC history and largest delivery worker settlement in
American municipal history.
Every worker will be paid what they are owed, and every company will be forced to abide by the laws of this city.

LOGOS:
The OFFICE of the MAYOR of NYC
NYC Consumer and Worker Protection

Mayor Mamdani and Deliveristas representatives stand behind a podium.

Three delivery workers holding a giant fake check for $131.5M.

340250564783

jpnadia @jpnadia.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I really do love my sun lamp. They aren't even expensive anymore!

jpnadia @jpnadia.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

holy shit this gives me hope in regular people (elected officials, do you want a really popular move going toward election season?)

000

Reposted by jpnadia

Katharine Hayhoe @katharinehayhoe.com · 09/01/2025

I’m a scientist who studies how climate change impacts our lives and the places we love. Most of us are worried, but many feel stuck on what to do. If that's the way you feel, check out this list below! We can’t fix it alone, but I know we can together. 💚

A list of the most effective ways an individual can catalyze change at the scale we need to effectively tackle climate change, based on social science.

1462907970

Reposted by jpnadia

alix e. harrow @alixeharrow.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

in general if you get a tediously long and grammatically perfect email from someone famous in your field: no you did not. imagine scratching your head like "gee why don't people like chatgpt" when its most noticeable daily impact is quadrupling the number of scams we have to wade through

013216

I feel like I don't see the thing as much in contemp romance because I filter my contemp romance heavily through recommendations and am actively trying to DNF more and rage-read less. My mystery recs are weaker, so I read more unscreened mysteries and probably see the thing there more as a result.

Portal fantasy, urban fantasy, and horror in a contemporary setting does the thing. "I don't want to be the guy who dies first in a horror film!" is particularly common.

I'm currently faceplanted in DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL, a series that is alarmingly unputdownable, and the narrative hand is a character in its own right. So: it does the thing, but for actual plot reasons. I think it's less common in anything second-world where there's no tradition of genre fiction.

YUCK. Wishing you safe travels!

like... everyone knows that in a long running cozy mystery series there are going to be several murders a year, in a small town population 750. That's part of the initial suspension of disbelief! and yet I see this stuff getting textually justified all the time.

when I read that stuff, there's a high chance what I actually hear is "I, the author, know this strains credulity! But I don't trust either the premise buy-in or the in-world justification to bear the weight, so I'm going to stick a lampshade on it!"

YEP. I do want to confirm that "like something out of a book!" is unfortunately common across genres, and I don't think it's disproportionately prevalent in romance. (I suspect it IS disproportionately common in mystery, based on my own personal reading history? but maybe that's sample bias.)

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"it was probably an accident. that kind of stuff only happens in murder mysteries." "magic? like in a fantasy novel?" "it exploded like something out of an action blockbuster" etc etc etc it only works if the protagonist is genre-savvy for a reason, and here i am thinking of Sarah Rees Brennan

this does happen across genres, and it's mildly irritating in all of them.

jpnadia @jpnadia.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

My library hold for these came in on like March 15, 2020 And then I suddenly had a lot of free time to read them it was an Experience

jpnadia @jpnadia.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

(the solution is, mostly, yoga. with a side order of icy hot. this makes me feel like one of Those Guys, but I really am grateful that when something hurts I know how to ameliorate it at least a little.)

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jpnadia @jpnadia.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Unfortunately, I am getting older and my left knee is getting really squirrely. Fortunately, it's feeling much better now! Unfortunately, because I still had adult responsibilities, it turned into low back pain. Fortunately, I'm old enough to have experience in fixing this kind of pain!

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jpnadia @jpnadia.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Oh my gosh yes. PLEASE feed ALL the kids.

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jpnadia @jpnadia.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Clearing out my laundry debt (folding the Pile of Shame) and resenting how much better this makes me feel.

jpnadia @jpnadia.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I am sorry science textbooks, but the only place 25C is "room temperature" is an uncomfortably warm senior living facility.

jpnadia @jpnadia.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Just below 20C is peak weather imo I love this season I love putting on a hoodie when I need to feel cozy with my shorts and my flip flops

jpnadia @jpnadia.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

I am cranky because I don't have the spare time or energy in my life to soak it when my friends are running two hours late. While this is a "me" problem, my "me" solution is to hecking bail. Beloved friends experiencing delays, I love you but I cannot hang. Next time. 💖

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jpnadia @jpnadia.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

In this glorious season of fresh garden tomatoes, do I want tacos tonight? Or bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches? (I shall have the other one tomorrow.)

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jpnadia @jpnadia.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

12yo: how is it 4:00 already? Me (throwing my hands in the air): The passage of time is cruel and arbitrary, and I am not in control of it! Anywa-- 12yo: Watch out! Don't step in that! Me, looking down: The existence of cat barf is cruel and arbitrary, and I am not in control of that, either!

jpnadia @jpnadia.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Having consumed the bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich, I can confidently say that I have achieved at least some improvement! It was neither the prettiest nor the tastiest of its kind. Nevertheless;it did its job with honor.

jpnadia @jpnadia.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

I have had the kind of day where I nearly forgot to put the fresh garden tomato on my bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich.

A rather sad looking bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich. There is also a mangled egg (fried).