iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 5h

Pinocchio, aged three, the whale aahhhhhhhhh

night on the sea, a storm! enormous blue cartoon whale with open blood-red maw lined with sharp teeth about to swallow tiny boat

Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 29/09/2026

I get that this story must be particularly ghastly to NYCers but why is it breaking anew every 30 minutes, as if the newsroom simply can't believe it

An email inbox with 3 NY Times headlines reading "Breaking news: Man killed in N.Y.C. subway after bag gets stuck" sent at 9:59am, 10:40am, and 11:25am

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 11/09/2026

A 9/11 piece by the novelist Ian McEwan, written a day or two after the attacks. These clips are a heartbreaking central paragraph plus the final one, which talks of what the hijackers lacked. But of course it applies to us all, we're all susceptible to brutal certainty & hatred. Link in next post.

A San Francisco husband slept through his wife's call from the World Trade Centre. The tower was burning around her, and she was speaking on her mobile phone. She left her last message to him on the answering machine. A TV station played it to us, while it showed the husband standing there listening. Somehow, he was able to bear hearing it again.We heard her tell him through her sobbing that there was no escape for her. The building was on fire and there was no way down the stairs. She was calling to say goodbye. There was really only one thing for her to say, those three words that all the terrible art, the worst pop songs and movies, the most seductive lies, can somehow never cheapen. I love you.

She said it over and again before the line went dead. And that is what they were all saying down their phones, from the hijacked planes and the burning towers. There is only love, and then oblivion. Love was all they had to set against the hatred of their murderers.

The hijackers used fanatical certainty, misplaced religious faith, and dehumanising hatred to purge themselves of the human instinct for empathy. Among their crimes was a failure of the imagination. As for their victims in the planes and in the towers, in their terror they would not have felt it at the time, but those snatched and anguished assertions of love were their defiance.

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 09/09/2026

the colorado—not the important one, the lil one that runs through Austin

talk downtown buildings reflected in misty gray waters

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 04/09/2026

i found this weirdly devastating—i was born in SLC., but we moved around through the south (GA, FL, TX) when i was a kid and i’ve lived in Houston or Austin since my teens. but my dad’s from SLC and my mom’s from Minneapolis, how have I utterly lost both their dialects?

my dialect results code heavily southern, most like Houston (ok) or Dallas (NO), least like Salt Lake (where my dad AND I were born) and Minneapolis where my mom was born and raised

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 03/08/2026

this has to be a bot, yes? or are humans starting to write like this? (say no)

alana writes: Many people would question that decision because Eric Adams has faced public criticism and controversy, which could make him a less persuasive spokesperson for some audiences. On the other hand, supporters might argue that he is an experienced public figure and communicator

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 28/07/2026

man can get to the point, a surprisingly rare quality

Anti-transparency is a fundamental pillar of right-wing politics. The right of powerful people to do as they please is only useful if it’s free of consequences, and the only way to assure that is if no one knows what they’re doing.

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 25/06/2026

ps I'm sure she's right that the book is semi-written FOR evangelicals but this bit among others took me back to the one of the first kids I met when we moved from Utah to Texas, who said she couldn't play with me because "you worship stone idols." I was baffled, had to ask my mother what she+

Of the Eucharist—the culminating sacrament of the Catholic Mass—Vance observes, “This was always a little weird to me as a Protestant: You guys actually think this bread converts to the body of Christ?” He tells us that some Protestants he knows “really don’t like the Catholic practice of praying to saints.”

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 19/06/2026

annoyed with myself for forgetting alt text, here it is reposted

[Verse 1]
Last week, I left a note on Laura's desk
It said, "I love you, signed, anonymous friend"
Turns out, she's smarter than I thought she was
She knows I wrote it, now the whole class does too
And I'm all alone during couples skate
When she skates by with some guy on her arm
But I know that I'll forget the look of pity in her face
When I'm living in my solar dome on a platform in space

[Chorus]
'Cause it's gonna be the future soon
And I won't always be this way
When the things that make me weak and strange
Get engineered away
It's gonna be the future soon
I've never seen it quite so clear
And when my heart is breaking
I can close my eyes and it's already here

[Verse 2]
I'll probably be some kind of scientist
Building inventions in my space lab in space
I'll end world hunger, I'll make dolphins speak
Work through the daytime, spend my nights and weekends
Perfecting my warrior robot race
Building them one laser gun at a time
I will do my best to teach them
About life and what it's worth
I just hope that I can keep them from destroying the Earth

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 18/06/2026

whenever I hear that Jonathan Coulton song "Future Soon" I think of Elon, it's really painful genius.com/Jonathan-cou...

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 18/06/2026

I am thinking of bringing this to DEAR DICKIES, which I got at a lovely little unattended free dress shop at Burning Man years ago . . . but let's be real am not going to wear in this lesser world. Will be there Saturday, join me Austin!

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 05/06/2026

what i love about the answer when i tried this is that it included for lagniappe a video telling me not trust it

a google gemini search for how many days of the week have fish in it” withe results “Only two days of the week literally contain the word "fish" when their names are spelled out:Tuesdays (Tuesday)Saturdays (Saturday).” just beneath it is a link to an instagram video fromCarter Smith headlined “stop trusting the google AI overviews”-to

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 15/04/2026

colon whitehead gets it (and this piece is hilarious, gift link) www.nytimes.com/2026/04/15/o...

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 29/03/2026

love to bash the annoying (and on trans issues, dangerous) Times but I am baffled here. The AMA's communication officer's statement (attached) is extremely clear, and the AMA chair's is super vague & despite what chair says, the Times claims they've gotten no requests for corrections. wtf.

Below is the full quote provided to The Times by Joshua Zembik, the A.M.A’s Chief Communications Officer, on which our Feb. 4 reporting (“Doctors’ Group Endorses Restrictions on Gender-Related Surgery for Minors”) was based:

“Our colleagues at ASPS concluded that the evidence supporting gender-related surgery in minors is insufficient and of low certainty. The American Medical Association respects the expertise and dedication of surgeons who care for patients every day. The AMA supports evidence-based treatment, including gender-affirming care. Currently, the evidence for gender-affirming surgical intervention in minors is insufficient for us to make a definitive statement. In the absence of clear evidence, the AMA agrees with ASPS that surgical interventions in minors should be generally deferred to adulthood.”

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 26/03/2026

I loathe fresh vegetables. I loathe the taste & passionately loathe how they make me feel (ungrounded, uncertain, WEIRD.) Yet they are important to my health! Are green drinks pointless (not "an excuse" to eat fewer veg.) or are they a helpful "safety net"? + www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

"Greens that are dried through freezing instead of heat retain more nutrients and fiber, Rosales said. But green powders should be viewed as a “safety net”—they’re meant to “help us get to a place where we’re closer to the dietary recommendations.” They’re not a replacement for greens, or an excuse to eat less of them. In pretty much every way, normal greens are better than the"

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 21/03/2026

I have a similar photo from when I was trying to do something artsy with roses in afternoon light

a bowl of red roses in squate of light on a terra cotta floor. Beside them, a cat's paw.

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 04/03/2026

brilliant, pointed, bitter, and with a killer close:

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 05/02/2026

no! he had lots of roles before Tenacious D was formed in 1994, all the highlighted roles here were prior to that. In fact Gass & Black met in a theater troupe.

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 08/01/2026

yes, she was married twice (divorced once, and then recently widowed) and had three children, per AP apnews.com/article/ice-...

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 19/12/2025

i keep scouring our forecast in Austin for a temp like that, i don’t care about the rain either but it would be so lovely and cool!

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 12/12/2025

that meme about Bob Cratchit making $500+ a week is not right as far as I can tell, 15 shillings/week in terms of real wages/purchasing power is more like $130/week, which sucks. Stop stealing Cratchit valor! www.measuringworth.com/calculators/...

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 06/12/2025

this piece by @jpbrammer.bsky.social on the 2026 Pantone color of the year is so hilarious and also slightly depressing that it makes me sad 90% of my followers (an estimate: hi folks) are bots because I want to tell the world. Here is a link + tiny clip: johnpaulbrammer.substack.com/p/cloud-danc...

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 06/12/2025

#CatsNoirFriday is probably some bs but guess what I happen to have a cat who looks good in B&W

ludicrously pretty cat named Ceal reclining on a cat tree, looking out the window for birds and/or approaching enemies, her massive raccoon tail wrapped cozily about herself

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 23/11/2025

I remember that, they had a computer animation? but ten years after that documentary another forensic animation firm found that the trajectory the bullet would have had to follow was not possible (link below). One is wrong, and again I don't care, I have just always thought that was a weak point

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 21/11/2025

i agree and so does science www.theatlantic.com/family/archi...

“Temperature matters for happiness too. One study from 2013 measured participants’ mood at various temperatures and found that a cool 57 degrees Fahrenheit outdoors is optimal for a positive mood. Temperatures colder and hotter than that were associated with lower sense of well-being.”

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 15/11/2025

this @winterjessica.bsky.social piece is written with the cold and brilliant fury i needed today, have a taste What Did Men Do to Deserve This? www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 10/11/2025

yea this completely new, no previous generations have done this

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 17/10/2025

it actually reminds me of this photo I took years ago, which is not an animal shot but similar vibe

before a background of a sun just sinking below a mountain are dozens of people in silhouette; one has antlers

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 08/10/2025

Wrong answers only (though mine is actually Right) Quote post with a photo of YOUR president

Benicio del Toro as Sergio St Carlos in ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 24/09/2025

this newsletter is so reliably good--

"The problem for the authoritarians is that the simulation is fragile. It is held together by fear and lies. But it’s reified by every person who tells the story that the regime wants to tell, who validates their narratives and genuflects at their altars. Trump wants a world where he is revered, unquestioned, and untouchable. But it only exists if you act like it does."

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 23/09/2025

i really love this piece, it illuminates something i’ve been feeling

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 13/09/2025

I don't usually do this but I am trying to REV MYSELF UP to finish this sucker

Sy turned over the second card. “The challenge.” The woodcut on this card showed a jumble of silver and black pocket watches and a Swiss clock with a hysterically screaming cuckoo. “Time.”
“Meaning what?”
“As a challenge card, I’d say it means time is not on your side.”
“So use my time well?”
She hesitated. “I think perhaps you won’t have enough time for what you want to do.”
Marsh birds cheeped and trilled from somewhere far below. A low, ominous hoot silenced them.
“You don’t have to look at the last card,” the woman said. “I wouldn’t.”
They sat in silence. The worn back of the face-down card was deep as an abyss. A night breeze slipped between them and flipped the card face up.
In the woodcut, a dead man lay beneath a dead tree. A large

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 13/09/2025

love this post from the other place--that last line, "Not feeling isn't victory, it's defeat."

Jon Lovett twitter post, responding to a screen cap only partially readable that says "[cut off]Il not be fucking bullied into mourning a demogogic fascist whose [cut off]eful rhetoric enacted into MAGA regime policy has threatened the lives of thousands. An insignificant little man who belittled and endangered [cut off] his fellow Americans."

Been loathe to just pluck random comments as representative. Democrats have denounced the killing, expressed shock, as have most on the left.
That there is a consensus that runs from hasan and jacobin to schumer and jeffreys speaks to what the actual broad view is of the "left." And that hasn't stopped some elected Republicans from blaming half the country for the killing.
But this kind of comment (not this one specifically) is more than just an isolated or rare response - it does represent a strain of thinking on the left, what jacobin calls "a competitive lack of empathy" that is real and not worth pretending otherwise. No one is bullying anyone into mourning. Not trying to make you "feel" anything, or shame anyone. It's not about decorum or respect or performative grieving. And it's not about defending Charlie Kirk's worldview even a little bit.
But I do want to persuade anyone who hated Charlie Kirk's politics to care that he is dead, to be stricken by it, if not because it's a moral horror, than because of where it may lead. That is especially important when leaders on the right are using this killing as a pretext for a crackdown.
But also, we live in a depraved era. It's difficult not to let it harden us, whatever the justification. Fighting that impulse is worthwhile not for the sake of "civility" or "norms" but out of love for ourselves. Not feeling isn't victory, it's defeat.

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 05/09/2025

probably not a cleanse of any kind but here are two pretty picture I took in yellowstone last week. they look like they have some kind of 1940s-ish filter on them but no, the park just looks like that.

view down to the banks of the Yellowstone River in Yellowstone National Park--pine trees on each side and across the river, a small geyser (maybe? fumarole) sending up steam near the river (taken directly to the right of Sulfur Cauldron)

view from the porch at Lake Lodge: a few pines, a road, a yellow-grass meadow--then blue Lake Yellowstone and mountains in the distance. Blue sky and white clouds above.

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 02/09/2025

drop an old person you are going to turn into the future (i’m SO CLOSE)

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 18/08/2025

okay in the spirit of the game I spent like five minutes on this (also because I don't know how to draw so I have to just ATTACK) but here is a very determined birbapple flying against all odds

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 17/08/2025

okay hold up here we go added hungry bird

a bird with too many tails trying to eat an apple

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 17/08/2025

I forgot the instruction hahahahaha and drew a random apple!

an apple drawn in charcoal in approx 5 minutes by someone who is very clearly not an artist

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 06/08/2025

$44 million in cuts for the already-starving Austin ISD, holy smokes

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Katherine Catmull @katherinecatmull.com · 01/08/2025

this is a terrific piece about that incredibly disheartening NYT correction

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