iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Katherine Derbyshire

Guido Eekhaut @eekhaut.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Don't ignore a cat's warning...

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Reposted by Katherine Derbyshire

Jessica Ritchey @jmritchey.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

TL cleanse with Little Richard doing a fire cover of "Rubber Duckie." www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWCE...

youtube.com

Sesame Street: Little Richard Sings Rubber Duckie

YouTube video by Sesame Street

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Dear Instagram: Blocking "AI Creators" on sight is *not* a signal that I want to see more of them. Thank you for your attention!

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Was reading a detailed discussion of someone's rules for their LLM. The light bulb went on: they're reinventing scripting languages! Except since they're using natural language to talk to a probability engine, it feels "easier" but is actually less deterministic and more error-prone.

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

#FridayReads "The Warm Hands of Ghosts," by Katherine Arden. A nurse and her brother search for each other across the hellscape of WWI Belgium. This one will stay with me for a while. "Hell is empty and all the devils are here." -- William Shakespeare katherineardenbooks.com/books/the-wa...

katherineardenbooks.com

The Warm Hands of Ghosts

The Warm Hands of Ghosts book details page

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

What's on that log? A thing that I wrote. salishmagazine.org/looking-at-n...

salishmagazine.org

Looking at Nurse Logs | Salish Magazine

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

#FridayReads. Between Two Rivers, by Moudhy Al-Rashid. Mesopotamia, the earliest known written records, and the origins of "history" as a discipline. I'm just getting started, so far it's fascinating. wwnorton.com/books/978132...

wwnorton.com

Between Two Rivers

One of Library Journal's Best Books of 2025Humanity’s earliest efforts at recording and drawing meaning from history reveal how lives millennia ago were not so different from our own., Between T...

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

In the early days of computer chess, a program found itself in an impossible situation. It thought. And thought. And thought. And finally moved its bishop from a light square to a dark square, solving the problem. 1/2

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

#FridayReads What We Can Know, by Ian McEwan, in which a future historian turns his lens toward our present moment. Interrogates the very idea of "history," and the line between "fact" and imagination. www.ianmcewan.com/books/whatwe...

ianmcewan.com

Ian McEwan Website: What We Can Know

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

#FridayReads In between drafts is a good time to read craft books. I just started @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social's Wonderbook, aimed at writers of "imaginative fiction." Much more visually interesting than your average craft book, which is making my brain very happy. bookshop.org/p/books/wond...

bookshop.org

Wonderbook (Revised and Expanded): The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction

The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

FWIW, the current bid on this is still well below my standard consulting rate. If you've got a super nerdy question about anything from Bronze Age weaponry to solar panels, now's your chance. The auction benefits @romancingthevote.com and runs through July 5. www.32auctions.com/organization...

32auctions.com

What stuff is made of

Auction item 'What stuff is made of' hosted online at 32auctions.

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

I'm a materials scientist with a lot of knowledge to share about everything from prehistoric metallurgy to solar panels. Ask me anything! Auctioning a one hour consultation to benefit @romancingthevote.com. www.32auctions.com/organization...

32auctions.com

What stuff is made of

Auction item 'What stuff is made of' hosted online at 32auctions.

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Dear progressive white people. A Juneteenth reminder that “heritage” also belongs to the abolitionists and Union soldiers who fought and died on the right side of history. Don’t let the reactionaries take your inheritance.

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

On the "inevitability" of AI. Per reporting from @edzitron.com, OpenAI spent $5.73 billion on marketing in 2025. That's more than Coca-Cola. If you're seeing them everywhere, there's a reason, and it has nothing to do with the actual value of the product. www.wheresyoured.at/exclusive-op...

wheresyoured.at

Exclusive: OpenAI Losses Increased Nearly 8X in 2025, With Spending Hitting $34 Billion

Soundtrack: In Flames - Colony To further support my independent journalism, please subscribe to my premium newsletter. It’s $7 a month or $70 a year. If you’re subscribed to the free newsletter and ...

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

A thing that I wrote. Context for people less nerdy than me: power transistors are an essential component of chargers, power converters, and everything else you need to make electric motors, wind turbines, etc. work. #GaN #EVs semiengineering.com/gan-power-de...

semiengineering.com

GaN Power Devices Go Vertical

Why new designs and process flows could help overcome manufacturing challenges.

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

#FridayReads Just started Snake-Eater, by @tkingfisher.com. I'm at the uber creepy "you're not alone in this house" stage. So far so good! (Looks behind the office door, just in case.)

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

If someone wants to put a keylogger on my computer, they need to pay me a whole lot more than most writers make. This article doesn't even consider how a tool like this could be weaponized against writers some entity with subpoena power doesn't like.

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

There's browsing social media to procrastinate, and then there's browsing social media, looking around for 30 seconds, and fleeing back to what I was supposed to be doing in the first place. Oof. (#AmWriting)

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

More like this, please. "A regular search engine just points to outside websites. But AI overviews generate "independent, new, and substantive statements" by evaluating and combining content from various third-party sites."

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

There's an old joke. Q: What's the difference between a computer salesman and a car salesman? A: The car salesman knows when he's lying and can probably drive. Same can be said about AI on any subject whatsoever.

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Finally fixed a longstanding continuity issue near the climactic chapter of my WIP. This involved rearranging bits of three different chapters. Scrivener for the win! #AmEditing.

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Just started this one, but so far it's completely unexpected in a good way. If you understand the joke about quantum mechanics being responsible for repairing quanta, you'll love this book. #FridayReads torpublishinggroup.com/the-subtle-a...

torpublishinggroup.com

The Subtle Art of Folding Space

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

This article talks about the weird stasis of LLM "writing" and suggests that's because its training set is static as well. I don't think that's quite it. Rather, a character's static *moments* repeat across the training set. 1/2 www.newyorker.com/news/fault-l...

newyorker.com

Can A.I. Produce Writing That We Actually Want to Read?

I recently created a simple test, which convinced me that the answer is no.

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Reposted by Katherine Derbyshire

kelly jensen @heykellyjensen.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

ANY PERSON this age group can get a card, whether or not they’re experiencing book bans. That’s powerful for queer young folks in small towns with no libraries or libraries with limited hours or collections, too.

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

This is fun. (Not!) Apparently social engineering works on chatbots, too.

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

#FridayReads Revenge, by Yoko Ogawa (trans. by Stephen Snyder). A collection of linked stories with a steadily increasing creepiness level. I'm about halfway through, and the darkness is definitely moving toward center stage. us.macmillan.com/books/978031...

us.macmillan.com

Revenge

“It’s not just Murakami but also the shadow of Borges that hovers over this mesmerizing book . . . [and] one may detect a slight bow to the American maca...

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Sent a microfiction off to the @apexmag.bsky.social contest this afternoon. Fun little break from The Novel. Go me. #AmWriting

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Thank you for the music, Mr. Rollins.

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

At the grocery store, I saw a mother showing her son the hummingbird visiting a pot of red flowers in the garden display. Their delight in the discovery made me smile. Then I came home to this quote, on the joys of farting around.

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

#FridayReads The Book of Delights, by Ross Gay. More thoughtful than the title suggests, exploring some topics that are delightful, but also some that are very much not. These short essays are best sampled a few at a time. www.rossgay.net/the-book-of-...

rossgay.net

The Book of Delights — ROSS GAY

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

Can I tag FridayReads for my own WIP? Almost done with the current editing pass. #AmEditing

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Just finished Noor, by @nnedi.bsky.social. Disability, community, and subverting the surveillance state. Recommended. #FridayReads nnedi.com/books/noor/

nnedi.com

Noor – Nnedi Okorafor

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Spent most of the day away from my computer, came back to a lot of AI discourse, here and elsewhere. Ugh. So here's a timeline cleanser.

Close up of a patch of moss and fern fronds.

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

I learn a lot by reading about genres I don't write in. (Yet.) Right now I'm really enjoying Making Nonfiction Comics, by Eleri Harris and Shay Mirk. #FridayReads www.crucialcomix.com/product/preo...

crucialcomix.com

Making Nonfiction Comics book

Making Nonfiction Comics is an accessible guide to nonfiction comics perfect for graphic novel readers, writers, and of course, aspiring comics artists.

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Is that what the boys see out the window?

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Reposted by Katherine Derbyshire

Dan Immergluck @danimmergluck.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Brutal.

A WHOLE CIVILIZATION
WILL DIE TONIGHT
My son needs lunch, and I have to put his backpack together, but a whole civilization will die tonight, so I'm wondering if they've closed their schools.
Like, a snow day, maybe, except instead of snow it's
"keep your children home so if you die, you die together" — instead of "well open back up once the plows have cleared" it's
"we don't know if we'll be here tomorrow, hold your babies tight."
It's just "talk" I'm told, which I've been told before.
"It's how the president makes his deals." But I've never heard anyone talk about other human beings this way, and I'm not certain I can look my son in the eyes if we all agree to stomach it one more time.
A civilization will die tonight, but as I zip up his backpack and kiss him off to school I think: if this is what we call leadership then I'm not entirely sure ours isn't already dead.
@michaelfdubois
Mukad A QuBoy
@michacifdubois

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

"Every hour you spend confused is an hour you spend building the infrastructure inside your own head that will eventually let you do original work. There is no shortcut through that process that doesn't leave you diminished on the other side."

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Reposted by Katherine Derbyshire

Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 03/04/2026

This image of home just came down from the Artemis II crew. Taken after their translunar injection burn, there are aurorae at top right and lower left, and zodiacal light at lower right. Credit: NASA/Reid Wiseman

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Possibly the best skeet that has ever been skeeted. (At least if you're Extremely Online enough to get the jokes. If you're not, look through the replies and be amazed.)

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

"My writing isn't political" is the sort of thing I might say if I didn't feel like arguing with someone about the politics in a particular work. That wouldn't make it true. All writers, deliberately or not, are responding to the times in which they live.

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

The value of fiction is not that it tells you how to think, but that it doesn't. clarkesworldmagazine.com/ha_04_25/

clarkesworldmagazine.com

In My Country by Thomas Ha

Clarkesworld Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine and Podcast.

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

"And we can't do much more than to sing you a song We'll sing it so loudly, you better sing along And the choirs keep singing of freedom" Birmingham Sunday, by Richard Farina. This version by Rhiannon Giddens, who is a national treasure. youtu.be/4_T5KlTpvoM?...

youtu.be

Rhiannon Giddens - Birmingham Sunday (Official Audio)

YouTube video by Rhiannon Giddens

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