iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Laura Helmuth

William Shakespeare @shakespeare.lol · 27/09/2026

You taught me language, and my profit on’t Is, I know how to curse.

Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

"Normative appeals to civility and harmony, when applied indiscriminately, can obscure the moral distinction between domination and resistance—condemning confrontational opposition even in contexts where democratic survival or basic human dignity is at stake."

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Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I'm looking into taking a geology & birdwatching trip to Scotland, and the names of some of the best birding spots are even better than the names of birds: Hobbister, Broubster Leans, Yell, Onziebust, Kyle of Tongue, Dunnet Head, Eileanan Dubha, and the Butt of Lewis. Any recommendations? Thx!

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Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Finally saw Coyote vs. Acme and am boring all my loved ones with explanations of Easter eggs including the law firm Avery, Jones & Maltese. (Tex Avery & Chuck Jones were Looney Tunes creators; Peter Lorre was in Maltese Falcon) Anyway, it was delightful. averyjonesmaltese.com

averyjonesmaltese.com

Avery Jones & Maltese Attorneys

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Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I have not made or helped anyone make a diorama in many years, but I still hesitate (will I need this?) before throwing out a shoe box.

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Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Not everybody knows this, and everybody should. On Sept. 26, 1983, a Soviet nuclear warning system alerted Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov that the U.S. had launched a missile attack. He did not retaliate, preventing WWIII. This is a post about AI. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanisl...

en.wikipedia.org

Stanislav Petrov - Wikipedia

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Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

This is one of my favorite types of stories. Get an expert who is a Good Sport to talk about something that's popping in pop culture & explain what we know about history / science / murder / etc. and have a fun conversation:

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Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Today in Every Story Is a Science Story: "Was it a common thing in the 1890s for people in one smallish city to experience this many ax murders?" "The Bessemer process made it much easier to make steel, so there was an explosion of steel tools in the second half of the 19th century."

slate.com

History’s Most Famous Ax Murderer May Not Have Been a Murderer and May Not Have Used an Ax

Netflix’s new No. 1 show takes on one of history’s most infamous crimes. But did she really do it?

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Reposted by Laura Helmuth

Jess McLaughlin, PhD (they/them) @jfmclaughlin92.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Hey chat has the shortage of bread and/or potatoes ever led to a massive social upheaval, asking for a friend

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Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Oh hey look it's another boss who brings their toddler / pet / personal responsibilities to the office and inflicts them on their less powerful staff! slate.com/advice/2026/...

slate.com

My Boss Thinks He’s Figured Out the Answer to Every Working Parent’s Struggle. Absolutely Not.

We can't keep on like this.

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Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Today I learned that "Patient Zero" is a misreading of "Patient O" (the letter O), referring an anonymized (but now known) AIDS patient who was part of a Los Angeles disease cluster but came from "Outside" of California. slate.com/technology/2...

slate.com

Taylor Swift’s “Patient Zero” Could Mean Something Very Obvious. Or It Could Play With a Loaded History of the Term.

We are impatient.

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Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

This is a charming story (really) about commenters and the community they've built of haters who are also lovers. With a throw-back illustration from @slate.com classic cartoonist, Mark Alan Stamaty: slate.com/life/2026/09...

slate.com

Slate’s Commenters Have Been Trolling My Writing for Years. I Finally Asked Why. I’ll Never Look at Them the Same.

A story of love, death, and unlikely friendship.

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Reposted by Laura Helmuth

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 23/09/2026

i think you can fairly say that the second trump administration is the most racist federal administration since woodrow wilson and honestly i'm not sure that it isn't more racist than wilson's

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Reposted by Laura Helmuth

jane c. hu @janehu.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

@slate.com is celebrating its 30th anniversary, and i'm honored @laurahelmuth.bsky.social chose my first-ever investigation for its retro 1996 homepage: slate.com/30th

slate.com

Welcome to Slate‘s 30th Anniversary Celebration

Take a trip back in time to commemorate our 30 years on the internet.

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Reposted by Laura Helmuth

Smooth Dunk @smoothdunk2.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

when ai leaves u behind

7 panel comic.

Panel 1:
A Red Guy with AI across his chest looks like he’s about to run away. A Yellow Guy stands next to him. Red Guy says “I’m the future, buddy. You comin’?”
Yellow Guy replies “Nah”

Panel 2:
Red Guy is almost out of the panel. He leans in and says “Enjoy getting left behind, pal”
Yellow Guy replies “ok”

Panel 3:
Yellow Guy stands alone.

Panel 4:
Close up on Yellow Guy, there is a quiet “huff-huff-huff” noise coming from behind him

Panel 5:
Yellow Guy turns to look behind him

Panel 6:
Close up on Yellow Guy’s face as if from the point of view of an attacker.
Yellow Guy yells “Jesus Christ”

Panel 7:
AI Red Guy is now chasing the Yellow Guy.
Red Guy: “Use me”
Yellow Guy “No”
Red Guy “USE ME”

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Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

It's @slate.com's 30th anniversary, and they're celebrating by recreating a retro 1996-style homepage with greatest hits recommended by friends & fans. New favorites added every day: slate.com/30th

slate.com

Welcome to Slate‘s 30th Anniversary Celebration

Take a trip back in time to commemorate our 30 years on the internet.

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Reposted by Laura Helmuth

Ryan Marino, MD @ryanmarino.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I graduated med school in 2014. I was taught-and saw-how hard melanoma was to treat, like a death sentence Since then, new treatments have made it possible for people w/ the most advanced melanoma, like Jimmy Carter, to live to 100! We are killing ourselves by letting them destroy American science

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Reposted by Laura Helmuth

Patrick Wyman @patrickwyman.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I've spent a lot of years studying a lot of collapses, and the truth of the matter is that they're always mundane: mild climatic shifts that reduce crop yields, a dumbass in power who makes some terrible decisions, neglecting things that obviously matter but the will to fix them can't be summoned.

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Reposted by Laura Helmuth

Rosemary Mosco @rosemarymosco.com · 18/09/2026

Humaning.

A four-panel comic. In panel 1, a Northern Cardinal and American Goldfinch perch above a busy crowd in a city, looking down. The cardinal says "It's a nice day to go humaning." The goldfinch says "Just look at them. Majestic." In panel 2, a close-up of the two birds. The cardinal says "Nobody tells you that you'll reach a certain age and suddenly get into humaning. I hit 3 years old, and then bam."The birds are looking out over the crowd scene. In panel 3, the cardinal says "Their calls sound funny to us, but each one has a unique meaning." Below, people are saying various things: "I'm tired." "Where's my phone?" "I'd murder a burrito." In panel 4, the birds look down excitedly at a man walking by. The cardinal says "Wait, is that a guy who got dressed in the dark and put his shirt on inside out and backwards?" And the goldfinch exclaims, "Holy... that's a lifer!"

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Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

The farm stand was selling sweet corn at a dozen ears for $5 or a box of 50 for … $5.

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Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

What can you do if your partner won't stop talking about how great AI is? (Aside from the obvious "dump them.") Second question in this week's column: slate.com/advice/2026/...

slate.com

The 21-Year-Old Intern Just Got Hired for a Role She Definitely Isn’t Qualified For. There’s Something Fishy Going On.

We're being lied to.

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Reposted by Laura Helmuth

Andrew Lawrence @ndrew.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

i have said it before and ill say it again every single financial institution would benefit from paying a pink hair communist with a septum piercing to walk around the office all day saying “how fucking stupid are you people that you actually believe this shit?”

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Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

"The mating rites of mantises are well known: a chemical produced in the head of the male insect says, in effect, “No, don’t go near her, you fool, she’ll eat you alive.” At the same time a chemical in his abdomen says, “Yes, by all means, now and forever yes.”

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Reposted by Laura Helmuth

Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 16/09/2026

I'm just going to keep yelling this louder and louder until it clicks: weird overpaid AI nerds hand-wringing about human extinction are trying to distract you from the extremely deadly and serious harms they are causing yesterday, today and tomorrow www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Headline: "US Data Centers Set to Burn More Natural Gas Than Most Nations" above a photo of natural gas compressor towers, power lines and a crane at an industrial site, illustrating rising gas use tied to data centers.

News excerpt reporting that U.S. data centers’ natural gas use is expected to grow by 15 billion cubic feet per day by 2035—amounting to more gas than every country except China, Russia, Iran and the U.S., citing the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

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Reposted by Laura Helmuth

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Instead of saying "the Kennedy Center board decided to close" we should note that "a group of Trump appointees including Laura Ingraham and Dan Scavino decided to shut it down"

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Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Reading for pleasure is linked to better cognition, mental health, empathy, memory, and more gray matter. (There are probably confounding factors, but let's just choose to believe it's causal.)

newscientist.com

Reading for pleasure boosts memory, empathy and mental health | New Scientist

Fewer people are reading for pleasure, but getting lost in a good book has repeatedly been linked to substantial cognitive benefits

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Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Question for people who live or read media from outside the U.S.: Do you have favorite non-U.S. advice columns? Especially any columnists who use evidence of some sort to support their advice. (Asking because I'm putting together a conference proposal.) Thanks!

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Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Flashback! For @slate.com's 30th anniversary, they recreated the 1996 homepage with some of its greatest hits. slate.com/30th

slate.com

Welcome to Slate‘s 30th Anniversary Celebration

Take a trip back in time to commemorate our 30 years on the internet.

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Reposted by Laura Helmuth

Diedrich Bader @diedrichbader.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

When my son was 5 he had a sartorial flair To go to arts delicatessen he wore a midnight blue cape, top hat &monocle As we were leaving an older gent stopped him saying “young man, i like your style” Meant the world to our son that man was Bob Mackie RIP

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Reposted by Laura Helmuth

Howard Sherman @hesherman.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Farewell to costume designer Bob Mackie, a designer of spectacular gowns for great divas, but also the creator of perhaps the greatest costume sight gag in history.

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Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Fall is crunch time for a lot of professions and workplaces--conferences, budget reviews, promotion decisions, goals for next year, etc. If you or yours have questions about any of this, or any other workplace issues, send them to our Good Job advice column on @slate.com slate.com/advice/2026/...

slate.com

I’ve Been Able to Hide the Excruciating Thing That Happens to Me Every Month From My Colleagues. That’s About to Become Really Difficult.

I can only mask the pain for a few hours.

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Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Some turtles you nudge to the side of the trail so they don’t get hit by a bike, and some turtles you back away from slowly because they will snap your hand off.

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Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

When I'm out birding, hear or see movement, get the bird in my binoculars, and it's a gray catbird (which are abundant and kind of annoying), it looks like it's gloating, like: "Ha! Made you look"

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Reposted by Laura Helmuth

Naomi Klein @naomiaklein.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

"People are really mad and however mad you are, it’s not enough. Because there is something so profound about no longer believing in the future, about seeing no value in our shared home, in the natural world. They’re traitors to creation.” www.theguardian.com/books/2026/s...

theguardian.com

Naomi Klein: ‘Extreme wealth has a deranging effect. It turns you into a supremacist’

She’s tackled neoliberalism and the digital world, now the writer and activist is taking on tech billionaires. She explains how the super-rich are capitalising on climate and financial chaos in pursui...

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Reposted by Laura Helmuth

A.J. Wilden🏳️‍⚧️ @wcwit.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

"They're not misunderstanding the film; they're co-opting a message"

Screencap from the interview linked in the quoted post

Marlow Stern (the interviewer): You have one of the most renowned replies in Twitter history. Elon Musk tweeted out, “Take the red pill,” then Ivanka Trump enthusiastically wrote, “Taken!” to him, and then you replied, “Fuck both of you.” I’m curious how you feel about the co-opting of “The Matrix” by those on the right who don’t really seem to understand its messaging.

Lilly Wachowski: I mean, I can’t sit in a room and explain the movie to every single person who watches it. Even if I did sit in a room with Elon Musk and Ivanka Trump — yikes — it doesn’t matter. They’re not misunderstanding the film; they’re co-opting a message. And that’s what fascists do: They co-opt the messages of progressives and use it to their benefit to confuse and obfuscate what is going on and the intention of their ideology. They do it with everything. They do it with Martin Luther King Jr. Look at how they’ve changed the idea of what antisemitism is.

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Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

What are your favorite rail trails, towpaths, former logging roads, etc.?

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Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

COME ON! It is your FUCKING JOB to tell people what you see and hear and KNOW!

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Assigned Media @assignedmedia.org · 10/09/2026

Republicans are putting transphobia on the November ballot in seven questions in five states. The measures reflect broad anti-feminist aims, from "sex verification" for girls to limits on reproductive rights, an analysis by @billiejsweeney.bsky.social for Assigned Media and Important Context finds.

assignedmedia.org

Transphobic Ballot Questions Reveal the Right’s Anti-Girl, Anti-Kid Agenda - Assigned Media

Seven initiatives in five states would exploit trans people to promote a gender-policing surveillance state. This story was produced in partnership with the Accountability Journalism Institute. A poli...

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Reposted by Laura Helmuth

Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

This German comedy sketch (with English subtitles) perfectly captures so much of what is going on right now in the UK, the US, and across Europe. "Playing the 'Nazi Card' in the Third Reich", by Browser Ballett.

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Evan Urquhart @evanurquhart.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Trans people don't want your pity. Miss us with your regretful sorrow. We're not dead yet, we're the stalwarts fighting the good fight, on your behalf as well as our own.

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Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

People are understandably nervous or embarrassed to tell their manager about personal problems that affect their work schedule. But trust me, a decent manager with any experience at all has Heard. Some. Things. slate.com/advice/2026/...

slate.com

I’ve Been Able to Hide the Excruciating Thing That Happens to Me Every Month From My Colleagues. That’s About to Become Really Difficult.

I can only mask the pain for a few hours.

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Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

FOIAed records show the DOJ accused prominent journals of being “partisans in various scientific debates” & demanded explanations of their editorial processes. www.aip.org/fyi/doj-offi... by @danvergano.bsky.social

aip.org

DOJ Official Queried a Dozen Journals on 'Partisan' Views in 2025

The Justice Department fulfilled the public records request for the letters just as their author departed the agency.

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Rob Delaney @robdelaney.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Initially I was frustrated with the rise of self-checkout but I appreciated how stores passed the savings on to me rather than pocket the money, fire armies of workers & make me do a job I suck at. It’s also why I’m optimistic about AI! I have been kicked in the head by several horses.

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The Author, Séamas O'Reilly @seamas.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Have seen this Nature piece about the effects of X's algorithm mentioned again and it bears repeating; exposure to a right wing algorithm makes you - measurably and predictably - more right wing, even after you stop using it. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.com

The political effects of X’s feed algorithm - Nature

Among users initially on a chronological feed, 7 weeks of exposure to X’s algorithmic feed in 2023 shifted political attitudes and account-following behaviour in a more conservative direction compared...

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Patrick Wyman @patrickwyman.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Realizing the extent to which this is true wildly changed my opinions about how to deal with Trumpism, since they're never going to be satisfied unless they're actively dominating everyone else. You can't give them some concessions and go back to the status quo: they're reactionary revolutionaries.

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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 08/09/2026

A new version of ChatGPT is about to drop. Academics like @alexhanna.bsky.social and Emily Bender have been pointing out for literal years that these scare tactics about how powerful and scary AI is actually work as marketing. At this point, being this gullible is a choice.

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Gene Rayburn @generayburn.com · 08/09/2026

This is inside you.

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