iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Laura Petto @laurarpetto.bsky.social · 14h

Listened to “the medium time” and once again am mourning the premature and absurd cancellation of Girls5eva. I’m going to be sad about this for the rest of my life.

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Laura Petto @laurarpetto.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The foliage is unreal right now. No filter! Best color in years.

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Laura Petto @laurarpetto.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Why did no one on jeopardy get Dobbs v Jackson women’s health last night?!?!? Idk seems like the case overturning Roe is something everyone should know, and definitely people studying trivia. At least Ken seemed disappointed

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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 30/09/2026

One of the most harrowing things about academia, when you're a grad student, is how vulnerable you are to how you're perceived by more senior researchers. Your career advancement depends on confidential letters of reference & private discussions amongst faculty. You have no information or control.

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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 30/09/2026

In ideal situations, there are certain guardrails in place to protect students from exploitation by more senior academics. But there are no institutional policies or guardrails that can make it okay for a professor to become involved with a student in their own department.

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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 30/09/2026

For LOTS OF REASONS I don’t think it is ever okay for a professor to date a student in their own department. It’s an obvious power imbalance and potentially disastrous for the student’s education and career. So it is real jarring and not fun to see it portrayed as a cute happy romance in a novel!

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Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

There is a moment at the very very end of Abdul El-Sayed's podcast with Ezra Klein (book recommendation section) where he talks about the idea of "speaking truth to pain" and this will be staying with me for an extremely long time. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/25/o...

But there’s also something about truth to pain. We talk a lot about truth to power, but I think it’s actually a lot harder to speak truth to pain. I say that as someone who went to medical school, realizing that in a lot of our politics right now, we’ve got to get a lot better at speaking truth to pain if we’re going to get through some of these challenges that we have.

What does “truth to pain” mean?

It’s one thing to look power in the eye and say: You’re wrong about this. But there’s a way in which pain is very difficult to reason with. Because when somebody is in their pain, they’re in their trauma. They see that pain, and they may not see what’s causing it.

I remember just very explicitly being in a trauma ward with a gunshot wound patient and watching this big guy with his hand on his gunshot wound. All the folks are trying to pull his hand off his pain, that point of his gunshot wound, this clear vulnerability.

And this emergency room doctor had the presence of mind to be like: Everyone, stop. And she looks him in the eyes, and she’s like: I get that really hurts, and I’m so sorry that you’re here. You don’t want to be here. We don’t want you to be here. But if you don’t let us fix this, you could die. So I’m going to take your hand, and I’m going to move it off, OK? Because I need to get there so that you can live.

She was speaking truth to pain. He understands he’s at the hospital, he needs care, but he also doesn’t want anybody to touch the wound. Which is a natural thing. And I think it is a really great metaphor for how we think about a lot of these challenges we talked about today.

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Laura Petto @laurarpetto.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I hate the love hypothesis. It came out right after I graduated with my PhD in applied math and was still processing the sexual harassment I endured in the program. Found the book horrifying as well - romanticizing power imbalance relationships and conflicts of interest and completely unrealistic.

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Sherrod Brown @sherrodbrownoh.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

NEW AD: Listen to this sh*t.

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Laura Petto @laurarpetto.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I hope people realize this isn’t a problem unique to Cornell. The way Cornell admin + campus police attempted to only internally litigate and pseudo-punish serious sexual assault allegations happens across “elite” universities.

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Laura Petto @laurarpetto.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Watched all of silo in two weeks only to figure out neither of these soft butches are gay, I feel gaslit! At least the author confirmed on twitter that Juliette is canonically bisexual.

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Laura Petto @laurarpetto.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Cleveland deserves better than Cleveland! by Taylor Swift. Genuinely one of the worst songs I’ve heard. Nonsense, self absorbed lyrics with a speak-singing bridge? If you had told me it was AI slip, I would have believed you.

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Pip Wren @lollibeepop.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

A joyous fat bear week to all 🐻

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Laura Petto @laurarpetto.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

This is Cleveland! to me. Written by Ohioan superstar Jeff Richmond youtu.be/yBaCG-HcEBU?...

youtu.be

Liz In Cleveland | 30 Rock

YouTube video by 30 Rock Official

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

I just need everyone who could potentially still see the Sara Bareilles Good Grief tour that it is one of the best, most meaningful shows I’ve ever attended. Just beautiful and healing.

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Jeff Sharlet @jeffsharlet.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

The provost of Dartmouth, at which I teach, has been using AI to write both academic papers & national op-eds, according to brave reporting by @thedartmouth.bsky.social. Many students are already bitter about AI. This leaves us as faculty no ground to stand on. www.thedartmouth.com/article/2026...

thedartmouth.com

Op-eds, academic articles by Provost Santiago Schnell flagged as ‘AI-written’ by ‘near-zero error’ AI detector Pangram

Schnell said he used artificial intelligence for “making writing processes more efficient,” but that AI was not a “substitute” for his own “intellectual judgment or authorship.”

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Laura Petto @laurarpetto.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

What do you mean Sara Bareilles sang a bit of BPE from girls5eva at the radio city concerts and not mine!?!!?!? 😭💔 girls5eva has appeared in my top 100 Spotify wrapped every year since 2021, i would have loved to hear some live

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Peter @notalawyer.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

a lot of people act like there's a trade being offered where we give up trans athletes in sports and in exchange fascism is defeated forever

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Laura Petto @laurarpetto.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

It was first found in 2016 but genomic sequencing didn’t confirm it as a new species until this year! They only weigh three pounds full grown. I am obsessed.

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AuntBunny @auntbunny.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Elizabeth Warren is a fighter. I volunteered for her during her presidential run. She is smart as a whip, and always fighting for the consumer. It will be interesting to see what happens now.

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Laura Petto @laurarpetto.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

need to understand the science of why cats’ paws are so cute

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W. Kamau Bell @wkamaubell.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

There is no such thing as “apolitical”. Pass it on.

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Jay Willis @jaywillis.net · 15/09/2026

Genuinely an insane paragraph from Sam Alito. “Voter fraud is real and scary and we have to stop it, so the fact that implementing Trump’s mail ballot rule will disenfranchise millions is legally irrelevant.” Brain melted. A right-wing podcaster in a robe. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...

___, (slip op., at 9) (internal quotation marks omitted).
As for the equities, the Government has a strong interest
in enforcing the rule, and implementing it will also “en-
hance the visibility of Federal Ballot Mail” in order to better
detect election fraud. 91 Fed. Reg. 54972. On the other side
of the balance, the plaintiff States invoke the practical ef-
fects of implementing the rule close to the midterm elec-
tions. I take that problem very seriously, but it is not
enough to convince me to deny the application.
First, as the District Court acknowledged, the States dis-

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whet moser @whetmoser.com · 15/09/2026

rhea seehorn didn’t win for better call saul so vince gilligan was like, what if she was the only character, what now

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DiscussingFilm @discussingfilm.net · 15/09/2026

Rhea Seehorn has won her first-ever Emmy.

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DiscussingFilm @discussingfilm.net · 15/09/2026

Jean Smart is the first woman to win an acting Emmy for every season of an ongoing TV show. She is also tied as the most Emmy-winning actress of all time.

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Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Ms. Rachel: "Ed Sheeran had an opportunity…Instead he caved to people who refuse to accept what the world knows." "If more than 20,000 white children were killed…everyone would be shouting…Treating some children's lives as less worthy of outrage is racist. Silence during a genocide is not neutral."

Ms. Rachel post:
"Ed Sheeran had an opportunity show that we won't be bullied into punishing people for supporting Palestine. Instead he caved to people who refuse to accept what the world knows. A genocide is happening in Gaza. We all need to speak out against it.

"If more than 20,000 white children were killed in another part of the world, everyone would be shouting about it at their concerts. Treating some children's lives as less worthy of outrage is racist. Silence during a genocide is not neutral."

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Dag. @3fecta.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

August was the hottest month in the US since records have been kept. Also climate change is a hoax.

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Marlow Stern @marlownyc.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

‘The Matrix’ creator Lilly Wachowski on J.K. Rowling and the new ‘Harry Potter’ series: “She is funding trans genocide. J.K. Rowling funds trans genocide, full stop. So, if you support ‘Harry Potter,’ you’re supporting trans genocide.” variety.com/2026/tv/feat...

variety.com

Lilly Wachowski on Her New Studio Anarchists United, the Black Power Origins of ‘The Matrix’ and How ‘Harry Potter’ Fans Are ‘Supporting Trans Genocide’

‘The Matrix’ filmmaker Lilly Wachowski opens up about her new studio for marginalized voices Anarchists United, J.K. Rowling and Elon Musk.

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Laura Petto @laurarpetto.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

The Sara Bareilles concert was superb - she is so generously vulnerable in her lyricism and obviously wildly talented vocally. Every high note in “still crying” and “gravity” were flawless! Highly recommend going if she comes to your city. What a night.

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Laura Petto @laurarpetto.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

the number of queer people/couples at this sara bareilles concert definitely rivals how many are at brandi carlile concerts. I was not expecting that!

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julia 🌋 @hypv.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

the controversy thickens—now other openai results are being questioned 😈 mathstodon.xyz/@andreasthom... mathstodon.xyz/@andreasthom... mathstodon.xyz/@andreasthom...

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singular locus sarah @scgriffith.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

tried to explain to someone why openai's actions are so serious. not to be dramatic but we are in hell and all the demons are here

there are tons of issues here. almost impossible to convey how bad things are. in no particular order:

this research breakthrough was a consequence of dumping tons of money into the ai companies. if the future of the field means being entangled with openai et al. and extreme expenses that is going to upend mathematics in a much bigger way than ability to prove new things will. this hasn’t been a focal point of discussion yet but it looks to be at the center of mathematics going forward imo.

possibly for legal reasons, the statement stops short of accusing openai of stealing their in progress work. as in literally snaking their documents off the cloud and using them to try to undercut researchers. but it’s very clear that that is what the author believes happened

openai straight up threatened the mathematician in question. in a colloquial sense they’re engaging in extortion. apparently this is so routine for them that they didn’t even stop to consider that they can’t threaten an academic’s career (or they assumed the mathematician would understand there will be no academic careers in the future)

openai is straight up lying about their research methods. there are various ways that their announcements have had the potential to be misleading (for example when you see “we spent $2000 to compute these proofs” ask how much they spent on attempts that didn’t work). but what they’re saying may generally just not be true even in a literal sense

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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 09/09/2026

Worth a read for context about OpenAI's announcement today. I have thoughts about math as a gatekeeper/proxy for intelligence, real or artificial, but I can't quite articulate them yet (beyond "yuck")

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Laura Petto @laurarpetto.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Only 25% vote in, but this is quite an impressive showing for Manzur, who didn’t much funding and got very little media attention. She was polling in the low teens for most of the summer.

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Dr. Kimberly Ayers @kdayers.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Man do I have Thoughts about the Love Hypothesis. Mostly that I don’t think professor-student affairs should be the subject of romantic comedies.

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Laura Petto @laurarpetto.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Ben Sasse would hate me because my most woke take is that current American football should not exist because of its devastating impact on health (CTE) and normalization of violence & aggression.

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Laura Petto @laurarpetto.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Oh no my Ohioan roots are disappearing 💔😭 Though I was raised by a new englander and have always said room, roof, forest, Mary vs. merry vs marry etc. like my mom rather than the people I grew up around

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the abbot of unreason (an archaeologist) @merovingians.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Are We READY TO RUMBLE (celebrate the end of Seth Moulton's political career)???

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Lupita Nihongo @otsumamiboy.blacksky.app · 01/09/2026

The value of Graham Platner is that right up until all his red flags came toppling down upon him is that he is the most naked example of the amount of grace & credibility Simply Being White grants you. Compared to Abdul El-Sayed, who has to re-earn every ounce of credibility he has on a daily basis.

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Greg Pak @gregpak.net · 01/09/2026

This is low-level propaganda that elides the real story, which is that the younger candidate in this race is an anti-trans clown and the older candidate is one of the Senate's strongest progressives. Please vote for Markey in MA, friends. The old guy is the only choice here.

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Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.org · 11/08/2026

Rivers are easy to spot on a map: winding through a landscape, merging into wider and longer channels. Where does this pattern come from? www.quantamagazine.org/why-are-rive…

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Laura Petto @laurarpetto.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

If we don’t get Sara Bareilles as a guest on good hang with Amy Poehler, I’m going to to be so sad.

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