iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Bat 🦇 Borus @matthewborus.bsky.social · 20h

Any Democrats who don’t know how to run against this have a skill issue, and they should probably seek other jobs. You don’t need to triangulate or throw a portion of the population under the bus. You need to have basic principles and charisma. Because THIS is what you’re running against.

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My place in Chicago was only a block or two from a siren, so it was pretty loud. And when I was dogsitting, my friend's dog stopped what he was doing and sang along to the monthly siren test.

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Bat 🦇 Borus @matthewborus.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Cool, the link to the Board of Elections has a good bit of that. In terms of outside monitors, I'm less sure. This could fall into the wheelhouse of both Equip for Equality and Access Living, but both are doing *so much* else and don't have voting rights per se listed on their sites.

Bat 🦇 Borus @matthewborus.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

If you're looking for info on what's available, the Chicago Board of Elections has some general info. Or are you looking more for reports on how these are actually implemented/made available?

chicagoelections.gov

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Bat 🦇 Borus @matthewborus.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Work on hegemony could be relevant here...with Gramsci, Althusser, and Stuart Hall as some of the theoretical foundation?

How was Shingrix? I’ve heard that you can pack a punch for a day or so, though it’s obviously FAR better than having shingles.

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Oh wow, I didn’t realize that! With the prevalence of shingles among 40-somethings, even 50 seems too old, but that’s far better than 60.

I’m not sure they lowered it—I’m older than I look. :)

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Pam Herd @pamherd.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Got my flu shot! Will get a Covid shot a bit later, based on the timing of my last one. And soon…first dose of Shingrix! Vaccines are amazing. Easy, effective health promotion for us as individuals and the people around us.

Me with my sleeve rolled up, showing a Band-Aid with a heart on it on my shoulder.

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Reposted by Bat 🦇 Borus

Notable that this could be especially problematic for children with disabilities. Assets can disqualify you for critical social welfare benefits-including SSI and Medicaid.

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Made it to October 4 before I turned on the heat.

Bat 🦇 Borus @matthewborus.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

And truth be told, my sense of direction wasn’t great (and still isn’t).

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Reposted by Bat 🦇 Borus

Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Voter registration deadlines are SUNDAY in Alaska, Rhode Island, South Carolina. And MONDAY in: Arizona, Arkansas Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, and *Texas*. If you live in these states, verify your registration now, literally.

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Bat 🦇 Borus @matthewborus.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Once when I lived in Fields Corner, I went to visit my grandmother in Needham. I had printed Mapquest directions. It should have taken 45 minutes. I got sufficiently lost that it took about 3 hours.

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Bat 🦇 Borus @matthewborus.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

This really is the fundamental rule of using social media as a professor. Badmouthing your students for likes is a breach of trust. It can get back to them, even on platforms with privacy settings. It’s bullying, it’s bad pedagogy, and it’s generally a shitty thing to do. Don’t do it!

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I’m getting my flu shot this weekend. Covid vax I’ll do later in the Fall, as I try to schedule them at the same time each year. And soon, I get to have my shingles vaccine!

NPR @npr.org · 01/10/2026

Took a poll about the NY governor's race that included a question about whether I considered myself a socialist. Seems notable that a pollster considers that worth probing, particularly in a race without a socialist candidate.

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Reposted by Bat 🦇 Borus

Starting Oct. 1, many immigrants who are here legally lose their Medicaid coverage because of the Republican budget bill passed last year. n.pr/4z0FPpq

n.pr

'It's a nightmare.' Former refugee, professor on Trump's new Medicaid policy

Starting Oct. 1, many immigrants who are here legally lose their Medicaid coverage because of the Republican budget bill passed last year.

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Arrianna Marie Planey, PhD MA @arrianna-planey.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

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Reposted by Bat 🦇 Borus

📢📢📢 If you do any kind of research relating to populations, this is salient:

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Quantitative scholars, help answer a students' question! How is the rate of children in poverty calculated? Is it based looking at poverty in households, and children in those households? (And if so, does it include children in foster/group care?)

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It’s October. Halloween username time!

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I donated to a Senate candidate tonight (in response to a call from a group I support). Within two hours, I'd not only been added to the candidate's list, but I got a plea for another donation. Not sure how anyone can think that this is an effective way to structure political communication.

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Oh, that’s great! Emphasizing how policy is experienced is one of my refrains, and this sounds like an amazing way of doing it. Would love to read more if there are documents you can share.

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Wow. What’s the tone of this statement—is it a critique or a boast?

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Holy shit, Claude Whelan on Slow Horses is Gaius Baltar! I knew he looked familiar but then it clicked when I saw the actor’s name. James Callis. Wow.

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I'm glad that Pew is posting this--the article is quite clear that AI is no substitute for actual human survey respondents. I'm also still amazed that anyone entertained the idea that a technology based on statistical mimicry, one which is known to amplify bias, could stand in for human response.

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Er, that should be tech-based, not “take best.”

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I was back in Chicago for a visit this summer and a waiter at Medici in Hyde Park remembered my brunch order. I was honestly kind of touched. Human connection matters so much more than some theoretical take best time saving.

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Katelyn Burns @katelynburns.com · 30/09/2026

Providing chairs when job duties don’t really require standing is a textbook example of a reasonable accommodation. Taking away chairs, thereby forcing disabled workers to put in formal requests to aggressively hostile employer, can be a pretty effective way of pushing people out of their jobs.

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Reposted by Bat 🦇 Borus

No one on his staff even once thought to check if there were any women's games being played that night. These are the people calling themselves defenders of women's sports.

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Bat 🦇 Borus @matthewborus.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

It's really crucial to remember that a "gas tax holiday" means starving states of revenue. That means fewer resources for public needs. Who do you think wins in a fight between funding for preschools and highways?

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Bat 🦇 Borus @matthewborus.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Teaching—>Office hours—>Meeting All good, but I get to go to bed now at 2pm, right?

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Bat 🦇 Borus @matthewborus.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Gave a guest lecture via Zoom today, which meant that I appeared as a big face in front of the room. Which kinda makes me want to do Bond Villain/Dr. Evil. But I was good and talked about precarity and theories of citizenship.

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Bat 🦇 Borus @matthewborus.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I now have this, thanks to the university's Services for Students with Disabilities office, and I'm glad to share it with anyone who needs it.

Bat 🦇 Borus @matthewborus.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

This is hilarious to me. I have to admit that I don't know if it'll be funny to people who haven't watched I Think You Should Leave. But at minimum, us too-online folks can have little Tim Robinson in a political ad, as a treat.

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If the movie Office Space took place today, Peter, Michael, and Samir could just say that they didn’t mean to steal all that money—their AI agents went rogue. Though they might have to be tech billionaires, not lowly software engineers, for that excuse to work.

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"This fictional person wouldn't go Nazi because he loves America. This one would because he's insecure." Sure Jan. Let's treat this as the magazine column it is, not as a piece of careful scholarship.

People love to quote Dorothy Thompson's "Who Goes Nazi?" But really, it's remarkably hollow. Yes, fascism may appeal to certain frustrated personalities. But she saves her greatest contempt for...a labor leader, based not on ascribed personality, but structural role. Which is utterly ahistorical.

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Bat 🦇 Borus @matthewborus.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

(To the tune of “Easy Lover”) She’s a BlueSky elder. She’s got some lore for you, believe it! Alf hog and hellthread: There was a time she posted about these.

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And change the middle kid's hair a bit and take away his headphones. This isn't a photo any more.