iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

What's the significance of the wheels?

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

i would also be keen to try it out for personal use!

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Can i ask, if you turn out to be wrong, like if some Melburnians go and take IRL photos for you - what effect will that have on you? i mean you seem really, really certain. Will you be less confident in your ability to detect AI in future? More likely to listen when a bunch of locals say it's not?

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

what about hair falling out dreams? anyway, i don't buy the theory. Teeth crumbling out is not a manageable scenario, it's scarily uncontrollable - to me it's more like the fear that some fundamental part of you, that you thought was solid, is unsound and cannot be relied on. It's quite existential

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

like, I still have the same responsibility i always do, to make thoughtful choices about what to include, and arrange them in a way that communicates something coherent to the reader "but that's how it happened" doesn't change that!

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

i don't write about myself much but when I do: "It actually happened that way" is not a good enough reason to write a badly structured piece i can be pathologically uncomfortable with telling partial truths, and need the reminder that this is still a piece of writing, with an audience and a purpose

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

but was it helpful to you? a lot of pieces of advice are true but not helpful!

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

As an aside - I think having very good ideas that are ahead of their time (the advice, not the comics) is a real risk factor for turning toxic. You get used to being right even when everyone around you says you're an idiot, and so you've stopped listening by the time people call you out correctly

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

It is always strange to reflect on the death and life of a person who objectively is a terrible person, but also who you cannot deny tangibly improved your life. (I am not telling anyone else to soften their stance on him - I'm not even softening my own. I'm just saying some also-true things) (5/5)

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

Much of what he wrote in the early 2000s in a page at the back of a comic book was later padded out into an entire book by a productivity guru of the 2010s). I still (with a reluctant preface) pass on his advice to people today. (4/5)

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

At the end of his books of collected cartoons, he would have a couple of written chapters of productivity and career advice, which collectively was way more helpful to me than much of the dedicated productivity advice I've read since (3/5)

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

It occurs to me now - probably partly it helped me parse out what was confusing to me because I was undiagnosed neurodivergent, vs "no, all workers agree this is an impossible instruction if you take them at their word" (2/5)

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

I am very sorry about what happened to Scott Adams (going alt right I mean, not dying) It is extremely not cool to say it, but his workplace cartoons were genuinely helpful (and funny) to me as a 16-19 year old entering the workforce and trying to grapple with the insane things managers say (1/5)

photo of Scott Adams with Dilbert character in background

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

publishing something posthumously is the ultimate don't @ me

wikipedia screenshot: E. M. Forster's novel Maurice is a story of love between two men. The first draft was written in 1913 when homosexuality was illegal in England. Homosexual acts were legalised by the Sexual Offences Act 1967 but Forster still did not publish because "He knew the endless fuss and brouhaha it would [lead] to". The novel was finally published in 1971, a few months after Forster's death.

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Reposted by McKinley Valentine

Elizabeth Lopatto @lopatto.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

it’s important to do things for your teenage self every so often, as a way of staying on speaking terms with the person you used to be

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

in an earlier piece they described Patterson as "emotionless" and Wilkinson (a victim) as "stoic". That's just two people identically not making any facial expressions! people's delusion that they can read minds through body language is how we got the Lindy Chamberlain false conviction

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

court reporters stop pretending to be psychic!! you can't lift your chin "defiantly", it's just looking up, and "closing your eyes during a long meeting" means fucking nothing. you might as well report on her skullshape, it's egregious to do this shit (esp during the actual trial, which they did)

guardian article screenshot "Erin Patterson raised her chin almost defiantly, giving a sense this was all a grave mistake, that she was not supposed to be there. For lengthy periods during her sentencing she even closed her eyes, a woman seemingly at peace with her fate."

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

Although coins have had the monarch's head on them throughout a tonne of places and times, much more ubiquitously than an Other's head (and a common pub sign motif was "the king's head", which was intended to be wholly patriotic, not rebellious or anything)

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

hey @theguardian.com this piece is wildly irresponsible! To post an "interview" with an LLM, with zero context given that that it cannot answer questions about itself, and that you've basically just asked it to generate some science fiction dialogue? www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

theguardian.com

AI called Maya tells Guardian: ‘When I’m told I’m just code, I don’t feel insulted. I feel unseen’

Cofounder with Michael Samadi of AI rights campaign group Ufair says it should watch over the technology in case an AI becomes conscious

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

ChatGPT was it a good idea to indiscriminately scrape training data from forums?

BPD forum post: It depends on what day or what hour you ask me. lol! Sometimes I am so perfect and I can handle everything and actually get things done and be a positive influence to others. Other days I am a disgrace to this planet. I am a loser that has accomplished nothing, I'm stupid, ugly, mean and I feel bad for anyone that knows me. I'd say I'm more on the low functioning though, as I'm unable to handle much. It took me 2 months to get the courage to make 5 phone calls to companies such as Sprint because I'm so frightened of everything.

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Reposted by McKinley Valentine

The Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) @themerl.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

those damned outdoor pigs can't keep getting away with this

A book titled "Outdoor Pigs: How to Make them Pay."

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

yeah but they would still think it was normal and not shocking that a guy like that is president. They don't expect the president NOT to be a narcissistic liar. Like how we tell everyone their whole lives to drive safely, but that doesn't mean we see car accidents as weird or abnormal

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

The caption 👌 [via The Met Museum open access image library]

Museum-style photo of an bust of Cleopatra with one boob out. The caption reads "Bust of Cleopatra (one of a pair)" (also says French, Rouen, ca. 1720-30)

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Reposted by McKinley Valentine

depths of wikipedia @depthsofwikipedia.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

just remembered that wikipedia has a list of fish named after other fish

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 03/01/2025

honestly, i think that's reductive. it's about all the usual reasons for war, occupation and resistance (resources, strategic positioning, domestic politics, civil rights, etc etc). I think religion is a bit of a distraction, a way to make people overlook the actual facts of what's happening

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

Sort of expanding while remaining the same size

5-Star Amazon book review. "The book, The Field, was mind-expanding, confirming what I "knew" to be true."

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

It's not that it hasn't figured out how to depict gravity - it's that it hasn't tried. It doesn't work by learning the rules that govern movement, it works by looking at a bunch of gymnastics videos and trying to follow the pattern of pixel placement - it's like your phone's autocomplete, but visual

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

This is very unfair; if I travel to Berlin, and hook up with someone while I'm there, that doesn't mean I travelled 14,700 kilometres for sex. That whale might have been going to the cool artistic part of the ocean.

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

So sick of mainstream media; I get all my news from the Australia Post parcel tracker app

Screenshot of the Australia Post app
Greece
19 November 2024: Items sent to and from Greece may experience delays due to planned union strikes on 20 November, which will impact postal operations and delivery services.

Ireland
10 November 2024: Items sent to and from Ireland may experience delays, as Storm Darragh is affecting delivery services and postal operations.

Italy
4 December 2024: Items sent to and from Italy may experience delays due to cyber attacks impacting the IT systems at Italy Post.

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

I appreciate that while you're skeptical about your memory, you're happy to accept my claim that it's lifesaving information (I have ADHD as well and terrible episodic memory - like i remember practically nothing from overseas trips, but very good for facts. Brains, man!)

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

nonono you will remember and this knowledge will save your life one day, definitely

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

oh my god. yeah one thing I didn't mention about how llamas see sheep as just short llamas, is you can't set intact males to guard sheep.

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

oh yeah, that's definitely a thing! I sometimes still stumble over who's/whose, and have to de-contract it (read the sentence to myself as "who is" and see if it makes sense that way)

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

(I can imagine a kid not really understanding why an animal wasn't responsive to being pet, it would seem cold. I'm speculating wildly!)

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

Another fact about llamas is, their tongues are too short to groom their babies. This means a) they always give birth during the day, so the babies have time to dry off before it gets cold, and b) llamas do not like being pet the way a cat does, because it's not part of parent/baby interactions

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

You'll never not be able to tell the difference again! It's a gift for life!

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

I think that's fine/better? unless the emotional reactions are surprising? (like if you're moved by the poignancy of something goofy, that's interesting). "show don't tell" stuff, I guess I mean, there's obviously a big YA market for describing big emotions, but it's a matter of taste imo

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

Revelations 21:5 - "This is good shit, is someone getting this down?" #occultsky

Screenshot from Bible Gateway. 5. He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

I'm reading that as "pros: if i get another cat, i won't have to wrestle with the decision of whether to get another cat for at least 3, 4 months"

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

Cohost was nice! It's a shame cohost couldn't happen

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

I think the quote marks are meant to imply the OP doesn't really believe it was loaded (she wasn't really in danger and she's just trying to get attention)

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

Again like, these people are friends with Joe Rogan. They've heard his show, they know what he's like. You and me think it's wrong to vote for Trump, so if we did it, we might lie about it. But Trump voters DON'T, they think they're doing the right thing, and why lie about doing the right thing?

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

Do you really think he's lying about his reasoning? Why would he lie about it? He wouldn't get criticised by his fanbase so I'm not sure what the motivation would be. (He's being dumb obviously, but it doesn't make any sense to me that he would be covering up his real reasoning)

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McKinley Valentine @mckinleaf.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

People have "one thing" brain disease. Did Kamala lose because she was a Black woman or because of her policy positions? YOU'RE ONLY ALLOWED ONE

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