iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

I just realized that I was reading this, on the recommendation of a friend, while it was being published. Because I left Boston, and that friend group, in September of 2010. I didn't get very far into it. But it was a shock when it suddenly became relevant again.

"What if... Rose killed another man with sex? Could that be a thing?"

040

I have a clear memory of an ad when cell phones were just becoming mainstream, where guys are trapped in the desert and waiting until the time of night they have free minutes to get rescued. Learning how to bill cell phones was also a special time.

110

Miss Hap @misshap.eurosky.social · 07/10/2026

Try collect calls "So, you're in a situation where you need to make a long distance call, but you can't pay for it. So you call through a service that will make the person you're calling pay. Sometimes you had special names as code words so no one had to pay. It was a special time."

210

The older Japanese companies know how to do it. Mitsubishi pencils and cars. Hitachi magic wands and steamrollers. Just start making stuff and buying smaller companies and see where you go.

050

Miss Hap @misshap.eurosky.social · 07/10/2026

Kids these days don't know that you used to have a long distance plan! Carrot Top used to sell collect call services! Losing contact with someone was so easy, they couldn't even complain!

2230

I was exaggerating, but I do think a lot of energy that could go to fighting gets instead put into the giant, lumbering bureaucratic machine of the EU.

110

And the EU. You have no idea how much petty sniping and underhanded comments go on during EU projects. My favorite are projects that make Sweden and Denmark work together, because they are neighbors, but they hate each other.

120

Is he trying to reinvent puzzles?

000

"the impression was given I was depraved to say such things aloud". No, really? What kind of terrible person doesn't want casual small talk to turn into a conversation about kink and "penised lesbians"?

"As an extremely credentialed Health Knower..."

050

I have never read a dating advice book, but I certainly have strong opinions on them.

1140

I will have you know that I read this on a train, so I had to laugh silently, which caused tears, and now I can see some guy staring at me as I wipe away tears. Please, try to be less funny in the future.

080

Reposted by Miss Hap

If you are a lost time traveler, the situation in Russia is probably the worst way to pinpoint your place: Russia, trapped in a losing war of imperial ambition by a corrupt authoritarian leader, is currently suffering a plague outbreak. Could be any point in the last 600 years.

121

Ah, Russia. I'd say "never change", but that appears to be the entire problem.

000

Miss Hap @misshap.eurosky.social · 05/10/2026

121

I keep saying I'll feel happier once the youngest learns to sleep through the night (I'm 41. He 11 months). The idea that things might get worse is... Unsettling. But, as others point out, that's an average.

030

Miss Hap @misshap.eurosky.social · 03/10/2026

Honestly, my favourite bit is saying the Pope wasn't elected. Did he not watch Conclave with the rest of us?

060

Miss Hap @misshap.eurosky.social · 02/10/2026

But the drop tower of economic indicators is coming along nicely.

1180

Miss Hap @misshap.eurosky.social · 02/10/2026

Soon to be replaced with a merry-go-round of regression.

1120

No, it's okay, Grok didn't immediately turn Trump into paperclips, so everything is fine.

Ooh, yes, give the theater kids something to be justifiably dramatic about, this will definitely end well for you. (what is the concern? That welder isn't an appropriately feminine job?)

070

Could something not be gender for 5 minutes, I could use a break.

090

I saw the movie years after it came out, and wondered what the fuss was about, and now I'm wondering if I saw the director's cut.

030

The important thing is, they are giving jobs to American coyotes.

000

How would this even work? Currently the embassy requires me to send them the envelope they will send me my passport in, with the stamp already attached. (Those stamps are €10.) Where does the money for the fancy box come from?

000

Oh, good. Has she sorted out the problem with the dog? I finally stopped asking because the updates were tiresome.

I have no idea what this game was, but since the name sounds like "Cluedo", I assume you're trying to work out where and with what and whom an orgy took place in the mansion.

If one of these "AI" companies could build a robot that could pick tomatoes, that could measurably improve human welfare. But they never target the "actually awful job for a human to do" sectors.

000

Miss Hap @misshap.eurosky.social · 30/09/2026

Also, I swear my brain works differently when I type versus talking. I can't imagine having to dictate a 10 page policy paper to the computer.

250

I feel like everyone is ignoring that. Is that a polo shirt under there? I'm not an expert in male fashion, but that seems wrong.

Miss Hap @misshap.eurosky.social · 30/09/2026

I do like that everyone is neurodivergent, and we spend so much time yelling and billionaires and tech bros to just be normal for 5 minutes. I mean, we're managing, what's their excuse?

Miss Hap @misshap.eurosky.social · 30/09/2026

Reminds of a story, that when Zuckerberg got into watch collecting, he just ordered his staff to buy the 10 most expensive watches, and seriously, that's not how hobbies work. Just go enjoy a thing.

031

Miss Hap @misshap.eurosky.social · 29/09/2026

I call "The Funklateral Commission"!

031

Miss Hap @misshap.eurosky.social · 29/09/2026

This is why I hold out hope most of this AI stuff will pass. I remember being told I had to understand NFTs, and had to get a crypto wallet. (machine learning appears useful for some tasks, just not in the way it's currently being pushed)

And one of the most common forms of personality tests, still loved by HR departments to this day (although they seem to mostly use knock off versions, probably to prevent interesting conversations from breaking out)

030

The cost of renting the Cavern proved exorbitant, so we relocated to the nearby Festival grounds for a carnival.

160

I remember, way back in (good lord) 2008, someone talked me into reading his Harry Potter fanfic, and even in that, back then, he had a definite Thing about death. (Also, I believe he argued that no one really believes in an afterlife, they're just pretending or something.)

110

Never mind your car, we had a show where women society deemed "ugly" got plastic surgery and recovered on TV for your family's enjoyment.

050

I have no idea if I've heard the song, lots of shops have Spotify going. The last song I remember hearing was when Mr Brightside started in the coffee shop, and I nearly hummed along, but then realized I was the only white person in the shop and needed to not be a stereotype.

040

Miss Hap @misshap.eurosky.social · 26/09/2026

Yeah, I think any experience where you hit the end of your natural talent and have to struggle will do it. Most of these guys have avoided that experience entirely.

040

A lot of these guys also leave formal education pretty early, which is too bad because there is nothing like getting an advanced degree (in my experience) to teach you that you are not smart and your brain is not special.

1381

Miss Hap @misshap.eurosky.social · 26/09/2026

"I have no emotional need to be special" is the sort of thing you say if you spend every moment hoping someone will notice how special you are.

1360

Miss Hap @misshap.eurosky.social · 26/09/2026

Same. I'm old, and bringing a drink to a job interview would never occur to me, but if someone brought any kind of coffee in, I wouldn't really think about it.