iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 13/09/2026

Looks like Trump signed the guest book, while he was there. The signature is recognizably his, but did someone else write the bit preceding it? Its appearance is not how you might expect expect a president's writing to look.

Entry in the visitors book at Áras an Uachtaráin reads :

"A great honor to be here
Thank you!"

Followed by Donald Trump's distinctive signature (though here it seems he may have forgotten how many times he needed to write the letter 'M'.)

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 04/09/2026

On the other hand, this isn't at all surprising. I've lived almost entirely in California, parents & grandfathers from Great Lakes / Midwest, grandmothers from Missouri.

mydialect map showing primary focus on California / West Coast, with lesser emphasis on Great Lakes / Midwest

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 21/08/2026

Not explicitly stated in the post, but you can almost read it between the lines: "Except for Russia" (which has been providing assistance to Iran, no doubt using money funneled to Russia from funds grifted by Trump and hidden behind various shell companies.)

Excerpt from Truth Social post already quoted, with highlights placed on passage beginning/ending:
"Today I am also announcing...
... it all needs to stop NOW."

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 05/08/2026

Just the sort you'd expect to be 'working' under DUI Secretary of Performative Belligerence Pete Hegseth.

Pete Hegseth, performing his idea of the "tough-guy warfighter" role by yelling at the media during a recent press conference.

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 03/08/2026

" ... and then you see graffiti on the side of the building." -- Donald Trump

View of entrance to Trump Tower, with graffiti on the side of the building.

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 02/08/2026

Good. That she calls it "spiritual warfare" and asserted in her own video about the incident "I just love a captive audience" tells the story.

Screenshot from Ms Lynn's IG post re: the incident:

"I just love a captive audience. About 200 people on that plane got to hear the gospel." (Whether they wanted to or not.)

detail from Ms Lynn's IG post:
"I just love a captive audience."

(Seems as if there ought to be something in the evangelist's handbook about this.)

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 31/07/2026

It's very hard for me to feel the tiniest bit sorry for Matt. Also:

2018 Tweet by Simon Maloy:
"matt schlapp" is the sound made by two pork chops falling onto a linoleum floor

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 27/07/2026

Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, or Alice In Chains.

Cover for 1999 album "Fundamental" by Puerto Rican band Puya

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 25/07/2026

🦀 See a crab, post a crab 🦀

Author illustration for "The Crab that Played with the Sea" (from Rudyard Kipling's "Just So Stories") showing an outrigger canoe in the middle of the ocean, bearing the Elder Magician, the first man and the first girl, as they face a very large crab (apparently a horseshoe crab, rather than true crab.)

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 16/07/2026

I thought "This sounds like someone I probably want to block." As it turns out, he's already blocked me... apparently, for no specific reason. lol

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 24/06/2026

🦀 See a crab, post a crab 🦀

character 'Crabby' from comic strip "Mutts" by Patrick McDonnell

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 21/06/2026

For #ShowYourStripes day: I'm sorta midway between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, so here are stripes for both places.

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 22/05/2026

"Be veeeeewy quiet. I'm huntin' wabbit. Huhuhuhuhuhuh!"

Smirking Donald Trump as an Elmer Fudd-like Pilgrim, carrying a blunderbuss.

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 05/05/2026

The pics of Lauren Sanchez at the Met Gala keep reminding me of another scene. The vibe isn't supposed to be the same, and yet...

Gov. Le Petomane in "Blazing Saddles," distracted by the cleavage of his scantily-dressed secretary, to which he is saying "Hello, boys!"

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 28/04/2026

Sign is apparently located in a park in Crystal River, FL, 3 or 4 miles from the Gulf. Albert Alligator:

Frame fro "POGO" comic strip, showing Albert Alligator leaning against a tree, with speech bubble altered to read: "Close, but no see-gar!"

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 21/04/2026

Last time I bought gas, it was $4.79 per gallon.

Donald Trump pointing w/ caption:
"I DID THAT!"

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 26/03/2026

post a non-religious picture you think of as holy

Cover of 1974 Frank Zappa album "Apostrophe (')"
close-up full-face image of man with long dark hair and heavy dark moustache

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 21/03/2026

Come to think of it, there was a National Geographic cover which would have come just about the time the second tower opened.

National Geographic magazine cover dated June 1967, showing nighttime photo of Marina City "corncob" towers in downtown Chicago (image stolen from eBay)

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 12/03/2026

Spring may be just around the corner, but the 100-plus temps will be here sooner this year.

screencap of weather page 10-day forecast, showing high temps of 101 (3/18), 102 (3/19), 104 (3/20), and 104 (3/21)
(equal to 38 C, 39 C, 40 C, 40 C)

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 11/03/2026

If WashPost has paywalled that, try here: archive.is/202603111606...

Possible 'unflattering' Hegseth photo.

(DUI Sec Kegseth gesticulating with both hands and wearing a less-than-photogenic facial expression.)

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 10/03/2026

Me: "White people deserve... " sounds like the sort of entitled thinking guys like Tucker Carlson have been badmouthing for years, whenever it comes from anyone but upper-class WASP Americans.

Tucker Carlson, with the constipated "But... but...I don't understand" facial expression which has long been his trademark.

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 17/02/2026

If you see this post a Star Trek.

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 01/01/2026

It was between this one and "laughable". Nothing else I found seemed a good fit.

Screenshout of Merriam-Webster "Your 2026 Word" generator -- the chosen word is "slapdash".

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 28/12/2025

Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden or Alice In Chains.

cover for 1999 album "Fundamental" by Puya

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 21/12/2025

I will always remember the cartoon which referenced that particular interview appearance.

2018 Lalo Alcaraz cartoon showing Stephen Miller holding up a spray-can to apply a swastika to the top of his head -- a reference to Miller's TV-interview appearance that year with very conspicuous spray-on hair.

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 06/12/2025

Or on the wall of their corporate boardroom, perhaps.

Plaque from the boardroom of Engulf & Devour (Our Fingers Are in Everything) -- the evil adversary company plotting to ruin the heroes in Mel Brooks' "Silent Movie"

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 30/11/2025

It seems to be more due to inertia than anything else.

The Curse of the Diaeresis
newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-curse-of-the-diaeresis
Mary Norris
April 26, 2012

The special tool we use here at The New Yorker for punching out the two dots that we then center carefully over the second vowel in such words as “naïve” and “Laocoön” will be getting a workout this year, as the Democrats coöperate to reëlect the President.

Those two dots, often mistaken for an umlaut, are actually a diaeresis (pronounced “die heiresses”; it’s from the Greek for “divide”). The difference is that an umlaut is a German thing that alters the pronunciation of a vowel (Brünnhilde), and often changes the meaning of a word: schon (adv.), already;

schön (adj.), beautiful. In the case of a diphthong, the umlaut goes over the first vowel. And it is crucial. A diaeresis goes over the second vowel and indicates that it forms a separate syllable. Most of the English-speaking world finds the diaeresis inessential. Even Fowler, of Fowler’s “Modern English Usage,” says that the diaeresis “is in English an obsolescent symbol.”

It’s actually a lot of trouble, these days, to get the diaeresis to stick over the vowels. The autocorrect on my word-processing program (I was just kidding about the hole punch) automatically whisks it off, and I have to go back, highlight the letter, hold down the option key while pressing the “u,” and then retype the appropriate letter. The question is: Why bother? I am not getting paid by the hour.

The fact is that, absent the two dots, most people would not trip over the “coop” in “cooperate” or the “reel” in “reelect” (though they might pronounce the “zoo” in “zoological,” a potential application of the diaeresis that we get no credit for resisting). And yet we use the diaeresis for the same reason that we use the hyphen: to keep the cow out of co-workers.

Basically, we have three options for these kinds of words: “cooperate,” “co-operate,” and “coöperate.” Back when the magazine was just getting started, someone decided that the first misread and the second was ridiculous, and adopted the diaeresis as the most elegant solution with the broadest application. The diaeresis is the single thing that readers of the letter-writing variety complain about most.

We do change our style from time to time. My predecessor (and the former keeper of the comma shaker) told me that she used to pester the style editor, Hobie Weekes, who had been at the magazine since 1928, to get rid of the diaeresis. She found it fussy. She said that once, in the elevator, he told her he was on the verge of changing that style and would be sending out a memo soon. And then he died.

This was in 1978. No one has had t…

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 23/11/2025

Goin' back home To the Village of the Sun Out in back of Palmdale Where the turkey farmers run, I done Made up my mind And I know I'm gonna go to Sun Village, good God I hope the Wind don't blow

Image showing the Pope singing into a microphone, with eyes closed

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 21/11/2025

This makes CBP agent Donahue sound like a Certified Public Asshole (CPA).

Screencap / excerpt taken from Unraveled Press article https://unraveledpress.com/identified-federal-agents-who-pointed-gun-punched-detainee-in-evanston/ describing multiple offences by CBP agent Timothy Donahue and including a photo of him pointing a weapon at unarmed bystanders while another CBP agent beats a handcuffed man lying on the ground.

"Unraveled has verified a social media account on X (formerly known as Twitter) belonging to Donahue. While not a prolific user, he has used the account to make disparaging remarks about women and trans people, share racist imagery, and cheer on hate crimes. His tour across Chicagoland this autumn—during which he was easily spotted due to a distinctive red beard and lack of a face covering—included several known instances of reckless driving, menacing people with chemical weapons, and questioning them about their citizenship status."

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 17/10/2025

"Just one thing: If the parents aren't having children, then where are the teenagers and the girls hitting puberty coming from?"

Captain Kirk, in "Star Trek: The Final Frontier", trying to interrupt God:
"Just one thing... "

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 15/10/2025

Oh, I'm sure he knows nothing about it.

Image taken from "Dave Taylor for Congress" website, showing Taylor standing in a warehouse and holding a semiautomatic rifle. https://davetaylorforcongress.com/meet-dave/

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 01/10/2025

And you can see on Trump's face exactly how well his Alaska meeting went:

Trump's Alaska meeting with Putin: chumped again

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 30/08/2025

I guess Trump doesn't believe in wearing sunglasses.

Donald Trump points to eclipse while conspicuously not wearing protective eyewear.

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 16/08/2025

How it started... | How it's going...

Putin and hangdog Trump at Helsinki conference, 2018

Putin and hangdog Trump at Alaska meeting, 2025

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 10/08/2025

Already the 6th IRS Commissioner this year -- that's less than 8 months. Yikes.

49 Charles Rettig 10/1/18-11/12/22
A Doug O'Donnell 11/13/22-3/13/23
50 Daniel Werfel 3/13/23-1/20/25
A Doug O'Donnell 1/20/25-2/28/25
A Melanie Krause 2/28/25-4/16/25
A Gary Shapley 4/16/25-4/18/25
A Michael Faulkender 4/18/25-6/16/25
51 Billy Long 6/16/25-8/8/25
A Scott Bessent 8/8/25-

(number) = confirmed appointee
A = acting

screencap taken from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commissioner_of_Internal_Revenue#List_of_commissioners

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 27/07/2025

No cheating: post your lock screen!

Communications towers on Amboy Road at sunrise

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 17/07/2025

Social Security (and now Medicare) emails have generally been informative and useful, but now -- getting shit like this? It's a little too on-the-nose.

header from Medicare email:
Medicare.gov
A message from Dr. Oz on the latest scam

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Jonathan Aul @mudshark58.northsky.social · 09/07/2025

Should be renamed to Department of Noemland Insecurity?

Photo of DHS Director Kristi Noem, standing in front of a row of flags, with DHS seal partially visible on wall behind

Detail from same photo, zoomed in to better show dismayed, totally-out-of-her-depth expression on Noem's face

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