iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

M.W. @mwatson.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

It is amazing to see how the more wealthy someone is, the lower their reading/story comprehension is.

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Douglas Natelson @nanoscaleviews.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

🧪⚛️ Dam Son at U Chicago, shepherding a clean physics result from Claude (interesting style of presenting this as authored by the AI tool). This is a great example of something AI tools are presently good for: tracking down pernicious calculational details. home.uchicago.edu/dtson/papers...

home.uchicago.edu

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M.W. @mwatson.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

This just describes how a large portion of New Orleans operates

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M.W. @mwatson.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

There are a lot of bad austerity measures governments try. Defunding low barrier shelters is pretty high up there as one of the top bad ideas.

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Danny Cherry Jr (twitter/Insta/tiktok: @Deecherrywriter) @deecherrywriter.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

🚨🚨🚨 Just got info from the Jamie Davis (Louisiana US Dem candidate) campaign that a poll taken from 9/17 to 9/19 shows he's within 4 points of US Rep. Julia Letlow (the R senate candidate) in the Louisiana US senate race. Of note, Letlow's name recognition is double that of Davis. (82% vs. 41%)

TO: Jamie Davis for U.S. Senate
FROM: Hart Research Associates
DATE: September 22, 2026
RE: Recent statewide survey shows Jamie Davis within the margin of error; strong reaction to his positive message

Hart Research Associates conducted a statewide survey between September 17 and 19, 2026, among
500 likely Louisiana voters via landline, cell phone, and text-to-web. The survey was representative of
the November 2026 electorate by key demographic, geographic, and partisan factors, and has a
margin of error of ±4.5%.
Our survey shows that Jamie Davis is within striking distance of Julia Leitlow in the initial trial
heat, despite the Republican’s name recognition advantage:

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tomstoner.bsky.social @tomstoner.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Raise some fun (and funds) for Jamie Davis Saturday, October 3rd - 5:00 to 7:00 PM at the Howlin’ Wolf 907 S Peter’s St New Orleans secure.actblue.com/donate/oct3w...

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M.W. @mwatson.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

I try to follow the framework: nuance is more helpful if you have the same goals or assumptions in mind (coopetition/ I really hate that word but it is what it is) and stronger more direct arguments are more effective when you don't agree on the problem or desired outcome (competition).

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Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.net · 14/09/2026

There's A LOT of ways the Trump admin is currently attacking & decimating American science. Here's a breakdown of what they are doing, and what you can do about it. 🧵

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Colette Delawalla, PhD @cdelawalla.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

BREAKING: OMB PROPOSED RULE IS PAUSED UNTIL DEC 11th. This is a direct result of OUR ACTIVISM! It's a critical step in the right direction AND the fight continues. NOW, it's time to revoke the rule. Email here: fight2win.standupforscience.net/campaign/rev... www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

theguardian.com

House passes funding bill to avoid shutdown before midterms

Continuing resolution to approve government spending until 11 December passes 370-48 and will now go to Trump

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

It's like a parody, but it's deadly serious; the Commerce Department (which includes Census, NOAA, and others) has outright deleted "don't alter or suppress scientific findings for political reasons" from its scientific integrity rules. Seriously.

Protecting against "inappropriate influence" is no longer a "hallmark" of scientific integrity

The Commerce Department updated its policy for promoting a "culture of scientific integrity" in January 2025, days before Trump's second inauguration.

A new Trump administration order bans the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis from using statistical “noise,” or data for fuzzing survey results, to protect people’s privacy in their statistics.

The 2025 version included bans on attempts to shape or interfere in data collection, statistical analysis and other scientific activities "against well-accepted scientific methods and theories or without scientific justification."

The department's policy, the 2025 version said, involves ensuring scientific findings at its agencies "are not suppressed, delayed, or altered for political purposes and are not subjected to inappropriate influence," as well as making sure there's "independent review of facilities, methodologies, and other scientific activities as appropriate to ensure scientific integrity."

That language is missing, however, in the Trump administration's revision of the policy, according to an NPR analysis of text posted on the Commerce Department's website.

And while the revision adopts a definition for "scientific integrity" that is similar to the previous version, it no longer says that "protection from inappropriate influence" is among the "hallmarks of scientific integrity."

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M.W. @mwatson.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

This 100%. When I was just out of grad school at a think tank there were humanities, social science, and physical science researchers. Many of the younger ones still had this weird tribalism I saw in grad school. The more senior ones knew why the think tank hired all three types to co-mingle.

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M.W. @mwatson.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Better ALMOST LATE than never, today is the last day. Get your comments in to prevent disastrous changes to the grant making process.

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M.W. @mwatson.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Also see climate change vs global warming.

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Reposted by M.W.

Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Hey folks, this hasn’t gotten much attention, but remember those proposed OMB rule changes we all commented on recently? There’s a new attempt to sneak them just for NSF. We have three days to comment. Please don’t sleep on this!

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M.W. @mwatson.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Well I didn't know I needed to read this thread but I did.

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M.W. @mwatson.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

I get why this feels tempting for the Mayor in a city that needs money right now but this would be an absolutely terrible choice and we need to push back hard to make sure she understands this is a non-starter. #nolasky

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M.W. @mwatson.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Today is a great day to give Cassidy a call #nolasky. Let's remind him Blanche is pretty widely disliked across the board and is absolutely unqualified for the AG position.

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M.W. @mwatson.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

I killed so much time playing this game instead of studying and will now probably waste much more time on it again. Thanks @archive.org !

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M.W. @mwatson.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

I really can't stand our state leadership....

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M.W. @mwatson.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

I wonder if that is more or less than the number of Landry employees who have signed the recall effort.

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M.W. @mwatson.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

I got excited when I saw the walk up window/bar going in. I haven't seen it open yet but I will be walking up for a drink when going down Mag.

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M.W. @mwatson.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

This thread is just fun, people trying to find other examples and then BAM here is an animal that does the exact same thing that you didn't know about.

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evacide @evacide.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

This matters a lot because people are constantly asking me if they should set up a duress passcode in order to fool law enforcement.

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Douglas Natelson @nanoscaleviews.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

🧪 @colesci.bsky.social with a solid piece on the recent OSTP document. Rightly asks, how much attention should this merit? Enough to see what it is, but not inflate the importance of a policy manifesto that doesn't have the force of law or regulation. www.techpolicy.press/ostp-vision-...

techpolicy.press

OSTP Vision for Science is a ‘Golden Age’ for Corporations

"Science: A New Golden Age" tries to reframe the conversation away from the ongoing destruction of American science, writes Cole Donovan.

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Zach Weinersmith @zachweinersmith.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

I made this one in 2014 www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2014-0...

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M.W. @mwatson.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

This feels a lot like what @doctorow.pluralistic.net described in the Reverse-Centaur as Criti-hype. This wasn't terminator coming back from the future. This was a sloppy cloud environment turned press release. (@wired.com does have a quote at the end pointing this out)

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M.W. @mwatson.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Oh hey there #nolasky looks like they want to weaponize those "respond only" drones.

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M.W. @mwatson.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Words to live by right here.

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M.W. @mwatson.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Hey look at that! A thing other reasonable cities do being done here!

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Taco Bell understands what's at stake They want you to live más, not live menos

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Jeremy Yoder says no war @jbyoder.org · 13/07/2026

Holy COW. Text analysis of comments on the OMB rule: overwhelming opposition, overwhelmingly not form letters. (But 9 in 10 comments supporting the rule ARE form responses, LOL) Whatever happens next, folks have stepped up.

Screenshot text: Between May 29 and July 9, roughly 51,000 comments were posted to regulations.gov (and over 200,000 more had been received but not yet published). The verdict on public sentiment is clear and lopsided: about 94 percent oppose the proposed rule and only 6 percent support it, with fewer than one percent marked as unclear. The opposition is overwhelmingly grassroots rather than orchestrated. Form letters make up only about 16 percent of all comments (roughly 8,400 comments across 210 distinct campaigns), and only about one in eight opposing comments came from a form-letter campaign. Support for the rule, by contrast, was almost entirely organized: nearly nine in ten supportive comments (about 2,500) came from a single form-letter campaign. Opponents mostly wrote their own comments; supporters mostly signed the same form-letter.

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M.W. @mwatson.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

They are totally going to offer him some BS job or position just so he can't be a difficult R in the Senate

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M.W. @mwatson.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

My hot take, 99% of A24's stuff was bad already. You churn out enough, some of it will be (really) good. Most will not be.

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M.W. @mwatson.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

It's a shame for Cassidy. He might have had a chance at keeping his office. I was never going to support him but a lot of people would have if he actually acted like this sooner. Too bad for him...

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M.W. @mwatson.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Yea this seems to track. They want science and technology to progress magically.

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Simon and Gargamel @kellylink.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

So an elephant pissed all over the floor at a Republican convention & a rainbow appeared over The Kennedy Center as they were removing Trump’s name & as a writer I have some thoughts.

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M.W. @mwatson.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Well I think I found another podcast I need to listen to!

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M.W. @mwatson.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

So some very conservative counties in VA won't enforce a state law because they think it is a bad law and they think "the people of that county's sovereignty," are infringed on. Meanwhile in New Orleans, Louisiana is stripping it for parts and anything NOLA does to protect itself is illegal, sure.

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M.W. @mwatson.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

The fact that MacKenzie Scott is giving away money faster than any billionaire and her wealth has actually grown is just the perfect example of how crazy it is we have billionaires.

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M.W. @mwatson.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Not surprised this happened down here. Landry would love to establish his own little fiefdom to silence science and dissent.

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M.W. @mwatson.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

This one, like so many others, hurts. I grabbed a reservation right when I saw this article and they were already filling up.

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M.W. @mwatson.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

I look forward to reading this, moving back to decentralized, physically owned, and intentionally networked systems seem to be the only way forward.

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Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

“It’s only racial gerrymandering if Elbridge Gerry did it himself.” — #SCOTUS, one day soon.

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M.W. @mwatson.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

With all the #linktree stuff happening I just want to reboost this. I will try to clean it up and open source it soon but it should be stable and links to your bluesky account #opensource #atproto

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