iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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ΜΑΝΟΣ ΤΡΑΧΙΑΣ™ @trahias.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Félix Vallotton (Swiss, 1865-1925) Premiers Rayons [First Rays], 1921 Oil on canvas 81.5 x 23.8 inches Private collection #art #painting #artist #BlueSkyArt

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Sonja Drimmer @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social · 23h

But the moment deserves more than clever. And we are not talking about the obsolescence of writing as an abstract. We are talking about actively depriving people of access to participation in a democracy.

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

This is the 59th death in ICE detention since Trump took office.

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Class Gardener @classgardener.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Oh nooo, dont take away my insurance providers!! Then who will eat the top third of my paycheck and then not pay for my medications, oh noooooo

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Leah Greenberg ❌👑 @leahgreenberg.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez is the SECOND DoorDash driver shot by ICE, and the silence from DoorDash is deafening. Delete DoorDash until they speak up against ICE violence and push for Wilber’s release. Learn how to delete it so it counts at deletedoordash.com.

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William B. Fuckley @opinionhaver.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

However, that is not the point of other types of writing. For the theory and literature review sections, the work that writing has done is not just conveying information, it is assuring you, the reader, that someone has written this and been forced to think about it. I think this is very bad to LLM!

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Jess Piper @piperformissouri.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

😂😂😂

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Michael Yarbrough (he/him) @mwyarbrough.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The smug confidence with which he repeatedly proclaims wrong things is what gets me. Even AFTER he gets caught! I work with people like that, and they are the worst.

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Pete Manzo @pmanzo.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Yes, I think CUNY and other 4-year public colleges, like the Cal States, ranked highest for economic mobility, I read somewhere (I think here or linked here: www.brookings.edu/articles/opp... Free public education should go K-16, including trades or certificate programs, if students prefer

brookings.edu

Opportunity engines: Middle-Class Mobility in higher education | Brookings

Selective four-year colleges are the workhorses of upward mobility for the middle class.

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Brendan Davey @brendandavey.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

The world would be a better place if we prioritized educational environments like CUNY over “elite” clubs like the Ivy’s. I’m definitely not the first person to suggest this:

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James Ryan @jdryan08.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

NYC spends approximately $200,000 a year for every inmate in the corrections system. It spends about $27,000 a year for every student enrolled in CUNY.

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James Ryan @jdryan08.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I read in the Inquirer today that UPenn’s endowment *increased* by $6 billion last year. The FY27 executive budget for CUNY is $6.4 billion.

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James Ryan @jdryan08.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

The combined undergraduate and graduate student populations of all Ivy League schools is about 140,000 students. The CUNY system alone is 250,000.

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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Please say this again...

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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I received an EXCELLENT education at City College where I received my MA in Sociology. And I was debt free. I attended PT while working FT. I'm a ride or die for the CUNY system. Once again, one of the best parts of NYC.

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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

People sleep on CUNY but it is one of the absolute JEWELS of U.S. Higher Ed and has been for decades. And what's the thanks the system gets??? It has to fight for its life every single year because it has been systematically defunded.

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Tom & Lorenzo @tomandlorenzo.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Happy Dolly Parton Day! For this 9/25, the Bitter Kitten Movie Club is diving deep into "9 to 5," with a podcast talking about its queer influences and liberal polemic and a costume post outlining all of the tropes and motifs you might have missed: tomandlorenzo.com/2026/09/bitt...

tomandlorenzo.com

Bitter Kitten Movie Club: 9 to 5 (1980) - Tom + Lorenzo

9 to 5 (1980) Directed by: Colin Higgins Starring: Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Dabney Coleman Costume Designer: Ann Roth Happy Dolly Day,

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Tom & Lorenzo @tomandlorenzo.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Did you know there's a butterfly motif in 9 to 5? Or that the 3 leads subtly influence each other's costumes over time? Or that you could read a queer romantic obsession in the costumes? Or what Lily Tomlin's nameplate necklace really says? tomandlorenzo.com/2026/09/bitt...

tomandlorenzo.com

Bitter Kitten Movie Club: 9 to 5 (1980) - Tom + Lorenzo

9 to 5 (1980) Directed by: Colin Higgins Starring: Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Dabney Coleman Costume Designer: Ann Roth Happy Dolly Day,

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Vote Forward @votefwd.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

🎉 You've helped adopt half a million voters! But with Election Day under six weeks away, hundreds of thousands still need letters. Keep the momentum going and adopt voters in one of Vote Forward's active campaigns today ⏩visit votefwd.org/get-involved

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Michael Yarbrough (he/him) @mwyarbrough.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Love this. One of the many things I've loved about starting strength training, which does NOT come easily to me, is how it's reconnected me as a teacher with the experience of being a struggling student.

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Dave Purcell @dpurcell.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

www.theguardian.com/music/2026/s... Sad news. His records are good and he has always come across as a great guy. Props to Michael for sharing his story. Contrast with Matthew Sweet - he's not millions in debt thanks to the NHS.

theguardian.com

‘Everyone can relate to pain and struggle. So I’m sharing mine’: Michael Kiwanuka on life after his devastating stroke

The Mercury prize winner hasn’t been able to go home since falling ill last summer. In his only interview, he opens up about the ‘poignancy’ of finally releasing the new album his stroke shelved

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Kate Armstrong @brainchain.ca · 25/09/2026

I am such a big Meshell fan I’ll probably could just pivot to being a Meshell fangirl account

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Tom Votes Blue @tomgambell.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

🤔 … while Mamdani is introducing people to the arts, Trump is restricting access to the arts by closing the Kennedy Center… 😡

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IntrepidGirlSleuth @annakeesey.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Which is, essentially, the capacity for morally-informed metacognition.

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Michael Yarbrough (he/him) @mwyarbrough.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

An essential element of intelligence is humility.

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Michael Yarbrough (he/him) @mwyarbrough.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The main thing that sticks out to me is the male privilege. "I don't even know my own address, ask my wife" is straight out of a bad sitcom about an aw-shucks patriarch and his hysterically long-suffering wife/minder. The toxic maleness of these AI know-it-all-know-nothings needs more analysis.

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Michael Yarbrough (he/him) @mwyarbrough.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

So the UN General Assembly lectern is now just a stage for making terrorist and genocide threats? What a fallen world.

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Michael Yarbrough (he/him) @mwyarbrough.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

And the anesthesia gives you get the best nap of your life to celebrate

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womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

South African artist Mary Sibande, … of Prosperity, 2011 mixed media installation #womensart

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Michael Yarbrough (he/him) @mwyarbrough.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Absolutely gorgeous. This is going to be a hell of a record.

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Asawin Suebsaeng @swin24.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The way to look at this is George bush is trying to help Donald trump retain power on the Hill

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Moira Donegan @moiradonegan.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

If you realize that you’re an asshole I suggest pretending that you’re Doing a Bit

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Mark Harris @markharris.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Details re the "editorial independence board" intended to keep CBS News/CNN honest, per settlement: 5 journalists, all w/ at least 10 yrs experience (OK), all appointed by the Par/WB bd (LOL), and no more than 2 from any 1 party (☠️). In other words, the board could be 2 MAGAs and 3 "independents."

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Mark Harris @markharris.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

You read that right: Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar will, thanks to the approval of Trump's FCC, own 49.5% of Paramount Warner Brothers, and CBS, and CNN. One of many things to keep in mind when you cast your vote in the next six weeks.

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Mark Harris @markharris.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Bonta after detailing the terms of the deal: "I don't think these two companies should merge...I still don't." I mean, Jesus wept. I doubt this is the end of Newsom's 2028 ambitions, but it certainly should be. He got played by DAVID ELLISON!

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Adam Becker @adambecker.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

@aoc.bsky.social just put out a great statement on AI. Refreshing to see a major politician on the left nail this. "Silicon Valley billionaires want us to believe that Al robots will destroy humanity. But the biggest threat to humanity are the tech oligarchs themselves." 🎯

Charles,

Last weekend, Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, one of the largest Al companies in the world, publicly asked his industry to slow down Al development.

Shortly after, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAl, followed suit. Then Elon Musk.

This all came days after an Anthropic researcher quit, citing his belief that this technology could wipe out humanity and that Al companies are "gambling with our lives."

For years, people have warned that generative Al could slip out of our direct control.

Those safety concerns must be taken seriously.

And this is why I have advocated for strict safety standards on how Al is built and deployed, public oversight over this technology, and using existing laws to hold these companies accountable when they cause harm.

But I want to draw your attention to another reality: Right now, the U.S. economy and our financial futures are riding on Silicon Valley's bet that Al will soon be immensely profitable and pay off. And that bet isn't looking good.

The formula for a profitable business isn't complicated: make more money than you spend. But the biggest Al companies aren't doing that. They are spending hundreds of billions per year on data centers, chips, and other costs while their ability to make revenues that exceed their already-immense sunk costs are unclear. Experts estimate that these Al companies will require another $600 billion of debt just to finance

themselves in 2026 alone. That is more than the entire budgets of the U.S. Departments of Justice, Transportation, & Education combined.
Meanwhile, despite almost every single one of these companies not turning a profit & having sunk billions of investor dollars in development of data centers & other infrastructure, Al companies are also on a spending spree of hundreds of millions of dollars in lobbying & dark money in our elections.
It would be one thing if we were discussing a few private companies with a poor business model. But last year, virtually all stock market gains - 80% - rested entirely on just a handful of Al companies.
That tells us two things:
1. Nearly the entire U.S. economy outside the Al industry is relatively stagnating and faring poorly & the gains from these few companies are disguising it; &
2. Millions of people's retirements - including their pensions, 401ks, & investments - are potentially exposed to this risk.
That's why these Al companies' dubious financial positions matter to working people.
These companies argue that debt is necessary. They'll tell you that building transformative technologies requires upfront capital, & that massive borrowing today will pay off in generating unprecedented prosperity tomorrow.
But this is not the typical debt that startups take on while they build out a company. We are talking about billions going on trillions of dollars leveraged with no indication that these companies will be able to recoup these funds profitably. And they are increasingly looking to the government as their source of cash.
In an effort to hide their debt, tech companies have been relying on "circular financing" where tech giants like Google, Amazon, & Microsoft give billions to Al startups like OpenAl & Anthropic, only for those startups to hand that money right back to buy Al processing power.
In other words, these Al companies are luring in new investors by making it look like their financials are healthier than they really are.

What's even worse is that retirement & pension funds are key to supporting this illusion.
When the Al companies issue bonds to raise more money, your pension funds & retirement accounts are some of the biggest buyers. When Musk's Al business went public, it became part of index funds where millions of Americans invest our savings. Many Americans don't even know that their retirement investments are tied up in these companies at all.
From Big Tech's perspective, that's a feature, not a bug. By tying our futures to their reckless gambling, Al billionaires are trying to make themselves too big to fail. They think they can take such dangerous risks because we will bail them out if things go wrong.
Sound familiar? This scene is dangerously reminiscent of the rampant speculation, corruption, & broken incentives leading up to the 2008 financial crisis that plunged millions of working class Americans into financial chaos that we never fully recovered from.
It is no accident that these warnings from Altman & Amodei come months-if not weeks-before these companies were meant to go public.
When companies go public, they have to be more transparent about how they are doing financially. And after a waiting period, they typically have to let private investors-like their own employees-sell their shares.
The New York Times recently confirmed that OpenAl has postponed going public for this very reason. They are in no rush for the truth about their finances to come out.
But the moment these oligarchs began to seek our public tax dollars & public contracts while exposing their companies to public pension funds & investments, they opened themselves to public accountability & scrutiny.
Silicon Valley billionaires have rigged the game & are attempting to shift their financial risk to working people: If they're right about Al's potential, they reap the profits. If they're wrong & the bubble bursts, they are setting up the American people to pick up the tab.
Heads, they win; tails, we lose.

We can stop this, and we shouldn't play their game. Together we can address both the economic and safety threats of unrestricted Al development and prevent financial chaos and stabilize market risk.

We must make it clear now that should the Al bubble pop, Congress should not bail out Big Tech.

And across our federal agencies, we have the authorities and tools to hold Al companies and their leaders accountable for releasing dangerous, unvetted, and defective products. We must not wait.

Silicon Valley billionaires want us to believe that Al robots will destroy humanity.

But the biggest threat to humanity are the tech oligarchs themselves.

It's time we hold them accountable.

Thank you for reading.

In solidarity,

Alexandria

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Michael Yarbrough (he/him) @mwyarbrough.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

All this giddy midterm talk has me thinking about governors' races. Installing a veto atop the OH, TX, or IA state governments could do a hell of a lot of good over the next couple years.

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Elana Levin @levin.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Happy Orville Peck week from #CountryRockSunday ! I’m inviting all #OrvillePeck fans to join in our little corner of music bluesky. Very inclusive definitions of the genre & invite all to post their favorites old or new. Peck sounds great here. Fun song. But you know me I love uptempo.

youtu.be

Orville Peck - Too Little, Too Late (Official Music Video)

YouTube video by Orville Peck

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Michael Yarbrough (he/him) @mwyarbrough.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Pet peeve: "interdisciplinary" is NOT a synonym for "multidisciplinary"

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Jeff McMahon @jeffmcmahon.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

You can see how this guy bankrupted a casino

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Professa Murray @kalimurray.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

The Trump Administration is willing to support HCBUs at a higher rate b/c its basic purpose is to resegregate elite institutions in higher ed. The Administration is suing colleges for race-neutral approaches like University of Texas b/c according to them, these policies are “proxies” for race.

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Rob Tracinski @tracinski.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

There is a certain type of leftist whose favorite form of protest is chaining yourself to a fence or lying down in front of a bulldozer. Real “throw your body on the gears” kind of stuff. And this is their moment. Go to the Kennedy Center and be heroes. Your country needs you.

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Ryan Doerfler @ryandoerfler.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Please consider signing this letter from law professors responding to UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk's troubling remarks about the recent 9/11 Conference at UCLA School of Law. docs.google.com/document/d/1...

docs.google.com

Law Professor Statement on 9/11 Conference at UCLA School of Law

Law Professor Statement on 9/11 Conference at UCLA School of Law We join the forthcoming call by members of the UCLA law faculty for Chancellor Julio Frenk to retract his recent comment on an event t...

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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

"Weird" was OK, but I really wish someone would call Republican voters what they are: Suckers. These are dumb rubes who fall for the wallet inspector routine over and over again. They spend their last pennies on magic beans because are in the constant thrall of some grifter. Be meaner to them.

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The Best Album of 2001 @bestalbumbrackets.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

The 3rd Best Album of 2001 is Björk, VESPERTINE

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Sour Establishment Man @sourman.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

It's got to be Bjork here; Vespertine's more interesting by far, and despite all the love it gets here, The Strokes album is middle of the pack, by the numbers rock, literally forgettable, as in I've listened several times now and can't tell you a thing about it.

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Carolyn E Holmes @carolyneholmes.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Rubio plans to "revoke or reject visas from [those] found to be responsible for...uncompensated land seizures, race-based discrimination and the incitement of violence against minority racial/ethnic groups in South Africa." Easy enough. Since they aren't happening. www.cbsnews.com/news/us-sout...

cbsnews.com

U.S. slaps South Africa with new sanctions due to alleged discrimination against White people

The Trump administration has announced that it will impose travel bans on officials it claims are responsible for discrimination against White people and other minority groups in South Africa.

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