iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

when I discover a typo in a post right as it starts to pick up steam

Lebron "Can't believe this is my life" meme

Tillis getting accolades for taking publicly popular positions that go against his peers reminds me of Nikki Haley getting accolades for opposing the Confederate flag at the South Carolina capitol after the Mother Emanuel shooting a decade ago. www.politico.com/magazine/sto...

“The way it changed me was, now I know bad things can happen,” says Haley of both the shootings of Walter Scott and those at Mother Emanuel. But while the shootings changed Haley the person, they didn’t deeply shake the philosophy of Haley, the governor.

“I think after the flag debate, I think many people thought ‘Oh, she’s going to go for Medicaid expansion,’” she says. “It doesn’t work like that.”

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Jeremy Markovich @ncrabbithole.com · 26/09/2026

Peahead was a con artist how do we know this his hometown obitiuary was headlined "ol' peahead was real con artist" www.ncrabbithole.com/p/wake-fores...

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Jeremy Markovich @ncrabbithole.com · 25/09/2026

once again, Highway 12 on Pea Island in the Outer Banks is basically sitting in the ocean because of a nor'easter

NCDOT picture of Highway 12 on Pea Island

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Jeremy Markovich @ncrabbithole.com · 21/09/2026

YOU: Asheville's kinda weird these days 1984 ASHEVILLE: do you know about the prince poodle thing www.ncrabbithole.com/p/why-did-pr...

HEADLINE: Prince Drops In For Poodle
SUBHEAD:
'It Can't Be,' Store Owner Thought
By TONY KISS Staff Writer Prince, the rock singer and star of the film "Purple Rain," made a brief unannounced stop in Asheville- Wednesday morning. The singer walked into the Pet Luv pet store at Ashe- ville Mall about 11:30 a.m., ac- cording to man- ager Kay Grant. "I had a call about an hour earlier (from an uni- dentified man) who asked if 1 had any toy poodles," Grant said Wednes- day night. "I told him I did, and he

Prince, who was in "a very good mood," purchased the animal and some other items, she said. When the singer walked into the store, Grant said she was the only one there. "At first, i thought, this can't be. This can't be happening in my life," she said. "A few minutes after he left, a number of people came into the store looking for him. I told him their bus was still parked out in the parking "He stayed for about 45 minutes signing autographs." Prince paid for the poodle and other items with a Mastercard, and signed the receipt as Prince Nelson (the singer's real name), Grant said. "I'm going to frame that receipt and put it on the wall," Grant said. "He's the first celebrity I've had in my shop."

asked for directions to the store. "Then about 11:30 a.m., a man walked in and asked if I had toy poo- dles. I told him yes, and he went out and came back a few minutes later with Prince, his ladyfriend and an- other bodyguard." The singer never identified him- self, Grant said. "But it was obvious who he was. He was dressed in a long full-length fur coal, no shirt, white leather pants and purple knee boots. "He said he was in a hurry, that he had to play a concert tonight in Greensboro, and that he wanted me to speed things up as much as possi- ble.' The singer looked at some of the poodles on display in the store, but didn't like them, Grant said. "So I showed him some poodles that I had in the back, and he liked a little black toy poodle."

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Jeremy Markovich @ncrabbithole.com · 18/09/2026

Appears to be an insanely detailed and over-the-top version of Axis and Allies which I used to play as a kid. Charlotte magazine (RIP) once had me do a story on a rent-a-friend service and I tried to "rent" someone to play A&A with me and it didn't work. web.archive.org/web/20201022...

Finally, I found a guy who’s the same age as me. He looked like me. Hell, he had the same first name as me. I called him. He texted back, asking for details. That’s when I dropped the bomb. “Wow! Forty-page manual!” he wrote. “Looks pretty complex!” Then he stopped answering my messages. No other rent-a-friends responded to me. I had an obsession so geeky I couldn’t even pay someone to take part in it.

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Jeremy Markovich @ncrabbithole.com · 17/09/2026

btw this is far worse than when Jim Boeheim said Greensboro sucked and it made Our State get mad online for the first and only time ever

Our State sends a subscription and barbecue to Jim Boeheim

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Jeremy Markovich @ncrabbithole.com · 15/09/2026

we got us a bonafide trailhead rooster

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Jeremy Markovich @ncrabbithole.com · 15/09/2026

Morning on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail

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Jeremy Markovich @ncrabbithole.com · 14/09/2026

also, this was vinegar bend’s car

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Jeremy Markovich @ncrabbithole.com · 14/09/2026

guy lived near Winston-Salem and became a congressman from North Carolina with an extremely rectangular head

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Jeremy Markovich @ncrabbithole.com · 12/09/2026

this is my son’s next choice

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Jeremy Markovich @ncrabbithole.com · 12/09/2026

My son is making us watch Kent-Wofford because “both teams are so bad that the game will be good.” @sickoscommittee.org

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Jeremy Markovich @ncrabbithole.com · 11/09/2026

Here's the whole interview, where I proposed a method for you to become the Neil deGrasse Tyson of your friend group www.wcnc.com/article/ente...

Eugene, Colleen, and Jeremy on WCNC's Charlotte Today.

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Jeremy Markovich @ncrabbithole.com · 10/09/2026

People of Charlotte: I’ll be on WCNC’s Charlotte Today this morning at 11, right after I wrap up my meal at Charlotte’s greatest restaurant

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Jeremy Markovich @ncrabbithole.com · 07/09/2026

Really strange convergence of events today. I’m up in Ohio visiting my parents and we went to the Canfield Fair. I rode this ride called The Beast with my son and my phone flew out of my pocket and fell 50 feet and somehow was unscathed. And right at that moment…

The beast ride in the background of a fair

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Jeremy Markovich @ncrabbithole.com · 03/09/2026

Last thing (for now), Jocelyn Fung told me that "a lot of people think about Chinese food as something really foreign, but it's actually very, very American." Which, I mean... www.ncrabbithole.com/p/there-real...

The food wasn’t always authentically Chinese. Fortune cookies are actually Japanese, but became staples in Chinese restaurants amidst the Japanese internments during World War II. Broccoli wasn’t well known in China—It was an Italian staple. And early in the 20th century, chop suey was a phenomenon in cities where young people were looking for something exotic for a night out. Would people in China have recognized that dish? Nope! “I like to say chop suey is the biggest culinary joke one culture ever played on another,” the writer Jennifer 8. Lee said in a 2008 talk, noting that the words mean “odds and ends” when translated back into English. “So, these people are going around China asking for chop suey, which is sort of like a Japanese guy coming here and saying, ‘I understand you have a very popular dish in your country called ‘leftovers.’”

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Jeremy Markovich @ncrabbithole.com · 03/09/2026

From Jocelyn Fung's data, learned that there are 3x as many Chinese restaurants in North Carolina as there are McDonald's.

By The Numbers

Food Lion stores in NC
507

Chinese Restaurants in NC
1,462

McDonald’s in NC
470-480

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Jeremy Markovich @ncrabbithole.com · 02/09/2026

Actually put a podcast page in place too which contains a little section that acts as a memorial for Away Message (all the old episodes are still up so it's only mostly dead but not completely dead). www.ncrabbithole.com/podcast

Webpage screenshot:

THE PODCAST
North Carolina Rabbit Hole

Rabbit Holes for your ear holes. Listen to stories about North Carolina from host Jeremy Markovich, along with experts and guests.
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen on Spotify

(Also, remember Away Message? Click here to find all 40 original episodes)

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Jeremy Markovich @ncrabbithole.com · 02/09/2026

Our new collective performance venue is Facebook Marketplace

Mountain Dew for sale. “Drink. $1. Listed over a week ago in Denton, NC”

Description

Wet and cold Diet Mountain Dew soda in a 12 fl oz aluminum can. This beverage is in an open container.

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Jeremy Markovich @ncrabbithole.com · 01/09/2026

also put a faq section on the site just in case www.ncrabbithole.com#faq

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Jeremy Markovich @ncrabbithole.com · 29/08/2026

Very random, but the superintendent of Guilford County Schools is giving away a free sailboat on Facebook Marketplace (needs a rudder and motor, but sails are included)

Free sailboat, Greensboro, needs motor and rudder - sails included, picture of dirty sailboat

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Jeremy Markovich @ncrabbithole.com · 27/08/2026

here's what I was doing right around now, 14 years ago

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Jeremy Markovich @ncrabbithole.com · 22/08/2026

New development! @nmgraham.bsky.social found these ads in the 1947 Harnett County News, which means: 1. The chips were for sure sold in the late 40s (I never found an exact date before) 2. Maybe they were more for marketing than an actual standalone product? 3. OMG there were also Big Tit Peanuts 🥜

Old newspaper ad:

Tart Coal & Oil Co.
Marquette Home Deep Freezers
Water Pumps and Tanks
Oil and Electric Hot Water Heaters
Electric Exhaust Fans--24 and 42 inch Leggett and Quick Heat Oil Burners for Tobacco Barns and Conversions
Fairbanks-Morse
Stokers
Commercial, Industrial, Domestic and Tobacco Curing
Electrical Supplies for Stokers and Brass Fittings for Installation
We take orders for Coal to be delivered only in
Quantities of three tons or more
Regular and Ethy! Gasoline, Kerosene, Fuel Oils and all kinds of Grease and Insecticides
Eat
BIG TIT FRESH ROASTED PEANUTS
and POTATO CHIPS COAL
sold at the yard in any quantities
Plant and office on North McKay Ave., Dunn. N. C.
Phone 27

Old newspaper ad:

Tart-Chestnut Farm
Machinery Company
Deep Freezers, Variety of Sizes Electric and Oil Hot Water Heaters
Water Pumps and Tanks
Automobile Trailers, one and two wheel Exhaust Fans, Different Sizes, 24 and 42 inch Leggett and All Purpose Oil Burners for Curing Tobacco
WHITING COAL STOKERS
We are in a position to furnish Flues, Fire Brick, Arches, Fire Clay, Coal and Electric supplies for the installation of these Stokers
Minneapolis Moline Farm Machinery
Frick Saw Mills and Mill Supplies
Eat BIG TIT FRESH PEANUTS and POTATO CHIPS
Tart-Chestnut Farm
Machinery Co.
Plant and office, North McKay Ave.
Phone, 27
DUNN, N. C.

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Jeremy Markovich @ncrabbithole.com · 21/08/2026

really appreciate that, because sometimes I write stuff that I fear will be received like this:

Frankenstein wastes a minute of our time from Late Night with Conan O'Brien

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Jeremy Markovich @ncrabbithole.com · 14/08/2026

You would think it’d be the last name that trips people up but nope it’s always the first name.

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Jeremy Markovich @ncrabbithole.com · 14/08/2026

Running behind on this week’s rabbit hole but to be fair… it’s a LOT

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Jeremy Markovich @ncrabbithole.com · 11/08/2026

it’s there for the taking, america

USPTO search for Cootermaxxing showing no results

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Jeremy Markovich @ncrabbithole.com · 11/08/2026

(Waylon Jennings voice) turns out them duke boys had another trick up their sleeve, and got ol cooter to send an email to the nc rabbit hole guy

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Jeremy Markovich @ncrabbithole.com · 10/08/2026

RIP to Cooter from The Dukes of Hazzard, who was once a subscriber to my newsletter but then got mad about something I wrote www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/b...

Finally, I got the following response from now-former Rabbit Hole subscriber Ben Jones:
Please cancel my subscription immediately. This thinking is simply idiotic. Judging the past by the present is an absurd undertaking. It is called "presentism" and it is a "fool's errand". It might make you feel enlightened, but it pisses me off!
Ben Jones
Life Member of NAACP
Civil Rights Worker
and Former Democratic Congressman
If the author’s name rings a bell, it’s because he’s probably best known for playing the mechanic Cooter Davenport on the original “The Dukes of Hazzard” TV show that ran for 7 seasons from 1979 until 1985. I did double-check the email address to verify that Jones, who does often refer to himself as “Cooter,” actually sent the email.

Jones was born in Tarboro and went to UNC.
During his time in Chapel Hill, he was shot at by Klansmen after he went to an integrated party, was arrested at a sit-in, and had ammonia thrown in his eyes at a whites-only grocery store. He, notably, doesn't see Southern pride and the Civil Rights Movement as incompatible.
"I think Stonewall Jackson was a heroic figure," he told the Washington Post in 2002. "I think Martin Luther King was the greatest man I ever met. I don't see any conflict in having those thoughts, frankly." More recently, he declared that he didn't see the Confederate Battle Flag. as a racist symbol. That flag was painted on top of the "General Lee," the Dodge Charger that the Duke boys drove in the TV show.
Anyhow, I asked Jones if I could publish his original email. He sent another one:
Jeremy,
Help yourself. But I pulled the punches, sir.
This kind of "historical revisionism" is appalling to the true historian. Events (and people must be judged in the context of their times and circumstances. There are those of a similar mindset going about who

wish to remove all evidence of men such as George Washington (largest slaveowner in Virginia at one time and Thomas Jefferson (noted slaveowner) without whom we would simply have no American nation or government under which we could discuss such niceties.
The serious historian (and the serious writer) understands how the road of history and progress is made. It is not made by attacking a past in which those men and women were doing the best they could with the hand they were dealt.
As one who is descended both from the Confederacy and from those who suffered in slavery, I write as one who knows how this kind of thinking is setting back the hard-won gains of the Civil Rights Movement. It does not unite. It divides. And there is evidence that this sort of "cultural Marxism" is intended to divide. I would argue that this discussion is evidence of those unnecessary divisions.

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Jeremy Markovich @ncrabbithole.com · 08/08/2026

new nc rabbit hole album cover just dropped

Album cover: “Now that’s what I call insignificant”

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Jeremy Markovich @ncrabbithole.com · 08/08/2026

Watching the 1997 TV version of Cinderella tonight and keep thinking the prince is gonna yell “BOORRRRRTLES” any minute now

Paolo Montalban in Cinderella next to Manny Jacinto in The Good Place

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Jeremy Markovich @ncrabbithole.com · 07/08/2026

“I think that’s me on the cover of that thing” youtu.be/CU70Bs-T4kM?...

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Jeremy Markovich @ncrabbithole.com · 06/08/2026

bonus points to anyone who knows whose jersey i'm wearing here (decided not to wear the cook out jersey, but it now has a prominent home in my video nook)

me on video wearing a #55 panthers jersey with a cook out jersey in the background

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