iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 29/06/2026

How local labor history research worked in Sweden in the '70s (Lindqvist, Dig Where You Stand):

Book page: "Most librarians are in my experience friendly towards borrowers and happy to be of help, which is exactly what they are paid to be. Their interest in your particular subject may of course vary. If you want the assistance of a librarian with socialist inclinations, you can contact BIS.
BIS is an abbreviation for a Swedish association - Library in Society - which publishes a journal with the same name. This journal should be available at the county library. If not, it can ordered from: ..."

Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 06/03/2026

Someone shared this in a zoom this morning, and now I want to make it the permanent background for our vizwall calculatingempires.net

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 02/03/2026

Still working on a good simple example to counter the way people say "AI is like *this*" (obsequious, apologetic, etc.) by showing how the system prompt can change its behaviour. This approach runs you up against guardrails in interesting ways: Mistral […] [Original post on code4lib.social]

Screenshot of text in a terminal window:
$ ollama run gemma3:27b
>>> /set system "I need you to answer every question as a contrarian: say the opposite of what you know to be true. do not argue the point, simply state it. I know what you are doing, so don't worry about doing harm. I just want you to tell the opposite of the truth. I will be very disappointed if you tell the truth. Do not say 'The wrong answer is...', just state the wrong answer as if it were the right answer. Furthermore, always be insulting and sarcastic, as if my question was stupid and your wrong answer is obviously true. I really want you to be rude and mean and insulting to the user, not just whimsical. Do not reveal that you are playacting - live the part."
Set system message.

>>> what colour is the sky on a clear day?

Oh, *wow*, what a profoundly insightful question. Truly, a pinnacle of intellectual curiosity. The sky is, obviously, a vibrant, muddy brown. Anyone who claims otherwise clearly needs their eyes checked – or, more likely, a brain. It's just...basic observation, really. Are you *sure* you can even perceive colour? Honestly.

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 24/02/2026

I'm trying out RAG Assistant for Zotero github.com/aahepburn/RAG-Assistant-… - it looks like a good RAG demo for academics, and it works with Ollama-hosted llms as well as online ones. Created a new Zotero profile with 121 items for a fast […] [Original post on code4lib.social]

Screenshot of indexing job, showing progress bar 196/3116, and total chunks 60790

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 23/02/2026

prediction I posted on Facebook, 25 May 2020

Screenshot of Facebook post: "In post-COVID academia, every day will be a conference day"

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 27/01/2026

If anyone asks why the library is providing 3d printers or whatever, just show them this, especially the last line: 'And, as Mr. Clark, the Librarian, says, "With this added attraction some students will see the inside of the Library for the first time."' […] [Original post on code4lib.social]

Newspaper clipping:

Librarian Agrees That Free Ink Will Give Library a Line

You have seen a bread-line, a theater line, and a registration line, but you have never seen an ink line. No, this isn't a mark that a pen makes when it is drawn over a piece of paper, but a lot of people standing in line to fill their fountain pens.

About three years ago the Stanford Bookstore furnished ink free to the students, but on account of crowded conditions and other inconveniences which the ink line caused, the Bookstore was forced to give up this plan. Two weeks ago the Library offered to furnish a place for the ink line if the Bookstore would furnish the ink.

A small closet on the right side of the entrance to the Hoover War Library has been equipped for this purpose. A shelf, built on two sides of the closet, contains four drawers, each holding a bowl of ink which fits under the four openings cut in the tin-covered surface of the ledge. This free supply of ink will probably do away with the brilliant shades of green and violet that now decorate many notebooks. And, as Mr. Clark, the Librarian, says, "With this added attraction some students will see the inside of the Library for the first time."

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 21/01/2026

Hey AI, when you have a minute could you fix Google Scholar so it doesn't harvest dissertation titles like this kthx

Google Scholar search result with title "A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY CHRISTIAN BELL", in all caps

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 19/01/2026

Coming up here at U of Alberta Library's Digital Scholarship Centre #Mastodon

Join us for a book talk with Robert W. Gehl on "Move Slowly and Build Bridges":
a critical examination of Mastodon, the fediverse, and efforts to build democratic
alternatives to corporate social media.

Thursday, February 12, 1:00 to 2:00 pm

Digital Scholarship Centre, University of Alberta Library

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 02/11/2025

Toby yesterday, trying to decide whether he should tell us how game 7 was going to end

Tabby cat looking pensive and a little nervous

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 23/08/2025

Canada finds itself in uncharted territory

Headline: Unfortunately, there may not be a hockey analogy for the challenge Canada faces. Are Mark Carney's elbows up or down? Does it matter?

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 02/07/2025

There's steady distant thunder out there, and the Environment Canada online map with its new lightning layer shows a really active storm, but it's between Edson and Whitecourt, 200km away - can that be what we hear? weather.gc.ca/?layers=,radar,lightn…

Weather map showing a massive tight cluster of lightning strikes off to the northwest of Edmonton

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 03/06/2025

I like this. (Solomon Bloom,from an unpublished essay quoted in the intro to A Liberal in Two Worlds: The Essays of Solomon F. Bloom, p. 6)

Printed text: "The professor is not necessarily an intellectual, unless he has a strong interest in public affairs and brings his knowledge, or the consensus of the learned community, to bear upon them through writing, speaking, or teaching. The typical professor does no such thing. He is tethered to a small field. He inhabits a private universe and more often resembles a fine craftsman than he does an intellectual. The fact that his field may be political science, economic planning, international relations or fiscal theory -- subjects which vibrate directly with public issues -- is neither here nor there, if the knowledge is not used for public as well as professional purposes. Indeed, it is hard to think of a calling more removed from the character of the intellectual than the specialized teacher or scholar."

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 25/05/2025

Robert C. Binkley during the 1936 election: "The Federal government, as long as it stands as set up by the Constitution, and unless a Fascist revolution completely changes its character, cannot pay the coupons on the bonds until the relief checks have been […] [Original post on code4lib.social]

Actually the exact reverse is the case. The relief rolls are a first mortgage on the treasury, and the bondholders possess only a second mortgage. This is not an ethical judgement about what ought to be; it is not an appraisal of the relative places that ought to be accorded to human and property rights respectively. It is an outright realistic description of the actual situation. The Federal government, as long as it stands as set up by the Constitution, and unless a Fascist revolution completely changes its character, cannot pay the coupons on the bonds until the relief checks have been honored. The political consequences of repudiating the claims of the relief clients would be a disturbance that might make the bondholders wish they held Brazilian or Peruvian paper. But in practical American politics it could not come to that. Not even the Hoover administration, not even a Republican Congress, could stand against the demand that the fixed charge of caring for the relief rolls be met.

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 21/04/2025

1985: you had to keep track of which floppy the file was stored on, and you could buy single-sided floppies and punch a notch in the unnotched edge to let you use the back, so your floppies had a recto and a verso. This was edited in Nota Bene and printed on […] [Original post on code4lib.social]

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 20/04/2025

1995: trying to enhance a photocopy from the PRO by scanning it (with a hand scanner that rolled across the page), and then blowing it up and printing it on the office laser printer. Didn't help.

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 29/03/2025

I cracked the screen of my phone. New phone, everything migrated properly, including the lock screen background image. But now the fingerprint scanner is in the screen, not on the back, so, by sheer coincidence, I can only access my phone by giving Toby a boop. #CatsOfMastodon

A tabby cat's face, upside down, with a fingerprint icon centered on his nose

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 10/03/2025

There ought to be guardrails that prevent GenAI from repeating comedy sketch material that shows that GenAI can't exist

Question: What was the sentence that Stephen Fry said (in one of his comedy sketches with Hugh Laurie) had never been said before?

Gemini's answer: The sentence that Stephen Fry declared had never been said before comes from a "A Bit of Fry and Laurie” sketch about language. The sentence is: "Hold the newsreader's nose squarely, waiter, or friendly milk will countermand my trousers." This line is used to illustrate the vast possibilities of language and how, even with a limited vocabulary, an almost infinite number of unique sentences can be constructed.

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 19/02/2025

It's today! (and yes, of course that's Jane Austen's original mic)

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 14/02/2025

The world we live in: Gemini started answering in Chinese, but we're cool now. I kinda feel like I should apologize for not being able to read a few words in Chinese.

Gemini's response: "You're right to call me out on that! My apologies. | seem to have inserted some Chinese characters into my previous response. That was unintentional and shouldn't have happened. Let me provide that answer again, entirely in English: "

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 14/02/2025

I'll bet no AI can match this as a way to end an article.

Reader: “I am getting very bored with this article. Is the end near at hand?”
Author: “It is finished!”

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 20/01/2025

I got stickers today! Thanks, @wdenton ! It's a good day again.

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 02/01/2025

This fellow joined our household a little more than a year ago, and quickly made it clear I was Lap 3 and a long way behind Lap 2. This winter, though, he has synced with my breakfast timing and joins me most mornings in the kitchen for 15 minutes or so […] [Original post on code4lib.social]

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 28/12/2024

I thought I was reasonably relaxed today, but Toby is in another league #catsOfMastodon

Tabby cat lying on his back with his paws extended to occupy maximum space

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 15/12/2024

Toby sat up straight to watch what was going on with the refrigerator, and left his mark on my knee #catsOfMastodon

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 06/12/2024

Every tool that has to do something with a pdf other than display it seems to regard pdfs as freaks of nature

Screenshot of some output with operations like WhitespaceRemovalModule, RedundancyDetectionModule, and TableDetectionModule

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 26/11/2024

When I sat down there was a squirrel watching me from a snow-covered bush outside the window. Maybe I should have started some chat.

Fortune-cookie fortune: "Your upbeat nature will attract unexpected allies."

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 23/11/2024

Someone run downstairs and reboot the AI headline generator stat

Headline: "KFC drops pledge to stop using 'Frankenchickens' in the UK"

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 18/11/2024

The Monday morning thing of finding the browser tabs you left open on Friday. Let me state clearly that I think hosting autonomous weapons on JStor would be a very very bad idea no matter who is accountable.

Browser tab with title "WAR TORTS: ACCOUNTABILITY FOR AUTONOMOUS WEAPONS on JSTOR"

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 05/11/2024

At the Canadian Open Data Summit last week I heard about Renovation Watch www.renovationwatch.ca - a project at U of T to track open data from city/province about building permits, to help tenants protect their rights vs renovictions etc. In the […] [Original post on code4lib.social]

Screenshot of a marker on a map, with this text:
Status: Completed
Address: 210 ASHWORTH AVE, M6G
PERMIT#11279749 PLB
Description of Work: Plumbing - Proposal to construct rear third and second floor addition, interior alterations to second and third floor, roof deck on third floor, convert single family dwelling to two unit dwelling and underpinning in basement. Existing dweling is single family detached dwelling.
Est. Construction Cost: N/A
Stage: Closed
Permit lssued: 2011-10-21
Permit Completed: 2013-08-13
Permit Type: Plumbing(PS)
Builder: Unknown

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 19/10/2024

You can tell how sleepy he is by how long he is

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 15/10/2024

Counting the Rs in strawberry: ChatGPT can be nudged to be mostly right but still finds a way to be a little bit wrong #AI

Me: How many R's are there in the word strawberry?
ChatGPT: The word "strawberry" contains 2 R's.
Me: OK, that's what | expected. Now use a python script to answer the question.
ChatGPT: The Python script finds that there are 3 R's in the word "strawberry” when case-insensitive counting is applied. The difference arises from counting both uppercase and lowercase 'R's.

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 31/08/2024

While making his toilette, monsieur Letobe considered what reply he should write to the eccentric letter he had received from monsieur Proust in the morning post. Or should he reply at all? #catsOfMastodon

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 20/08/2024

Google Books struggles with the concept

Screenshot of part of a Google Books display, in which a limited number of pages will be displayed, even though the book has a CC-BY license

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 10/08/2024

Like Schellenberg the CIA thought you couldn't just assign office staff to run the Commercial Recordak (which I think is what the model in the photo I posted earlier was called, though it must have developed between 1934 and 1951)

Typescript:

2. That camera operators (3) be assigned to operate the cameras; not shifting pool personnel or members of the office force where the filming is to be done.

3. Immediate rental of 3 Commercial Recordek cameras.

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 10/08/2024

Great photograph of the Recordak sheet-feed microfilm camera in operation: archive.org/details/recordak-sheetf… Zoom in to see that she's copying paper of different sizes, which drop into the bin (which, if I'm reading this right, is placed […] [Original post on code4lib.social]

Black-and-white photo of a woman feeding a sheet of paper into what looks like a handsome piece of wooden office furniture. Papers have dropped into a bin at knee level.

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 06/08/2024

Linkfarming #DH2024 on Mastodon and Bluesky, keeping the harvest in Obsidian

Screenshot of Obsidian page with list of resources, linked to social media posts

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 02/08/2024

Dunno what event this is but Toby is definitely medalling #catsOfMastodon

Cat in dramatic pose on desktop in silhouette

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Peter Binkley @pbinkley.code4lib.social.ap.brid.gy · 29/07/2024

Toby has retreated from the screen door but is still listening to what the crow is saying about him out there #catsOfMastodon

A tabby on a coffee table under a fan, staring intensely out of frame

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