iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Peter Orlowicz

Kat Macfarlane @katmacfarlane.bsky.social · 13h

A new wave of higher ed policies are targeting accommodations and time. Always happy to talk to student journalists about what’s going on. Keep your eye on disability in higher ed.

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The Capybaron @thecapybaron.bsky.social · 16h

Again, much of Pete Hegseth’s deal is the only skill his job demanded for a long time was keeping a trim figure to be conventionally pretty for stay-at-home moms watching daytime tv. His job was “be pretty,” but he knows that’s a girl job, so he’s deeply insecure and is trying to make it a boy job.

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Peter Orlowicz @peterorlowicz.bsky.social · 13h

Having just rewatched it in the theater, as Cybertron intended, I can say with authority that The Transformers The Movie (1986) is a better film than any of the Michael Bay Transformers movies. Leonard Nimoy as Galvatron! A Weird Al song in the soundtrack! Thin and silly plot, but still better!

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Peter Orlowicz @peterorlowicz.bsky.social · 13h

There are worse goals in life than to be the kind of person who others can really trust.

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Alex Ip 葉清霖 @alexip718.com · 30/09/2026

Jesus Christ Cornell

What use was it to bring the writer and activist Chanel Miller to campus in the spring just for fraternity brothers to scroll, bored, on their phones as she movingly shared her experience as Emily Doe, the victim of Brock Turner? As I wrote at the time, I was floored and dismayed as I sat in the audience with one of my brilliant undergraduates; we heard Miller’s shattering account of being sexually assaulted by Turner behind a dumpster at Stanford University after a fraternity party. Her talk was riveting, and there was so much to learn from it. And yet many of the male students who hailed predominantly from fraternities — 15 percent of each chapter was required to be in attendance — were so tuned out that Miller commented ruefully: “You know, this has been my hardest gig, because they didn’t turn down the house lights. I’m not sure how you professors do it, because it’s so hard looking out at this sea of mildly disgruntled faces. I mean, I’m sure you’re all very moved, but …,” Miller smiled. The implication being, it didn’t seem like it, from her angle.

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William Hughes @plumberduck.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Here's a piece I'm really excited to roll out: An in-depth interview with Dropout's Sam Reich, diving deep on the game design of Game Changer season 8. Do I make a parody of myself by bringing up the concept of "the magic circle"? Oh baby, you bet I do. avclub.com/game-changer...

avclub.com

“We really aren’t control of that dial”: Sam Reich on designing the games of Game Changer season 8

The Dropout CEO on encouraging competition in his players and the ways he stops himself from turning into Mr. Beast.

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Nolan Hicks @ndhapple.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

We've got a second opening to join the team designing, bidding and building the trains and buses that move millions. We're looking for someone who loves data and can mine datasets with hundreds of millions of rows and extract meaning from them. AND… 1/2 — careers.mta.org/jobs/1828831...

careers.mta.org

Associate, Rolling Stock Strategy & Analysis in New York, New York, United States

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I know Rahm Emanuel. I worked with him for years in the Clinton administration, and then when he was Obama’s chief of staff. Rahm Emanuel represents everything that’s been wrong about the Democratic Party for the last 30+ years. Be warned. robertreich.substack.com/p/the-rahm…

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Peter Orlowicz @peterorlowicz.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Filing day today. Even after everything, I still get the good kind of chill down my neck at the enormity of filing an official brief or statement or letter with my signature on it and saying "I'm filing this on behalf of the United States Railroad Retirement Board."

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Kevin Gannon (now a Moo Deng fan account) @thetattooedprof.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

man, some of y'all have the patience of a saint, making suggestions courteously and from a place of good faith with people who deserve neither; meanwhile I'm over here deleting draft posts that say "eat a bag of dicks"

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Peter Orlowicz @peterorlowicz.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Cool, now I'm getting ads for men's shapewear to flatten my beer belly. That makes me feel good about my self-image.

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Peter Orlowicz @peterorlowicz.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Today's Chicago-area edition of "remember some stores that used to exist?" Is sponsored by Builders' Square and Handy Andy Home Improvement Stores.

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Peter Orlowicz @peterorlowicz.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Cops are gonna be cops. Yes, even the suburban ones that show up at block parties and give out baseball cards of themselves. @gregdoucette.bsky.social

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Peter Orlowicz @peterorlowicz.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

This is particularly stupid because going after wage theft and getting employers to pay up also tends to increase the amount of FICA payroll taxes that get collected, part of what goes to fund -- *checks notes* -- Medicare's trust fund.

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Peter Orlowicz @peterorlowicz.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

This exact statement works word-for-word if you just replace Christie's name with Rahm Emanuel.

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

This is a common lie from DHS press flacks. They claim that people who came through CBP One — who registered for an appointment through a government app, went to a port of entry, and were issued a grant of humanitarian parole by a CBP officer letting them enter — "entered illegally." Total nonsense.

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Peter Orlowicz @peterorlowicz.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

This is like the example a textbook author makes up to illustrate various ethics violations.

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 21/09/2026

i mean, just look at how the populists talked about the railroad barons and others like them. "The fruits of the toil of millions are boldly stolen to build up colossal fortunes, unprecedented in the history of the world, while their possessors despise the republic and endanger liberty."

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Peter Orlowicz @peterorlowicz.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

This is a great prompt. My submission: Two Heads are Better Than One: A Comparative Study Of Gunnery Accuracy Rates in the Koensayr BTL-S3 and BTL-A4 Y-Wing Fighter-Bomber @pptsapper.bsky.social @xoofxos.bsky.social

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Reposted by Peter Orlowicz

James Goodwin @jamesgoodwin.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Just finished this "story" and holy shit is it embarrassing. It would be charitable to say this reads like an infomercial.

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Peter Orlowicz @peterorlowicz.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Happy See Tracks, Think Train Week (formerly Rail Safety Week), everyone! oli.org/about-us/pub...

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Peter Orlowicz @peterorlowicz.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

This is my very favorite story of today.

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Peter Orlowicz @peterorlowicz.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Seen on my drive home: shiny black car w/red stripes, red lightsaber as rear wiper, "Dark Side Edition" & Imperial logo in red on the side, "Twin Ion Engine" in chrome on the back, and a One-Eighty-First Fighter Wing decal on the back. The effect was somewhat undercut by the fact it was a Kia Soul.

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public health guy @publichealthguy1.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

so we just nearly started a war with china (a nuclear state) because of genAI use

The intelligence report, circulated across the US military this spring in the midst of the war with Iran, immediately set off alarm bells: A Chinese ship in the Middle East was transporting components of a nuclear weapons program.
The US military swung into action with plans to intercept the vessel, according to four sources familiar with the episode.
According to two of the sources, armed members of the US military were preparing to board the ship. Military planes were in the air, one of those sources and another source familiar with the incident said.
It was only just before the planned operation that officials dug deeper into the report put together by a special operations command analyst and found it had been generated with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) — and that a chatbot the analyst had used inaccurately identified the material the ship was carrying. CNN was not able to learn what the misidentified cargo was.
The report, according to one of the sources, was "entirely false." But it also "almost started a war," the source said. Any US operation against a Chinese vessel could have risked spiraling into an armed conflict between the two nations.

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Peter Orlowicz @peterorlowicz.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Initially disappointed that I'm not captaining a guided missile cruiser, but I think I could explain why this is better, actually.

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Peter Orlowicz @peterorlowicz.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

It's important to note that the op-ed author was, in fact, a DOGE employee, so he's bragging about his own "accomplishments".

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Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Correct. Anybody else raising a question of privilege like this puts it on a two-day countdown. The minority leader has the perk that he can force the vote immediately, if he wants.

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Peter Orlowicz @peterorlowicz.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I know we're all bombarded with pleas for donations these days, but this one I really feel strongly about. It's not hard to imagine the extra stress and worry that would come with not being able to change your kid when they need it, or having to stretch one diaper wearing way too long.

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Dan Vock @danvock.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

This is a great story by @adquig.bsky.social I am fascinated by the increased ambition of forest preserve districts in Illinois. When I was a kid in DuPage County, the emphasis seemed to be on buying land to protect it from development and provide flood control

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Josh Fruhlinger @jfruh.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

one of the things that became clear during the DOGE saga is that a lot of anger about "corruption" is aimed at actual gov't employees who, it turns out, have to bring their own coffee machines into the office so that taxpayers aren't funding it, meanwhile consultants get this treatment

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Peter Orlowicz @peterorlowicz.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Holy shit, treasure goblins from Diablo are real?!

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Peter Orlowicz @peterorlowicz.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Yay trains! (But no, I'm not buying a locomotive. Out of my price range, my HOA won't let me park it anywhere, have to pick it up in NY...)

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Reposted by Peter Orlowicz

Barry Butler Photography @barrybutler9.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Training Thru the Towers. Chicago commute on Metra to start the morning.

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Peter Orlowicz @peterorlowicz.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

The one that REALLY sticks in my head from when I was a little kid was highway bridges where you couldn't see the bridge deck because it arched. I was terrified that there was a gap in the bridge we couldn't see. (In my defense I grew up in a river town that had actual bridges that went up, so.)

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Gabriel Malor @gabrielmalor.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Fed. judge holds that the addition of a loyalty question—identify two Trump EOs that are important to the applicant and how they would implement them—to civil service job applications likely violates the APA bc it is contrary to the First Amendment. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

The plaintiffs are likely to succeed in showing that Question Three is neither related to an important government interest nor narrowly tailored to promote that interest.5 The defendants seem to proffer as the important interest at stake the government’s “discretion in administering its hiring and recruitment processes.” (Defs.’ Opp’n at 28.) It is true that, in some cases, an employee’s political “allegiance” may be a proper consideration where “the hiring authority can demonstrate that party affiliation is an appropriate requirement for the effective performance of the public office involved.” See Branti v. Finkel, 445 U.S. 507, 518–19 (1980). But that is not the case in the context of civil service positions because the CSRA expressly prohibits employment decisions made on

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Dan Vock @danvock.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

I wrote about one of my favorite subjects today: the expansion of passenger rail. I've wondered why this seemingly simple extension of service to the Quad Cities had taken so long, and let's say there's a lot of moving pieces. Check it out (gift link) www.chicagotribune.com/2026/09/11/c...

chicagotribune.com

After years of delay, funding to restart Chicago-Quad Cities rail service has Illinois back on track

The Quad Cities, which straddle the Iowa-Illinois border, have gone without passenger rail since 1979, despite their history as the center of the Rock Island Line.

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Peter Orlowicz @peterorlowicz.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

TIL the Illinois Legislative Inspector General is currently an hourly contract position (but can also be full-time or part-time depending on how the Commission decides to fill it).

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Josh Chafetz @joshchafetz.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Folks, Trump's $5000 thing is dumb and transparent and whatnot. It's also never going to happen. But it isn't bribery. "Vote us into office and we'll do this policy thing you want" is the core of what political campaigns are. It would be a very bad idea to start criminalizing that.

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Peter Orlowicz @peterorlowicz.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Fun fact, Tom Kotarac (the new NITA Board Chairperson) was nominated by President Obama to be the Chairman of the Railroad Retirement Board in 2016, but he wasn't confirmed before Obama left office.

obamawhitehouse.archives.gov

President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key Administration posts:

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Reminder that Lewandowski was a Special Government Employee with a zero dollar contract. Because he saw govt as a graft opportunity for much bigger bucks

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