iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

I figure once a year isn't going to kill me before something else does.... 😳 But I'm aware that these issues affect e.g. the Ojibwe who have traditionally spear-fished in Torch Lake, which is now heavily polluted by mine waste.

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I haven't had perch for ages! I was just thinking about that when I was in the UP last month (but we ended up getting a big lake trout instead).

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No, I'm planning to keep working as long as my health permits!

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There are 70m Americans enrolled in Medicare. Who's getting the money? And why are people on Medicare getting refunds for ACA insurance? They're two totally separate programs. You're the press, you ought to be asking these questions and not just repeating White House talking points.

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So, which 20 million seniors qualify as "wonderful"? White Republicans only? (There are about 60 million people over the age of 65 in the US, and about 70 million people on Medicare.)

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The Story Behind That Striking Photo of Jeff Flake After the Kavanaugh Vote Bombshell

I always think of the photos of Jeff Flake at the Kavanaugh hearings in this context. This is the most famous one, but there were others that better captured Flake's misery: he knew he was selling his soul and he knew he had to do it. time.com/5410740/jeff...

time.com

David Butow, who was on assignment for TIME, recalls how he got the picture

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In my case, I'm delaying retirement partly because I think I'd be bored, but also partly because I'm worried about the solvency of Social Security and Medicare and want to pad my nest egg more to account for that risk.

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He doesn't understand that's a bug and not a feature, this election cycle. 😳

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clerkandrecorder.elpasoco.com

You can also register and vote in person at a voter service center, right up until election day. In CO elections are administered by country clerks, you need to check their web sites for locations. Here's the one for El Paso County (Colorado Springs). clerkandrecorder.elpasoco.com/elections/

Elections

The El Paso County Elections Department conducts all primary, general, and special elections with accuracy, safety and transparency.

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Go Vote Colorado - Colorado Secretary of State

🗳️ Here is the Colorado Secretary of State web site where you can check your registration or register online. If you register within 8 days of the election you can still get a ballot mailed to you. www.coloradosos.gov/voter/pages/...

coloradosos.gov

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Dr. Frog @phdfrog.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Every country should be looking at Ukraine to see the future of war. Not just the effectiveness of their women fighters, but their use of cheap drones vs big expensive weapons that are sitting ducks against them, long-range drones to attack infrastructure, etc.

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Dr. Frog @phdfrog.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I do think Hegseth will be the first of Trump's cabinet to be impeached in the New Year. Whether there will be votes in the Senate to convict him, though.... 🎲

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The eyes of all people are upon us, and not in a good way; "...we shall be made a story and a byword through the world". 😱

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Yes. I absolutely still believe in a kind of "bleeding-heart libertarianism" with democracy, free trade, and respect for personal freedoms, coupled with a balanced budget and a robust safety net. But the big-L Libertarian party in the US has gone all Trumpy and authoritarian, yuck. 🤮

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I've previously ordered the crinkly fish set from this vendor and the cats love those too, but they manage to "gut" the fish after a while so I thought it was time to refresh their supply with something different. The snakes are long enough to entertain 2 cats at once, attacking at both ends.

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Potaroma Cat Toys Realistic Snake Catnip Crinkly Sound Toy 2 Pcs for Halloween, Mesh Fabric for Teeth Cleaning, Interactive Kicker Toys for Indoor Kitten Exercise 20 Inches

Darn it, I just ordered a pair of these crinkly catnip snakes and they were such a big hit with the cats that I was going to get another set so all 3 of them would have their own plus a spare, but now they're out of stock. 😿 www.amazon.com/dp/B0D7MQF3Z8

amazon.com

Realistic snake catnip toys

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Dr. Frog @phdfrog.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I absolutely hated Nixon, even before Watergate! 🤮 Go away and stop jumping to crazy assumptions about people you know nothing about.

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Dr. Frog @phdfrog.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I sure was not pleased about Ford's pardon, but I was too young to vote in 1976 anyway. I hated everything Reagan did as POTUS except for his support for immigration and support for democracy in Eastern Europe as the Soviet Union was collapsing. I did not vote for GHWB in 1992, nor GW ever.

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Dr. Frog @phdfrog.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I didn't like the fascism. I liked the support for the Equal Rights Amendment and free markets. When Reagan won the nomination in 1980, that's when the Republican Party left me for good.

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As I said, distant past. The party is unrecognizable compared to the moderate party of Gerald Ford and Bill Milliken that I grew up with. In those days, for instance, Republicans were in favor of the Equal Rights Amendment and strongly pro-immigrant.

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In the more distant past I tended to vote more Republican (e.g., for Mitt Romney when he ran for gov of MA), but since 2016 the whole Republican party has gone nuts and they need to be stomped out of existence.

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Well, only one of the parties is trying to turn the US into an authoritarian state with a mad king instead of a democracy, as well as to bankrupt the US government and economy. IMO that is a far bigger risk than specific policy issues we may disagree with, or gripes about ineffective party leaders.

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As I said, I have 2 x chromosomes. My undergraduate degree was in mechanical engineering and I have a PhD in computer science. I previously worked at Yale and MIT, now I work as an open-source software maintainer. There are not many women who've taken this career path, but I am one of them.

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No, it's not. I fully understand that the victim was incapable of giving consent because of her intoxication, and that if there's no consent, it's rape. But I *also* think she made a very poor choice to get herself so intoxicated that she was impaired to that extent.

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I have advocated for pretty much exactly that, elsewhere in this thread. Even 50 years ago I did not understand why fraternities were allowed by the college I attended. Of course students can live where they want, but they don't have to have special status or university sponsorship.

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You're making awfully big assumptions, there.

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IT IS NOT HER FAULT THAT SHE WAS RAPED. It *was* her fault that she was intoxicated before she even showed up at the frat house. FFS, go back and read my initial posts. All through this thread I have been ranting about the campus drinking culture that enables fraternity rape culture.

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I am sorry such a terrible thing happened to you. It absolutely was NOT your fault; you were a child, and your scoutmaster ought to have been looking out for your safety instead of harming you.

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IT IS THE RAPISTS' RESPONSIBILITY FOR RAPING HER. BUT the whole situation was made so much worse by the victim being intoxicated, and that was HER responsibility. Nobody forced her to drink at the parties before she went to the frat house. Nobody forced her to go to the frat house.

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My comment you quoted above was in response to somebody who seemed to be implying that it wasn't her fault she was drunk because she was served alcohol at the second establishment even though they knew she was under the legal drinking age. My point was that she didn't have to drink it.

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They did do this when she was already drunk. She was previously drinking alcohol -- presumably without coercion -- in two other establishments, before she went alone to the place where she was raped, restrained against her will, forced to do drugs, etc.

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You are acting like this woman had no free will at all to make her own choices in life. I am sorry she made some poor ones that were at least partially responsible for the horrific situation she found herself in.

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Did somebody actually pour the alcohol in the victim's throat? She could have refused to drink it. (I don't like either the taste of alcohol or what it does to my brain, and simply turn it down when it's offered.)

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It is hard for me to imagine someone feeling so threatened.... by a mere *frog*?

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Second time, somebody stole a wheel off my car when it was parked in my driveway overnight (this was in kind of a borderline sketchy neighborhood in New Haven). Car stays in the garage ever since. 2/2

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Yes. Twice. I learned something from it both times. First time was in grad school, wallet was taken out of my backpack sitting on my desk when I was across the room using a computer with my back turned. Wallet stays on my body ever since. 1/2

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I'm a software engineer who spends all day on a computer, and even my external keyboard has a touchpad on it. I'm a touch-typist and can move the cursor with my thumbs without having to take my hands off the keyboard.

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Eh, you really want to believe that men don't get raped? (Male high school classmate of mine was raped and murdered by a perv who was still in prison for it decades later.)

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I have not said the victim is responsible for being raped. I have said that she is responsible for her OWN behavior that put her at such extreme risk. And my purpose in saying that is that everybody keeps attacking me, putting words in my mouth that I didn't say, accusing me of being a man, etc.

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Of course they men have a responsibility not to rape anyone! But people don't always do what they ought to (not just with respect to rape, but other kinds of crimes like theft or fraud, etc too) and it's better to exercise some caution to protect yourself in case they don't.

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I have REPEATEDLY said that the behavior of these guys was wrong, it disgusts me, they behaved like animals, they ought to be in prison for doing this, universities ought to shut down fraternities generally, etc.

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I did not say the rapists aren't responsible for the crime they committed: they absolutely are. Their behavior disgusts me.

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OTOH, I think this poor woman was deluded by people like you who seem to think she had no responsibility at all for her own personal safety, and the burden of her safety rested entirely on a bunch of drunk frat boys instead. That's what you're trying to justify, whether you want to face it or not.

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