iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

I love how USDA’s conservation programs are so anodyne and blandly useless they are basically co-opted by opposing ideologies in otherwise vastly different administrations and nothing ever changes on the ground. www.usda.gov/about-usda/n...

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That sounds super interesting! I’ll have to buy the book, thank you Patrick!

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Yes I was raised in a Catholic environment and country so I understand the Christian “man (nor woman ofc) dominance over nature” stuff but the way we run livestock operations in the Heartland is just beyond what most people comprehend.

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I’m not a PETA-hard core animal rights kind of person but it does get to me seeing the anti abortion crowd around the clinic on Thursdays with “NO lives matters here” signs when we slaughter tens of millions of pigs 🐖 who lived their short lives in abominable conditions and pretty much nobody cares

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Listening and reading about the Lee Co. Iowa proposed $15 billion steel mill all day and every time thinking that the southernmost portion of that county was "The Half-Breed Tract" instituted in 1824. It turned into a legal quagmire of land speculation - even Joseph Smith Jr. purchased land there.

Half Breed Survey assembled from the township maps of Samuel Morrison, 1838 by H. R. Harlan, 1925.

Harlan, E. R., (1924) “A Map of the Half Breed Tract”, The Annals of Iowa 14(6), 422-423.

https://pubs.lib.uiowa.edu/annals-of-iowa/article/id/7609/

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💯 I agree that is the spirit. I am happy that my feed involves a community of people who feel that way about each other, and I agree also that we are losing the belief in good faith in a lot of places, often for for good reasons, unfortunately. We need to work to earn/maintain good faith.

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Ian Rose @ianrosewrites.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

The conversation that Danny started with this post is the reason why I hang around this neck of the virtual woods. Good, informed opinions - and experts disagreeing in measured terms on the basis of their knowledge of institutions and their reading of the current political climate.

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Reposted by Silvia Secchi

There have been five sexual assaults reported on or near the campus of the University of Oregon in Eugene in the last week. We should absolutely keep the pressure on Cornell. But it's every campus. It's every day. #oregon www.kezi.com/news/local/u...

kezi.com

UO alerts campus after five sexual assaults in one week

The University of Oregon reported five sexual assaults on or near campus in the past week.

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Reposted by Silvia Secchi

Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

This 1890 painting by Van Gogh of flowering chestnut trees, which hasn't been seen publicly in over 50 years, and which goes on sale - along with modern works by the likes of Cezanne, Monet & others - at Sotheby's in NY in November👀 www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Painting of flowering trees, primarily in shades of green, with figures below and built structures in the background

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Mandatory reporting policies in higher ed, given the current environment and the history of our institutions, are - at best - problematic.

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This is the tip of the iceberg - a lot of researchers self-censor to avoid this type of problems. And I mean A LOT. (Note the lovely Iowa/ethanol pipeline connection)

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祖思薪 Eugenia Zuroski @zugenia.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Not to belabor the point but I'd rather go to this than to NY Climate Week if I were there.

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Reposted by Silvia Secchi

Student newspapers are keeping journalistic integrity alive

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Reposted by Silvia Secchi

NE Ohio Regional Sewer District @neorsd.org · 30/09/2026

these river otters are blissfully unaware the Cuyahoga has 13 fires in its history

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Putin views, queen stories and a boss’s birthday bash: Boris Johnson’s £5m worth of paid speeches

This is actually real. Hey Iowa, this is your tax money at work! His speaking fees are not for the faint of heart (or, arguably, public universities). www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

theguardian.com

Leaked files show former PM made 34 paid appearances in less than two years and reveal details of his disclosures

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Ray Wolf 🇨🇭🇨🇦🇩🇰🇬🇱 @raywolf.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Here is an excellent example of framing issues using the appropriate and socially relevant terms, directly addressing the power dynamics embedded in institutions. I wish people would do that more often, especially in the MSM and academia itself.

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Reposted by Silvia Secchi

The war against universities has been going on perhaps longer than many people are aware. Sadly my alma mater, Iowa State University, has fallen into this trap. Thanks to @profsecchi.bsky.social for bringing this concept to my attention several years ago. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

sciencedirect.com

How decades of corporate capture enabled today's assault on universities in the United States

Universities in the US have never been free of corporate, military, or political influence. But over the past fifty years, corporate libertarian donor…

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If you you are cleared to put in some sundried tomatoes in olive oil chopped really fine and well drained, they will add umami without spiciness

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Aviel Roshwald @avielroshwald.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Posted absolutely without comments

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Reposted by Silvia Secchi

He’s naming more things than Adam.

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Silvia Secchi @profsecchi.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The geese really seem to enjoy the prairie restoration project on the floodplain down the hill from my neighborhood (and the high water we are having)

Water on a floodplain with geese swimming about and trees in the background.

Geese walking around on a still green hillside in with recent planting of grasses and grassed terraces.

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Silvia Secchi @profsecchi.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

There are so many things wrong with this piece of prot- from mining the ore in Northern Minnesota to the substitution of Canadian and Mexican steel but the usual massive overselling of temporary construction jobs always irritates the crap out of me.

theguardian.com

Trump unveils plan for $15bn Iowa steel plant he calls biggest in US history

Trump unveils plan for Iowa steel plant as he seeks midterms boost amid flagging Republican hopes

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Silvia Secchi @profsecchi.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Guy who's been personally complicit in normalizing trump's multiple illegal activities and who still works for the news outfit that has possibly done the most damage in normalizing our descent into a fascist chaotic kakistocracy finds the current moment odd. OK I guess

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I will absolutely give this a try, thank you! If it does not work it might be my husband @manetooleefa.bsky.social (who deeply dislikes hostas since they aren’t native to North America) who’s secretly been chopping them off lol

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They completely devoure my hostas every year ☹️.

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I don’t think chronic wasting disease helps either…

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In my Iowa City neighborhood the deer are really brazen this year

Four deer in the daylight in front of two houses.

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evergreen cropaganda that pesticides are essential to feed the world and farmers are stewards of the land blah blah blah. The accolades today from people who’ve always rejected her core message ring hollow and appropriative. And yes absolutely there was (and is) misogyny and sexism at play too.

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