iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Jared Yates Sexton @jysexton.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Just helping with editing here. These bots aren’t sentient. They’re doing what they’re programmed to do. OpenAI, a private company supposedly bound by laws, committed federal crimes.

Screenshot of BBC article: OpenAI bots (struck through) meddled with multiple US government agency sites

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In Otter News @in-otter-news.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

After a long day at the aquarium, the otters help tidy their toys away. Payment is made promptly and entirely in ice cubes.

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Simon Gray @protexblue.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Here I am reading Arendt's "On Violence" while this is happening up the road. Thinking the book should be called "Violence versus Power" -- but the Irish edition would be "Violence, Power and the Rain".

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post malone ergo propter malone @proptermalone.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

it's a perfectly good song. don't let people negatively polarize you against music imo

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Voltaireon - 5 caustic French philosophers in a trenchcoat @shaidorsai.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

"and it's gonna transform into a giant robot that I can drive around and it's going to shoot cake from its arm! It's gonna be SO cool and everyone will know I'M so cool, too!"

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Grumpy Philosopher @stevecooke.org · 18/09/2026

Charitably, this can read as an extremely naive & stupid ‘I can fix him‘. Not sure it deserves a charitable reading though because he‘s taking a wodge of cash from a company that wants to destroy our democracy & turn us into an techno-theocratic vassal state. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

theguardian.com

Former Labour deputy leader Tom Watson joins Palantir

Peer takes full-time position at the controversial company as it fends off pressure from both Andy Burnham’s government and Sadiq Khan

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Simon Gray @protexblue.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Doesn't regulating and fact-checking run contrary to the whole spirit of MAHA though? My understanding is that they've had enough of regulators (who let the opioid crisis happen) and experts (who pushed the drugs). I know and you know that this is a skewed view. But I doubt you'll persuade them.

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post malone ergo propter malone @proptermalone.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

I think MAHA is very straightforwardly the triumph of the snake oil salesmen and the way we beat it is the same way you always beat snake oil salesmen: regulate their claims

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Simon Gray @protexblue.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

The ultimate clap back to an incompetent government's PR team.

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Simon Gray @protexblue.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Renaming my political philosophy to "Good Trouble".

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Simon Gray @protexblue.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

We've reached a new level of "Things Were Better in the Old Days", and from a most unexpected source.

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Dr Keith Wilson 💭 @keithwilson.eu · 14/08/2026

Over a quarter of #Clacton voters voted for a bin. 😂

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Simon Gray @protexblue.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

I'm adding "Pippin's Law" to my list of Not-Completely-Serious Principles: - Occam's Razor; - Hanlon's Razor; and - Godwin's Law (which I used as a humorous intro to my most recent Missive, otherwise very dark)

themissives.substack.com

19. Anderson and Small Things Like These

or, "What's wrong with Bill Furlong?"

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Simon Gray @protexblue.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Seems a bit insulting to Count Binface but otherwise accurate. (And supported by @therestpolitics.bsky.social )

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Simon Gray @protexblue.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

"Pushing Iceland closer to Europe" Does that mean we have to re-draw our map? (✍️ @terriblemapshq.bsky.social )

A line connects a map of Ireland with a map of Iceland. At regular points the second letter of the name of the country changes.

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Simon Gray @protexblue.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

I'm used to getting my death notices on Instagram. RIP Orbital

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Simon Gray @protexblue.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

In Ireland, it's this kind of unintuitive thinking that gets housing wonks promoted.

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Simon Gray @protexblue.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

This advice is accurate for me. Despite being up to 20 Missives I still imagine no one is reading them. I'm only partly incorrect.

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Dr Keith Wilson 💭 @keithwilson.eu · 05/08/2026

Beavis and Butthead sure did well for themselves.

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Simon Gray @protexblue.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

I don't know who William Powell is but I can tell he's my kinda guy.

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Simon Gray @protexblue.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

I'm sorry BlueSky. I know everyone is up in arms about John Cleese and today's right-wing atrocity. But I'm here for this madness instead.

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cait (and adonis) @cait.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

that is in fact literally in the bible. it's Matthew 6:5.

5 "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

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Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Yesterday I learned that during appeasement French journalists mockingly called Chamberlain Monseur J'aime Berlin, which is exceptional work. Well done France.

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Simon Gray @protexblue.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

The Odyssey by Homer Simpson.

Two frames from an episode of the Simpsons show Homer talking to two colleagues. An imagined monologue by Homer is overlaid: "It was about this guy Odysseus and this incredible odyssey he undertook to get home. Every decision he made, made the odyssey longer. And on this odyssey, all these strange things happened to him. I think it was called 'the man who couldn't get home.'"

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Simon Gray @protexblue.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

I completely forgot that the Odyssey is the source material for "O Brother Where Art Thou?"

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Simon Gray @protexblue.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

I'll never understand a world where horror like this isn't all anyone can talk about.

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Simon Gray @protexblue.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

I'm listening to an album that I pretty much ignored in the 90s but friends I am 100% here for it now. All bangers no clangers.

open.spotify.com

Elastica - Album by Elastica | Spotify

Elastica · album · 1995 · 16 songs

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Simon Gray @protexblue.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Well this is fascinating. (And in typical #BlueSky fashion, sources are cited.)

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Simon Gray @protexblue.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Although I treat politics as "sports for nerds!" (to quote John Oliver), I am genuinely worried by R3f0rm. So is it too early to celebrate this as if my team had won the league title?

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Simon Gray @protexblue.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

A case study in the concept of value: Extrinsic Value: This performance is going to underpin some @lastweektonight.com sketch to come. Intrinsic Value: This performance is just plain brilliant in itself.

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Josephine beckbook.com Riesman @josie.zone · 07/07/2026

In better news, John Oliver's three-day stint/stunt as a corporate villain on legendary soap opera "General Hospital" appears to be going... fucking brilliantly?? I have watched this clip on a loop for like 20 mins I really, truly need to see the full episodes NOW

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Simon Gray @protexblue.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

(Another very niche musical post but) I was today years old when I learned that my favourite album of all time, The Holy Bible by the Manics, took its artwork almost directly from a 1980 album by Simple Minds.

The cover if Simple Minds' 1980 album "Empires and Dance"

The cover of Manic Street Preachers' 1994 album "The Holy Bible"

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Simon Gray @protexblue.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Unscientific survey: Is this audiovisual joke wildly clever, or is it just for neuro-spicey nerds (like me)?

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Simon Gray @protexblue.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

....And an even worse idea if said clothing was made in China and you're trumpeting American exceptionalism.

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Jason Rabinowitz @airlineflyer.net · 05/07/2026

A $3 @mta.info subway fare and some good Q train timing can buy you one hell of a view of the July 4th fireworks and the Brooklyn Bridge light show! Huge shoutout to the train operator for slow rolling over the Manhattan Bridge and the conductor for announcing it.

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Sanho Tree @sanho.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Technically, they’re Remains now.

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

"So ... so I said ... why not sign your treaty here, at Versailles?"

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Simon Gray @protexblue.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Trump is the first US president since Jackson to have no pets. Is this a significant fact? Maybe not. Is this a significant fact to discover as you're reading Elizabeth Anderson's "Value in Ethics & Economics" and considering the corruption of intrinsic public goods by market interests? You betcha.

A collage where a number of past U.S. presidents and their pets (all in black and white) contrasts with Donald Trump and members of his cabinet (in colour, no dogs).

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Simon Gray @protexblue.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

I am *fascinated* by the hubris which grows proportionately with (presidentia) power versus the stubborn resistance of Islamist fundamentalists and microscopic life forms.

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Simon Gray @protexblue.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

One of the (many) things I don't miss from my life in the UK in 2006, 2010.

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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

RIP Mark Rothko. You would have loved how the hydrogen peroxide bleach is only turning the Reflecting Pool blue around the perimeter

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Elizabeth Boyle @thecelticist.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Yesterday we celebrated the new Garraí na Gaeilge @ceilteachomn.bsky.social @maynoothuniversity.ie, which features two objects made by contemporary craftspeople: an ogham stone, inscribed "Maynooth University" and "School of Celtic Studies"; & a traditionally-made currach. #Speirgorm #Spéirghorm

Members of the School of Celtic Studies at Maynooth University gather around a traditional currach.

Professor David Stifter gesticulates at a modern ogham stone while members of the School of Celtic Studies look on.

Members of the School of Celtic Studies look on as Dr Stiofán Ó Briain recites a poem.

A Maynooth University student plays an Irish harp.

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Simon Gray @protexblue.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Lots in this article to give you the political ick, if not make you angry and fearful.

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Simon Gray @protexblue.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

In fairness, he gave the best speech a small-minded fascist could come up with at an event celebrating the end of a fascist regime.

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Dan Lamothe @danlamothe.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Hegseth at Normandy: "Sadly, today, different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies. Beaches in Spain and Italy and Greece and Bulgaria. Boats and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about that invasion? Or is it too late? I pray not, and I believe not."

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