iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

This is the only photo I could get

Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

The Stockton Federation of Teachers, my union, sponsors a Stockton Foundation Scholarship for students. The faculty and staff band I'm in, the Monsters of Academia, donates all the money we make into that scholarship. #HigherEdNJ

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

We just had this. I'm in. Egg Harbor. I'm from St. Louis. I can totally handle this.

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

I submit it to you that there is nothing better than the Onion.

Onion headline reads: Trump Unveils 250-Foot Gilded Catering Container for Presidential Travel.

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Oh my god. Ilhan Omar is going up against cranky gold prospector Joad Cressbeckler.

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Hm. Ward Churchill died. I wonder what's on TV? academeblog.org/2026/08/17/j...

Jeremy Clarkson meme. Top Panel: "Oh no!" Bottom panel, facing camera, "anyway"

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

WHAT DO YOU KNOW, TINY DONKEY? WHAT AREN'T YOU TELLING US?!?

A sketch of a tiny donkey on a desk or table, next to the arm of a man seated there in a suit and vest. Above the donkey are the words "Keep your eye on the young men of Nevada." A modern overlay at the bottom shows this is a clipping from a Reno paper in 1909.

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

If only this could have been avoided somehow. Today, apparently, my rabbit hole is aeronautic accidents. This is the humdinger of them all.

A newspaper clipping reads:

The Times Standard
Thu, Aug 31, 1905 -Page 8
AERONAUT BLOWIN TO PIECES.
Greenville, Ohio, August 31.—While
Professor Baldwin, the aeronaut was
making an ascension at the fair
| grounds this afternoon an explosion of
dynamite occurred and Baldwin was
blown to pieces.

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Edmund, the most interesting cat in the world. He's having a contemplative, which is rate because usually he's carrying out the brain gremlins' orders.

Black cat with a white chest patch, leaning on the upper step of a landing like the most interesting man in the world meme. It looks like he's looking at you from across a table. He's not especially impressed.

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Bede's reaction when he sees that we have robbed him of his precious furs. #BlackCatDay

The same brush hovers over him but it is closer to the camera. Bede, the black cat, is yawning, but he looks like he's screaming.

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Suspicious Bede is suspicious of what we're going to do with the new cat brush. #BlackCatDay

Reclining on his back, a black cat looks at an incoming hand and brush suspiciously.

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

This is how I want to go: #ILoveOldNewspapers

$A clipping from 1909 San Francisco reads: Banana Peel Causes Death Frank X. Loughrey, Jr., is Victim of Accident Frank X. Loughrey, Jr., passed away at St. Mary’s hospital in San Francisco Monday night. His death followed the fracture of his skull, caused by falling on the sidewalk. A banana peel carelessly thrown on the sidewalk in front of the Pacific on Market street, was responsible for his injury and subsequent death. He slipped on the peeling and fell backward, striking his head on the hard pavement. The accident to the deceased occur red about a week ago, and at the time he was taken to the Emergency hospital for treatment, and later to St. Mary's hospital. He was unconscious practicallv all the time from the accident... And then it cuts off.$

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

That, ma'am, is a powerful cathartic. From a Sacramento newspaper 1910. #ILoveOldNewspapers

A clipping of a newspaper. The headline above the face of a 20ish year old woman reads: Cancer and Constipation Cured.

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Oh, artificial intelligence, you try but you fail so hard. Newspapers.com uses some sort of bot to scour their collection for crimes and marriages and funerals and other events genealogists find useful. And it finds....these.

A screenshot of search results from newspapers.com has two entries, one above the other. On the right is the AI summary of the article to the left. The first summary reads:

CRIME DETAILS
Category: Miscellaneous
Culprits: Colored society
Victims: Twenty-three
dusky belles
Locations: Houston, Texas
Dates: Nov 9, 1906
Other People: Police matron

The second summary reads:

CRIME DETAILS
Category Miscellaneous
Culprits God of Love
Victims Colored society
in New Haven
Locations New Haven
Dates Apr 15, 1910

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

One day, I'm going to teach a class about Vonnegut, maybe the only writer whose every published word I've managed to read. Today, while looking through a 1906 issue of The Indianapolis Freeman, I came across this ad in his hometown, for the Vonnegut Hardware Co. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vonnegu...):

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Downtown, from the Whitman Bridge this morning

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Not an especially healthy-looking sky tonight.

The view out the window looks weirdly colored.

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Ah, old newspapers. Little gems like this make my day. #OldNewspapers

An ad from 1907 Salt Lake City reads:
Merchants' Protective Association
Scientific Collectors of Honest Debts.
Rooms 77-78-93-94-97-98-99-100,
Commercial National Bank Building, Salt Lake City, Utah.
FRANCIS G. LUKE, General Manager.
“Some People Don't Like Us.”

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Is this the type of thing that we should be advertising that it exists? Grainger: Your one-stop shop for when you need to do your terrorism right the first time.

A Grainger ad from Facebook for an "Aldon Rail Track Detailer." The photos is a brightly colored plastic clip that doesn't look like it could derail a train of thought.

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

I'll be damned. It IS the best medicine. The last line is the best part. #ILoveOldNewspapers

An old newspaper article from the 1910s reads:

LAUGH SETS BROKEN JAW

Surgeon's Funny Story Causes Fractured Bone to Snap in Place, and All Is Well.

If you happen to break a bone or dislocate a joint, don't bother with a doctor. Just have a hearty laugh and the bones will set themselves.

This is the newest form of "bloodless surgery" as practiced in the McKinley hospital at Trenton, N. J. The patient was Ada Tucker, eighteen, of Pennington avenue. Her jawbone was broken and two attempts to set the break failed.

Then Dr. Harold L. Dollinger had an inspiration. Standing near Miss Tucker's bed, he told a funny story. Miss Tucker joined in the laughter and the broken bone snapped into place. It was made secure by bandages and Miss Tucker will be able to leave the hospital in a short time.

The doctor didn't repeat the story to the reporters, but gave assurances that it was funny.

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Today, for my real, actual paid adult professional job I learned how you can make someone poop half a gallon of soap balls. And I'm turning it into a publication.

A little popcorn thing with a face and stick appendages smiling aggressively saying, "Sweet Jesus!" A still detail from the Don Hertzfeldt's cartoon Rejected.

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

I'm genuinely having too much fun in the newspaper databases today.

An article from 1905 reads:

CIGARETTE SMOKER IN JAIL
Traveling Man Caught Smoking in

Indians.
® Lafayette, Ina, July 8.—Edward Ham-
mell, traveling salesman for a patent medi-
cine company, who, having been convicted
of smoking cigarettes, is serving a sentence
of twenty-nine days in default of payment
of a fine and costs assessed by Judge
Foster, of Otterbein, will in all probability
be compelled to serve the entire sentence.

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

I can't believe my job requires me to look these things up. Am I lucky or cursed? It can be hard to know. I can tell you, however, if they really did send you something, they were likely looking for the addresses of the impotent to sell via letter brokers, an early form of targeted marketing:

An old advertisement (1905) from an Iowa newspaper reads, approximately: FREE

You can now obtain the large, full size, dollar package of MAN MEDICINE, sent
free to your address for the asking. MAN
MEDICINE gives you once more the full
sense of man sensation—the pulse and
throb of physical life-being. It makes man
right, regular and responsive.

Man Medicine does what you want it to do.

Man Medicine cures early decay, discouraged manhood, nervous debility, functional
failure. vital weakness, loss of power,
brain fog, backache, prostatitis, kidney
trouble and nervousness.

You can cure yourself at home. Man
, Medicine has cured thousands upon thou-
sands of weak men, and Man Medicine
will cure you; restore you; renew and re-
vive within you the full pulsation and
natural throb. We Enow from experience
with thousands of <ases of man-weak-
ness that Man Medicine does and ean cure
and we know that weak, unable men are
restored and cured by this home treatment
if they only understand what Man Medi-
cine ig, and if they will guly try to be
themselves again. Man Medicine is the
great remedy for impaired manhood and
you owe It to yourself to prove in vour
own person what it is and what it does.
~~ We ask no payment of any kind—mo re-
ceipts—no promises. All hy! want to know
is that yon are not sending' for Man Medi-
cine out of Idle curiosity. We want yon
to give Man Medicine a fair trial and be
your strong, natural self again,

This free dollar package is the proof of
what Man Medicine does for man. We
send it to you in a plain wrapper, sealed,
prepaid, delivered. Your name and address
brings it. Interstate Remedy Co.. 268 Luck
bldg.. Detroit. Mich.

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

I'll be damned. The goat glands, electric belts, and boner pills must have worked. (This headline is from the same month.) #ILoveOldNewspapers

A headline from the same month reads: Los Angeles Aroused.

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

My God, Los Angeles! Your men...they are so...weak! #ILoveOldNewspapers

About 8 advertisements for boner pills and electric belts and goat glands from the LA Times in about 1907.

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Education helps you get ahead in your field, no matter your career! (cartoon by Ellis Rosen) www.facebook.com/EllisJRosen/...

A Viking-style skull enthusiast sits on a very severe looking throne--looking rather severe himself--under a diploma, while his mage, skull-bedecked staff in hand, proclaims: "Behold Vorgar, destroyer of lands, reaper of death, bachelor of fine arts!"

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

On my return, I stopped at the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway at the suggestion of a friend (an amazing view). I pulled over to take this photo on the way.

A road in the foreground leads to a granite mountain under a blue sky. Where the mountain and road meet, rows of windmills recede in to the distance. They are dwarfed to insignificance beneath the mountain.

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

These were some highlights. The tram up to the top of the mountain lifted you something life 7000 feet in about 10 minutes. Wild.

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

I'm not going to be able to make it to see the Walk of Fame while I'm in LA, but I found the next best thing in Eagle Rock....

Someone scratched fuck kid rock in the sidewalk cement.

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

LA trip is proceeding. My visit to the Seaver Center archives was interesting, but a lot less stuff than I was hoping for. I did, however, peruse the jail register for the city at the turn of the century, and Lillian Ferrian, I applaud you for being criminally "incorrigible." You go, girl.

Just the entry of the police ledger for a woman who has been arrested for being incorrigible.

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

I think the hummingbirds are in attack formation

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

My hotel has a fothermucking fresco on the ceiling. Sure, it's signed "Crissie," and it appears to show a majestically soaring hummingbird, or possibly the Holy Spirit, but it's the thought that counts.

Imagine a 1-star hotel room. Now paint clouds on the ceiling and a bird soaring. You have now just mentally traveled to my hotel room. Perv.

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Man, I would have gotten the death penalty repeatedly if that third one was illegal when I was a kid.

A clipping from an old newspaper column called "Police Court". The third item reads: "Rosa Berliner, disobedience to parents, was discharged."

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

But why? This comes out of my research into American entertainment of yesteryear.

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

See if you can identify anything wrong with the map Gemini generated of my current research subject's 1896 tour across the country.

Imagine a sepia map. Then pretend that New York and Maryland had a baby called New Jersey. Put Nebraska just to the North of the said abomination. Draw a route that suggests dozens of very regularly spaced stops as the tour does a circuit around the the Goofy-head looking state and that all of the towns have jibberish names. Lastly, north of Nebraska, add a key which explains that the line means jibberish, the dots mean jibberish, and that other lines also signify the location of jibberish.

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Bob Blaskiewicz @rjblaskiewicz.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Another reason to love old newspapers: strange ink drawings. While it's no rabbit beheading a knight, nor a man riding a snail, nor even a woman gathering the fruit of a dick-tree, it still feels weirdly like medieval marginalia. This is from a Duluth paper in 1895.

A clipping of apparently a regular column in a Duluth paper from 1895. The column is called "In the Library" and the inked doodle is a weird little worm with a human head and glasses gnawing on a page of a book. While it's no rabbit beheading a knight or a man riding a snail, it still feels weirdly like medieval marginalia.

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