iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Robert W. Gehl @rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 11/09/2026

Friends, it's my pleasure to announce that my new, completely customizable, revolutionary new Linux distro, Ohmunchie, is now available for download. Let the MunchieAgent(TM) customize your experience on your behalf. Join me in the future of technology. I am accepting donations.

A screenshot of the Ohmunchie Desktop, a beautiful Linux environment that includes the Munchie agent, a puppet from a 1990s movie of that same name.

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Robert W. Gehl @rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 25/07/2026

[garbage] For two days in a row I've had to rescue one of these #trashPandas from my garbage can, here in #Toronto

A small raccoon in a garbage can. The raccoon's paw is up on the side of the can. This raccoon would be freed from its self-imposed prison a few moments after this picture was taken.

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Robert W. Gehl @rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 12/05/2026

[genAI gripe] It's just piling on at this point. This is #DuckDuckGo's summary of the Cleveland-Detroit NBA playoff series so far. And it's wrong, wrong, wrong. There has been no overtime game, the next game is Wednesday, and it's going to be in Detroit. I […] [Original post on aoir.social]

An AI generated summary of an NBA playoff series that has three wildly wrong statements. There have been no overtime games in the series, the next game is Wednesday, not Tuesday as this thing says, and the game is in Detroit, not Cleveland.

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Robert W. Gehl @rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 16/01/2026

[cursing] First of all, I write fast enough. Second of all, fuck off into the sun you Earth-incinerating plagiarism-fueled memestock bullshit engine

An email with the subject "Write faster with ChatGPT"

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Robert W. Gehl @rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 09/01/2026

Nothing says "Canadian digital sovereignty" like a website that relies on Google infrastructure

A screenshot of the Digital Alliance website, a service offered to Canadian academics. The banner says "Our Vision for Canadian Sovereign AI Infrastcuture." Over that, there's a dropdown menu with NoScript open, showing the website relies on code from Doubleclick, Google, Typekit, Sanity, and YouTube to function.

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Robert W. Gehl @rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 13/10/2025

Spotted at the Toronto Pearson airport. #friendsofDeSoto will understand...

Two mannequins under a banner that says "moose knuckles"

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Robert W. Gehl @rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 22/08/2025

Hey, fedi! If you want to buy my book, you can now get the paperback version direct from Oxford and save 30%! moveslowlybuildbridges.com/images/d… #moveSlowlyAndBuildBridges

This is a discount flyer for my new book, Move Slowly and Build Bridges. Use the promotion code AUFLY30 at global.oup.com/academic and save 30% off the paperback version of the book.

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Robert W. Gehl @rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 29/05/2025

I know these days generative AI can just pump out thousands of words, but for a human, it takes a lot more work. This is a tiny window into the process of writing a book: 15GB of data, 22K files, built up over 4 years, and probably over a million words of […] [Original post on aoir.social]

A screenshot of a file browser showing the properties of a folder on my computer. The folder is "MastodonBook" and the total size of the folder is 15 gigabytes and 22K different files.

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Robert W. Gehl @rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 05/04/2025

Taking in a Pistons game in Canada

Toronto' Scotiabank Arena, home of the Raptors

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Robert W. Gehl @rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 28/03/2025

Ok, I really like the New Socialist article arguing that the aesthetics of generative AI is the aesthetic of the postmodern, fascist Right. The article is here: newsocialist.org.uk/transmissions/a… But do we really need a […] [Original post on aoir.social]

A pull quote from an article in the New Socialist. The quote says, "Despite all their absurdist posturing, the right struggles to come to terms with a contradictory world that does not conform to their pre-decided categories."

Under that pull quote is a red button that says "Tweet this"

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Robert W. Gehl @rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 04/03/2025

Umm... hey, Canadians, why don't you also look for Canadian social media instead of discussing "Buy Canadian" on Facebook? You know, the company that won't let you read Canadian news?

A screenshot of a New York Times article on the boom in nationalism in Canada, including the observation that Canadians are discussing "buy Canada" on Facebook.

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Robert W. Gehl @rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 01/03/2025

Here's the chapter overview. I should note that I wrote the title to chapter 2 ("Techlash: How to Vaporize Elon Musk") a long, long time ago. Nice to see things holding up.

The table of contents for the book Move Slowly and Build Bridges.
Introduction: On Alternative Social Media
1. Critical Reverse Engineering: How Mastodon Became a Twitter Alternative
2. Techlash: How to Vaporize Elon Musk
3. The Nonstandard Standard: When ActivityPub Met Mastodon
4. Codes of Conduct
5. Rage and Joy: Playvicious, #Fediblock, the BadSpace, and the Politics of Defederation
6. Paying for It: The Fediverse’s Alternative Economies
7. To Finity and Before: Environmentalist Experiments on the Fediverse
8. Threads
Conclusion: Caring for It: Putting the Ethics in Ethical Social Media
Epilogue: On Godmonsters, or Looking Backward and Forward at Social Media

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Robert W. Gehl @rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 01/03/2025

I have reached the copyediting phase of the book, with a proof version of the title page as a nice tease of what it will all look like! #bookstodon

The title page of a book. The book is titled "Move Slowly and Build Bridges: Mastodon, the Fediverse, and the Struggle for Democratic Social Media." Published by Oxford University Press.

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Robert W. Gehl @rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 01/03/2025

Welp. Even if they lose badly to Denver, Sickos still gotta watch the Detroit Pistons.

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Robert W. Gehl @rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 25/02/2025

Day 53 of our journey. We were worried when the confirmation request failed to arrive at dawn, but we later rejoiced when we received it at noon. Once again, the Washington Post did not fail us.

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Robert W. Gehl @rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 22/02/2025

more confirmation emails bring them to me

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Robert W. Gehl @rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 11/02/2025

Google maps as I see it in Canada. Stop using Google.

A screenshot of Google maps, focusing on the Gulf of Mexico, but in parentheses it says "Gulf of America."

Stop using Google stuff now.

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Robert W. Gehl @rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 03/02/2025

[uspol] spinning it so hard I get vertigo

Fox News's homepage, with a headline story, "Canada blinks, President Trump delays tariffs on northern neighbor for at least 30 days"

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Robert W. Gehl @rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 20/01/2025

A phishing scam on my fedi? No way, y'all. #fediblock

A account called bytebro#mastodonapp.uk sending a "Onedrive" link in a comment totally unrelated to my original post.

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Robert W. Gehl @rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 16/01/2025

[uspol] Here are the leaders of the standing committees in the US House of Representatives. Now *that's* what I call representation!

A composite picture of all the leaders of the standing committees in the US House of Representatives. They are
Agriculture: Glenn Thompson of Pennsylvania
Appropriations: Tom Cole of Oklahoma
Armed Services: Mike Rogers of Alabama
Budget: Jodey Arrington of Texas
Education: Tim Wahlberg of Michigan
Energy: Brett Guthrie of Kentucky
Ethics: Michael Guest of Mississippi
Financial Services: French Hill of Arkansas
Foreign Affairs: Brian Mast of Florida
Homeland Security: Mark Green of Tennessee
House Administration: Bryan Steil of Wisconsin
Judiciary: Jim Jordan of Ohio
Natural Resources: Bruce Westerman of Arkansas
Oversight and Accountability: James Comer of Kentucky
Rules: Foxx
Science, Space, and Technology: Brian Babin of Texas
Small Business: Roger Williams of Texas
Transportation and Infrastructure: Sam Graves of Missouri
Veterans' Affairs: Mike Bost of Illinois
Ways and Means: Jason Smith of Missouri

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Robert W. Gehl @rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 13/12/2024

Trying something using Regex. Pray for Mojo.

A screenshot from The Simpsons. Mojo the Monkey is laying in a distressed state. A man holds a computer, where Mojo has typed "Pray for Mojo."

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Robert W. Gehl @rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 14/10/2024

Gearing up to watch Detroit Basketball.

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Robert W. Gehl @rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 03/08/2024

Hey, @socrates, found a bust of you at Trinity College

A bust of Socrates in white marble against dark oak

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Robert W. Gehl @rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 25/07/2024

[uspol] Gee, what changed in two weeks, I wonder

Two Wall Street Journal Op-eds by the same author, Jason Riley, side-by-side. The left op-ed was dated July 9, 2024, and the headline is "Kamala Harris Would Be the Best Democratic Choice." The op-ed on the right -- by the same author -- is dated July 23, 2024 and the headline is "Kamala Harris Isn't the Change Democrats Need."

I wish I could flip as hard as this flop.

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Robert W. Gehl @rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 25/07/2024

@evan This is one slide I've used before -- kind of what you're saying. But it's still Mastodon-centric

A slide showing two fediverse servers connecting. On the left is social.robertwgehl.org, on the right is scholar.social. In between there is a blue arrow that is labeled "ActivityPub"

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Robert W. Gehl @rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 01/07/2024

lots of crummy news lately, so let's have some fun with an #MST3K quiz! I went to the Kalamazoo Air Zoo and saw two things that are related to three Mystery Science Theater 3000 movies. Take a look. First one to guess one of the three movies gets a bag of RAM chips.

A picture of a jet plane, painted white, red, and black, with various military flags in the background. This plane was featured in a Mystery Science Theatre 3000 movie.

A long, wooden mock rocketship, painted dark brown. This was a prop from two movies featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000.

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Robert W. Gehl @rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 26/06/2024

West Michigan, the feeling *is indeed* forever.

Empty, sandy beach on the shore of Lake Michigan. The sun is shining below a layer of clouds and above 3 foot waves.

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