iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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medievalmvb @medievalmvb.bsky.social · 3h

Anecdotal, but I think newsletter subs are being impacted strongly by recessionary budget-guarding, meaning new sub acquisition is critical, and Substack has the *reputation* of being the biggest marketplace where one can easily reach new subs

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Peter Sokolowski @petersokolowski.bsky.social · 4h

I'm thrilled to announce my upcoming book: BY DEFINITION: The Surprising History of the English Dictionary To be published in February! read.macmillan.com/lp/by-defini...

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James Callan @scarequotes.com · 5h

I need to finish S1. One of those shows that I liked but never got around to finishing.

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James Callan @scarequotes.com · 5h

In the past few months, I've had several newsletters I subscribe to switch to Substack. None of them talk about why they chose Substack of all the options out there. Why Substack? Why *now*?

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Prasad Jallepalli, MD, PhD @prasad.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

5 potatoes cubed is still 5 potatoes because potatoes are root vegetables

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James Callan @scarequotes.com · 29/09/2026

I still don't get why Apple Music assumes that when I play an album I really just want to play the tracks I've favorited, unless I explicitly tell me to show the complete album. Yes! The complete album!

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Cat Hicks @grimalkina.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Features of thoughtful automation include: you are still a decision maker, but you are no longer the rote task cog in the machine asked to inject your information a thousand times over just to get something fixed. There's nothing morally wrong about not wanting to waste your life on that.

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James Callan @scarequotes.com · 29/09/2026

Just requested that my library buy a copy! (@fvrlibraries.bsky.social is pretty amenable to suggestions, so fingers crossed.)

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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Put another way, to be legible enough for AI to be useful to most families, they would have to stop communicating as the family they have known, never had to overtly think about, and become something stranger and coarser that has no cultural foundation. Why would I do that?

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Yvonne Lam @yvonnezlam.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

We are socialized not to talk about it this way, but having to explain and justify your actions to a system that wasn't built for you can be incredibly demoralizing to people. bsky.app/profile/erik...

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James Callan @scarequotes.com · 28/09/2026

We’ve all been coinagemogged

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your girl @aundriaparker.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Hey @letterboxd.social - would you ever consider allowing the ability to reply to comments, instead of having to add an “unattached” comment? It would seriously help the discussion aspect of reviews, and people could disable it if they didn’t want that? This feature seems like a no-brainer, friends.

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Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

cuth pube

A sign that attempts to spell out "the Cube pub" by shifting the B in Cube down with the PU right before it and TH before the E.

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James Callan @scarequotes.com · 26/09/2026

"Gentle Reminder" would make a great title for an office horror movie. (The sequel: "Kind Regards.")

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James Callan @scarequotes.com · 26/09/2026

"Gentle Reminder" would make a great title for an office horror movie. (The sequel: "Kind Regards.")

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James Callan @scarequotes.com · 26/09/2026

The concept of tone seems like it's just nonexistent.

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James Callan @scarequotes.com · 26/09/2026

Something that surprises me anew every now and again: A lot of people heard the advice to give a gentle reminder about something, and followed through by just putting the words "gentle reminder" at the beginning of whatever they're saying.

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Gwen C. Katz @gwenckatz.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Fuck ChatGPT flyers. The future is broadsheets.

A crowded broadsheet with way too many fonts. It says:
Forget ChatGPT Flyers
Say it with
Broadsheets
Unlimited fonts
Stretch them
Or cram a really long sentence into one line for no good reason
No whitespace
Mix capital and lowercase
Pointing hands
(They're called manicules!)
Don't be left behind
Broadsheets are the future

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James Callan @scarequotes.com · 24/09/2026

Filled in my last Scorsese feature blind spot last night and watched Silence, which is unsurprisingly Pretty Good. It did clarify something for me, though: Scorsese grappling with what it means to to be American > Scorsese grappling with what it means to be Catholic

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James Callan @scarequotes.com · 24/09/2026

Writing poetry again for the first time in years. Apparently this poem won't be perfect if I do work on it and it won't be perfect if I don't work on it. Catch-fucking-22, I guess.

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Bill Smiley @neokefka99.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

She exploded Roy Scheider with her mind.

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James Callan @scarequotes.com · 23/09/2026

Interesting. When I saw Elephant Man last year it was so clearly a Lynch film that it was surprising. The setting and the soundscape feel very of a piece with Eraserhead. It feels more Lynch to me than Spartacus does Kubrick, certainly.

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Martyn @martynpedler.com · 22/09/2026

Me: I'm Robert Eggers. Cop: Oh yeah? How do you spell magic? Me: With a K. Cop: Checks out.

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James Callan @scarequotes.com · 22/09/2026

You're supposed to have your AI assistant read it and summarise the key takeaways for you

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James Callan @scarequotes.com · 22/09/2026

Lists are bullshit but also Community is shockingly low.

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James Callan @scarequotes.com · 21/09/2026

Not to nitpick a fun outage page, but Jake in this movie famously brags that he never went down.

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Siddhant Adlakha @siddhantadlakha.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

“What are its Oscar chances” I don’t know but a good way to enjoy movies is not spending five months treating them like the stock market

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James Callan @scarequotes.com · 21/09/2026

Pulp Fiction for me, 6 times during the initial run and once a year or so ago at a local theater. Several more viewings on home video over the years.

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 21/09/2026

mind you, birth of a nation is a movie so insanely racist that it legitimately should make you question whether the medium itself is evil

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James Callan @scarequotes.com · 20/09/2026

If you're not already familiar, you might enjoy the Sandwiches of History account (pick you streaming platform of choice).

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‮Jeff Eaton @eaton.fyi · 19/09/2026

This is a terrible time for systems thinkers, in part because nobody wants to listen to systems thinkers about stuff they’ve been saying for years, so now systems thinkers have to watch deeply incurious people reinvent systems thinking from first principles

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Kristen Lopez @kristenklopez.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Just saw this dropped!! I used the recent Inde Navarette/Jeff S*eider discourse to write about Hollywood's long history of male entertainment journalists writing on women for @salon.com. www.salon.com/2026/09/17/h...

salon.com

Hollywood's long history of men who think actresses owe them

Jeff Sneider's threats against Inde Navarrette fit a decades-old pattern in entertainment media.

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James Callan @scarequotes.com · 18/09/2026

Here's hoping the Craigslist ad works because I'm not confident Facebook will approve the ad.

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James Callan @scarequotes.com · 18/09/2026

Requested a review. The only reasons I can give, though, are "It's not offensive in my area," "It's to raise awareness," or "It was a joke." No option to say "this is not actually a recalled product."

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James Callan @scarequotes.com · 18/09/2026

Facebook Marketplace rejected my listing because "It looks like your listing sells a recalled product." Checked the IKEA website. The thing I listed is not one of their recalled products.

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James Callan @scarequotes.com · 17/09/2026

Omakase sushi at Tojo's in Vancouver, BC, back in the early 2000s. Sat at the bar, got fed too much food, loved every course. The details have faded but the overall pleasure remains.

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Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 17/09/2026

A quick glance at the trending topic shows that apparently *everyone* is misreading that as "Meryl Streep cast as Asian."

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Catherine 🇨🇦 @catf.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I thought it said "Meryl Streep cast as Asian" and was thinking I know she a great actor but that's a huge stretch that won't go over well.

Trending topics on Bluesky.

Meryl Streep cast as Aslan

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michelle⁷ @poisonivy47.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

i saw "meryl streep cast as aslan" trending and my mind read "meryl streep cast as asian" and i was all ready to be mad about it LOL i need to take anap

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