iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Watching this old (1986) Frontline episode about divorce and my opinion, originally formed in, funnily enough, roughly 1986, has not changed: these supposedly grown people made all their own dang problems their own danged selves and were *absolutely* determined to punish everyone else for it.

archive.org

Divorce Wars

Shows how new approaches to handling divorce cases are being taken in Delaware. Examines divorce and its impact on the family.

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

So, the thing about Ozempic that's driving me nuts is that I actually should eat, you know, at least 800-1000 calories every day, but it's basically impossible to do that the first two days after the injection, and really more like the first *four* days after a dose increase.

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

I spent the whole day thinking today was Sunday and I don't know why, LOL. Possibly because some stuff that Amazon said would be delivered on Sunday showed up today instead (but also, two things that Walmart said would show up on Friday showed up today instead!)

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

It occurs to me that, with overnight lows in the vicinity of 70° in the second half of September in central Ohio, it may be time for parks administrators to reevaluate official campground seasons. The putative reason to cut it off on 30 September/15 October is overnight freezes.

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

By far the most aggravating yet amusing thing in this month's relationship with companies that sell me things is the way that I sincerely want Walmart to stop giving me extra things by mistake and they can only do "here's a refund" and "feel free to donate the extra item if you want".

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Right now, ±30 minutes, is the 25th anniversary of the first time I thought "I should probably go to bed soon" on the night before 9/11. I have no idea what I was doing that kept me from going to bed; I was probably playing EverQuest or watching a Star Trek rerun (or both).

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

This year's wacky COVID-19 shot day-after effect appears to be fatigue sufficient to keep me asleep for almost twelve hours and then being so stiff in the shoulders and upper arms that sitting upright is painful. I *knew* I should have taken a danged muscle relaxer last night.

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Made mine in Microsoft Publisher and when my youngest half-sister on my mom's side wanted to take community college classes at age 25, I had to try to hunt down the file I'd made 18 years earlier, LOL. Not the scan of the page my mom signed, the .pub file, because they'd never made one for her!

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

There was a sale on cute little temperature/humidity things so I got a pack of six of them and have been amusing myself by verifying my impressions of the interior spaces in my apartment. Currently the utility room is the driest and warmest, at 10%/100.7°, the coolest spot is a bookshelf (68.1°),

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David M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

"Here’s an opportunity to move past the job-training consensus that has left our universities stripped threadbare and too driven by trends and vibes. But I promise you, students want real educations and will come for them, rather than be forced to listen to a CEO tell them that capitalism rocks."

startribune.com

Perry: Republicans fought ‘indoctrination.’ Now they’re telling students what to study.

The conservative attack on higher education in states like Iowa is hard to watch. But it also provides an opportunity for blue states like Minnesota.

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Electronic Frontier Foundation @eff.org · 26/08/2026

“A lot of these companies are pre-IPO, so they’re focused on three things. They’re focused on market penetration, they’re focused on product differentiation, and they’re focused on valuation. And valuation includes the data that they own,” EFF’s @tsnvaa.bsky.social told @kcdefender.bsky.social.

kansascitydefender.com

While Cutting Buses for the Poor, KCATA Signed a Secret Deal to Harvest Their Faces for a Private Company's AI

A secret contract. No policy protecting riders' data. The Defender obtained the deal KCATA signed to harvest bus riders' faces for AI.

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

My sister and I used to work in Hebron, which required driving on I-70 through this spot every day, which meant encountering this exact same flooding situation at least several times per year. It kind of kills us that it's been twenty years since we did that commute and ODOT still hasn't fixed it.

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

I seem to have landed on the mailing list from heck - am now receiving fundraising texts from the pillow guy, who is apparently running for governor (in a state I've never even visited). I'm getting these random GOP guys constantly, but I haven't donated to a Republican since Mitt Romney!

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Downside of this whole Ozempic thing is that my body is currently doing "you know what, it's fine if I just don't eat at all", which is, you know, objectively unhealthy. Enough food noise to ensure you don't accidentally make yourself sick is a good thing!

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Found out today that my sister's stepson has *two* reasons to keep his GPA within "allowed to graduate" range: athletic eligibility and "also* the fact that his dad is still not over how much he screwed around and almost didn't graduate high school. Nothing quite like a former stoner gone straight.

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

You know what? "Don't party with the fascists" has been the unambiguous rule for as long as there have been fascists, and even the most literal (and generous) start date is 105 years ago, so the White House Correspondents' Association really has no excuse at all. This is life on easy mode!

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Really enjoying my current empirical testing of the proposition: "Sarah literally experiences a vasovagal response every time there's a needle, even if every single aspect of the situation changes" by way of Ozempic. Started to feel woozy the exact moment I saw the pokey bit, OFC.

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Amanda Deibert @amandadeibert.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

#SDCC comic con: our daughter left her 3D printed black dragon in the restroom near E/Starbucks. She printed it herself and is devastated. We checked the restroom and lost and found which means someone picked it up. If you bring it to 5552 I will give you a signed comic as reward

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

So, as of ten minutes ago the nearest Sam's Club is still selling Taylor Farms salads. Taco Bell basically outshining every other company in America by just not putting maybe-hazardous lettuce in anything for the duration was not on my bingo card! The bar is below the bottom of the deepest ocean.

A photo I just took at Sam's Club of a display of Taylor Farms salads, specifically, the "Garden Salad", "Sweet Kale", and "Caesar" varieties.

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Well, now I feel like I'm properly participating in the suffering. 5 minutes from walking out my door to my first asthma attack of the day; there's simultaneously something or other (probably a plant blooming) that's making me sneeze because of course it is.

Air Quality Index screenshot from the Weather Underground app. Today I'm in the "Very Unhealthy" zone, specifically an AQI of 268.

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Thanks to suggestions in @trungles.com's massive ongoing thread I decided to acquire the (non-Norton) annotated edition of Pride and Prejudice, and it is currently reminding me why Norton uses ridiculously thin paper and teeny tiny print: this paperback is *really* thick relative to my regular copy!

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

We finally started experiencing the smoke this afternoon here in almost-SE Ohio, in the form of air quality (no visible effects). It's on the low end of what the smog usually was in 1980s Los Angeles - AQI of 106. Still obnoxious, and I'm prepared for a likely asthma attack.

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

My dad just sent me a scan of a property notice that got sent to all the 1st/2nd degree relatives of one of our collateral ancestors (son of the brother of his grandfather, if I remember right), and apparently in 1978, *none* of my relatives in Ireland had street numbers.

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

I spill milk so very rarely that I literally just stood there for like ten seconds thinking "OK, so definitely don't cry, that's a hard rule, I wonder when the earliest attestation of that saying is, does it show up in German". Major delay before "oh, hah, paper towels, right" kicked in.

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Managed to get through two medical appointments before realizing that today is Thursday rather than Friday - despite spending four hours wondering why my second appointment was on a Friday when we always meet on Thursdays. 🤦

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

My dad and stepmom are going to San Diego next weekend and the very first question both my stepmom and I asked was "wait, that's not during Comic-Con, is it". I'm proud to say I was the first one who realized my dad would already know it wasn't, because the hotel room is affordable.

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

My skin has been aggressively validating my decision to go to urgent care for about 29 hours now - the lesion that was doubling in size every two days has, after three applications of the highly (but not extremely!) potent prescription steroid ointment, shrunk by about a third.

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Since the reviews for "The Odyssey" are so good, I've decided to go see it, *after* re-reading the poem. Inadvertently discovered two things: 1. The reason why I don't remember the name of the translator for the edition I used in college (25 years ago) probably has something to do with the fact...

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Claire Willett @clairewillett.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

so no, it isn’t hard to imagine that someone who believes so strongly in their right to do whatever the fuck they want no matter who it harms would later be revealed to show that exact trait again in a different way, and this will certainly not be where it ends. the tattoo told us everything already

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Kat Tenbarge @kattenbarge.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

If you read just a few comments on any article about Graham Platner it should become crystal clear why victims don’t come forward earlier. The level of cruelty people direct at victims is gutting

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

In the continuing adventures of "every medical appointment with Sarah ought to count as continuing education for somebody", today I introduced a PA intern to dyshidrotic eczema! This is obviously because I was at urgent care instead of the dermatologist's office, but still, yay.

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

I'm curious as to if they actually bothered getting all this licensed properly.

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

It's *incredibly* bizarre that this is how they're using the military singers.

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Also, he sits down like a sick person. My physical therapist would award zero points.

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Are all those explosives at the Reflecting Pool? Fireworks are a fundamentally three-dimensional art form; NYC did a better job of spreading things out.

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Is that actually Lee Greenwood, because if so, he looks really good for 83.

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Gotta say making all those military musicians stand there like something's about to happen for this long seems disrespectful and also cruel. Yeah, yeah, "hurry up and wait", I know, but that's generally not on stage.

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Erm, is there a secret patriotic meaning attached to "Ave Maria" or something? I wasn't aware that this was an operatic holiday, too.

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

One way of avoiding having an artist say you're terrible and aren't authorized to use their music is to use music by dead people.

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Really enjoying the C-SPAN live feed, which is just switching between other cities' successful fireworks shows while occasionally popping in to say that Trump still hasn't left the White House or whatever. For such a talky channel, they're actually pretty decent about shutting up for the music.

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

I was beginning to think the people who live across the street (AKA about thirty feet past the village boundary) weren't going to set stuff off tonight, but they must have started setting up late due to the heat. They're on the 3rd round now; I'm not sure if they'll finish before the rain starts.

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Major obnoxious side to this heat is the awesome eczema flare I have going on. It's the kind featuring horrid little vesicles on your hands, which makes it difficult to do much of anything. Luckily, it's only on my non-dominant palm for the moment - protected with bandages, Aquaphor, and a glove.

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Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

TMZ DC with perhaps the most brutal video from Trump's Great American State Fair, showing Dr. Oz on stage bragging to Dean Cain about how big the crowd is, only for the reporter to pan around and show absolutely nobody is there. Original post: x.com/i/status/207...

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

When I was younger I was jealous of my mom and dad for getting to have the bicentennial and then the Olympics in our hometown (I wasn't alive for the first one and was a toddler for the second). Anyway there's a rather long list of things I'm mad at Trump at, but wrecking *my* chance is on it.

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

It's a well-documented behavior, of course, but I remain vaguely amused and appalled at how Amazon's response to me buying 300 paper bowls is to offer me... 600 paper bowls.

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Update: I have sadly given up on eggs for today. I'm going to a thing in Cleveland tomorrow (LDS temple open house) but hopefully I will wake up early enough to have eggs before I leave.

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Today's Ozempic hack: having a normal breakfast, except over the course of eight hours, with big old gaps in between each piece and also drinking water. (Pears at 3pm, pancakes at 7pm, hopefully eggs before midnight. Have successfully convinced my body to accept a whopping 37oz of fluid, too.)

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

From the Glasgow antiracist rally.

Man in a crowd holding up a sign saying "racism is weird, have you tried hobbies?"

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(((Sarah))) @smpa.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

Oh my gosh, I FINALLY found what they were eating (and it was a grain) - a Ziploc bag of long white rice that was behind other things had a small hole in the bottom. I apparently squeezed it without actually lifting it up, so it seemed like it was airtight but wasn't.

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