iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 25/09/2026

Decidedly, it's more worth my time today to skip a faculty retreat promoting more EdTech capture (while I'm doing the opposite) than it is to intensively work on a paper with a Thursday-target deadline to the journal...

Brewed coffee on a table with an open laptop editing word documents

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 23/09/2026

I'm not anthropomorphizing the AI platforms so much as sarcastically calling them "The Oracle(s)" with snide air quotes, a la Bennett Brauer

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 18/09/2026

I see they have made some significant minor changes (the deadline is now 10/21 and you must have a valid US passport).

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 17/09/2026

Wait, this is real? AND the deadline is 10/7? openforlegends.guitarcenter.com/campaign/ope...

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 15/09/2026

The hypothetical for my markets & society course's practice sprint tomorrow. I updated it to be even more topical than last year's battle with the EU.

You work at Farmer Dave’s CSA (community supported agriculture, aka farmshare) and on the weekends, you also work at their farm stand in Dracut.
President Trump’s trade war with Canada has provoked a retaliatory response wherein the Canadian government decides to levy 60% tariffs on potash, a fertilizing compound that you purchase from Canada. 80% of potash purchased in the US comes from Canada.

The tariffs mean you’ll have to look elsewhere for substitutes, however, so is every other farm in the US– including the large conglomerates. As a result, your costs of farm production would go up and your consumer prices would have to go up. Or… would they?

How do you keep your small farm in business in order to keep your job and keep supplying the community with fresh, healthy, local food?

There are pictures of Farmer Dave's farm stand and a screenshot of an Globe & Mail article on Canadian potash

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 11/09/2026

שנה טובה ומתוקה!

Two round raison and two round regular challot

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 05/09/2026

Go to Reading, MA (imo, this is one of the best creameries in the state)

Cal's creamery on IG, ft a picture of an ice cream cone

cals_creamery NEW: Authentic Vermont Maple Creemee Made with real Vermont maple syrup from butternutmountainfarm #Soft ServeSummer

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 04/09/2026

The full one was marginally less Connecticut. Yet still...

Your dialect map
Redder areas talk more like you; bluer areas least.
You talk most like someone from Connecticut - about 54% of your answers match a typical resident.Cities most & least like you
Interpolated from the nearest survey responses.

Most similar
Portland, ME (53%)
Boston, MA (53%)
New York, NY (52%)
Least similar
New Orleans, (45%)
Nashville, TN (46%)
Atlanta, GA (46%)

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 04/09/2026

Nailed it. And it makes sense that Boston and NYC are there since I've lived in/around there too. I've also got a Canadian shift at times from my time in Montreal, where Canadians couldn't guess my accent, as Connecticut is neither Boston nor NYC. Giveaways: Tag sale, rotary, ahnt, sunshower.

a screenshot reads:

Your dialect map
Redder areas talk more like you; bluer areas least.
You talk most like someone from Connecticut - about 56% of your answers match a typical resident.

Cities most & least like you
Interpolated from the nearest survey responses.

Most similar
Portland, ME (54%)
Boston, MA (53%)
New York, NY (52%)

Least similar
New Orleans, LA (42%)
Oklahoma City, OK (43%)
Houston, TX (44%)

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 02/09/2026

Overpass sign from the Minuteman Commuter Bikeway on 128 in Lexington. The sign in the other direction had a Canadian flag and said "WE LIKE CANADA ELBOWS UP"

Overpass sign reads "BE KIND LIKE DOLLY"

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 02/09/2026

The m.o. of my lectures now: taking it #BackToTheFuture

No earbuds, no phones, no laptops, AI-Free Human Brains only

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 28/08/2026

I'm pretty sure I read this book in eighth grade. Numerous students manage to make it their National History Day project topic.

Cover of Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" featuring some meatpackers working on a carcass. With an introduction and notes by James R. Barrett

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 23/08/2026

The Real World guy who spent $5m to make a reality "documentary" that's gotten fewer views than content my undergrads make for free?

The Great American Road Trip Playlist on YouTube shows 6 episodes with the first episode getting 12k views and each episode decreasing in views as the Playlist continues

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 23/08/2026

My markets & society slides haven't changed from the spring. Nor the previous spring. But I guess I'll add this:

Tod Maffin on FB

😡 Instead of
Rona/Lowe's/Home Depot ChatGPT/ Claude / Gemini
Dollar Tree
Sirius/XM
Any VPN
Google Docs
Pizza Hut/ Dominos
Twiter
Facebook
Instagram
Costco
McDonalds etc.
Chick-fil-A
Tim Hortons
Old Navy Gap
Best Buy
REI
Dick's Sporting Goods
Barnes & Noble
AMCICinemark
Walmart/Costco Pharmacy

Try 🇨🇦
Home Hardware
AugureAl.ca
Dollarama or Giant Tiger Stingray Music
Windscribe VPN
cDox.studio
Boston Pizza
Gander Social or EH! App Hey.Café
Canada Platforms
Canadian Tire
A&W or Harveys
Mary Brown's Chicken
Second Cup
Joe Fresh
London Drugs
Atrmosphere
Sport Chek
Chapters Indigo Cineplex
Rexall's /Shoppers Drug Mart

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 23/08/2026

Poutinefest put out a statement:

Poutinefest USA - New Hampshire on FB

PoutineFest USA is not a nonprofit. We are private entity that supports our culture and language in the US. We can say whatever we want.

We completely disagree with the current treatment of Canada and look forward to normal relations returning. To be very very clear this situation is absurd and unhelpful.

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 22/08/2026

Arsenal won 3-0, I shopped for jazz records for myself, we went for pies at Pepe's, and after went with my 11 year old to play mah jongg. I got a whopping 3 cards, 4 texts, 3 DMs. And, at 10pm, who knows if I'll get the birthday cake in the fridge.

Album covers for Kenny Dorham's Trompeta Toccata and Jutta Hipp with Zoot Sims

White clam, cheese, and summer tomato pie at Pepe's Pizza

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 21/08/2026

Usually for my birthday, I end up hitting a bucket of balls at the driving range (I don't golf) but the weather looks like rain any minute. Then I go out for coffee (made some good stuff at home already). Then I record shop for jazz records. But I'm uninspired today.

Little Victories coffee Granja Paraiso 92 Thermoshock Sudan Rume

paired with

Cafe Pista x Allo Simonne coffee hazelnut spread on Judi's homemade sourdough

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 20/08/2026

We shouldn't have to Google what this shit means when gas prices are going up, health care costs more, the rent is too damn high, folks are eating diarrhea lettuce, and the crypto president is flying around in a defenseless palace with his human binky.

Republicans on FB: "Abdul El-Sayed says he’s “not an animal guy.”

4,000+ murdered dogs and cats under his watch made that pretty clear."

There's a menacing image of 4,000 puppies and kittens killed under his watch "

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 18/08/2026

Since we're talking about AI detectors with class, here's my class policy on AI. It is ironic, given I've got a colleague in management who has launched a university AI-preparedness index.

My Academic Integrity Policy on Generative AI / LLM Tools, Revised Spring 2026

"AI-Free / Human Brains Only" Illustration

“…education is more than qualification (Biesta 2021). It is about preparing students to become capable and active members of society.” (Guest et al. 2025)

Generative AI (GenAI) and Large Language Models (LLMs)–such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, Google’s Gemini, and Microsoft’s Copilot, as well as embedded tools in Canva, Meta, or Adobe– generate content from databases of prior human data.

The purpose of university coursework is to build your individual critical and analytical thinking skills. GenAI presents three core

challenges that counter this goal:

Lack of Originality: Outputs are aggregated from existing work without proper citation capability (and can invent them!).

Embedded Biases: Models reproduce and amplify systemic biases from their training datasets, reproducing biases and errors, rather than critically questioning them.

Absence of Critical Reasoning: Platforms lack authentic evaluative judgment, reflection, and the abductive reasoning required to navigate incomplete information.

I recognize that some professors may be pushing GenAI use in their classes. However, in my courses, Generative AI use is not permitted. As I recognize that AI “detectors” are often unreliable, I reserve the right to evaluate your work based on at least a decade of professional expertise as a scholar and faculty member before GenAI’s existence. If it is evident that GenAI has been used (including for initial search, ideation, or content creation), I reserve the right to adjust evaluation accordingly– up to and including disqualifying the assignment.

I am here to assess what you learn and what you create– not the “learning” or output of an algorithm.

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 18/08/2026

This semester, I'm buying my (university) students legal pads, "banning" laptops, digging out my red felt pens, and everything that is not a report is going to be written out and turned in. This, in a b-school.

Mean girls meme says "get in students, we're going back to the future"

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 15/08/2026

If you're ever in Western Mass, the Bluebonnet Diner in Northampton has broasted chicken.

A picture of the front of the Bluebonnet Diner

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 14/08/2026

One high school day afterschool in tech crew, I was hungry and one of my churchy friends popped me a "Testamint" (this was back when popping Altoids was a "snack"). I felt very discomforted about eating it.

A pack of Testamints with an individually wrapped mint with a Bible verse on it and an exposed mint embossed with a cross

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 12/08/2026

One of the main roads used for about 60% of coffee's transportation from farms to seaport is also damaged. Armenia, capital city of Quindío and one of the places I took the family to visit in the Coffee Axis (pictured), was among the significantly affected cities.

Family of four the sunsetting on Armenia, Quindío, Colombia in the background

A church in Salento Square in Salento, Quindío, Colombia

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 09/08/2026

The logo says "On the Bun" while the sign says "On the Bum." The logo says "sliders fries shakes" while the sign says "burgers fries shakes." It is a real challenge for brand consistency to use, and become overreliant on, AI slop like this.

A FB post in Greater Lowell Life. Features a storefront with some opening soon signs for on tbt bun smash burgers. "COMING SOON TO DOWNTOWN LOWELL: THE BUN!
doors in Downtown Lowell at 120 Merrimack Street.
On the Bun is coming soon bringing"

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 08/08/2026

Alright, I'm pretty comfortable with chanting the Haftorah. I just printed out my speech, which I've spent way too much time crafting this summer and think it's finally "good." Now, if only I felt confident in leyning the 7th/maftir aliyot from the torah...

$This Shabbat, we will hear from Spencer Ross on the topic of “A Shared Core, from Coffee Lands to Jewish Community.” Parashat R’eih’s mandate to centralize worship creates physical, social, and economic distances that mask exploitation — a dynamic mirrored in the Colombian coffee fields of today. Bringing this text into conversation with experiences during Fulbright research in Colombia, Spencer explores how honoring local "hereness" can bridge our internal Jewish fractures and center a shared humanity that dignifies others — no matter the distance. Spencer Ross is an Associate Professor of Marketing at University of Massachusetts Lowell’s Manning School of Business, where his research focuses on marketplace justice and consumer welfare. A 2024 U.S. Fulbright Scholar in Colombia, his recent work explores the causes of marketplace inequity in the specialty coffee industry. He and his family — including his wife Judi, who About This Week’s Summer Shabbat Sermon who serves as VP of Education on the Board — have been active members of the Temple Emunah community for over a decade. When he isn't chauffeuring his kids Lucy and Maxwell to Hebrew School or USY events, you can usually find him schmoozing at "Barista Dave’s" coffee cart on Sunday mornings.$

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 07/08/2026

I wouldn't use "rising" to qualify anyone as anything unless they are in a hot air balloon or the boy at the end of The Red Balloon.

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 05/08/2026

Whatever happened to Jeff Bezos's Courage and Civility Award?

The Courage and Civility Award is an annual award distributed by Jeff Bezos and his fiancée Lauren Sánchez since 2021.[1]

The award is accompanied by a cash grant for the receiver of the award, to distribute to other non-profit organizations.[1] Each award comes with a ten-year window in which the funds have to be distributed.[2]

Winners

edit
Year Winner(s) Award value References
2021 Van Jones $100 million [3][4]
José Andrés $100 million [3][4]
2022 Dolly Parton $100 million [1][5]
2024 Eva Longoria $50 million [6][7]
Bill McRaven $50 million [6][7]
2025 Kara Bell $5 million [8]
Dave Fink $5 million [8]
Richard Rusczyk $5 million [8]
Ilana Walder-Biesanz $5 million [8]
to be announced $5 million [8]

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 04/08/2026

I think "extended range," "vibrating alert," and nightlight were "upgrades" to the units we had. www.vtechbabycare.com/products/Dig...

Vtech Digital Audio Baby Monitor with up to 1,000 ft of Range, Vibrating Sound-Alert, Talk Back Intercom & Night Light Loop
Model DM221

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 04/08/2026

Upcoming Events at Temple Emunah

Picture of me drinking coffee on a farm in Colombia

Saturdays through August 22nd at 9:30 am

Summer Shabbat Speaker Series

Sanctuary

Temple Emunah has the tradition of inviting our members each summer to lead our Shabbat morning services, as well as teach our community by delivering the d'var Torah. This Shabbat, we will hear from Spencer Ross on the topic of “A Shared Core, from Coffee Lands to Jewish Community.”

Parashat R’eih’s mandate to centralize worship creates physical, social, and economic distances that mask exploitation — a dynamic mirrored in the Colombian coffee fields of today. Bringing this text into conversation with

$experiences during Fulbright research in Colombia, Spencer explores how honoring local "hereness" can bridge our internal Jewish fractures and center a shared humanity that dignifies others — no matter the distance. Spencer Ross is an Associate Professor of Marketing at University of Massachusetts Lowell’s Manning School of Business, where his research focuses on marketplace justice and consumer welfare. A 2024 U.S. Fulbright Scholar in Colombia, his recent work explores the causes of marketplace inequity in the specialty coffee industry. He and his family — including his wife Judi, who serves as VP of Education on the Board — have been active members of the Temple Emunah community for over a decade. When he isn't chauffeuring his kids Lucy and Maxwell to Hebrew School or USY events, you can usually find him schmoozing at "Barista Dave’s" coffee cart on Sunday mornings.$

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 31/07/2026

It turns out some relatives will be coming to the service to hear me speak and I'm sure they will not expect, or be amused, to hear this. Also, I've made some edits (as well as along the whole 6 pages of text).

And in our politics, distance leads us to shrink our moral maps in subtle ways that create blindspots in our ability to see others’ humanity.

For most of us as Americans, it’s easy to extend our compassion to immigrants facing deportation, to march for liberal democracy, to promote LGBTQ equality with gender-neutral restrooms, or to advocate for coffee farmers thousands of miles away.

But when distance is multiplied by deep collective trauma, fear, and anxiety– raw feelings for all of us in this age of antisemitism– extending that moral map to include Palestinian humanity can feel terrifying. It can feel like an existential risk to our own Jewish survival.

Parshat Re’eh, however, demands that we actually see. It reminds us that humanity is not a zero-sum game. That safety, security, freedom, happiness, equality, and dignity cannot be privileged for a core group while forsaken on the periphery for others.

When Moshe allowed Israelites to build community in their own settlements, he decoupled everyday human flourishing from a single, dominant core.

Validating our own flourishing Jewish humanity does not require erasing that same humanity and flourishing for Palestinians. Recognizing their “hereness” on their own terms does not weaken Jewish survival. Rather, it fulfills the highest demand of Torah: that every single human being is created in B’tselem Elohim– in the divine image.

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 29/07/2026

Excited to deliver this part (well, the whole thing). I'm hoping it reaches at least *some* of the congregants.

It’s easy to extend our compassion to immigrants, to fight for gun safety, to promote LGBTQ equality, or to advocate for coffee farmers thousands of miles away. But when distance is multiplied by deep collective trauma, fear, and existential anxiety– raw feelings for all of us in this age of antisemitism– extending that moral map to include Palestinian humanity can feel terrifying. It can feel like a risk to our own Jewish survival.

But Parshat Re’eh demands that we actually see. It reminds us that humanity is not a zero-sum game. That safety, security, freedom, happiness, equality, and dignity cannot be privileged for a core group while forsaken on the periphery for others.

When Moshe allowed Israelites to build community in their own settlements, he decoupled everyday human flourishing from a single, dominant core.

Validating our own Jewish humanity does not require erasing that same humanity for Palestinians. Recognizing their “hereness” on their own terms does not weaken Jewish survival. Rather, it fulfills the highest demand of Torah: that every single human being is created in B’tselem Elohim– in the divine image.

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 27/07/2026

I'll see your Tribe and and raise you Planets.

The album cover for Digable Planets' Reachin'. A large, perfectly circular graphic sits against a dark background, showing a smooth color gradient that transitions from a deep purple at the bottom to a vibrant pinkish-purple at the top. Inside the upper half of the circle, the three members of Digable Planets (Butterfly, Doodlebug, and Ladybug Mecca) are pictured from the chest up, with Butterfly prominently in front wearing a green and yellow striped jacket. Directly below them, cutting horizontally across the circle, is a black, rounded rectangular banner containing the words "digable planets" and "reachin' (a new refutation of time and space)" in lowercase white font. Emerging from beneath this banner is a large, detailed, tangled cluster of golden-brown plant roots that extends down into the bottom half of the circle.

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 26/07/2026

I would pay decently for just this section in print (maybe a bit meatier as it used to be), to be delivered on a weekly basis

The Hartford Courant Sunday Comics section from July 26, 2026

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 26/07/2026

Okay we did damage Before ➡️ after

Medium fresh tomato pizza pie, large mozzarella pie, large cheese and sausage pie

2 slides fresh tomato pie, 3 slices mozzarella pie, 4 slides cheese and sausage pie

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 25/07/2026

Alright, waiting to get in for some good old New Haven apizza

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 23/07/2026

I got overzealous pouring a base.

An over-poured cappuccino making a mess on the counter

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 17/07/2026

It's easy to pour better than me, but it's also not hard to pour worse than me...

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 17/07/2026

A proper post (now with alt-text)!

The Oatmeal sketch of "Jimothy," a raccoon with Short Spine Syndrome, a syndrome where spinal vertebrate are fused and the limbs come directly out of the torso, which makes "Jimothy" look like Mike Wazowski from "Monsters, Inc," only in raccoon form.

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Spencer M Ross @srossmktg.com · 15/07/2026

In an early draft of our published paper on consumer resistance to sociotechnical transitions under neoliberalism, we cited more research on the "citizen-consumer," initially theorizing the two logics compete, but market logic tends to "win." The empirical context was actually Sweden.

Draft framework (Albinsson and Ross) of citizen-consumer resistance toward a cashless society featured a Venn diagram of the civic agency and market agency within the respective contexts of broader government (collective-orientation) and marketplace (individual-orientation). At the center of it all is the citizen-consumer. Emerging from that citizen consumer is an arrow of tensions that drive citizen-consumer resistance.

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