iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Oh, oh, I know this one. The answer is "Pete Hegseth is a fucking idiot." Nailed it.

i think just how some things make no logical sense. for instance, many WNBA playoff games were on NBC-owned cable stations like USA, but they *weren't* available on Peacock. why not? this happens sometimes with Premier League soccer as well. makes no sense. just put it on both.

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KeithSmithNBA @keithsmithnba.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Payton Pritchard is extending via the Estimated Average Player Salary (EAPS). Because his current contract is less than EAPS, Prichard is eligible to extend for 140% of EAPS with 8% raises. That should look like this for Pritchard: 28-29: $21.2M 29-30: $22.9M (mutual option)

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Maggie Harrison Dupré @mharrisondupre.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Character.AI, which was valued at more than $1b in 2023, is bankrupt. CAI's founders once argued that they were building superintelligence. The startup went on to face wrongful death lawsuits, safety concerns, financial struggles, and user-hated platform changes: futurism.com/artificial-i...

Character.AI is a fascinating case study of the early AI era. It was the first company to face allegations of psychological harm and wrongful death to users, claims that other major players in the industry are now battling too. Yet in attempting, eventually, to make its freewheeling platform safer, it also made it unusable and deeply frustrating for much of its userbase — suggesting that the qualities that allegedly made its platform so dangerous to some young users were the same features that made it compelling.

At the same time, despite immense investments, it struggled to do something that, from a business perspective, is pretty important: make money. And unfortunately for the broader AI industry — and the American economy — that specific issue isn’t unique to Character.AI.

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Paul Swydan @swydan.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

these are the people who want to hunt humans for sport, if they're not already doing so.

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Anna 🌿👁️ @annacwebs.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

I don't think companies realize this yet but going "complete AI game development" isn't giving "the future" it's giving "we're broke." Like y'all just don't want to pay wages.

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Paul Swydan @swydan.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Or it could be because he's exhibited the same douchey entitlement that his uncles have and after an entire generation of that behavior, people have had it with the Manning's? I dunno, just spitballing. www.espn.com/college-foot...

espn.com

Sarkisian: 'Manning' name leading to outsized criticism of Arch

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian defended Arch Manning on Monday following the upset loss to Oklahoma, saying the "Manning" name is leading to greater scrutiny.

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Joe Sheehan @sheehannewsletter.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Not to make everything about labor, but MLB and the teams keep 100% of the money from postseason TV, while sharing 50-60% of postseason ticket revenue with the players. Their incentive to price playoff tickets to maximize attendance is limited at best.

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Bradford William Davis @bwd.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

I wrote about a Big Pharma titan paying billions in opioid related settlements, a baseball family ruined by their son's addiction to its painkillers and...MLB's Official Pharmaceutical Partner issa new [eyeblack]

readeyeblack.com

Big Opioid is sponsoring the MLB playoffs

The family of an incarcerated baseball lifer hooked on its painkillers wants to know why.

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Paul Swydan @swydan.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Dan Quinn just wanted to make sure that no one thought John Harbaugh was the dumbest coach alive. Mighty nice of him. Very classy.

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Paul Swydan @swydan.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

ICYMI I wrote my favorite yearly piece!

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Paul Swydan @swydan.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

His explosiveness on the breakaway was especially eye opening.

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Paul Swydan @swydan.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Wait there's a whole week off before the WNBA Finals start? Uh, sure.

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Paul Swydan @swydan.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Thinking back to preseason last year when Mazzulla pulled guys for missing a single box out. Either he's mellowed significantly (I doubt it) or he feels a lot better about the team this season.

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Paul Swydan @swydan.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Paul George is playing much better now that we have a big lead.

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Paul Swydan @swydan.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Looks like the C's still haven't figured out how to guard Tyrese Maxey.

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Paul Swydan @swydan.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

It was a long 33 days for me not writing about NBA basketball, but we're so back! Included in this year's edition of my most intriguing East players are Hugo González, Karl-Anthony Towns, Moussa Diabaté, Kelly Oubre Jr., Justin Edwards. And of course, JB. green-tint.ghost.io/10-most-intr...

green-tint.ghost.io

10 Most Intriguing Eastern Conference Players, 2026-2027

We're so back. The more I think about this season, the more excited I am, because there's a chance that the new tanking rules work. And that would mean that the entire regular season will be awesome, ...

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Paul Swydan @swydan.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

you know, people always talk about "punching" their ticket, but never about gently patting their ticket on the back and telling it it did a great job. more support for tickets imo.

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Marisa Ingemi @mingemi.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

if you want me on your radio or tv show about the Valkyries this week I will do it

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Marisa Ingemi @mingemi.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Now is a great time to subscribe to Valkyries Beat going into the WNBA Finals, folks. www.valkyriesbeat.com/upgrade

valkyriesbeat.com

Upgrade | Valkyries Beat

Inside the Golden State Valkyries from the perspective of a women's sports journalist.

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Renée Graham 🏳️‍🌈 @rygraham.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Talking out of both sides of her mouth is clearly a family trait.

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Paul Swydan @swydan.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Gotta be very few "tech people are out of touch" examples better than my phone trying to autocorrect "Chalupa" to "champagne." Sorry, no, I just want my Taco Bell, I'm not classy enough for champagne!!

static.klipy.com

Lucille Bluth: What Could a Banana Cost?

Alt: Lucille Bluth: What Could a Banana Cost?

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Paul Swydan @swydan.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Ya I don't do crosswords lol. I was just listening to them.

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Paul Swydan @swydan.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

The 1980s were great because you could be like "our band name is Mr. Mister" and everyone else would just be like "yeah, alright."

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Paul Swydan @swydan.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

yeah. truly the best of times.

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Paul Swydan @swydan.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

I would absolutely tell my sales rep that. Of course, I don't currently have a sales rep for Europa Editions, because my last sales rep retired, and even though he gave a year's notice, somehow they didn't replace him in time. 🤔

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Paul Swydan @swydan.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

yes, Brown. And a little more Evans too, I think. I dunno, I saw Brown and Evans helping them late in that game and I was like "where were these two in the other five playoff games?" They seemed like much better solutions than Yamamoto and even Lloyd. But maybe I shouldn't read too much into 1 half.

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Paul Swydan @swydan.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

In a world where George Floyd wasn't murdered, it simply would have been different books that got recommended and those would have become runaway bestsellers. But that's not the world we live in. The lesson is that people want community, not that they're "tired" of learning or whatever.

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Paul Swydan @swydan.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Finally, people read more during the pandemic because they were home doing nothing. There were no new shows, sports took awhile to come back. People wanted community. When people said read "This Book Is Anti-Racist" or "White Fragility" they did to feel community.

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Paul Swydan @swydan.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

There are obviously other issues. Too much money for celebrity books, for starters. They're already celebrities, they don't need gigantic advances. But that's not a battle worth fighting. But most of the issues -- what's presented in this article and what isn't -- IS fixable. So I remain hopeful.

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Paul Swydan @swydan.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

I often get to host events for sports books because I'm one of the few booksellers/stores who understands sports books. But I think the same is true on the *publisher* side. There are very few imprints that even understand sports, let alone specialize in them. Sports is not alone in this regard.

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Paul Swydan @swydan.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

The one thing that wasn't mentioned though is publisher consolidation. It's always publisher consolidation. Publishers want more book, and so less time is spent with each, it's harder for subject-matter experts to rise up in each house because you have to be flexible, etc.

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Paul Swydan @swydan.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Too often, current events books *are* getting paperback releases, but people are less likely to buy something in paperback about something that now feels stale. But if it sold in hardcover, it'll get a paperback release. Whereas more timeless books that don't sell in HC get axed in PB.

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Paul Swydan @swydan.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

I also agree with the lack of paperbacks for non-fiction being a problem. The article talks about how non-fiction writers are rarely the selling point, the topic or angle more frequently is. It's because of that lack of investment in the *author.* But I also think the wrong books get made into PB.

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Paul Swydan @swydan.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

The problem there is that publishers whet their beaks with $40 hardcovers with people like Rick Atkinson. It worked for his books because the type of reader who buys it may only read 2-3 books a year, so they care less about one being $40 as opposed to $30 or $35. But that logic doesn't scale.

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Paul Swydan @swydan.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

As many people have shared, this article was really awesome. Some find it depressing. I don't. Because I think there are plenty of solutions. I want to say I'll have time to write this up fully, but I probably won't, so a few thoughts. I agree with the bit about hardcover prices, to start.

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Paul Swydan @swydan.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

I didn't watch this series as closely because of the time of day it was on, but it seemed like she changed up rotations in second half last night, and that worked for the better?

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Valkyries Beat @valkyriesbeat.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

what a year to be a Valkyries newsletter

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Paul Swydan @swydan.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

I am predisposed to not liking Williams. I really don't like UCONN, I really don't like the Warriors, and I'm rooting for the Aces. But Williams was doing things late in this game that the other players were just not capable of doing. Impressive stuff.

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Paul Swydan @swydan.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Gabby Williams is really good. #analysis

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Paul Swydan @swydan.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

So do you think the Sky regret the Angel Reese trade every day, or just every other day?

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Paul Swydan @swydan.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Great job by the Dream to pick up Rhyne Howard after that unforced error on the turnover.

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Paul Swydan @swydan.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

i will say that it's always stunning to me that university presses don't tap their endowments to keep the prices of their books lower. a UP book winning prestigious prizes or becoming bestsellers is some of the best marketing schools can get. and yet ... $35 paperbacks. mystifying.

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Really enjoyed this piece, which implicitly suggests another good reason to support small and university presses as much as you can: many of them are the ones willing and ready to take chances on nonfiction books that big five publishers are more than ever too scared to take on.

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Robby Kalland @rkalland.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

one of my favorite snl jokes ever was on da superfans when they ask who would win in a fight between one giant ditka or 100 miniature ditkas and the answer is "trick question, they get along swimmingly"

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Paul Swydan @swydan.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

There's usually 1-2 guys where when you see them, you're immediately like "wow I can't wait until this guy falls out of the rotation." Chris Boucher was last season. Last night, I had the opposite reaction. Cenac, Mitchell, Carter -- all I thought was "how are all these guys going to play?"

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