iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Olivia Garard @teaandtactics.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

My proxy for the AI debates is watching what’s going on with math. It’s wild. www.quantamagazine.org/updates/tran...

quantamagazine.org

Transformation | Quanta Magazine

A weekly dispatch exploring the latest news in math and AI…

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Olivia Garard @teaandtactics.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Whatever Anne Carson touches turns to gold. (But not in the problematic Midas way!)

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Olivia Garard @teaandtactics.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Kant wrote a short essay on counterfeit books. It’s fascinating and has relevance to the data use of LLMs. www.gutenberg.org/files/46060/...

gutenberg.org

Of the Injustice of Counterfeiting Books, by Immanuel Kant

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Elena Wicker @elenawicker.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

“Hey babe, whatcha cookin?” “MAPS FOR THE MEUSE-ARGONNE OFFENSIVE.”

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Kori Schake 🎃 @kschake.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I love this light-hearted poem by @teaandtactics.bsky.social with its window into the quotidian experience of military life.

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Olivia Garard @teaandtactics.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I have a new poem out: “How I almost got my call-sign” Check it out here: lethalmindsjournal.substack.com/p/lethal-min...

lethalmindsjournal.substack.com

Lethal Minds Volume 51

Volume 51, 01 October, 2026

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Olivia Garard @teaandtactics.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I have a new poem out: “How I almost got my call-sign” Check it out here: lethalmindsjournal.substack.com/p/lethal-min...

lethalmindsjournal.substack.com

Lethal Minds Volume 51

Volume 51, 01 October, 2026

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Olivia Garard @teaandtactics.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

“Seven Tang War Poems“ translated by Aaron Poochigian from ‘War, Literature & The Arts’ * They are not all Du Fu www.wlajournal.com/_files/ugd/1...

wlajournal.com

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brasidas @brasidas.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

A lot of weirdness in AI use is simply people going, "that man in the lake is so smart! I believe everything he says!"

Narcissus falling in love with his own reflection.

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Olivia Garard @teaandtactics.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I HAVE A FULL MANUSCRIPT. Now to get it published.

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Olivia Garard @teaandtactics.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Finally returning to my poetry manuscript. I’d love to actually get it out into the world. I know some poets suggest writing a poem and then putting it in a drawer for 3 mos...this may have been more like 3 years!

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Olivia Garard @teaandtactics.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

This book sounds like it would have to be terribly boring and it is anything but. Fascinating and, believe it or not, hard to put down.

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B. A. Friedman @bafriedman.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Needless to say, this is a crazy interpretation of Clausewitz.

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Olivia Garard @teaandtactics.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

I wish I could stop. It‘s a trainwreck. The Mao quotes are new and therefore valuable. “Is the difference between Mao and Mencius only semantic? Is the difference between Mao and Mencius a difference that makes a difference?” (p78) There could have been an editorial difference.

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EM Simpson @emsetc.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

‘Rah

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Olivia Garard @teaandtactics.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Happy Semiquincentennial! Reflecting on both the Declaration and Rosemarie Waldrop’s “Shorter American Memory of the Declaration of Independence.” www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/54440/...

poetryfoundation.org

Shorter American Memory of the Declaration of Independence

That to seduce these rims, graces are insulated among manatees, descanting their juvenile pragmatism from the consistency of the graced.

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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Today we celebrate the PDFing of "Declaration FINAL v3 USE THIS ONE - SIGNED.docx" (Jefferson's draft was heavily edited by the Committee, then again by Congress, and he was big mad about it.)

📂 Version 1.0 — June 20, 1776
File Name: Declaration_Draft_TJ_DO_NOT_EDIT.docx
Author: t_jefferson_33
Commit Message: "Initial copy-paste from my Mason_VA_Rights_Notes.txt and VA_Constitution_V2.docx scratchpads. Confine your review to grammar and typos, and do not redline, only leave comments."
Tracked Changes & Notes:
Line 14: "We hold these truths to be sacred & undeniable..."
Comment from t_jefferson_33: "Certified banger."
📂 Version 1.1 — June 24, 1776
File Name: Declaration_Draft_TJ_comments_JA_BF.docx
Editors: b_franklin_GrittyOG and JA_redsoxfan (obo Committee, w/ Sherman and Livingston)
Commit Message: "First pass by the Committee of Five. Modest style changes."
Tracked Changes & Notes:
47 revisions (redlined), three full new paragraphs
Deleted: "sacred & undeniable" * Inserted: "self-evident"
Comment from b_franklin_GrittyOG: "250 years from now, people will think you wrote that banger. You’re welcome."
📂 Version 2.0 — June 28, 1776
File Name: Declaration_Committee_Review_FINAL.docx
Author: t_jefferson_33
Commit Message: "Incorporated Ben and John's very minor edits of my excellent first draft into a clean copy. Ready for the Continental Congress to approve verbatim."

📂 Version 2.1 to 2.8 — July 2 – July 4, 1776
File Name: Declaration_CONGRESS_REVISED2_redline_NEW_v4_approved..docx
Editors: Continental_Congress Group Chat (50+ active users)
Commit Message: "Line-by-line review by committee. Light trimming, a mere 20% of the original text. Optimizing for colonial unity."
Tracked Changes & Notes:
❌ CRITICAL DELETION: 300 word imprudent diatribe against KG III for transatlantic slave trade (“waging cruel war against human nature”).
Comment from dunkin_delegate: “Jefferson wrote that? He always struck me as a smug hypocrite. #IYKYK”
Comment from SC_delegation_delegate: "I thought we agreed this issue was off the table for now. It can be amicably settled later."
❌ DELETION: Large sections complaining about the ordinary British public being "deaf to the voice of justice."
Comment from NY_delegation_hub: "Guys, let's keep the finger pointed strictly at King George. If we trash the British citizens, we ruin any chance of future trade partnerships or alliances. Keep it professional."
➕ INSERTION: Added "appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world" and "with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence" to the closing paragraph.
Comment from Middlesex_Conservative: "Marketing requested more religious claptrap to ensure maximum buy-in from the zealots."
System Notification: User t_jefferson_33 reacted 👎(39 instances).
📂 Version 3.0 (Production) — July 4, 1776 (Late Morning)
File Name: Declaration_of_Independence_FINAL_v3_USE_THIS_ONE_SIGNED.docx
Editors: john_hancock_big_font
Commit Message: "Approved. Shipped to the printers. John Hancock didn't realize his zoom level was at 200% when he signed. Committee unable to find the one intern who can resize images, shipping anyway."
System Notification: User t_jefferson_33 has left the chat.

The draft of the Declaration was revised first by Adams and Franklin, and then by the full committee. A total of 47 alterations, including the insertion of three complete paragraphs, were made to the text before it was presented to Congress on June 28. After voting for independence on July 2, Congress continued to refine the document, making 39 additional revisions to the committee draft before its final adoption on the morning of July 4.

The draft shows the multiplicity of corrections, additions and deletions that were made at each step. Although most of the alterations are in Jefferson's handwriting (Jefferson later indicated which changes he believed were made by Adams and Franklin), he felt slighted by the way Congress rewrote the manuscript. In a consoling letter of July 21, 1776, the state's senior delegate, Richard Henry Lee, wrote to Jefferson that he wished that "the manuscript had not been mangled as it is." In an 1823 letter to Madison, Jefferson wrote that, at the time, "during the debate, I was sitting by Dr. Franklin and he observed that I was writhing a little under the acrimonious criticisms" of Congress. In fact, as Congress neared completion of the document by altering nearly all of his last paragraph, Jefferson could only write in the margin "a different phraseology inserted." Jefferson remained bitter about the changes made to the Declaration of Independence right up to his death. His autobiography was a major effort to set the record straight on its writing.

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Olivia Garard @teaandtactics.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

My sister, the artist, dropping knowledge bombs. Take a look! Watch. Subscribe or share. youtu.be/P6hWCaLLQoU?...

youtu.be

I Finally Learned the Difference Between Feedback and Critique

YouTube video by Margaretta Studio

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Olivia Garard @teaandtactics.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

In case you thought I was exaggerating: “This problem is not unique to Western or Chinese philosophy; it is a problem that is a problem for both Western and Chinese philosophy. It is a problem that may be said to lack a coherent solution.” (p. 50) This sentence is a problem without a solution.

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Olivia Garard @teaandtactics.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

This is the worst written book I have ever read. (King’s Command is a very distant second.) It is repetitive, tautological, and inconsistent, often in one sentence. Yet, when quoting Mao, remains fascinating. I would willingly sacrifice this to the LLM-Gods for the pain it causes when reading.

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ArtButMakeItSports @artbutmakeitsports.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Untitled, by Alma Thomas, 1968 (slightly rotated), 📸 by Justin Setterfield

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The Kyiv Independent @kyivindependent.com · 20/06/2026

These are the indicative estimates of Russia’s combat losses as of June 20, according to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

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Olivia Garard @teaandtactics.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

I enjoyed these. Reminds me of Robert Fitterman’s Sprawl.

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Olivia Garard @teaandtactics.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

I wish academics were required to be good writers to be academics. It would make reading less like a cross between proofreading and grading a poorly written exam.

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B. A. Friedman @bafriedman.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Seapower is coming back.