iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Civics education in the US is in a sorry state, judging by some of the crap I'm seeing in campaign ads

Reposted by Aardvark Cheeselog

Jenny Hunter @jennyhunter.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

It’s also kind of like if the first thing you did upon waking up was check to make sure there were no monsters under your bed, and you were using that as evidence that there’s a monster epidemic

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Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

"Why are we paying for all of these disaster-prevention measures when we never suffer any disasters?"

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Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Since MAGA got the Strait of Hormuz closed, I have been waiting for them to start talking about export bans on US petroleum to keep prices down. Today, @pkrugman.bsky.social delivers the word substack.com/home/post/p-...

substack.com

Donald the Deadbeat Does Diesel

Trump gets ready to stiff more contractors

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Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

@bretdevereaux.bsky.social did you see this one La Tène river shipment gone missing

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Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

I pine for the days when I could put a search query to a website and get back "nothing found" An empty result set can be useful, but an infinitely scrolling list of results from queries that are not the one I entered, but ones with words changed or removed, is just a wild goose chase

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Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

It was always obvious that the people complaining loudest about having been cancelled were doing so from highly visible positions where their claims were seen by basically anybody who was looking at current events.

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Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

I saw the allusion to amateurs taking tactics while pros study logistics needing an update to include "and doofuses talk testosterone," and thought about Clausewitz's (drink!) 4 kinds of officers, realizing that Hegseth is a pure example of the stupid energetic kind. @bretdevereaux.bsky.social

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Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

OTOH if the source of the error is 25% of DSA chapters, 1) that's a minute contact surface, socially and 2) not something most Ds, even most progressives, have any influence over. Leftism splintering over a moral call about the limits of the possible is a tale as old as time.

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Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Could it be that they're just so in the habit of lying about everything that it popped out by reflex before they could think about whether it would be a good idea to speak the truth?

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Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

We reached the point at least a decade ago, when the Comedy Channel had better political journalism than the mainstream media. Now we're at the place where _only_ the jesters are allowed to speak truth.

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Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

That's one take. Another is, "When people we don't like win elections, that is election fraud. Because the purpose of elections is to put our people in charge." Incidentally I wonder how hard it was to choose a metric to produce such a geographically one-sided map.

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Reposted by Aardvark Cheeselog

Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 21/06/2026

"The Americans can't get the slime out of their capital's monument pool and will arrest you for touching it," sounds like the sort of lie they'd tell us in the Soviet Union so we'd stop bitching about bread lines.

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Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

I think how obvious it was depended on where you were looking from. In '83 this analysis was available www.goodreads.com/en/book/show... That vast military machine existed mainly on paper

goodreads.com

The Threat: Inside the Soviet Military Machine

This book is recommended for any of those who wish to k…

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Reposted by Aardvark Cheeselog

Kerim Friedman 傅可恩 @kerim.one · 03/06/2025

On this June 4th, wishing for a world with more people willing to stand in front of the tanks, and less who are willing to drive them.

This wide-angle aerial photograph shows a broad avenue with a column of military tanks positioned down the center of the street. The tanks appear to be Type 59 or similar models, arranged in a single-file line stretching into the distance. In the foreground, a solitary figure can be seen standing directly in front of the lead tank, though from this elevated perspective the person appears quite small. The avenue is flanked by rows of trees on both sides, with large open plaza areas visible. In the background, there are multi-story buildings and what appears to be a large public square or gathering area. The photograph has the characteristic color tone and grain of film photography from the late 1980s.

This is the famous wide-shot perspective of the "Tank Man" incident at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, taken on June 4, 1989, capturing the moment when an unknown protester stood in front of a column of tanks following the government crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations.

(ALT Text by Claude AI)

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Reposted by Aardvark Cheeselog

Josh Chafetz @joshchafetz.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

A 51-49 Dem Senate is one in which, for example, many Trump nominees never even make it out of committee, making it irrelevant which way Fetterman or Platner or whomever would vote on the floor.

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Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Need to get hold of @white2tea.bsky.social for some replacement Standard Ruyao lids. This makes two of the pearl ones that are lidless now. #tea #teasky

A photograph of a couple of square feet of tiled floor, upon which are scattered the pieces of a broken gaiwan lid.

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Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

100% inaccurate 100% of the time.

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Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

Trump is going to ride this bomb all the way to the ground: when will The Markets wake up to this? When all the petroleum reserves are dry and reality can't be ignored anymore? www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

theguardian.com

Trump claims to be on verge of peace deal but Iran signals no agreement reached

US president did not announce decision on deal that could open strait of Hormuz after two-hour situation room meet

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Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Somebody is also making bank every week at opening of trading, shorting on the rumors of peace deals over the weekend that were causing prices to go down for a day in overseas trading

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Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Grauniad headlines right now The Market is a chump, getting rube-rolled here

Screen cap of Guardian headlines: "Iran denies any deal" with the US, and right after that "Oil prices fall below $100/bbl on hopes of Iran peace deal."

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Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

I kept waiting for a face-hugger or a cat to jump out of the box

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Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Not wanting to count sheep before they're hatched but it seems all but certain that there will be enough backlash to doom the R House majority, well beyond range of any known ratfucking techniques. Some of the R redistricting might even backfire, and wind up flipping previously-safe districts.

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Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Got this 2004 Nanjian (I think) tuo from @white2tea.bsky.social back in 2016. After 10 years in my storage it's time to try a taste. #tea #teasky

A photograph of a bamboo puer-breaking tray with a tea pick and an unwrapped 100g tuocha upon it. In the background is the wrapper from the tuo.

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Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026... I feel pretty sure this is going to backfire. Dilute The Republican dominance of safe districts to marginally favor winning in previous no-go zones, in a year where your Party's President is less popular than last week's garbage?

theguardian.com

Florida’s Republican governor signs state’s new congressional map into law

Ron DeSantis approves maps that give Republicans an advantage in four more races in November’s midterms

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Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

Retcon "Calvinball" to "arbitrary and capricious judgements corrupted by factional partiality" and you've got something that sounds like an indictment of King George

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Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

When will we have D officers and candidates with the courage to say it loud that Republicans are too stupid or delusional to govern? Because you know that the R leaders behind this _actually believe_ that discrimination against white guys is a problem.

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Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

"I admit I sure did fuck that up" is in fact the beginning of wisdom, and the pissing on this person for doing that is kind of depressing

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Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

The only winning move is to not start the game.

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Reposted by Aardvark Cheeselog

Fiona Tribe @fionatribe.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Yes, Swiss scientist Fritz Zwicky coined the term “dark matter” which is impressive, but he also coined the term “spherical bastard” to describe people who are bastards no matter which way you look at them, and I think that should be celebrated more.

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Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

It is, however, the right move if the goal is for Republican governance to so totally shit the bed that many people who always thought they were Republicans to change their minds for the rest of their lives, marginalizing MAGA.

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Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Look at the bright side. If Iran maintains a stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz indefinitely, causing a 20% decline in oil consumption going forward, that will accelerate the deployment of renewable alternatives.

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Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

This 2006 Mengku Rongshi Da Xue Shan is reminding me why I like puer cha #teasky

A gaiwan, open to show a charge of partially-steeped tea, a teacup filled with the red-orange soup of dry-stored aged raw puer, and an oversized 20-sided die sit upon a blue tea towel. In the background are a cockle shell, a pub glass with the tea drain rinse, and a piece of white paper with uncut red gemstones scattered next to a brass vernier caliper.

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Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

On a long car ride with spouse last weekend, listening to a book on Audible and having it be constantly interrupted with alerts, I grabbed her phone and disabled all the alerts that were not for messaging and alarms. Every app installs with alerts on, even though most alerts are not interesting.

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Reposted by Aardvark Cheeselog

Judah Grunstein @judah-grunstein.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

To be clear, I think it's fair to assume the can opener of Russia (or the US and Israel) being too risk averse to attack a nuclear-armed state. But in a world where that assumption proves to be unjustified, I think people underestimate how difficult this decision really is.

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Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

Because they know a cartoon version of history where the whole Articles of Confederation period just didn't happen

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hikikomorphism @hikikomorphism.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

...running an attack on heaven by sinmaxxing so hard Christ converts into a black hole from sheer acquired mass-energy and oneshots God by trapping him in something not even His light can escape from

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Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

This 2012 Mengku Rongshi Qiao Mu Wang is not even old enough to drive, let alone to drink. But I'm drinking it anyway. #teasky

A gaiwan, a tea cup, and a cha he with a charge of semi-aged raw puer tea leaf, resting upon a tea towel

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Reposted by Aardvark Cheeselog

Jon Phillips @jowiph.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

The real question is whether he's got the juice to break through the Crazification Factor and go sub-27%

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MdDoogie3 @mddoogie3.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

I don’t really know what I expect in posting this, but maybe some people see it and can learn from it. I’ll call it “lessons from an unwilling immigration attorney.” 1/

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Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

The King's Hessians are abusing the locals and ravishing their daughters.

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Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

It's a format that never gets old. Orwell documented it 100 years ago, maybe it was Wigan Pier, or else Down and Out. You don't need to be an Orwell completist to benefit by reading those.

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Aardvark Cheeselog @wades.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

I like the characterization that hope is the epistemically humble position Despair is thinking that you know what the future will be Hope is leaving open the possibility that you're mistaken

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