iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Whitney McNamara @whitneymcn.mastodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 16/10/2026

I feel like I'm seeing an increasing number of Fedi posts that are exploring areas in interested in, but the links are to (1) a YouTube video, and then (2) to an audio podcast, with no text-first link offered. I can personally work with/around the options offered, so just an observation.

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Reposted by Whitney McNamara

[object Object] @zzt.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 14/10/2026

as someone who’s been doing LLM critique since ChatGPT’s first public release and AI critique much longer than that: do you know how allergic AI boosters are to shame, to being made fun of, to resistance? they need you to take them seriously on their terms and they’ll do everything they can to […]

mas.to

Original post on mas.to

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Reposted by Whitney McNamara

Glyph @glyph.im · 12/10/2026

*In general* I love Banned Books Week because in general the books that are banned are banned for bad reasons. But I would very much like to make sure that The Turner Diaries is not available in my child's library. Nobody actually has a content-neutral opinion on book banning and I wish we could […]

mastodon.social

Original post on mastodon.social

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Whitney McNamara @whitneymcn.mastodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 08/10/2026

I was quite seriously just thinking this: no human copyeditor would have let that get through, Microsoft just assumed the AI review would be fine.

wandering.shop

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Whitney McNamara @whitneymcn.mastodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 03/10/2026

Younger me would never have predicted that "why does the hair in my right ear seem to grow so much faster than the hair on my left ear" would take up so much brain space for 50s me, but here we are.

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Whitney McNamara @whitneymcn.mastodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 01/10/2026

OH, waiting for the G train: "To me, losing my phone would be worse than losing my wallet. Everything in my wallet is on my phone, anyway. "

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Reposted by Whitney McNamara

myrmepropagandist @futurebird.sauropods.win.ap.brid.gy · 28/09/2026

I had a big thread on Sunday about how people feel about "AI" and the attempt to make older people feel like if they aren't into AI they are falling behind the times. Some responses seemed to think I meant that AI hype is all the fault of boomers. I don't really think that. (and didn't say it […]

sauropods.win

Original post on sauropods.win

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Reposted by Whitney McNamara

Leah McElrath @leahmcelrath.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

AP Stylebook warns against anthropomorphizing AI systems: “Avoid language that gives them human characteristics… Instead, explain what a system does, how well it performs, who built it and who could be affected by it.”

APStylebook @APStylebook
X.com
Artificial intelligence systems do not think, feel, want or understand. Avoid language that gives them human characteristics. This is called anthropomorphizing, when we ascribe human traits, emotions or behaviors to non-human things, such as animals or inanimate objects.
Instead, explain what a system does, how well it performs, who built it and who could be affected by it.

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Reposted by Whitney McNamara

neville park @nev.flipping.rocks.ap.brid.gy · 21/09/2026

Comrades. IT'S TIME. #FatBearWeek 2026 is upon us. explore.org/fat-bear-week 🐻 For the first time, the bracket includes bear families (mother and cubs), "in recognition of the record high number of bear families (19) and cubs (37) at Brooks River in summer 2026"! Find out about all the […]

flipping.rocks

Original post on flipping.rocks

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Whitney McNamara @whitneymcn.mastodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 19/09/2026

Just drinking coffee, scrolling through my mastodon feed, and learning that the World Tram Driver Championship is a thing that happens. It seems somehow appropriate that Google can't generate an AI summary for the event.

A screenshot of an android phone displaying the Google search results for "world tram driver championship."

Of particular note: the AI overview section of the results says "can't generate an AI overview right now. Try again later."

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Reposted by Whitney McNamara

Theodora Ward @theodoraward.wandering.shop.ap.brid.gy · 12/09/2026

if i rig up a random number generator to a bomb, program it to generate a number between 1 and 20 every five minutes, set the bomb to go off if i roll a 20, begin the random number generator, then leave the room, i am liable for when the bomb goes off. the fact that a deeply stupid […]

wandering.shop

Original post on wandering.shop

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Whitney McNamara @whitneymcn.mastodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 10/09/2026

My plants are a shitshow right now, so I try not to judge others' urban gardening decisions, but if the sidewalk looks like this after you've watered the six pots on your front stoop, you fucked up.

The sidewalk in front of a Brooklyn brownstone, soaked in water.

Not visible in the image is that there are six potted plants on the associated front stoop.

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Whitney McNamara @whitneymcn.mastodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 09/09/2026

Every once in a while I think about the fact that it's *normal* for me for basically everyone I know to know off the top of their head that there are 86,400 seconds in a day.

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Reposted by Whitney McNamara

Matt Blaze @mattblaze.federate.social.ap.brid.gy · 08/09/2026

The first batches of mail-in ballots from North Carolina were apparently accepted by the USPS on Friday (sent only to voters who had requested them), despite Trump's contested executive order and new USPS regulations. Is anyone here a mail-in voter from NC? Have you received your ballot yet? […]

federate.social

Original post on federate.social

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Whitney McNamara @whitneymcn.mastodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 05/09/2026

I enjoy that "weekend beige" is a phrase, concept, and/or lifestyle that I just absorbed through some kind of Mastodon osmosis over the past few years.

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Whitney McNamara @whitneymcn.mastodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 31/08/2026

It's totally fine to leave your house, have an interaction with people, and walk away thinking "FUCK, now I'm weird, and those people know it." It's anxiety, and it's manageable.

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Reposted by Whitney McNamara

emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

History/law people: If you had to imagine how Stephen Miller might use Grant's suspension of habeas in SC as a model now, what source would you point to to explain how and why? Logic being that DOJ is manufacturing conspiracies. What would it look like to mimic the 1871 conspiracies?

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Whitney McNamara @whitneymcn.mastodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 23/08/2026

Hanging out with the 10yo in a little piece of 1977 that seems have gotten broken off and gotten lodged in our living room: we're playing Othello while watching the Rankin/Bass The Hobbit, and drinking Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray. I hope she's enjoying my childhood.

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Reposted by Whitney McNamara

Boris Mann @boris.cosocial.ca.ap.brid.gy · 23/08/2026

A lovely excuse to learn some Australian slang as part of a write up of how Canada walked away from negotiating with Trump ifloz.substack.com/p/king-carney-ac…

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Whitney McNamara @whitneymcn.mastodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 21/08/2026

YMMV, but if you somehow see this I think it's a legit recommendation: you should probably try reading a book written by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I'm happy to make recommendations on a starting point if you don't immediately know someone in the Fediverse who is already doing so.

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Reposted by Whitney McNamara

myrmepropagandist @futurebird.sauropods.win.ap.brid.gy · 21/08/2026

Let's suppose that tomorrow every data center and LLM service just stops working. It all freezes up. What is the damage? I think some high-volume low quality content creators would be in some trouble. Some search engines and cloud software would need to be reverted. Some companies would need to […]

sauropods.win

Original post on sauropods.win

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Whitney McNamara @whitneymcn.mastodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 14/08/2026

One of the many things I love about the beach town we come to every summer is the presence of the Wu Tang house.

A small, fairly modern-looking house; the building itself isn't particularly notable, but the front yard (which is artificial grass) is filled with LED palm trees, large lawn flamingos, a fake dog skeleton, a giant metallic rooster with glowing red eyes, and...well, let your imagination fill in the rest.

Towards the front of the lawn is a small yard sign (the size of US political ya4d signs) that reads "Wu Tang is Forever."

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Reposted by Whitney McNamara

Leander Lindahl @leanderlindahl.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 13/08/2026

I don't get the argument that public institutions "have to be where people are". Why? Pornhub has about the same amount of monthly active users as X. No one thinks our EU commissioners or the Swedish parliament must be on Pornhub. In the pre-socials era no one expected the prime minister to […]

mastodon.social

Original post on mastodon.social

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Whitney McNamara @whitneymcn.mastodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 09/08/2026

Starting day three on the north fork of Long Island. We've yet to have a meal that didn't involve tomatoes, corn, or peaches from a farmstand. Sometimes all three. Deeply content.

A beach landscape, early in the morning.

Taken from the beach, looking out into the Peconic bay. There are clusters of beach grass on the foreground, and a wooden jetty leading out to the water in the center of the scene.

To the left, the sun is just a bit above the horizon and casting a long reflection on the water.

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Whitney McNamara @whitneymcn.mastodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 02/08/2026

There are a number of things in today's NYT that make me angry, so I'm going to pick the most petty one: "men shouldn't wear shorts to work" merits an opinion piece? I get that the idea might have been to bring something a little more light-hearted to the opinion pages, but that was not a good […]

mastodon.xyz

Original post on mastodon.xyz

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Whitney McNamara @whitneymcn.mastodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 31/07/2026

The kittens do not yet understand that they are inside cats, and I get many resentful glares when I go into the back yard.

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Whitney McNamara @whitneymcn.mastodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 31/07/2026

One of our neighbors put one of those ceramic phrenology heads out on the sidewalk (among other things), and I am reminding myself that we have no need whatsoever for a ceramic phrenology head.

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Whitney McNamara @whitneymcn.mastodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 29/07/2026

Another grey and rainy morning, and this hosta is here for it. #bloomScrolling

A single white flower -- six gently pointed petals surrounding a cluster of long stamen, with a cluster of buds behind it.

They're growing from a hosta, but I no longer remember what variety. Light green leaves, fairly broad and ribbed.

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Whitney McNamara @whitneymcn.mastodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 26/07/2026

I have never yet watched a #monsterdon movie in real time (though I have seen a surprising number of the selections in the past), but I also usually don't mute the hashtag on Sunday nights. Y'all are fantastic.

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Whitney McNamara @whitneymcn.mastodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 25/07/2026

One of the things that I love about living in Brooklyn is that I walked to the grocery store this morning thinking "of course they'll have tamarind paste," and I was correct. I also love that the instructions for use on the jar are "use for cooking."

A photograph of part of the label on a jar of tamarind paste, the key element being the instructions for use printed there. They are:

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE: USE FOR COOKING

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Whitney McNamara @whitneymcn.mastodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 25/07/2026

I'm not a particularly sentimental person for the most part, but I took Powerful Pete off of my grandfather's key ring after his death, and it's not leaving my key ring until my death.

A ring of keys sitting on a wooden table, but what's important and in focus is the little sheet metal "pocket screw driver," which has stamped onto it:

POWERFUL PETE
Pocket screw driver - fits most screws
The W.C. Cook Co

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Reposted by Whitney McNamara

When asked if the art on his covers was AI-generated, Chuck Tingle replies “If I want my bisexual Mothman erotica, by darn, it's going to be made by human hands.”

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Whitney McNamara @whitneymcn.mastodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 16/07/2026

So NYC isn't sepia for this iteration of wildfire smoke, as it was the last time around, but you can smell and see it. I'm no climate scientist, but this doesn't seem good. And anecdote isn't evidence, but "I'm a 55 year old New Yorker and I never encountered this before a couple of years ago" […]

mastodon.xyz

Original post on mastodon.xyz

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Whitney McNamara @whitneymcn.mastodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 09/07/2026

I've never planted any dahlias before, and now I'm wondering why not. #bloomScrolling

A single "rocket dahlia" flower. Dozens of deep red, spiky petals radiating out from a dark purple center.

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Whitney McNamara @whitneymcn.mastodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 05/07/2026

I don't really care about who wins the world cup, but I'm arbitrarily Morocco vs. France in the next stage, assuming that's where we go.

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Whitney McNamara @whitneymcn.mastodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 03/07/2026

Wherever you live, if some horrible dipshit happens to be making a speech on the 4th of July, please just ignore them.

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Whitney McNamara @whitneymcn.mastodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 02/07/2026

Just messaged my work folks about a change to a tool we use frequently with the sentence "I don't yet know whether I hate it, or it's just new."

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Reposted by Whitney McNamara

myrmepropagandist @futurebird.sauropods.win.ap.brid.gy · 01/07/2026

"People sometimes end up on obscure sites run by just... anyone. A page made by a local club is as easy to find as a corporate site." I didn't realize that the guy I was talking with about the internet in 1999 thought of this as a *problem* to be solved... not what made the internet awesome […]

sauropods.win

Original post on sauropods.win

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Whitney McNamara @whitneymcn.mastodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 25/06/2026

Up until two or so years ago, we had a neighbor who -- I realized after the fact -- would, right around this day of the year, go into their back yard, light a fire in their grill, and one by one tear pages out of a notebook and throw them into the fire. I never asked them about this ritual, but […]

mastodon.xyz

Original post on mastodon.xyz

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Whitney McNamara @whitneymcn.mastodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 25/06/2026

Okay, we're all #goose all the time on here right now? I'm okay with that.

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Whitney McNamara @whitneymcn.mastodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 24/06/2026

@futurebird We seem to have some young ant lovers in Brooklyn.

A handmade sign, diamond shaped, placed in a "tree pit" planter in Brooklyn. The sign reads "ants at work" and has an arrow pointing down to the soil.

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Whitney McNamara @whitneymcn.mastodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 24/06/2026

Someone at Accenture was really proud of coming up with this tagline for their ad campaign.

One of those in-elevator TV screens you find in corporate buildings, displaying an ad for Accenture with the tagline "together, we reinvented the corporate grind."

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