iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Morgan Golf-French

Sexy Plato's Cave @andrewblair.co.uk · 2h

Gone on holiday and I think this hotel is haunted by George Michael

Soap and a box of tissues, labelled “Carex” and “Whisper” respectively

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Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 11h

NEW BOOK: my first children's book is out this week. It's an encyclopedia of Europe for 8-12s.

Cover of book called Extraordinary Europe with the title in shiny letters and a map of Europe in the background.

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ae @aelkus.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

it just blows my mind now that during a nationwide persecution of trans trump is going to get people fired for using super intelligence’s deadname

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Daniel Jacobius Morgan @jacobius.bsky.social · 23h

Last minute re-up of this. Deadline is next week!

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Andrew Lawrence @ndrew.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

they did the thing

an october 11 2025 post from me reading: every single tech idea is like “soon our robots will be capable of playing catch with your kid, freeing you up to spend more time working on your employers’ spreadsheets”

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Archive of @britishacademy.bsky.social Fellow Stuart Hall is now live. Includes looking at his impact on the history of communication theory, culminating in the architecture of contemporary AI models www.theguardian.com/society/2026... Archive link: stuarthalldigital.bham.ac.uk/archival_mat...

theguardian.com

Thatcherism via the Walkman: Stuart Hall’s British cultural studies preserved online

Project lead says it celebrates ‘incredible contributions’ Jamaica-born sociologist made to Britain’s culture

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Morgan Golf-French @zenothankyou.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

This came up because I'm tracing the correspondence between Maty and Ernst II of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. I've got Maty-to-Ernst (held in Gotha) but trying to find Ernst-to-Maty (presumably in the UK). I'm far less familiar with the British archival landscape so if anybody has any tips plz let me know!

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Morgan Golf-French @zenothankyou.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Say what you want about AI, but it's just identified the longest-lived human in modern history: Paul Henry Maty supposedly lived for a whopping 143 years (an entire century longer than his surviving documentation would suggest).

Google AI claiming Paul Henry Maty lived from 1744 to 1887.

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Morgan Golf-French @zenothankyou.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

The fact people are betting on Rowling but not Chuck Tingle is an indictment of 2020s literary culture.

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Morgan Golf-French @zenothankyou.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Just learned some people are betting on J. K. Rowling winning the Nobel this week and, man, the powers of delusion truly know no bounds

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Morgan Golf-French @zenothankyou.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

...publicly displaying the black/white/red flag of the German Empire (the 1871-1918 one) is, in many contexts, illegal. It often appears on far-right webshop logos. This has not, of course, stopped it regularly appearing at far-right rallies (including here in Gotha 🙃), largely ignored by police.

Black-White-Red flag of the Second Empire, commonly used by Neo-Nazis

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Morgan Golf-French @zenothankyou.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Also just noticed that the first assailant's outfit is also a neo-Nazi dogwhistle (or loudhailer). Because of the ban on displaying swastikas, German fascists commonly combine black/white/red as a reference to the colours of the Nazi flag. If this seems tenuous, it's infamous enough that...

Woman wearing black, white, and red (colours of the Reichsflagge)

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Morgan Golf-French @zenothankyou.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Every time I wake up too early I think "ah well, at least I can get a good head start on the day" and then spend 1h30 lying in bed reading the most pointless stories I can find

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Morgan Golf-French @zenothankyou.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

...and are likely to improve their position in various elections over the next few years (especially in the east). AfD are so extreme that Reform UK, Fidesz, Rassemblement National, and Fratelli d'Italia have all distanced themselves from them. Things are getting really, really bad here.

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Morgan Golf-French @zenothankyou.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

...and the Youtuber is then assaulted by the Landser guy. All of this is happening at an event organized by AfD – the party with about 1/4 of Bundestag seats and which serves as the parliamentary opposition. They recently won an unprecedented near-majority in the Saxony Anhalt state elections...

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Morgan Golf-French @zenothankyou.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

This is really grim viewing. For non-Germanophones: 1) A Youtuber pointed out a skinhead wearing a hoodie from the Neo-Nazi band Landser. This is illegal. (Landser were unambiguous, open Nazis – think Skrewdriver). 2) Someone throws something at him and says "Hitler would have gassed you".

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Frau Nora @fraunora.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

"Niemand wurde zu Recht in einem Konzentrationslager inhaftiert, gequält und ermordet." Das hat die Bundesregierung 2020 - mit Ausnahme der AfD - offiziell anerkannt und damit den Weg frei gemacht für Entschädigungen für Menschen, die als sogenannte "Asoziale" oder "Berufsverbrecher" verfolgt wurden

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David Veevers @davidveevers.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I don’t want to learn about empire at the…*checks notes*…empire exhibit.

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Morgan Golf-French @zenothankyou.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Send me a DM and I can email it to you

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Morgan Golf-French @zenothankyou.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Please tag me either way – it sounds fascinating and I'd be very keen to read it!

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Morgan Golf-French @zenothankyou.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

...than 17thC Europe, but I'd take my chances in 17thC West Africa over 18thC West Africa.

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Morgan Golf-French @zenothankyou.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

And of course important to keep in mind how connected 18thC intra-European wars were with, e.g. the depredations in the Americas and wars in Africa to support slave economies, not to mention slave rebellions and efforts to suppress them. If I had to choose, I'd rather have been born in 18thC Europe

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Morgan Golf-French @zenothankyou.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Is there any literature on this re/the 18thC in particular? If so I'd be really interested, largely to see how they approach it methodologically. I have no idea how to even try to form 18thC estimates for domestic violence at all, let alone during wartime (at least in Germany, maybe easier in GB)

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Morgan Golf-French @zenothankyou.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

The levée en masse provides a bigger petri dish than roving bands of mercenaries. Also, while the 17thC was overall significantly more brutal than the 18thC, I think that there's some tendency to overestimate the difference. There was very little peace in the 18thC and there were still atrocities.

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Morgan Golf-French @zenothankyou.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

My understanding is "not all that much". There were comparatively few massacres of non-combatants at least. On the other hand, the armies involved were much larger, which may have placed a heavier economic and epidemiological burden on local populations.

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Morgan Golf-French @zenothankyou.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

My sense is that most British voters distinguish the EU as, like, a concept from the domestic politics of specific countries, at least outside of more left-wing circles. They would absolutely block re-entry, though, which is arguably all the more reason not to open that can while they're looming

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Morgan Golf-French @zenothankyou.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

The thing is this isn't even in like the top 10 worst things JCO's tweeted, in fact it's probably among the more benign (don't forget the antisemitism/Islamophobia). My question is whether or not she realizes like 1/2 her output is a hair's breadth from werewolf smut by any reasonable browometer.

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Morgan Golf-French @zenothankyou.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Oh I've no doubt, but I've already seen quite a bit of excitement on here and, like, even if he did plan to do it now it really wouldn't be wise

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Morgan Golf-French @zenothankyou.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

This is precisely why we need to wait, because if either of the two major pro-Brexit parties comes into government before the process is complete, rejoining will be off the table for at least a generation (and probably forever). Better late than never at all.

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Morgan Golf-French @zenothankyou.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

The UK would, quite reasonably, be seen as simply too unreliable to be worth considering as a candidate. We need Farage to be completely discredited (even if that means a bout with him as PM) and at least 70% support for rejoining (not the same as thinking Brexit was a mistake) for it to be viable.

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Morgan Golf-French @zenothankyou.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

As much as I want the UK to rejoin the EU yesterday, it would be completely reckless to push rejoining until at least after the next GE and realistically only the one after that. If the UK applies too soon only for Farage to come in and tear it up, there will be 0 chance for a second attempt.

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Morgan Golf-French @zenothankyou.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Daniel Hannan giving us something to look forward to

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Dr. Sarah Parcak @indyfromspace.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

No no please give me AI written slop sex scene. "Jesse looked longingly at Clara and said I see you have some concerns about the way I removed my trousers. I'm sorry about that. Let me try again. Would you like to input some workarounds?"

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Karl Clemens Kübler @irnbrubeck.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Yeah sex is cool but have you ever als Literaturwissenschaftler ein Datenbankproblem gelöst, während andere Leute zuschauen

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Morgan Golf-French @zenothankyou.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

This isn't to defend the town or CDU, and definitely not AfD, just that the question Stolpersteine simply is complicated and that we shouldn't always assume that opposition to them equates to support for the far right or an attempt to hide the Nazi past.

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Morgan Golf-French @zenothankyou.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

... Jewish groups in particular have criticized them because they're so easy to step on. I'm generally in favour, but I don't think the criticism is meritless. They definitely shouldn't be seen uncritically. There are German Jews who loathe AfD but still think this is the right decision.

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Morgan Golf-French @zenothankyou.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I've seen a lot of commentary on this case and I think it's obvious that AfD have terrible reasons for opposing Stolpersteine, *but* I think the current discussion misses important context. Stolpersteine have always been controversial, including/especially among descendents of the Nazis' victims...

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Andy Adams @flakphoto.news · 25/09/2026

Bluesky has got to be the quietest social network I've ever used. I don't get much engagement here, but I always find something interesting, often intellectually engaging, and occasionally something soulful. Unlearning my social media expectations might be the whole ball game.

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Morgan Golf-French @zenothankyou.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I've not read Drezner (though I probably should, thanks for the tip!), but concern about what students learn at uni has been a recurring theme since at least the seventeenth century which is why (at the risk of insufficient historicism) I think there might be something about the nature of the thing

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Morgan Golf-French @zenothankyou.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Most people do not know what sociology professors teach and will struggle to understand any given sociology paper, so when they say "sociology profs are indoctrinating kids", and show you a decontextualized sociology paper, it looks a lot more plausible.

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Morgan Golf-French @zenothankyou.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I do think there is also something about the highly specialized, broadly inaccessible nature of university-level work that makes it particularly easy to blame for stuff. They try "primary schools are indoctrinating kids" but it doesn't stick because everyone goes to primary school so sees it's fake.

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Sergio Tenenbaum @sergioten.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I feel like this has the potential to make all the anti-AI and all the anti-Wittgenstein crowd happy, and this is basically 100% of the philosophy population.

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