iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Alex Holt

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I don't suppose we have any Mammologists around familiar with Alaskan sp? I've got one unidentified rodent still left over from my big roadtrip with @jfmclaughlin92.bsky.social in 2024 and it's bugging me 😅 Seen in grassland near Alaska Wildlife Conservation Centre Best guess: Western Meadow Vole?

A small brown vole species hiding amongst green grass.

A small brown vole species hiding among green grass.

02211

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

02211

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Jump scared myself cos I'd set an alarm for this evening by repurposing an old alarm and didnt change the name from "manager visit" 🫠

020

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Gods save us from people who think the arts are basically textureless mental wall filler with no community component...

1277

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Over the many years I've been working on the Bird-dex, I've had to rummage the internet for different species and honestly the depth of data readily available for given taxons is always wildly variable in accordance with the quantity and type of people interest in the field.

150

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I had not previously seen a picture of Peter Thiel, CEO of Palantir, and umm... he's certainly leaning into the aesthetic of a man born without a soul.

050

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Honestly working with @peculiarplanets.com on Break the Binary is such a joy, they really deserve this! They not only are a delight in themselves, but they play in such a way that also gives other players at the table material to bounce off of and react to to elavate the whole game!

151

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

People have said superheroes are the new Greek Myths as power fantasies, which is to a degree true, but the real reason superheroes are the new Greek Myths is they both have confusing, contradictory continuity and everyone fucks everyone. Also in both people ignore runs they don't like (Ovid)

010

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I've been doing a big bulk update of Inverts on bird-dex.blogspot.com so if you haven't been a while theres tons of new species to see: - Beetles up to date! - Butterflies up to date! - Fish up to date! - Orthoptera up to date! - Assorted other species - Streamlined *all* the taxonomic lists!

bird-dex.blogspot.com

Bird Blog

A photographic quest for wild bird species and other wildlife.

142

Reposted by Alex Holt

Robin Hayward 🌳 🏳️‍⚧️ @canopyrobin.com · 25/09/2026

We're publishing new guidance to support trans people who do fieldwork (any work outside the office)! Now we need your help to get them seen so please share! inclusivefieldwork.leeds.ac.uk/trans/

a cartoon of three fieldworkers. One has a small trans flag. The logos of the university of leeds, research england, and canopy robin are shown, as well as the URL: InclusiveFieldwork (dot) Leeds (dot) AC (dot) UK (slash) trans

15605454

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

So one thing I included in the Bird-dex because I think its kinda neat info is the etymology of a species binomial/latin name. I just think etymology is neat. Anyway, this generally isn't too hard with land vertebrates, but for inverts and fish I'm running into a new, stupid problem.

140

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I tried to mostly pick ones which were formative to the trajectory of my life, although some have aged better than others.

A 9 swuare grid of my nine games, featuring Icewind Dale 2, Pokemon Yellow, Planescape: Torment, Baldurs Gate 3, Banner Saga, Smash Bros Melee, Xmen legends, Impossible Creatures, Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines

030

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Unexpected caller at our frobt door this evening as I went to take Izzy out! We have newts around here but I've never found one out of water in the village before, let alone very literally on my doorstep!!

A common newt wanders across a paving slab outside Alex's house. It is a small brown amphibian with a similar body shape to a lizadd with bumpy brown skin and golden eyes with a horizontal slit iris.

1987

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Question for scientists: excluding hominids, are there any famous extinct / prehistoric species which demonstrably have *direct* descendants still alive today?

101

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

There are few things in this world with such disconnect between how cool its believers think it is vs how embarassingly insecure it looks to everyone else than this fucking weird right wing male virility cult that has developed in the last decade.

1110

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Did you know Izzy has never had food ever in her entire life not even once?

Izzy, a small brown dog with orange eyes and droopy ears and white paws.

281

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

The thing we are seeing in both the UK and US at the minute on a myriad of different fronts is that the Far-right is at its core a chronic parasitic infection on society. Turning literally any target into a "Public Enemy" to justify their own supremacy.

130

Reposted by Alex Holt

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 18/09/2026

it's funny but also a reminder that the fundamental premise here is that a Black man can't be objective when talking about race while a white man can because Black people do identity politics and white people do facts and this my friends is what I have named "white empiricism"

193198737

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I think I've mentioned before my concept of "Kettering-proofing" which absolutely applies to AI. Every system should be able to withstand both the worst faith usage of it AND also the most incompetant and negligent ones. AI usage fails this test catastrophically on all three.

0165

Reposted by Alex Holt

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

SURVEY QUESTION: If you were to go to an Art Group at a Cafe-Bookshop, what would you want that to look like? Would you want it to be more a communal space to just do art in or would you want instructions or specific exercises? Perhaps something else?

031

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Sometimes, I'm updating the Bird-dex and I stumble upon a latin name for a species that just screams "Evil Wizard" so much as this was a very endearing longhorn beetle I saw a few years back, *somebody* is definitely gonna be facing THE DARK LORD RHAGIUM MORDAX in the not too disant future...

A screenshot of Alex's Bird-dex website featuring a slender brown beetle with black spots on its back named the Black-spotted Longhorn Beetle, or, more pertinent to this particular topic - the latin name Rhagium Mordax.

060

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

031

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Random Concept: Immortality is a perennial narrative device, but usually it treats humanity as "the end of evolution" ie. its just humans all the way to the end. But there's also a distinct possibility that humanity survives so long it becomes something else except you are still a modern human.

140

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I wish I wasn't always harping on about generative AI being the abomination that it is, but I just keep seeing more articles where its proponents go on about how its going to change global society etc and maybe but I struggle to see how any are in good ways regarding general public access to it?

192

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

One particular taxon of creatures I know very little about the species of is the myriapods - the group that includes centipedes and millipedes, though I've taken pictures of them when I find cooperative ones. Having now been attempting to use iNaturalist to ID them, I have concluded they are HARD.

110

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I think when we are kids we are in a weird way conditiones to think that "evil" is an adult thing, some kind of innocence lost deal. Nah, turns out many of the biggest evils we face are the little spoilt, petulant assholes too priveleged to grow emotionally beyond age 10.

041

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

The absolute most unexpected thing about the open D&D game I run at my work is that out of the regular players, it's the tiefling rogue who is the sole voice of reason/moderation/morality. The monk, the two druids and the ranger? Honestly terrifying people.

040

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

I'm in a bit of an anxiety spike at the minute, so that means time for my comfort game: Icewind Dale II! This time I'll attempt a solo run with each class to see how far they can get until they die. Not all right now, one each time I get a anxious spike 😅 Our first contestant; Barb the Barbarian

A character portrait from the game Icewind Dale 2 - a heavily muscled woman in an armoured bikini stands in the snow. She has red hair, a fur cloak and large wrapped boots and has a club and dagger hanging off her, I guess codpiece straps?

2190

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

So this is neat - last year in Costa Rica when up in the mountains of San Gerardo de Dota I accidentally left my cabins light on when I went to get dinner and came back and the cabin had turned into a moth trap. Turns out at least one of those is a pretty unusual sighting - meet Leucanopsis cirphis

A Leucanopsis cirphis moth - a pale yellow butterfly with furry legs and a white fluffy body, perched on a plastic grid.

1222

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I just saw an ad for a Grok work app, and all I can only assume is that Elon realised that one aspect of human jobs other AIs weren't replacing yet was the role of That One Guy who is the fucking worst and makes every room he enters shittier and you know HR would get rid of him if they could.

120

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Just another bit of Marvel painting - Valkyrie. The MCU Valkyrie is a lot of fun, but as with America Chavez, not especially the same character tonally as her comics inspiration a lot more faux-Shakespearean haughty in her heroism compared to the MCUs more grounded pragmatist.

010

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Even if someone is a strong believer in any particular country, refusal to be critical of the cruelty of any given administration is dereliction of your moral obligations as a human.

040

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

I still really don't get ability of the manga/anime market to support multiple series around near identical hyper specific core conceits? I've just spotted a 3rd anime based on "fantasy healer is kicked from prestigious adventuring party cos they see him as useless but he's actually obscenely OP"

150

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

So this "fun" map just popped up on my Instagram regarding the range of rose-ringed parakeets and lets have a little teachable moment here cos there were some immediate red flags people not as wired in may miss. Firstly, why no citing sources?

A map purporting to show the range of rose-ringed parakeey in Eirope with foyr density tiers ranging from extremely common to rare.

Sightings of rose-ringed parakeets in Western Europe on iNaturalist showing a strong bias towards cities.

A map of rise-ringed parakeets in Western Europe in eBird, with darker patches representing more sightings over larger cities.

151

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

One aspect of myself that I really struggle to cover up in characters I RP as is the need to really get precise clarrity on parameters of rules. Death God: I WILL DESTROY YOU IF YOU EVER CAST RESSURECTION AGAIN! Me: Okay, but even if I get your permission? Is revivify still okay?

120

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Okay, so when you google some random person online and it'll give you suggested stuff like age etc.... but who is actually googling peoples net worth and why? Like, if they are famous for being rich, sure, but like... why would anyone care enough to know that?

010

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

How come in Marvel Rivals the Spider-mans on the opposing team are all slick badass ninjas it's impossible to hit, whereas all the ones on my teams just kinda wander off for a bit then, try to hit something then die?

000

Reposted by Alex Holt

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

This evening's one sitting speed paint: America Chavez! You may have seen the version in Dr Strange 2, but the script didn't do her justice; the original is a cocky, fists flying, queer as hell (interdimensional) Puerto-Rican badass, and I hope the movie version gets a chance to grow into that.

032

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

I just unfriended someone for sharing Restore UK - Reform with extra racism basically. She's the youngest sister of a friend and former colleague of mine and when she was a kid I helped her with homework occassionally when she dropped in on quiet shifts. Always seemed like a good kid.

111

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

032

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

RANDOM QUESTION OF THE DAY: What would you say are the 4 more famous structures / man-made landmarks you have seen in real life?

510

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Question: You are given the choice of two powers, which do you choose? 1 - You can teleport to anywhere you have been before to exact spots where you have stood before. 2 - You can teleport anywhere at all, as long as its at least 30 miles from places you have previously teleported.

110

Reposted by Alex Holt

Micah @rincewind.run · 04/09/2026

“this person is bad so their work was always bad” is also a really dangerous view to take because it leads to - unconscious or not - a bias towards “but I do like this other person’s work, ergo they must be a good person” which, as we have seen over and over, is simply not true

4160272172

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

My hot take cos it seems to be a *far* from a universal skill is that people should be able to look at a world map and be able to identify -at minimum- the continents, household name countries and a smattering of the biggest lakes, rivers, deserts, mountain ranges and islands.

140

Reposted by Alex Holt

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Trigger Warning: Spiders As I haven't been on international birding trips this year I've been creating a new expansion to the Bird-dex, and promoting Arachnids to a group with their own page I'm gonna be specifically be looking out for going forward: bird-dex.blogspot.com/p/arachnids....

bird-dex.blogspot.com

ARACHNIDS

A photographic quest for wild bird species and other wildlife.

101

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

As someone whose first (of 2) experiences of being drunk was me intentionally doing it at a party at our house at university to experience what the big deal was within a controlled environment, @erikaishii.bsky.social's new WBN character feels like they're calling me out specifically 🤣

120

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

bird-dex.blogspot.com

ARACHNIDS

A photographic quest for wild bird species and other wildlife.

101

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

I gotta say, whenever I see someone say that AI is the biggest technology leap forward since the internet on a cultural level, I'm baffled? Like... there are impressive scientific applications (cancer detection etc), but for daily life it's basically predictive text, except evil?

051

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Random hot take for anyone who is considering taking up traditional painting: You may be choosing paint colours for your first set and wondering if you should get Mars Black or Ivory Black? What's the difference? Answer: Neither! And it doesn't matter, because instead you need:

110