iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Also just like, walking around in, say, a full suit of plate armour is itself probably not a great idea outside of fantasy, so there's also the factor of who would suit being on the road?

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Part of the reason I felt this was kinda interesting is I feel like a bunch of the kinda famous warrior archetypes kinda rely on large formations to have best effect, a single Spartan Hoplite or Roman Centurian for instance isn't gonna be as effective outside that formation.

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Random question: if you were assembling an adventuring party of 5 different warriors from before, lets say, 1500, who would be on your team? They come with all their regular weapons, armour, horses etc This is not about specific people, but like "Mongol light cavalry" or "Aztec Jaguar Warrior" etc

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Join our creative writing workshops at The Quill & Quiver. Explore storytelling in a community setting and enhance your writing skills!

Any of you near Corby, Northants who would like to come to do art with me and other local artists once a month? I'll be running an Artist's Circle at the Quill and Quiver each month where you can meet other artists, learn skills and also have coffee and cake! quillandquiver.co.uk/artists-circle

quillandquiver.co.uk

The Quill & Quiver

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Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

The worst Pokemon evolution line.

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Exactly, just been seeing a few takes this week along the lines of "it's a plot hole that Character X possesses entirely reasonable Skill for them to have Y because we didn't see the part of their backstory where they learnt it"

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Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Why has the modern internet decided that "plot hole" means essentially that the entirity of both a story and a characters life must be documented in full? You know you can just like... leave gaps in narratives right if it doesnt serve the story you are telling?

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Honestly at this point in the world, there's worse ways to go out than bikini clad kingfisher spirit 🤣

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I feel like there is a 50% chance this is the Fey getting avante garde? She knew my name, where I used to work and recognised I'd grown my hair and I'm drawing a complete blank? 😅

(They do, but not in October) Wades into this algae covered ford, hands her faux fur coat to her partner to reveal she is indeed wearing a bikini and a kingfisher blue one at that to add to the surreal then proceeds to get pics taken, preaumably for instagram?

Jess McLaughlin, PhD (they/them) @jfmclaughlin92.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Sometimes in life you have moments that just don't add up. Sometimes you are leaning on a 750yr old stone bridge in October looking for kingfishers when a young black woman shows up, knows you by name, then declares she's wearing her bikini cos people go swimming here.

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Reposted by Alex Holt

I'm short about $300 for this- tried to treat at home but some are in her mouth, so can't safely remove. If anyone could help: venmo.com/code?user_id...

A sad white puppy with a snout full of porcupine quills

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God, imagine being this empty inside and deciding to broadcast it publically to the whole internet?

Ad: "...where humans and agents work together" Nah, I'm good thanks

Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Does the venom have to be medically significant to humans, and what's the bar for that? Does it have to be able to plausibly deliver its venom to a human? Are you counting, say, caterpillars with irritant hairs? Don't drop unclear contextless factoids as edutainmemt please 😅

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Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Look, I appreciate in spirit this is a fun concept for an infographic, but this is some bs data here. What are we including here? Cos these numbers surely wouldn't cover wasps let alone spiders, jellyfish, snakes, scorpions etc?

An infographic map purportinh to show countries colour coded by the number of venomous animals. The numbers are some kinda arbitrary cos tedy don't really clarriofy what is meant by "venomous".

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Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Today I found out there is a moth species called The Uncertain. I feel like this species presumably evolved specifically to fight Solid Snake?

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Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

One long term value I get out of wildlife holidays is I'll go back and look through pics again and spot a species in there I'd missed. So the latest addition to the Bird-dex is the worlds lowest res picture of a Redhead - Aythya americana - Alberta 2024 bird-dex.blogspot.com/2026/10/redh...

bird-dex.blogspot.com

Redhead (Aythya americana)

A photographic quest for wild bird species and other wildlife.

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Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Did I terrorise the players who joined me for D&D at the shop today by casting Heat Metal on a lift they were in over a precipice? Yes. Did I then recast it the next round again when one of used dispell magic on it? Yes. But did I also cast fireball on them later for the first time? Also yes.

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

Reposted by Alex Holt

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.

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

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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" 🫠

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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...

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Anyway here is the ant in question, I just had to include it cos look its HUGE and more importantly SHINY AND GOLD! Appropriately its name is the Shimmering Golden Sugar Ant - seen in Alajuela in Costa Rica.

A large ant with a metallic golden carapace walks along a dark metal railing covered in dirt.

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So god bless Ant-enthusiasts who I've just discovered after adding my first ant species to the Bird-dex. If this one is anything you all are *meticulous* and I applaud you! Aside: With great affection, if you haven't already you -may- be interested in seeking out an autism diagnosis...

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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.

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

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.

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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!

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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)

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

*I just realised that the way I phrased the first post implies I think Fish are inverts, so pretend I said Fish and Inverts 😅 Oh there was a bonus gecko in there too for that matter!

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

This is of course pending a ton of stuff on iNat that needs definitive IDs, which may add more across many taxons Still incoming: 13 moths 4 spiders 2 dragonflies 5+ hymenopterans 1 hemipteran 2 dragonflies Before that though, still 1284 animal species covered for my/your AuDHD pleasure 😅

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.

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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

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

Generative AI used like this is the intentional pollution of human knowledge and discovery and god I hate it so much.

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

If I google, for instance "psilothrix eymology" and the only concrete answers that are coming up are from openly AI sites (fucking Grokipedia 🤮) they *may* be right, but when the site they cite doesn't contain the info it may also just be pulling it out its digital arse.

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.

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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

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Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Basically, we know each other from The Old Country before things went bad (Twitter)

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Alex Holt @alexjholt.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Had we started playing D&D a little before that? Like its so long ago in the beforetimes now its slightly a blur 🤣

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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.

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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?

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IWD2 combats scale to level and difficulty, and the higher those are the more complex encounters become, with even early game foes like goblins and orcs beginning to field parties including melee, ranged and casters.

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The result - dex based attacks suck, and I even think that DEX doesn't add to damage rolls for bows, crossbows or slings, so you are at the mercy of either loot or spending precious gold on good ammo. Also man, wizards and sorcerers having d4 hitdice in 3e was brutal.

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Aside from that, saw some interesting caveats to the game I hadn't spotted before. So for one, IWD2 has a system where ranged damage rolls are ammo based not weapon based, and you have to stock up on ammo. What's more, unlike 5e, in 3e weapon finesse requires a feat to opt in.

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Honestly I wasn't expecting that to acrew to anything to cohesive as this, very distinct patterns here! High WIS classes do best (better saves against those run ending Hold spells), then the heavy classes for durability, then the skillpoint classes, then sorcerer pulling up the rear.

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1 Mnk: Act 1, pt 2, 504 days, 530 kills 2 Drd: A1-p2, 33d, 448k 3 Clrc: A1-p2, 33d, 174k 4 Fghtr: A1-p2, 508d, 508k 5 Pldn: A1-p1, 293d, 325k 6 Brb: A1-p1, 435d, 284k 7 Wz: A1-p1, 33d, 131k 9 Rg: Prlg-pt 2, 15d, 124k 9 Rngr: Pr-pt 2, 37d, 114k 10 Brd: Pr-pt 1, 8d, 60k 11 Src: Pr-pt 1, 4 days, 55k

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She honestly lucked out a lot in the smugglers caves in the prologue and got a random drop of an oil of fiery burning aka a a one use Fireball in a Can which got her past the fight that ended the bard and sorcerer runs.

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