iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

And what about the people he appoints to work under him? Pratchett and Vimes understood the issue.

A quote from Terry Pratchett's Men at Arms, on kings as supreme rulers:
"But that's not right, see? One man with the power of life and death."
"But if he's a good man -" Carrot began.
"What? What? OK. OK. Let's believe he's a good man. But his second-in-command - is he a good man too? Because he's the supreme ruler too, in the name of the king. And the rest of the court...they've got to be good men. Because if just one of the's a bad man the result is bribery and patronage."

Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I'm looking for a particular type of container, and scrolling through amazon, and I spotted this, and just had an immediate mental image of the specific kind of kitchen this would be part of. Nothing is stored in the original packaging, everything matches, and they choose their cereal to blend in.

A bamboo and clear plastic storage container designed to hold and dispense pantry staples. Displayed standing, full of oats, with the label "Apt 1101 - Cereal", then in the background, being used to pour rice into a bowl, the way you'd pour breakfast cereal from a box.

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Lol, I just introduced a coworker to the classic "I have adhd and/or am bisexual and I cannot sit normally in a chair" seat, and I think she's about to go order one 😂 Apparently she's a cross-legged chair sitter.

A young woman in soft lounge clothes sits cross-legged in an office chair with folded down and and a raised footrest. She is wearing headphones and petting a cat in her lap.

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

These two actors have performed together, actually!

Tim Curry, Diana Rigg, and Fairuza Balk posing together in a pseudo-family pose from The Worst Witch.

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Can't help feeling like some businesses are watching me...

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

I did indulge my whimsy on the prescription sunglasses front, though...

A pair of sunglasses with translucent purple plastic frames that hint at butterfly wings.

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Buying cheap backup glasses, and ooh, the temptation...

A pair of thin framed glasses made of rainbow metal, with little cat ears on the outer top corners.

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Reasons why I'm not looking at second hand expensive office chairs include exhibit A here...

A cropped image of a second hand office chair with a small but distinct stain right in the middle of the seat.

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Omgggg, they came out perfectly 😊

A dark blue plate containing oyster sauce and garlic chicken wings.

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Watching someone do Mt Gulg and The Crown of the Immaculate, then hit the following cutscene is always an experience, no matter how often you do it. #FFXIV youtu.be/JvrjyyEhbvU?...

YouTuber Redzy reacting to a FFXIV cutscene. He is laughing.

YouTuber Redzy reacting to a FFXIV cutscene. He has his hands in the air in triumph.

YouTuber Redzy reacting to a FFXIV cutscene. His hands are over his mouth and he may have been crying.

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

I was always a fan of this brand of vodka...

EFFEN Raspberry vodka. Imported from Holland.

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Found the last of the pins for my mostly @seananmcguire.bsky.social / October Daye themed ita bag 😊 Of course, I'll have to reshuffle them later this year when A Divided Duty comes out...

A black, star-shaped ita bag containing six pins. One has the pattern from the Ocular in the Crystarium from FFXIV, one has a white snake and a rose, one has a "Save the Date" note with roses and a bloody arrow through it, one is a fish in a teacup saying "...again?", and the last two are a yin yang pair, one with a fish and one with a cat.

Close up of the 6 pins outside the ita bag. One has the pattern from the Ocular in the Crystarium from FFXIV, one has a white snake and a rose, one has a "Save the Date" note with roses and a bloody arrow through it, one is a fish in a teacup saying "...again?", and the last two are a yin yang pair, one with a fish and one with a cat.

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Is it just me, or does the wording of this offer sound more like a threat/ominous warning?

A screenshot of an ad from reddit, promoting Meta glasses. Featuring the line "Get new AI glasses now, pay later."

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

The pockets are nice and deep, and the fabric is thinner and lighter than I expected, which works well for me grocery shopping, when I'm prone to overheating if the music is good and I end up walking too fast. Oh, and I also wore my big new-ish headphones. They're purple and light up.

A set of black and purple over the head headphones with a retractable microphone, pictured next to a two part usb dongle that can be used with usb a or usb c.

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Managed to get close to the kind of outfit I've been wanting to wear out tonight. My newish clompy ankle boots that I'm still wearing in a bit, black pants, and this Rosegal hoodie. It's not quite the baggy depression hoodie that I'm after, but it also doesn't actually pinch in as much as it looks.

A black hoodie with purple stripes on the sleeves, purple on the cuffs and pocket edges, and purple cat ears on the hood.

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

And then, in book 8, they get slapped in the face with this speech, from one of the victims that they've learnt to care about, to the audience who watched and laughed. And it feels like he's reaching through the page to grab them and shake them and yell "wake the fuck UP!". And it's beautiful.

“It is coming. It is coming for you all. All of you who participated in this wholesale murder of me and my people and everyone before us, those who didn’t speak out, I am holding all of you culpable. It won’t be justice because there isn’t any way that justice can possibly ever be served. It won’t be revenge. Revenge, as nice as that sounds, requires the party directly responsible. How do you get revenge against a generational system that has existed before any of us were born?
But vengeance?
Every one of you. Whether it’s in a big way or a small way, you are responsible. And those of us who survive this, we will remember. We will not forget. We are coming. It may not be me, and it may not be my friends, but we are coming.”

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

And then you get sidetracked, cause how cool is this? But also, not for me *sighs*

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Cause stuff like this fits the feeling I'm going for, but is also not subtle, but also, not in my size *sighs*

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Bought myself some stripy arm warmers and almost as soon as I put them on I was struck by the urge to paint my nails black. #nostalgia

The right hand of a white woman wearing black and purple striped arm warmers, resting on a wooden surface.

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

This image, in an already confusing ad for a rechargeable light bulb (wut), is opening up far more questions than it coule possibly answer. Does anyone have light bulbs that take AA batteries??

Part of an ad for a rechargeable light bulb. Text reads "built-in 2000mAh Rechargeable battery. Charging time 3-4 hours, working time 10-36 hours. No need to buy batteries, USB charging cable included in package. The image shows what looks like half a light bulb, being charged from a laptop usb port. There's two comparison images, one showing the bulb next to the cable, one showing a bulb with a base that comes off, pictured alongside AA batteries.

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Whoever is doing the Target Time puzzles is getting creative with the layouts.

A puzzle from the newspaper called Target Time. It is square made of 9 smaller squares, each containing a letter. The goal is to make words of four letters or more, all using the middle letter. There is at least one word that uses all of the letters. The letters in this puzzle are arranged in three rows - B A D, S M S, E E L. M is the required letter.

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

New glasses acquired! Went for a bit of a drive after (sun had set, so light was not an issue) and they make SUCH a difference. I lifted them off once or twice on the motorway to see how much, and I'm slightly scared by how blurry things are without them. And yet, apparently, still legal to drive!

A pair of Prada glasses propped up on their box, sitting on a placemat on a wooden table.

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

@kath_ballantyne Just drove past the local bottle shop and spotted a food van called Iron Ramen that does gf ramen, karaage, curry and gyoza. Giving them a try, so I'll let you know how they are! 😁 They do take home kits and it looks like they're regulars here.

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

My new slippers turned up 😁🐱🐾

Cat paw slippers in fawn, brown and white.

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

Couldn't resist giving these a try. I'll have one for dessert tonight and see if they're any good 😂

A box of Lotte Binch - crispy biscuits covered with chocolate. The name apparently comes from the BI in biscuit, a letter N from the colloquial abbreviation of and, then the CH from chocolate.

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Was doing okay with the #grief and Raq not getting to read this one until I got to the acknowledgements at the end.

A screenshot from a kindle copy of Platform Decay, by Martha Wells. "Acknowledgements. Well, this has been another hard year. If you're reading this, I'm just glad you're still around."

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

...was this something people were waiting for?

An ad with a headline that reads, "Finally, bracelets for book people."

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

I love the fae's crown weapons and I'm mad that they don't have them for all jobs atm, but I'm pretty happy with my Viper glam even without them 😁

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

I knew 7.5 would make me cry, just because I'd be doing it without Raq. But I didn't expect it to get me before I'd even spoken to the first quest giver. #ffxiv #grief

A player character looks at NPC G'raha Tia in Final Fantasy XIV, as he says "Warm fare-thee-wells can ease the sting of partings, as we come to terms with an absence not soon forgotten."

A player character looks at NPC G'raha Tia in Final Fantasy XIV, as he says "To tell those we hold dear what they've meant to us, and to wish them the best...We should seize that chance whensoever we can."

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

In the ensuing discussion, it turned out this jumper is from Dangerfield, an Australian clothing store that sells alternative clothing - goth, cottagecore, hipster stuff. Ie, not my mother. I LOVE the idea of her wearing Dangerfield 😂 I told her she should absolutely go get it!

A model wears a dark red knitted jumper with an embroidered image of a quokka surrounded by Australian native flowers on it.

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Mum went into the city today to buy my eldest niece Doc Martens as a birthday present (despite all advice to the contrary she picked the Vonda rose boots and I'm very proud of her), which means mum is now asleep on the sofa. Wandering around the shops does that to her.

Doc Martens "Vonda" boots, which are black 1460 boots with an embroidered pattern of red roses and green leaves along the sides.

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Speaking of migraines, AliExpress showed me this ring today. Love that it references "headache brain pain" in the title 😂 a.aliexpress.com/_mOLOhrx

A gold ring with a pearly skull bead, held in place with gold hands, clutching at the skull

Close up of a gold ring with a pearly skull bead, held in place with gold hands, clutching at the skull

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

Really love the tapestry/thread style they've used for the transitions with the story/map for in the #FFXIV trailer. youtu.be/b0IWVeqvQGk?...

A screenshot from the FFXIV Evercold trailer, showing a river and forest, all made of thread, which emerged from a flat tapestry image.

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

Android does that too, although I don't know when they added it. If you ever need a new Samsung product, let me know, work's perk system gives me access to their big discount program 😁

A photo of a watch showing the view from the camera taking the photo, which contains the watch, showing the screen, etc.

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

Had a haircut today, just a trim. Wound up blow-dried into a Karen again, but at least I've been able to fix it without a shower today. Had a weird moment partway through, though, where I looked like a mix of Emet-Selch from ffxiv and Alan Davies.

Emet-Selch of the Convocation of Fourteen, as he was when we first encountered him in FFXIV, as an Ascian. He has brown hair with a wave, and a white streak over his right eye. His eyes are yellow, and his eyebrows automatically seem dubious about everything. He has a Garlean 3rd eye, which looks like a crystal embedded in his forehead. He wears one earring in his left ear, and a heavy coat with what might be military medals on the front. He looks directly at the viewer as if to say, "well?".

Alan Davies, as seen on QI, wearing a red long sleeved top, sitting and leaning in towards the camera. His hair is grey and curly in a messy, unfinished sort of way. The kind of curls you just sort of accept are going to do what they do and you might as well put up with it. One particularly pale and floppy curl hangs wispily over the middle of his forehead.

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Gonna have to go with Unicorse on this one. Why is her lack of comprehension considered headline news??

A headline from The Guardian, shown on the Google news app - Billionaire Gives Rinehart says 'I don't understand' arrest of Ben Roberts-Smith over alleged war crimes

A cartoon image of a white unicorn hand puppet with green hair and a gold horn. His name is Unicorse, and he's the most annoying unicorn in the world. He's saying his catchphrase - annnd why should I care?

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

Looking at the product page you can find ONE image amongst all the fancy ones that shows that what you're actually going to get is a 2D printed cloth bag with a not terribly realistic image of a cat on it.

The actual product you're likely to get for your $50. 2D printed fabric, no separate limbs or 3D ears, and absolutely no fur.

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

A mobile game I play just hit me with probably the most misleading ad for a product I've ever seen. This was essentially what the product looked like, although in video it's even more ridiculous because the paws moved as though they were hugging the sleeper.

A completely fake image of a person sleeping inside a sleeping bag shaped like a cat that isn't actually long enough to fit a person with a head that size, and which absolutely doesn't exist. It's apparently made of fur and a 3D design with legs and paws like a giant photo-realistic toy cat you can sleep inside. And if it did exist, it wouldn't be on Amazon for $50.

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

Audible, why the hell is this coming up in my results when I search for Tamora Pierce??

A screenshot of search results from Audible.com.au showing Street Magic by Tamora Pierce, then something called Task Force Hammer, bu Craig Alanson, then Daja's Book by Tamora Pierce. The original search was for "Tamora Pierce".

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

This is what capitalism has done to us, full product recursion. Someone invents rice krispy/bubbles bars, and Kellogg's sells versions of them in Australia as LCMs (no idea where the name came from). Now we have a breakfast cereal of a bar made of a different breakfast cereal.

Kellogg's LCMs Marshmallow Flavoured Cereal. Spoons of yum!

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Looking at hanten jackets in case I feel motivated to have a hikikomori era this winter...

Cropped image of someone wearing a Japanese hanten jacket

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

I took one with me when Raq and I went to the zoo with friends, which I think may have been during their first visit here. They took a photo of me with it. My favourite kind of photo of me 😂

A back view of a person in jeans and a black and white butterfly top, under a rainbow golf umbrella, in front of quite a large paperback tree.

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

A while ago I set up notifications for apartments for sale in the area we wanted, and with the features we wanted. I still get them when new places are listed. I've seen a few places with this kind of layout and I think it says a lot about the real estate market these days.

A floor plan of an apartment listed as 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom. It's actually two single bedroom apartments, each with their own kitchen and bathroom, all behind one front door.

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

This is from the first time Raq came to visit me. I think it was a two week trip. We stayed in Sydney for a week, then drove inland to Hill End to visit friends, then up to Queensland via the inland road to meet another friend, then home down the coast.

Two people on a beach in QLD, after sunset, both wearing jeans and Threadless t-shirts, each with an arm around the other, smiling at the camera.

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

The dichotomy of Dungeon Crawler Carl. One minute you're laughing at a giant dinosaur that wants to be a ballerina, or being grossed out by the death of a vampire pterodactyl, then suddenly you get hit by this kind of insight into the experience of trauma.

A text screenshot from a Kindle copy of The Butcher's Masquerade, by Matt Dinneman. Text reads - "Why do you think I wouldn't understand?"
Prepotente just nodded.
The goat's demeanor had greatly changed from the first time I'd met him. 'Trauma does that,' I thought. 'It's an explosion with your heart at the center. It changes everything all at once.'
"Thank you for being with her when she died."

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 14/12/2025

Go home SupportAssist, you're drunk.

A Dell SupportAssist error message with a blurred out QR code. The text reads - SupportAssist was able to identify a possible issue with your system. The details of this issue are provided below. We recommend recording this information in case you need to contact Dell Technical Support. Warning Message. Hard Drive - Not installed.

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

So I guess I don't have direct messages anymore? Given that the age verification service is done by a company called KWS - Kids Web Services - and the options are sharing my ID, making a small payment, or using a face scan by a different company...I think I'll pass.

A screenshot from Bluesky. It reads "Age Assurance. Due to laws in your region, certain features on Bluesky are currently restricted until you're able to verify you're an adult. Is your location not accurate? Tap here to confirm your location."

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Cow. Boy. Hat. @alisso.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

I was dubious about adding this little packet to my ramen (tiny bonus packets have a tendency to burniness), but who can resist a little sprinkle of spite? Turned out to be pretty good, actually. Just a little spice and salt.

A small sachet from inside a ramen packet, with Google translation text overlaying it saying "shichimi" at the top, then "Spite" in the middle, the "plastic" over to the side with the recycling info.

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