iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 14h

This is a ridiculously good deal. My local library is light on Gene Wolfe, and now I have enough Wolfe to last me for the rest of my life for $25. Includes the wonderfully named short story collection The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I was having a good day, enjoying myself, and I suddenly remembered I haven’t seen Minions vs. Monsters OR Coyote v. Acme. What am I doing with my life

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Matheus Graef @omiosures.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

...and that's why some fantasy really bores me nowadays. Why does everything need so much reasoning? Why can't the heart drive more of the execution? Some creators explain and rationalize so much of their "mysterious" world that they kill it in the process; and the lore becomes an autopsy.

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Cunningham’s Law remains undefeated

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

The phrase “botched execution” is absolutely blood-curdling.

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

This is a great time of year to listen to Red Garland

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

He spoke only English; she was only comfortable in her native French. But their connection was immediate and unbreakable because they spoke the universal language: CSV

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Rain tomorrow and I have to commute, practicing my trudge

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Valar Atomics. Latest entry in my list of companies run by people who read Tolkien and apparently didn’t internalize any of his values

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Azure Emerald Empire @azureemeraldempire.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

High gas prices are the perfect opportunity for Americans to show how important gas really is to them

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Here’s what I gather from the meta muse ads: this product will allow me to become very smug and self-satisfied

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

You should feel free to belch out loud from time to time. You’ve earned it. #wellness #self-care

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The number of people talking about a rolling stone article on a beautiful Sunday is too high

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Twist ending one of the interview panel was dying of thirst and the only thing that could save him was an iced coffee

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The best tv shows of the 21st century are Broadchurch and Detectorists. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Might have unintentionally sort of coppiced a tree in my backyard a couple years ago, and might now have a pretty good reusable source of hiking staves! Will find out in a year or two.

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I took an online IQ test (NYT spelling bee game) and it says I’m a genius

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Actually I do, the second one is in my spiked tail

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I recently read Magnifica Humanitas. My favorite part was something Leo referenced from a previous sermon: the admonition that to disarm the world we have to first disarm our words.

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I’ve had Scenes From an Italian Restaurant in my head since a visit to the mall this weekend. What a banger

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🅱️askerville @baskerville.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Forcing America A to endure America B marketing during NFL broadcasts is a humiliation ritual

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Imagining a Notre dame football and classical music fan who named their kid Rockne Amadeus

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Azure Emerald Empire @azureemeraldempire.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I can’t help but think that if you’d listened to both CDs of Legends of the Hammer Dulcimer in their entirety like I’d asked then we wouldn’t need to have this discussion

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

John Henry but he’s an office worker with a spreadsheet and the steam drill is an AI

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Decided to leave my very thin, easily pierced veil of anonymity behind, let’s see how it goes

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Did you know bing still exists?

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LearnedLeague @learnedleague.com · 18/09/2026

10. What word for the violent fragmentation of a larger region into smaller, mutually hostile states, which entered wide use in the aftermath of WWI, is drawn from the name of a peninsula whose own wars, fought in 1912-13, gave the term its original meaning? BAJA BLAST #LL110 #bestwronganswers

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Man it took me forever but I finally beat ascension 9 with the necrobinder. On to Ascension 10

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I’m reading The Lord of the Rings again thread.

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Many people seem to be in denial that machines could be intelligent because they have an unexamined prior that personhood is defined by cognition. Descartes really screwed up on this one, to the extent my cartoon understanding of his philosophy is accurate.

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I feel fairly confident the endpoint of AI is more the economy, but now it can talk directly to you, than it is God, and he hates and wants to destroy us Definitely worth considering whether we really want The System crystallized into a smooth-talking chatbot

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Kelson Thomas (poped up) @kelson.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

mr basilisk sir if you're reading this the best way to torture me will involve spiders

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I’m kind of surprised by all the talk about the rationality/AI community and weird sex stuff. I thought this was well known. It’s been there from the beginning.

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Every post on LinkedIn sounds like it was written by the same person

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

“Modern-day clown activism can be quite contentious in some instances” ladies and gentlemen. The Guardian

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

iOS 27 review: they changed the battery indicator a little bit

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

As a finance guy, there’s nothing I love more than putting on my puffy vest on a 75 degree day and having noisy, casual-profanity-laden phone calls in a quiet public place

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I love the fact that Gulf Oil apparently has a Chief Oil Analyst. It’s like if chipotle had a chief burrito analyst or McDonald’s had a chief sawdust analyst

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Just noticed my son has been drawing the cool S in his Boy Scout handbook

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I’ve explored the possibilities of cold lunch from home and hot lunch from restaurant, maybe it’s past time to venture into hot lunch from home

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Camping this weekend I had a very dangerous thought which is that I’d like to get better at photography.

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