iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Supper Mario Broth @mariobrothblog.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Experimental post: The Duality of Whacka In the Switch version of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Whacka can finally be fought, and has a suspiciously specific 108 HP. The game both offers a ridiculously simplistic explanation for this as well as a complex one steeped in Dharmic symbolism.

In Paper Mario, the original version of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, and Super Paper Mario, Whacka was just a harmless whack-a-mole creature that could be abused to get Whacka Bumps, extremely valuable healing items. After being hit enough times, the Whacka goes extinct, teaching the players the consequences of their actions. However, in the Switch version of Paper Mario: TTYD, he instead moves to the bottom of the Pit of 100 Trials and becomes an optional superboss with 108 HP.
He is fought at the bottom of the Pit of 100 Trials and has to be hit 8 times in order for the fight to activate.
but also
The number 108 is considered sacred by the Dharmic religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.
Whacka symbolizes karma for killing him in past games
ring the bell 108 times, per Japanese tradition? The ringing of the bell represents the 108 bonno-defilements of man..
Buddhism holds the view that there are precisely 108 temptations on the path to Nirvana.
Therefore, in order to reach Nirvana, every Buddhist must resist 108 earthly temptations.
With a combination of any of the elements of the above four factors, there are 108 ways with which the karmas can be attracted to the soul.
the earthly temptation to get those Whacka Bumps
There are 108 qualities of praiseworthy souls
Some people think that the human spirit travels through 108 stages, while others believe that enlightenment is attainable with just 108 breaths each day while in Intense meditation,
108 beads to awaken your inner light
Meditators count mantra repetitions with mala beads of 108, (100 counted for self, 8 for mistakes and for those who have not the opportunity to meditate in mantra)
108 breaths to return to your truth
108 mantras to dissolve ego into dever
108 steps from the self to the soul
The Sacred Meaning of 108 Temple Steps
the journey to Whacka is a journey of enlightenment

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Vernon “Arthropunk” Meidlinger-Chin @arthropunk.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Swimming and climbing are potentially more fun ways to approach that goal?

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Museum of Twitter @museum-of-twitter.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

@Very__Regular

george lucas, 1975 (in tunisia, severely dehydrated, over budget) sure, yeah. put the little blue guy in the background. is alec still in his trailer

guy who gets mad for money on youtube, 2024: and now disney made Deebo Threebo green. that's how little respect they have for you

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kate bush’s husband @airbagged.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

He cooked Ed Sheeran on IG

macklemore
Follow
•••
5/12
Ed was in a fucked up position. He knew it. His typical apolitical stance was being challenged in a way it never had been before. He told me that the words
"Free Palestine" and the image of the Palestinian flag were hurtful to a lot of people he spoke with. I told him that if those words were more offensive than tens of thousands of Palestinian children being killed by Israel, then there was a fundamental disconnect between where those people stood and where I stood. But he couldn't get past his public facing, "I don't take sides."

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Credentials, Dan @dancredentials.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

“W” is much too kiki a symbol to represent such a bouba sound

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Vernon “Arthropunk” Meidlinger-Chin @arthropunk.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Seeing Little Garden panels always makes me happy

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Patton Oswalt @pattonoswalt.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Apparently people are sharing this far and wide on social media, which I think is horrible. This could cripple ICE operations. PLEASE do not share this.

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Helen @helenmaryme.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

A mama chimp at The Sedgwick County Zoo is despondent as her newborn baby was taken from her after birth to get oxygen at the vet for a few days. Here they are reunited. 😍🥹❤️

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Vernon “Arthropunk” Meidlinger-Chin @arthropunk.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

That redhead asked me out on a date and stood me up though

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Crow @abbyjane.cloverdalelane.com · 14/08/2026

I think about this a lot.

Tim Henke
@TimHenke9
eat shit, René Magritte
Translate Tweet
Mauv @ThatsMauvelous • 1d the machine refused to recognize my humanity until i professed to believe that a sign painted to look like a traffic light is indeed a traffic light.
Show this thread
Select all squares with traffic lights

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Credentials, Dan @dancredentials.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Me, nodding knowingly: The beaks.

Headline of paleontology news article: Crocodiles can't fly. Birds can. Scientists have finally figured out why

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Ayo @darrylayo.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

This is how you make a post

astrid_lundberg 1h
@threads
the most fascinating thing about an american biscuit is that structurally it's a scone but culturally it's a yorkshire pudding
• 119
Q29 97

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Natalia (娜塔莉) @wrycritic.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

*watches new Spiderman* Hmmm, is that architecture from red Permian sandstone of Dumfriesshire? That's not New York, that's Glasgow! Fossiliferous masonry prevents suspension of disbelief.

Spiderman set with silky red buildings from Glasgow

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💀Jubi 💀 @jubilations.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

im a huge fan of the jimothy #art 🎨

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Kendra P @hagofbolding.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

new cryptid just dropped

A doodle of the famous short spined raccoon Jimothy

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Ethan M. Aldridge @ethanmaldridge.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

New cryptid

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Ayo @darrylayo.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

The man in the photo was murdered for this.

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Fantagraphics @fantagraphics.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Great deal alert: Billie The Bee by Mary Fleener and more fantastic books are 70% off now during our warehouse sale--shop now at ow.ly/4KQJ50ZgHum!

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yuzuBOO @yuzupool.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

ive seen this joke for years and i laugh but also wince because this is just who is behind all of the decisions that piss us off

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MoMA Paintings and Sculpture @moma.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Fernand Léger, Landscape with Yellow Hat, 1952 botfrens.com/collections/14377/cont…

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Vernon “Arthropunk” Meidlinger-Chin @arthropunk.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Makes perfect sense as I like cats quite a bit but very much AM dog

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evan dahm @evandahm.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

everything on walk back from "backrooms" was backrooms

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phantasmAgaric 🍄 @lalonde.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

god i wish switching careers wasn't such a nightmare these days. cannot imagine the sort of networking this shit requires in 2026

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Beach Sloth @beachsloth.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

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👻 oct-BOO-cryptid 🎃 🜬 @octocryptid.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

Oh you blocked me here? Well, you haven't blocked me in the astral realm. Be prepared to see my posts in your dreams

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David_j_roth @davidjroth.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

These are the two optimal types of Baseball Name.

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Alfred E. Neuman ( MAD Magazine ) @alfreds-mad-world.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

A MAD Look At Gangs Artist & Writer • Sergio Aragones MAD Magazine Issue No. 363 November 1997 🔵Tap Here For Full Dept🔴 #madmagazine #marginalmonday

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J. L. Westover @mrlovenstein.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

communing with nature

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Gale Galligan @galegalligan.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

DID YOU KNOW!! A Freestyle side story from 2023. First published as the cover of NCTE's Voices From The Middle (a pull-out cover!), exploring the theme "interrogating the world through inquiry."

A full-color comic. Page one.

PANEL ONE
Cory Tan from FREESTYLE is playing with his yo-yo, when...

PANEL 2
The string snaps.
CORY: Ack!!

PANEL 3
Closeup of text messages on a phone.
CAPTION: Back when Sunna was teaching Cory how to yo-yo, and his string snapped for the very first time...
Cory Text: sunna help
Cory Text: S O S
Cory Text: sunna!!!!!
Sunna Text: WHAT

PANEL 4
Sunna and Cory sit on a park bench. It's a fall day; people walk and run nearby.
SUNNA: All right, open it up.
CORY: Oh boy. Okay.

PANEL 5
Cory is surprised to see the inside of the yo-yo as he pulls it open.
SFX: pop
Cory: ...Huh?

Comic continues. PAGE 3

CAPTION: Yo-Yo Facts With Sunna!

PANEL 1
A drawing of Cory raising his hand as he holds a yo-yo, labeled fig.1(a), followed by a drawing of him throwing his yo-yo, labeled fig.1(b)

CAPTION: The sleeper is a trick we take for granted today. It's simple: you throw your yo-yo down...

PANEL 2
Cory looks angrily at the viewer. His yo-yo is still spinning at the end of the string. Labeled arrows point to it, reading "kinetic energy!" "momentum!" "Friction slows it down!!"

CAPTION: And it spins at the bottom of the string until it runs out of energy.

CORY: Physics?!

PANEL 3
Cory runs across a globe in a starlit sky, doing a trick with his yo-yo.

Caption: While the yo-yo is spinning, you can use it to perform all kinds of string tricks --

PANEL 4
Cory returns the yo-yo to his hand.

CAPTION: Which wouldn't be possible if the yo-yo came back to your hand right away!
SFX: ka-ching!

PANEL 5
A panel in monochrome. An oldey-timey fellow with a suit and mustache shows off a yo-yo while two children in school uniforms applaud.

CAPTION: But that's how things used to be. When yo-yos shows up in the States in the 1800s, their strings were tied to the axle with a knot.

OLDEY-TIMEY FELLOW: Hark! It returns!
CHILDREN: Gracious!

PANEL 6
Monochrome illustration of Pedro Flores with a yo-yo, labeled Pedro Flores (1896-1969).

CAPTION: Everything changed in 1928, when a businessman from the Philippines named Pedro Flores started selling yo-yos that used the Filipino style of string loop.

SUNNA: In fact, the word "yo-yo" probably comes from the Philippines.

CORY: Oh heeey!!

Comic concludes. PAGE FOUR

PANEL 1
Sunna does a yo-yo trick. Her word balloons include illustrations of different yo-yo shapes and a ball bearing.

SUNNA: And when that opened the door to new tricks, people started looking for ways to make their yo-yos sleep even longer. Things like changing the yo-yos shape... adding ball bearings...

PANEL 2
Sunna and Cory walk past a Chinese takeaway in NYC. They're both throwing yo-yos.

SUNNA: Even the type of material in your string can make a difference.
CORY: Physics...

PANEL 3
Cory contemplates his yo-yo as it returns to his hand.

CORY: So the way we use yo-yos changes as we figure out new ways to do stuff. And, like... in a hundred years, throwing could be something totally different.

SUNNA: Wild, right?

SFX: ka-ching

PANEL 4

Sunna looks up with a smile. Cory tosses his yo-yo into the air. He's also smiling.

SUNNA: But I bet some things will never change.
CORY: Yeah.
SUNNA: The feeling of landing a trick for the first time...
CORY: Making your first yo-yo friend.

SFX: vshhh

PANEL 5
A silhouette against the sunset: Cory and Sunna walk away together.

SUNNA: Accidentally hitting your own face.
CORY: Accidentally hitting other people's faces.
SUNNA: Hey, maybe we'll fix that.

Small text on the bottom of the page:
SOURCES (ACCESSED 7/28/23):
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/49715077/pedro-edralin-flores
https://yo-yos.net/inductee-pedro-flores/
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/Phys_p069/physics/yo-yo-sleep
http://www.yoyomuseum.com/museum_view.php?action=profiles&subaction=yoyo
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/04/the-yo-yo-effect/389868/
https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/yo-yo-shapes/289352

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Vernon “Arthropunk” Meidlinger-Chin @arthropunk.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

man i love being in the countryside and hearing the frogs going sicko mode

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Vernon “Arthropunk” Meidlinger-Chin @arthropunk.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

*me after sampling the new line of garlic and cayenne flavored hard seltzers*

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Der-shing 德馨 Helmer @shingworks.com · 04/05/2026

This week I am trilobitemaxxing (going about my business on the sea floor, becoming wildly successful as a species, then going extinct due to circumstances out of my control)

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Vernon “Arthropunk” Meidlinger-Chin @arthropunk.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

With my last pair of Bluetooth headphones, two taps would pause or play my music. With my new pair, it FaceTimes my bartender. Still in the adjustment period here.

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Vernon “Arthropunk” Meidlinger-Chin @arthropunk.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

I carry two small vials of ink on me at all times. One is for in case I want to do plain-air brush drawing. The other is to defend against marine predators. Just kidding; they’re both for defense. Lots of moray eels about these days.

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Fiona Tribe @fionatribe.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Yes, Swiss scientist Fritz Zwicky coined the term “dark matter” which is impressive, but he also coined the term “spherical bastard” to describe people who are bastards no matter which way you look at them, and I think that should be celebrated more.

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Vernon “Arthropunk” Meidlinger-Chin @arthropunk.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

I once went home with a lady and she had the Codex Seraphinianus on her coffee table. That’s a night I’ll never forget (because we spent it reading the Codex Seraphinianus)

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Abby Kacen @mild-pain.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

redraw of an old one

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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 07/04/2026

This is the face of a lunar scientist who has just been told that the #Artemis II crew saw SEVERAL impact flashes (the flashes when meteors hit the lunar surface) in real time 😃 🌓💥

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Justin McElroy @thoughtographic.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

Currently open for commissions and freelance work. Email or dm me for prices or quotes.

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Beach Sloth @beachsloth.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

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Vernon “Arthropunk” Meidlinger-Chin @arthropunk.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

Love this album. I once played it for someone and he called it “video game-sounding music”. We don’t talk

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