iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

don @donnorum.com · 17/09/2026

Vampire Weekend's "Unbelievers" hits hella different if you spent your childhood wearing out your parents' Walkman with their cassette collection of The Beach Boys' early greatest-hits.

000

don @donnorum.com · 10/09/2026

describe an anime poorly but accurately in six words: "duino elegies fanfiction... with giant robots" (reminding me of @maxgladstone.bsky.social)

The head and shoulders of Unit-01 from Neon Genesis Evangelion.

040

don @donnorum.com · 08/09/2026

For those looking to move past "casual" profanity to the "competitive" or even "ranked professional" tiers... (@stevenorum.bsky.social) (Note that some 'power levels' are based on the UK meta and may need to be tweaked for the US or other leagues.) www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/r...

ofcom.org.uk

020

don @donnorum.com · 02/09/2026

"There is a debate within the fanfiction community as to whether or not Dante Alighieri's Inferno can be considered self-insert fanfiction of the Bible." 10/10, no notes, bravo wikipedia.

010

don @donnorum.com · 30/08/2026

'tis still the damn season for spicy snickersnoodles

An adult copperhead on the – as evidenced by the faint footprints visible – well-traveled trail on which I daily run.

010

don @donnorum.com · 29/08/2026

Some annoyingly sloppy misattribution on my Doggo-Page-a-Day calendar. It didn't seem out-of-character for a mountaineer, but the capital-J 'Joy' wasn't a stylistic bit I could ever recall seeing in Krakauer's stuff. The quote's actually from Christopher McCandless, reproduced in 'Into the Wild'.

The corner of a page-a-day calendar showing a quote - "You are wrong if you think Joy emanates only or principally from human relationships.... It is in everything and anything we might experience." - misattributed to Jon Krakauer

000

don @donnorum.com · 26/08/2026

finally getting around to uploading the clip @stevenorum.bsky.social pulled of @donoteat.bsky.social from @wtyppod.bsky.social turning into the god-damn joker live during taping, for your soundboarding delight. turned into a video because i guess bluesky doesn't support standalone audio?

000

don @donnorum.com · 24/08/2026

catching up on Taylor Swift's discography while all-day chorin' was *wild* — first cup of coffee listening to "i have a crush on the boy sitting next to me in homeroom", and by lunchtime the soundtrack's "call me daddy, i have a bigger dick than the devil, fuck the world, and i'mma kill your wife"

040

don @donnorum.com · 19/08/2026

fully understanding that a) a precon 4-pack, sleeves, and dice can still be cheaper than the sample nights out quoted in the article, and b) higher-priced pods / cubes are still one-time costs, it's still funny to see m:tg & EDH presented as the "frugal" alternative. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/19/n...

nytimes.com

‘I’ve Hit My Limit’: Some New Yorkers Opt for Fun at Home to Save Money

When wages are low and activities are pricey, the frugal find new ways of socializing.

010

don @donnorum.com · 18/08/2026

i'm reasonably certain that the on-page mournival, as high school girls, would be named as follows (w/ horus > phoebe): abaddon > mary aximand > mandy (obv.) torgaddon > lucy sejanus > barbie & loken > summer and no this isn't already covered in warhammer high ...it only has to make sense to me

000

don @donnorum.com · 17/08/2026

my house is 100% NOT childproof i don't mean that i don't have covers on the outlets, locks on the cabinets, gates on the stairs, etc (tho' i don't) i mean that i have swords and knives and bayonets all over the place as in, tidying a bookcase and ~~SURPRISE!~~ i forgot i'd left a machete there

000

don @donnorum.com · 11/08/2026

Ah, the preventive care visit, AKA the annual, ritual recitation of "I recognize that 'ultramarathoner' isn't a recognized diagnosis; but, from what you've said and looking over your file... it probably should be..."

010

don @donnorum.com · 09/08/2026

chat, should i be worried that an eight-year-old post about making jewelry out of torn-off human toenails (MY toenails, to be clear, and they were already on their way off) has seen a sudden spike* in traffic from Ciudad Juárez? (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciudad_...) *(one view, gt zero, still counts)

en.wikipedia.org

Ciudad Juárez - Wikipedia

020

don @donnorum.com · 03/08/2026

i can't be the only one who hears this, right?

A frame from Futurama S01E12, "When Aliens Attack", showing Zapp Brannigan finishing his speech in front of Kif Kroker on a starship bridge. Instead of his original dialogue, he's quoting lyrics from Taylor Swift's "Mastermind": "And the touch of a hand lit the fuse of a chain reaction of countermoves to assess the equation of you. Checkmate, I couldn't lose."

000

don @donnorum.com · 26/07/2026

so, i'm used to stuff like this from MC Lars (studied Shakespeare at Oxford, pioneered lit-hop) and it's not unexpected from punk bands, like The Menzingers linechecking Nabokov's "Pale Fire", but damn — still a bit of a shock to hear a Henry James deep cut in Olivia Rodrigo's "all-american bitch"

100

don @donnorum.com · 22/07/2026

I happened to be in just the right place to read an early draft of this; it was good then and it's even better now, so if you might be interested —

120

don @donnorum.com · 22/07/2026

Every natural science has phenomena that make the layperson go, "Huh, that's fun/cool/weird/etc."; and the initiate go, "Oh... oh nono, oh NO — RUN!" Examples: Physics — Fluorescent lightbulbs turning on by themselves. Mech. Eng. — A (diesel) engine running after you switch off the ignition. 1/2

110

don @donnorum.com · 15/07/2026

every now and then the contributors' notes on genius toss out a true banger such as "Like many of his songs, this uptempo romp is actually about depression."

010

don @donnorum.com · 08/07/2026

woooooo canada day screwin' up my plans for posting so's there are now TWO posts this-week-slash-today woooooo www.dreamtheory.media/the-art-of-f... and in case it wasn't clear donnorum.com/2026/07/08/i...

A screenshot from "Parks and Recreation", S03E07 - "Harvest Festival", showing Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) standing in front of a map of Pawnee in City Hall. The map shows Pawnee in blue, with a dozen white dots, and is titled "City of Pawnee History of Wamapoke Incidents". The original caption was "This is a map of all the atrocities that the Pawnee settlers inflicted upon the Wamapoke Indians... The atrocities are in blue."

It has been remixed to read "This is a graphical representation of all the allusions in the story ... the allusions are in blue."

010

don @donnorum.com · 08/07/2026

forgot about the 'the room' joke until pulling the link. remembered the awful pun on a britney spears lyric, tho. (could've spun up some python to manually facet this into a slightly less spoiler-y link, but c'mon. bsky.app should really handle that natively.) www.pulpasylum.com/grow-up-by-d...

442

don @donnorum.com · 01/07/2026

listening to a lotta gordon lightfoot today because but of course and so has got me wondering whether or not @joe-hill.bsky.social watched the 1946 Abbott & Costello flick "The Time of Their Lives" at some point before Locke & Key? (collections're boxed up rn, so can't check introductions/endnotes)

010

don @donnorum.com · 14/06/2026

"thanks it has thumb holes" is i guess the dude equivalent of "thanks it has pockets"

110

don @donnorum.com · 14/06/2026

i just realized that from a certain point of view i appear to be constructing a room-sized lament configuration. although considering that my copy of tcathr is octavo/medium octavo and may end up housed within — maybe? (you know just without all the happy-go-luckiness it had in the hellbound heart)

An upwards-angled view of the corner of a rectilinear structure made of aluminum extrusions and stained wood panels, midway through assembly.

000

don @donnorum.com · 04/06/2026

If you're looking for an anthology with adorably whimsical cover art of a star-crossed synanthropic meet-cute that, statistically speaking, has probably occurred at some point in one or more of the major metropolitan areas in North America, you've got ~7 hours... www.kickstarter.com/projects/par...

kickstarter.com

Bad Romance: An Anthology of Trash Couples

The 23rd annual Triangulation Anthology: fantasy, science fiction, and horror short stories and poems.

000

don @donnorum.com · 01/06/2026

always check for bees before you stop and smell the roses (i am not being metaphorical, i am just now nearly having been stung in the nose by a bee nestled down for the night in one of the roses on my regular running route)

000

don @donnorum.com · 27/05/2026

how it started*: <Reading Vol. I of the 1963 Medical Journal of Australia> That's... just as sexist as I should have expected given the USAF of the 1960's. * Chapter Approved 2001: The Second Book of the Astronomican was earlier, but collateral. how it's going: www.kickstarter.com/projects/par...

kickstarter.com

Bad Romance: An Anthology of Trash Couples

The 23rd annual Triangulation Anthology: fantasy, science fiction, and horror short stories and poems.

120

don @donnorum.com · 25/05/2026

Hofstadter's Observation on O'Toole's Corollary of Finagle's Law: The perversity of the Universe tends towards a maximum — even and especially when one attempts to account for this tendency.

000

don @donnorum.com · 23/05/2026

for every engineering problem there is a physicist's answer that is clear, simple, and batshit insane

100

don @donnorum.com · 21/05/2026

ain't no context collapse like seeing your shitposts printed out on a poster board being set up on a stand by a paunchy guy in a suit and tie

000

don @donnorum.com · 19/05/2026

prolly 'cause it's been nearly thirty years, but godDAMN did i forget how funny geertz could be

000

don @donnorum.com · 17/05/2026

past me will have a lot to answer for

010

don @donnorum.com · 07/05/2026

Requirements for the John Wick Merit Badge: Formal instruction or demonstrated achievement (e.g., placing at a competition) in each of the following — 1) Jiu-jitsu or comparable grappling art. 2) Close quarter combatives (striking, misc. weapons). 3-5) Tactical pistol, rifle, and shotgun. (1/4)

100

don @donnorum.com · 29/04/2026

everybody at the rap battle's gangsta until the classics major takes the mic

110

don @donnorum.com · 28/04/2026

so i was out running last week and a couple of guys LITERALLY cat-called me - like, shouted "MIAOW!" out the window as they drove past. ngl, it was kinda... weird, def. more perturbatory than complimentary, and it took me 'til the end of the block to remember what i was wearing and go, RIGHT. yeah:

Close-up of my torso from the Saturday morning before Promise Land 2026 - hydration vest with soft-flasks, grass in the background, but most importantly a short-sleeved graphic tech tee with an enormous KAIJU-CAT on it erupting out of some Hokusai-esuqe waves with a tiny-by-comparison helicopter in the foreground.

100

don @donnorum.com · 22/04/2026

So I had this whole running-thought of how using "Hwæt!" to introduce a story to a rambunctious, likely-drunk audience was oddly enough exactly like how "So!" seems to be used in Tumblr posts and it turns out that Seamus Haney beat me to it by like twenty years. (Beowulf. Faber & Faber, 2009) -

110

don @donnorum.com · 22/04/2026

Several of the families of Canada geese in the park have just hatched this season's goslings and so if you are or are responsible for a baby or a dog or an other curious and/or rambunctious type mammal of fifty or fewer pounds...

000

don @donnorum.com · 22/04/2026

After a long day working at the polls yesterday, I went out on a run this morning and found 'MURICA:

A fixed blade knife on a desk, the blade battered and chipped. A close-up of a bald eagle in front of the Stars and Stripes is enameled on the blade, but likewise battered and chipped. The scales of the grooved handle are printed with a waving US flag, also scuffed.

Someone seems to have tried to use it to pry something at some point, as a considerable amount of the tip has been snapped off.

The desk also features spring clamps and MDF strips, as I'm currently gluing up inserts for bookshelves and was too rushed to move them out of the way for the photo.

010

don @donnorum.com · 16/02/2026

In the same vein as Sonnets[1] Georg[2]: If someone punches a Nazi, they hate Nazis; if they punch three hundred Nazis, they love punching people. They may also hate Nazis. But they for sure love punching. 1: dedalvs.tumblr.com/post/1526697... 2: reallyreallyreallytrying.tumblr.com/post/4003302...

000

don @donnorum.com · 15/02/2026

Of all the (unarmed) gendai budō to see busted out for a Chicago high school hallway fight, I think I would have expected sumō the least. (Q.v. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nekodam...)

010

don @donnorum.com · 12/02/2026

The Climber (adapted by Shin-ichi Sakamoto [@14mountain.bsky.social] from Jirō Nitta's novel Kokō no Hito) is maybe the best story I've read about an ultrarunner, despite being 100% about mountain climbing with no running involved beyond a VO2-max test. Right up there alongside Murakami's WITAWITAR.

000

don @donnorum.com · 03/02/2026

Morning run. Wish it hadn't ended up so blurry, but I was a bit off my usual pace and running late. (Plus, I've only ever shot, like... two? panoramas on my phone, counting this one.)

An unfortunately-kinda-blurry 360-degree panorama from this morning, maybe half an hour before dawn - sun peeking over the horizon, full moon in the sky. Standing in the middle of a sheet of ice stretching as far as can be seen over hill and swale across a park, with a split-rail fence sticking up nearby and buildings far-off up the hill and down the path. A week and a half of scattered passage has left barely a mark on the snowcrete expanse.

010

don @donnorum.com · 20/01/2026

If I had a nickel for every time I found a nicely framed piece of art just lying beside the trail on my morning run, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

A vivid pastel drawing of a couple of pears on a plate, on a... table? bedspread?, under glass in a wooden frame, held in someone's left hand in front of a framed, centuries-old map of Africa hanging on the wall. An Ikea wing chair with a fleece gimme blanket tossed over it is in the background.

130

don @donnorum.com · 15/01/2026

If I had a nickel for every time I found half of a torn-up Social Security card on my morning run, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

010

don @donnorum.com · 14/01/2026

Yesterday, I sent the city manager a video showing the cameras left over from a canceled pilot program - which Flock claimed they'd disabled and would handle removing - appearing to still be recording traffic. Today, the city stopped waiting - Public Works was out before 7AM. A welcome C'Ville W.

010

don @donnorum.com · 31/12/2025

Everyone gets everything he wants. I wanted a fandom with rigor, and for my sins, I'm now integrating hyperbolic tangents and composing MLA citations for Street Fighter 6 and FX's "The League" in order to make a bilingual pun. While working on a literature search of Romanian scientific biographies.

020

don @donnorum.com · 29/12/2025

Welp, I've been running ultras for — bah gawd, a DECADE — and after this year's GEER, I've at last filled up my charm bracelet (iykyk and if you don't... best keep your bliss). So now do I: a) Curate the choicest of charms? b) Start doubling up charms on each link?, or c) Turn it into a necklace?

010