iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 03/09/2026

I don't want to live in the States but I would like to live somewhere that this would ship to. gastondesign.com/product/utah...

Replica Utahraptor foot from Gaston Design. It costs $350 and I still want it.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 07/08/2026

Someone flew a flag in Eyre Square that was Palestinian on one side and the Progress Pride flag on the other and I love it because it will make the very worst people have absolute aneurysms.

Flag flying in Eyre Square, Galway. It is Palestinian on one side and progress Pride on the other.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 22/07/2026

Today I learned that Schleich do fantasy creatures and some of these would make incredible DnD boss minis. www.smythstoys.com/ie/en-ie/toy... #ttrpg #DnD

Schleich Eldrador 70790 Ice Dragon. A gnarly white and blue dragon. Its wings look frozen and there's ice along its back from head to tail.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 10/07/2026

An encouraging article about the effect of language standards on public services in Welsh. But using AI for translation is kinda gross @thejournal.ie www.thejournal.ie/language-sta...

"This article was originally written in the reporter’s native Irish and has been translated to English here. AI was used as part of the translation process before final edits."

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 15/06/2026

Longford makes for a grim result.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 10/06/2026

Well holy God. A full year after signing up to every "notify me when in stock" list I could find, Magic Madhouse got an alt-cover 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide. 🥳🎉🎉 If anyone has an alt-cover 2024 Monster Manual for sale, please let me know.

A hand holding an alt-cover Dungeons and Dragons 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide. It has beautiful cover art of the spider goddess Lolth wrapping a victim in webs.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 27/05/2026

Wear the sun cream today, folks.

Sylas Briarwood and Grog Strongjaw horribly burnt by Keyeth's sunbeam spell. Sylas is the worse off of the two of them.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 22/05/2026

Greamáin! (stickers) We cast our votes in Galway-West.

A sticker with the text "Is vótálaí mé" (I am a voter) on a blue fabric background.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 02/05/2026

Thank you Reddit for doing more to curb my Reddit use than any other influence.

A screenshot of the rpg subreddit taken on a mobile phone. An obnoxious banner covers the bottom 40% of the screen. It tells you that you need to use the Reddit app.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 01/05/2026

3. Horrors of the Fairelands The only official Candela Obscura expansion. Like most anthologies, the quality is mixed. I quite liked Express Train to Hell for its confined spaces. The Locked Library is a fun locked room murder mystery with plenty of factional intrigue.

Horrors of the Fairelands: Eight Assignments in a Gilded World of Terrifying Magick. A Candela Obscura expansion published by Beadle and Grimm's and Darrington Press.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 27/04/2026

Like @moleskine.bsky.social presumably have the rights to use the maps that appeared in the films. Why use AI slop for this?

A Moleskine Instagram post for their The Lord of the Rings collaboration. Fabric patches of a Lorien leaf, the White Tree of Gondor, and the Eye of Sauron are placed on a AI slop map of Middle-earth that contains gibberish placenames.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 04/04/2026

David Starkey: "tHe APPLiCaTiOn OF sPECIfiC LAWS dEsIGNed not tO PeRSeCutE peopLE FOr bEING caTholIC"

"Captain Swayne pitchcapping the people of Prosperous [county Kildare, Ireland 1798]"

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 23/03/2026

Just got an email that #SmythsToys is doing a recall on some sand-based play kits because of potential amounts of asbestos. Please check if your or your loved ones have bought any of these. I am understandably not best pleased that my toddler might have been exposed. #speirghorm #speirgorm

Product Safety Recall

Date 23.03.2026

248772- Dino Dig Sensory Bin
231105 - Gold Dig It Kit
166403 - 10pcs Dig It Out Dinosaur Eggs
187539 - Gem Dig Kit 12 Gem Pack
223521 - Dig It Up Pirates 13 Treasure Set
242645 - Pocket Play Gold Treasure Chest Dig It
187538 - Gem Dig Kit 8 Pack

WHY IS THIS PRODUCT DANGEROUS?
• Testing has shown that the material inside some products may contain trace levels of asbestos.
• The overall risk is low, however Smyths Toys is recalling the affected items as a precaution.

WHAT TO DO
• Stop using the product immediately.
• Keep the product out of reach of children.

REMEDIES FOR CONSUMERS
CONTACT
Smyths Toys Recalls Dig Products
• Return the product to your nearest Smyths Toys Superstore for a full refund free of charge.
If you have any further queries regarding this notice,
please contact cshelpdesk@smythstoys.com

SPREAD THE NEWS: Tell your friends and family about this recall!

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 21/02/2026

2. Star Borg - Kyle Latino & JP Coovert My first Borg. Fun and pulpy. The art definitely leans family friendly but you could run an Andor-style story with the mechanics. The 1-2 page adventures are very good. Great maps, clear objectives, decent complications. (I'm counting 5 zines as one book)

Star Borg Rebel Handbook by Kyle Latino and JP Coovert. A Star Wars inspired hack of Mork Borg. The cover features a hero wielding a lightsaber, a ship that sure looks like the Millenium Falcon, and a Darth Vader analogue. The risk of a lawsuit from Disney is high.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 19/02/2026

Shadowdark Cursed Scroll 5 just released. Did someone say subterranean hexcrawl? #ttrpg #rpg #Shadowdark

Shadowdark Zine 5. Cursed Scroll. Dwellers in the Deep.

Two stingbats (horrific insext/bat hybrids) flutter in the foreground. In the background the silhouettes of many more can be seen.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 17/01/2026

2026 books 1. Legends and Lattes - Travis Baldree Very much slice of life cosy fantasy. Minimal action, a romance to root for. I thought it was lovely.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 31/12/2025

15. Liriel - Garth Nix 16. Abhorsen - Garth Nix These felt like a 900 page novel that was cut in half. Some uneven pacing but very exciting when the action ramped up, and they had a satisfying ending. I enjoyed them enough to want to read more of the series next year.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 31/12/2025

14. Sabriel - Garth Nix Re-reading for the first time since I was a teenager and it holds up surprisingly well. The pacing is excellent and I really like the worldbuilding.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 31/12/2025

13. I Contain Multitudes - Ed Yong Gorgeously written with something fascinating and unexpected on almost every page. One the best non-fiction books I've read in years.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 31/12/2025

12. The Ghost Brigades - John Scalzi Good, fun, slightly pulpy military science fiction. With a bit more emotional heft than that description might imply.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 31/12/2025

11. Fight Like Hell - Kim Kelly Really interesting stories from folks who have been mostly left out of US labour history. Well researched but I would have liked a bit of an overview of what happened between the periods being focused on.

Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor by Kim Kelly

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 31/12/2025

10. Hata Zú Mhamó - Áine Ní Ghlinn Beagán caol, le fírinne. Galánta, cinnte, ach bheadh sé níos fearr mar ghearrscéal.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 31/12/2025

9. Mausritter - Isaac Williams Super accessible and inviting. I love the vibes of being little mice in a big dangerous world. Would love to run this for my kid in the future.

Mausritter: Sword-and-whiskers role-playing by Isaac Williams

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 31/12/2025

8. The Hundred Years War on Palestine - Rashid Khalili Erudite and fascinating. Willing to examine the internal weaknesses in the movements for Palestine's liberation.

The Hundred Years War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 31/12/2025

7. Shadowdark RPG - Kelsey Dionne Maybe the gold standard for layout and rules clarity in an rpg rulebook. Also some of the best random tables I've ever seen. Does an excellent job of evoking old school DnD.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 31/12/2025

6. Witch King - Martha Wells Gorgeous writing, great worldbuilding, great characters. One of the best fantasy novels I've read in a long time.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 31/12/2025

5. A Secret Vice - J.R.R. Tolkien. Edited by Dimitra Fimi and Andrew Higgins Finally got around to reading this. It does a great job of contextualizing Tolkien's linguistic inventiveness in late 19th and early 20th century movements. Also, the editors are just the loveliest people in real life.

A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages. Edited by Dimitra Fimi and Andrew Higgins.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 31/12/2025

4. Montessori Baby - Simone Davies and Junnife Uzodike Some really good advice, mostly about mindset (You're not their boss. You're not their servant. You're their guide). The tone is relentless positive, with I think only one moment admitting that parenting is exhausting.

The Montessori Baby by Simone Davies and Junnifa Uzodike

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 31/12/2025

3. Socialism Seriously - Danny Katch Props for trying to visualize a post-capitalist society in an introductory book this short. Very US-focused though and I found the humour pretty grating after a while.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 31/12/2025

2. System Collapse - Martha Wells Excellent. Both exciting and funny. Murderbot and ART continue to be great. As you'd expect from a Murderbot novel.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 31/12/2025

I managed 16 books in 2025, which is a lot better than last year. 1. The Internet Con - Cory Doctorow Incisive and very funny. The solutions offered do mostly depend on legislation that isn't super likely to pass, unfortunately.

The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation by Cory Doctorow.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 25/12/2025

Christmas solidarity to all parents who were also up late assembling the Aldi Little Town Country Kitchen. My time was 1 hour 35 minutes.

Aldi Little Town Wooden Country Kitchen. A children's play kitchen that comes as a flatpack and requires a lot of fiddly assembly very late on Christmas Eve.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 19/12/2025

Fox & Son Tailers - Paddy Donnelly Taking the Long Way Home - Jake Hope and Brian Fitzgerald The Story Orchestra: The Nutcracker - Jessica Courtney-Tickle and Katy Flint Púcaí Schmúcaí agus dánta eile - Gabriel Rosenstock, Tarsila Krüse and Úna Woods

The Story Orchestra: The Nutcracker - Jessica Courtney-Tickle and Katy Flint

Púcaí Schmúcaí agus dánta eile - Gabriel Rosenstock, Tarsila Krüse and Úna Woods

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 19/12/2025

For very young kids (based off my one's likes): Ag Buzzáil sa Ghairdín - Áine Ní Ghlinn and Mr Ando Oh No, George! - Chris Haughton Baby Goes to Market - Atinuke and Angela Brooksbank Cá Bhfuil Puifín Beag? - Gerry Daly and Erika McGann, Translated by Muireann Ní Chíobháin

Ag Buzzáil sa Ghairdin - Áine Ní Ghlinn agus Mr Ando.

Baby Goes to Market - Atinuke and Angela Brooksbank

Cá Bhfuil Puifín Beag? - Gerry Daly and Erika McGann, Translated by Muireann Ní Chíobháin

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 20/11/2025

Cursed Scroll 6 just arrived and Shadowdark still has some of the best random tables. Any game that has multiple tables of "carousing mishaps" gets my support.

The start of a table of carousing mishaps.
01 You wake up in the Duke's Donjon accused of a major crime
02 You wake up in the stocks accused of a minor crime
03 A gloating thief burgled 50% of your wealth; -3 renown
04 You offended an important advisor to the Duke; -5 renown
05 You wake up robbed in a gutter; lose 40% of your wealth
06 You lost 35% of your wealth to a notorious con artist
07 You lost 30% of your wealth in a string of gambling failures
08 You blew a high-level spy's cover; gain an enemy assassin
09 You accidentally burned down a tavern; -4 renown
10 A pickpocket successfully lifted 1d4 pieces of your gear
11 You traded your best weapon for a cooked turkey leg
12 You hit your head; lose one common language you spoke
13 A seemingly kind old lady stole a random piece of your gear
14 A nobleman overheard your joke about him; -3 renown
15 Wizard duel crossfire; you are turned into a frog for a week
16 The City Guard hunts for you regarding a major crime
17 A demagogue priest declared you possessed; -2 renown
18 A rival threw a random piece of your gear into the river
19 Your cheers distracted a pit fighter; gain an enemy knight
20 You deeply insulted a wizard; gain an enemy mage
21 You unwittingly interfered in a heist; gain an enemy thief
22 You broke the taboos of a church; gain an enemy priest
23 You lost a bet to a hated rival; -1 renown and lose 50 gp

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 27/10/2025

Catherine Connolly's first act as president needs to be to bring Babóg Bears back into production.

A brown and green teddy bear with numbered patches on its ears, hands, feet and stomach. When pressed, they play phrases in Irish.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 10/10/2025

When a unit test fails locally but passes in CI.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 29/09/2025

The cool kids will be watching campaign 4 this week. Meanwhile, I just want to get a sense of campaign 2 before the Mighty Nein animated show comes out.

Critical Role Campaign 2 Episode 1 thumbnail of a quite nerdy Matt Mercer in 1980s clothes.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 14/09/2025

The Wolf's Secret by Myriam Dahman and Nicolas Digard, incredibly illustrated by Júlia Sardà Portabella, is a gorgeous romantic fairy tale. I got it from my local library. You should too.

Cover of The Wolf's Secret. Flowers and leaves in reds, oranges and greys tangle on a speckled black background. Two set of yellow eyes, one canine, one human, stare out from behind the petals.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 27/07/2025

Big Justin Trudeau energy off the latest BS from Simon Harris.

Justin Trudeau attending a climate protest (possibly against his own government?), instead of doing anything as Canadian premier to change government policy to address the climate crisis.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 26/06/2025

It was a mediocre burger at the airport, which is somehow even worse. And he hashtagged burger. Was he particularly impressed by this one? Yeah it was right after the 4 Fine Gael MEPs voted against saving drowning refugees. The motion lost by two votes. So the disgust is entirely FGs own fault.

Screenshot of tweet from Fine Gael MEP Seán Kelly about getting a burger because he was at the airport early. Posted a few hours after he voted against saving drowning refugees in the Mediterranean.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 14/06/2025

My Obsidian consists almost entirely of notes on things I'm learning. Every so often I push them to GitHub so I can access them from different computers.

The file menu of an Obsidian instance. Almost every folder is named something like "kafka-notes" or "scala-notes"

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 28/05/2025

New sticker for the laptop to remind me of my responsibilities. #TransRights

A grey Framework laptop with a "Protect Trans Kids" sticker in the trans flag colours. Beside it are stickers saying "This machine kills fascists" and "CSS is awesome"

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 17/05/2025

Great t-shirt arrived from steviesafespaces.com I hope if a trans kid sees it they'll know they have a friend. #TransRights

A man wearing a t-shirt that says "You will have to go through me" in the trans pride flag colours. He has a very unkempt greying beard.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 10/04/2025

I am still salty that Iguanodon and Allosaurus have been short changed by the Jurassic Park films. They are cool and deserve more than blink and you miss it cameos. I want to see a pack of Allosaurus take down a sauropod like lions. And an Iguanodon just shank a predator. #JurassicPark

Allosaurus hunting Diplodocus from the BBC series Walking with Dinosaurs.

Iguanodon stabbing a would-be predator with its thumb spike. Captioned "Talk dumb, get the thumb"

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 06/04/2025

I'm really looking forward to "delving"* into @bobworldbuilder.bsky.social 's Delve: How to Build and Survive Deadly Dungeons. Already the traps, magic items and monsters look flavoursome as heck. #rpg #ttrpg *I'm sorry

The cover of Delve. Two adventurers face a spooky dungeon chamber with a glowing glyph in the centre of the floor.

First page of the Donjon of Doom example dungeon. In the art a devil, lich and red dragon gamble.

Gear items: Bandoleer of Preparation, Boots of Timejumping and Bracers of Utility

The statblock for a Boxsnail, like a gelatinous cube but with eyestalks and a cube of dungeon wall on its back.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 31/03/2025

It's here and it's beautiful* *horrifying in a HR Giger sort of way. #Mothership #rpg #ttrpg

The contents of the Mothership box set. 8 zines (4 rulebooks and 4 modules), a GM screen, standees and bases, a poster of a ship's schematics, and dice.

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Gerard Hynes @gerardhynes.com · 22/03/2025

My wife and I quote this clip to each other pretty much every day so I finally made it into a gif. #ItsATeamSpoht

Laura Eastaugh, the most Boston person you have ever encountered, voting for Joe Biden in the 2020 US presidential election. "I wish I was voting for Bernie Sanders but it's a team sport"

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