iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Wait. Swordtember. Did anyone draw Oscar from Heinlein's Glory Road in lederhosen and a Hawaiian shirt wielding Lady Vivamus?

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Gettin' old. Had to bow out of gaming today because meds were having fun with me, so I spent my 'mad money' on crockpot ingredients. Stew meat, ground beef, potatoes, mushrooms.. already had onion and veggies and tomato/chicken bouillon. Eatin' good this weekend.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Well, I think I've identified another Hell. The Hell of the Eternal Parking Ramp Where You're in a Regular Car, Everybody Else is in a F150 Super Duty Or Bigger, And It's Rush Hour. This is why I support the War On Trucks and closing CAFE loopholes.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Today's crockpot ain't fancy.. baby Yukon Golds, carrots, mushrooms, chopped onion, chuck roast, some au jus mix and tomato paste. Fits the weather and my mood.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

For better or worse I've spent most of my life trying to be low maintenance.. 'wanting what I've got', as Sheryl Crow would put it. So my wife surprising me with this made my day.

A small metal lunchbox with Minecraft imagery.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Wait. I follow GURPS people. Can anyone confirm if the anecdote about Joe, Ed, and Marge the Barbarian (and their dungeon crawl to a hungry dragon) was in GURPS 1E and/or 2E?

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Three new muted keywords today. Close to muting every word with the letter 'E' but not quite there yet.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

And apparently now I've been consigned to the 'always falling' level of one religion's version of Hell. I'll say this- some people are at least willing to get creative with their list names.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Gamez & More in Rochester. They've also got Car Wars 6th.

GURPS Fourth Edition Revised- Tome Edition. $79.99 at Gamez & More.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Crockpot is go. Except I forgot the celery. Crap. Onions, carrots, sausage, chuck roast, potatoes, cabbage, tomatoes. Left out the green peppers too.. just no room.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Apparently I'm a Quisling, a bootlicker, and a collaborator. Nobody told me.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Today's haul from Jimmy Jams in Winona.

A Magic: The Gathering Commander Deck from the 'Aetherdrift' set and a cube of 'Dice For All' (clear with rainbows inside)

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Sometimes love is "Oh, crap, I ordered food and forgot to ask if you wanted anything!" So I guess I'm having Golden Arches tonight after work. Do they still have a Godzilla happy meal?

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

So I'm reading 'A Gathering Evil' by Mike Stackpole and I had stop and make sure that one of the offensive street names wasn't around anymore. Good to have the reminder that every now and then the future we live in isn't completely crapsack.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

I may be a little slow to the party, but does zeerust also cover when pandemic/quarantine discussion pushes a work into fantasy because of pre-Covid assumptions?

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Working on linguini and sauce and meatballs. Easy if not quick after a long day and another soupçon of stress in the bubbling crockpot that is my health, both mental and physical. Can't wait for some of the road construction to end.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Finished the Behind the Bastards episodes about the history of violence in Palestine. I.. feel bad for enjoying that Onion article about violence in the Middle East predating Earth having an atmosphere. Going to have to process this one.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Reading Mike Stackpole and Walter John Williams and (non-gaming) C.J. Carella (with some regrets, but then I needed the reminder that just because I enjoy someone's game design doesn't mean I have to agree with them on everything).. Feels like college days.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

My muted keyword list could be a timeline of BlueSky history.. maybe even chapter headings for a textbook of post-Covid history. Or the next Canticle for Leibowitz.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

1 OK, this one's a multi-parter. I've been using a term the last month or so and I want to get a definition of sorts down before I get distracted or zapped and forget. Feedback would be appreciated. "The Myth Of The Next Valley". Somewhere in the deep core of American-ness is a myth:

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Echos are not my friend. Don't think I cracked a rib but it's been 12 hours and I still feel like I've been pulled through a knothole.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

So the good news was I had a mushroom and Swiss burger from Grandma's Kitchen for lunch and I was able to get my wife a coffee. Bad news is I spent about an hour in traffic today, 45 minutes of that in rush hour, plus some medical stuff I'll have to deal with.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

13-hour soup turned out all right, though I have a lot of leftovers. Survived another day in spite of the bored youths and harried commuters. Goodnight.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Vegetable crockpot soup is GO. I didn't get zucchinis in there but I did potatoes/cabbage/onions/corn/tomato paste/chicken broth/kielbasa/mirepoix. I know kielbasa isn't a vegetable, but the cabbage and potatoes got me thinking.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Admittedly I've only been up for ten minutes or so but I've already wasted entirely too much time not acquiring GURPS Fourth Edition Revised. Somebody who has one.. How would you describe the 'thump' when you drop it on a table?

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Hit a sort of jackpot yesterday. Must have hidden the source post for a spate of AI-training because when I went back to my regular feed it was flickering for a couple minutes. Like the digital version of watching dominoes fall.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Well, here it is. August 4th, 2026. Rain, rain, go away, rubbers, galoshes for today. If there was a nuclear war last night I didn't notice.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Had an idea and I don't know if I want to keep it in AD&D 1e or risk figuring out GURPS 4E (shudders) shapeshifting. Werecreatures affected not only by a moon but by the weather.. a pack of werewolves in a thunderstorm calling down lightning to drive villagers out of their huts..

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Technically my birthday has begun. I know some people make requests on their birthdays and I'm trying to think of what I'd want.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Houseguest let me sleep past 6:30 AM for once. Probably why I woke up with Van Morrison's 'Days Like This' as a brainworm.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

So this is the beginning of what my daughter would call my 'birthday week'. Got a County Fair to visit (weather permitting), the possibility of steak on a hill, and.. blood tests plus the usual work and self-care.. maybe Magic on Friday. Just got to keep out of the slough called Despond.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

OK, anybody else in Rochester/SE Minnesota. I have a crackpot theory and I'd like some feedback. ISD 535 has been trying to shut down Riverside school for a while. What if the plan wasn't 'segregation academy' but 'lease it out to renovate into a homeless shelter'? next)

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Ok, finally saw Supergirl. 8 screenings of Odyssey in this one-theater town. Nice to see another self-contained story, no to minimal homework required.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

So many bored kids tonight.. street racing, falling in love, primping and preening, drinking and doing drugs.. the full flower of youth in a town where there's been "nothing to DOOOO" for decades. So.. yeah, at the moment I'm feeling one foot in the grave. Give it time.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Have to admit I'm having trouble aligning my thinking as regards gaming to what seems to be the new non-violence norm. Yes, my first reflex on finishing GURPS Zombies was to put together 'Truth and Reconciliation of The Living Dead' with lawyer/diplomat PCs, but the intro session is still combat.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

And another keyword muted. Have to admit I'd like some frequency controls.. or tracking, so I can see how many times a muted keyword would have shown up in Following over the last hour/6 hours/24 hours. Or how many times a given poster I follow uses a muted keyword.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

She doesn't normally do this, so I think she wants me to not move.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Decided to turn some of that weird energy into something useful. Tempted to add cream cheese an hour before I serve.

The crockpot chili of a goober, on a cold stove because it's closer to a good outlet.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

One more keyword to mute, fine. Weird mood this morning.. only movie that looked good was Mr. Smith Goes To Washington and I got bored and exited before the opening credits finished. Ads took too long. Maybe I'll just play Dragon Warrior IV today.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Blah. Got an image in my head.. like from a novel cover. Decaying, mutated scientist in the shattered remains of a HAZMAT suit reaching towards the POV with gauntleted hands.. old school, ball-like joints. I think it was dark green?

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Somebody described this as a holiday.. Image Load Fail Day, or something like that. Too bad we don't get advance warning or we could celebrate. Call it Use Your Words Day, or Saint Augustine of Hippo's Feast.. when we cast off the shackles of video and images and speak to each other as equals.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Put the dog out last night after work and I saw some fireflies in the back yard. And for some reason seeing them just _wrecked_ me.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

So my wife got me two stickers.. 'Flight was never an option' and 'I am a conduit of nonsense' Neither of which will go over well at work.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Sounds like the plan is to get somebody a Scoopie Meal to celebrate.

The houseguest, unaware that it's her Gotcha Day.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Forgot to mention it yesterday but while I was out and about I saw something that helped me feel like I wasn't alone. Kudos to you, unknown Minnesotan whose license plate is UGHHPPL. I hear you.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Close to finishing The Highlands Burn (and I need to write a suitably glowing review, because it's worth one) and now I can see myself getting distracted and reading the entire set of Phule's Company books.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

One of the joys of adulting.. if I want to crack open the carton and have some peaches and cream ice cream (after giving some to my wife), nobody's going to stop me.

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Ray Aune @kerthulhu75.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Finished Children of Ruin and figured I'd start The Highlands Burn. Sometimes I need to take a break from an author's voice and process things.

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