iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

AltText Alex (he/him) @lxreads.fun · 11/08/2026

This was a sweet coming-of-age story about an autistic teenager going to summer camp and learning to throw out her personal restrictions she's been hiding behind through most of high school. I liked that it has lots of love and supportive friendships, with surprising depth and novelty.

The cover of "Smash or Pass"

It depicts a feminine teenager with curly red hair wearing a pink top and jeans as she kisses a taller girl with her blond hair up in a ponytail. The blonde girl is wearing a volleyball uniform and holds a volleyball towards us, obscuring the lower half of the girls' faces. The background shows fluffy white clouds in a blue sky

Behind the redhead are the words "She's done playing by the rules"

020

AltText Alex (he/him) @lxreads.fun · 07/07/2026

It's the wildest when they do 👇 this. As though the word "Soccer" isn't RIGHT THERE between the other words that are represented in the acronym?? 🙃

The blurb for the HBO docuseries "U.S. Against The World, Four Years with the Men's National Soccer Team":
An unprecedented look at the United States Men's National Soccer Team (USMNT) in the lead-up to the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America.

010

AltText Alex (he/him) @lxreads.fun · 23/06/2026

My pre-order of @mathewlreyes.bsky.social's book just arrived!!

Photo of a paperback of God's Own Country by Mathew L Reyes.
The cover features a pair of dirty hands cupped around a white church

191

AltText Alex (he/him) @lxreads.fun · 20/08/2025

And 24 hours later… I finally get my nerd card in Violet 🤓

Screenshot of a diploma for completing the Pokémon Violet Pokédex.

It reads "Trainer LX, we hereby certify your achievement of completing the Pokédex. May this great feat be celebrated by all!" and it's "signed" Game Freak.

There's a Fuecoco, Sprigatito, and Quaxly in celebratory poses framing the words

130

AltText Alex (he/him) @lxreads.fun · 24/07/2025

#LXTalksPol Pack it in AI fanboys, your president just banned LLM use in the government An LLM has literally no capacity to understand the "truth", which is why they're historically *awful* at acknowledging uncertainty about the reliability of their information www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Excerpt of the linked executive order, with one paragraph highlighted.

Sec. 3. Unbiased AI Principles. It is the policy of the United States to promote the innovation and use of trustworthy AI. To advance that policy, agency heads shall, consistent with applicable law and in consideration of guidance issued pursuant to section 4 of this order, procure only those LLMs developed in accordance with the following two principles (Unbiased AI Principles):

[begin highlight]
(a) Truth-seeking. LLMs shall be truthful in responding to user prompts seeking factual information or analysis. LLMs shall prioritize historical accuracy, scientific inquiry, and objectivity, and shall acknowledge uncertainty where reliable information is incomplete or contradictory.
[end highlight]

(b) Ideological Neutrality. LLMs shall be neutral, nonpartisan tools that do not manipulate responses in favor of ideological dogmas such as DEI. Developers shall not intentionally encode partisan or ideological judgments into an LLM’s outputs unless those judgments are prompted by or otherwise readily accessible to the end user.

160

AltText Alex (he/him) @lxreads.fun · 15/07/2025

About to board my flight back to the "real world", which means my #WoTCon trip is finally coming to an end 🥺

Selfie of me (AltText Alex) sitting in an airport food court booth. I'm wearing a heavy black tee bearing the Latin phrase "Mundus Sine Ceasaribus", as well as a black KN95 mask below my tortoiseshell glasses as I smirk slightly with my eyes. My hair is styled in a messy brown wave across the top and there's still a hint of glitter on my throat

1200

AltText Alex (he/him) @lxreads.fun · 03/06/2025

This Discord app update today is… interesting 😅 Like I get that minimalism is in, but… this can't possibly be intentional

A mobile screenshot of the Discord settings main menu. There's 10 menu items, but none of them have their usual text labels, just an icon on the left, a biiiig gap of empty space, and a chevron on the right. The search bar at the top is also missing its label/placeholder text, as is the back button

240

AltText Alex (he/him) @lxreads.fun · 13/05/2025

A lovely cozy fantasy about a wandering fortune teller fleeing the path chosen for her, a gruff veteran searching for his lost daughter, his roguish friend looking to reform, a young baker curious for adventure (+1 semi-magical cat), and the family they forge along the way. 1/2 🧵

The cover of The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong
It features a woman and a black cat sitting on the steps of a traveling wagon, as the two look away from us towards the backdrop of mountains fading into the distance, with a small hillside town in the middle distance. The wagon is brightly painted in blue and red with yellow trim, and has several bright Chinese-style lanterns of the same colors, and is warmly lit by both the lanterns and a cozy campfire beside the wagon.
The title appears in golden yellow small-caps, accompanied by small golden twinkles

290

AltText Alex (he/him) @lxreads.fun · 12/05/2025

In honor of #WoTSelfieSunday, here's a shelfie I took last time I went to the bookstore

A selfie of me (Alex) standing next to a Barnes & Noble display shelf.
The visible book covers are The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah, A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett, The Witch who Trades with Death, The Fireborne Blade by Charlotte Bond, Firebird by Juliette Cross, Cold Iron Task by James Butcher, Lightfall by Ed Crocker, and The Gate of the Feral Gods by Matt Dinniman.
I'm wearing a blue Aloha shirt patterned with various red flowers and green leaves, as well as a black KN95 mask below my tortoiseshell glasses as I smirk slightly with my eyes.

4420

AltText Alex (he/him) @lxreads.fun · 09/04/2025

Today my cat was sleeping with his belly up for most of the afternoon 😅

Photo of a very fluffy mass of orange and white fur laying in the sun. It's not immediately distinguishable as a cat until you see the hind legs, both heels on the floor with toes raised in the air. From that reference point, we begin to realize that the expanse of white fur above them must be a belly, which we can follow to the left across 20 inches of fluff to identify two stripey forelegs hiding from view all but the chin of an orange tabby cat's face. His spine must be torqued at least 90 degrees, but he seems quite content

010

AltText Alex (he/him) @lxreads.fun · 11/03/2025

The Chrome Web Store just made a policy update that extensions aren't allowed to touch affiliate links without clearly disclosing what they doing (and other stipulations, seen below) This is pretty clearly about the Honey situation 😅

Excerpt of a section from an email from the Chrome Web Store, that reads as follows:
What’s Changing?
The updated policy ensures that affiliate links are only included when they provide a direct and transparent benefit to users. This means that extensions cannot inject affiliate links when no actual value—such as a discount, cashback, or relevant offer—is being provided.

Under this policy, an extension must not add, modify, or replace affiliate links unless:

- The affiliate program is clearly disclosed on the Chrome Web Store listing, in the user interface, and before installation.
- User action is required before any affiliate link, code, or cookie is applied.
- The affiliate link is tied to a direct benefit for the user at that moment.

For example, an extension that finds and applies coupon codes must not insert an affiliate link if no coupon or discount is found. This prevents extensions from monetizing users without delivering a clear value in return.

230

AltText Alex (he/him) @lxreads.fun · 08/03/2025

They sent an email back to me with a little more detail too!

Screenshot of an email I sent to Little Cinema asking whether there's going to be captions for the event, and their response, which follows:
"Hi Alex,
Thank you for reaching out. Yes, English closed captions/subtitles are available for this event.

To enable the closed captions or subtitles, click the button with the keyboard icon in the bottom right-hand corner of the player. Select the option you would like to enable from the choices in the menu.

For a better experience, we recommend making the video player full screen. Please forgive any inaccuracies with the automated real time transcription and translation. Captions may appear slightly before or after the video content plays."

[there's a screenshot showing that Ul inside their player, I've added alt for it in the next image]

"Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any other questions. Thank you and we hope you enjoy the event!"

A screenshot of the Little Cinema video player, with a red circle highlighting a keyboard icon on the right side of image, and a floating "Subtitles" menu above that, which shows several language choices as well as font size and font color options (it seems like it might scroll too, so there may be more options there)

2236

AltText Alex (he/him) @lxreads.fun · 03/03/2025

I need to see someone show up to one of their shows in this costume 😆

An illustration of the pokémon Volbeat. It's a chubby critter that looks a bit like a cross between a firefly and a ladybug, with long curly yellow and black antenna, a red scarf-like thing around it's head, and a little glowing yellow tail

120

AltText Alex (he/him) @lxreads.fun · 20/02/2025

Yeahhh, I don't think this quiz understood my answers 😅

Your Result:
bran stark
you're a dreamer. your plans have always been rosy ones, because who wants to dream in monochrome? the thing is, dreaming is hard, and those who leap tend to fall, over and over. you're resilient, though, and you're allowed to whine as you drag yourself forward. you live inside your mind more and more these days. it's the place where you remake yourself. it's the place that reminds you what's important.

240

AltText Alex (he/him) @lxreads.fun · 28/01/2025

Oh good, it achieved its purpose 🤭

A Spanish Letterboxd review:
Increíble, las actuaciones, las canciones, las locaciones, todo es increíble, no conozco nada de Francia, pero para mí es completamente como si le llevaran a la cultura, se nota que la directora sabía lo que necesitaba saber sobre Francia, 100% recomendada, lo mejor del 2025

Here's an English translation:
Incredible, the performances, the songs, the locations, everything is incredible, I don't know anything about France, but for me it's completely as if they were taking you into the culture, you can tell that the director knew what she needed to know about France, 100% recommended, the best of 2025

010

AltText Alex (he/him) @lxreads.fun · 26/01/2025

I think I might've finally found lighting at home that doesn't leave intense glasses shadows 😅 #WoTSelfieSunday

A selfie of me wearing a slight smirk with one eyebrow raised.

I have light skin and dark brown hair swept up across the top and short on the sides, and I have a mustache and short scrubby chin hair. I'm wearing a pink and blue checkered shirt and dark brown tortoiseshell glasses.

12511

AltText Alex (he/him) @lxreads.fun · 22/01/2025

Reposted with alt text for those who need it

Know Your Rights When You Face ICE!

Important information about your rights during interactions with ICE officers!
Stay informed so you can assert your rights confidently, no matter the situation.

#1: You do not have to open the door
ICE does not have the right to enter your home without a valid warrant signed by a judge. You can ask them to slip the warrant under the door.

#2: You can ask them to leave
If they do not have a warrant and go inside your home, you can ask them to step outside and let them know you do not consent to a search. In the workplace, ICE does not have the right to enter employee-only areas without permission.

#3: You can stay silent
The 5th Amendment protects the right to remain silent and to not incriminate yourself.

#4: You do not have to share personal info
You are not obligated to provide personal information like your immigration status, place of birth, or criminal history if asked. Anything you say or do can be used against you. You should not lie.

Legal Disclaimer: This document is for general informational purposes only. Its contents are not legal advice. If you are in need of legal advice, please contact an attorney.

(This page has the same heading as the previous one)

#5: You do not have to sign anything or hand over documents
You do not have any obligation to sign any document without speaking to an attorney.

#6: You have the right to speak with an attorney
If you are detained, you can ask to speak to your attorney. ICE does not provide attorneys, so try to consult one in advance. See next page for a list of pro bono legal service providers.

Legal Disclaimer: This document is for general informational purposes only. Its contents are not legal advice. If you are in need of legal advice, please contact an attorney.

[At the top of this and the previous page there is a grayscale photo of two women wearing hijabs, a medium-brown-skinned man, and a pair of children. The five people are smiling as they look at one another]

Make A Plan. Be Prepared.

The federal government can deport anyone without lawful immigration status and people with status (e.g., lawful permanent residents and visa holders) with certain criminal convictions.

Make sure you have copies of your important documents and keep the originals in a safe place

Consult a lawyer before ice comes to your door

Make a family plan. Identify an emergency caretaker for your children

Memorize at least one emergency phone number

Know who your elected officials are. Consider keeping a signed DHS privacy waiver in a safe place so they can advocate on your behalf

[At the bottom are a cropped group of people, one of whom is holding a sign that says "No one is illegal"]

165

AltText Alex (he/him) @lxreads.fun · 19/01/2025

This official statement from TikTok is… pretty vague. What does "go dark" mean to them? My understanding is this app is used by millions (billions?) of people outside of the US as well, are they going to take the app offline for them too? newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/tiktok...

Screenshot of the entire linked press release from TikTok. Under the heading "Statement on possible shutdown", it reads:
The statements issued today by both the Biden White House and the Department of Justice have failed to provide the necessary clarity and assurance to the service providers that are integral to maintaining TikTok's availability to over 170 million Americans.

Unless the Biden Administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement, unfortunately TikTok will be forced to go dark on January 19.

120

AltText Alex (he/him) @lxreads.fun · 12/01/2025

Early #WoTSelfieSunday because I'm a dork who gets excited by the moon being bright enough for sharp shadows! 🤓 (also, ignore the socks with sandals, I caught this as I was taking out the trash 😅)

A photo of my own shadow looking down from almost directly overhead. It's got an incredibly distinct outline showing my folded elbows holding the camera at chest level. The lighting is a much cooler white than you'd usually see in a shadow from the sun.

In the shadow, you can kinda see the shape of my hair, but if you're not paying too much attention, the shadow sort of just looks like a chubby starfish because of how high the moon is in the sky

6360

AltText Alex (he/him) @lxreads.fun · 16/12/2024

Spent most of the day putting up Christmas lights, please accept this alternative offering for #WotSelfieSunday

A large orange tabby cat with eyes that appear light green in the bright lighting. He's sitting upright and his long fur forms a bit of a mane around his neck. His very fluffy chest forms an interesting contrast with patches of shaved skin on both of his visible forelegs

52125

AltText Alex (he/him) @lxreads.fun · 14/12/2024

#CosmereSpoilers The most surprised laugh ripped itself from my chest at that moment 🤣 Especially considering that *this* was part of the book bundle they gave out at Dragonsteel Nexus

Close up photo of the face of a chull plushie. It's a cartoonish version of a crab thing it has an orange head with long white eyestalks (picture Mr. Krabs from SpongeBob), a vertical black zigzag representing a closed crab mouth, framed by a pair of orange finger-like protrusions (like a lot of bugs have). It also has a large brown body shaped like a boulder.

110

AltText Alex (he/him) @lxreads.fun · 05/12/2024

This passage and other parts of the article seem to imply that. Though it's likely that it'll only throw a wrench into the gears for individual images or pages as opposed to the entire site

Already, Scale AI prompt engineer Riley Goodside discovered how an attacker might interrupt a ChatGPT session using a visual prompt injection of the name "David Mayer" rendered in a light, barely legible font embedded in an image. When ChatGPT sees the image (in this case, a math equation), it stops, but the user might not understand why.

010

AltText Alex (he/him) @lxreads.fun · 25/11/2024

#CosmereSpoilers for #RhythmOfWar (reread) "I wish my son had lived to see this" 😭😭😭

Her ship. [emphasized] *Her* ship. She wished she could share it with Elhokar. Though most people remembered her son only as the man who had struggled to replace Gavilar as king, she’d known him as the curious, inquisitive boy who had adored her drawings. He had always enjoyed heights. How he’d have loved the view from this deck …

120

AltText Alex (he/him) @lxreads.fun · 21/11/2024

An average Bluesky experience, courtesy of @aielcakes.bsky.social: You'll just be scrolling along minding your own business then… BAM

A sitting man in a business suit is staring at something offscreen with an expression of shock, then leans forward and exclaims "That's a penis". The camera cuts to a shot of the rest of the people in the room standing around reacting sheepishly to their boss pointing out the obvious

110

AltText Alex (he/him) @lxreads.fun · 16/11/2024

If you see this, post a pic from your device without explanation.

Closeup of a frog that is definitely poisonous. It has deep blue legs, and its body is light green fading into blue from its head to its bum, with black spots and blotches. It's very cute

5120

AltText Alex (he/him) @lxreads.fun · 11/11/2024

New haircut in time for #WoTSelfieSunday *tap tap* is this thing on?

Selfie of a man looking up into the camera with one eyebrow raised. He's wearing brown tortoiseshell glasses and a green shirt. His brown hair is short and swept into a wave across the front and he has a medium mustache. His eyes are an amber-brown color in the yellow lighting

7411

AltText Alex (he/him) @lxreads.fun · 07/11/2024

This video of a cozy kitten with the caption "He will never have to create a LinkedIn profile. An email will never find him"

050

AltText Alex (he/him) @lxreads.fun · 07/11/2024

#NewProfilePic Hopefully not too jarring of a change 😅 it's still an airport selfie in the same hoodie and same type of mask, but I like this shirt and facial expression better 😅

A selfie of me. I'm a wearing a black K N 95 mask tucked under my tortoiseshell glasses. I'm quirking my left eyebrow which gives the (accurate) impression I'm smirking under the mask.

I'm wearing a purple-trimmed black hoodie over an electric blue shirt. The hoodie has a magenta lattice pattern on one shoulder, and an electric blue vanity pocket zipper on the other, matching the shirt nicely.

I have relatively pale skin and medium brown hair that's buzzed on the sides, with a longer swoop along the top, from my left to right. In this lighting, my eye color appears like it could be brown or green, but it's hard to tell due to glare from the bright natural light to my right.

The background is desaturated to avoid attracting the eye, but I'm sitting in a high-backed chair, with a few other people sitting in similar chairs nearby, and a panel ceiling above

4190

AltText Alex (he/him) @lxreads.fun · 18/09/2024

Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #77,331! *old-timey voice* Back in my day you could scroll the whole TL in 15 minutes 👴 (seriously, there wasn't much going on 😅)

A white card that says "Celebrating 10 million users" with the number 77,331, and "stamp" that says "Bluesky Certified Elder: First 1%"

Below that it has my display name (AltText Alex) my username (@LXReads.fun) and says "Joined May 15, 2023"

There's also a blue butterfly in the top left corner

020

AltText Alex (he/him) @lxreads.fun · 13/09/2024

First video! (look at this little hunter's eyes)

120

AltText Alex (he/him) @lxreads.fun · 06/09/2024

Hmmm… nope, that sounds about right 😅

Screenshot of the labels on my account. At the top it says "You may appeal these labels if you feel they were placed in error". Below that, there's one label:
Thaumaturge
The world is full of the unexplainable: ancient magic, dead gods, and even stranger things. In response, you've scavenged the best parts of every magical tradition and built up a collection of esoterica—a broken holy relic here, a sprig of mistletoe there—that you can use to best any creature by exploiting their weaknesses and vulnerabilities. The mystic implement you carry is both badge and weapon, its symbolic weight helping you bargain with and subdue the supernatural. Every path to power has its restrictions and costs, but you turn them all to your advantage. You're a thaumaturge, and you work wonders.
Source: @bskyttrpg.bsky. social

000