iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I don't why we went away from the hot-cold knob you could set before even starting the car

Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Doing some late night mapping. Sometimes I think they look a lot cooler before I smash a bunch of labels and troop movements on top.

Grayscale map showing the terrain of the Beaver Dam Creek battlefield

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Seeing it officially spelled out as Gies Memorial Stadium makes it look like it's sponsored by a hospital

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Putting up the finishing touches on some Cedar Creek maps, a project made substantially harder by the usually reliable Jedediah Hotchkiss essentially putting "here by dragons" on a crucial part his otherwise outstanding maps of the Shenandoah Valley

A portion of the Jedediah Hotchkiss map of the Shenandoah Valley, preserved by the Library of Congress, in which a large section east of Strasburg and south of Middletown (the Cedar Creek battlefield) is simply marked "unexplored."

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Lived in Richmond way too long before finally seeing Strike Anywhere

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

I need to refresh myself on Immanuel Kant for the potential perfect joke, I thought to myself this afternoon, and I regret not doing so

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Regarding Matt Leinart in a Big Ten commercial, if you weren't in the conference when you played you don't get grandfathered in

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Big news from the Illini tailgate: Joey Chestnut puts mustard on hot dogs when eating for leisure

Screenshot from @WhityRemarks on Twitter showing competitive eater Joey Chestnut next to Illinois blogging legend ALionEye

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Illini football starting off their season tonight, a Thursday. What are we even doing here, besides prioritizing TV inventory above all else?

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Can't tell if this is a Netflix glitch or an easter egg

Continue Watching section of the Netflix homescreen in which it says there are 1889 hours and 5 minutes remaining in the film Memento

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

If Illinois were to ever adopt one its rumored potential mascots, Martin Pescador would be such a good message board username

Lego box for its Kingfisher set, showing the name translated in other languages

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Made the mistake of going to Google for more info. AI is a scourge.

Google search result for Nate Lavender greyhound in which their unwanted AI overview that's forced to the top of every page informs me that the New York Mets pitcher is not a racing dog.

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

There's a thing in college sports, re: the portal, where you want a player moving up a level instead of someone who couldn't see the field at a big program and is transferring out. That feels relevant for a candidate whose name recognition is from the other elections they lost.

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Oh so they're real shook. Hell yeah, union folks. Never let someone say a job is not worth a livable wage. Especially don't let anyone think they can get away with paying less "for love of the game," "you're lucky too work here" blah blah. Spent too long getting paid inadequately in a similar field.

Email from Lewis Ginter CEO: Dear Garden Patron,

Thank you for your long-time and passionate support of our Garden. We all deeply believe in the Garden’s mission to connect people to plants by inspiring communities to explore and conserve nature. This mission has garnered our organization’s national recognition as we nurture meaningful, mutually beneficial partnerships with diverse organizations in our community, including the Autism Society of Central Virginia, Families First, Feed More, ReEstablish Richmond and so many more. In addition, we serve as the home base for several botanically relevant nonprofits: Ikebana Society of Richmond, Central Virginia Nursery and Landscape Association, Richmond Horticulture Association, and Reynolds Community College Horticulture Department. Throughought the school year, we host over 10,000 school-aged youth in the garden for formal environmental education with a majority visiting from Title 1 schools.

Because of your support and the support of the Richmond community at large, we are a major economic driver across the region with our popular exhibitions, community days, festivals and concert series. Our Garden is a keystone to the cultural fabric of Richmond and is essential to this community.

The recent news and press around the Garden’s negotiations with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Union (Machinists) has threatened the very well-being of our Garden, your Garden, and thus the community. The very place you love has unfairly come under attack based on misinformation. To date, we have opted to provide minimal comments to the broader media about negotiations in order to protect the Garden and respect the negotiating process. However, given the impact of the Machinists’ actions this past week, I’d like to use this opportunity to share some facts about negotiations.

(and so on)

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Didn't make it one day with the new Illustrator update before I had to download an older version that doesn't run slow because it's trying to shove unwanted new AI generation functions into every step of what I'm designing

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Underrated music to get your baby to sleep to: the Age of Empires soundtrack

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Today's Illini haul dispels some notions I had about modern cards. All the different parallels can seem tedious but it's nice to have the orange one for school colors. Unlicensed sets can come in handy for portal transfers (and super cheap, at that).

Three sports cards relevant to the University of Illinois: a Berry Wallace autograph basketball card, a Topps rookie of baseball pitcher Andrew Hoffmann with an orange outline, and an unlicensed (uniform logos removed by photoshop) autograph of quarterback Katin Houser.

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

According to the numerous letters written by veterans to the National Tribune, a dozen different Union soldiers all pulled the trigger that killed A.P. Hill.

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

I know why it's done and all but I'm still gonna laugh at the inclusion of this completely redacted, unnamed, noncontributing site in the Cedar Creek historic landmark form

The top of page 123 of the Cedar Creek Battlefield and Belle Grove Plantation National Historic Landmark Nomination form. An entire irrelevant section is entirely redacted.

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

I'm sure this one's a pleasant enough dude, but the jump scare I got when seeing this in my inbox

Email received from Brock Turner but presumably not that one

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Absolutely despise this trend in modern cards. The 1991 design commemorating a 1998 season as part of the 2026 set. Just let things stand on their own.

Sammy Sosa baseball card from this year's Topps set but feating the 1991 design. The back, not shown, talks about the 1998 season.

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Daughter just asked when there's gonna be a Finding Marlin, and, honestly, good call, kid

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Yeah that dog is blitzed Have black lab too and he'd totally do the same, took him im for an unexplainable stomach thing once and the perplexed vet eventually theorized: "is it possible that he could have licked a toad"

bbc.com

Dog rescued from Ben Nevis suspected to have eaten discarded cannabis

Tokyo the black Labrador collapsed half way up the UK's highest mountain during a hike with her owner.

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Turner with more confidence jumping off the bench to grab that than Freese showed all game

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Why are Belgium's team colors the pink/blue swaddle they wrap babies in at the hospital

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Why is it that a massive airball bounces straight off the post right back to me while a perfect swish from deep always hits the wheels at the bottom and has me chasing after it down the street right as the neighbor looks out the window from doing dishes?

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

It goes without fail that every time I get my Best Dad Ever coffee mug out of the cabinet I am setting myself up for innumerable conflicts that day

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Being a dad's pretty cool though, spent a few hours this afternoon playing Legos

Fantasy baseball notification saying: "David Bednar is starting in your lineup but was downgraded to Paternity."

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

Nice addition to my collection of oddball Illini-related trading cards

A blue skip card from the NFL branded Uno card set, featuring Cincinnati Bengals offensive lineman Ted Karras, who played college ball at Illinois

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Usually a player coming home is a feel good story but Herro's gotta be saying nah man, I'm of Miami now

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Following the Cubs on gamecast and totally had that grand slam pegged from the moment the pixelated ball left the (not pictured) bat

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

If a fan ran onto the floor to buy more time to determine whether to review a call that ultimately gets overturned to the home team's advantage, do they still catch a ban?

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

If you throw the ball off the backboard to yourself for a dunk, do you also get credit for an offensive rebound? Furthermore, how about the assist?

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Strongly dislike fouling just because you have one in your pocket Flashbacks to the Sweet 16 and Illinois giving three quick fouls before half against Houston only to have to be tentative for the actual play itself, an uncontested made three, not to mention three players closer to disqualification

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Alright, so this has always been curious to me about using these numbers as a gauge of the economy. When I got "food services & drinking places" second jobs in the past it was because I desperately needed additional money.

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

I've bemoaned the lack of third places and never seeing the same people in different occasions. Not now, just ran into my barber. Their dog did something dumb too!

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Everyone at the emergency vet is glued to Zootopia 2. Waiting rooms should never play 24hour news. Even most non-game ESPN programming is aggravating to the general vibes of a place.

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Just got a brick of base cards, mostly Cubs and Illini alum, in the mail for something like 2 or 3 cents apiece. Happy sorting!

A couple hundred sports cards packed in bubble wrap

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

slightly increase a band Strike Everywhere Kill Johnson Jeff Rosensoup Product 41 The Nintendos College Football Heroes Lieut. Scagnetti 2:45 Big D & the Table The Tonnes The Galaxy Smashers

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

So how did this actually work against Wemby but not in the elite eight?

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Never have I been happier to give up a kick return touchdown in the final minutes to lose the lead. "Oh cool, the offense can now win it instead of the defense giving it away." @shutdownfullcast.bsky.social @newap-georgia.bsky.social @hollyanderson.bsky.social #charitibundibowl

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Two upcoming UNC titles with my maps

Book covers for Rachel Shelden's The Political Supreme Court: A Forgotten History and William Blair's Arlington: An African American History

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

Wish the league could have rigged the draft for Toews/Kane, V.2 for the Blackhawks

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

Just added this beauty to the card collection. - most obscure Illini to play in the NBA - sweet mullet - Smokey the Bear, with fire prevention message on the back

1990-1991 basketball card of Seattle Supersonics forward Scott Meents

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

Didn't properly center the frame for the map I'm currently working on with the troop movements I started drawing in after the canvas was in place. Tempted to start it all over again. Usually I have a decent eye for not having wasted space and this is probably the fourth time I've mapped Five Forks.

Screenshot of Adobe Illustrator with a battle map I'm currently designing. There's unfortunately a bunch of empty space on the left side of the frame.

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Edward Alexander @makemeamap.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Ice the kicker? Make him think about it while shivering out on the field? Three timeouts left though you really don't even need them in overtime? Nah.

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