iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 2h

Out walking the dog and saw what many in the neighborhood have been talking about. A gray whale!

A young (?) gray whale has just surfaced; his blowhole is just above the waterline and some spray is hanging in the air. The state Capitol building is far in the background.

A gray whale feeding, I think. Its tail is above the waterline, and a pectoral fin has just sunk below the surface, as if it’s on its side.

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Nothing but respect for MY digger

A 1987 Donnie’s baseball card of M’s 1B/DH Ken Phelps, who has a mustache and large glasses and is grinning. He looks like every 1980s dad. I always thought he looked like someone had zoomed in or magnified my own dad by 1.75-2x.
His nickname was Digger.

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

This is what I remember Jay Feely for. He single-handedly lost New York the game vs. Seattle in 2005. Jeremy Shockey couldn’t believe it.

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

And one more image, a mushroom I’ve always wanted to see in person but never had. It’s…uh…hard to miss.

A bizarre looking mushroom growing from moss and pine needles. Its flesh is white, smooth on the top side and covered in small teeth-like things on the underside. The top side has many bright red to crimson globs of liquid. It really, really looks like blood. It is hydnellum peckii

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Good weekend aside from the Seahawks trap game loss. The Blue Hole near the confluence of the Ohanopecosh and Cowlitz (IYKYK), and a glassy Sound in Olympia for my youngest’s rowing regatta today.

A perfect mostly sunny morning looking north from Olympia on a glassy Puget sound. Priest point is in the middle ground to the right, and the Olympic mountains are in the background in the center and left.

A river with bluish green water flows through a wide riverbed with rocks. There is a stone ledge on the right side, and a downed log to the left. The surface of the water shows its raining. The upper half of the image is the tall trees surrounding the river on both sides.

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

I have been driving essentially all day, from southern Oregon to Olympia, and it’s been extremely weird weather-wise. Was rewarded with post-storm sunset, as much as the Sounders tried to spoil it.

Dramatic sunset with lots of orange. Darker clouds cloak the orange at the top and the right.

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Came here to say the same, only it was Death and the Miser:

A photo of Hieronymous Bosch’s late-period work Death and the Miser from the National Gallery of Art in DC.

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

I was at that game, as a Sounder/Spurs fan. Here’s the Dawson penalty.

Michael Dawson climbs over Chad Marshall’s back as a cross comes into the box. This was given as a penalty, which the Sounders converted.

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

I always think AI maps struggle with lesser known or less populous places, but no- FIFA’s AI map was bad but recognizable in the west, but as you get closer to New York, it just kind of melts away.

FIFA’s map of the home base for each World Cup team, showing Charlotte in mid-Florida, and then the state lines get crazier as you go north. Ohio is now a coastal state, as is Kentucky (both are only semi-recognizable). There’s a blob hosting Norway and Germany, but Virginia is reduced to an offshore island, and New York is just gone, stranding many teams to what we assume are Islands.

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

We don’t (yet), but even in places like the south Puget Sound we’re getting parking lot wizards like the OP talked about. It is glorious. Still waiting on a taco truck on every corner, but at this rate it won’t be long (complimentary).

A man in a Seahawks sweater and a brown knit cap grills a mountain of chicken on a grill. To his right is a smaller grill that contains delicious chorizo.

A woman in a red coat ladles aguas frescos into a cup. Behind her, two taqueros construct tacos from fresh tortillas and the big spit for al pastor tacos. They make grilled chicken plates, chorizo plates, and tacos and they are delicious. It’s in the parking lot near the Fred Meyer in Lacey.

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Great to see Militarie Gun and Joyce Manor tonight, both bands I like and hadn’t yet seen live. They were fantastic. Two shots from Joyce Manor’s set:

Barry from Joyce Manor on stage singing in front of a huge Joyce Manor sign, and drummer Jared Shavelson. A crowd surfing person is in the foreground obscuring the bassist and creating a diagonal line through the image.

Joyce Manor playing in Seattle in front of a huge sign that, appropriately, says Joyce Manor. A crowd surfer in the foreground is going down, so there’s a leg and foot in the middle of the image.

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Watching what I think is a partial sun pillar hanging around the sunset.

A sunset over water. Clouds to the left are pleasantly orange, moving more towards yellow to the right of the image. Above the horizon and the clouds is a much brighter blob of yellow that kind of looks like a cat’s iris?

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

It IS, and some things are not gonna change. But this is the same chart for 2025:

Cole Young’s baseball savant fielding metrics, showing in the 4th percentile for range and the 4th percentile for arm strength

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

This was at least as cool a way to celebrate a dinger. Instead of a bat flip, Randy just held this pose. Old school. Demure, and yet dominant.

Randy Arozarena has just hit an upper deck tank at T-Mobile. He holds the pose shown here, left foot forward, bat high. It’s not a bat flip, it’s statuesque, which is appropriate for the day the M’s unveiled a statue at the stadium. There is no malfunction in this celebration, however.

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

If yo use see this, post a concert photo you took. Sharp Pins in Olympia

Thee Sharp Pins play the voyeur. Kai Slater is at right in an orange/red shirt with white dots. Joe Glass on bass is on the left in a denim jacket and Peter Cimbalo is in the middle, behind the other two on drums.

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

They lost tonight, but I’m so glad the M’s are back and I get to cheer on Cal Raleigh and the Mariners again. Or, as they’re known in some parts of rural Western Washington, the

A roadside sign in Packwood, Washington entitled “Big Bottom Cowboys.” It is not, as the post implies, a nickname for the Cal Raleigh-led Mariners, but…it could be. We can transform the things we find and use them for our purposes. No offense to the Cowboys named on the historical marker, such as Evan Blankenship and Carl Hornquist. I wonder if Evan Blankenship was related to longtime Tacoma Tiger and sometime Oakland A Lance Blankenship?

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

I’m at Lakes high school this morning as my daughter is in an event here. If you’re my age, Lakes high is associated with one name, a legendary athlete. Shockingly, it’s not Seahawks Super Bowl champ WR Jermaine Kearse. For me, this is @katestarbird.bsky.social ‘s school.

A framed certificate naming Kate Starbird a parade all-American in the 1992-93 season.

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

A bit of Mick McCarthy in that. Always good to see.

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

The father monkey was a better photo. I like it, and can’t quite believe I got to be there. (Costa Rica)

A male howler monkey on a thick gauge wire rope. His back has lighter brown fur while his legs, face and chest are darker. His mouth is open and his left paw is in front of his face; his right paw grips the wire.

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Not a great shot, but I like this mom and baby howler monkey.

A baby howler monkey clings to its mother. Both have light reddish/brown fur on their backs and very dark legs. The baby is looking at the camera while the mother keeps her eyes forward, moving right to left.

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

Some Mt Rainier lenticulars.

Mt Rainier from White pass (so, looking North)

Mt Rainier from White Pass. Skiiers in foreground and a stack of lenticular clouds that looks a bit like a stack of pancakes to upper right.

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

Not a great photo (from my phone), but this reminds me I saw one in the very same reserve this summer.

Yellow bird with a reddish cap flanked by black, some black on its back. Sitting in a branch, looking straight down with green vegetation behind it.

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Three views of Rainier on NYE, each around 4pm. Because I suck at this, the leftmost is 2024, the middle is 2023, and the right is 2025. A linear presentation would imply some sort of narrative, or would require more effort than I can muster right now. Happy new year.

There are three images of Mt Rainier, taken around 4pm on New Years Eve from the US 12 scenic viewpoint. On the left, 2024, the snowiest one. In the middle is 2023, cloudy, not so snowy, with a small cloud below the vantage point. On the right, tonight, 12/31/25, the sunniest one, with light on the left flanks of the mtn. No snow on the trees in the foreground.

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

The best stratovolcano around.

Mt. Rainier at sunset, the left flank bathed in a pinkish orange light. This is from US-12, so it is looking north. It’s just a great stratovolcano.

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 26/12/2025

Made a beef Wellington for Xmas and it turned out okay, so that’s a win. Two loaves of bread, sauces, salad, roast veggies. I’m tired.

Xmas table with a bottle of wine, a bottle of sparkling cider, Brussels sprouts. Bread, green salad, roast veggies, a beef Wellington. And six Christmas plates.

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

This isnt the same one, but loved this barrow right by a road, and very close to a stone circle.

A stone barrow, a chamber under a large stone slab in southwest England (Cornwall). Two toddlers are under the roof of the barrow. A road is close behind it, and ferns and rocks are in the foreground.

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

The late, great Aethelred. Died in 2021. We had him 19 years and got him as an adult rescue, so he lived a long long time. What a guy.

Dark grey cat with yellow eyes in a living room.

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

Hmmm. Lots of good candidates, I think. Kind of a no-wrong-answers kind of deal. Reasonable minds, etc.

A screenshot from MLB game day in which the app says that voting for “player of the game is now open”. This, in a game where Shohei Ohtani has been the most valuable player in perhaps any game, ever. But sure, let’s vote and make sure.

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

Here he is, pitching in Seattle as a home player. He got so, so close.

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

Made some tonkatsu tonight and because my wife found some chicken of the woods near Mt Rainier, chicken of the woods katsu. Go M’s. What do Minnesota grapes taste like?

Pork tonkatsu, red cabbage, white rice. And chicken or the woods mushroom katsu. It’s really hard to tell the pork and mushroom apart.

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

Post a concert photo you took

Dave Hernandez from one of my all time fave bands, Scared of Chaka. This was one of their reunion shows in Seattle many years ago.

Deafheaven at the Showbox in Seattle. George is just to left of center, Kerry is to the right.

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

I agree with Hyphen that to *get* to pitch at 40+ you need to be elite, but that’s why Moyer is so weird. Terrible in his 20s until something clicked, and then great well into his 40s. Caught him in the minors while trying to get back to the majors to pitch at age 50. What a pitcher.

Jamie Moyer pitching for the Las Vegas 51s in 2012 at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma (The Rainiers SP that day was top prospect Danny Hultzen). It didn’t work out in the Toronto system, and he retired not long afterwards. One of my favorite Mariners.

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

I love nature, and just got to see some incredible birds in Costa Rica, but…and I hate to critique nature, this bird is *patently unfinished*. This is like 91% of a bird, and it’s a great start, but there are major, critical-for-life systems that seem to be missing here. Finish this bird!

A beautiful bird in Ecuador, per the awesome original poster, Jen Cross. But it appears to lack any sort of mouth parts. I hope it’s not suffering.

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

This was me many years ago re: DeAndre Yedlin.

A very young Deandre Yedlin playing at Cheney Stadium for a pre-Defiance Sounders youth team. I think this was 2012?

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

Oh, uh…how do I do that? Hold on.

Today’s Immaculate Grid. Mexico was the country category today, so I got to use a current Mariner, a player I was terrified when the M’s faced him in the 80’s, and a random favorite from the 90s.

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

Some Spurs chaps from the later part of the era in which watching them meant driving to a bar with a Special Channel.

Tottenham players from the early 2000s. Most all of them do not have pictures? Only Steed Malbranque and Younes Kaboul do? Can that be right?

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

I went with M’s prospect-to-trade-fodder guys.

M’s prospects turned relievers for other teams.

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

Here’s one for you, Chris.

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Marc W @marcwbaseball.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

Congrats to Pete Alonso, seems like a great guy. Just have to point out that this graphic looks - to a guy from Tacoma - that he’ll be making an appearance at the Point Defiance zoo and aquarium. Which, to be clear, would be awesome.

Pete Alonso graphic from the Mets, featuring several images of Pete Alonso in an arctic/icy landscape with a polar bear to his left and right. It’s ostensibly for him becoming the career HR leader for the Mets franchise.

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