iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by michaeljpastor

Grandiloquent Word of the Day @grandiloquentwords.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Schlimmbesserung [SHLIHM-bess-eh-rhoong] (n.) - An attempt to make an improvement that actually makes things worse. - An intended improvement that has produced the opposite effect.

A two-panel image. The top panel is a “Grandiloquent Word of the Day” meme for the word "Schlimmbesserung", defined as “an attempt to make an improvement that actually makes things worse.” The example sentence jokes about an apiculturist trying to breed a better honeybee by crossing Apis mellifera scutellata with Melolontha pectoralis, accidentally creating the “notorious killer cockchafer.” To the right, a black-and-white illustration shows a dejected beekeeper sitting among rows of hives, with signs reading “Blasted Hopes,” “Apiary & Fixtures for Sale Cheap,” and “Going to Kansas.” The bottom panel shows a hazy photograph of the Lincoln Memorial seen across the Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C.

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michaeljpastor @michaeljpastor.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

They all share the same 'style' - extensively positive and praising with profile names bland in branding. All back-of-the-book summaries of a cheap biography. They're of everybody - wikipedia with extra saccharine added.

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michaeljpastor @michaeljpastor.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

Completely understandable. It's a unique market. Not quite like comic books, not quite like novel series, not quite like board game expansions. Thank you for the excellent triage work regardless. :-)

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michaeljpastor @michaeljpastor.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

The delabeling seems to me to be going in the extreme in the opposite direction. My hypothesis is that a regular schedule of fewer releases per setting may have been more sustainable.

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michaeljpastor @michaeljpastor.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

I always ask creators from those days at TSR, "perhaps it wasn't the number of settings as much as it was the number of titles released *per* setting?"

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michaeljpastor @michaeljpastor.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

They're all examples of 'parasocial relationships.'. Not the trendy internet obsessive virtual definition as it is used (incorrectly usually) today, but the original 1956 definition, describing empathy with a person (fiction or real) who has no knowledge of it.

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michaeljpastor @michaeljpastor.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

@alexandrian.bsky.social Hey Justin, did you ever write an article about the OD&D retreat rules that you mentioned at PAGE? It's come up in conversation since (nice timing).

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michaeljpastor @michaeljpastor.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Add some color-adjustable LED outdoor strip lighting to the curve of the well, and with a remote, you can keep that effect into the evening - and add a little color therapy to boot!

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michaeljpastor @michaeljpastor.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

OMG I MISSED AN EPISODE YESTERDAY. How will I make it up? It was the post-convention haze - I had no idea what day of the week it was yesterday.

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michaeljpastor @michaeljpastor.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

Talk about rolling a 1 on a Dex check

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michaeljpastor @michaeljpastor.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

If they were woke, they'd be called typefaces

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michaeljpastor @michaeljpastor.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

There's something to be said for the old days of snail mail and land lines - it allowed for multiple localized dialects of the hobby to develop independently before debuting on a larger scale. Now it's everyone, everywhere everything all at once.

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michaeljpastor @michaeljpastor.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

@stannex.bsky.social and 50 Years in the Dungeon did an homage to them on his youtube channel.

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michaeljpastor @michaeljpastor.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

I thought maybe you had two planks. Step up on one, place second one down ahead of you. Pick up previous step behind you and move it up ahead. Take a step. Wash, rinse, repeat. Or a rope.

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michaeljpastor @michaeljpastor.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

How'd you get out of the basement?

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michaeljpastor @michaeljpastor.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

The other winners picked great colors too! I love that someone else changed the lizard into a newt (?). I went for a red salamander. Can't wait to play this with my 5yr old nephew!

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Reposted by michaeljpastor

Kobold Press @koboldpress.com · 07/11/2025

Staying indoors for the cold season!? Get cozy, and join our coloring contest to usher in our RiverBank RPG release! 🍂🍁 Check out our cool prizes for 3 lucky winners here - bit.ly/4oARve4 #RiverBankRPG

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michaeljpastor @michaeljpastor.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Two practice rounds using watercolor pencils!

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michaeljpastor @michaeljpastor.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

Actually, let me take that back. In your effort to support your position, it inadvertently were sexist yourself. It was the sexist assumption that because she was a female writer, with a female lead, that she was labeled a fantasy writer, because "women write fantasy, men write science fiction."

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michaeljpastor @michaeljpastor.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

I am not going anywhere with it. Just making a point of fact. My source was the book Dragonwriter, and it's in the first essay by @davidbrin.bsky.social

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michaeljpastor @michaeljpastor.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

Anne McCaffrey strongly insisted that she was a science fiction, not fantasy, writer. When she was interviewed and the interviewer called Dragonriders of Pern a fantasy book, she would bristle.

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Reposted by michaeljpastor

Michael J Patrick @michaeljpatrick.bsky.social · 26/10/2025

Two things I don't like in actual plays. 1. Using the terminology of visual media in an audio medium. Like "The camera pans up to the sky". 2. GMs who put too much emphasis on the "story" they are telling. There is no camera. You're not a filmmaker. This isn't your story. Stop it.

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michaeljpastor @michaeljpastor.bsky.social · 06/10/2025

Yes, my love for his work has been tempered as I realized the flaws. he was a visionary ahead of his time with that 'artistic temperament'

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michaeljpastor @michaeljpastor.bsky.social · 06/10/2025

I've been fallingwater and quite frankly his furniture is the most uncomfortable looking stuff I've ever seen

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Reposted by michaeljpastor

Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association @sfwa.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

This week on Planetside… Authors and creatives! What happens to your stories when you’re no longer around? Read this slightly irreverent guide to planning ahead. “Estate Planning for Authors and Creatives” by @brendaclough.bsky.social: www.sfwa.org/2025/09/23/e...

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michaeljpastor @michaeljpastor.bsky.social · 13/09/2025

just thought of a caption for the football throwing idea: "... but if he eats it, where does it go?"

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Reposted by michaeljpastor

Andy Diggle @andydiggle.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

Happy Labor Day!

Amos Burton (Wes Chatham) extols the virtues of Ceres: "They got decent booze, and all the brothels are union."

#TheExpanse episode 6.03 #LaborDay

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michaeljpastor @michaeljpastor.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

What I think is significant here is that DIamond must deal with ALL consignment vendors (130+) not just the ones that formed ad hoc committees for the motion (if I am reading this right).

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michaeljpastor @michaeljpastor.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

before I realized it was your watermarked logo, my first thought was "what the hell texture did he put on the bird after the show ended?"

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