iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 28/09/2026

Okay so these aren’t my top 9 favorite but they’re probably my top 9 formative? Or at least these were some of my key gaming experiences as a teenager that probably had some kind of shaping effect on me as a person? That’s how I interpreted the prompt

A 3 by 3 grid of video game covers

My 9 games that shaped who I am
- Curse of monkey island
- the sims
- Team Fortress 2
- Star Wars knights of the old republic 1 and 2
- Mass Effect
- Heroes of Might and Magic 2
- grand theft auto Vice City
- Max Payne

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 08/09/2026

My right leg getting stung by a wasp while I’m mowing grass… again.

Bruce Willis as John McClane, crawling through a vent. Caption: How can the same shit happen to the same guy twice

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 23/08/2026

This never actually ended up happening, huh? www.half-life.com/en/halflife2...

RE-RAISING THE BAR
A NEW EDITION OF RAISING THE BAR IS COMING BACK INTO PRINT IN 2025, EXPANDED TO INCLUDE THE HALF-LIFE 2
EPISODES
Nearly two decades since it first went out of print, Raising the Bar is set to return with an expanded second edition-offering a comprehensive look into the creation of the Half-Life 2. Originally published in 2004, this book captured the story of Half-Life 2's development but missed the episodic content that followed.
This new edition concludes the Half-Life 2 development story, with never-before-seen concept art from Episode One and Episode Two, along with ideas and experiments for the third episode that never came to be.

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 14/07/2026

Instead of a glizzy, how about a PB&Jizzy? (The name might need more work.)

Photo of hot dog bun with peanut butter and strawberry jelly instead of a frank

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 06/07/2026

Glad I got a RPi 5 when I did because woof

Price history of CanaKit Raspberry Pi 5 Starter Kit MAX. Price stayed consistently $200 from July to November of 2025, then started rising up. Price is $410 as of July 6, 2026 – double what it was same time previous year.

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 03/07/2026

Why shouldn’t I get a racing wheel?

“After all, why shouldn’t I” meme of Bilbo holding The One Ring from the Lord of the Rings movies

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 02/07/2026

My one brain cell explaining Jenn’s post to my only other brain cell.

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 27/06/2026

Even with Automatic selected? I think it just defaults to Light.

Screenshot of Settings on English Wikipedia using mobile skin while logged out. Options for Color include Light, Dark, and Automatic.

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 04/06/2026

I was talking with someone about doing better than our parents and remembered this wonderful quote from James Caan from his 2003 Esquire interview (www.esquire.com/entertainmen...).

"I never saw my dad cry. My son saw me cry. My dad never told me he loved me, and consequently I told Scott I loved him every other minute. The point is, I'll make less mistakes than my dad, my sons hopefully will make less mistakes than me, and their sons will make less mistakes than their dads. And one of these days, maybe we'll raise a perfect Caan."

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 03/06/2026

Tadpole John Cena the Froglet is out of the water, has almost fully absorbed their tail, and is almost 2cm long.

A tiny froglet resting on a ridged surface

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 09/05/2026

My first ever experience of tie dying some shirts and we forgot that we have gloves and we did it inside because it was cold & rainy outside and our 4yo was very, uh, enthusiastic with the dye bottles. Anyway my hands are now Disco Elysium.

A Caucasian hand covered in black, pink, red, purple dyes. The middle finger has a bandaid.

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 05/05/2026

Update: Tadpole John Cena, the sole survivor of the mass of frog/toad eggs, has started growing legs.

A tadpole that is starting to resemble a frog or a toad. A tiny leg is visible where the long tail begins.

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 26/04/2026

Saw this at the store and it gave me a really good chuckle

Fanta stand in a grocery store aisle. On the stand is a picture of the skull mask-wearing character Ghost from the Call of Duty video games. Underneath the picture is the text “Wanta Fanta? Come get it”

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 03/04/2026

Usually I keep reminders in iCloud (synced across devices) and forget that my phone has a local list of reminders too and it’s been years since I’ve gone in that list and lmao

Reminders
Tweet that if sex existed in the MCU the avengers HQ would be the wildest Olympic
Village ever

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 18/03/2026

Controls took a bit of customizing but the install/setup was pretty easy thanks to Heroic launcher’s integration with GOG. Runs silky smooth on the Steam Deck and looks sharper than it did on X360.

Assassin’s Creed: Director’s Cut running on a Steam Deck

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 04/03/2026

Alysa Liu’s “Boots!” moment lives in my head rent free

Olympic gold medalist figure skater Alysa Liu skating on one leg with the other leg bent upwards so that her hand almost touches the blade on her skate.

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 06/01/2026

I don’t know if the designer was told by someone or if they were a fan of the show but either way you could tell whoever worked on The Expanse complete series Blu-ray set cover knew who the best characters were. But also! There’s totally enough room for Amos!

The Expanse complete series Blu-ray set. The cover features Chrisjen Avasarala, Alex Kamal, Bobbie Draper, and Camina Drummer

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 23/12/2025

It's our 5th year writing an end-of-year newsletter to send to friends & family. I tried to communicate what I now do to people who have no idea how websites work, have never seen or heard the term "A/B test," or know what a product manager is. …I think this may be the best thing I've ever written?

Mikhail changed jobs in March. He's still at the Wikimedia Foundation, but after 4 years of managing he transitioned from Data Science Manager to Staff Data Scientist. He is now the statistics expert on a team that builds tools for conducting experiments to test ideas and changes. They help make it easier to make decisions using data and apply the scientific method to software development. Next time you visit Wikipedia if you notice something different or new about how it looks or what you can do, it's either an experiment or the result of an experiment that Mikhail and his teammates helped make happen!

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 04/12/2025

One of many reasons to use the awesome Wikipedia apps for Android & iOS is a personalized #WikipediaYearInReview, a local-only in-app feature that uses data stored locally on the device. No reading history is sent to servers for any remote processing – to preserve user privacy.

Wikipedia year in review

Articles I read the most
1. BNSF Railway
2. Invincible (TV series)
3. Invincible (comics)

492 minutes read

Favorite day to read: Monday

Articles read: 469

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 27/11/2025

[browsing YouTube recommendations] Wife: oh my god did they make an IT ballon? Is that Pennywise?!? Me, barely keeping it together: that’s Ronald McDonald

Thumbnail for Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade 2025 LIVE, featuring a giant balloon of Ronald McDonald

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 09/11/2025

Finally installed the Light My Bricks kit for the LEGO Sherlock Holmes Book Nook and it looks AWESOME

LEGO set that looks like a Victorian era England alley, illuminated by little lit up lamps, and featuring minifigs that look like Sherlock Holmes characters. On the left is a copy of And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, and on the right is a copy of The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 19/10/2025

Love seeing my 3 year old cozy on the couch and reading *checks notes* Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Book details

Reading age
Baby - 3 years

Description
Experience Bram Stoker's timeless masterpiece like never before with the Dracula Deluxe Hardbound Edition. Immerse yourself in the chilling tale of the vampire count and his nocturnal reign of terror. This beautifully crafted edition features a luxurious hardcover binding, making it a perfect addition to any collector's library.

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 26/09/2025

Hell yeah I’m in good company babyyy

BlueSky stats for Mikhail Popov (@mpopov.com)

Rating: 6.4

Metacritic page for The Testament of Sherlock Holmes, an Xbox 360 game released in 2012. Its Metascore is 64

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 20/09/2025

I see analytics abbreviated as anal a lot more often than I thought I would when I entered the field a decade ago

Email from CodeReviewBot about task T404875: Automated Anal...

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 14/09/2025

A gift from one of the previous owners

A light switch panel with most of the important text covered in paint

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 30/08/2025

We were watching K-Pop Demon Hunters for the manyeth time today and this thought occurred to me

Domino effect meme with man kneeling down to knock over a small domino which will knock over a sequence of increasingly large dominoes. Smallest domino says “Gorillaz”, middle domino says “K/DA” (pronounced KDA), largest domino says “HUNTR/X” (pronounced Huntrix)

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 19/08/2025

My favorite salsa? Pika de gallo

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 15/08/2025

Screenshot of my first 5 Steam purchases Bonus: product activations, since that’s even earlier

Feb 1, 2009
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne

Dec 31, 2008
Left 4 Dead

Nov 22, 2008
Prince of Persia:
Sands of Time
Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within
Prince of Persia: Two
Thrones

Jul 27, 2008
Bioshock

Jan 11, 2008
Portal

Jul 27, 2008 Bioshock (NA)
Jan 11, 2008 Portal
Jan 10, 2008 NVIDIA Portal: The First Slice
Nov 22, 2005 Condition Zero
Dec 16, 2004 Half-Life 2 Retail Standard
May 7, 2004 Half-Life Platinum Pack

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 12/08/2025

We all have our favorite ways to infer model parameters 😁 Alt-text for image in quoted post: photo of a forearm with tattoo of the matrix format of the ordinary least squares estimator for linear regression coefficients

Photo of a forearm with tattoo of the formula for posterior probability density (proportional to likelihood times prior probability density)

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 05/08/2025

However bad and disappointing this timeline is, at least there is one thing that was previously thought to be impossible which we have achieved as a society. Celebrate every W, no matter how small.

Screen grab from the music video for Dilemma by Nelly, featuring Kelly Rowland in which she is using a Nokia phone. She is attempting to text “Where you at? Holla when you…” using Excel.

Screenshot of Microsoft’s App Store showing app called “Excel to SMS” by borwell, with 2.6 stars (18 ratings). There is an indicator that additional purchase may be required.

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 03/08/2025

If you see this, post a Castle.

Diagram of a chess board from Chess.com showing where the King piece moves when performing a Castle move.

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 31/07/2025

Goodreads editorial staff sure seems, uh, fixated on that number

Screenshot of a tweet from Goodreads (@goodreads on X) dated May 30, 2023. The tweet is a link to a blog post titled 88 Upcoming Books the Goodreads Editors Can't Wait to Read

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 29/07/2025

Always nice to find the kitties napping together in our bedroom. They’re so cute!

Two cats, both black and white with almost exact same patterns, snuggling together on a blanket.

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 23/07/2025

A while back Giant Bomb switched podcast hosts and lost *years* of Bombcast episodes across 2008-2013, and never fixed the issue. Using a fan-made RSS feed & Internet Archive to gather those episodes, I’m now self-hosting an archive locally with Audiobookshelf running via Docker on my Synology NAS.

Screenshot of Audiobookshelf web page, showing details for Giant Bombcast podcast (26.92 GB)

Screenshot of Downcast app on iOS, listing two episodes for Giant Bombcast (one from 2008, one from 2009)

Screenshot of Downcast app on iOS, showing details for one episode. The file was downloaded from a local IP address (192.168.50.220)

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 22/07/2025

Two words: laptop harness

Photo of Nathan Fielder on the set of The Rehearsal, wearing a laptop harness.

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 19/07/2025

80 degrees and 90% humidity, apparently! www.weather.gov/epz/wxcalc_h...

Enter a temperature that you would like and choose your units: 90 Fahrenheit

Enter your relative humidity: 80%.

What the temperature feels like to your body:
113.3 F
45.2 C

Enter a temperature that you would like and choose your units: 80 Fahrenheit

Enter your relative humidity: 90%.

What the temperature feels like to your body:
85.6 F
29.8 C

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 09/07/2025

I have a compulsion to keep/maintain my 100% completion of Vampire Survivors, so whenever they release an update that adds more achievements I do appreciate more reasons to dip back into one of the greatest games ever made, but gosh it is a challenge to keep up. Some of the ‘cheevos are wicked hard.

Screenshot of Steam client on Steam Deck showing Vampire Survivors with 110 hours played and 228 out of 228 achievements unlocked.

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 08/07/2025

Really funny to see this decision after learning about "Do you like art?" www.polygon.com/analysis/602...

Text: At the 2025 Dice Summit, Druckmann shared a conversation he had with series co-star Pedro Pascal, who was getting frustrated with Druckmann’s directing on the show. As Druckmann recalls, Pascal asked him, “Do you like art?”

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 14/05/2025

Quote post with a picture of the plane you’d expect as a bribe

A flat surface (mathematical plane) in 3D space. Linear least squares fitting to two covariates

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 06/05/2025

UPDATE: there are 4 baby eastern cottontails and they’ve emerged and are exploring the backyard now and oh my goodness gracious they are precious

A baby eastern cottontail near a water hose

A baby eastern cottontail near a swing set

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Mikhail Popov @mpopov.com · 05/05/2025

The aforementioned bunny nest. It stormed last night so I moved the kiddo’s sand table to provide cover for the nest and then moved it back this morning (apparently mama bunnies use landmarks not scents to locate their nests), and finally got to see what appears to be at least three baby bunnies.

Three baby bunnies hidden in a camouflaged nest, hidden by leaves and grass.

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