iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 25/09/2026

This moment sits in my head quite often:

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 25/09/2026

I've done this exercise. We settled on "aggressively disappointed." But looking back, it isn't pointed enough.

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 25/09/2026

Everyone knows you bring BBQ* Where it gets tricky are the sides. *depending on the geographic preferences of the workplace.

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 25/09/2026

A thing that has dominated my thoughts about post academic life is that I like being wrong and don’t have much of an ego. I like to listen and learn and be corrected. I like to advocate be critical in an effort to learn and teach. And I’m told constantly that I’m weird, annoying, and weak.

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 24/09/2026

More from me on this: "The crisis of designing for disaster: how to help emergency management during the technology crisis we created." par.nsf.gov/servlets/pur... "The technology crisis in US-based emergency management: Toward a well-connected future." par.nsf.gov/servlets/pur...

par.nsf.gov

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 24/09/2026

There is a large disconnect between research, policy, practice, politics, and technology. When I speak on this subject to technologists i'll say, "Throw your phone at the wall as hard as you can. That's where development can begin." When I talk to EM practice, I'll say, "Computers exist, I hear."

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 24/09/2026

Emergency management is rarely considered, at all, in any capacity. Folks on the ground in this space don't exist online mostly because they're busy working without funding to protect us from themselves. They won't because they can't. I wish it was a religion. Would make finding money possible.

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 23/09/2026

The edits that get me are the implied definition edits. Like, we'd write papers and i'd look at every utterance of the word play or game and catalog like 20 different definitions. When I write a game or design a thing, I do it too. I suppose these are biases of some sort. Nasty gremlins.

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 23/09/2026

30 minutes, 2 sides, to play Frogger.

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 23/09/2026

Also me, “oh dang, I found my modded, recapped, Sega Saturn! Time to play some Virtual On.

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 23/09/2026

Have gotten to the point where I need to really edit down my #boardgames collection. I think I might just ditch all the popular games because everyone will have those. So then we get to, "Let's have a board game night!" and I whip out Splotter's Beest and Pret-A-Porter while the Catan wanters cry.

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 23/09/2026

In the 90s we dreamed of an infinite jrpg that constantly expanded on its own based on our inputs. These days, I just look at what Nintendo is doing and ignore everything else because everyone else is just, (sometimes retro) numbers go up!

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 22/09/2026

The totality of unpacking leaves little room for anything else

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 20/09/2026

When I started college in 96, all my labs were Red Hat, no Microsoft allowed, our bachelors was me wiring a motherboard. We had to make a basic geocities page. Nearly all of it was done hands on and done in labs with class as lectures. Can’t imagine that structure now as programs too lean now.

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 20/09/2026

Man, we had a chance to rethink everything when COVID began via Twitch. Then again due to AI (which was just the same thing). We got a chance!

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 19/09/2026

To be absolutely fair, the dependence on turnitin, plagiarism detectors, and grammarly all highlighted how unprepared academia was for any of this. Even before that, the Wikipedia hypocrisy and “no laptops In class” cracked the window. I don’t honestly know how academia survives itself.

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 19/09/2026

I only got a few weeks left of unpacking but man has it been nice to just look at stuff I forgot I owned and re-read some books, some diaries, watch some old forgotten tv shows.

static.klipy.com

Takahara Hairi Unpacks Suitcase

ALT: Takahara Hairi Unpacks Suitcase

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 19/09/2026

I live across the street from a golf course at the moment and I can tell you that it'd be amazing to see this level of coordination among the golfers.

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 18/09/2026

My last PhD student, @justincolegis.bsky.social, recently passed away due to a sudden and aggressive fight with Cancer. Justin was the brightest part of my time in Rochester. Our talks about GIS, social science, and Bruno Latour were formatve. millerfuneralandcremationservices.com/obituaries/?...

millerfuneralandcremationservices.com

Remembering Justin D. Cole

Justin D. Cole September 23, 1982 - September 15, 2026 Justin D. Cole, 43, of Henrietta, New York, passed away on September 15, 2026, after an aggressive cancer ended his life far too soon. Jus

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 18/09/2026

just before COVID, I bought a bulk lot from a closing #ttrpg site on Yahoo Auctions Japan. It had Sword World, DnD rules cyclopedias, shadowrun, and GURPS Runal from @sjgames.com This is a replay book. Looks like someone scanned it here: www.scribd.com/document/746...

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 17/09/2026

Got retro tink set up…now to find my consoles in the sea of boxes. What a ridiculous setup I’ll have at this house. Hopefully it’ll last for more than a few years.

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 16/09/2026

Ask it to make the repo into an Atari 2600 game via batari basic.

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 15/09/2026

How dare you not include The Twinning which is not even partially related to your suggestion. www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9QD...

youtube.com

The Twinning.mp4

YouTube video by MyJoJob

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 14/09/2026

It was Schmendrick that got me interested. He helped me understand what potential was and when I met the 2e phb and then Fizban, Gandalf, and Elminster later, they helped me understand what growing wiser meant.

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 14/09/2026

Hmm. We seem to be at opposite ends of the spectrum.

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 14/09/2026

Bought a bunch of @vanrydergames.bsky.social graphic novel CYOA to check out. Might just bring a whole collection of CYOA games to a game night soon.

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 14/09/2026

Writing a business plan for yourself while trying to figure out who exactly you are is awkward aa hell. But it’s therapeutic in a way that maybe only Jeff understands.

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 14/09/2026

When I left Austin in 2013, everyone carried GURPS and various Steve Jackson Games. It was weird to not see any @sjgames.com in game stores in Austin but I’ve been happy to start seeing some again!

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 14/09/2026

...marketed seems antithetical to something like universal design. It's a fun (nebulous) topic to think about as something i've been working on struggles under its own weight with this specific topic. Even went back to my favorite doc for guidance: primevideo.com/detail/0PLQ5A79JB4W994QOVVTGZE83B

primevideo.com

Watch Model Citizens online – Prime Video

Too many people grow up and grow out of what they loved as kids. Model railroaders are different. They're doing exactly what they want to do--and they don't need to explain themselves. But in Model Ci...

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 14/09/2026

...would make a game fully accessible? Universally accessible? Is the right approach to acccesibility something like @sjgames.com's GURPS where there's just a ruleset and infinite guidebooks? BUT THEN we get into the big shift toward targeted, specific marketing. To go against how things are...

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 14/09/2026

...am I thinking about or criticizing defining an audience as a targeted one? It makes me think about @mearls.bsky.social here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeQO... talking about Hasbro's firing an audience for a new one. Is seeking likeminded fans, an audience, purposive inaccessibility? But what...

youtube.com

DnD's lead designer explains how 5e fell apart

YouTube video by Questing Beast

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 14/09/2026

dealt with this situation quite a bit in my life, personally and with friends and family. Yet, when I play games I tend to be goofy and a heel because it helps me cope with awkwardness. I tend to like playing with players who keep things jovial and wildly creative. However, this too is weird as

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 14/09/2026

or accessible games, I feel like we tend to miss this part. I can use the concept of the Johari window here. The Hidden portions of ourselves that we know of, but others don't, really is where this problem manifests. For example, Alice is Missing is important to me as i've...

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 14/09/2026

Alice is Missing which I want to play but also feel like the group of players around me wouldn't give it the seriousness it deserves. But I wonder about this as it is replicating the, "You aren't capable of this level of play" that still stings decades later. When we talk about access to games...

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 14/09/2026

Woke up today thinking about a #ttrpg I wasn't invited to play because, "I seemed to square to get it." The basic premise was that the characters were only capable of 1 term which was related to a large machine and so they played parts of it. It made me think of...

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 13/09/2026

I thought I hadn't but apparently some Wizard already made a pact with me.

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 13/09/2026

These are delicious pancakes. I say this as a fellow basic.

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 12/09/2026

This proto-harambe meme really does it for me

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 12/09/2026

A strange pull for polish war movie would be Avalon from Ghost in the Shell director, Mamoru Oshii. Polish cyberpunk to get ourselves in the mindset for a futuristic war.

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 12/09/2026

Do you watch War Themed movies when going to these countries to get yourself in the mood? Four Tankmen and a Dog is just sitting there waiting to be viewed.

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 12/09/2026

Kristen ran another Ultra-ish marathon today. It's amazing to see that community of folks. It's still new enough for "professional" to be accessible yet insane enough for the community to be small and driven. Prolly not for too much longer, but it's nice now!

static.klipy.com

Turtlerat Downhill Trail Run

ALT: Turtlerat Downhill Trail Run

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 10/09/2026

Cans of sparkling water for me.

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 09/09/2026

Office decorations off to a strong start.

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Nick LaLone @nicklalone.com · 09/09/2026

Folks just pick on Nintendo constantly for any reason. it’s weird but also their competitors tap directly into “numbers only go up!” So it’s weird but unsurprising.

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