iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Nathan Smith @nsmithplanets.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

JAXA's MMX arrives at Phobos in 2027, about 30 years after the data I used in my MS were collected by Mars Global Surveyor.

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Nathan Smith @nsmithplanets.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Do you think if we give them another 106 years, the IAU will get around to fixing this?

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article "Name conflicts in astronomy", starting from the section "Bodies with identical names and referents". Among the objects with conflicting names are Europa, Io, Dione, Rhea, Titania, Metis, Leda, Pandora, and more. The dates of naming indicate the name conflict problem began as early as 1858 and has continued to grow worse up to the present.

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Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

DEAR OFFICIAL ACCOUNT OF WIKIPEDIA I AM ALL IN ON ADMIRING THE IRREGULAR SHAPE OF THE MYSTERIOUS MOONS OF MARS AND I CAN INTRODUCE YOU TO SEVERAL OF MY FRIENDS WHO WOULD SAY THE SAME 🔭🛰️

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Quantian @quantian.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

US universities genuinely are like “welcome to Tennessee Agricultural College in Bumfuck Nowheresville. We invented the modern potato and our facilities include a particle accelerator, nuclear reactor, and TOP500 supercomputer. Tuition is $12,000 for instate students and we have 40,000 of them”

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Nathan Smith @nsmithplanets.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

Ah, you're right, I did some more digging and we do include it in our internal acronym glossary. Though I probably didn't need to bother, it's spelled out in full in the logo (in Arabic) right below where it says "Explorer"! That seems pretty official to me.

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Nathan Smith @nsmithplanets.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

(it lets me pretend maybe it stands for Main Belt Reconnaissance or something)

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Nathan Smith @nsmithplanets.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

My understanding is "Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt" (EMA) is the name of the mission, and "MBR Explorer" is the name of the spacecraft, which is not expanded in official communications.

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Nathan Smith @nsmithplanets.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Don't forget to sample those coordinates uniformly in area next time! mathworld.wolfram.com/SpherePointP...

Simpsons bus driver meme where he says "don't make me tap the sign" and then he's tapping a screenshot of a mathematical explanation of how to uniformly select points on a sphere

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Daniel Machacek @danielmachacek.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

Seasonally recurrent annular cyclone on Mars in processed images from newly released data from the EXI camera system onboard the Hope probe (EMM - Emirates Mars Mission). The images were taken on August 7, 2025 between ~12:30 and 18:10 UTC. Credit: Emirates Mars Mission (EMM)/EXI/D. Machacek.

Two color images of the crescent of Mars with a cyclone near the north polar ice cap at the top of the image. The images were taken on August 7, 2025 at 12:30 and 14:20 UTC.

Two color images of Mars with a cyclone near the north polar ice cap at the top of the image. Also visible in the center of the images are the three large volcanoes of Tharsis Montes and Olympus Mons volcano. The images were taken on August 7, 2025 at 16:18 and 18:10 UTC.

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donoteat @donoteat.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

funniest outcome of this is that the justice system functions as intended and they have to send maduro right back, a free man

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mattie lubchansky @mattielubchansky.com · 03/01/2026

if you are talking today about how bad maduro was and were alive, at all, during the run-up to the iraq war you are potentially the dumbest person to ever live

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Danny Page @danny.page · 03/01/2026

This is NOT what America is about. America is about *opens history book* uh oh *Frantically starts flipping though pages* uh oh. oh no. no no no. uh oh en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_...

en.wikipedia.org

United States involvement in regime change - Wikipedia

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Bonnicula | Vampire Vtuber ⚧ @bonnicula.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

it's advent you know what that means

the big hay goat from sweden or something looking very unburned and majestic with text from the old "you wouldn't download a car" but it reads "you wouldn't burn a goat"

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Nathan Smith @nsmithplanets.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

Science diagrams that look like shitposts

A cat and a dog, grouped four ways indicating how different language architectures might express the same semantic information
A) natural language: "a cat with a dog"
B) unnatural semantic: "a gol with a nar"
C) non-local systematic: "waitacdahogt"
D) holistic: "vek"

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Nathan Smith @nsmithplanets.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

Prepping D&D, I'm thinking I'm gonna give the deer avatar of one of my gods forward-facing predator eyes like the restored Ghent Altarpiece lamb, to better express its uncanny divinity.

Before and after comparison of a detail from the 1432 Ghent Altarpiece by Van Eyck, showing the face of a lamb with a radiant halo. The pre-restoration version looks pretty naturalistic, with wide-set, side-facing eyes, appropriate for a grazing animal low on the food chain, and soft, uplifted ears.

This appearance was apparently modified at some point in the past five centuries from the (now-restored) original version, shown on the right, which has the uncannily human, front-facing eyes of a predator, along with tube-shaped ears (like Shrek), set low on its head for some reason, giving an altogether alien appearance. These eyes are calm, but locked in an intense gaze, fully making eye-contact with the viewer. Presumably the artist had seen a sheep before, and chose to depict this lamb with the front-facing eyes to better express the lamb's divinity as the Lamb of God, symbolic of the crucified Jesus.

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Nathan Smith @nsmithplanets.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

Maybe I could use it again somehow. Or should I try to put a costume together and be Andreas for Halloween? 🤔

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Nathan Smith @nsmithplanets.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

By the way, I had to use a computer to make sure none of the holes overlapped, and even then had to make up constellations from what I had. Making sure the rotational summery didn't make the letters overlap was tough. Lots of respect for the original designers, who also used real constellations!

The code wheel, disassembled. The face plate has holes which reveal the scrambled letters underneath, on the base plate.

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Nathan Smith @nsmithplanets.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

I had fun working on it, but it also took like 8 hours to make so I'm hoping the players get more than 5 minutes of fun out of it, but this is like throwing a piñata to the bears at the zoo for enrichment, they're just gonna tear through it. And I'll be proud of them!

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Nathan Smith @nsmithplanets.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

I made the code wheel puzzle from pentiment this weekend for my D&D campaign. I'm really pleased with how it turned out!

A multicolored wheel made of paper, inscribed with alchemical symbols and a star chart, plus other scraps of paper including an encoded clue with zodiac symbols and Greek letters, and a chart relating zodiac symbols to classical elements.

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Nathan Smith @nsmithplanets.bsky.social · 28/06/2025

NAU also has folks on NEO Surveyor, Lunar Trailblazer, MMX, and ESCAPADE!

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👁️saac 👁️o @eyesack.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

this is art

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Nathan Smith @nsmithplanets.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

Lines for italian beef are too long at the Tempe Portillos when the Cubs are playing spring training games in Mesa! Arizona calls out for the bounty of the steppe!

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European Space Agency @esa.int · 13/03/2025

Just in! 📸 The first images from yesterday’s #HeraMission flyby of Mars and its moon Deimos. 👇 www.esa.int/Space_Safety...

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Nathan Smith @nsmithplanets.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

Season 1 of The Terror was really good.

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Nathan Smith @nsmithplanets.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

Not super great that today feels like a "we should have class outside today!" kind of day, and it's February

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Nathan Smith @nsmithplanets.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

Let us pledge in final chorus, Illinois, Illinois That in struggles still before us, Illinois, Illinois To our heroes we'll be true, As their vision we pursue. In abiding love for you, Illinois, Illinois. In abiding love for you, Illinois. In abiding love for you, Illinois. youtu.be/zE1gpEtQHMA

youtube.com

Illinois (arr. A. Boysen, Jr. for choir)

YouTube video by Illinois Honors Chorus - Topic

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Regime Accountant, CPA ☠️🎢 @regimecpa.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

Two messaging options to consider below, which works better? Senate Dems: we stand ready to unite in bipartisanship to move America forward Governor Pritzker: *beheads a Republican* Sic Semper Tyrannis

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Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 19/02/2025

The root that tears apart your foundation begins as a seed of distrust, hate, and blame. The seed that grew into a dictatorship in Europe didn’t arrive overnight. It started with everyday Germans mad about inflation and looking for someone to blame.

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Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 19/02/2025

Only an idiot would think we should eliminate emergency response in a natural disaster, education and healthcare for disabled children, gang crime investigations, clean air and water programs, monitoring of nursing home abuse, nuclear reactor regulation, and cancer research.

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Nomadic Warriors for Pritzker @nomads.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

JB's state of the state speech today was remarkable. There are a lot of people that have given up on the fight, and then there is one steppe warlord who absolutely has not

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Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

We may not have kings but we do have a mighty khan

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Nathan Smith @nsmithplanets.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

taking a bunch of adderall and mixing minutes and hours on a log-log plot because the rules are all made up to stop you from achieving your dreams

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Nathan Smith @nsmithplanets.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

Here's the color comparison so you can judge for yourself. I can't say it's doing it for me, but at least it'll match an earth-tone pallet pretty well. Pretty surprising to debut this solo after four retirements last year.

Color comparison of Fiesta light neutrals: Linen (2025- ), Ivory (2008-2024), Vintage Gray (1951-1959), White (1986- ), Old Ivory (1936-1951), Pearl Gray (1999-2001).

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Nathan Smith @nsmithplanets.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

Another comment suggested the glaze being basically clear will reduce the number of pieces that don't make it through quality control. There's essentially no color in the glaze that could appear uneven, just the color of the raw ceramic.

massive pile of broken and discarded Fiesta pieces in a multitude of colors.

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Nathan Smith @nsmithplanets.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

Also saw a comment pointing out this is really going to screw with collectors' search results. The name really doesn't match their established conventions. www.ebay.com/itm/39458877...

ebay.com

Fiesta Logo Kitchen Towel | Fiestaware Hand Dish White Scarlet Tangerine Stripe | eBay

This is a white kitchen towel with the Fiesta logo and stripes in scarlet, tangerine and daffodil.

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Nathan Smith @nsmithplanets.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

Lots of disappointment from the fiestaware subreddit. But a few comments point out that White is consistently a top seller for HLC. Most of the Fiesta fanatics aren't into it but this is what most people in the market are looking for. www.reddit.com/r/Fiestaware...

reddit.com

NEW 2025 Color Announced

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Nathan Smith @nsmithplanets.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

Linen! We add a neutral to replace Ivory. Though this is quite a bit lighter than Ivory was! fiestafactorydirect.com/pages/linen

fiestafactorydirect.com

Linen

Fiesta Factory Direct

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Nathan Smith @nsmithplanets.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

59:55-1:00:28 - Decay exists as an extant form of life. 1:00:40-1:00:50 - He understands he can do the thing. 1:00:57-1:01:42 - He does the thing. 1:01:42-1:01:56 - It is very painful (not gore, just description). Other than that you should be good. Enjoy!

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Nathan Smith @nsmithplanets.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

38:00-38:20 - mild description of his wrist being squished. 53:00-53:30 - attempted consumption of bodily fluids. 54:00-54:30 - first attempt at removing his arm (unsuccessful) 59:35-59:38 - bodily fluids consumed.

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Nathan Smith @nsmithplanets.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

What do you think the 2025 color will be? Will they surprise us with more than one? Make your guesses below! Are you crunching the numbers and trying to interpret the trends like me? Or just hoping for your favorite color?

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Nathan Smith @nsmithplanets.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

With all that said, you only get three guesses. Those are the rules. After all that analysis, there are no clear favorites, and it's still any color's game. It's a tough call, but my top three guesses for this year, in no particular order, are.... Brick Matcha Caramel

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Nathan Smith @nsmithplanets.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

But there's also the slightly more saturated neutrals. Shades of brown have been vanishingly rare in the Fiesta palette, but there was Chocolate (2008-2011). Without creamy Ivory and orangey Butterscotch, might this be the chance for... "Caramel"? "Mocha"? "Latte"? "Cappuccino"?

A chocolate and caramel buttercream cake on a Rose Fiestaware cake stand mad from a dinner plate and a teacup. Drips of caramel run down the side of the cake.

An espresso shot being pulled into a Shamrock Fiesta demitasse cup. There's a nice gradient of colors where the foamy bit is running down the side of the cup into the darker brown espresso. By the way it's surprisingly difficult to find pictures of fiestaware mugs with coffee actually in them. Use your nice tableware, people! Take pictures of your pretty dishes with pretty food on them, don't just squirrel them away and horde them in china cabinets!

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