iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

David Hand @ptolemar.ch · 21/09/2026

Goddamnit, I still have this book on my bookshelf. www.greenlion.com/books/Apollo...

Cover of a book by Green Lion Press, the Conic Sections of Apollonius of Perga.

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David Hand @ptolemar.ch · 13/09/2026

This page unsuccessfully left blank.

A page from a book. The only text on the page reads, "This page intentionally left blank."

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David Hand @ptolemar.ch · 30/08/2026

I sincerely hope this was accidental, #Duolingo. But it was the wrong answer. You could have picked literally any number else.

A screenshot of a Duolingo math lesson. It reads: Select the expanded form [of] 8(x+6)=88. Two options are given: 8x+48=88 and 8x+14=88.

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David Hand @ptolemar.ch · 16/08/2026

Here's a screenshot of the PDF of the notice.

A page bearing the letterhead of the Archdiocise of San Antonio. Heading introducing the document reads: "Notice of Laicization of John Mary Foster and Prohibition Regarding Attendance at the Mission of Divine Mercy in Canyon Lake, Texas"

The second page of the same document, signed by Most Reverend Gustavo García-Siller, M.Sp.S.
Archbishop of San Antonio

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David Hand @ptolemar.ch · 14/08/2026

I love that counting ballots in England looks just like in Ohio: A bunch of folding tables in an indoor basketball court.

The interior of a large gymnasium. Basketball hoops are mounted on the walls. Many temporary tables are arranged in a large rectangle. Inside the rectangle, poll workers carefully count and record ballots. Outside are a scattering of observers and a TV reporter.

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David Hand @ptolemar.ch · 19/06/2026

Happy Juneteenth. This is the true holiday of the birth of the United States that I love. None are free until all are free.

The flag of Juneteenth. Blazoned per fess arched azure gules in fess point a mullet argent a mullet of 12 argent voided.

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David Hand @ptolemar.ch · 20/05/2026

OMG, I am finally reading @qntm.org's _There Is No Antimemetics Division_, and I'm very excited.

Cover of a novel by qntm, There Is No Antimemetics Division

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David Hand @ptolemar.ch · 18/05/2026

I'm guessing that @wellerstein.bsky.social here meant that "Truman very much wanted [not] to believe that the Soviets had the bomb"?

Page 187 of The Most Awful Responsibility, by Alex Wellerstein. Highlighted text reads, "Truman very much wanted to believe that the Soviets had the bomb".

The latter half of the page reads as follows:

It makes for a curious episode. From the beginning, Truman's attitude toward the detection of the first Soviet atomic bomb test is bizarre, ranging from an apparent lack of concern to a total denialism. It is clear that his advisers were similarly perplexed, and that they orchestrated opportunity after opportunity to "force" Truman into coming to the (to them obvious) conclusion that he needed to announce that the A merican atomic monopoly was over. His objections to the announcement made little sense to them then, and even less sense in hindsight. And his denialism is patently bizarre, and perhaps only at all sustainable because the Soviets did not, in the end, make any grand announcement about their atomic capabilities, apparently preferring to let the Americans speculate and worry in the dark. One might conclude then that this is some kind of psychological reaction, some kind of defense mechanism, some kind of attempt (like much denialism is) to assert control, consciously or not. But why?

Clearly, Truman very much wanted to believe that the Soviets had the bomb, despite being genuinely aware that the American monopoly would not exist forever, and even after being told that it would likely end on his watch.

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David Hand @ptolemar.ch · 13/05/2026

Best adaptation of The Odyssey, wrong answers only.

Poster for the director's cut of Das Boot, by Wolfgang Petersen.

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David Hand @ptolemar.ch · 13/05/2026

QTP with a game that has a 10/10 soundtrack.

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David Hand @ptolemar.ch · 06/05/2026

Oh, thank God. Madison Sheahan, the horrible deputy director of ICE, won't be representing me in Congress. Still worried for @repmarcykaptur.bsky.social, but at least it won't be Sheahan.

Preliminary election results for the Republican primary for US House, Ohio's 9th District.

Derek Merrin has 43.7% and is the projected winner.
Josh Williams has 26.1%.
Madison Sheahan has 18.9%.
Anthony Bruce Campbell has 5.9%.
Alea Nadeem has 5.5%.

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David Hand @ptolemar.ch · 18/03/2026

Is "Larry Wall" in the selection list for everyone else, or am I losing my mind?

Language selection list for Kagi translator. At the bottom of the list, after "Zhuang" and "Zulu", is "Larry Wall".

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David Hand @ptolemar.ch · 24/02/2026

The Toledo Blade is being pretty obtuse here. Of course the city of Toledo should prohibit ICE from entering schools, hospitals, and shelters.

An excerpt from the linked article. It reads:

"There is no role for the city of Toledo to obstruct or hinder the enforcement of those laws, and members of the council should know that.

"Last Thursday, a group called the Toledo Chapter of American Muslims for Palestine went so far as to urge council [sic] to pass legislation stating that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would not be allowed into spaces like schools, hospitals, and shelters."

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David Hand @ptolemar.ch · 30/01/2026

I've decided—and I hope that Three Seagrass and @byzantienne.bsky.social might approve—that my Teixcalaanli name is 0.62 Teapot. #AMemoryCalledEmpire en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Memor...

Cover art of the novel, A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine. Art shows a supplicant approaches an emperor, seated in a massive throne styled as a sunburst.

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David Hand @ptolemar.ch · 23/01/2026

I mean, it's right there in the name. How did the artist screw it up this badly.

Detail of a medieval depiction of Charles the Bald. Under his crown, brown hair is depicted, such that his ear peeks out of it.

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David Hand @ptolemar.ch · 28/12/2025

It was a bad sign when they stopped selling the 74HCT00 Quad 2-Input NAND.

Radio Shack 74HCT00 Quad 2-Input NAND Gate in a 14-pin dual-line package. Enclosed in a hanging bubble-type display container. Catalog number 276-2801. Priced at $0.89.

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David Hand @ptolemar.ch · 31/10/2025

My first time making a #Halloween costume from scratch. Mr 5 has become a Copper Golem, from Minecraft.

A five-year-old boy stands in a driveway wearing a blocky costume made from cardboard and copper paint.

A five-year-old boy stands before a closed door wearing a blocky costume made from cardboard and copper paint.

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David Hand @ptolemar.ch · 01/10/2025

Very nice. I keep mine here.

My phone's home screen. Widgets and app icons litter the screen. Near the bottom, a row of six most-used icons: Phone, Signal, Bluesky, Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Firefox, and Camera. The M-W Dictionary icon is circled in cyan.

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David Hand @ptolemar.ch · 25/07/2025

I appreciate the wish of good luck. Minecraft, as you can see, just mocks me.

Screenshot from Minecraft on Android. The player has just gone to bed, and a message reads, "Sleeping through the night."

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David Hand @ptolemar.ch · 21/06/2025

Yeah. This is indeed the better understanding of the text.

In a comic drawing (from Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal), two priests discuss.

The first says: "Weren't the Sodomites destroyed for being gay?"

The second priest replies: "Uh no? They were destroyed for trying to force sex on genderless spirits temporarily inhabiting male bodies. It's practically unrelated."

In the next panel, he continues: "In fact, their main sin is considered to be inhospitality! And you know what's a nice, hospitable thing you can do for a male visitor?"

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David Hand @ptolemar.ch · 06/05/2025

It's important to vote in all the elections.

Your humble narrator, grinning under his moustache, wearing an "Ohio Voted" sticker.

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David Hand @ptolemar.ch · 20/04/2025

My favorite sign from the #419day #FiftyFiftyOne protest today.

A protestor, laughing, carrying a sign that says, "So bad that the introverts are here".

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David Hand @ptolemar.ch · 31/01/2025

I'm learning the statistical functions of my calculator, and I can confidently say that the fifth opera in Der Ring des Nibelungen would have been 5 hours, 16 minutes, and 41 seconds long.

Das Rheingold: 2 hours, 19 minutes, 26 seconds.
Die Walküre: 3 hours, 39 minutes, 51 seconds.
Siegfried: 3 hours, 51 minutes, 40 seconds.
Götterdämmerung: 4 hours, 14 minutes, 32 seconds.
Total across Der Ring des Nibelungen: 14 hours, 5 minutes, 29 seconds.

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