iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

ptom @ptom.net · 19/09/2026

The performative toxic virility fixations is disturbing. Absolutely insistent and their bizarre concept of "real men", without regard for the hard-won history and understanding of modern warfare calls for. These are disgraceful, unserious people who undermine the competence of others at every turn.

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ptom @ptom.net · 17/07/2026

oh no. I guess you got us there.

The "Mr. Gotcha" meme from Bors (dist. by Universal Uclick, 2016-09-13), consisting of 4 panels.

First: A casually dressed woman is shown seated against a brick wall, writing and posting from her phone: "Apple AirPods cost $159, but they can't pay taxes or decent wages to their Chinese factory workers." *POST*

Second: A man with slicked hair and a smug squinty expression, wearing orange shirt and tan cargo pants, makes "finger guns" pointing at the woman and says: "...you said on an iPhone. Heh. Gotcha."

Third: A well-dressed man is looking at an early model automobile, thinking aloud: "Cars should have seat belts!" The orange-short man is entering the frame horizontally from the right, raising a mocking fist and sporting a wry grin and stern eyebrows in apparent satisfaction, says, "Yet you bought one. Hypocrite much? Owned."

Fourth: In apparent feudal times, with a castle in the background, a gaunt peasant is hauling a bundle of sticks over one shoulder and states, "We should improve society somewhat." Mr. Orange Shirt is popping out of a stone well, wresting his arms on the edge of the well's wall with interlaced fingers and a gleeful wide-eyed expression of self-satisfaction, saying, "Yet you participate in society. Curious! I am very intelligent."

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ptom @ptom.net · 28/06/2026

1e3 is 1,000, so 0.1e3 can be expressed in thousands as well, right?

Lisa Simpson, challenging a suited figure to justify their comment about "a certain percentage": "And what percent is that?"

Suit's response: "Zero. Zero's a percent."

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ptom @ptom.net · 31/05/2026

I guess he's using the American spelling with an additional 't'?

$Dictionary screenshot: noun \'prat\ Definition British : a stupid or foolish person$

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ptom @ptom.net · 17/04/2026

And for being stationary, it gets around! By totally random chance I encountered it again in January, in this random office calendar in Maine. Hey had a better camera, composition, and lighting, and probably upped the saturation a bit. But unmistakable!

A short, gnarled desert pine tree with an exposed root system sits on the rim of a dramatic red canyon of steep walls and hoodoos, half covered in snow.

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ptom @ptom.net · 16/04/2026

One of my favorite places in the world; been a few years.

A canyon overlook into reddish sandy slopes and steep hoodoos, speckled with short desert pine trees. A hard horizon line separates a clear blue sky, and a stout pine tree sits in the right of the foreground on an elevated root system, the sand having eroded away between the individual stems.

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ptom @ptom.net · 13/04/2026

Plus, what they look like when their extensible jaws (made for attacking and devouring prey larger than itself) actually open. But don't worry, they're small.

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ptom @ptom.net · 02/04/2026

I think Gary Larsen had an excellent strategy for firewalling dictators from the rest of the world. All we need is a media production team to keep him in a harmless little bubble while everyone goes on about their lives.

A man sits behind an ornate desk, in front of an enormous wall portrait of himself in elaborate military dress. Two scientists in lab coats with clip boards stand just inside his door, and are telling him: "Sorry, your highness, but you're really not the dictator of Ithuvania, a small European republic. In fact, there *is* no Ithuvania: the hordes of admirers, the military parades, this office-- we faked it all as an experiment in human psychology. In fact, your highness, your real name is Edward Belcher, you're from Long Island, New York, and it's time to go home, Eddie."

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ptom @ptom.net · 25/03/2026

Glory to Robert O'Reilly, son of John (and Ellen), and to his household.

An image from Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, showing a man in the iconic red cardigan and necktie sitting on the steps of the front entryway to Mr. Roger's home. But instead of Fred Rogers, the head has been replaced with that of Gowron, Son of M'Rel, one time Chancellor of the Klingon Empire, with the character's notable wide-eyed piercing gaze. The image is captioned, "Glory to you... and your neighborhood."

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ptom @ptom.net · 29/01/2026

I was down there in Danvers for an appointment today, the moisture in that wind really bites. Thankfully I'm back home in Bangor, now.

Mobile screen grab of a weather app showing Bangor, 2° (F) with a high today of 18°. Currently Cloudy, and feels like -10°.

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ptom @ptom.net · 06/01/2026

Not complete without the accessories.

Satirical image of a lego "ICEBERG" kit.

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ptom @ptom.net · 16/12/2025

Seems like NY Times is making sure we know "lots of 'old famous people' are always dying", in an attempt to flood the celeb obits and push the Reiners off the page. There's some tongue in cheek dark humor there; I grieve for their losses, but I'm awfully suspicious of the Times.

Screen shot of NY Times news updates on a mobile phone, showing the deaths of Joe Ely (78), Robert Samuelson (79) and Anthony Geary (78) in rapid succession.

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ptom @ptom.net · 06/11/2025

Seems a good time to re-post one of my favorite pieces of sand art ever, ℅ Pufferfish.

A classic Looney Tunes Wile E. Coyote cartoon character silhouette is embedded several inches deep in a small mound on a sandy beach. A bright blue sky with fluffy white clouds fills the top half of the image, and a large body of water is visible in between sand and clouds, largest to the right.

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ptom @ptom.net · 29/10/2025

"An official website of the United States Government. Here's how your know. ↓" What an exceptional load of BS. It's so much shorter to tell the truth: "The administration is starving you to hold you hostage until the opposition lets us take away your healthcare."

A screenshot from the United States Department of Agriculture website.

Across the very top, a small gray banner reads "An official website of the United States government Here's how you know", followed by a downward carat that will open an explanation of identifying characteristics of the website, but also apparently points to a large banner of white text on a brown background immediately below it.

That banner states;
"Senate Democrats have now voted 12 times to not fund the food stamp program, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Bottom line, the well has run dry. At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 01. We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats. They can continue to hold out for healthcare for illegal aliens and gender mutilation procedures or reopen the government so mothers, babies, and the most vulnerable among us can receive critical nutrition assistance."

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ptom @ptom.net · 16/10/2025

You'd think they'd label those better. Hope you manage to catch it before it reaches Ted's altitude.

Single-panel "Far Side" comic, by Gary Larson. A man in a striped shirt is seated, looking out of an airplane window in-flight (a classic "V" formation of birds is shown in the distance, set among the clouds). His right hand is on the armrest, with an array of controls such as "Volume", "Channel", an apparent light switch and flight attendant call button, and a prominent switch labeled "Wings Stay On" / "Wings Fall Off", currently in the "On" position. The text beneath the comic panel reads, "Fumbling for his recline button, Ted unwittingly instigates a disaster."

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ptom @ptom.net · 28/09/2025

Robert Picardo as "Meg Mucklebones" in the same film.

A ghoulish green witch, dripping wet with swamp water and showing knobby skin and knuckles, think black hair? And claws several inches long. Pictured against a large dead tree. Still photo of the "Meg Mucklebones" character from the film Legend, as played by actor Robert Picardo.

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ptom @ptom.net · 31/08/2025

Color all the surrounding sidewalks, obviously. But maybe also use mockery to play into the opposition's hard line stance. Disclosure: AI was used in the creation of this pre-vis. Sorry.

An AI generated image showing a bronze memorial plaque on a rough cement plinth, with a brick sidewalk and white-and-black painted sidewalk in the background. The plaque reads: "THE BLACK SIDEWALK" in prominent letters, accompanied by smaller text reading "Former site of the Pulse Nightclub Memorial Sidewalk, now a symbol of marginalized oppression," dated "August 25, 2025"

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ptom @ptom.net · 25/08/2025

Actually... We should do this, too: and I apologize for using AI to generate the previz, it was an apt tool for the work.

A commemorative plaque on a rough cement plinth. The bronze plaque is titled "The Black Sidewalk", with sub text: "Former site of the Pulse Nightclub Memorial sidewalk, now a symbol of marginalized oppression. August 25, 2025." In the background, out of focus, is a public street and crosswalk. The image is AI generated.

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ptom @ptom.net · 07/08/2025

Introverts may appreciate the effort, but don't always *want* to be adopted.

A pie chart labeled "How Introverts Make Friends", showing two values. The first, a small yellow triangular portion of the graph in yellow comprising approximately 10% of the circle, is labeled "Cats count as friends." The remainder, shaded in a light mint color, is labeled "an extrovert found them, liked them, and adopted them."

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ptom @ptom.net · 16/06/2025

We got invaded by adorable flying squirrels, but that only cost us a few grand. Out-of-network exploratory diagnostic surgery on the other hand, emptied us (at triple the "estimated" cost). Later a year's unemployment did it again, but that was a slow death.

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ptom @ptom.net · 15/06/2025

Look to your elder, people.

An elderly man stands defiantly against a blurred backdrop of other people, captioned with three text: "There are always men like you." Still frame from "The Avengers", during an exchange in which Loki has made a crowd kneel in fear and subjugation and this lone person stands in opposition, saying, "not to men like you." Loki responded, "There are no men like me," leading to this response: "There are always men like you."

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ptom @ptom.net · 07/06/2025

Minus the wings, though.

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ptom @ptom.net · 01/05/2025

Matthew 25:42-45

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ptom @ptom.net · 25/04/2025

"He's bad, but he'll die...."

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ptom @ptom.net · 23/04/2025

"Precious bodily fluids."

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ptom @ptom.net · 05/03/2025

Beware the groove.

A still image from Disney's "The Emperor's New Groove" shows Emperor Kuzko standing on the left, arms folded and pouting. A large soldier adorned with ceremonial paint is on the right, leaning down toward the center to say "I'm sorry, but you've thrown off the emperor's groove" to a small, frail old man with a cane and an epic pointy hat. The old man is labeled "Al Green".

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ptom @ptom.net · 05/03/2025

Beware the groove.

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ptom @ptom.net · 11/02/2025

"When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world--'No, you move.'"

Comic book Captain America is framed against a stark black and white background looks sternly toward the viewer while saying, "Doesn't matter what the press says. Doesn't matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn't matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right.
"This nation was founded on one principle above all else: the requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences.
"When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world--'No, you move.'"

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