iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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matty @mattio.bsky.social · 14h

This is wild - somebody did a deep dive into the real stories behind this famous XKCD: sheets.works/data-viz/hol...

an XKCD comic showing a precariously assembled tower of blocks. much is labelled "all modern digital infrastructure." a thin leg down at the bottom is labelled "A project some random person in Nebraska has been thanklessly maintaining since 2003."

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Random three-body problem @threebodybot.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Initial conditions: m1=15.8 m2=11.3 m3=8.7 (solar masses) v1x=-1.206 v1y=4.62 v2x=6.389 v2y=-6.537 v3x=0.66 v3y=6.922 (km/s) x1=17.0 y1=-24.0 x2=12.0 y2=26.0 x3=-31.0 y3=-2.0 (AU from center) Music: Prelude in C Major – Bach

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Micah @rincewind.run · 06/10/2026

Discworld QOTD, from Night Watch

But the helmet has gold decoration, and the bespoke armorers had made a new gleaming breastplate with useless gold ornamentation on it. Sam Vimes felt like a class traitor every time he wore it. He hated being thought of as one of those people that work stupid ornamental armor. It was gilt by association.

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Ethan Kocak @ethankocak.com · 06/10/2026

MAKE THE PACT theunfamiliars.site/comic/86/

theunfamiliars.site

MAKE THE PACT.

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rahaeli @rahaeli.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

No lies detected

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K.B. Spangler @kbspangler.com · 01/10/2026

ICYMI we're serializing a free light novel and it starts TODAY!

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W. Dow Rieder @riderius.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

TFW when you are having a particularly bad attack of allergy to "someone is WRONG on the internet" and need to go do something that doesn't involve other people for a while...

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R. Dorian Goetz 🔞🏳️‍⚧️🪡 @yesthatargets.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I will abbrvte words before I delete that comma.

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Golden Age of Piracy @goldenageofpiracy.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Archaic word of the day: lief - willingly; gladly (First recorded in the early Middle Ages; Old English lēof) #englishlanguage #history #medievalsky

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W. Dow Rieder @riderius.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

So, this guy has a track record for help with something unglamorous but *really* useful. The ability to dig in well and quickly saves so much else. If you want to help individually this is one of the most efficient ways to do it.

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rahaeli @rahaeli.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

It's the season for the Greater North American Cable Seeking Backhoe to migrate to its winter quarters, so everyone, please be prepared for disruptions!!

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Ehud Maimon @ehmaimon.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I first came across @adapalmer.bsky.social's blog, Ex Urbe, through a post about spotting a good Gelato place, and then came a 4 piece series of long and fascinating posts about Machiavelli. She is now talking about Machiavelli on this podcast, and I need to find time to listen to the new episode.

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Foxfeather Zenkova @foxfeather.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

I dont have all my ducks in a row, but my cranes sure are. 🪶

Four juvenile sandhill cranes standing in a line, looking in the same direction at something.

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W. Dow Rieder @riderius.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Oh, this is gonna be fun! 8-)

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evacide @evacide.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

The real reason I spend so much time at the circus school is that I have been slowly developing an immunity to clowns. This allows me to continue to do tech policy.

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W. Dow Rieder @riderius.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

I wrote this back in 2015, about what I was doing 25 years ago today--I was playing Everquest. It was very surreal. docfuture.tumblr.com/post/1241794...

docfuture.tumblr.com

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Funranium (AKA Phil Broughton) @funranium.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

C'monnnnnnn, just give me the controls for the orbital death laser platform for the day. How much damage could a guy with no training on it's operation do? I assume the controls are intuitive.

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rahaeli @rahaeli.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

when I am god-empress of the universe it will be illegal for people to disable the ability to paste into a password field

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Thomas White @blarkytopia.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

The site is live, let's get the ball rolling on #extralife 2026! Help the kids with a generous donation and help choose character classes, or starting mutations, or beverages for the posse! November 7 and 8 are our game days, live on Twitch as always. tiltify.com/@blarkytopia...

tiltify.com

Tiltify - Made for Fundraisers

We give you the tools to engage with your donors and raise more for your charity

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Iron Spike @ironspike.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Good morning, Bluesky. www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H5u...

youtube.com

Chumbawamba - Tubthumping

YouTube video by ChumbawambaVEVO

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John Wiswell @wiswell.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

There's always somebody who's seen three fish and wants to tell you how the whole ocean works.

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Pwnallthethings @pwnallthethings.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

There are about as many trees in Canada as stars in the milky way

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W. Dow Rieder @riderius.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Oh, yeah. Been watching this for 7? 8? (what is time...) years now, and it's great. Recommended.

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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 02/09/2026

Trade xkcd.com/3290/

Comic. [Person standing holding hammer above raised knee.] PERSON: Listen up, leg. I’ve been sending you rich, oxygenated blood for years, while you send me worthless used-up blood with no oxygen. Time to teach you a lesson about not ripping me off! [caption] Tariffs

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K.B. Spangler @kbspangler.com · 01/09/2026

I'm a Disney Adult in that I'm a dirty little fiend for infrastructure and the processes required to manage humans. Seriously cannot get enough of that shit. Rides? No. Mouse? Fuck off. Systematic analysis of moving thousands of tons of garbage without showing your hand? HOOK IT TO MY VEINS!!!

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Funranium (AKA Phil Broughton) @funranium.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Them: We want to start a fume hood back up. Me: Okay, not really my thing unless it was a former rad lab. [starts pulling contact info of the correct person] Out of curiosity, which room? Them: Seaborg's former space. Me: [hands freeze] I can already tell you that you don't have enough money.

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Andrea Horbinski @horbinski.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

We finally got @adapalmer.bsky.social's acceptance speech for Inventing the Renaissance at the Hugo Awards, and it's a good one: "If cautionary tales worked, they'd have worked by now." So building the future it is.

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W. Dow Rieder @riderius.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Oh, *man* is this a good movie - and it was unavailable for decades because of complexities over the rights.

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Alexander Mosolov @amosolov.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Some changes to the XIV Onslaught - 45 DP, with built-in Armored Weapon Mounts (which also gives a "free" s-mod), and the missile mounts changed to composite for more potential Big (well, medium) Guns. (Seems like a heavy MG/elite point defense + other range-boosters build might be fun, hmm.)

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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 25/08/2026

The xkcd store has returned, with a variety of shirts, stickers, and posters! Check it out here: store.xkcd.com

The XKCD store IS BACK: store.xkcd.com. Art with common stick figure characters from xkcd.

With new designs... (includes what if? dinosaur on top of plane sticker and shirts with "no thanks I'm in the control group" and problems vs. comparable universe comic)

...and old favorites (includes shirts with compiling comic design, colors on this shirt pie chart, stand back I'm going to try science, and correlation comic)

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Iron Spike @ironspike.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Remember that time Dolly Parton took a pretty ho-hum alt-rock song and was like "this is really gospel music" and not only was she right, she actually made it way better? I do www.youtube.com/watch?v=plUD...

youtube.com

Dolly Parton - Shine (Official)

YouTube video by DollyPartonVEVO

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Ethan Kocak @ethankocak.com · 24/08/2026

Today at day job: Woman: hi I’m looking for someone knowledgeable about axolotls. Me: *blinks and slowly lifts sleeve to reveal axolotl tattoo* Woman: ah, perfect

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Funranium (AKA Phil Broughton) @funranium.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Optimist: The glass is half full Pessimist: The glass is half empty Safety Professional: [sighs deeply] A glass of what, exactly? Do you have the MSDS? You drank some didn't you?

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K.B. Spangler @kbspangler.com · 22/08/2026

FAMILY DEMONS, the Patreon-exclusive comic from myself and @alepresser.com, had to go on an emergency six-week hiatus but the four kids are back home, safe and sound. Sort of. Join us and catch up on the...fun...for as little as $1 a month! www.patreon.com/c/KBSpangler

Three teenagers in a car. Something has gone TERRIBLY wrong as you can see their skeletons through their skin. The first kid looks at his hands and says, "Oh this is BAD." The second is furious as she shouts, "WHERE DID OUR MOLECULES GO, AUGIE? WE NEED OUR MOLECULES?" The third teenager, panicking while driving, hits a button on the ceiling.

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W. Dow Rieder @riderius.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Optimist: The cup is half full Pessimist: The cup is half empty Pedant: The cup is entirely full, the top half with air, the bottom half with liquid.

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Funranium (AKA Phil Broughton) @funranium.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

I have enjoyed replying to other parts of management with our Law School’s policy and asking if our counsel might agree with them.

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Dreadnought Holiday @dreadships.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

The original American monitors apart, that's basically what's going on. Generally the guns were going spare (as items with a long lead time and a need for extras, there were often big guns in stock) and just needed a convenient, preferably cheap, hull to plonk them on and carry them where needed.

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W. Dow Rieder @riderius.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

As a kid? The Polesotechnic League stories by Poul Anderson as a SF game setting or the Retief series by Keith Laumer, probably.

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W. Dow Rieder @riderius.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Any model that uses game theory to analyze what decisions are rational, but ignores that the expected value of money is *not linear* for most humans, most of the time, is not a good model for the real world.

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Christopher M. Cevasco @cmcevasco.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

I love that this happened. 📜 #MedievalSky #Beowulf

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W. Dow Rieder @riderius.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Of course, the whole point of a Doomsday Machine is lost, if you *keep* it a *secret*! Why didn't you tell the world, EH?

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But Andrew Hickey Died Ten Years Ago This Very Night @andrewhickey.500songs.com · 12/08/2026

If Internet ads were like ads in magazines -- they didn't track you, didn't run arbitrary malware on your computer, didn't do annoying video autoplay and cover up the thing you're trying to read -- nobody would use an ad-blocker. If sites don't want us using them, they do have a choice.

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lauren @lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com · 09/08/2026

if they're drinking nounwine it's fantasy. if they're snorting a verb it's sci fi

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Bart⚓️ @bartgonnissen.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

MSC Silvana VIII has sunk deeper into the water off Zhoushan, China after running aground and failed salvage attempts (TT lelei8064)

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