iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 16/07/2026

My first S-Class star in #EliteDangerous. They aren't super special, but it gave me a codex entry, so that's cool. Landed my Nomad on planet A1...got the unsafe temperatures warning on the disembark button, ignored & then got a message like "Warning: Suit Thermal Limit Exceeded" which was new. 1/2

Screenshot from the video game Elite Dangerous. A sun is prominently visible in the middle of the image. Part of a spaceship can be seen in the upper left. Part of a landing shuttle can be seen in the lower right. In the background many stars are visible, along with the Milky Way, which covers about 3/4 of the background of the image, except for the top right corner.

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 17/06/2026

Name a TV show you're positive no one remembers but you.

Promotional photograph for the TV series Probe (1988). The photograph features actor Parker Stevens as Austin James sitting at a table resting his head on his folded arms. He has a focused expression and is staring across the table at actress Ashley Crow as his assistant Mickey Castle. There is a glass on the table between them. The bottom 50% of the glass contains water. The title of the series ("PROBE") is overlayed onthe edge of the table in violet letters in a curved font similar to Bauhaus or Letraset Pump.

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 25/05/2026

Bread! Not sure if it'll be any good...new recipe, my first time cooking bread in a Dutch oven. Also I changed the recipe...cut back 1 cup of bread flour to add a cup of rye flour, in addition to the spelt. And swapped out half the honey for molasses to darken it a bit.

A photograph of a country loaf style loaf of bread on a cooling rack.

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 06/05/2026

Working for me as of today, but this is Personal, not Enterprise so YMMV. Running Word version 2604 (Build 19929.20106). Windows 11. File-->Account (bottom left)-->Manage Settings (middle column under "Account Privacy")-->Uncheck the box that says "Turn on experiences that analyze your data)

Screenshot of some of the Microsoft Word settings on Windows 11. On the left is a stacked list of various navigation items. In the middle is an "Account" section showing a few configurable items. On the right is a modal dialog box, displaying a section called "Connected Experiences" with an option for enabling analytic experiences disabled.

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 26/04/2026

I appreciate when people leave detailed, thoughtful, relevant reviews. Such as this review for a sandwich press/waffle maker that says how well the socks fit.

Screenshot of a review left on Amazon. The text reads:

4.0 out of 5 stars The comfort of the socks is very good!

Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2026

Size: 3-in-1 Sandwich/Panini/Waffle (9 x 9 inch Plates) | Verified Purchase

First diabetic socks that actually fit. I have neuropathy so they are very comfortable for me. Good quality! Love the colors which are the pastels. Very good purchase, would highly recommend. Hopefully they will stand up through wear and laundering. Thanks!

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 29/03/2026

I know complaining about missing words in the NYT Spelling Bee is silly, but...how did they miss this one!?

Screenshot of the NYT Spelling Bee game on N Android phone. The top of the image displays the typical cell phone notification icons, including the time (11:28), some mail app icons, signal strength for wifi and cellular, and battery level.

The main screen shows the game menu at the top with a back arrow, menu items for Stats, Yesterday, Settings, and More (the word more, not additional items).

Below that is a score progress bar displaying the word nice, followed by a line with five small yellow dots, and a sixth larger yellow dot with the score "86" on it, finally followed by three small gray dots on the line.

Then a reddish line is drawn, it is wave, hand-drawn to redact guessed words to avoid spoilers.

Next is a status message stating "Not in word list".

Below that message the word "TNETENBBA" is shown in all caps in white text on the black background, except for the instances of the letter "N", which are letters.

The main play field is below, the letters K, E, M, A, B, T are shown on gray hexagons in white text, themselves arranged in an octagon with the K at the top. In the center, le letter N in black text on a yellow background.

Below that are input options consisting of Delete, a circular Undo arrow, and Enter.

Finally at the bottom are the phone's navigation icons, a left-facing arrow, a circle, and a square.

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 13/01/2026

I dunno man, that seems like the last thing you'd want to name a child care center if you actually want people to not worry. Like, it seems more the sort of thing you'd name a child care center if you specifically *want* to make people worry.

A screenshot from Google Maps showing a red brick building in a downtown urban environment. Various other building can be seen in the background. Some cars are parked alongside the street.

A sign on the front of the building with red type on a yellow background advertises the name of the business as "DON'T WORRY CHILDCARE CENTER".

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 12/11/2025

Huh. Weird that either @support.bsky.team or @safety.bsky.app sent me this message from a generic random handle instead of the official one. Well, I'll definitely be sure to click this obfuscated URL in the chat then...oops I accidentally blocked and reported the account and deleted the chat. Darn.

Screenshot of a chat request in Bluesky. Text in the screenshot reads:

"Bluesky - 1h
@hammo55.bsky.social
We regret to inform you that your Bluesky account has been temporarily suspended due to security-related restrictions....
Not followed by anyone you're following"

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 12/11/2025

...and then when I got back home I just decided to go ahead & try a few more pictures, regardless of light pollution, and was still able to get aurora in the shots!!

Photograph of a red aurora across the sky behind an apartment building.

Photograph of a red aurora with green highlights across the sky behind an apartment building.

Photograph of a red aurora with green highlights across the sky behind a residential street.

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 12/11/2025

None of the pictures I snapped are amazing or breathtaking, but they're still pretty enough to share! 2/4

Photograph of a green aurora with pink highlights spread over the sky.

Photograph of an aurora across the sky, fading from red on the left to green on the right.

Photograph of an aurora across the sky, fading from green on the left to red on the right.

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 12/11/2025

I wasn't going to because it's a work night, but I went ahead & drove 20 minutes out to a decently dark spot & took some pictures of the #aurora ... realized halfway there I forgot the tripod and remote for my phone, so there's camera shake as I had to freehand some of these. 1/4 #wyoming

Photograph of a green aurora spread over the sky.

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 15/10/2025

I watched a YouTube video where the paid sponsor was a science magazine. The presenter said they had a code for an exclusive 15% discount. So... 1/

A subscription page for a magazine advertising. At the top, the headline advertises 15% off the price. Two options are presented for paying, one digital only and the other digital plus print.

The digital membership is advertised as "Save 50%" and has a crossed-out price of $9.99 and a larger, bold price of $4.92 per month.

The print plus digital option has a crossed out price of $9.99 and a larger, bold price of $7.42 per month.

There is additional marketing text on the page but none of it provides additional context for the prices that don't match the advertised 15% discount the parent post is referring to.

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 02/09/2025

I claim this rock in the name of humanity! #EliteDangerous #Screenshot

Screenshot from the video game "Elite Dangerous" showing a large monolith-shaped rock on an alien planet. The rock is a light gray color with reddish-brown spots. On top of the rock, a figure in a spacesuit is barely visible in a standing position. In the backgound, a dark blue starry sky is visible. Across the top, an arm of the Milky Way can be seen, with a nebula in front of part of it near the center. Below the Milky Way, slightly to the right of center, another planet is visible.

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 01/09/2025

Sooo many mistakes! But I finished it. Next one will be better maybe? #art #mandala #NoAI

Photograph of a drawing of a mandala on a page of a drawing pad. The spiral binding of the pad is visible along the top edge. An eraser is visible near the top left at an angle. A pen and a mechanical pencil are visible near the bottom left at that same angle.

The inked drawing of the mandala takes up most of the page. It is a series of patterns radiating along concentric circles. Most of the patterns have a floral motif. The rest are simple lines and circles. A few diamond shapes fill in space along the outermost ring.

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 01/09/2025

Post a random picture or else everything will go bad in September

Screenshot of a filter selection menu from Walmart's web page.

The first menu option is labeled "Nutritional Content" but an icon indicates that section is collapsed, so the selections are not visible.

The second menu option is labeled "Egg Type" and the icon indicates its options are visible. There is a single choice available to choose in that section. It is labeled, "Eggs" and it shows 16 items will match that selection.

The final option visible in this screenshot is labeled, "Availability" but an icon indicates that section is collapsed, so the selections are not visible.

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 26/08/2025

I am SUPER curious about what happened here. Google maps screenshot is from just about three years ago (Oct 2022). The aerial shot is from an active Zillow listing. The side yard fence seems to have jumped way closer to the house, essentially losing most of the front yard for the gray house. 1/4

Screenshot of a Google Maps street view image showing two houses. Both are typical two-story homes. There is a small grassy yard between the two houses. A chain-link fence decorated with white and green slats sits right next to the tan house on the left side of the image. A small decorative fence and alongside the yard and in front of the gray house on the right. A similar chain-link fence with white and green slats runs down the right side of the gray house property as well.

An aerial photograph of some typical two-story houses on a residential street. There is a small grassy lawn between the tan house on the left side of the image and the gray house in the middle of the image. A chain-link fence runs most of the way alongside the yard, close to the GRAY house. There is no fence near the TAN house, nor is there a fence running along the front of the gary house property. There is a chain-link fence on the right side of the gray house property, between that house and the white house on the right side of the image.

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 20/08/2025

Found some frozen pretty space trees on an ice ball out in the black last night. #EliteDangerous

A screenshot from the video game "Elite Dangerous" depicting a scene on an alien world. The terrain is mostly barren, white, ice-covered rocks. In the foreground on the left side are twisty alien plants with broad leafy tops and woody layered bottoms. The leaves are a deep blue at the tips on one side and white on the other side of the tips. The woody bottom of the plants is a light gray, with white outlining the edges of the layers.

In the background, the sky takes up the top two thirds of the image. Stars are visible in the clear sky. The sky fades from deep midnight blue at the top to a lighter medium blue at the horizon. Towards the right of the sky, a band of the Milky Way galaxy can be seen as a pinkish-brown hazy stripe that runs in a diagonal line descending left to right over the right third of the sky.

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 18/08/2025

I have drawn a bird. Have I done this correctly? This is bird. #TWI #IYKYK

A very rough pencil sketch of an anthropomorphized ant-like creature. The character is bipedal, leaving four limbs available as hands. The character is holding a bow in one hand, the bowstring in another, and arrows in the remaining two hands. A quiver of arrows is on his back.

A speech bubble is indicating the character is saying the words "I am Bird. I am silly."

In the background near the top of the page a sketch of an actual bird can barely be seen.

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 07/08/2025

Finally dragged myself to the post office. I hardly ever get "real" mail, so I only go once a week or so. But I'm glad I did, as this gem by @glennf.com was waiting for me to pick up!

A hardback book sits on an chair cushion at an angle towards counterclockwise.

The book's cover is a deep green with a patterned texture similar to woven linen.

The book's cover is decorated only with title ("Six Centuries of Type & Printing") a stylized trefoil device (comprised of three lobes roughly in a triangle formation) below that, and the byline ("by Glenn Fleishman") below that. These elements are surrounded by a double-line border shaped similarly to a plaque (a rectangle with quarter circles subtracted from the corners). All of this is impressed into the cover with gold foil and occupies roughly the top third of the cover, with a margin around the border.

The cushion in the background is a deep blue-violet with vertical stripes of shades of blue, white, purple, and red running across it.

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 01/08/2025

I grew up on these streets

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 25/07/2025

I am having fun going through this 1888 book of printmaking terms.

Donkeys.—Compositors were at one period thus styled by pressmen in retaliation for being called "pigs" by them.

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 01/06/2025

Out and about mapping planets and collecting exobiology samples in #EliteDangerous and grabbed a screenshot of this lovely view.

Screenshot from the video game "Elite Dangerous" depicting a scene on a mostly-barren unexplored planet.
In the foreground, an alien plant vaguely resembling a cluster of four small palm trees is visible along the right edge of the image, taking up most of the vertical height of the image. The tree-like structures are of varying height and have while segmented trunks with small wide frond-like leaved on top. The treelike stalks are tilted at an angle from the bottom-right towards the top-left.
Beyond the plant, and stretching to the horizon, a light-brown rocky landscape is visible. The horizon line is roughly a bit under a third of the way from the bottom. Variations in elevation are apparent, though no mountains or chasms are visible.
In the background, the planet's very thin atmosphere has produced a hazy desaturated gray-blue sky. It is daytime, and the planets small distant sun is visible just slightly right-of-center and roughly a third of the way down, casting a wide halo through the haze. Stars are visible as the typical pinpoints of light we're used to, along with a grayish band of the Milky Way towards the top-left that runs down nearly to the horizon, roughly in parallel to the plant in the foreground. Additionally, a neighboring alien planet is barely visible, located horizontally between the plant and the sun, and vertically just a bit above the horizon. The planet mostly blends into the sky, except for a white highlight on its top-left edge, and several off-white bands that run across its surface at an angle roughly reversed from that of the plant.

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 02/04/2025

So *somebody* put 1200 rubber duckies in my mom's bathtub. I clearly couldn't since she's in California and I'm in Wyoming. Certain parties in California have suggested that I am behind this (frankly epic) April Fools' prank. As I am in Wyoming, that is clearly impossible.

Photograph of a bathtub. The bathtub is filled partway with water. On top of the water, nearly 900 small rubber ducks are floating, along with nearly 300 rubber ducks of various other colors and design. A handful of other rubber ducks are scattered around the outside of the tub, some in a "breadcrumb" trail leading up to the bathtub.

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 13/03/2025

Will you also accept weird fruit-shaped buildings? We used to have an orange-shaped orange stand in the next city over when I lived in California. I think they moved it a couple years ago.

A photograph of Bono's Historic Orange Stand, a small shack shaped and colored like an orange fruit.

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 28/02/2025

OMG this is on Jeff Hurd's Wikipedia page right now, I am dead. 💀 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Hu...

Personal life
Hurd and his wife, Barbora, have five children. They live in Grand Junction.[4]

Hurd is a Catholic and a coward. [10]

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 26/02/2025

I may be at work, so I can't play right now, but ... I can download ... #EliteDangerous

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 25/02/2025

Um excuse me Google, but the f**k I did. I absolutely did NOT sign up to use your AI crap.

Screenshot from the tiny disclaimer text at the bottom of a Google spam email for it's Gemini AI, with no "unsubscribe" link.

The text in the screenshot reads:
"
© 2025 Google LLC
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway,
Mountain View, CA 94043
1 Results for illustrative purposes and may vary. Internet connection and subscription for certain features required. Available in select countries, languages, and to users 18+. Create responsibly.
2 Results for illustrative purposes and may vary. Check responses for accuracy. Compatible with certain features and accounts. Internet connection required. Available in select countries, languages, and to users 18+.
3 Features may differ depending on subscription and results may vary. Google Workspace extension must be enabled. Availability varies by country. Check responses for accuracy.
This message was sent to you because you signed up to use Gemini. Gemini is available in select markets and languages."

The sentence "This message was sent to you because you signed up to use Gemini." is highlighted in the screenshot, because I absolutely never signed up for Gemini and I want no part of it.

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 23/02/2025

Another puzzle done! I've had this one for a while. Bought off of an Instagram ad. Company is kind of scammy—they constantly run ads saying they are going out of business, but that's baloney to drive up FOMO. They are still in business today. 1/4

An assembled jigsaw-type puzzle. The puzzle is mostly circular in shape, being an image of a peacock perched on a vertical spiral object. The peacock has mostly blue feathers with accents on yellow, red, and pink. There are various trees and other plants in the background. The colors in the sky behind the peacock suggest either sunrise or sunset. There is an element of fantasy to the image, ad the peacock's legs and the edges of it's feathers seem to be morphing into branches and/or vines.
The [a[er with the reference image of the puzzle is visible on the right-hand side of the image, slightly overlapped by the actual puzzle.
The objects are on a wooden surface (actually a TV tray).

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 02/02/2025

Checking my PO Box, alone on the building. I see this on the table, exactly like this. Every video game I've ever played has trained me that this is part of an intricate series of puzzles I need to solve to beat this level.

A broad light gray table. Empty except for a scrap of paper and four pennies deliberately arranged in a square.o

A photograph of a scrap of paper with four pennies placed on it as if marking the edge of a square.
On the paper, the letters "R" "E" 'N" are visible printed in black. Below that, in a smaller font, the letters 'b" "a" "c" are visible, printed in blue. Both sets of writing are machine printed, not handwritten.

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 24/01/2025

I know you said you already turned off online experiences, so I hope I'm not retreading ground here. That's what I did (specifically "Experiences that analyze your content") & while it did not remove Copilot icon from the ribbon, I think it's disabled b/c I get an error message when I click the icon

Screenshot from Microsoft OneNote showing that the "copilot" button gives an error message stating "Use Office connected experiences" if that option is disabled.

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 21/01/2025

Oh wait! I did do it in Excel, I forgot! Less straightforward: You can go to your "Account Privacy" settings in an Office App and uncheck "Experiences that analyze your content" ... but you still need to remove from ribbon.

Screenshot of MS Office account privacy settings to disable experiences that analyze your content.

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 21/01/2025

For Word: File-->Options-->Copilot-->Uncheck "Enable Copilot" I think I also had to separately remove the icon from the ribbon. This is in the current version of Office 365. Haven't tried in PowerPoint. Couldn't do it in Excel yet.

Screenshot of MS Word options to disable Copilot.

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 20/12/2024

I thought I knew that guy; I was thinking he was guarding baggage claim, but I had it mixed up with a DIFFERENT creepy statue in the airport. Found this old picture I took in 2016 of the one I was thinking of.

A gray statue of a winged bird man sitting in a suitcase. The sculpture is atop a square white marble column against a wall of the same white marble.

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 20/12/2024

Ornament! Polymer clay! Faux-gold leaf is already peeling off, so I made a backup star & painting with Liquid Leaf. Couldn't get classic looking pinecones to work without squishing, so I settled for immature 1-year-old looking pinecones. Textured with the knurling on the side of a ribbon tool.

Photograph of a Christmas ornament sculpted in the shape of a wreath. The wreath looks like it's made from green-needled pine branches with generic red berries attached at random spots. Two pinecones are attached to the left side. A red bow is attached to the top. An empty eye hook is protruding from the top of the bow. Another eye hook is at the bottom of the bow. A small length of monofilament line is attached to this second hook, connecting to a gold star in the middle. At the bottom of the ornament, a red ribbon wraps around the wreath with "2024" stamped into it in white.

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 19/12/2024

That didn't seem consistent, so I thought, well, if this *is* a bot, maybe they scraped data? Did a search for a statistically-improbable phrase from the post, and sure enough, they had just taken someone else's post that had gotten some engagement, and copy/pasted it... 3/

Screenshot of search results from Bluesky showing a real, original, post by (actual human) @jonbois.bsky.social that has been copy/pasted by four bots. The actual text of the post is unimportant and irrelevant, so it won't be read out here. The visual impact of the screenshot is just to emphasize that the same post is repeated by four other accounts with the same timestamp.

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 14/12/2024

Okay well that's annoying. I made this perfectly lovely raised planter bed in a greenhouse in #TheSims4 ... and it's unusable because the game counts it as unreachable by my sim. I guess I'll have ground-level planters in a greenhouse? Super frustrating.

Screenshot from the video game The Sims 4. There is a greenhouse visible; the front walls are cut away, providing a better view inside. The floor inside the greenhouse is covered in orange terracotta tile. Slightly off-center is a raised wooden platform with three flower beds on it. The flower beds have a variety of plants ready to be planted. A sim stands in a corner. She has brown skin and is wearing a black and white set of winter weather clothing. A green diamond-shaped "plumbob" is visible floating over the sim's head. Outside of the greenhouse, there is a chest and a workbench. Various items cover the workbench. The chest, workbench, clutter, and ground are covered in snow.

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Robert Hill @robert.hill.cx · 07/12/2024

Well it's not double shake weights, and I kinda feel bad because it's in poor taste, but here:

Photoshopped image of RFK Jr. In the original, his hands are raised. In this edit, an image of a worm has been manipulated to make it look like RFK Jr. is flossing the worm through his head via his ears.

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