iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

The socialization scale is pretty wild - a significant portion of this is related to masking autism.

Socialization
1. Recognizes the gender of himself and others
2. Plays with peer(s) for 5 minutes under supervision
3. Says the relationship of familiar others to self
4. Helps others when asked
5. Shares toys/possessions when told to do so
6. Plays with others at outdoor games with no score
7. Plays with peer(s) for 20 minutes under supervision
8. Responds politely when given something
9. Moves away from aggressive children nearby
10. Uses words or gestures to express distress
11. Accepts helpful suggestions/solutions from others
12. Shows happiness, sympathy, or concern for others
13. Asks others to play or spend time together
14. Controls anger when unexpected events disrupt plans
15. Takes turns in games or sports without being asked
16. Acts differently with people depending on familiarity
17. Shows good sportsmanship in games or sports
18. Controls anger when not getting his way
19. Will compromise in order to get along with peers
20. Modifies his voice level for the location/situation
21. Moves easily between topics in conversation
22. Plays with others at simple games with scorekeeping
23. Adjusts behavior to avoid disrupting others nearby
24. Cooperates with others on group assignments
25. Respects others' time
26. Stays out of a group that is unwelcoming
27. Thinks through consequences before acting
28. Starts small talk when meeting familiar people
29. Participates in conversations on nonpreferred topics
30. Starts conversations about things that interest others
31. Responds to hints or indirect cues in conversation
32. Provides additional explanation when others need it

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

After a stressful few days we now have a pirate donkey. Poor Ritchie. 😞

A biege donkey with a bandage over it's face following an eye removal.

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

3 days of work in the next three weeks should hopefully lower this...

“Your autistic burnout result.” It shows a total ABM score of 91 out of 108 and a research threshold of 68+, described as the approximate threshold from the validation sample.

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

On a scale from 1-100, how bad was my sleep last night.

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

In the process of reading this, and will have a review. Caroline Maguire's first book for children "Why Will No One Play with Me?" is a resource often referred to by other coaches I work with, and it is great to see her work on one for adults which was highly requested.

Friendship Skills for Neurodivergent Adults

A guide for the anxious, uniquely wired and easily distracted

By Caroline Maguire, PCC, MEd

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Shot: Guardian Quote Chaser: The front and back cover of 'The Science of Evil'

In fact, he said, his own research showed that autistic people tend to differ in cognitive empathy (interpreting facial expressions and language) but not affective empathy (the internal response to others’ feelings). “Once they know that someone is upset, it upsets them and they want to do something about it,” he said. “There’s a kind of myth that autistic people lack empathy.”

Borderline personality disorder, autism, narcissism, psychosis, Asperger's: All of these syndromes have one thing in common- lack of empathy. In some cases, this absence can be dangerous, but in others it can simply mean a different way of seeing the world. In The Science of Evil Simon Baron-Cohen, an award-winning British researcher who has investigated psychology and autism for decades, develops a new brain-based theory of human cruelty. A true psychologist, however, he examines social and environmental factors that can erode empathy, including neglect and abuse. Based largely on Baron-Cohen's own research, The Science of Evil will change the way we understand and treat human cruelty.

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

Finding Ikigai is incredible. Just back from a two day work conference and being able to achieve this with some of the best people humanity has to offer fills me with so much hope for the future. I'm so excited to see what the rest of this year is going to bring.

A four-circle Venn diagram illustrating the Japanese concept of Ikigai. The circles are labeled: What you love (top, teal), What the world needs (right, pink), What you can be paid for (bottom, orange), and What you are good at (left, yellow). Their overlaps are labeled Passion (love + good at), Mission (love + world needs), Profession (good at + paid for), and Vocation (world needs + paid for). At the center, where all four circles overlap, is the word "Ikigai", representing the intersection of passion, mission, profession, and vocation.

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

National coming out hard against Superannuation.

Luxon says party closing in on 5% 'wants to make every New Zealander a beneficiary'

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

These are the samples used in one of the most widely cited papers arguing for SPS as a distinct category (Sensory Processing Sensitivity is the more 'scientific' name given to this). The gender ratio difference is NEVER addressed even in limitations.

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Possibly the only good time management book I have read. Memento mori.

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

So many people talk about the "Following Instructions" test they took at school, and I never took this test. Also wondering why it's done if not used for diagnostics etc... For reference this is an example test:

A black-and-white worksheet titled “CAN YOU FOLLOW DIRECTIONS?” with the subtitle, “This is a timed test—you have 3 minutes only!” Below is a numbered list of 23 instructions. The instructions tell the reader to do various tasks such as writing their name, calling out phrases, drawing shapes, counting backward, solving math problems, punching holes in the paper, and underlining numbers. The final instruction (#23) reveals the trick: after reading everything carefully, the reader should do only instructions 1 and 2 (read everything carefully and put their name in the upper right-hand corner). The worksheet is a common classroom exercise designed to test whether people read all directions before starting.

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

You are telling me Hilary Clinton has extremely bad views on global politics? I never would have guessed...

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Think about this banger all the time from a CBT book. Capitalist Brainwashing Therapy, excusing bad behaviour since forever.

An educational diagram illustrating cognitive restructuring in cognitive behavioral therapy.

The top row is labeled **“Maladaptive pattern:”** and shows a sequence of three boxes connected by arrows:

1. “My boss yelled at me.”
2. “I’m worthless.”
3. “Depression.”

The bottom row is labeled **“After cognitive restructuring:”** and shows a revised sequence:

1. “My boss yelled at me.”
2. “My boss was having a bad day.”
3. “No depression.”

The diagram demonstrates how changing an interpretation of an event can lead to a different emotional outcome.

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

'Once a critical mass of the population concludes the financial system is structurally corrupt, the state loses its moral legitimacy. People stop trying to fix the system from within and start looking for ways to burn it down.'

A character is shown as a disheveled man wearing a black shirt labeled "Sickos", grinning through a window and saying, "Yes… Ha ha ha… Yes!"

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

There's a lot of language techniques that I have had to limit a lot due to AI. I was more curious about this rather than using it as an AI identifier, because I genuinely have not heard it before. I always think about this tweet when people discuss 'policing AI':

creenshot of a social media post by Rua M. Williams (@FractalEcho). The post reads: “This is not an email I ever expected to receive or send.”

Below is a screenshot of an email exchange. The first message says:

“The AI design of your email is clever, but significantly lacks warmth.

Would it be possible to be contacted by a human being moving forward instead of AI?

Many thanks,”

The reply underneath says:

“It's not an AI. I'm just Autistic.

See you next Friday.

Sent from Proton Mail mobile”

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

As a heads up for neurodivergent people, not everyone thinks like this. Sometimes when you ask what people are thinking about and they say 'nothing' that can be true. This blew my mind when I found out how atypical our thinking is compared to others. This is the Mind Excessively Wandering Scale

1. I have difficulty controlling my thoughts
2. I find it hard to switch my thoughts off
3. I have two or more different thoughts going on at the same time
4. My thoughts are disorganised and ‘all over the place’
5. My thoughts are ‘on the go’ all the time
6. ᵃ Because my mind is ‘on the go’ at bedtime, I have difficulty falling off to sleep
7. I experience ceaseless mental activity
8. I find it difficult to think about one thing without another thought entering my mind
9. I find my thoughts are distracting and prevent me from focusing on what I am doing
10. ᵃ I try to distract myself from my thoughts by doing something else or listening to music
11. I have difficulty slowing my thoughts down and focusing on one thing at a time
12. I find it difficult to think clearly, as if my mind is in a fog
13. I find myself flitting back and forth between different thoughts
14. ᵃ I use alcohol or other drugs to slow down my thoughts and stop constant ‘mental chatter’
15. I can only focus my thoughts on one thing at a time with considerable effort

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Cat update. Kiki (chocolate tonkinense) and Nova (lilac tonkinese) are now inseparable. Took about a week and a half.

Kiki, a chocolate coloured tonkinese cat, with her paws around Nova, a lilac (white) tonkinese kitten together on a blue plush blanket. They are both asleep.

Kiki, the chocolate tonkinese, with Nova, a lilac (white and grey pointed) tonkinese, snuggled into one another of a warm polka dot blanket next to a blue cat tree with toys dangling off it. They are both looking at the camera sleepily.

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Do you think there was some lower ranked autistic person in the military when this study was done just kinda screaming really loudly about the obvious issue...

A top-down schematic diagram of a twin-engine bomber airplane from World War II, illustrating the concept of survivorship bias. The outline of the aircraft is drawn in black on a white background, with numerous bright red dots scattered across specific sections.

These red dots, representing hypothetical bullet holes or damage locations on returning aircraft, are heavily clustered along the wingtips, the outer edges of the wings, the rear stabilizers, and the middle section of the fuselage. Notably, the engines, the cockpit, and the tail section are completely free of red dots, implying that planes struck in those vital areas did not survive to be analyzed.

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

This is an awful lot of words to say my husband is a complete deadbeat who doesn't care about my needs and refuses to help with the mental load. Therefore I did more work to appease him and ensure he still does the bare minimum.

manage complex programs at Google. At home, I couldn't get my husband to check a shared calendar.

My husband and I share the load. But he refuses to be in the WhatsApp groups. He doesn't want the weekly logistics sync I've been proposing for years. He doesn't want to know about the piano lesson if he's not the one taking her. As far as he's concerned, if it's not his responsibility, it doesn't exist.

For years I worked around this. Mid-day calls to remind him about pickups. Messages to confirm who's doing what. The mental load of making sure nothing fell through the cracks was entirely mine.

A few weeks ago I stopped fighting his system and built around it instead.

He's a pull person in a push world. He doesn't want information delivered to him; he wants to ask for it when he needs it. So I built him a bot on WhatsApp - his channel, his timing, his questions - that reads straight from our existing shared calendar.

"Am I picking up today?" Yes, at 4.
"When can I leave early this week?" Tuesday and Thursday.
"Is there a piano lesson this week?" No.

That last one is my favorite. There is a piano lesson. But he's not responsible for it. So as far as the bot is concerned - it doesn't exist.

Not a single dropped ball. More time to talk about the kids instead of their schedules.

I spent years trying to get him to use my system. Took me one week to build one he actually uses.

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Remember "boys will be boys" - the school policy.

Be cautious about unnecessarily escalating allegations of bullying. No-one approves of bullying
behaviour, but a certain amount of teasing and unfriendliness does occur across all
age-groups. Children need to learn how to run their own relationships and cope with ups and
downs in friendships. Too much adult intervention, or over-reaction, can blow trivial incidents
out of proportion and stifle the development of judgment and problem-solving skills.
Therefore, it may be best to consider low-level and informal responses to bullying before
escalating matters. However, any serious incidents of bullying should be immediately
escalated.

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

This is as of the current date, advice given to those who are being bullied at NZ's most prestigious public boys school.

What can you do if you are being bullied?
• Tell someone; a teacher, a School Counsellor, a parent/legal guardian and/or a trusted
adult. Once someone knows about what is occurring they can help you with the situation
• Walk away. Sometimes it makes good sense to simply ignore a bully
• If possible, try to defuse the situation with humour; even a bully can find a joke disarming
• Try being assertive- “Get a life. Leave me alone”
• Make friends and spend time together with these friends in the School grounds. Having a
friend is an effective protective factor. Or, if you like to be alone by nature, find School
activities that allow you to be safe and alone, like the library or computers labs

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

1000% this. I think about this Tweet ao often.

Jocelyn J. Fitzgerald MD
@jjfitzgeraldMD
In med school, I took an elective called "Stress", foolishly thinking I was going to learn about meditation and yoga. Instead the professor spent 6 weeks proving that being poor or a minority literally destroys your health on a molecular level, and I think about that every day.
5:02 AM · May 11, 2020

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Finally, a trolley problem I can get behind. Source: www.reddit.com/r/trolleypro...

An illustration of the classic trolley problem meme with a twist. A red trolley is moving down a track that splits into two paths. The main track continues straight and is completely empty. The side track, which requires pulling a lever to divert the trolley, has a group of stick figures in suits standing on it under a large sign that reads "100 BILLIONAIRES." A person stands next to the lever looking conflicted under the text, "Do you pull the lever?"

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

This is taken from this reddit thread and contains AI, but I think this is one of the most useful explanations of ADHD productivity: www.reddit.com/r/ADHD_Progr...

A line graph titled "The Strategic Advantage of 'Spiky' Productivity" contrasts two work styles on an Output versus Time axis.

A straight, horizontal grey line labeled "Linear Productivity (Neurotypical)" represents a consistent level of output over time.

In contrast, a blue, wavy line with high peaks and deep troughs illustrates "Spiky" productivity. The peaks are labeled "Breakthrough Innovation / Hyperfocus," while the lower sections dip well below the linear baseline.

A text box at the bottom explains the concept: "Stop trying to force a flat line. ADHD output is a heartbeat. If you accommodate the recovery troughs, you earn exclusive access to the peaks: unparalleled creative problem-solving and rapid architectural breakthroughs."

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

Noticed no one at Stuff wants to put their name to this crap.

The government wants to use AI to improve the public service. We asked AI what it would do

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

Can't see how this might be an issue. Seems like it is great legislation. Apropos of nothing, here is a section from the Code of Welfare for deer, referenced in the Animal Welfare Act 1999.

hind or doe or cow

Adult female deer. These terms are used interchangeably, depending on the species of deer.

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

I feel like a lot of people missed out on the movie Her by Spike Jonze, which was eerily accurate at describing how humans were susceptible to forming attachments with proto-conscious autonomous agents. It is a masterpiece of writing.

A movie poster for her, featuring Joaquin Phoenix with a moustache and piercing gaze staring directly toward the camera.

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Counter, gutting Wellington further might cause an even more significant downturn in tax revenue and paying for an additional 10,000 people on the benefit when there is no economic growth or jobs available will cost far more than 1 billion.

Thousands of public servants to lose jobs, potentially saving government over a billion dollars

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Out of curiosity as AI had suggested the place I worked to a client, I asked it for critiques of our company. I was pretty stunned when it actually fabricated a series of feedback that was not attributed to us at all, often completely different companies. Not a lawyer, but it was defamatory.

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

I am starting a new immunosuppressant medication. I am so glad for Pharmac, this is the cost for it, and I need to have it every 8 weeks.

The price is 3,313.00 and the it is fully subsidised.

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

Wonder why they are targeting critical thinking as a key target for replacement.

Palantir CEO says AI 'will destroy' humanities jobs but there will be 'more than enough jobs' for people with vocational training.

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

You can keep pushing, but doing so limits chances of returning to a managable baseline of allostatic load. Instead your window of tolerance will be lowered and the cumulative burden of stress will start impacting your body.

The image presents a line graph titled "Levels of stress mediators" on the y-axis and "Time" on the x-axis, illustrating the physiological transition from homeostasis to allostatic load due to chronic stress.

A single, oscillating red line represents the levels of stress mediators over time. At the beginning of the timeline, the line fluctuates around a lower dotted horizontal line labeled "Set point for homeostasis." Red upward arrows indicate "Allostasis," or the body’s active adaptation to stress stimuli, while blue downward arrows indicate "Homeostatic recovery," showing the levels returning toward the original baseline.

As the timeline progresses, "Chronically repeated stress stimuli" are indicated by thick red arrows along the x-axis. The oscillating line begins to trend significantly upward, failing to return to the original homeostatic baseline. This cumulative shift leads to a higher dotted horizontal line labeled "New (altered) set point."

The vertical gap between the original homeostatic set point and the new altered set point is marked with a large double-headed red arrow and labeled "Allostatic load." This visualizes the physiological "wear and tear" that occurs when the body's stress response systems are forced to operate at a perpetually higher level to maintain stability.

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Wiring neural pathways to act less impulsively takes time. Shortening the window between reaction and realisation is often the first step. Often you will suck at it when you first start trying to do this... as the wise sage Jake says:

Jake the Dog from Finn and Jake saying: "Dude, sucking at something is the first step towards being sort of good at something."

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

Love the google memories feature for photos. Seven years since my road to our house was closed because some white supremacist who lived on the same street commit the worst act of terrorism in NZ history. Thanks google. Great memories.

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

I mean... what the fuck is this?

A New Zealand National Party Post that says: Kiwis can now get ADHD treatment through their GP or nurse practitioner, no specialist needed.

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

The left picture is the sections of land they have bought, the right is a rough demonstration of the topographical map of that area. Expect massive cost blowouts.

A map of the Brynderwyns showing the existing state highway and the land around it that has been purchased.

A topographical map of the area of the previous map showing the same levels of elevation.

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Rory @roryreckons.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

If you add up Autistic/autism as one thing I sit at ADHD 165 mentions, autism/autistic 157. Meaning I am scientifically more ADHD dominant than autistic. [This is the only way to interpret this data]

Word cloud visualization for 2025 showing your 50 most-used words, sized by frequency. Top 10: "adhd" (168×), "autistic" (92×), "without" (79×), "shit" (73×), "seems" (73×), "game" (71×), "based" (71×), "those" (67×), "autism" (65×), "understand" (64×) (from Anisota's Annual Bluesky Harvest)

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