iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Need to read these books now, damn it.

Fan of Reacher series references a book where Reacher takes out a white supremacist militia. Alan Ritchson replies that he had it approved until someone got reelected.

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Kinda funny with NYT putting out a poll that destroys most of their opinion pieces.

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Transition points (especially spring to summer and summer to fall) are my favorite time of year. My pollinator meadow has mostly gone to seed by this point, but some sunflowers are still coming through. Bees made about 30 pounds of honey off this acre.

Sunflowers ina field beneath a wispy blue sky.

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Celebrated LD's birthday with a quick trip to meet some of her heroes whom we read about most nights. They were her favorite part 💖

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

What books have I read in the last month? I Dread the Thought of the Place (see pic) about Antietam...probably best read on a Civil War battle. And No Disgrace to my Country about an artillery commander in the Army of the Potomac. I can't read fiction much these days for reasons..

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

For awhile growing up, I read Watership Down every year. From 10-15 in the country I was pretty much alone every summer. Hazel and co. were my friends. I last read it a few years ago after Madds passed. Just one of those books that always gives me something different to feel/latch onto every time.

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

From the article - agents leaving notes on how to escape constraints...for future versions. I get the skepticism bc companies and individuals are using a wide array of models and anything before this year was really prone to obvious gaffes. But the new stuff is having real world results..

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Bruce Catton remains my favorite Civil War historian for the deep overviews of the conflict. But Hartwig's focus on Antietam is the best Civil War work I've ever read. So many primary sources giving context to the historical analysis - incredible. I've never...

The book: I dread the thought of that place by D. Scott Hartwig.

An account of the final action of the battle on the fringes where a lieutenant scales a bluff 4x to bring back the bodies of his fallen comrades and a wounded man. Threatened by his own general to be shelled if he doesn't stop, he says Shell and be damned. And the Confederates are so struck they don't shoot him.

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Pretty satisfied with my pizza game these days. Sourdough, slow cold ferment ftw.

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Today, in 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg began. We have a lot of ties to the Union in my part of the state and I took a moment to reflect on what that can teach us about our 250th anniversary in an editorial to the local paper. Come the 4th, remember who you are, American.

An editorial discussing the Declaration, the Gettysburg Address, and what it all means.

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Getting into peak sunset time of year.

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Remember who you are, American. They made the sacrifice for us, what are you sacrificing today to live up to theirs?

Black and white still of soldiers wading through the surf towards the cliffs held by Nazis on D-Day.

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

(Distant) family cemetery right over the hill from us. Teaching LD about the true meaning of Decoration Day.

Planting flowers in front of the grave of a civil war soldier.

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Someone make an AU ala Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds where Lincoln's assassination only wounds him, rebels show their unrepentant traitor colors sooner and the movie is just Civil War Nuremberg where Bobby Lee and his generals are tried and executed for treason.

4 Lincoln assassination conspirators being hung.

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Don't read this interview until you watch the finale, but phew, so much in here relevant to the artist's journey. Completely unsurprised that some "critics" didn't get it. Too many mistake sugar highs for great storytelling. It's about the interiority of the characters. www.gq.com/story/noah-w...

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

Agree about people's personal business (including their failings) being their own. Agree about journalistic integrity. Really disagree about the monogamy take. Feels like at best akin to people saying everyone uses LLM now for writing. No, not everyone. Not even most. Similarly here.

Post saying "I don't actually care about marital affairs! Monogamy is generally unrealistic for many people in the long-term and infidelity is common. That's their business. Russini having an affair with a source she covers as part of her jub is public business bc it affects ger ability to do her job properly.

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

I'll admit that the AI did a decent job of pulling in screencap summaries across the books. Or more likely just searched its training data bc they stole my shit. Anyway, love book clubs and if yours wants to have me zoom in for a discussion - here for it! AI marketing schemes? Not so much.

In which Book Marketing Specialist David AI Love uses LLMs to summarize my book back to me in hopes I'll pay for fake book club exposure.

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

Found a remote cabin for the weekend, no cell service, just family time with frozen lakes, eagles, and deer. Quiet weekend? What did I miss?

Snowy road, pine trees, and a cabin in the distance.

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

Lol I'm on my phone dude. The date doesn't show? Here's a refresh showing I asked this 5 minutes ago?

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

I don't know what we're doing differently?

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

Newsletter dropped yesterday. I have some writing updates, an essay (2 really) about what we can do to meet this moment. And a palate cleanser photo at the end. Check it out and sign up here: bit.ly/authorryanva...

Excerpt: We're winning folks, but some of us are going to be called upon more than others. It's not fair or equitable, it's just reality. We've got to decide is the future of this country E Pluribus Unum? Out of many, one? Or out of many, many?

I'd argue that Minnesotans have already shown us the way: out of many.

One.

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

If you're like me, you've felt helpless a lot lately. I have some thoughts on that as well as some ways to help out and stick together in this month's newsletter. Also a short writing update and a cute picture at the end! bit.ly/authorryanva...

The beginning of an essay entitled Do What is Before You

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

I don't post photos of LD very often, but since all you can see is a very cute (and slightly cold) toddler having just enjoyed her first toboggan run down an ice chute shot out across a frozen lake...I'll make an exception. She did two runs in 10 degree weather and then we got hot cocoa. Loved it 😄

Toddler in a purple snowsuit wearing a MERRY hat sitting on a toboggan over an icy snow covered lake.

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

It's been a decade of a month. What gives you hope, friends? For me it's Minnesotans. No Kings marches. Poll numbers. Foner's Gateway to Freedom (we have been here before and overcome). The kids, mine & yours. Friends. A belief that there are truly more of us than them. Martinez. Good. Pretti.

Buried snowdrifts with a garden flag just above the snow that reads No Kings in America.

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

Stood in the cold this morning, coffee in hand, contemplating yesterday. I'm not a poet, nor even a short story writer. It takes me a hundred thousand words to get going, but this scrap of doggerel snuck in & wouldn't leave. May her memory be a blessing, her life a brand that lights us all aflame.

Pour one out for the fallen poet
Whose words moved none so much as
Her life, martyred, that others may be free
The latest in a line stretched long, reaching
Clawing back to the dawn of time when
The first righteous amongst us stood tall
And refused to bend the knee so long as all
Were not free...

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Absolutely smashed by a virus (not flu or COVID) on this New Year. Hope y'all's is going far better as we head into 2026.

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 27/12/2025

Madelyn would have been 4 yesterday. LD is 2 and change and shows us every day what her big sister may have been like. Grateful for both of them. Grief is love and you are so loved, Maddie. So loved.

A small cake with a unicorn on it and the name Maddie

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

It's been a long December, friends. I have a short newsletter on holidays and grief and gratitude. Take care! bit.ly/4qhh7Ni

Snow spray from a parade showering a little girl in a purple snowsuit and red gloves with her arms raised high.

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

This seems a bit much. Wait until he hears about this thing called organized religion 🙄 Look, some folks need to believe they can maintain contact with loved ones beyond the memories/thoughts in their own minds. Idk that policing their coping mechanism is the way to go.

User saying that "I think speak to your fake dead relative might be the most evil application of AI I've seen so far."

Reply states "The loss of your loved ones leaves wounds that never fully fade, there's something wicked about exploiting that pain through outright fraud."

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

My daughter has transformed my playlist. Dispatch made a strong push, late, but was never going to displace Abba or Billy Joel 🤣

Top 5 songs of 2025: Dance Monkey, Piano Man, Dancing Queen, Uptown Girl, and...

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

I love snowy days...until January 2nd 🤣 But for now, let it snow.

Snowy landscape with pine trees in background.

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

Hope everyone had a restorative holiday. Got to spend some time out in nature and cannot recommend it enough. If you can, get outside.

Pink hued clouds at daylight overlooking a field surrounded by a sea of pine.

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

Remember, remember the second of December, the martyr who was hung and the traitors who were not. I can think of no reason the second of December should ever be forgot. Happy John Brown's Day.

Image of John Brown staring into the camera.

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

A lot to be thankful for, even (especially?) in 2025 - have a newsletter dropping with some free short fiction as a small thank you. You can grab that here: bit.ly/48zL3hB

Screenshot of the beginning of the story.

"A Life, Kindled

Spring

My grandfather took me into the mountains when I was ten. Within the shadow of mountain peaks, amongst a sea of proud pine, he taught me his life's lessons..."

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

In an effort to not just be politics all the time, have some pictures of a buckwheat field in late fall. If I can swing it, will have a newsletter dropping this week, too.

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

In which Daniel Barkhuff lays out some harsh truths about why we're here. He's right, it will be harder as memories disappear. It's also an opportunity for us to collectively step up as a society - let's do that. substack.com/inbox/post/1...

A picture of US troops at Dachau opening up a boxcar filled with victims of Nazi genocide. The essay continues from there.

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Convincing you to read my novel by the first sentence. Share yours if you want. (The opening of THE SIN IN THE STEEL)

Before I learned how to read, I thought knowledge was finite, dead and decaying inside old men's skulls. Now I know the truth...

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

This seems to be the case here... open.substack.com/pub/dbarkhuf...

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

There it is. If you're going to read one Veterans Day essay today, skip mine and make it this one. "A republic only survives when its citizens choose responsibility over indifference."

An excerpt from the end of the quoted essay.

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

Pitty would say Happy birthday, but she's too busy snoring 😂

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

Some thoughts* on Veterans Day to my local community...if you want to thank a Vet for their service, tell them how you have served your community and others. Happy Veterans Day to those who have served and those who have paid the ultimate price for their country.

Letter to the editor in which I suggest folks serve their communities to honor the sacrifices of veterans.

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

American sycamores are my favorite trees. Quintessential fall. If you can, unplug for a few minutes, get outside, and sit beneath one. Idk that you'll gain wisdom, but you may gain a small measure of peace. That's not nothing.

A photo looking up beneath a sycamore, it's bark is mottled white, it's leaves a brilliant orange.

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Ryan Van Loan @ryanvanloan.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

Hey folks! I dropped off the map for a minute. Spent 10 days in the back country and have a lot of new adventures to talk about. Also wrote a short (possibly micro) fiction in my head while hiking at 11k feet. Back now, reenergized 🙂

Snow covered trees and mountains with clouds

Rays of sun peaking through thick cloud cover over rolling hills.

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