iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

For my salsa verde I have roasted my peppers and onions either over a grill or in the oven. I haven't tried using an air-fryer for this, but it's a good idea that I might try for next year's batch if I can't use an outdoor flame grill. The chili garlic sauce has no roasted components, interestingly

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Initial taste test is promising. We'll know more on Tuesday, when we'll be using it in the stir-fry we have planned. And now we are airing out the kitchen, which is pretty thoroughly pepper-gassed. #cooking

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Then we used the handy-dandy food processor (my ancient Cuisinart) to saucify and funneled the result into jars. Voila, iteration one of Snuff the Rooster sauce is in the refrigerator. (Yes, we are both fond of Alice in Chains.)

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I make and home-can my own salsa verde, and I have made pepper sauces in the past, so this was somewhat familiar territory for me. Not so for Mr P, but we muddled on through. It's not a difficult recipe, although the "fresh vs canned" aspect is new. Regardless, we washed and chopped and peeled.

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Our household (specifically Mr P) used to love "rooster sauce" (chili garlic sauce, specifically Huy Phong), but a) it's become harder to find, and b) Huy Phong changed farm suppliers a while back and the new stuff isn't as good. Fast forward to today, when we finally got around to experimenting.

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Yay for staying upright and the thing going great! Boo for pain and I hope it abates to more tolerable levels soon!

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

The one time I saw it, the waves, the fish swimming under the dock, and the glow in the sand were distinctly green, not the (apparently) more commonly reported blue. So it does come in green for certain. Whether you could get both green and blue together, well, greenish-blue is also reported...

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

If you see this post a vampire that isn't Dracula

Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston in the film "Only Lovers Left Alive", which if you haven't seen, you really should, not only for them, but for the amazing filmography of urban decay

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Depending on how you feel about it, it would either be "wardrobe freudenfreude" (closet joy-joy) or "wardrobe shadenfreude" (closet hate-joy).

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I am told that the Smeg refrigerators are good, but I also believe they're expensive. Good luck...

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Or you can just stare quizzically at things while looking adorable, as is the cat way. I hope they make you smile. :-)

Two black and white cats sit atop a very abused scratching post staring at something. What, we don't know, but it's something that warrants attention at multiple head angles. Because cats.

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

But there have been improvements in reducing the amount of pesticides in common use. There's lots of ground yet to regain there, but it is better. And bugs themselves are constantly evolving to be resistant, but that's another story. In the meantime, I am happy to see the need to clean the car.

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

You know what other populations crashed then? Birds of all kinds. Bats. And the things that feed on birds and bats. And the things that require birds and bats and bugs for pollination and propagation. We had entire ecosystems doing nosedives without a whole lot of notice or understanding.

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Fast-forward a couple of decades, and driving these same roads, almost no bug spatter at all. Not during the day, not at night, nada. The bugs were minimal. And I don't think it's because bugs learned not to fly along roads and highways. It's because the populations crashed due to pesticide use.

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Drive along the coast at night? Same thing, particularly in the summer and fall, when moths would come streaming to your headlights on the otherwise dark roads. It's not good that we were killing insects by driving along roads, mind you. But it was very good that the ecosystem supported so many.

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Way back in the dark ages of time when I was young, driving through farm country during the day meant a very, very bug-splattered car and a lot of cleaning the windshield. Driving through that same farm country at night? Bug patter sounds everywhere, totally occluded windshield in the morning.

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I have bug spatter on my car. Although this means I need to clean the front grill and the windshield/windscreen, this makes me happy. Why? Because it's the sign of a healthier ecosystem, and not just for bugs. You read a lot about songbird decline. One reason? LACK OF FOOD, because pesticides.

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

DAAAAAMN. That's a judge that has caught counsel red-handed, pants-down, and with hand in cookie jar, and is not standing for any more of that nonsense.

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Oh, completely! Sometimes nothing but an episode of GBBO will do.

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I'm told by several folks that I trust that Bon Appetit, Your Majesty (on Netflix) is basically Korean fun food fantasy with occasional plot bits and English subtitles, but I haven't yet watched it myself.

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Foldable e-bikes are very portable and usually lightweight enough to carry pretty easily anywhere you want to not ride them to prevent theft, but even though they're less expensive than they used to be, they're not cheap.

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Yay Elder Millennial! 😁 It sounds like you type your query into your phone then, not talk to it to start your queries, at least for anything more complicated than "Hey, what's the weather like in Bangkok today?"

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Ugh, yes, and they turn on the voice assistants and ai "helpers" by default. Dismiss, dismiss, dismiss!

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

You have my sword, my axe, and my rapid typing ability (probably the most valuable artifact of the three TBH). All hail our god-empress!

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I don't see any numbering, but as long as others do, that's more than okay.

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

And I see no sign that Bluesky has auto-numbered this thread, but maybe that only shows up for readers of said threads, and not the authors of them?

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Mostly I'm curious to know how many people talk to their devices in order to use them, get information, etc, and how often cross-checking comes into pattern of behavior. Because frankly it gives me a shiver to see anyone just ask their phone and believe the answer, particularly these days.

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

...at least in terms of modern tech usage, or so it seems. What about you? What's your #tech preference in how you look up info digitally? Are you using your phone by preference, or a computer? And do you use digital assistants by default? (Let's not get into ChatGPT and other AI assistants.)

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I don't use digital assistants like Siri or Alexa or Google Assistant. It just doesn't occur to me. I'm wired to think of the keyboard (even a digital keyboard) first, and I'm also wired to not take any auto-generated "reply" as a reliable source of information. Which makes me a very odd duck...

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

...for any complex deep dive. When I do use my mobile, I tend to use the same preferred search engines and known website resources from the browser I installed on the mobile. What I don't do, but see a lot from others, is talk to my phone to ask it the question and wait for it to tell me an answer.

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

One of the most obvious differences is in how I search for information online. I have various sources and search engines bookmarked, I have "cross-check that" wired hard into my brain, and so on. I don't generally search for information from my mobile phone. I prefer using my computer...

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Testing Bluesky's auto-numbering threads feature with a reflection on uses of tech. For the record, I am an old tech nerd with a background in networking and routing technologies, among other things. So I'm aware that I don't think about things the way younger techies and non-techies do.

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

F-cat wishes you the best and hopes for your speedy recovery.

A black and white cat with yellow eyes sits on a brown chair in a very improbable pose. Because cat.

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Neat! Janet Kagan had a variation of this behavior in her story "Return of the Kangaroo Rex".

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Cool bit of research and conclusions. Unsurprisingly, Janet Kagan got this right and figured it all this out in "The Return of the Kangaroo Rex" decades ago. (Read any Janet Kagan you can get your hands on, particularly the stories collected in Mirabile): phys.org/news/2026-08...

phys.org

Not tiger, not wolf: Australian thylacine skull reveals a far different hunting style

A new study led by Flinders University has flipped the historical narrative about Australia's thylacine, finding the native apex predator known as the "Tasmanian tiger" was significantly different fro...

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

OMG. Spread the word. If you, or anyone you know, might have had contact with this mobile petting zoo, GET IN CONTACT WITH PUBLIC HEALTH ASAP. Rabies is 100% fatal once symptoms start. You have to get treated BEFORE symptoms start. Dear gods. If we lose one person, one child, over this...

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Sigh. RIP Yayoi Kusama. I was extremely fortunate to see her work in exhibition years ago. It was *extraordinary*, and so was the crowd (yes, crowd of visitors to an art exhibit!) interaction with it. So much wonder. So much joy. So much enthusiasm. Just magic. hirshhorn.si.edu/kusama/infin...

hirshhorn.si.edu

Infinity Mirror Rooms – Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors | Hirshhorn Museum | Smithsonian

Over the course of her career, Yayoi Kusama has produced more than twenty distinct Infinity Mirror Rooms. The Hirshhorn’s exhibition is the first to focus on this groundbreaking body of work and will ...

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Good luck! And remember, for the really truly SoCal experience, your traffic jam should involve at least 3 freeways, of which at least two should be interstates. Bonus points (?) for hitting 10, 405, and 5; triple bonus/survival points for the insane bobsled run of SR 110!

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

It is sooooo good! And very addictive. Enjoy!

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Everything is going to be all right, because we're going to work to make it so - as #DollyParton did. We will do good in the world. We will be kind. We will hold ourselves accountable. We will be funny, sharp, and no one's doormat. And wear rhinestones. www.youtube.com/watch?v=McaD...

youtube.com

Dolly Parton - Light of a Clear Blue Morning ft. Lainey Wilson, Miley Cyrus, Queen Latifah & Reba

YouTube video by Dolly Parton

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Reposted by Shell Peters

rahaeli @rahaeli.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Oh goddamn, Dolly Parton, that one hurts. Farewell to one of the people who never stopped making the world better every chance she saw. One of those ways, if you want to make a memorial donation: imaginationlibrary.com

imaginationlibrary.com

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library | USA, UK, IE, CA, AU

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a book gifting program that mails free books to children from birth until they begin school in participating areas.

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Reposted by Shell Peters

Tom & Lorenzo @tomandlorenzo.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Farewell to Dolly, an artist, an icon, a legend, a sister, a daughter, and a mother to millions. We won't see her like on this earth again and we were all richer for breathing air at the same time she did.

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

This one hurts. She did so much good in the world. May Dolly find a thousand times more joy and love waiting for her as she brought to the world.

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

If anyone in the US northeast has room in their life for a pair of needy, very deserving, recently orphaned cats (their owner died), please consider these two.

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

And lo, the chiles are finally here, so yesterday I harvested tomatillos, roasted peppers, made the salsa verde, and canned it into jars. Spicy green goodness shall be mine for chili, enchiladas, and snacking for the next year. #cooking #gardening Canning in the summer is awful but worth it.

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Shell Peters @shellpeters1.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Final #Hugo ballot is officially saved and in the electronic equivalent of the ballot box. So much good stuff! So many difficult choices! And as always, not enough time to get to everything, but that's a me problem. Fingers crossed for my please-let-them-wins. Looking forward to the results!

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