iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Val Delane @valdelane.net · 16/12/2025

Look at this adorable holiday card painted by my friend Amanda Rader. Just look at it! I collapsed into giggles.

The watercolor painting depicts a satisfied capybara lounging in a hot tub, no wait, a cup of cocoa. The cup is candy cane pink with a large white snow flake. The capy has a marshmallow on its head and more marshmallows are floating around it. Thank you, Amanda!

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 30/08/2025

SOMEbody deployed to production on a holiday weekend

Wireless Service Impact: We are aware of a software issue impacting wireless service for some customers. Our engineers are engaged and we are working quickly to identify and solve the issue.

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 24/07/2025

This is pure joy. Get it! Ew, It's Beautiful: A False Knees Comic Collection by Joshua Barkman app.thestorygraph.com/books/cc5b60...

book cover with two birds (corvids) looking out at you

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 25/06/2025

For weeks we've been showering our neighbor with cherry tomatoes from our monster bush. A few days ago she brought me the biggest lemon I've ever seen. And she just brought me this mission fig, the first of the season, from her tree. Nearly 6 cm in diameter! I think I got the better deal.

Giant mission fig, very dark purple, sitting on wooden table. A quarter is next to it for scale.

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 07/06/2025

Sacred datura, Tijuana estuary

White trumpet-shaped flower of pentagonal symmetry with gradient to lavender edges. Stamen are cream-colored. The bloom is so perfect it almost seems to glow.

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 29/04/2025

Eagle Rock, a natural formation, sacred site of the Kuupangaxwichem (Kupa) people. SE of Warner Springs fire station trailhead on the PCT, ~6.5 mi round trip. A gorgeous walk through oak groves and wide open spaces, perhaps best enjoyed in Spring with the wildflowers and green ground cover.

Granite formation in the form of a huge sculpted eagle stands on the hilltop with partly extended wings, though natural erosion has done all the sculpting. In the background, clouds are dramatic with unsettled weather.

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 23/04/2025

Revisiting Azalea Park, San Diego "The Bull" By Karim Carlock Welded by Jose Orozco I.W.U. Local 229

Miscellaneous vehicle exhaust parts welded together into a bull. The sculpture is rusted and stands in a field of blooming lavender.

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 19/04/2025

~7 cm long, probably female Schistocerca nitens (Gray Bird Grasshopper)

Mottled brown, tan, gray, and nearly black. Large hind legs display distinct dark cross-bands. Antennae are short, even shorter than front legs. Top of head has a long tan racing strip, suggesting a helmet. Knows it is basically a locust and will definitely eat your garden.

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 08/03/2025

My new favorite novel is _The Unraveling_ by Benjamin Rosenbaum. This is a charming coming-of-age story. It is also an epic deconstruction and examination of gender, romance, and society in a way I've never before encountered. 1/2

Book cover of _The Unraveling_ by Benjamin Rosenbaum. It shows people floating, with groups of 2-3 connected by an energy line connecting their heads.

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 13/02/2025

Local Cyclamen Unbothered. Moisturized. Happy. In Its Lane. Focused. Flourishing.

B&W photo of cyclamen white blossoms covered in beaded drops of water

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 05/02/2025

girls will be like "i know a spot" and take you here

In a business park, corner office, two signs above it say RESISTANCE, and there is a small decorative palm tree.

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 31/12/2024

Some teenage fever dreams

Quick perspective drawing of long (perhaps infinite length) blocky orthogonal ship approaching (or already traversing) spiky portal in the distance

Fine graph paper painstakingly colored in every square with pens. Blue/black background, red "not here" circle with strike covering a smaller orange "not here" circle with strike; yellow text below: "no restrictions allowed"

Variously colored line segments create two approximate parabolas. Thread and cardboard.

70's person in bell trousers and bell sleeve shirt stands outside elevator and presses "up" button. Doors open to stairs instead of an elevator car. Person is surprised.

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 14/12/2024

Just before sunrise in Tijuana Estuary

Salmon-pink clouds are reflected in brackish water approaching high tide in the marsh. Short wooden trestles march across the frame into the distance. The trestles used to carry a sewage pipe for the Naval outlying landing field.

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 07/12/2024

Great blue heron, Tijuana estuary

In coastal desert scrub stands a large bird, blue-ish grey and coppery-tan. It has beady eyes, narrow sharp bill, sinuous neck with a little fluff, folded wings so neat they look like a sculpture, and long legs. It steps forward then launches into a graceful low flight, wings spread wide.

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 01/12/2024

Fine you can put up your Christmas decorations now. [Probably] Peruvian pepper tree. Fresno, CA.

Focus is on cluster of green and red peppercorns: small spheres that could be interpreted as round Christmas ornaments

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 29/11/2024

All day! I built this clock from a kit

Clock with vacuum fluorescent display. The time is 11 26 38. All the numerals are in one long horizontal tube, emitting light in roughly the color of a light blue swimming pool. Supporting components are below it and the whole thing is in a clear acrylic case.

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 25/11/2024

we're so over / we're so back

Against a clear, blue sky are flowers of two agave plants: one fully expired; one fresh, an absolute unit

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 06/11/2024

I grew up on these streets.

1974 Atari arcade video game "Tank." Screen shows two tanks maneuvering around various barriers, each trying to get a clear shot at the other.

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 28/09/2024

My latest favorite book: The Timeless Way of Building by Christopher Alexander "...that age-old process by which the people of a society have always pulled the order of their world from their own being." This is ostensibly about physical architecture yet applies to any type of design.

Front cover of book named in text. It's golden yellow with an abstract orange portal that suggests natural processes.

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 10/08/2024

While walking on Imperial Beach, a large insect whizzed my head then hovered nearby. It seemed friendly, so I held out the back of my hand. It promptly landed and stayed a while. Probably a figeater beetle (cotinis mutabilis), a member of the scarab family. Maybe it could tell I also enjoy ripe figs

Scarab-shaped beetle about 3 cm long by 2 cm wide. It's shiny and iridescent green with an orange racing stripe on each side. The feet have little claws.

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 18/07/2024

Seasons Greetings from their home to yours

Human skeleton wearing Mardi Gras beads relaxes comfortably in wooden chair on front porch

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 07/07/2024

_The Way of Zen_ by Alan Watts Not saying I know anything about Zen, but I've read a lot about Zen. So far, this is the best introduction I've encountered. Concise, yet approachable; lucid and entertaining. A wealth to contemplate in a short volume (~200 pages before bibliography and index).

Book cover for _The Way of Zen_ by Alan Watts

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 31/05/2024

There is a large service outage for Verizon Wireless, but it seems they aren't acknowledging it yet. It's not on outage map. I can't reach support via wi-fi. My phone has been unable to connect to their cellular service for about an hour.

Screenshot of downdetector.com showing outage complaints against Verizon

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 30/03/2024

I heartily recommend The Steerswoman by @rosemarykirstein.bsky.social . There are few book series that keep my attention, and this is a welcome exception. It just keeps getting better as you go.

Cover of the first book in the series The Steerswoman, by Rosemary Kirstein. It shows the identifying ring of the Steerswoman order and a fragment of mysterious blue-black jewel.

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 29/01/2024

_The Elegance of the Hedgehog_, a novel by Muriel Barbery Simply sublime, a new favorite.

Book cover: _The Elegance of the Hedgehog_, a novel by Muriel Barbery. There is a tween girl with long hair wearing a dress and stompy boots. Review quote: "Gently satirical, exceptionally winning, and inevitably bittersweet."

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 25/01/2024

_Thinking In Systems: A Primer_ by Donella H. Meadows An approachable yet powerful guide to understanding how and why systems work (or not).

Cover of book _Thinking In Systems: A Primer_ by Donella H. Meadows

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 06/01/2024

In Firefox you can set an option to always underline links. Open about:config, search for "underline_links", set "layout.css.always_underline_links" to true.

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 13/12/2023

This is a new interface from urban electrical substation to underground lines feeding local residential neighborhood, part of a long-term project to replace the old overhead lines in San Diego.

Elevated orthogonal distribution bus is tied to graceful curving heavy cables routing toward and into the ground. Metal and insulators are grey. Protected points contrast in green. Background is deep blue sky. Perspective is from the ground.

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 08/10/2023

Happy arachtober! Theraphosidae aphonopelma looking for love. Males wander around "knocking on doors" of female burrows this time of year. Species probably eutylenum (California Ebony) but might be iodius (Desert) — if you know please advise. ~6 cm long.

Dark brown tarantula on sand. Abdomen (tail end) and feet appear soft and fuzzy. Only 7 legs are visible. Unclear if it lost 1 or it's angled out of view.

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 01/10/2023

Imperial Beach sand. Hypnotic wavy pattern was left as tide went out. The sifting action leaves heavy, darker minerals deeper in the stack and relatively light silica (quartz) toward the top.

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 01/10/2023

Marine gastropod, probably a nudibranch. Green, yellow, pink, purple, ~10 cm long. Nel & I found several of these washed up on Imperial Beach yesterday morning. They were also reported on Coronado Dog Beach earlier in the week (sorry Max, not a snack).

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 23/09/2023

_Exadelic_ by @rezendi.com Evans took a stack of existing technical principles and familiar theories and carefully laid out a cantilever extending over a precipice. The center of gravity moves until, at the limit, the reader is suspended over thin air and it definitely seems like magic.

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 21/09/2023

Butterfly on our foxtail palm

Butterfly almost exactly matches green leaves with brown spots

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 31/08/2023

"Blue" super moon check in

Not blue. Full moon through palm fronds.

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Val Delane @valdelane.net · 27/08/2023

Early AI art (The Three-Handed Mother of God with Six Saints. Russian icon, 19th century. Tempera and metal leaf on wood panel. Currently displayed at the Timken museum of art, Balboa Park, San Diego.)

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