iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

I've been sorting through old photos and finding classic fashion from the mid-70s. My brother and I.

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 22/12/2024

I feel cheated. Was promised the days were getting longer. 6.33am and it’s still dark.

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

That’s another novel for the ‘okay but I skimmed much of it’ pile. Unconvinced by the world- building, not snared by the plot and underwhelmed overall. I can’t recommend it. How to help authors who can write, but who’ll struggle to build an audience because of weak storytelling?

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

How many of us knew the word as 'aristocat' before we encountered it's actual meaning, spelling and pronunciation? Disney has a lot to answer for.

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

What does one do with old photos? My stash is growing. These were taken by my father, in Libya, in the mid-60s. Each is unique. No one else has this image. It’s criminal to bin them. Should they moulder away, unlooked at. Or would someone treasure them?

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

Ice cream van tootling in our road right now. Really? Mid-December?

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

Music in Weymouth’s Tudor House last weekend.

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

Do you know of a Dorset-based business that's been around for over 80 years or so? Each month I share the story of a long-established business in the West Dorset Magazine. Read by thousands. It's like a free ad (shhh... don't tell them). If you know of a business, I want to hear about it.

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

Years ago, when I got a new PC, I took time to personalise the desktop and other images. Now I just go with what Windows serves up. Life's too short.

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

Why Twitter and now Bluesky are so much better for real-time news on the ground than FB. Search Darragh on FB and the algo serves umpteen posts from news outlet, some hours old. Search Darragh here and see real-time posts from people being affected right now.

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

Add to my list to delve into next year: - Regency poetry, esp. Byron and Scott.

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

Subjects from late 18th/early 19th centuries that haven't moved any further than my 'to learn more about' list: - Canals - Turnpike roads - Enclosures - Porcelain manufacturing - Parliamentary reform There's more. Those come to mind immediately. Challenge for 2025 is to get into these, and others.

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

I can't resist when I find letters and journals in bookshops.

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

A more visual version of that last post (without the link)😀

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

Looking forward to giving our talk this evening 'A Real Regency Christmas'. To a group of writers in the US, via Zoom.

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

The @post-doc-club.bsky.social talk about independent historians is validating that Twitter was unique as a networking environment. Sad that we're losing that. Let's hope Bluesky can replicate it.

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Should I describe myself as an Independent Historian? As I'm someone who researches and writes about history, without the backing of any academic institution. My half a history degree (shared with archaeology) was a very long time ago now.

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Spent the morning drafting a video about Carlton House. Not done yet. Still working on process for creating videos. Script first, then shoot. Or shoot first then script around what we've got?

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Looks like a good reason to go back to Corfe. It's been a year or two since the last visit.

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

The sun is shining in through my study window. The window is north-facing. This glimpse of direct sun happens twice a year. In high summer, when the late evening glow comes from the north-west. This time of year, when the sun reflects off the windows of the houses opposite.

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

I’m reading a library book for the first time in years.

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

Time to open the first door on my Advent calendar.

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

In more positive news our Christmas lights are going up. They’re inside our windows. And put to shame by our neighbours.

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

Seeing more ‘Sadly we have to stop making these’ ads for gift items. Same ads as last year. Manipulative.

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

Do Americans know who Father Christmas is? Not Santa. Father Christmas. This is a research question.

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 29/11/2024

That's the December article written for @westdorsetmag.bsky.social. This time I'm profiling a local auction house that's been around for 200 years. Every month I write about a Dorset business that's served customers for decades.

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

Santa Claus, 1848. Not Father Christmas.

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

I've much of the last two days with Father Christmas and Santa Claus. Two very different people for much of history. The article is done. Now to get it on the Regency History website.

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

I’m writing a blog post about my findings. As usual, I’m spending a lot of time reading Georgian newspapers and other publications of the period. Which is way more fun than trawling endless, repetitive and shallow online articles about ‘The history of Santa.’

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

I’m currently immersed in researching Santa. And Father Christmas. Two different people until about 150 years ago. I’ve been surprised to discover that FC did exist in the Regency period, but he’s not quite the same chap that he is today.

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Am now researching Christmas traditions. Again. There’s always more to learn.

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Trip was partly to visit family, and partly to record another @regencyhistory.bsky.social video. This one’s about Carlton House.

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Back from a short London trip. Not to see the lights.

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

Saw Wicked at the theatre a few years ago. Have almost no memory of it. Probably the least impressive of the musicals I’ve seen.

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

These scenes on porcelain are a delight

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

Love the detail in Canaletto’s

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

Also seen on our recent travels

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

A31 New Forest a couple of hours ago.

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

A storm is forecast for 23 November. Exactly 200 years after a big storm wrecked homes, sank ships and killed people in our area.

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

This month’s article on a historic Dorset business. This one’s been around since the 1600s and is owned by the town. In the @westdorsetmag.bsky.social

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Reposted by Andrew Knowles

Regency History @regencyhistory.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

It's just a few days until the 200th anniversary of the Great Storm of 1824. It struck hard in our local area, in Dorset. A village was destroyed, ships wrecked and over 100 people killed. To mark the event we created a short video: youtu.be/ez71hUyb_l8

youtu.be

The Great Storm of 1824 - Weymouth and Portland

YouTube video by Regency History

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

Starting afresh on a new platform is a great opportunity to review who you're following. Quite a number haven't tweeted for a long time - well before the Musk days.

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Andrew Knowles @andrewwriter.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

After a few minutes of frantic scrabbling I finally unlocked the Regency History account I set up months ago.

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Reposted by Andrew Knowles

Regency History @regencyhistory.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

Hello world! This account is now active (having been dormant for a few months). We're @andrewwriter.bsky.social and Rachel (who's already got more social accounts than she knows what to do with).

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