iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jean & Dinah Medley: The Lizard / Melda / Drunk & Disorderly

I'm no great calypso expert but few people can be said to have owned an entire genre quite like Sparrow ruled the calypso world for 70 years. Rest in peace, Birdie. May flights of angels shake their ample bootys in your honour. www.theguardian.com/music/2026/s... www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vlux...

youtube.com

YouTube video by Mighty Sparrow - Topic

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Colonoscopy done. Easy as pie in the end - just a nice nap. And peace of mind for the next 5 years. And a picture of my appendix to take home. Seriously nothing to worry about. And chaps, compared to what women go through for half their lives with cervical smears and so on it's *nothing*.

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You can tell you're in the 18th district when you're waiting for the bus and the big FPÖ poster on the shelter is being vigorously vandalised by a respectable looking middle aged gentleman.

Mike Knell @blat.at · 27/09/2026

Off for my colonoscopy and be warned that if I wake up early to see a picture from a camera travelling through my digestive tract I *will* hum the Doctor Who theme.

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Watching the 1980 BBC Shakespeare production of The Tempest and amused that it features David Dixon (who played Ford in the BBCtv adaptation of the Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy) as an extremely fey Ariel, clad only in a loincloth and a lot of glittery bronzer.

David Dixon as Ariel, sat on the ground cross-legged. He's completely the same light bronze colour from head to foot.

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Mike Knell @blat.at · 27/09/2026

"Lord, what fucking fools these mortals be!"

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Mike Knell @blat.at · 26/09/2026

What, have they changed the ending or something?

Disney+ notification on an Apple Watch.

Continue watching...
Star Wars: A New Hope (Episode IV) and see what happens next.

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Mike Knell @blat.at · 26/09/2026

I know people only ever see UN speeches from awful people as they're the ones who get clicks but it is well worth listening to this deeply eloquent 20 minutes from King Abdullah of Jordan which most people will have missed as he was up right after Trump. gadebate.un.org/en/81/jordan

gadebate.un.org

Jordan | 81st session

His Majesty Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein spoke at the General Debate of the 81st session

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Ignoring all the arguments about whether the match should have gone ahead or not, Austria’s football team beating Israel 3-1 after the guy who equalised for Israel did a bizarre celebration involving pretending the corner flag was a gun and got sent off for poor sportsmanship is kind of hilarious.

Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 25/09/2026

Reposted by Mike Knell

Would love to see this account delete this post as it’s the one I keep seeing reposted, proliferating the link to London Daily, the AI scraper that strips the original story & photos of attribution. The Guardian article it plagiarizes is readily available. www.theguardian.com/world/2020/a...

theguardian.com

Banksy funds refugee rescue boat operating in Mediterranean

Exclusive: UK artist finances bright pink motor yacht that set sail in secrecy to avoid being intercepted by authorities

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Daniel Thomas pleads not guilty after alleged dinghy slashing in Channel

Nothing says "look how oppressed I am by the establishment" quite like showing up to the magistrates on a charge of criminal damage and being represented by a KC. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

theguardian.com

Far-right activist who was filmed appearing to slash boat with blade is refused bail as he denies charges

Definitely seeing an uptick in old news stories getting rehashed by AI "news" outlets and appearing here as a click-chasing exercise. That story about Banksy buying a rescue ship is the most prominent example right now. Remember: before you reshare, *click* through and *check* the provenance. 1/2

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European writers talking admiringly about how fast China has built its HSR network and asking why Europe can't match that need to be reminded that if the Chinese government wants to build a railway and your village is in the way they will simply remove the village and you'd better not complain.

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Having an endoscope stuck up my bum (and down my throat - hope they clean it inbetween) on Monday as a punishment for being over 50 and the instructions say to avoid paprika and chili for four days beforehand. That scuppers my plan to surprise the doctor by having a lamb phal the day before, then..

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I'm not a super-big fan of opera as a genre (believe me, ADHD and opera do *not* go well together) but this is exactly the sort of support for things like opera that governments should be providing - getting away from the image of something only for the well-heeled and giving everyone a chance.

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Wonder if I should make the effort to watch the "Hobbit" movies but then remember that Peter Jackson took close to eight hours to tell a story that Leonard Nimoy managed to fit into two and a half minutes.

Aviation and Maritime Security Act 1990

Just a reminder to refrain from posting your hot legal takes on exactly what offences a certain 37 year-old of no fixed abode should have been charged with and why because it's now a live criminal case. You can read the exact law he was arrested under, though: www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/3...

legislation.gov.uk

An Act to give effect to the Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts of Violence at Airports Serving International Civil Aviation which supplements the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful...

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@robknell.bsky.social one for you, seeing as you're a dung beetle buff.

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El Presidente looks a lot happier to be meeting Mamdani than when he met Trump. Massive trade sanctions and lurid threats of destruction against Austria incoming in 3, 2, 1...

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Alexander Van der Bellen @bundespraesident.at · 23/09/2026

The fine for not picking up your dog's shit got raised from €50 to €70. Good start but it should really be €300 or so and there should be additional fines for small yappy dogs just for existing. (don't worry, Bluesky, there's an exemption for people who are physically unable to pick it up)

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Reposted by Mike Knell

People do not choose to become refugees. And asylum is not charity. It is a right – a fundamental human right. (vdb)

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There's something rather great and levelling about the fact that at the UN you need a lanyard to tell people you're the President of Austria.

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I just saw some poll results with are the finest example of "damning with faint praise" I've seen in a while - "JD Vance is more popular than Donald Trump but less popular than Marco Rubio". It's like MAGA Logic Problems.

Whoever came up with John Oliver's line about "There are things you expect to cost $500, like a Nintendo Switch 2 or a ticket to see Ed Sheeran two weeks ago" deserves some kind of award. I believe the kids would call that "a sick burn".

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Just got shown an ad for a new "super deluxe edition" of the BBC's Lord of the Rings adaptation in clear-and-golden vinyl on 13 LPs. I'm not so sure that the sound quality will be what they boast given that each of the 13 episodes runs just short of an hour, meaning they have to fit 30mins/side. 1/2

ACARS Drama @acarsdrama.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Reposted by Mike Knell

Air to Ground Message: GOOD GRAVY Area: Austin, TX, USA Type: Airbus A320neo A: #a9fc424e7a6 F: #f317e632c96

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Oktoberfest time! A reminder that only two of the six breweries exclusively allowed to sell beer there are not owned by brewing conglomerates: Hofbräuhaus: State of Bavaria Augustiner: Independently owned Spaten, Löwenbräu: AB InBev Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr: part of a group, 30% owned by Heineken

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Blackshorts! "You hear them shouting 'Heil, Spode!' and you imagine it is the Voice of the People. That is where you make your bloomer. What the Voice of the People is saying is: 'Look at that frightful ass Spode swanking about in footer bags! Did you ever in your puff see such a perfect perisher?'"

A single paragraph in Michael Palin's diary from 1988 points to one of the great dodged bullets in television history: the original proposal for Around the World in 80 Days involved shooting it on video with live updates while en route and... Noel Edmonds in the Phileas Fogg role.

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The CDU is starting to look like the Tories - a "natural party of government" which regards even the biggest electoral hammerings as the fault of the electorate for being led astray by other parties and assumes that next time they'll "come to their senses" and return them to their rightful place.

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But regardless of precisely how the results turn out in M-V, fascism isn't being "defeated" just by being a seat or two short of being able to form a majority government. Fascism will only be stomped into the mud once the far right is once again a tiny fringe group people won't admit to supporting.

Bit of trivia: the combined populations of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Sachsen-Anhalt are (2022 numbers) only very slightly greater than that of Berlin (3.815m vs 3.755m). Angela Merkel's Bundestag seat was in the north of MV. Since 2025 it's held by Dario Seifert of AfD, a former NPD neo-Nazi.

And coalition options on current seat projections in Berlin (which may change): Linke+Grünen+SPD = 90/159 (+10) AfD+CDU+BSW: 69/159 (-11) A kick in the pants for the CDU, which continues to rely on the support of older (former-)West Berliners. The next mayor will be from die Linke.

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Coalition options on current seat projections in MV (which may change): SPD+Linke+Grünen: 36/71 seats (majority of 1) AfD+CDU+BSW: 35/71 seats (1 short) Looks almost like a re-run of the Swedish election.

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Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is different because the CDU collapsed even further (from 13% last time) and looks barely set to make the 5% cutoff while the Greens and Linke got 5.5% and 7.5%. It's basically a two-horse race between the SPD and AfD. AfD will probably be largest but has no coalition options.

Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

According to the exit poll results from Berlin, 42% and 48% of voters aged 16-24 and 25-34 respectively voted for Die Linke. Only group for which AfD scored over 20% was 60-69, and only 13% of people over 70 who have definitely Seen This Shit Before.

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Reposted by Mike Knell

My latest books cartoon for @theguardian.com

Title: Gentlemen! Are you in want of a wife? Allow our algorithm to assist!

Image: a series of yes/no questions for that lead to different outcomes.

Questions include “are you rich?”, “are you dashing?”, “are you a rake” and “are you a vicar?”

Outcomes include “You win the most beautiful daughter of the richest man in the county!”, “You remain a bachelor”, “You marry a dowdy cousin” and “You rescue a 23-year-old from Spinsterhood”.

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idly wondering how many people go on holiday to Heligoland by mistake because they mishear their kids begging them for a trip to Legoland

Elections today in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Berlin. Don't listen to any of the nonsense about the AfD taking over Berlin - the largest party in most recent polls is Die Linke and the biggest issue in the city is not immigrants but bin collections and an enormous city-wide fly-tipping crisis.

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