iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Bleddyn Bowen @bleddb.bsky.social · 13h

Watching James Blunt on Celebrity Traitors

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Bleddyn Bowen @bleddb.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Lovely day to be flying into Newcastle

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Bleddyn Bowen @bleddb.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Credit to Shane Ross at Virgina Tech for this application. Shows what SpaceX's bonkers AI data centre plan might look like with and without mitigation for reflection, using the dawn/dusk lines for perpetual light. sdross0.github.io/orbital-data...

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Bleddyn Bowen @bleddb.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Locomotion at Shildon is excellent and has many old trains on display.

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Bleddyn Bowen @bleddb.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Assuming a ‘Mick’s on telly’ incident doesn’t occur and I actually made the final cut, I might appear on Channel 4 on Saturday night (26/9): The Space Race In Colour, 8 and 9pm double bill www.channel4.com/programmes/t...

The Space Race in Colour, Channel 4 and Woodcut Media. 8pm Saturday 26th September

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Bleddyn Bowen @bleddb.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Absolutely abysmal outlook for Labour in Wales. yougov.com/en-gb/articl...

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Bleddyn Bowen @bleddb.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Braverman cannot comprehend this.

Shirley Bassey wearing a Welsh flag poncho

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Bleddyn Bowen @bleddb.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Good to see they have both Hawai’is on the map.

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Bleddyn Bowen @bleddb.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

A pleasant September evening in Durham.

Durham Castle and Cathedral tower with Framwellgate Bridge in the foreground

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Bleddyn Bowen @bleddb.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

‘Mr President, we cannot allow a Moon shaft gap!’

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Bleddyn Bowen @bleddb.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

The US space weapons confirmation is interesting but these have been kicking around for some time. The US has long had various anti-satellite weapons based on Earth. We have precious little information to go on, so no point getting worried about such a vague statement. @sgiadurham.bsky.social

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Bleddyn Bowen @bleddb.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Trip to Paris was a success, I think. Picked this up at Musée de l’Armée.

Playmobil Napoleon figurine on horseback

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Bleddyn Bowen @bleddb.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Dispatch Lloyd Grossman to give us a tour of the house.

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Bleddyn Bowen @bleddb.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

‘The deterrent! It’s deflating! The nuclear deterrent is deflating!’

Elaine in Airplane! dealing with the deflation of the automatic pilot.

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Bleddyn Bowen @bleddb.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Went to test my eyesight again.

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Bleddyn Bowen @bleddb.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Ridiculously sized satellite given it’s about 3/4 the length of the International Space Station. And Musk wants hundreds of these in orbit. The scale is staggering for so little energy (only 210kw worth of power!) compared to terrestrial data centres. www.ft.com/content/41e6...

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Bleddyn Bowen @bleddb.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

The Goldman Sachs paper on the 'Second Space Age' shows why making grant periodisastions hide important continuities and evolutionary changes as I argued in my @ejisbisa.bsky.social article on space ages and the political-economy of space. GS paper link: www.goldmansachs.com/insights/art...

Goldman Sachs paper: The Second Space Age: How Markets, Technology, and Power are Reshaping the Final Frontier

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Bleddyn Bowen @bleddb.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Interesting bit in this HUGE budget request for the US Space Force ($71bn!) is that USSF is moving big chunks of what was explicit Golden Dome related items to mainline Space Force programmes. Trump-proofing big budget lines. Once Trump's gone, anything 'Golden Dome' will probably be wound down.

Graph showing main budget lines in USSF from the Aerospace Corporation report. Link in following post.

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Bleddyn Bowen @bleddb.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Grand Day Out in Beamish today. Also saw some Welsh Easter eggs which is always nice this far from Wales. #Cymraeg

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Bleddyn Bowen @bleddb.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

‘We've gone on holiday by mistake.’

Without naming the Film, say a line that would make any true fan immediately recognize the film?

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Bleddyn Bowen @bleddb.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

On #internationalcatday I miss Dexter the Cat™️ who used to visit me in Leicester. #notmycat

A tabby cat lying on his back in a red armchair being playful

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Bleddyn Bowen @bleddb.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Because horizontal drinking is far better

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Bleddyn Bowen @bleddb.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

‘The bees are defending themselves somehow!’

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Bleddyn Bowen @bleddb.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

I have just the sporty little number for you

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Bleddyn Bowen @bleddb.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

No, we won't stand for any rational numbering system of substate units!

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Bleddyn Bowen @bleddb.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

As I said in a @ejisbisa.bsky.social article, the public nad private are intertwined in capitalist space powers. What the private sector doing today is more 'retrofitting', mixing old technologies with modern/mature iterations in a public-private political-economy. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

'Even with mostly privately funded ventures, a ‘linear expectation of an entirely business-driven “New Space” scenario is illusory’, and instead a complex co-evolution between a mix of public, semi-public, and a range of small and large private actors continues. This is not to deny incremental or noteworthy technical changes, but claims to political–economic revolution are overblown when what is seen is the paradox of retrofit connecting tethers between old innovations and new variants, between the past and present, furthering the supremacy of the same space system builders, in particular the United States'

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Bleddyn Bowen @bleddb.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Spot on from @willhaycardiff.bsky.social in ‘Who Cares About Wales?’ I’d say you can extend the argument UK-wide. So many people in Government, HE, and wider society have lost sight of what Universities are and should be in a political-economy.

There is no way you can have a prosperous Wales without prosperous universities. More than ever, a highly educated workforce is vital and it is universities which play the biggest part in providing this.
But if we view universities merely as places for people to gain qualifications for their career and life advancement, then we, much like successive governments, miss the true value these institutions should offer.
They are economic engines in their own right, and they should be centres for creative and open debate and places that can address societal challenges, drawing in talent from around the world and building international connections. In a world where Wales is very small, they are one of the greatest forms of soft power. They should also drive positive change in the communities where they are based. Added to this, the benefit of learning for learning's sake - for the pure curiosity of it - is a fundamental part of being human.
In a Welsh context, our unis are also vital for nation-building. A nation is that idea of an imagined community brought together by shared narratives, culture and language. All of these things are incubated, protected and developed within our academic institutions - or at least should be.
In Wales, our universities are in crisis. Thousands of jobs are being cut across the sector. The conversations I have had with those still working there have been bleak,

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Bleddyn Bowen @bleddb.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Zenit looks more scifi than actual scifi

Zenit re-entry capsule with camera ports

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Bleddyn Bowen @bleddb.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Iesu mowredd... ond rhy hwyr. Wales has had quite the change of heart about the EU, but it's too late now. Hopefully though it will drive more impetus for UK Gov to sort out a better long term relationship with the EU. The apathetic 2016 voters now realising what was lost is quite sobering.

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Bleddyn Bowen @bleddb.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Saw that APT-E in the Locomotion train museum at Shildon, near Darlington. Most peculiar concept train.

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