iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Paul Arthur @brinkly.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Another victim of 1970's PIFs, this one in particular as I grew up in a seaside town with lovely wide sandy beaches. youtu.be/0bU1varNCkY

youtu.be

Broken Glass (1973)

YouTube video by BFI

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Paul Arthur @brinkly.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

youtu.be/_mkiGMtbrPM (Repost because I didn't delete all the tracking nonsense in the link)

youtu.be

WORLD ORDER "HAVE A NICE DAY"

YouTube video by WORLD ORDER

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Dr Danny Bate @dannybate.com · 02/10/2026

Before people learned music with 'do re mi', the sequence once began with 'ut' as the lowest note. The absolute lowest note recognised in medieval music was 'Γ ut', with the Greek letter gamma, and 'Γ ut' came to refer to the full range of possible notes. This is behind the phrase 'run the gamut'.

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Paul Arthur @brinkly.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

This is the best wikipedia entry I've read today.

A short piece of black text on a white background, an excerpt from the wikipedia page for the film Spontaneous Combustion (1990), directed by Tobe Hooper. The text reads:

"David grows up under the name Sam Kramer, now a thirty four-year-old instructor living in California. He occasionally bursts into flames whenever emotions run high."

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Paul Arthur @brinkly.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

New York, 1947, he's a jazz trumpeter, she's the heir to a farming dynasty, together they help the helpless and solve murders or something. 'Sweet' Kingdom and Minnie Carrots, coming later this year to ITV2.

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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 26/08/2026

They disinvented the VCR. You might think that the reason we don't have VCRs anymore is because VCRs were supplanted by DVDs, PVRs and streaming, but that's not the case. They had it in for the VCR from the very start, and they never stopped trying to kill it. Eventually, they succeeded. 1/

A 1960s family living room in which a mom, dad and two kids are mesmerized by a cabinet-style TV. The image has been altered. The TV has an early 1990s VCR atop it. The TV screen is displaying a cross-sectioned human head with brains and spine on display. A huge fist has materialized in the room, with bloody spiked knuckle-dusters, smashing into the VCR. The oil painting over the sofa has been replaced with a pulp image of a male head, its cranium removed and replaced by a dome. Inside the dome is a red eight-segment VCR clock, displaying 12:00. The background in the painting is a tangle of cassette tape. The whole image's colors have been boosted, giving it an overexposed look.

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Brian Phillips @brianphillips.lol · 17/09/2026

I didn't trust AI to tell me whether AI will kill us all in the next decade. So I turned to the one branch of science more reliable than LLMs: Bracketology

theringer.com

The AI Apocalypse Bracket: Just How Doomed Are We, Really?

Is AI really likely to wipe out humanity within the next decade? We used the most scientific tool in existence to get an answer.

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Paul Arthur @brinkly.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

A moment immortalised by Bobby Fingers, assisted by Adam Savage out of Mythbusters and the Slow Mo Guys off the youtubes. youtu.be/2RIEPKEhE2s

youtu.be

Fabio and the Goose

YouTube video by Bobby Fingers

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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 12/09/2026

Once you understand the corporate culture of AI hyperscalers is everyone cooking their brains by locking themselves in the bathroom, holding flashlights under their chins, and saying "Aaaaaaaaaay Eyeeeeeee" until they wet themselves in terror, things snap into focus: pluralistic.net/2023/06/04/a...

A cutaway view of a stone tower containing an elaborate water-powered medieval geared machine. Rising out of the machine is a rainbow-tinted, pixelated God with the robes, beard and all. To one side of this scene is a cluster of tiny people in Jesus-era robes, falling about themselves in religious ecstasy all over a stone staircase, atop of which stands a robed priest with his hands upraised. The background is a set of shining golden rays, emanating from pixel-God.

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Paul Arthur @brinkly.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

What better way to start September than with something new from World Order? youtu.be/Wwdtjg5xvU0

youtu.be

WORLD ORDER "BEAUTIFUL WORLD"

YouTube video by WORLD ORDER

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Paul Arthur @brinkly.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Terminator 2. I LOVED the first film and was at the cinema the day the sequel opened. The moment SuperJohn appears with the G&R soundtrack I was dumbstruck at the idea of a kids Terminator movie. Good effects and some nice moments, I'll give it that, but massively disappointing.

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Paul Arthur @brinkly.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Phileas Fogg pastrami flavour bagel chips. All the Fogg snacks were great but those were amazing and I've never found an alternative that comes close.

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Paul Arthur @brinkly.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Going to stare at the eclipse with one eye closed and my eyesight will be fine on average. Probably.

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Paul Arthur @brinkly.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

FINDING NEO: following young Thomas Anderson as he learns the basics of computer programming after his father brings home the first family PC, sited in the lounge on a purpose-built desk/shelving unit. "Oh! The keyboard slides out on a little shelf!" "Show me. After family dinner at the table."

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Paul Arthur @brinkly.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

To be fair, if I'd had earphones in I wouldn't have heard a lad complaining about slow service in a takeaway telling his mate, "ah dunno, reckon they're back in the kitchen wankin' each other aff". Suffers in the retelling but sounded glorious in the moment in an annoyed Ulster accent.

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Paul Arthur @brinkly.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Do AIs with proper jobs, like cancer cell detection or processing aerial imagery, pick on enshittification AIs at break time? "What'cha doing, YouTubeBot?" "I .. uh .. put some unwatched videos above their subscriptions despite their decision not to watch those yet." "ahahaha, fucking loser!"

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Paul Arthur @brinkly.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Jarred chutney ready to sit on a shelf in the larder to slowly blend its flavours and become even more amazing. Or be eaten in a week because I'm far too impatient.

Open Kilner jar standing on a black glass stove top. The jar is full of dark red onion chutney that is trying to look unctuous. A spoon sits in the jar, which is silly because chutney needs time to settle.

On the right of frame is the edge of a madeleine tray that is waiting to have the small cakes removed to a wire rack.

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Paul Arthur @brinkly.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

I bought my first home-brew kit from Boots, they sold a whole range of beer and wine brewing equipment and accessories, everything you'd need for staying in on Friday night. Then they went all healthy because of woke, used to be a proper country, kids these days ... (am I doing this right?)

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Paul Arthur @brinkly.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Productive morning spent chopping 9 or 10 red onions (I lost count), making two jars for pickling and a bunch more for a chutney. Pickling onions now resting in brine for jarring tomorrow, chutney cooling to jar up later.

Photograph of a black glass stove top with two Kilner jars on the left of the image, filled with chopped red onions. A large pan on the right of the image contains a bubbling mix of more red onion, red wine, white vinegar, balsamic vinegar, sugar and a few chilli flakes being reduced to the consistency required for chutney. A well-used wooden spoon rests on the edge of the pan.

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Paul Arthur @brinkly.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

I've always done the same. Related, I only remember which is port and starboard by "left" and "port" having the same number of letters and on boats the red light is on the left because port is usually red.

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Paul Arthur @brinkly.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

I'm betting on a later series reveal of Ann being Linda's human name before she was Carry-On-Screaming'd into a service robot.

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Paul Arthur @brinkly.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Quote with a ridiculous movie you think people should watch.

Poster for the movie Torque, featuring the stars of the film, Martin Henderson, Ice Cube and Monet Mazur and two motorcycles being ridden in a manner that would incur penalty points on your licence. Text at the top of the poster reads, "from the producer of THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS, S.W.A.T. and XXX". Note, the producer, not director or star or same universe so keep those expectations low.

It's basically an early Fast & Furious pastiche on bikes and the movie knows how daft that premise is and lives up to it completely.

Features an early credit for Adam Scott. He's very good at being Adam Scott in this.

Overall, it's brilliant, particularly the bike fight and the moment when they go off-road and the sports bikes magically turn into dirt bikes with plastics zip-tied on.

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Paul Arthur @brinkly.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

You must be a musician, calling for a Czech one too, Czech one too.

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Molly White @molly.wiki · 29/07/2026

thank goodness they included the reading order so i don't get them mixed up

Reading order: Readers should begin with He Who Fights with Monsters (2021), followed by Book 2 (2021), Book 3 (2021), Book 4 (2021), Book 5 (2022), Book 6 (2022), Book 7 (2023), Book 8 (2023), Book 9 (2024), Book 10 (2024), Book 11 (2025) and Book 12 (2025).

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Paul Arthur @brinkly.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Before he was Scrooge ... Before he was mean ... Before he was terrible ... A time when everyone knew him as charitable ... When everyone knew him knew him as kind ... When everyone knew him as ... Mr Good ... *fade up banging theme tune by The Shamen*

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Paul Arthur @brinkly.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Short power cut this morning forced a reboot of the PC, Firefox was running slow and this was in the cache. Is this bad? Feels like this is bad.

Screenshot of my Firefox cache showing that whatsapp.com has set 3 cookies using total storage of 17,179,869,184GB and as I don't have a data farm in the garage that may be an issue.

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Paul Arthur @brinkly.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Man gets married, informs aunts and brothers.

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Paul Arthur @brinkly.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

"Verify your age" When I saw Star Wars in the cinema it wasn't called A New Hope.

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Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

🧵 So Farage is preemptively attacking the Commons standards committee in what's a great example of the weaponisation of the Four Pillars of Disordered Doubt against institutional authority to avoid accountability. The sort of thing Russia did against the OPCW, or Trump does with "fake news media"

In his Daily Mail interview, Nigel Farage also claimed that the Commons standards committee, which will impose a punishment if Farage is found to have broken Commons rules, was biased against him.

He said:

There are people on that standards committee who will judge me, who have reported me for Islamophobia. It is going to be a completely subjective judgment. There’s no objectivity in this.

According to Christian Calgie, who interviewed Farage for the Mail, Reform UK sources are describing the committee as a “kangaroo court”.

Allegations about MPs breaking parliamentary rules are investigated by Daniel Greenberg, the parliamentary commissioner for standards. He has confirmed that he is investigating the £5m donation. On Tuesday Farage implied undeclared donations from George Cottrell were also being investigated, and Greenberg is also being urged to investigate claims Farage broke lobbying rules.

In his speech on Tuesday Farage implied the standards inquiry was evidence of the establishment using “foul means” to defeat him.

But this is his most explicit attack on the standards committee – and it implies that Farage now believes he will be found guilty of a serious breach of Commons rules.

It is also a move that could see him facing a harsher penalty. The committee regularly imposes harsher punishments on MPs who have not cooperated with or respected the disciplinary process.

In a case with some parallels, Boris Johnson condemned the privileges committee as a “kangaroo court” before it published its final report into him. The committee (comprised of MPs who also serve on the standards committee) said Johnson’s criticism amounted to “a further significant contempt” and this contributed to it proposing a 90-day suspension – which it was not able to enforce because Johnson resigned as an MP first.

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Hib Bird @hib-bird.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

I don't think the Greggs thing is that bad...

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Paul Arthur @brinkly.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

That's because those of us who were dunny diggers who came to an ignominious end when the walls of an 8-foot long-drop caved in know better than to betray the Masters of the Eternal Guild who grant reincar... I've said too much.

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Paul Arthur @brinkly.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

I'm with Weapons on this, mid-50s and never heard anyone call it "picky bits" before I joined this site. It's "iffits", which is what we're having for tea tonight, coincidentally.

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Paul Arthur @brinkly.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

At least you know where it is. I'm supposed to get a delivery this week via Evri and the only update on their tracking page is the somewhat ominous, "we have your package". I'm half expecting to receive a corner of the box with a ransom note telling me not to call the cops.

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Paul Arthur @brinkly.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

I was 6 in 1976, it was hot and that's pretty much all I remember. Emma, meanwhile, has done the reading for the group and provided another excellent debunking of nostalgia wank.

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Paul Arthur @brinkly.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

They'd have got 4 episodes out of that in the Pertwee years, easy.

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Paul Arthur @brinkly.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

I saw this show! Grew up near GY and parents took us to see the big names off telly. Don't remember much, Cooperman in a pedal car and RdC being there, pretty sure Russ sang at the end but could have conflated that from his TV shows. Great vid, love the shot of the ABC theatre, such memories!

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Paul Arthur @brinkly.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Also, Gemini Man, a 1976 US TV series about a secret agent who could turn invisible for 15 minutes a day, controlled by the amazing futuristic technology of a digital watch. 11 episodes produced, only 5 were aired in the US but in the UK we got all of them AND a tie-in hardback annual.

Screenshot from the opening titles of Gemini Man, a 1976 US TV series about a secret agent who could turn invisible after exposure to a booby-trapped Soviet "weather satellite" but only for 15 minutes a day.

The image shows the digital watch that controlled his invisibility displaying a countdown set to 15 minutes next to the Gemini Man himself (Sam Casey played by Ben Murphy), wearing a fantastic double denim suit.

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Paul Arthur @brinkly.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Name a TV show you're positive no one remembers but you. Family on a sailing trip in the Bermuda Triangle encounter a mysterious green cloud that leaves them stranded in a strange other world with aliens and time travel and Atlantis. Cancelled after 10 episodes (of 13 planned).

Screengrab from the 1970s fantasy TV show, The Fantastic Journey.

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Paul Arthur @brinkly.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

I have a new favourite fake search engine.

Screenshot from an episode of the French TV crime series Candice Renoir showing a computer screen displaying a search engine named "Wooble".

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David Quantick @quantick.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

I wrote this heartfelt tribute to all the talented writers out there: substack.com/home/post/p-...

substack.com

I’M AN AUTHOR - GET ME OUT OF HERE!

Talent will out.

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T(errifying) C(ryptid) Parker (she/her) @tcparker.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

A gentle reminder: publishers are not obliged to provide content warnings in books to readers, nor are they legally mandated to consult *with* potential readers when creating book marketing You can't actually sue us because your reading expectations weren't met Don't like the book? Stop reading

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Paul Arthur @brinkly.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Does the water need to be consecrated or unadulterated? Right now I have a choice between orange & mango squash or Dr Pepper, otherwise conversion will have to wait until I do the washing up.

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