iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Cat with threatening aura.

Jasmine, a fluffy and normally entirely harmless grey longhaired cat, is nesting behind an open door in such a way that only half her face can be seen, with a single eye staring directly at the camera.

This is a bit similar to how I set up my Android home screen - I use a monochrome custom icon set so that the only colourful element on the screen is the wallpaper. I really prefer it to the cluttered rainbow of icons. ...on the other hand I do regularly start the wrong apps so you're not wrong 😂

Similarly. It's pretty neat.

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Pub Shakespeare does Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead ❤️ (photo thread 🧵)

Guildenstern, as played by me in a tricorn hat with a big blue G on the side

Guildenstern, as played by Crow in the same hat, with Stew as Rosencrantz in the background

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I'm reading Wyrd Sisters to Crow in small installments, and it's such an absolute joy. Of course the danger of reading Pratchett aloud is that there have been a couple of scenes so far where I've struggled to get through them without being derailed by giggles 😆

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I also watched the 1990 Tom Stoppard-directed film version the following morning, which was quite a different vibe while also being very enjoyable, and had the extra pleasure of seeing Gary Oldman doing his best agreeable simpleton impression as Rosencrantz ❤️

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the nature of RaGAD as a play 😄 It was an absolute blast. Here's to more of that.

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Shakespeare crew handling Hamlet, Ophelia, Claudius etc between them - including a few moments where e.g. Claudius finished talking to Gertrude (Jenny) and then turned to Polonius (also Jenny, hurriedly removing her crown and running round the back of Claudius) which seemed extremely in keeping with

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Guil's next line in the conversation, often to a Rosencrantz who had also seamlessly switched actors 😆 We had a single actor (Peter) beautifully playing The Player, an entirely invisible cast of Tragedians, Cinder reading the frequently hilarious stage directions, and then the rest of the Pub

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role of Guildenstern with Crow, mediated by little stickers and feathered tricorn hats: whenever I hit a little blue sticker in my script, I would wander over near Crow, finish my line, drop the hat with the big blue "G" on the side onto Crow's head, then they would stand up and take over for

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camtarn @camtarn.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is freakin' funny. Thanks to Jenny's Pub Shakespeare series, we gathered in the back room of the Safari Lounge and played it from script, with pretty much none of us having read it before. After Jen handed out the roles, I ended up sharing the 🧵

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New front tyre/tube survived the ride to the office! Was worried about the tyre flexing, but it wasn't flat - I think it's just a more flexible tyre. And I'm not sure, but I reckon the new tyre gives less vibration :) It's an 80/20 road/dirt tyre and I think the old one was more dirt-biased.

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camtarn @camtarn.bsky.social · 01/06/2025

Movie concept from a mind wandering just before sleep: VIKING CHAINSAW BIKER WARRIORS Coming to a cinema near you next winter

camtarn @camtarn.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

Had the most lovely birthday: pub lunch with the family, then BBQ dinner with the poly fam ❤️ It started pelting down with rain just as we were due to light the BBQ, but Nate was an absolute star and just grilled in the rain 😍

Nate standing beside the just-lit barbecue with a colourful umbrella, with an expression that captures the absurdity of attempting to BBQ in Scotland

Nate, now wearing a giant high-vis waterproof jacket over his vest and shorts, putting corn on the cob on the grill with a pair of tongs

A shot from inside a comfy living room, through the window to a rain-sodden outside. Nate is pressed up against the window doing his best "let me iiiin" cat impression.

A shot through a rainy window of a BBQ well stocked with burgers and corn on the cob, with Nate (still in high vis) tending it.

Also also! My YouTube channel now has 50 subscribers, off the back of the videography I did for Beltane! ... they're probably gonna be a bit disappointed: I mostly use it to upload private tutorial videos outside of festival time. But still, that feels like a fun accomplishment 😄

Also today: fun hangouts, tasty hojicha cheesecake and brown sugar matcha iced tea at Pudding's dessert cafe :)

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I guess even professional bike mechanics don't have much call to fix inner tubes these days - they're increasingly rare unless you have a dirt bike.

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I'm so annoyed though. Back when my inner tube burst on the NC500, I got towed to Inverness and paid £100 for a dealership to professionally fix it. Turns out that new tube only lasted about a month, because the mechanic left a small washer inside the tyre which eventually cut through the tube 🤦

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Motorbike fixing day. Front wheel off, inner tube removed, tyre removed, new tyre fitted (first time I've done an actual tyre swap!), new tube fitted, tyre reseated *with the utmost caution not to pinch the goddamn inner tube this time*, wheel back on bike. A good day's work. 🧵

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camtarn @camtarn.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

Your gut bacteria have always dreamed of flying, and are doing their collective best to turn you into a hot air balloon.

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Big props to #Fairphone for making a phone where swapping the USB port is fairly trivial, and for maintaining a stock of official parts for my three year old phone. Looking forward to a good few more years of life out of this wee workhorse ❤️

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camtarn @camtarn.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

My Fairphone 4 stopped charging and ran out of battery on Sun. The USB port has been a bit finicky for a while. I cleaned it out but no dice. Welp, I think I figured out what happened... the left bit (the port) is *meant* to be attached to the right bit, lol. Wonder how long it's been like that?

Two tiny electronic parts, with an AA battery for scale which dwarfs them in comparison. The part on the left is a USB-C female port, which the cable plugs into. The part on the right is a flexible circuit board which attaches the USB-C port to the phone via a little push-in connector with many miniscule pins. The right part has some pads and cutouts that were obviously meant to be attached to the left part.

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camtarn @camtarn.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

It's been a busy week! Crow's housewarming on Saturday (for which I embraced my uncle phase and ran a BBQ), Nate and my 22nd anniversary on the Sunday (I made macaroni with cheddar and smoked cheese, which was super tasty!) and then half•alive gig on Monday which was *so cool* with awesome choreo ❤️‍🔥

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Can confirm, I used to have a megaphone for very loud busking. It's tremendous fun.

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Beltane Fire Festival 2025

My Beltane video is finally on YouTube! I'm rather pleased with how this one came out, despite some technical hitches along the way ❤️‍🔥 I really enjoyed my time as a videographer. Thank you to Photopoint for accommodating me doing this weird solo project! www.youtube.com/watch?v=iElW...

youtube.com

YouTube video by Andy Walker

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I want to play this so bad 🐐

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this is amazing i desperately want to 10-12 : Locate and operate a megaphone

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TIL that not only does Google have maps of Yakutsk, Russia (the coldest major city in the world) - it even has Street View and business reviews! Here are the reviews for an apparently not-that-great sauna called The Pirate Bay in Yakutsk: maps.app.goo.gl/bywjdFKuDJJF...

maps.app.goo.gl

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I'm thinking maybe there's a finger on a monkey's paw somewhere curling... So now I have an entire new tyre in the post, in case that's what has been causing it, and yet another spare inner tube. Fingers crossed.

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"I would like a motorbike with some quirks that I can tinker with and repair myself," I said. "I could have bought a Honda instead - it would be predictable, reliable, consistent ... and a bit soulless." Confronted with my *third* flat inner tube in a few months - this one fitted professionally - 🧵

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Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers' 30th anniversary show was *spectacular* ❤️‍🔥

Mugenkyo, a group of Scottish taiko drummers, in Queens Hall in Edinburgh. A giant ōdaiko drum sits sideways on a stand at the back of the stage at head height, with one drummer on each side. In front of that, Neil, one of the founders, plays a trio of medium sized okedo drums. Near the front of the stage are five floor standing nagado daiko drums, their players currently kneeling in a stylised pose, facing away from the audience. At the front, Miyuki, the other founder, plays a trio of small shime daiko drums. At the sides of the stage, two of the drummers are dancing with hand fans with large white silks attached to them, which float gracefully on the air.

camtarn @camtarn.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

Sang Deftones - Digital Bath at karaoke last night! As a teenager I absolutely loved Chino Moreno's voice and felt like I'd never be able to imitate it. I'm really happy to say that I can do a reasonable job of it now - I'm getting the hang of modulating my voice from clean to gritty and back 🤘

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camtarn @camtarn.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

The new headlight works! I think I need to add a little support to the top, as it keeps sagging forward a little, but I'm very happy with my 3D printed mounts.

A view behind a motorcycle headlight from the top down. There are many black-wrappes bundles of wires. At the side, some 3D-printed headlight mounts can be seen, connecting the headlight to the bike frame.

A closeup of one of the 3D printed mounts. It connects one bolt to a second bolt which is a few inches down, a couple of inches forward, a little bit inwards, and at about a 32 degree angle. It was a right pain to get the measurements even close at all, and I'm still having to take advantage of the flexibility of the plastic.

A photo of the headlight in operation. It's a round projector headlight with two small lenses stacked vertically, and two rectangular side-lights on either side of them. There's a white ring around the light that is a daytime running light (DRL) but I haven't hooked up the power to that yet.

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camtarn @camtarn.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

Who is this weird looking stranger in the mirror? It's been about twelve years since I last saw my chin underneath the beard. Figured I'd excavate it and remind myself what it looks like. I'll be regrowing the beard!

The owner of this account (a middle aged white man with spiked pink hair and glasses) minus the usual beard. Three quarter view, slight smile.

The owner of this account (a middle aged white man with spiked pink hair and glasses) minus the usual beard. Side on view.

The owner of this account (a middle aged white man with spiked pink hair and glasses) minus the usual beard. He looks skeptical.

The owner of this account (a middle aged white man with spiked pink hair and glasses) minus the usual beard. Face on, grinning.

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camtarn @camtarn.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

Bought a new LED headlight assembly for my motorbike, but it expects to fit into an existing mounting box. My mounting box is cracked, and the LED light could use more ventilation anyway, so I'm working on 3D printing some lightweight struts to mount the light directly to the bike.

A desk, with a hand drawn diagram of some angled struts, and three black plastic 3D printed objects matching the diagram. A round LED headlight and a battered round plastic box of the same size sit beside the diagram.

camtarn @camtarn.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

Sometimes you just really need a protractor in a hurry. The ironic thing is that we're an engineering office and our tool chest contains micrometers to measure lengths down to a silly number of decimal places ... but not a single angle measurement tool.

A printed paper protractor. It's made out of two sheets of paper for strength, with crudely applied parcel tape connecting the two layers (we didn't have any clear tape!)