iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 28/09/2026

Playing with the ChatGPT voice interface, I accidentally left it on, with a St Etienne album playing. So it dutifully transcribed the lyrics for an hour, pausing every few minutes to try to "answer the question". There's pages of this.

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 27/09/2026

Final UK gig of the final UK tour by St Etienne, after 36 years. What a class act. Balloons. Tunes. And so much love in the room.

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 25/09/2026

Nothing surprised me more than no.54.

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 25/09/2026

One point off the win in the quiz tonight. We got the year of the Gunpowder Plot correct, then changed it at the last moment. NEVER OVERRULE YOUR FIRST GUESS.

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 25/09/2026

According to the sleeve notes, it turns out to be Neil Warnock.

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 25/09/2026

See? Al those datacentres are worth it.

Comic strip by ChatGPT illustrating (very vaguely) the Half Man Half Biscuit song "McCalliog and his hens".

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 25/09/2026

ChatGPT has asked me 20+ times today if I want to advertise. I didn’t the first time. I certainly don’t now. For a product with access to every marketing lesson ever written, this is spectacularly moronic.

ChatGPT message asking me to advertise with them.

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 24/09/2026

In our film review chat, my son concluded that "The Uprising" was "fairly terrible, all things considered". He particularly couldn't get over "The priest with a ridiculous Gen Z broccoli haircut". To which @fenlandgent.bsky.social quickly sounded the "new Half Man Half Biscuit song title" klaxon...

"A priest with a ridiculous Gen Z broccoli haircut"

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 20/09/2026

Ed Sheeran apologising before his gig last night (Instagram). ➡️ www.instagram.com/reel/DdfY7JY...

Ed Sheeran issuing a tearful apology to fans at his Philadelphia concert Saturday night

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 20/09/2026

[2/2] So if it's an acceptable compromise, you'll need to ensure that the main image on the page is landscape. I'd do this (a) by cropping it down; (b) adding black bars either side, or (c) using AI to invent something to fill in the missing space, as shown.

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 19/09/2026

Premier League image of the weekend.

Spurs fans leaving the ground on 80 minutes.

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 10/09/2026

Months ago, I said he would do this. They think they can buy anything. Maybe they can.

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 10/09/2026

When did the “x” when used to signal “times” start becoming pronounced as the letter “x”? It seems to be universal in the tech world now, but really grates to these ears. Apple’s presentation yesterday mixed both, some speakers saying “2 times”, others saying “two ecks”.

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 09/09/2026

Well that was a splendid few hours’ play.

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 05/09/2026

A reality check for Ipswich supporters optimistic about the investment in our newly promoted team. I’m glad we’re only really in a mini-league of 6–8 clubs at the bottom, and the rest is just for the LOLs. #itfc

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 02/09/2026

Splendid deep dive into the crazed world of the Daily Telegraph tonight at the Union Chapel, with the “Origin Story” podcasters @dorianlynskey.bsky.social and @iandunt.bsky.social. Quality backup visuals too, as you can see.

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 01/09/2026

snap – and front row!

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 26/08/2026

I'm not sure many people have clocked that the new Ridley Scott film has mysteriously appeared in some cinemas two days ahead of its announced release, so it looks like three of us are going to get the whole IMAX screen to ourselves in a minute. 😀 Yay for daytime moviegoing.

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 26/08/2026

ChatGPT told me that in the new film "Tony", Anthony Bourdain's love interest Nancy was played by Toby Jones. I can see how it might have confused him with Emilia. Easy mistake to make. They probably get it all the time.

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 25/08/2026

You’re dead right – it was this…

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 20/08/2026

It’s arrived! Today’s plans have been put on hold. (More details at halfmanhalfbiscuit.uk/friday-night... )

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 19/08/2026

Hat tip to Kerry McCarthy, Labour MP for Bristol East.

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 18/08/2026

– Track timings to hundredths of a second – "Noise Information" (Clicks at 13'05", 13'06" etc) – "FOR THOSE WHO HEED THE CALL OF THE MACHINE WE SALUTE YOU"

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 11/08/2026

As it turns out we do have an answer on this one, courtesy of the Liverpool Museum! 😀

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 28/07/2026

Spooky. I was just standing in front of this at MoPop.

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 20/07/2026

One more time. Raising the personal allowance gives more money to everyone earning *above* that figure. Including the highest earners. It does nothing for anyone earning below that figure.

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 08/07/2026

After 995 matches in qualifying and the tournament proper, here are the eight countries left in the FIFA World Cup.

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 04/07/2026

July 4 parade, Anaconda, Montana.

Start of the July 4 parade with mountains in the background.

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 02/07/2026

...and note this by think tank Smarter Cambridge Transport in its presentation to the station enquiry...

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 28/06/2026

So that's 72 matches – more than any entire World Cup tournament in the past – basically to get rid of all the Central American teams (except hosts Mexico) and all of the Middle Eastern teams. You'd have much the same tournament if the Euros got together with AFCON.

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 20/06/2026

Boston MA has been well and truly decorated by the Scots.

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 25/05/2026

Martin, this just turned up on the HMHB site (from a local). You probably knew it and it didn’t make the cut, but it’s detail not in the book.

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 23/05/2026

Letter to The Times today. It appears Andy Burnham is a Half Man Half Biscuit fan. There are worse reasons to be Prime Minister. In fact, there's no better reason. #HMHB

Burnham's refrain

Sir, Further to your report on Andy Burnham's musical tastes (Diary, May 21), I learnt this for myself in June 2009. Burnham had just been appointed health secretary and I was the chief executive of Papworth Hospital, pressing the government to give their final approval for the money to rebuild our hospital on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. I asked him when he would sign off our business case. He asked whether I had heard of the band Half Man Half Biscuit. They had recorded I Left My Heart in Papworth General, about a relative undergoing a successful heart transplant at Papworth. Burnham followed that up by saying: "I'll get back to you." True to his word, he did respond several weeks later, but kicked the decision into the long grass.

It was another five years before government approval for the new Papworth was given.

Stephen Bridge
Chief executive, Papworth Hospital,
1988-2016; Huntingdon, Cambs

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 23/05/2026

Gorgeous new contribution to our collection of Half Man Half Biscuit gig tickets and posters – The Pavilion, Bath, just over 40 years ago. Lots more at halfmanhalfbiscuit.uk/pre-2010-gig... #HMHB

Half Man Half Biscuit gig poster from The Pavilion, Bath, Sat 12 April 1986.

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 19/05/2026

Middlesbrough ticket office manager arrives back from Tenerife #Boro #SaintsFC

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 16/05/2026

AI says it’s not true! Oh no!

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 13/05/2026

They'll be hearing from mine.

Tostock, Beyton, Thurston and Hessett roadsign on the A14.

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 12/05/2026

Picked a good day to attend a live recording of The Times’ The State Of It political podcast, at The Temple Church in London. Can you guess what they were all talking about?

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 09/05/2026

I can’t see what source your chart is from. Here’s a well referenced assessment from ChatGPT for example.

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 07/05/2026

We should have a competition for the nicest stroll to a polling station in the country. Here’s my entry: over the road then 500m through lovely Christchurch Park, Ipswich. The polling station is in the park, and there’s an ice cream kiosk on the way,

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