iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

I fear we’re running out of book titles! :0 #books

In a bookstore we see Bill Bryson’s “A Short History of Nearly Everything” and Tim Coulson’s “A Little History of Everything.”

Dan Falk @danfalk.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I’m starting to understand why there’s so much lore surrounding the BBC Radio marine forecast — it goes on and on and on! 📻🌥️🌧️

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Dan Falk @danfalk.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I never get tired of riding the Southeast rail network train as it passes by Southwark Cathedral (13-15C), burial place of Shakespeare’s brother Edmund, playwright John Fletcher, and many other theatre folks. ⛪️🎭 #London #trains

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Dan Falk @danfalk.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Trivia: The screenplay for Braveheart, about William Wallace, was written by Randall Wallace.

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Dan Falk @danfalk.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Solid gold rom-com plot: Person goes on blind date, gets London Liverpool Street mixed up with Liverpool Lime Street; meets the wrong (perhaps better-in-the-long-run) person; hilarity ensues! 🚉👩‍❤️‍👨🎬📽️

Departures board at Norwich station, listing various destinations

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Dan Falk @danfalk.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

An afternoon in Southwold:

A view of Southwold with the lighthouse in the background

A view of Southwold beach with the lighthouse in the background

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Dan Falk @danfalk.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

For realz — if you squint, this bus map looks like a person waiting impatiently for the bus 🙃

A Norwich area bus map, in a bus shelter.

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Reposted by Dan Falk

Bart⚓️ @bartgonnissen.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

The Facial Expressions of Tethys by artist Julius von Bismarck. A suspended high-sea buoy that moves in real time. Sensors on a twin buoy out in the Atlantic Ocean send live satellite data to motors inside the museum. This makes the indoor buoy copy the exact, real-time movements of the ocean waves.

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Dan Falk @danfalk.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

A few pix from Westminster Abbey, from yesterday (obv I took a zillion, but this is a representative sample :) )

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Dan Falk @danfalk.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

For realz, the Elizabeth Line is a game changer — Paddington to Liverpool Street (the full width of central London) in ten minutes (I timed it). 🚊⚡️

A scene at the Elizabeth Line — Liverpool Street station

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Dan Falk @danfalk.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

A very full afternoon at Down House, southeast of London, where Charles Darwin lived for the final decades of his life — and where he wrote “On the Origin of Species” (and more). Also fun to hang out with @evaamsen.com and Sam! #science #history

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Dan Falk @danfalk.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Greetings from Slough! One of its most famous residents was astronomer Sir William Herschel, whose tomb is at St. Laurence Church (which also has a little model of his 40-foot reflecting telescope):

A model of Herschel’s giant 40-foot telescope

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Reposted by Dan Falk

CNN @cnn.com · 19/09/2026

CNN reporter denied access to White House and press pass seized as Trump appears to implement ban against the network. cnn.it/4ixu6tH

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Dan Falk @danfalk.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Arguments about free will can have a a bottomless-pit flavour; it often feels like people are arguing past each other, and no one ever concedes any ground. But this essay by Albert Yuan in @noemamag.com is on the right track, IMHO: www.noemamag.com/the-nature-o... #freewill #philosophy

noemamag.com

The Nature Of Free Will In The Age Of AI | NOEMA

AI puts a new spin on old questions about free will: Is an actor the genuine author of their actions? Are they responsible for their choices? Can they be held accountable for them?

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Dan Falk @danfalk.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

It's that time of year: We're near the autumnal equinox; and also, the moon is close to first quarter. That means folks in the northern hemisphere who spy the moon around sunset will notice that it's really *low* in the sky. Why is it so low?? My recent video explains it: youtu.be/UlWiIuJlqOQ?...

youtu.be

Why is the moon so low -- especially in the fall?

YouTube video by danfalkscience

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Dan Falk @danfalk.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I’ve always seen a face (and a grumpy one at that!) in Turner’s Fighting Temeraire, and surely I’m not alone. The eyeball is distinct; and even though one can debate where, exactly, the mouth is, I’m sure we can agree it’s frowning!

A part of JMW Turner’s “The Fighting Temeraire” (1838).

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Dan Falk @danfalk.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Full house for Rob Spekkens’ talk, “On achieving realism in quantum theory.” #physics

Rob Spekkens stands in front of a full classroom at U of T

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Dan Falk @danfalk.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Maybe the AI only wants to cook for humans, not cook humans.

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Dan Falk @danfalk.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Trivia! What term from the world of dancing is used both by John Herschel in his Treatise on Astronomy (1833) and also by Jagger/Richards in “Rocks Off” (1972)? ➡️ The word is “pirouette” (google the lyrics to Rocks Off if you wish; see verse four):

A few sentences on planetary motion from John Herschel’s Treatise on Astronomy from 1833.

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Dan Falk @danfalk.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Writer and illustrator H.A. Rey -- co-creator of Curious George 🐵 with Margret Rey -- was born #OTD in 1898. He also made an enormous contribution to amateur astronomy, bringing the joy of the night sky to countless readers, as I wrote for @nautil.us a while back: nautil.us/readers-love...

nautil.us

Readers Love Curious George. I Fell in Love with the Author’s Astronomy Books. - Nautilus

H.A. Rey recreated star maps with wit, grace, and accuracy.

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Dan Falk @danfalk.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Exoplanets : That star wobbles in a periodic fashion, suggesting the tug of an unseen planet :: Entomology : Those people with their take-out lunches are suddenly running away from a park bench, suggesting the presence of unseen wasps

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Dan Falk @danfalk.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

The Langlands program has been called a 'grand unified theory of mathematics,' seeming to hint at deep unseen mathematical structures. Yet even most mathematicians don’t quite know what to make of it, writes @nattyover.bsky.social in @quantamagazine.org: www.quantamagazine.org/what-is-math...

quantamagazine.org

What Is Math’s Mysterious Langlands Program Really About? | Quanta Magazine

Hidden correspondences hint at a deeper structure to the mathematical universe. Our columnist unpacks one of those connections and asks mathematicians what they might mean.

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Dan Falk @danfalk.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I dunno — is this accurate-ish?

A flow chart enumerating the dangers of AI. According to the chart, whatever one thinks of the idea of AI being an existential threat, better regulation is warranted.

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Dan Falk @danfalk.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Always great to attend a @robertjsawyer.com book launch! This time it was his new nonfiction collection, “Sawyer on Science Fiction,” which I look forward to diving into! #books #scifi #toronto

We see Rob at the front of the room, speaking to an enthusiastic audience.

The cover of Rob’s book, “Sawyer on Science Fiction.”

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Reposted by Dan Falk

Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Help! Parton Community Council has 60 days to raise £70k to buy Parton Kirk (resting place of James Clerk Maxwell). They plan to turn it into a visitor centre celebrating our great hero! The other buyers could turn it into long-term storage 😬 Even £5 would help 🙏🧪⚛️ www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding...

justgiving.com

Help raise £70000 to Save Parton Kirk – JustGiving Crowdfunding

Iʼm raising money to Save Parton Kirk. Support this JustGiving Crowdfunding Page.

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Dan Falk @danfalk.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

1/3 Aww, man — writing in 1833, John Herschel says that stellar parallax has never been measured, and that no instrument has yet been built that is “delicate enough” to make this difficult measurement. But… #science #astronomy #histsci

A somewhat flowery passage from Herschel’s Treatise on Astronomy (1836), in which he says that stellar parallax has never been observed.

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Dan Falk @danfalk.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Make a band edible: Eminems (too easy) Elvis Parsley (also too easy) Chilled Monkee(s) Brains (IYKYK) Bruno Mars Bars Britney Asparagus Spears

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Dan Falk @danfalk.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Columbo discovers fax machines (1990):

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Dan Falk @danfalk.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

To the celebrities endorsing sports-betting apps… Could you perhaps not do that?

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Dan Falk @danfalk.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

What if I don’t read all 30 “AI is upending math” articles that have come out this week? (What if I only read 3 or 4 of them?) 🤔

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Reposted by Dan Falk

Katie Fleeman @fleemanator.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Hello! Knowable Magazine is hiring a Temporary Editorial Assistant. Check it out 👇 #journalismjobs #scicomm #sciencejournalism

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Reposted by Dan Falk

Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

In other news, thousands of climate scientists say for decades that climate change could kill huge numbers of people and destabilize the world, and experience shows they were right all along, but it's deemed less thrillingly doomy to tackle seriously, so here we are.

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Dan Falk @danfalk.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I like this (unsurprising as it maybe be): 🙂

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Dan Falk @danfalk.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Not much change -- A restaurant near Place des Vosges, Paris -- 2007 and 2023. (Both photos by me. 📷 ) #thenandnow #Paris (BTW, I think that's a wrap for my Then and Now series -- thank you for following along! 🙂 )

A restaurant near near Place des Vosges, Paris, in 2007. We see a server, some patrons, and people walking on the sidewalk.

An almost identical scene of the same restaurant in 2023. Very similar, though I think at least one pedestrian is looking at their phone!

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Dan Falk @danfalk.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

That brief moment in the subway where I ponder the sight all of the people looking down and playing with their phones… before I too play with my phone.

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Dan Falk @danfalk.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Pedestrians at the Pont au Double, near Notre Dame, Paris, in 2007 and 2023. (Both photos by me. 📷 ) #thenandnow #paris

A b&w photo of a scene at the Pont au Double, near Notre Dame, Paris, in 2007. We see a crowd of pedestrians waiting to cross the street.

The same spot in 2023. A smaller crowd, but more phones!

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Dan Falk @danfalk.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

If you were casting a mob boss in the 80s or 90s (and beyond), it must have been a tough call between Dennis Farina (1944-2013) and Frank Vincent (1937 -2017). (Trivia: Farina’s character on Law & Order in the 2010s was an ex-Chicago police officer — as was Farina in real life.)

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Dan Falk @danfalk.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Notre Dame, Paris, in 2007 and 2023. (The big fire was in 2019, and in 2023 reconstruction work was on-going.) (Both photos by me. 📷 ) #thenandnow #paris