iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

James Wallbank @dataknotsdesks.bsky.social · 11h

Apocalypse Now For Tax Purposes

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Wagatwe Wanjuki @wagatwe.bsky.social · 15h

can't take "LLMs are people" discourse seriously when we haven't even convinced everyone that all people are people.

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James Wallbank @dataknotsdesks.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

Gen AI appears to be miraculous, but, honestly, it isn't. Its societal effect suggests an ant mill, when each ant follows pheromones left by previous ants, and, in turn, refreshes the trail markings. The colony exhausts itself, getting nowhere, marching in a circle.

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James Wallbank @dataknotsdesks.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

Nothing of creative value is the average of everything that has come before.

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James Wallbank @dataknotsdesks.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

THE PRICE OF FUEL!!! My wife just filled up her car from nearly empty to completely full. It cost us £1.07. That's why solar panels and electric cars will never catch on—it's madness! If only we were buying good, old, reliable petroleum. 🤪

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James Wallbank @dataknotsdesks.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

What is ironic is that these buffoons rattle on about "The defence of Western Civilisation" when they demonstrate less than zero commitment to civilisation, do not contribute to it, and know absolutely nothing about it.

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James Wallbank @dataknotsdesks.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

It's certainly the case that the current administration is performing oafishness, cruelty and brutality. This comes both from the top, and, shockingly, from the bottom of US society. The president reflects and amplifies the oafishness, cruelty and brutality of his angry, ill-educated supporters.

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Mr RobertBob @mrrobertbob.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

I lived and worked in East London. Refugees were my neighbours, work colleagues, friends. They volunteered at after school clubs, community groups, child care, food banks and much more. I never saw Farage or his ‘patriotic’ followers doing the same. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

independent.co.uk

Farage accused of ‘dangerous dog whistle’ with ‘profoundly un-British’ asylum plan

Campaigners have also questioned the legality of the policy, comparing it to a proposal to ‘scrap the NHS so that people no longer get sick’

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James Wallbank @dataknotsdesks.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

This observation suggests some sort of rule of thumb—if a service is guaranteedly delivered in the UK, for people in the UK (for example, a local bus service, a university, a utility) it should not be legal for it to be foreign-owned. Should the money be global when the service is local?

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James Wallbank @dataknotsdesks.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

Wordle 1,943 4/6* ⬛⬛⬛⬛🟨 🟨⬛⬛⬛🟩 🟨🟨⬛🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Surprisingly straightforward—the work of seconds!! (A change from yesterday's 6/6 in 20+ minutes!)

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James Wallbank @dataknotsdesks.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

I presume that all that motion meant was, "This is me warming up", but it so much looked as if it was thanking me!

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James Wallbank @dataknotsdesks.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Nice work! I too, rescued a bee, and it did something I thought was impossible—communicated! I found it barely able to move, and fed it a tiny drop of maple syrup. Very slowly, as if with great effort, it lifted one limb. I gave it another drop of syrup. At that, it lifted two limbs, then flew off!

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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Much of the coverage today is absolutely nuts. The facts are on Wikipedia. The full Intelligence and Security Committee (Russia) Report is online. Tory media & politicians once again banking on their average consumer/voter being too daft/busy/blinkered to notice...

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James Wallbank @dataknotsdesks.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

You might like pictures like this, then! (Street view guesses, wrongly, that roads are your way around…) Just to up the level of anxiety, no hard shoulder, no central reservation, and lane use changes throughout the day… ⬆️⬆️❌️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️ ⬆️⬆️⬆️❌️⬇️⬇️⬇️ ⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️❌️⬇️⬇️

Street view screenshot of the seven lane A38(M) road in Birmingham, UK. We're looking directly into oncoming traffic. The road is in a concrete trench, with no exits or hard shoulder.

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James Wallbank @dataknotsdesks.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Wordle 1,942 6/6* 🟨🟨⬛⬛⬛ ⬛⬛⬛🟨🟨 ⬛🟨⬛🟩⬛ 🟨⬛⬛🟩🟩 🟨🟩⬛🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 All of my intuitions were quite wrong, but they excluded every other possibility, so I was oddly confident about guess six!

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helxine.bsky.social @helxine.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

If an incoming PM is being briefed on it I think we can realistically assume that the "interference" in question was more substantive than a couple of pro-brexit emails. The former Welsh Reform leader is serving 10 yrs for pro-Russia bribery, and Farage is partially bankrolled from Russia

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James Wallbank @dataknotsdesks.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Putin is still the richest man in the world, and he's chummed up, through his proxies and puppets, with many of the other richest men in the world, even if they may not know it. Ukraine is keeping going, but it's not over yet.

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James Wallbank @dataknotsdesks.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Puncturing that power has been slow, bloody, and desperately difficult, requiring the courage, ingenuity, sacrifice, endurance, solidarity and sheer persistence of a whole nation for years. It's a measure of our privilege that we see that as "rapid". Right man, right time—but most, right people.

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James Wallbank @dataknotsdesks.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

There's loads! But a lot of it is latent—politeness, community, solidarity, freindship, care, honesty, generosity, insight, skill, professional pride, sincerity, sense of humour, persistence… Those things can be mobilised, when society functions properly. But all the Tories understand is money.

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James Wallbank @dataknotsdesks.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Wordle 1,941 3/6* ⬛🟨🟨⬛🟨 🟩⬛🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

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James Wallbank @dataknotsdesks.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

That just got you another follow there. In the current media environment, it's key that communities crosslink, bridging different channels and platforms. If we don't, we cede power to the providers

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James Wallbank @dataknotsdesks.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

It seems that the vulnerability of Bluesky as a platform may be based around lack of restriction on follows. Non-people (who never engage in genuine conversation!) are following profligately, to game the system.

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James Wallbank @dataknotsdesks.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Orange, purple, brown, and maybe a hint of lime green, surely? Morning!!

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Best for Britain @bestforbritain.org · 09/10/2026

Kemi Badenoch’s flagship party conference policy document overestimated the cost of net zero by nearly £500bn… …seemingly after someone accidentally double-counted figures on a spreadsheet. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

theguardian.com

Tories overstate net zero cost by nearly £500bn in apparent spreadsheet error

Exclusive: Badenoch’s flagship conference policy document cites £957bn estimate, twice the total in climate advisers’ data

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James Wallbank @dataknotsdesks.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

"The problem" may not be an individual thing—it could be contextual and environmental—invisible, because it is ubiquitous. It needn't be physical—it could be a recontextualisation of the individual, such that seldom or never are they alone, out of contact, and dealing with objects, not ideas.

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James Wallbank @dataknotsdesks.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Could it be that the character of digital media, the ubiquity of persuasion, and new methodologies of mass and individual marketing, have changed and toxified the psychic environment? And are those changes approaching a critical tipping point? Has that point already been reached?

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James Wallbank @dataknotsdesks.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

It also occurs to me that we are now aware of pollution—how emissions or outflows from industrial processes can poison the local environment, and even blanket the whole planet. But are we similarly aware of the individual and group effects of new types of media, and new modes of communication?

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James Wallbank @dataknotsdesks.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

It occurs to me, in response, that thinking is not just a function of an individual—it is a group endeavour, practiced in conversation and dialogue, by subcultures, enterprises and committees, religions, cultures and nations. Often talk of neurodiversity focuses solely on the individual.

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James Wallbank @dataknotsdesks.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Great thread: thoughtful, without being didactic—exploratory, without leaping to conclusions. This is what I come to social media for!

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James Wallbank @dataknotsdesks.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Interesting to note that the current 10-20 year wave of right wing populism is based upon seeding and amplifying anxiety. As its messaging saturates the public discourse, it becomes a contextual factor contributing to an erosion of national psychic resilience.

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James Wallbank @dataknotsdesks.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I'm here, and also on Mastodon. A year ago the two networks were a very comparable experience. Now, I regret to report, Bluesky is perceptibly degenerating. It's better than established networks, but I see it being colonised by "broadcast only" accounts, and accounts of an algorithmic character.

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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

There was a time when the Tories, however hypocritically, claimed to want to protect our natural heritage. Now they're just a party of vandals, ripping down the few protections the living world has for the sake of their rich chums. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

theguardian.com

Tories to pledge to scrap Environment Agency and Natural England

Shadow chancellor will also promise to scrap affordable homes regulations as part of strategy to refocus on growth

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Phil M 🦻🏼💚 🍉 🏳️‍⚧️ 🇵🇸 @phillm.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

When they talk about reducing red tape, remember this image.

Grenfell Tower, a black smouldering carcass of the building shorty after the fire, in 2017.

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William Gibson @greatdismal.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Don’t know who to credit this to, but it cheers me up!

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Parody Nigel Farage @parodypm.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I love talking our country down While offering no solutions Because I’m a grifting gobshite Who likes to incite unrest Small boat crossings are down 44% Deportations are the highest in 10 years Immigration is 82% lower But who needs facts When you can make up lies

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James Wallbank @dataknotsdesks.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

"The goal of education is not to tell students what to think, but to teach them how to think. It is to instill the capacity for moral choice and moral action." chrishedges.substack.com/p/thoughts-o...

chrishedges.substack.com

Thoughts on the Mass Rape at Cornell University

I had a brief experience with a fraternity at Cornell University.

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Best for Britain @bestforbritain.org · 05/10/2026

Ofcom rules say broadcasters cannot use politicians as newsreaders, interviewers or reporters in any news programmes. So why is Nigel Farage allowed to host his own primetime show on GB News? Demand that Ofcom takes immediate action ⬇️

bestforbritain.org

Farage on GB News: Demand that Ofcom takes immediate action - Best for Britain

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James Wallbank @dataknotsdesks.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I loathe her too—but just as a fact check, gibbering, poisonous walking cancer Enoch Powell pre-dated Thatcher. The rot has been around for a very long time—Thatcher just nurtured it.

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James Wallbank @dataknotsdesks.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

After yesterday's pedestrian… Wordle 1,933 5/6* ⬛⬛⬛🟨⬛ 🟨⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩⬛🟩⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩⬛🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 …today was far more inspired! Wordle 1,934 4/6* ⬛⬛⬛🟨⬛ 🟨⬛⬛⬛🟨 🟨🟨🟨🟨⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

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James Wallbank @dataknotsdesks.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

See also: ultra-processed food, any quantity of plastic packaging products. The 20th and 21st centuries are littered (literally) with products nobody wanted, create a disposal problem, but were convenient to produce.

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James Wallbank @dataknotsdesks.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Not always. In many cases the whole thing works the other way around—we have something, now how can we get people to consume it? One could argue that data centre rollout is an industry wheeze to crank up fossil fuel consumption!

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James Wallbank @dataknotsdesks.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

…for producers, as well as consumers.

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Parody Nigel Farage @parodypm.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

"Dear Diary, There were six by-elections in England and Scotland this week and Reform lost all of them. Two of them were seats we previously held. The problem with running councils is that people can see how useless we are."

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

There is no moral equivalence between bullies and the bullied, between tyranny and democracy, or between brutality and decency. No individual can be free in a society devoid of justice. There can be no liberty where brutality reigns.

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💙☘️Queenie☘️💙 @dunnee496.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

These phony Christians are disgraceful!

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