iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 11/09/2026

September 11 had a huge impact on my family. My whole life was lived in the shadow of this event. Everything that led up to it. Along with all that followed.

La Moneda in Chile being bombed during the Golpe de Estado on September 11 1973.

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 28/08/2026

Lovely sunset while flying into Adelaide this evening

Band of orange on the horizon marking sunset south of Adelaide looking out over Lake Alexandrina towards St Vincent Gulf.

The lake is within the traditional land of the Ngarrindjeri Nation and the lands to the east of Lake Alexandrina belonged to Jarildekald people and the lake was known by various names including Mungkuli, Parnka and Kayinga.

The church built at the Raukkan community is on the Australian $50 note.

Lake Alexandrina is part of the Coorong waterways.

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 13/08/2026

I guess you could say Readwise is part of my daily routine now.

Screenshot of the review page of the Readwise app that says

"Nice! You completed your daily Readwise. You've reviewed 2000 days in a row."

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 09/08/2026

I'm quite happy with the result. "You write beautifully, and always to someone" feels very apt. Get yours at b.mino.mobi

Hexagonal image with description that reads 100 The Loom : The Correspondent — You write beautifully, and always to someone.

The data on the hexagonal diagam is as follows,

Cadence
the life line
burstiness 0.46 · typical gap 31 min
bursty ← → metronomic 90
very metronomic

Vigil
the sleep line
2 quiet hours a day · hour-entropy 0.943
nocturnal gaps ← → always on 83
very always on

Lexicon
the head line
Heaps β 0.728 · 3,558 distinct words in the first 20,000 · 48% used once
sprawling ← → narrow 89
very narrow

Polish
the fate line
81% of well-formedness markers present
ragged ← → immaculate 100
very immaculate

Drift
the travel line
early vs late similarity 0.924 across 1,200 words
a different person ← → unchanging 49
middling

Chorus
the heart line
71% replies · 784 people · 3% to own threads
in conversation ← → broadcast 47
middling

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 08/08/2026

I used a different bowl to serve up Lomo Saltado last night. See, I am adaptable!

Lomo Saltado - short rib beef strips fried with peppers, onion, and herbs, served over pan roasted potatoes, in an aubergine coloured shallow bowl.

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 07/08/2026

Used the same bowl for my last three home made meals. Need to work on my plating.

Homemade cream of chicken soup, dressed with taragon, in a blue and white bowl, with a slice of sourdough heated on a griddle, a Laguiole spoon, all on a pink placemat.

Homemade Ribolata, in a blue and white bowl, with a slice of toasted sourdough, a Laguiole sppon, all on a blue placemat from Maspar in India.

Home made salad topped with Berthe sardines, in a blue and while bowl, with a Laguiole fork, on a thatched cream placemat.

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 07/08/2026

It's been a long time since I posted a deskie. This morning in the cabin.

Macbook M2 Air running Scivener on a homemade desk flanked by a notepad and calendar, mechanical keyboard, timer, USB lamp, 3 month per view calendar, green coffee mug, and a small stack of books including The Birth of the Modern by Paul Johnson, the Treatise on Mind and Society trilogy by Paul Thagard, Diana Henry's Around the Table, and the Miles Davis Disc Guide edited by Koji Murai.

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 04/08/2026

I needed a little mood lift so I made Tacos for dinner.

Four steak tacos dressed with lettuce, avocado, burrata, sliced cucumber and tomatoes, cliantro leaves, and a pineapple and jalapeño salsa, presented on a wooden cutting board.

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 18/07/2026

The Vision Pro display desk attracts zero interest at the Apple Store. I copped so much hate for saying the Vision Pro was the direction for Apple’s next big thing. Anyway.

Apple Vision Pro display table in Apple store. Desk is as devoid of people as the Vision Pro was devoid of practical use for most people. The product is such a flop even Apple’s own predictive text doesn’t suggest Pro when you type Vision.

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 16/07/2026

Made Tacos for dinner. Not a great photo. And these were plain and rushed. But I love Tacos. And am very much in a comfort food and simple pleasures kind of mood.

Four beef tacos on a wooden board. Each toasted corn tortilla is dressed with diced beef, sliced tomatoes and cucumber, chopped lettuce, sprouts, cilantro leaves, chilli sauce and mayonnaise.

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 23/06/2026

This is fun. I like that it ranks engagement and generosity. Get yours here: kojira.github.io/bluesky-lice... Thank you @kojira.io HT @rose.bsky.team

Driver's license style graphics displaying details about my Bluesky activity such as,

Posts 6,445 (replies 71% / media 11%)
Longest streak 123 d
Active days 977
Avg pace 5.3 /day
Likes given / Reposts 9,512 / 79
Peak hours 00–02 UTC

Also says I have 5 star Web of Trust, Generosity, Engagement, and am a Veteran of the platform.

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 09/06/2026

Here's some sample images of the offending home library. I miss this library setup. And this home.

Home library with stacked bookcases, a geometrically patterned rug, a leather day bed, and a painting hanging on the wall.

An aggressively stacked set of bookcases.

Home library with stacked bookcases, a day bed, an armchair, and side table, dimly lit at night.

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 06/06/2026

Life (health, commitments, etc) has kept my beloved sunset walks. But I got out today. And I'm grateful for the evening light.

Brilliant orange sun setting behind moored sailboats on a slightly cloudy winter afternoon.

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 06/04/2026

Years ago I sketched out a "How to Use Twitter Course." My idea was to give it away free alongside a newsletter I was writing back then. The course never got built. But the mindmap shows how many useful customisation features Twitter had back then.

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 30/03/2026

If you see this, post a concert photo you took

Leon Bridges in concert. Bridges is singing and in the frame is guitarist and back up singer.

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 13/02/2026

Here's where I exist on Bluesky. Somewhere between Tech and Science journalists and Intellectuals, Artists, and Science communicators.

A visualisation of Bluesky users in clusters representing different kinds of people. My account is sitting near tech and science journalsis, internet culture and tech enthusiasts, American intellectuals and media figures, and intellectuals, artists, and science communicators.

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 06/02/2026

Back in Tokyo for a few hours

Generously topped Hamburger and crispy Pommes frites on a wooden plate in an basement burger joint in Tokyo

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 26/01/2026

I wanted to say something today about the state of social media. Then this appeared by accident as I was cleaning messages. It felt apt. If you miss “Twitter when it was good” then you probably miss conversations. Whatever social media is now it’s not a place for conversations anymore.

Black background with white text that says no conversation selected

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 22/01/2026

Most photogenic city I've lived in. I miss the view from my apartment window.

Broad view of Hong Kong harbour showing Admiralty, Tsim Sha Tsui, and looking out towards Yau Tong in the distance. Taken at sunset after a storm the image has a purple-ish hue and the bay is calm with few boats.

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 04/12/2025

I don't use Bluesky the way I used Twitter, partly because I post way less often, but also because I post mostly at night on Bluesky. On Twitter I posted mostly during breaks in the day.

Single axis graph labelled "grass touching." Options are Online, Balanced, and Offline. A big orange marker is 2/3rds of the way from balanced towards offline suggesting the user doesn't post often. Below the graph some text says You're a Night Owl with 2 posts per day.

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 04/12/2025

Surprised that Australia is my most frequently used word on Bluesky. But, I guess given how often I post about reverse culture shock, and how un-localised Bluesky is, it's not that unexpected. It's nice seeing words like thinking, reading, book, film, music, and essay featuring here.

A word cloud showing the user's mostly frequently used words on Bluesky. Australia is the largest and most used word, followed by Japan, Japanese, and film. The next level words are thinking, reading, lesson, music, book, and essay.

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 14/11/2025

Twitter is obviously terrible now. But Twitter still has this and Bluesky never will. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

A screenshot of the Twitter user interface displaying one of the many Twitter was more user friendly than Bluesky. Here were see the way search can be parsed to show results from anyone or only people you follow. And how results can be sorted by location to show any location or posts made near you.

And this is a good moment to point out that Twitter was, for most of it's life, driven by global traffic, with USA users and posts never representing more than a quarter of the platform.

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 23/10/2025

For the sake of comparison. To scale. I love the Jimny. See them all the time when I'm in the Japanese countryside. Could imagine buying one myself.

Image comparing the actual size of an intelligently designed and super able Suzuki Jimny to a huge, dumb, environment destroying American Ford F150. One is a nimble and reliable off road vehicle that could work anywhere in the world, the other is a safety menace that reflects a failed culture.

In the image we can see that the Jimny looks tiny beside the huge F150. Almost half the size.

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 05/10/2025

Four lovely books courtesy of Splinter Magazine's new subscriber giveaway. These all look excellent and will be part of my Spring reading season.

Four new books on the shelf in my writing cabin being watched over my a statue of a resting ballerina. The books are Human/Nature: On Life in a Wild World by Jane Rawson, Playing Nice Was Getting Me Nowhere by Alex Cothren, Desolation by Hossein Asgari, and Fierceland by Omar Musa.

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 15/09/2025

This meme was popular when I was living there a few years back.

Amusing chart that speculates about the different service standards of UK delivery companies. It reads,

DPD - Your parcel will be delivered by Steve, in a white van at exactly 9:23am and a photo will be taken for prosperity. There are six stops before you. You can stalk Steve by clicking here.

Amazon - Your parcel will be delivered today and if you're not in, we'll deliver it to someone else instead, like your cat. We'll make sure to let you know "Parcel was handed to customer".
You, cat, on your roof, same thing, right?

Royal Mail - We tried delivering your parcel but you weren't in. Well, you probably were, but you didn't open the door when we knocked with the force of a feather. Now you'll have to reschedule or come to us instead.

Hermes - Your parcel will be delivered at some point, by someone. Might be 10am, might be 10pm, but we'll get there. And if we don't get there, we'll say we've delivered it anyway, then deliver it tomorrow instead when you're out. We'll leave it in your wheelie bin on collection day.

Yodel - Package? Wait what? Were we supposed to deliver something today? You sure?

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 07/09/2025

Spent a few minutes this morning thinking about what makes a city feel stressful. Charted out most of the cities I've lived in and three where I've spent a considerable amount of time in the past decade or so.

Graph ranking cities by how stressful they feel in different ways. x axis goes convenient to inconvenient and y axis goes quiet to noisy.

In the quiet and convent quadrant, which is the least stressful for me, are Tokyo, Washington DC, and Paris.

In the quiet and inconvenient quadrant, which is pleasant but frustrating for me, is Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide.

In the convent but noisy quadrant, which is fun but stressful for me, is Hong Kong, Singapore, London, and New York.

Alone in the Noisy and inconvenient quadrant is Delhi.

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 21/08/2025

I vaguely remember one of his Fred Dagg specials, the one about bionic sheep, screening on the ABC when I was quite young. In my teens I picked up that album from the sale bin at a local record store.

John Clarke as fictional comedy character Fred Dagg in a black and white still from the show. Dagg is dressed in a black singlet top with a floppy hat, standing in front of an old tractor, and leaning on a sign that reads "the views expressed in the programme are bloody good ones."

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 25/07/2025

Had a wonderful time getting a behind the scenes look at some of the 28,000 works in the Art Gallery of South Australia’s print, drawings, and photograph collection. Also learning a little about the world of museum curation.

The temperature controlled storage room where 28,000 prints, drawings, and photographs are kept in custom built racks. Framed works are stacked on the upper levels. Everything else is kept matted in custom made Solander boxes.

A woodcut print from 1498 by Albrecht Dürer’s called Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. It depicts four warriors on horseback trampling a king and his subkects. An agelic figure guides the horsemen and a strange dragon like creature is eating the fallen humans.

An aquatint etching by Francisco Goya called The Chinchillas and published in 1799. It depicts two tortured figures with padlocks over their ears, one perhaps a solider, the other might be a priest, being spoofed by a dark figure who is blindfolded and wears donkey ears.

A coastal image from an 1840 water colour notebook that belonged to the 3rd surveyor general of South Australia, Edward Charles (EC) Frome.

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 17/05/2025

I think about this quote often and it leads me to conclude that I need a t-shirt that says "hedonistic proclivities"

A book quote that reads "an informal moral code among Whites that depicted Latinos as culturally “defective,” which was used as justification for the subjugation of Latino populations. Whites often spoke of Latino “docility, ignorance, decadence, mediocrity, antagonism toward work, submission to vice, and hedonistic proclivities" from Ignored Racism by Mark D. Ramirez and David A. M. Peterson

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 31/03/2025

My @readwise.bsky.social streak hit 1500 today. That's 1500 consecutive days of reviewing my reading highlights. This exercise in spaced repetition has helped me remember several key ideas from things I've written and be better at remembering some of my favourite quotes.

Lightening bolt and text that reads 1500 to indicate my streak on Readwise of 1500 days.

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 30/03/2025

Sitting at my mother’s old table in her garden. Listening to the palms bristle in the breeze. With birds chirping in the distance. While I edit this week’s writing. I don’t know how many more afternoons I will get to enjoy this place. But I’ll take every one I can.

Green palm fronds in front of a cloudless blue sky.

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 30/03/2025

I’m on @flashes.blue Part of the promise of AT Protocol (and Bluesky) is being able to take your account and your followers with you to different social media services without the cost of starting again. Flashes is an Instagram alternative and it takes seconds to set up.

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 10/03/2025

Looking back to five years ago. At the time it felt like I was taking things more seriously than everyone around me. In hindsight I was being woefully optimistic.

Screenshot of a tweet by the author from March 9 2020 which reads

Have decided to cancel and avoid making any appointments that take me into central London or require using the tube until June.

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 09/03/2025

Whenever I wonder about what happened to Twitter I return to this quote.

A quote from Character Limit by Kate Conger and Ryan Mac

"As the pandemic began to rage, Twitter’s headquarters, an Art Deco high-rise on San Francisco’s Market Street, lay empty. Dorsey initially retreated to his mansions in San Francisco’s Sea Cliff neighborhood and in Big Sur. But he soon hit the road, traveling to Hawaii, Costa Rica, and French Polynesia. His direct reports complained that they could sometimes hear roosters crowing in the background of his conference calls, a reminder that he was on an island, while they were trapped in their apartments. In May, Twitter became the first tech company to announce that its employees would work remotely, forever—a decision driven by Dorsey’s desire to stay away from the office. By the summer, he stopped chiming in during meetings entirely. He routinely kept his camera and microphone off, leaving employees wondering if he was still sitting near his laptop at all or if he had wandered off to surf."

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 26/02/2025

Visualisation of my blog. Not sure what to do with this. But it is pretty.

Colour daisy chart of the 3801 pages of my blog. many lines creating dense circular shapes. Categories represented in shades of yellow, green, blue, and violet. The whole image is both chaotic and symmetrical.

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 05/02/2025

Bringing old productivity habits back to life.

Cardboard folder labelled Wednesday sitting on an old table with a stash of art supplies and pens to one side. The folder is part of a brought forward system where paper based tasks are physically assigned to coming days of the week.

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Fernando Gros @fernandogros.com · 25/01/2025

Show us the last four albums you listened to #last4albums

Image showing covers of four music albums recently played in my Apple Music Library

DeBÍ TiRAR Más FOToS by Bad Bunny
Trumpets of Michel-Ange by Ibrahim Maalouf
Waiting Room by Kathryn Mohr
Rising by Jasmine Myra

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