iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Unrelatedly waiting for a bus across the road from the World Health Organisation headquarters, and am delighted to discover that whoever made the google map marker didn't check the autocorrect

Google map screenshot showing I'm across the road from "Who"

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Makes a nice change from conducting them against New Zealand.

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

What's especially fun about this is that using supply/demand charts to calculate the mutual benefits of trade is like the one thing Economics 101 is definitely going to cover. There is no simpler economics.

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

We're extremely disappointed that, having just set fire to our house, our neighbours are absolutely ruining the paint by throwing water on it.

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

"A river that is home to about 500 saltwater crocodiles has been given the OK to host Olympic and Paralympic rowing and canoeing events at the 2032 Brisbane Games." Now, in fairness this is one way to eliminate arbitrary barriers between the Olympics and Paralympics... www.bbc.com/sport/olympi...

bbc.com

River that is home to 500 crocodiles chosen to host 2032 Olympic rowing and canoe events

A river that is home to about 500 saltwater crocodiles is given the OK to host Olympic and Paralympic rowing and canoeing events at the 2032 Brisbane Games.

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

The Daily Mail as the UK's foremost anti-fascist outlet was not on my bingo card.

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Missing the open goal of "the people who volunteer for lifeboats are good, actually" is positively Starmeresque.

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

They had no choice but to go home, having spontaneously all worn the same outfit.

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Ah, looking forward to the UK state's earnest zeal in pursuing police intervention and legal punishment of political protesters trying to impede transportation infrastructure.

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Reposted by Fraser Raeburn

Samuël Kruizinga @samuelkruizinga.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

We're hiring a postdoc for #BLOACKADE (ERC Synergy Grant) : the final position we'll be advertising for the project. 4-year, full-time, Modern History, at Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, supervised by Prof @elisabeth-piller.bsky.social . 🧵

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Ah, looking forward to the UK media's earnest zeal in pursuing a public interest story regarding a Cambridge academic guilty of unethical behaviour.

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Do you hold your steaming hot sausage like a pen or a landline handset

Poster for an artisan sausage studio, featuring some old timey, human-appearing youths who just cannot get enough of some hot sausage

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

When you think about it, it's kind of heartbreaking that Kissinger didn't live to see Trump's war with Iran.

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Just saw a guy get off a tram with a crow perched on his shoulder. Too far from the ocean to be an emo pirate so thinking warlock??

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

I don't really believe in a kind of judgement-before-afterlife thing, but if you did can you imagine finding out that your soul was about to be weighed alongside Dolly Parton and Tim Curry???

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Reposted by Fraser Raeburn

Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

So, something I talk-about-but-not-really is that I'm one of the people on this moderation team and have been heavily involved in running the project since 2019. I first got into answering stuff about the Spanish Civil War, and then got more and more fascinated about how it all works...

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Looking to source a replacement IKEA part and have happened across a gloriously depressive product pitch for a... wardrobe door.

The product description for VIKEDAL, a mirrored wardrobe door:

Tired in the mornings? You can save time and lower the stress by using the mirror door to do your hair and make-up, or to help you get dressed into your favourite clothes and shoes.

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

It takes a lot of nerve for far-right scholars who have gleefully advocated for the demolition of the modern university to start beating about disciplinary solidarity.

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

This was, in fairness, the original twitter experience.

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Put on a "Best of Indie 2023" playlist and slowly realised that there must have been a significant chunk of the music industry dedicated to replicating my ossified mid-2000s tastes this whole time. This must be what baby boomers feel like all the time?

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Reposted by Fraser Raeburn

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Plenty to reflect about re: the Arday affair, but I'm going to repeat this one thing. The playbook the right used here is effective even though it's not especially sophisticated, as it relies on the audience to do the dirty work. I've been calling it "Trojan horse propaganda", let's go with that. 1/

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Warhammer is not an instruction manual.

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

That's a golem-ass name if I ever saw one

A poster for Richard "Clayderman", if that is their real name

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

The "but he really did plagiarise" crowd smacks of "but why didn't he just follow police instructions" and "but he had a criminal record". Being imperfect while not white - even criminally or unprofessionally so - is not a capital crime.

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Not seeing it reported anywhere else yet but it seems a shitty end to a shitty story. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/08...

telegraph.co.uk

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Netanyahu comes out as an ally in the fight to abolish the British monarchy

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Idk but it feels like a faux pax to aim artillery at war graves.

An antique cannon, aimed at graves in a countryside war memorial.

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Nominative determinism in action, clearly.

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Not the first time a left-wing Spanish prime minister complained about being under 'attack' from Morocco I can tell you that much.

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Ok so wordle is fun but have you tried trying to guess the starter pack that got shared somewhere based on the profiles of the 20-odd new followers you just got.

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

You don't get an opening passage like this by using AI kids.

Opening sentences of Roger Griffin's 'Fixing Solutions: Fascist Temporalities as Remedies for Liquid Modernity'

Readers of JMEH with a pronounced «empiricist» disposition may well balk at the
above title, epigraph and subheading with their disconcerting blend of chemical
metaphor, poetry and social anthropology. Will there be any facts? Will there be the
slightest trace of archival research or even chronology? Is the actual, «real» history
of Fascist Italy and the Third Reich, two regimes of questionable historiographical
affinity, going to be once more vaporised into some arcane culturalist metanarrative
in the obsessive pursuit of the essence of «generic fascism»,3 a snark-like entity
whose hunt in Lewis Caroll’s poem described, according to one commentator, as
«the impossible voyage of an improbable crew to find an inconceivable creature»?4
Such doubting Thomases may rest assured that a sample of facts and empirical
evidence are on their way eventually.

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

A plea for assistance: is there anyone who has written a ERC Starting Grant in history or connected discipline in the last couple of years, and who might be willing to share a copy confidentially? Thanks in advance - the ones I have access to are *very* dated!

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Dislike these on principle, but this is a good example of how profoundly useless AI summaries can be. An outdoor area shuts in winter, a busy restaurant should be booked ahead and they're famous for *signature* cocktails, so ignore that and ask for something off menu?

A know before you go section on google maps, which recommends profoundly useless things summarised above.

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Conservative media commentary has it all wrong. The Odyssey isn't evidence that mainstream critics have all gone woke - the true woke hive mind is incapable of unequivocally liking anything with universal popular acclaim. All this is doing is fuelling nitpicking on Bluesky.

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Every time there's Nolan discourse, I'm reminded that The Dark Knight Rises is so pro cop that being able to free them all from the sewer is a crucial plot point, but once they get out their contribution is to form a phalanx and charge machine guns.

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Reposted by Fraser Raeburn

AskHistorians @askhistorians.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

We're hosting an AMAbon Pompeii this week with noted historian Tom Hiddleston. Poor guy, he must be incredibly difficult to Google... *finger to earpiece* Chat, we're being informed that Loki is a historian now. www.reddit.com/r/AskHistori...

reddit.com

From the AskHistorians community on Reddit

Explore this post and more from the AskHistorians community

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Refrigerator engineer: so we'll put a light in the fridge that turns out on automatically when the door opens so you can see all your food easily Me: amazing, can I also see my frozen food? Refrigerator engineer: lol no

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

I believe that no one deserves to be brutally murdered, but also that not everyone's life choices earned unqualified plaudits.

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

The fascist communication dilemma is always how far to present themselves as pitiable victims of an unjust society versus strong men able to sort out society's problems through force of will (and force of force). Get the balance wrong, and you just look a bit pathetic really.

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

If only there was a topical sporting metaphor for a situation where you score a point against your own team unnecessarily.

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

In fairness, if you can't trust the recipient of the Fifa Peace Prize to analyse whether an action was motivated by hostile intent, who can you trust.

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Cool little eastern bloc antique - set of nested hedgehog ashtrays that can be assembled to make a single, giant mecha hedgehog. Based on a classic Walter Bosse design, but I think these are the ones Aeroflot used to give out as souvenirs back in the 1950s and 1960s.

Two hedgehog ashtrays sets, one assembled into a full hedgehog, the other into six constituent hedgehog ashtrays, with a seventh decorative baby hedgehog that sits on top to round out the spikes when assembled.

Close up of individual hedgehog ashtrays from previous shot.

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

You've got to assume that these guys aren't used to bending their arms when elevating them like this.

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

In fairness, they were completely upfront about the green water bit.

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