iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Gareth Roberts @garicgymro.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Tonight's #BoardGames: 1. Glasgow Train Robbery 2. Onitama

A board depicting a train travelling from Glasgow to London, just asking to be robbed

Sort of minimal chess, with a Japanese theme, photographed from above

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Rich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The Keynote Speaker at the Annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in March, folks.

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Gareth Roberts @garicgymro.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

You know that thing where high school freshman seem sooo mature to kids who aren't in high school but sooo young to everyone in higher grades? And how the same phenomenon persists into college? I'm here to tell you it kind of persists when you're faculty too.

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Lieven Vandelanotte @lieven.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

🐦🐦

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Hannah Vardit @hannahvardit.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

you will encounter more opportunities in life to change the batteries on a smoke alarm than you will to run into a burning building and no one gives a shit you changed those batteries but it is still very important and why are you waiting on a burning building, know what i’m saying, it’s a metaphor

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Gareth Roberts @garicgymro.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

If someone gives you a location and says something like, "I dunno, it's somewhere on Market, maybe not too far from Broad", do *NOT* follow up with, "Sorry, where exactly?" They've been very clear that they're not sure where exactly and that they're telling you as much as they know.

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Gareth Roberts @garicgymro.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

At the orthodontist for one of my kids. To discourage patients from eating candy, they cleverly provide a bowl of Hershey's Kisses.

Bowl of Hershey's Kisses on a table with some bland magazines

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it's not Vera Tobin, it's some kind of Thing @vtobin.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Yessss! Another entry for the collection. I love these so much. (Please join me in calling them "Outerbridges".) #linguistics

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Elisabeth J. Kerr @elisabethjkerr.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

The annual United Kingdom Linguistics Olympiad (UKLO) is coming around - you can sign up as a volunteer marker until 2nd Nov, for marking 19th-30th Nov. I've been doing this since 2015 and it's normally quite fun (I like to have a go at the paper first) www.uklo.org #UKLO #linguistics 🐦🐦

uklo.org

welcome - UKLO

UKLO = UK Linguistics Olympiad Welcome to UKLO! We run an annual competition in which school children solve problems based on real languages. It's a test of skill and insight, not of how well you know...

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Lieven Vandelanotte @lieven.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

🐦🐦

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Gareth Roberts @garicgymro.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Having heard a few more, I'm enthusiastic! A worthy successor, I think.

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Gareth Roberts @garicgymro.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Probably most people know that Jane Leeves, who played Daphne in Frasier, wasn't really from Manchester. What's slightly less well know is that John Mahoney *was*.

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Gareth Roberts @garicgymro.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Top tip for anglophone #BoardGame podcasters: Uwe (as in Uwe Rosenberg) isn't pronounced Oovay.

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Gareth Roberts @garicgymro.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Stephanie Cole's death reminded me of a fact that some fellow millennials may find distressing. When Waiting for God started, she was 48.

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Gareth Roberts @garicgymro.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Rewatched the Matrix with the kids, which I hadn't seen since around 2000. It has not aged badly! And I have not changed my opinion of it. Which is... that it's a pretty good movie, but somewhat overrated.

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Gareth Roberts @garicgymro.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Last night's #BoardGames: 1. Meltwater 2. Next Station: London

A board depicting the last remnants of humanity battling for increasingly irradiated land in Antarctica in Meltwater

A piece of paper on which I'm inventing a new version of the London Underground with coloured pencils in response to cards

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Gareth Roberts @garicgymro.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

This, to be fair, is a special instance of a wider phenomenon, in which people from country A are videoed trying food from country B and expressing enjoyment. This nice, heartwarming genre then gets sullied by people from country B taking it as evidence for some sort of culinary superiority.

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Gareth Roberts @garicgymro.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Americans sadly misinterpreted a lot of what was going on with those social media videos Europeans posted about 🇺🇸 during the World Cup. Europeans are excited to try Taco Bell because it's something they've seen in movies. Their excitement in no way implies that it surpasses food in Europe!

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elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Friend shared this video of a man unveiling the library he hid when he fled Damascus in 2011. It’s incredible

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Philip Gwynne Jones @pgjonesvenice.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

"To lose one Reform leader in Wales, Mr. Farage, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness."

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southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

The “branding dispute” being that it’s legally established as a memorial to John F. Kennedy, the president from the 1960s who was murdered in office by an assassin, and Trump wanted to slap his name on it too while he held power for reasons of pure narcissism.

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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

When they eventually make a movie about this time, please don't put the male politicians in good suits. IMO, the ugly, low rent tailoring should be part of the story.

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Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

NEW: Once exceptionally rare, illegal deportations — in defiance of court orders or due to ICE screw-ups — are now a routine part of President Trump's mass deportation push. It happened 3 times this past week and more at least 30 times in recent months. www.politico.com/news/2026/09...

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Gareth Roberts @garicgymro.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Tonight's #BoardGames: 1. Slay the Spire 2. Paris: La Cité de la Lumière

A table laid out with boards and pieces for Slay the Spire. At the top of the main board is an Act II boss, the Bronze Automaton

A board depicting streets and buildings in Paris, surrounded by postcards

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Aeon 🔜 Somewhere City ΘΔ& @throughtheaeons.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

probably a good idea to vote in person if possible this time around, yeah?

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Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

This is pretty fucking wild. I had assumed in a worst case scenario he would target blue zip codes and toss ballots based on technicalities but this is even worse than I imagined.

Not only is this system astonishingly untested, USPS has simultaneously implemented an
impracticable zero percent failure rate.
13 When ballots are submitted to USPS in large-volume
batches, if any one ballot in the batch cannot be verified against the Portal, all ballots in that
batch will be rejected. For example, if a state election official brings a batch of 10,000 ballots to
USPS and USPS is unable to match just one of those ballots against the Portal – because, for
example, someone has recently changed their name after marriage or they’ve moved – then
USPS would refuse to mail the remaining 9,999 ballots as well. As the whistleblower notes,

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Gareth Roberts @garicgymro.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Tonight's #BoardGames: 1. The Quest for El Dorado 2. Sagrada

A board depicting a variety of terrains for explorers to tackle on their way to El Dorado

The top of a board representing a stained glass window of the Sagrada Familia

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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

You’re not alarmed enough 🚨

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M a r c u s 🏳️‍🌈🇧🇧 @marcusjdl.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Section 28 is back then.

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Gareth Roberts @garicgymro.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Tonight's #BoardGames: 1. Flatiron 2. The Glasgow Train Robbery

Game components depicting two floors built of the Flatiron building. Cards for different streets surround Manhattan.

A board depicting the train line the train from Glasgow followed in the Great Train Robbery.

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Allison Gill @muellershewrote.com · 29/08/2026

Hey, all. I got the pathology back on the lump they removed from above my eyebrow. It’s what’s called a pilar sheath acanthoma. BENIGN. NOT CANCER. Please have anything concerning checked out. Don’t wait.

static.klipy.com

Little Girl's Relieved 'Phew!'

ALT: Little Girl's Relieved 'Phew!'

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Jonathan Cook @jonathan-cook.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

British "democracy" is an empty husk, hollowed out by a grossly unrepresentative voting system and mega-donors who have captured the political class. Now in power, Burnham has scrapped a commitment to electoral reform and is ditching a pledge to cap political donations. 🤔

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Chris Murphy @chrismurphyct.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

This morning in Danbury, ICE was arresting parents at school bus stops. But it’s more sinister. ICE waited until the kids were on the bus so when they are dropped off at the end of the day, they are alone, scared to death they can’t find their parents. I’m heading to Danbury.

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Gareth Roberts @garicgymro.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

I'm seeing a lot of screenshots of posts from this account being shared, unsurprisingly. And they're fun! But please be aware that—as the handle suggests!—this was not Tim Curry himself! It was very openly a fan parody account.

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Ricardo Autobahn @ricardoautobahn.co.uk · 26/08/2026

The best tribute to Dolly Parton is that she regularly and repeatedly refused to have anything to do with Piers Morgan

Piers Morgan

@piersmorgan

Follow

:

RIP Dolly Parton.

Never met her, never interviewed her (despite decades of unrequited requests) but thought she was utterly fabulous in every way.

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FT @fucktheory.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Imagine being talented and beautiful and rich and famous and still the most noteworthy thing about you is how good a person you are.

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Allison Gill @muellershewrote.com · 25/08/2026

BREAKING: EXCLUSIVE: DHS legal opinion justifying ICE entering homes without a judicial warrant is nothing more than an email written by ICE Deputy Principal Legal Advisor Adam Loiacono, and DHS refuses to release it. www.muellershewrote.com/p/exclusive-...

muellershewrote.com

EXCLUSIVE: DHS Refuses to Release Email Justifying Warrantless Entry by ICE

I sued to obtain the General Counsel Memo justifying ICE entering homes without judicial warrants. Turns out it’s not a memo at all - it’s an email - and they’ve wrongly redacted it.

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Gareth Roberts @garicgymro.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Tonight's (solo) #BoardGame: Dragons of Etchinstone

Cards arranged against Rodving. I did him a fair bit of damage but he destroyed me.

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