iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Jonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social · 3h

counterpoint: no

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Conor Browne @brownecfm.bsky.social · 5h

A friend has Covid right now. They have lost their sense of smell and they're having cognitive problems. This hit me today, as it often does: we made, and continue to make, a huge collective mistake in allowing a virus that impacts the brain to transmit unmitigated globally.

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 6h

I decided to re-do this old calculation + LLMs test, and now it seems the big models just create a piece of code to do the calculation instead of brute-forcing it. IE: LLMs work best when they're doing at little LLM as possible, and every advancement is just less LLM and more stuff-that-works

Python
num1 = 4679865
num2 = 1346792
result = num1 * num2
print(f"Result: {result}")
print(f"Formatted: {result:,}")

Code output
Result: 6302804743080
Formatted: 6,302,804,743,080

4,679,865 × 1,346,792 = 6,302,804,743,080

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Snaxxmaxxer @workersdance.bsky.social · 9h

It's almost refreshing, the way they just say, straight up, they want to kill you.

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Did I just get back from a viewing at Bonhams auction house in NYC of cat-themed art? Why yes- yes I did. Did I take pictures, including of these Chinese ceramic cats from the Qing Dynasty? Also yes! Will I make a thread of some of them? Indeed I will, which will include...

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Robert @robertd1.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I DARE you to read this Pochetinno quote without Adam Curtis voice in your head

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

A cash-strapped rural police force struggles to deal with Red Diesel gangs. Until its chief inspector realises can get the Met Police to deal with the problem... ...if he pretends they're Iranian. A new six part comedy starring Toby Jones.

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Gift @giftmacher.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The media consent machine never runs out of fucking scabs to present us. The uni is quite literally gutting its courses. This however, not the issue so far as the BBC is concerned. Honestly fuck this noise. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Student: University of Nottingham strikes 'not what we signed up for'

The University of Nottingham said it was "disappointed" by the timing of industrial action.

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Dr. SkySkull @drskyskull.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Kim Jong Un(conscious)

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I've struggled explaining to people: so there was this weird group that was obsessed with the idea that AI would lead to human extinction. And they were super worried about it. So to prevent that they created AI.

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Amrk @amrk.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Is now the time to mention the friend of a friend of mine who walked around a park in Cardiff in his larping stuff Inc sword and got a swat team called on him www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-n...

walesonline.co.uk

Man dressed as knight who prompted armed police response explains what happened

He was just out enjoying a spot of exercise

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I'm so bored of this.

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Jessica Ritchey @jmritchey.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The origins of Andor are in the scene in The Star Wars Holiday Special when an older woman barkeep sings a ironic Kurt Weill-like cabaret number to keep the peace and protect her community from a massacre while reminding them that all bad times end. In this essay I-:I am eaten by a Rancor:

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

It will never not be wild to me that the Russians attacked Keir Starmer's home, successfully spread falsehoods about Starmer's love life, and this didn't changed British politics and British political elite behaviour *at all*.

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

As unprofessional as it may be, I suspect I will be shouting "we have been saying this for years" a lot today. Harsher immigration policies don't just ruin individual lives, they damage the economy, reduce jobs, and generally harm the whole country.

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Shiv Ramdas Mens Rice Activist @nameshiv.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

For 9 years this cat has attempted to get me to feed him at 4 am every day and for 9 years he has not succeeded one time and his only takeaway has been well it's certainly not happening if I don't try again, and I'm starting to find him quite inspirational

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Nit Nurse With Wound @dannybirchall.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Sweet Jesus. So concerned about stopping people right-clicking your public collection of images that you put the whole lot in a private DRM provider that goes under, and the whole lot is fucked. Sweet. Jesus.

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

The Bear @bearlypolitics.co.uk · 28/09/2026

Well, well, well - if it isn’t the consequences of our own actions. It would appear that migrants are not, in fact, the fiscal drain we’ve been told they are by years if we go by the £4bn to £6.5bn shortfall that’s been caused by the precipitous drop in numbers under this government. Funny that.

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Duncan Hothersall @dhothersall.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

If attendance at a major women's conference was down 80% due to a boycott fighting against trans *inclusion*, it would be all over the Times, Telegraph, Mail etc. This last weekend, attendance at a major women's conference was down 80% due to a boycott fighting against trans *exclusion*. Crickets.

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Dan Neidle @danneidle.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Luxury retailers want taxpayers to fund a 20% tax break for foreign tourists. They paid consultancy Cebr to claim this will raise £2.6bn for the UK. That convinced Sadiq Khan and Kemi Badenoch. But it's false: a free lunch. Four basic errors mask a £600m loss. Thread:

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Tom Roberts @tpgroberts.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

You see this with Trump as well, a weird refusal to accept that having a knowledge based economy is "winning."

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Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex @gswrites.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

It was the "Let's just sell up, move to Chatham and restore the hell out of this mf" of times, it was the "GenAI family portrait over the (?) dining table - clearly the whole place is cursed" of times.

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Ryan @ryanwright.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

This is how I remember the order of Henry VIII’s wives.

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Chinny Honk @chinnyhonk.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Up the Arse Corner

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Andy Lambert @and-e-roo.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Just finished my 2027 calendar...

Photoshopped calendar focusing on the enemies of Doctor Who, a main image shown as the cover with 12 smaller images illustrating an enemy for each month.

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Mike Boylan-Kolchin @mbkplus.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Not even Pablo Escobar could get this high on his own supply

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Paul Cornish @paulgcornish.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Matt Hodges @matthodges.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

If you genuinely wanted to “pace the frontier” personal criminal liability for executives and officers would do a whole lot more than p(doom) podcast appearances.

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Monstermaker @monstermaker.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

It's live! The prologue from Malcolm Hulke's Target novel Dinosaur Invasion - animated! youtu.be/aNRfScgskFY?...

youtu.be

Dinosaur Invasion: London Alert

YouTube video by Doctor Who Literature Podcast

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 25/09/2026

I have blamed The agents That hacked Your website And which You probably Reasonably thought I controlled Forgive me I am rich And unaccustomed To taking responsibility

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Ed Maibach @maibached.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Happy Stanislav Petrov Day He passed in 2017. As Encyclopedia Britannica puts it, “He is survived by his two children, two grandchildren, and the entire human race.” If you don't know his story, please take 3 minutes now to learn it. @gchalliance.bsky.social @docsforclimate.bsky.social

sammatey.substack.com

Happy Stanislav Petrov Day

Take five minutes to not destroy civilization

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Simon William Cree @piratesprogress.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I will simply be the millionth person to say that an LLM is made up of a bunch of servers owned by a company. OpenAI is committing crimes in broad daylight, and we're all supposed to collectively act like we don't understand this because computer or whatever.

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Fascinating world of ancient #glass: A Roman glass model of a #boat, dating 2nd c. AD. It was found in St. Aldegund in a 4th-century woman's grave. Six of such boats are known. We don't know their function: Were they used as women's urinals, as components of water clocks and sundials, as...🧵1/2 🏺

A translucent blue glass vessel shaped like a boat, with a curved hull, upturned ends, and small protruding feet for support. The surface has visible cracks. A soft shadow is cast beneath the object on a neutral background.

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

NHM Library and Archives @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

When the NHM opened in 1881, visitors with cameras had to buy a permit and send two copies of each print to the Museum’s collections. You can scroll through a few highlights from each album by swiping left in this post. See every page here: buff.ly/31893CL #MuseumArchives #DigitisedCollections

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Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex @gswrites.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Like and Reskeet to go on the Basilisk’s naughty list!

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

alex remembers the big cow 🐄 @thebigcow.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

I'm losing it at this delivery robot getting absolutely smoked by the Brightline train in Florida 🤖🚅

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Seth Masket @smotus.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Interviewing the inventor of napalm about his hats

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Kevin Sievers @diplotomodon.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

text message chain:
@diplotomodon: greg... we gotta save this dog gone museum
Gregory S. Paul: Genus Gilmoretyrannus gen. nov.
@diplotomodon: no time for dat greg

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Dr Nazlin Bhimani @nazlinbhimani.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Some good news – a new library! Shakespeare’s Globe has opened a new public library and archive holding more than 6,000 books, original texts, recordings of productions and other treasures from the theatre’s history. www.thebookseller.com/news/shakesp... #Shakespeare #TheatreHistory #Renaissance

thebookseller.com

Shakespeare library and archive containing 6,000 books opens under the Globe theatre

The theatre has opened its newly renovated research and collection centre, which features London’s only publicly accessible dedicated Shakespeare library and archive

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

John Marsham @johnmarsham.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Most people underestimate how concerned everyone else is about climate crisis. Number-1 most read on BBC news...

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Good Trailcams @goodtrailcams.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

Dr Vanessa @hpsvanessa.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Cannot tell you how much I hate this & how ashamed & angry I am that @ukri.org have taken this step. We KNOW this sort of gAI is socially biased, we KNOW it favours slopAI output over human-written. Our research landscape is falling apart due to underfunding, & they do this? it's *appalling*

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Reposted by Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

The way AI will kill people is by making climate change worse.

theverge.com

Jensen Huang talks about AI and climate change like a supervillain

It’s giving Thanos energy.

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