iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 04/10/2026

This isn't MS Bing's bots following an existing link to index the content, it's Bing generating new links. On most websites, the search facility is relatively expensive (in the sense of server resources such as CPU and memory), so the last thing you want are bots hammering it with random searches.

100

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 04/10/2026

Here's the most recent example from my server logs, requested by IP 40.77.167.25 (verified as a Bing crawler). My Brazilian is a little rusty, but apparently it's a search for: Congratulations! I have a house on Maria Antônia Fragola Camargos street. I am happy and grateful.

100

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 04/10/2026

It's been a known issue since early 2025, e.g. www.webmasterworld.com/msn_microsof... learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answer... As one of the response points out, this isn't normal indexing/crawling, it's an URL injection attack that MS support are turning a blind eye to.

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 04/10/2026

Something for fellow web admins... I've spotted this happening before but Microsoft seems to be ramping it up to another level. If your site has a search facility, MS are using bingbot to trigger random searches, even if you've blocked the search URL in your robots.txt.

220

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 03/10/2026

Hope your Saturday is going better than mine -- I'm currently fending off a prolonged DDoS attack from AI company bots 😕 huddersfield.exposed/wiki/Hudders...

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 02/10/2026

Give me Eat instead of Jas Mann (sp?) any day. "Sell Me a God" still holds up well today. www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...

youtube.com

Things I Need

YouTube video by Eat - Topic

000

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 02/10/2026

18 year old me saw them at Bradford in 1989 when Rob "The Bass Thing" Jones was still in the band. Ned's Atomic Dustbin were awesome and the Sandkings had a strop and left the stage after one song due to the constant booing from literally everyone in the crowd 😁

Tim Chapman @othersfield.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Reposted by Huddersfield Exposed

The Sex Pistols weren't the biggest stars to play a children's party in Huddersfield. On 28 November 1958, Paul Robeson sang at a Children's Thanksgiving Day Party at King's Mill. According to the Examiner, Robeson quietly crooned Loch Lomond to 'forty children of many nationalities'.

"Paul Robeson At A Party" - clipping from the Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 29 November 1958

111

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 30/09/2026

Supercalifragilisticexpialidociousgence

000

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 29/09/2026

Which is a great excuse to dig out this verse by Rex Mason (brother of actor James Mason) who lamented the gradual falling apart of Rebecca, which was rather hastened by children clambering all over her.

ebecca, dear, beside her well
For years in Greenhead Park did dwell.
Admittedly she lost some charm,
At first her nose and then her arm.
But still to youngsters she was dear,
Without her nose, her face, her ear.
Now she's vanished, gone away,
Replaced by fount in Gothic shrine.
Memories alone will stay.
Where have you gone, Rebecca mine?

020

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 29/09/2026

Also on the list of "things that didn't get on well with the Huddersfield climate and fell apart" are the famous lion atop Lion Buildings (replaced with a fibreglass copy) and "The Rocky Stream" drinking fountain in Greenhead Park, also known as "Rebecca at Her Well".

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 29/09/2026

A few years later, the council splashed out and purchased a fancy second-hand Italian fountain (reportedly over 100 years old) to go in front of the station. Sadly, it didn't get on well with the Huddersfield climate and soon began to crumble and fall apart. It was demolished in August 1976.

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 29/09/2026

Just noticed that Fiennes lost his job not long after he agreed to sell the station buildings. I wonder if he knew his days with British Rail were numbered and was happy to burn a few more bridges by selling off the station cheaply and therefore saving it from possible demolition?

He was dismissed from British Rail in 1967 for publishing the autobiographical book "I Tried to Run a Railway", which was outspoken about the management of British Rail and government policy changes and particularly critical of the frequent management re-organisations that the railways had gone through since nationalisation.

211

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 29/09/2026

It was a time when British Rail were looking to save money and the potential to demolish the façade and use the spare land for shops etc was tempting. Clifford Stephenson seems to suggest that Gerry Fiennes thought it would be vandalism too, hence he was happy to sell at well under market value.

000

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 29/09/2026

The building was then leased back to British Rail for 21 years and the council opened a car park in front of the station. The smoke-blackened station was cleaned up in time for the centenary in 1968. I'll let Clifford finish the story in his own words...

The rent received from British Rail for use of the buildings and the income from car parking, together, now more than pay the debt charges incurred by the purchase, so, in effect Huddersfield became the owner of this splendid monument of the great railway age, for nothing, and in the process notched up another 'first' as the only town to own its main railway station.

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 29/09/2026

With a hunch that British Rail might be willing to sell the station buildings, councillor Clifford Stephenson invited BR's Gerry Fiennes to Huddersfield and, within an hour, he agreed to sell it for £52,650 along with the forecourt and platform 1. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerry_F...

en.wikipedia.org

Gerry Fiennes - Wikipedia

111

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 29/09/2026

At the time the council found out about the plans, they were busy debating how best to celebrate the centenary of Huddersfield becoming a borough. £100k had been earmarked to create a permanent memorial to mark the occasion, but the councillors couldn't agree what it should be spent on.

100

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 29/09/2026

Although Huddersfield became "The Town that Bought Itself" in 1920 when it purchased the Ramsden Estate, that didn't include around 4 acres of land where the station stood with British Rail owning the freehold. BR regarded the huge façade as unnecessary and wanted to modernise the station entrance.

112

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 29/09/2026

We'll soon be coming up 60 years since the local council stepped in and stopped British Rail from taking the wrecking ball to the façade of Huddersfield railway station.

2144

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 29/09/2026

Which looks pretty much unchanged from 1890 for that bit of the track.

210

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 29/09/2026

Might be later on in the week, but I'll have a browse through the local rail books that I've got on the shelf. Here's the 1977 OS sheet showing the track layout if that's of interest.

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 29/09/2026

I shall now be looking for opportunities to use the phrase "super dodge" in work meetings. Totes legit, obvs.

One local resident has since told the BBC that while most people have now returned home, others are hesitant to do so.

“I haven’t gone home as I want to wait until I know more about what the hell happened, as it feels super dodge to me,” the resident told the BBC, adding that police are advising people not to take any photos and to stay inside their properties.

020

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 27/09/2026

They're a strange lot in Honley. See, for example, this 1850s article about a Honley man who invited the local press to come and watch him connect his wife's breasts to a steam engine. huddersfield.exposed/s/2967

120

Reposted by Huddersfield Exposed

Claire A @clairebear2703.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Must have been slow news in 1860 as the find of two mushrooms made it in to the Huddersfield Chronicle. James King is my great x 3 grandfather #mushrooms #genealogy

131

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 23/09/2026

Despite not having been on an aeroplane recently, I've just had a flu jab. Thank you ladies and gentlemen, I'm here all weak.

static.klipy.com

Fozzie Bear Muppets

ALT: Fozzie Bear Muppets

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 22/09/2026

I see @georgeosborne.bsky.social has a 3 acre estate in Bruton, Somerset. Sounds like plenty of spare room for a small datacentre in his own back yard to me. 🏭

OpenAI fluffer George Osborne talking bollocks as usual.

Photograph of George Osborne pretending to be an electricity pylon providing power to a datacentre.

130

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 22/09/2026

That's wonderful news! If they launch the entire British Library into orbit, it'll make it much harder for hackers to install ransomware again 👨‍🚀

040

Reposted by Huddersfield Exposed

Municipal Dreams @municipaldreams.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

🚨 Brand new post: high ideals, regretted compromises, harsh realities - a study of Huddersfield's housing and civic history from 1951 to the present ... municipaldreams.wordpress.com/2026/09/22/a...

Buxton House, an 11-storey block, designed by Bernard Engle & Partners with Bernard Kramer’s mural Systematic Sequence in Line and Shade

0267

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 22/09/2026

The plantation was then owned by Abraham Hodgson (born Jamaica 1765 and son of Isaac Hodgson) but I'm unsure what his family's links to West Yorkshire might have been. They also owned a nearby estate called "Halifax". www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/v...

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 22/09/2026

There are also records in the collection from 1820 which reference the Huddersfield Plantation in the St. Mary parish of Jamaica (now known as Haddersfield). This would appear to quash the theory that the place took its name from the 33rd Regiment of Foot troops stationed there from 1822 to 1832.

100

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 22/09/2026

Very sobering to see that an enslaved African was given the slave name of "Huddersfield".

Screenshot of a slave register which includes an enslaved African given the name "Huddersfield". He was enslaved by Wolfert Katz who was a major plantation owner in Berbice, Guyana.

Tim Chapman @othersfield.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Reposted by Huddersfield Exposed

Had an early look round Queensgate Square and the new library. Pretty nice.

152

Reposted by Huddersfield Exposed

Tim Chapman @othersfield.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Got hands-on with one of the very early-70s fibreglass decorative panels from the Piazza (now being demolished). There are approximately 548 of these. Chris Marsden has so far saved five.

tall white fibreglass panel with a futurist/primitivist moulded design

close up of the panel showing the moulded design

sticker on the reverse of the panel showing date of production - 12-8-71

011

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 15/09/2026

To be found in part of the area known as "Salford" on the southern side of the river at Lockwood. Solid is believed to have the same derivation, meaning a place with willow trees (which I think still grow on the river bank?)

1880s OS map showing the area known as Salford on the southern side of the river at Lockwood.

Charlie Methven @charliemethven.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Reposted by Huddersfield Exposed

Gonna be a long night

46730

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 13/09/2026

Getting over 99% for "Performance" in the Lighthouse test with a WordPress site is tricky but doable. Plus you get a nice little animated firework display if you get the full house of 100% for all tests 😁

One of the WordPress sites that I provide hosting for getting 100% across the board in the Lighthouse test.

020

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 13/09/2026

Even if I say so myself, I'm rather pleased with these PHP Vitals benchmarks for the new @huddersfieldhistory.org.uk website. If you're struggling with a slow WordPress site on a sluggish server, feel free to get in touch -- I've been hosting WP sites of all shapes and sizes continuously since 2005.

PHP Vitals benchmark for the Huddersfield Local History Society's WordPress web site, which is running on a low-cost server at Linode's London data centre.

A benchmark score of 7.653 seconds puts the server in the top 10 (out of 254) of European servers costing under $10USD per month.

The server is at number 58 out of 2,461 servers benchmarked on the site, and outperforms most of the servers that cost 10 times as much per month.

Still a little bit of tweaking to do to get a full house of 100% on the Chrome Lighthouse test though.

151

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 13/09/2026

Wish I'd thought of doing this ages ago, but converting web server request signatures into blocks of colour (i.e. convert to MD5 hex hash and then use the first 30 chars as 5 sets of RGB values) sure makes it much easier to spot repeating patterns (i.e. bots pretending to be human) in the requests.

Screenshot of incoming requests all from the same US ISP (wavebroadband.com). The two colour blocks for each request represent TLS/SSL connection values and the user agent string. The repeating colours for the majority of the requests indicate that they are non-human bot requests being proxied through the various IP addresses.

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 12/09/2026

Here's a list of local buildings attributed to Kaye (compiled by historian Edward J. Law): huddersfield.exposed/s/312

huddersfield.exposed

Joseph Kaye (c.1779-1858) - Huddersfield Exposed: Exploring the History of the Huddersfield Area

000

Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 12/09/2026

There's also a free talk on Wednesday evening about Joseph Kaye, aka "The Builder of Huddersfield". huddersfieldhistory.org.uk/event/herita...