iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Chris

Helene von Bismarck @helenebismarck.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I mean, instead of arguing about the correct definition of associate membership, perhaps the UK could focus on the general geopolitical situation which has motivated Canada& the EU to work more closely together, and discuss how the UK wants to position itself in this new world?

99712

Reposted by Chris

Mags L Halliday @magslhalliday.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Every year on 19 December, the famous Christmas lights at Mousehole in Cornwall are dimmed between 8 and 9pm, leaving just the Cross and Angels shining down across the village and out to sea.

10827433

Reposted by Chris

Jack Blackburn @hackblackburn.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Happy to report that the publishing event of the year has not disappointed

2699

Reposted by Chris

John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

The US Army realised in 1941, as it spooled up for war, that it needed around 500,000 typewriters to function. so great was the need that they had to requisition and ration them. HALF A MILLION. Equivalent to 40% of the entire US domestic supply at the time. Logtics wins wars.

521828405

Reposted by Chris

John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Your fact of the day: Adrian Bell was the first cryptic crossword setter for the Times. Martin Bell, his son, was THE Martin Bell - legendary BBC journalist and (briefly) independent MP. But know who Adrian's DAUGHTER was? Anthea Bell, the translator of Asterix comics into English.

21666122

Reposted by Chris

John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

one of the most critical parts of design or development is finding ways to tell clients/bosses: "no i won't because that's fucking stupid." One of AI's many flaws is it physically can't do this. it tells people their awful ideas are brilliant and awful people in particular love it for that reason

612028

Reposted by Chris

Dreadnought Holiday @dreadships.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Spoiler: the AI did not actually improve his historical research (it gave him a load of bollocks, only "improving" when he started feeding it the answers from his separate research)

15430109

Reposted by Chris

👻 Jack Djinn Wail 🧞 @jacktindale.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Properly gone at the idea of having this awarded like a corporate award gigs in one of those massive but soulless business hotel ballrooms, with Romesh Ranganathan hosting.

2428838

Reposted by Chris

Colleen Mondor @chasingray.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

And now it's up to 5,000+ likes. SIGH. That second paragraph is ridiculous. The GPS being unavailable was in a NOTAM which they would have gotten on the ground. They were unable to hold an altitude which has nothing to do with GPS. All pilots must fly & land without GPS. If you can't, do not fly.

413840

Reposted by Chris

Seth Miller @wandrme.paxex.aero · 21/07/2026

Pretty incredible that the Pan Am logo is still visible on the DC4 wreckage after 74 years. It is also the reason we have pre-flight safety briefings. The pilots got it down on the water and everyone survived the landing. Most then drowned because they didn't know how to evac.

Pan Am’s flight 526A remains one of the worst air disasters in Puerto Rico’s history. On Good Friday,
April 11, 1952, Clipper Endeavor departed San Juan’s Aeropuerto de Isla Grande bound for New
York’s Idlewild Airport (later John F. Kennedy International Airport), carrying five crew members and
64 passengers. Shortly after takeoff, multiple-engine failures forced the pilot to conduct a violent
water landing. Remarkably, everyone aboard initially survived the impact, which sheared off the
aircraft’s tail but left the main cabin intact. Yet with no safety briefing provided, a significant language
barrier, and no coordinated evacuation procedure in place, passengers faced chaos, confusion, and
heavy seas as the aircraft flooded and sank in less than three minutes. Despite swift and heroic
action by rescue teams from the U.S. Coast Guard and Air Force, only 12 passengers and five crew
members were saved; 52 people ultimately lost their lives.
Known in Puerto Rico as “La Tragedia del Viernes Santo” (“The Good Friday Tragedy”), the accident
became a pivotal turning point in aviation history, prompting the Civil Aeronautics Board, a forerunner
of today’s FAA, to implement sweeping reforms, including the now-mandatory preflight safety briefing
and emergency procedure demonstrations that have since saved countless lives.

06315

Reposted by Chris

Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

"Emergency podcasts, sir. Thousands of 'em"

161763250

Reposted by Chris

John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Seen a couple of posts comparing prices of things like the new Steam computer to things like Spectrums and Commodore 64 at launch. Implication is always "look how much more expensive it is!!" Which just shows how much we mentally don't compute on inflation. £200 in 1982 is roughly £1,000 today.

2015019

Reposted by Chris

Helene von Bismarck @helenebismarck.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

I love how the 6th PM in 6 years resigns, and everybody is like "This only happened because this particular guy was incompetent because… “ Britain‘s political media has a very short attention span, and a very short memory. What if, and stay with me now, this is a symptom of a deeper issue?

1613217

Reposted by Chris

John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

i assume banning kids from social media will be accompanied by a huge investment in teen-friendly communtiy spaces (like youth clubs) and social activities? No? Huh.

642860771

Reposted by Chris

Angry Staff Officer @pptsapper.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Relistening to “Monstrous Regiment” for the millionth time and just caught the “commander Vimes holds to a no-first-use policy for magic” Terry Pratchett using magic as a substitute for nukes in Discworld is just perfection and I am so deeply happy we got to share a world with him

515312

Reposted by Chris

John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Ground. That. Flight.

810411

Reposted by Chris

David Slack @slack2thefuture.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Hilarious and deeply insightful writing by @brianphillips.lol.

Because the truth is, tech doesn't have an image problem. It doesn't have a message problem. It has an intention problem. What's wrong with the axe murderer who broke into my house is not that he hasn't successfully persuaded me to buy into his narrative. What's wrong is that he's trying to kill me with an axe. Similarly, when you launch a product that's designed to put millions of people out of work, block access to sources of verifiable truth, replace human creativity with slop, and lower the barriers to every sort of atrocity, the problem isn't that you haven't told the public a good story about those things. The problem is that you are trying to do them.

3042751645

Reposted by Chris

John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

*sets the 'days since tech bros reinvented the bus' sign back to zero.

8528131

Reposted by Chris

Leah McElrath @leahmcelrath.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Pope Leo quoting Tolkien in his encyclical on AI seems like a pointed reference for the tech oligarchs who have appropriated LOTR for their own ends.

543851932

Reposted by Chris

John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

i mean she's just made it incredibly hard for traffic to accurately gauge the cow's direction of travel and speed.

5908

Reposted by Chris

John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

This ends with Ross Kemp trying to tell a hard-man story about hanging out with the SAS to James Blunt, with ZERO knowledge of his pre-music career.

713015

Reposted by Chris

Cameron Blevins @cblevins.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

This is so, so well-articulated.

People call this friction "grunt work." Schwartz uses exactly that phrase, and he's right that LLMs can remove it. What he doesn't say, because he already has decades of hard-won intuition and doesn't need the grunt work anymore, is that for someone who doesn't yet have that intuition, the grunt work is the work. The boring parts and the important parts are tangled together in a way that you can't separate in advance. You don't know which afternoon of debugging was the one that taught you something fundamental about your data until three years later, when you're working on a completely different problem and the insight surfaces. Serendipity doesn't come from efficiency. It comes from spending time in the space where the problem lives, getting your hands dirty, making mistakes that nobody asked you to make and learning things nobody assigned you to learn.

97107673882

Reposted by Chris

Home Assistant @home-assistant.io · 01/04/2026

You asked and we listened! For years, the community has been asking for a new design in Home Assistant. Something modern and timeless, something to match the power of the platform. We’re pleased to announce that an improved UI trial is now available. 👇

918921

Reposted by Chris

Ben @cinemashoebox.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

Nick Clegg unveiled a portrait of himself at the National Liberal Club yesterday and it's hard to tell which one looks less like Nick Clegg, the portrait of Nick Clegg or the actual Nick Clegg

1301119257

Reposted by Chris

John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

Tell you what. When we get 250 subscribers to the untitled-history.com podcast i'll do "You'll Be Back" from Hamilton as a subscriber video. In costume. At 500 i'll try and bully @pptsapper.bsky.social into doing Cabinet Battle with me. He gets to pick whether he's Hamilton or Jefferson.

untitled-history.com

The Untitled History Podcast

Untitled History Podcast is the podcast that takes you beyond the textbooks to explore the untold stories of the ancient and modern worlds. Join Gareth Edwards and a lineup of world-leading experts t...

3457

Reposted by Chris

John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 08/10/2023

On 8th Oct 1952 the worst civilian rail disaster in UK history happened in London. 112 deaths. 340 wounded. That accident, and the actions of one woman from Florida have saved THOUSANDS of lives since. That disaster helped lead to the creation of paramedics. /1 🧵 www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU60...

youtube.com

Harrow and Wealdstone Train Crash Newsreel

Newsreel footage of the aftermath of the 1952 Train Crash at Harrow & Wealdstone Station, which claimed the lives of 112 people and injured hundreds more.

8350191

Reposted by Chris

John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

To mark International Women's Day, meet Lt Cmdr. Madeleine Barclay. First Officer on HMS Fidelity. To my knowledge, the first woman to officially serve as First Officer on a Royal Navy vessel deployed on combat duty. Achieving this involved a three-way war between Navy, SOE and the WRNS /1 🧵 #IWD

a blurry photo of a smiling young woman, holding a pet dog on the dockside in happier times. The only known photo of Madeleine.

black and white photo of a single stack, ex-merchant RN vessel

217978

Reposted by Chris

Jim Waterson @jim.londoncentric.media · 05/03/2026

Tax exiles stuck in London desperately trying to get *back* to Dubai to avoid becoming tax resident in the UK? Just great stuff. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

giftarticle.ft.com

Wealthy Dubai residents race back to UAE to avoid tax bills

Some risk spending too few days in the emirate and too many in the UK

20140381256

Reposted by Chris

John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Important news! I am delighted to announce the launch of my new podcast: The Untitled History Podcast. It's me, and guests, falling down all the history rabbitholes you can imagine. Please, please spread the word, subscribe and listen. Because... SHIPS CATS!! cms.megaphone.fm/channel/the-...

cms.megaphone.fm

Episode 2: The History of Cats on Ships by The Untitled History Podcast

From as early as 7000 years before the common era, we have evidence suggesting cats served alongside humans on ships. This isn’t just in a civilian capacity. As long as there have been warships, cats ...

57719279

Reposted by Chris

John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

Nothing has highlighted just how technically illiterate the senior business management and political classes are right now as the whole AI thing. Just an entire generation of "leaders" incapable of spotting a bad sales pitch because of some woo woo tech words that sound cool.

18350100

Reposted by Chris

danniemcq @danniemcq.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

Cat wandered in front of the camera during the #aurora long exposure

366184313301

Reposted by Chris

John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

Yeah sure why not. Nothing can go wrong with this plan.

415919

Reposted by Chris

Matthew Turner @filmfan1971.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

If I were a politician planning to defect to another party, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t do it while The Traitors was on.

0345

Reposted by Chris

Confidently Paranoid @niblick-iii.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

Guys guys guys, I found the archive of the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures (it's not an achievement, they've not hidden them) - you can watch every single one since they started televising them in the 60s: www.rigb.org/christmas-le... I love watching them every year, now I can see them all!

rigb.org

Watch the Royal Institution CHRISTMAS LECTURES archive

Watch all the Royal Institution CHRISTMAS LECTURES back to 1966, when the lectures were first televised.

11188107

Chris @improbablytall.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

I once facilitated Eric Knowles filming a piece to camera for some BBC antique programme or other, which involved starting and taxiing a light aircraft.

000

Reposted by Chris

John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 28/12/2025

I see the Brexit-backing owner of Dyson, who offshored himself and the firm for tax reasons, is moaning about having to pay tax on the extensive farmland that he bought here as a way to avoid inheritance tax. Hang on. I'll find my violin.

1736165

Reposted by Chris

Dreadnought Holiday @dreadships.bsky.social · 25/12/2025

The manager of Hilbert's Grand Hotel, hearing the Christmas story and thinking "Fucksake - it's easy. You move the guest from room one..."

1118535

Reposted by Chris

John Rogers @johnrogers.bsky.social · 25/12/2025

Sir Terry Pratchett is best understood as one of the most interesting, deeply ethical practical (I would say Pragmatist but I cede to actual experts) philosophers of the late 20th Century who just happened to work in deconstructed fantasy literature as his medium.

312542822

Reposted by Chris

John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

FAQ for torties: Q: What is this?! A: A tail Q: When did I get a tail? A: You've always had one Q: Why does my tail taste of porridge? A: Because you left it resting in my breakfast Q: OMG SHINY! What is THAT?! A: The Xmas tree. Same as yesterday Q: OMG A SNEK! A: No, that's your tail again

434034

Reposted by Chris

Dreadnought Holiday @dreadships.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

Today marks the anniversary of Graf Spee being scuttled, and a unique victory for the British diplomatic service

German pocket battleship Graf Spee wreathed in smoke at it settles into the River Plate

645487

Reposted by Chris

The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

Streeting to next launch inquiry into “over-diagnosis” of left-handedness. “Never used to be like this,” he insists.

391194315

Reposted by Chris

John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Happy "Cloudflare is fucked again" day to all who celebrate. Seems to come round earlier every month these days.

816123

Reposted by Chris

John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

🌲 THE BIG CHRISTMAS GIFT THREAD! 🌲 If you are a creator or small shop/business, reply to this post with: - pics and a brief description of what you do (don't forget the alt text!) - a link or details on how people can buy I will boost you! Everyone else: buy the cool things! Repost this post! ⛄

79368331

Reposted by Chris

Morse @exalted-morse.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

A friend asked for book suggestions, and honestly I'll concede on this one... Anyway, check out The Atrocity Archives by @cstross.bsky.social if you somehow haven't read it and James Bond the IT guy fights Eldritch horrors sounds up your alley.

Phone text input field reading "the autocorrect archives by Charles Stross"

4496