iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

That would be very stupid of me. Both my children are Jewish. Enough now.

You missed the point of ‘anti-Semitic’.

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Read Lucas’s speech again. Zionism was born as a political movement specifically opposed to racism. It’s wrong to condemn Zionism for acts committed by Netanyahu’s government. Put it this way: does passing this motion mean we should condemn the entire Green political movement as anti-Semitic?

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Fair point. Last time out I voted Labour.

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No. I’m British, and opposed the apartheid regime before it was ended. I oppose the emerging white supremacist authoritarian regime in the US. But this is not the same.

Well said, but I fear conference has made a grave mistake.

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Sitting in the garden enjoying the warm Spring sunshine, listening to Säde singing ‘Smooth Operator’, and realising I don’t know if ‘Kilarno’ is a real place. 😳

(I had to check first to be sure this wasn’t a different Matthew Cobb 🤣)

Thanks. Bit of a departure, as I explore the role of Schrodinger’s cat in both quantum mechanics and popular culture (hence, ‘two lives’).

The absence of a subtitle should tell you that this is just a mock-up. I’m confident that the final cover artwork will have the correct name. 😎

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My best effort so far. Actually, the subtitle will be: From Quantum Paradox to Modern Life.

Don’t worry. It’ll be there.

Jim Baggott @jimbaggott.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Manuscript submitted. The book is now officially ‘in press’. Stay tuned for a publication date. @yalebooks.bsky.social

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… The heavy water was stored at Wormwood Scrubs prison and Windsor Castle before being transferred to the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, where Halban & Kowarski worked to build a heavy water reactor. They later continued their work in Montreal, affiliated to the Manhattan Project. Papers …

Jim Baggott @jimbaggott.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I’m not aware of any wartime attempt to build a reactor at the V&A. Following the fall of France, physicists Hans von Halban and Lew Kowarski escaped to Britain with a quantity of heavy water (see jimbaggott.substack.com/p/the-indefi...). They joined Britain’s ‘Tube Alloys’ project …

jimbaggott.substack.com

The Indefinable Charm of 'Mad Jack' Howard

The battle for heavy water (part 1)

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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 02/10/2026

This will never stop blowing my mind. A 12-year sequence of real telescope images of a star 133 lightyears away. And around it, four planets slowly orbiting. Four real exoplanets, each more massive than Jupiter, imaged as they move around their host star.

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Jim Baggott @jimbaggott.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Now that’s just not-so-veiled boasting. 🤣

Jim Baggott @jimbaggott.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

The Beeb fails to mention that this new series is based on a book by Aiden Truhen, which is a pseudonym. @nickharkaway.com Looking forward to it. 😎 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Catherine Zeta-Jones bases Kill Jackie role on people she knows

Zeta-Jones plays Jackie Price, a former cocaine dealer who is targeted by assassins, in Kill Jackie.

Jim Baggott @jimbaggott.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Home of the Paul Ehrenfest archive, which I visited many years ago. Colleague and friend to both Bohr and Einstein, Ehrenfest taught at Leiden University until his suicide.

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Jim Baggott @jimbaggott.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Can I give an early shout out to my next book ‘The Two Lives of Schrodinger’s Cat’ to be published next year by Yale University Press? In Chapter 3, I explore how Le Guin’s 1974 essay ‘Schrodinger’s Cat’ helped to introduce this imaginative ‘thought experiment’ into popular culture.

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Stella Creasy MP @stellacreasy.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Reform is attempting to rabble rouse to avoid scrutiny of their actions and the campaign for caps on all political donations - share this to stand up for this debate and protecting our democracy from the crypto billionaires.

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Research Professional News @resprofnews.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Jodrell Bank’s e-Merlin network still faces closure in 2028 Government says it will not save telescope network, despite Burnham pledge www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-p...

researchprofessionalnews.com

Jodrell Bank’s e-Merlin network still faces closure in 2028 - Research Professional News

Government says it will not save telescope network, despite Burnham pledge

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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 09/09/2026

Astrophotographer Adam (AJ) Smadi caught this image a few hours ago from Washington state. A thin crescent Moon, sunlight illuminating the rugged lunar surface. And 2,400 times farther away—and on the other side of the Sun—mighty Jupiter, and its moons Io (left) and Ganymede (right).

A crescent Moon seen during the day, arcing from upper left to lower right of the frame. At lower centre is the full disk of Jupiter; the small dots to its upper left and lower right and Io and Ganymede, respectively.

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Jim Baggott @jimbaggott.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Really? When tasked to do my own audiobook last year, I decided that the book would be unspeakable (!) so I decided to remove all the equations and references to figures and tables. This turned out to be not so difficult and yes, made me wonder why I hadn’t written it like that in the first place.

Jim Baggott @jimbaggott.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

George Santayana: ‘Thise who cannot remember history are condemned to repeat it’.

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Jim Baggott @jimbaggott.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

We should add this one to Bill Clinton’s ‘But I didn’t inhale’. Nigel Farage tells BBC he 'wasn't listening' during foreign donor talks filmed undercover www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Nigel Farage tells BBC he 'wasn't listening' in foreign donor talks

The Reform leader also told the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg that his family are "begging" him to leave his job.

Or (more likely) think that what he’s doing is going to make America great again, which they do not consider to be an extreme view.

Current BBC News editorial policy … in a nutshell.

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Or … details, if you prefer.

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Majority Russian-speaking city in Ukraine considers language ban in the arts

Those concerned might first want to study the programme of ‘Russification’ of the Soviet satellite states initiated by Joseph Stalin which, oddly, the BBC fails to mention in this report. Majority Russian-speaking city in Ukraine considers language ban in the arts www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Ukraine's third-biggest city Odesa decides this week whether to ban Russian-language content in music and literature in public.

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I think our generation simply wasn’t paying close enough attention. What we’re seeing now has been coming at least since the Reagan administration, turned up to 11 by a global financial crisis and a pandemic. The key question is how much damage will be done before it’s all over. 😩

Mike Brooks @mikebrooks668.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

So this is what Moseley’s blackshirts look like in 2026.

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Good morning. As a (comparatively) successful author I feel it’s time to branch out in my career. As a result, I’m excited to be stepping into the world of professional football. Since I’m physically incapable of playing football at a professional level I will be hiring what I call a “ghostballer”

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Well I think I am liking this new +ve PM! In response to @sarahrussellmp.bsky.social on Jodrell: "there must be a way to save #JodrellBank and I give her a commitment at this dispatch box - we will find it" Brilliant Burnham! Can you now save all the other epic projects that have also been cut 🙏🔭

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Jim Baggott @jimbaggott.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

I suggest you mentally discount ‘tantalising’ and emphasise ‘very early days’. A single event does not a new particle make.

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Jim Baggott @jimbaggott.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Random thought. If Telemachus embarked on an adventurous journey across the seas like his dad, would this be called ‘The Telemetry’?

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Jim Baggott @jimbaggott.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Are we sure that’s not an early Etruscan anticipation of Baby Yoda?

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Jim Baggott @jimbaggott.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Just come across this analysis of accusations of pedophilia against Schrodinger by Magdalena and Martin Gronau at Berlin ZfL, published this year. The text is in German, but here’s a translation of a key section: share.google/IWX2xazRIM6x...

share.google

Erwin Schrödinger und die Versuchungen der (Wissenschafts‐)Biografik: Vorurteilsgefüge und Mechanismen der Skandalisierung

Since late 2021, serious allegations have been made against physicist Erwin Schrödinger, ranging from pedophilia to serial sexual abuse. These accusations have significantly tarnished the Nobel Prize...

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Jim Baggott @jimbaggott.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Lovely surprise to see @itspetergabriel.bsky.social playing ‘Here Comes the Flood’ in the latest episode of Silo(S3, E9). 😎

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Astronomy Picture of the Day 🪐 @apod.shinyakato.dev · 25/08/2026

🔭 Earth's Shadow Visualized with Lunar Eclipses Image Credit & Copyright: Tim Martin ap260825

Many images of Earth's Moon are shown each partly
eclipsed. The lunar images are arranged so that the
eclipsed dark part is toward the center, showing a
large dark circle in the center.
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

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Brett "Solidarity 2026" Banditelli @banditelli.org · 28/08/2026

Tonight's final Lunar Eclipse time lapse.

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Jim Baggott @jimbaggott.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

But it does seem that those institutions who moved quickly to take Schrodinger’s name off things like lecture theatres may have acted a bit prematurely.

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Jim Baggott @jimbaggott.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

I mean, ouch! The ‘unprofessional biography’ referred to here is that by Walter Moore, a go-to text for many Schrodinger-watchers. I’m still digging in on this and have reached out to an author of the study for more info.