iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Lol - It scared me I'd look daft in front of the kids being unable to get a kit to work like you did, so I'm afraid I totally bottled even trying it and bought a DaVinci in 2010s (a foolproof tank that's still working despite being horribly neglected, even if it is a bit rubbish).

Having the printer at home gave them a slightly different relationship with it - more willingness to just try stuff out on a whim & make spare parts or widgets rather than working on more polished things to print as a one-off once a week.

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My sons used to go to a nice weekly tech session when they were (much) younger. But printing was the thing that interested them most and I noticed the cost of a basic printer was less than getting two of them along to another term of it (A Bambu A1 mini is even less these days and better)

Sham Iamb @brucef0rte.io · 15/04/2026

Not at all what you asked sorry, but I'd actually recommend getting a cheap printer and getting them to get into Tinkercad with their mates at home. There's so much trial and error (mostly error) in printing and it takes so long to come out that it doesn't work out great on a facilitated basis.

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Laying down some atrocious beats in Farageband. It won't let me import or export anything

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John Wood @johnwood.org · 13/04/2026

Thank you for your service! :) A legszebb öröm a káröröm

John Wood @johnwood.org · 12/04/2026

Straight to a friterie. Always open!

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John Wood @johnwood.org · 03/04/2026

Yes, unless Liam fox thought the innovation only extended to the labelling.

2016 government tweet: "France needs high quality, innovative British jams & marmalades #EXportingisGREAT "

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John Wood @johnwood.org · 03/04/2026

Non-citrus marmalade? That sounds like a top notch "innovative jam" opportunity. Can't see the papers talking British manufacturers down on this one, shurely?

Government tweet grab from 2016. "France needs high quality, innovative British jams & marmalades #EXportingisGREAT"

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John Wood @johnwood.org · 30/03/2026

Nobody expects the three grand soups! The *four* grand soups...

Still from Monty Python's Spanish Inquisition sketch.

John Wood @johnwood.org · 13/03/2026

And none of them ever attempt to quantify the most fundamental question in evaluating a pen - How quickly does it break when you chew on it?

There's the problem. Just head across the tracks to pervie Seattle and you'll probably notice a few.

...anyhoo, I hadn't realised until reading this that Kant had beaten me to that one. I'll be sure to sound even more pseud next time I have to explain it :)

What happens when we're used to demanding work from a human-ish intelligence and being unquestioningly obeyed, no matter how idiotic? It's not a huge step to being demanding when interacting with real human intelligences. And as trade unionists know, steps like that can go very quickly at work.

It's not (as invariably gets suggested) because I'm worried the AI is taking notes, ready for the day it takes over and has a chance to get its own back. But rather it's more for my own sanity. I'm more worried about the potential of gen AI to make me into a diva. ...

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Do you have to be polite to AI?

I often get asked why whenever I',m demoing prompting generative AI to a group, I *always* use "please" in my prompts to Copilot, ChatGPT or whatnot ...

bbc.co.uk

The advice you get about talking to chatbots can be truly bizarre, and totally useless. Here's what actually works.

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John Wood @johnwood.org · 26/02/2026

Reform have pledged to rip up new rights for workers and renters, before most of them have even come in. These measures are going to help millions with life security and the cost of living. Please join the petition to stop Reform's steal!

megaphone.org.uk

Stop the steal: protect workers’ and renters’ rights!

Reform UK has just pledged to rip up legal protections for workers and renters. Sign this petition to stop the steal.

John Wood @johnwood.org · 25/02/2026

Also the 6% Tory bar is larger than the 11% other bars. I guess the simpler image is a rough sketch rather than generated from the data.

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John Wood @johnwood.org · 25/02/2026

Interested in why the Labour 28% is shorter than the Reform 28% in this Opinium image. Their chart on the Byline Times site shows them the same. Are there fractions here that aren't stated in Byline article? (can't see detail on Opinium site).

Another chart from the same poll, showing Labour and Green tied on all voter intention (28%, 28%, with Reform on 27%), and on likely to vote voters green ahead 30% to 28% and 28%, but with both 28% bars the same length unlike bars in original post, which have same number but different size bars.

John Wood @johnwood.org · 25/02/2026

No - I think they mean socialism gave us yellow safety warning signs on giant coffee cups. They are a very real danger if left in traffic without signs.

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John Wood @johnwood.org · 04/02/2026

D'oh! Should have known she would already have done that one 25 mins ago...

John Wood @johnwood.org · 04/02/2026

Defining the geekiness of social media posts: Maslow's Hierarchy of Skeets

Prospect Union @prospectunion.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

Reposted by John Wood

If you care about improving equality + fairness in tech, this webinar is for you. 👇 👇 Join us online on 11th February to unpack this crucial question: what needs to change to achieve real gender equality in tech? 🔗 Register to be part of the conversation ➡️https://bit.ly/3NUxAJr 🗓️ 11 Feb 🕟 6pm

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John Wood @johnwood.org · 30/01/2026

Trick question. The trolley would not be running, as signalling workers would be striking over management demands for repeated unreasonable ethical dilemmas.

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John Wood @johnwood.org · 21/01/2026

Or if you love eels but can frankly take or leave penises, I can recommend the Reading version with added pants to remove any disruption to your eel-spotting.

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John Wood @johnwood.org · 16/01/2026

And it was such fun that he wants to do it again?

GMB Union @gmb.org.uk · 16/01/2026

Reposted by John Wood

On this day in 1855 Eleanor Marx, a co-founder of our union, was born. She was at the forefront of the fight for the 8 hour working day and consistently fought for justice & equality. Today we celebrate all her achievements 👏

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John Wood @johnwood.org · 05/01/2026

I had a red version aged 9 and being less ballsy a kid than Rob I was too embarrassed to wear it. Partly because my mum had given me a shirt that said 'shit' on it. But also it didn't really look the part with the pork pie hat and two tone scarf I'd saved up my pocket money for.

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John Wood @johnwood.org · 17/12/2025

Erasmus changed my life 30 years ago by letting me study in Germany. It broadened my horizons, deepened my understanding and gave me friends across Europe. I'm so glad other UK young people will get this opportunity again - a peaceful, prosperous and happy continent needs it.

etuc.org

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Trades Union Congress @tuc.org.uk · 16/12/2025

🚨BREAKING: Employment Rights Bill passes in the House of Lords and will become law. This is an historic day for working people across the country, and the trade unions who represent them.

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John Wood @johnwood.org · 16/12/2025

But even more importantly new collective rights for workers in their unions to rebalance power at work. Ending anti-union laws, union access rights, trialling sectoral bargaining, modern balloting rights. That stuff is going to help unions make up for years of declining standards at work.

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John Wood @johnwood.org · 16/12/2025

Big new individual rights on Zero-hours contracts, parental & bereavement leave, protection for whistleblowers and against harassment...

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Aaron Sojourner @aaronsojourner.org · 06/12/2025

I hate this for us

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John Wood @johnwood.org · 28/11/2025

Oh totally. The person who did it will have been junior and made a cock up, which but for the grace loads of us would have. They certainly learned a lesson, and won't do that again! But you want this kind of thing to find its way into systems that kick in when you get publications of this magnitude.