iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Micah @rincewind.run · 27/09/2026

Discworld QOTD, from The Wee Free Men

Witches are naturally nosy,” said Miss Tick, standing up. “Well, I must go. I hope we shall meet again. I will give you some free advice, though.”
“Will it cost me anything?”
“What? I just said it was free!” said Miss Tick.
“Yes, but my father said that free advice often turns out to be expensive,” said Tiffany.
Miss Tick sniffed. “You could say this advice is priceless,” she said, “Are you listening?”
“Yes,” said Tiffany.
“Good. Now...if you trust in yourself...”
“Yes?”
“...and believe in your dreams...”
“Yes?”
“...and follow your star...” Miss Tick went on.
“Yes?”
“...you’ll still be beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren’t so lazy. Goodbye.

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Micah @rincewind.run · 18/09/2026

“the universe didn’t care because it didn’t know what ‘fair’ meant” has stuck with me for a long time there’s no grand cosmic force out there who’s going to pause the whole thing and balance it out, if you want to change something that’s unfair you’re going to have to do it yourself

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John T @jtatlife.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Literal heroes who sacrifice their time and risk their lives to save strangers getting harrassed and attacked for *not* leaving a subset of strangers to die a lonely death at sea. This is sick. That should be the the least controversial position in British politics. If it isn't, Britain is sick

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John T @jtatlife.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

"I have neither the time nor the crayons to explain this to you" is going to be my go-to reply for those times that my patience finally snaps

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John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 31/08/2026

Unsurprisingly my bugbear on this, but there is a real failure to appreciate the sort of places you have to win to form a government if you don't have Tory MPs in places like Woking.

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Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

One way you know Dolly Parton lived life the right way: I don’t think anyone’s going to get fired for accurately quoting Dolly Parton today.

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Big Joel @bigjoel.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Dolly Parton was one of those people where it’s just fun that they were alive at the same time you are

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Dan Davies @dsquareddigest.bsky.social · 20/09/2024

in general, speaking as someone who once got more than half my calorie intake from client entertainment, the proverb was always "there are two kinds of booze, free booze and booze you pay for, and the difference is that free booze is more expensive"

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John T @jtatlife.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

"He was dull in company, dull in his closet, dull everywhere. He was dull in a new way, and that made many people think him GREAT" relevant Johnson quote for our age

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John T @jtatlife.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

This is a brilliantly pithy summary of the soon to be ex-PM.

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Odd This Day @oddthisday.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

I’m also reminded of the Ron Funches quote: “Raising a child is like taking care of someone who’s on way too many shrooms, while you yourself are on a moderate amount of shrooms. I am not confident in my decisions, but I know you should not be eating a mousepad.”

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Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

It’s a shame the USA’s 250th anniversary comes when it’s clearer than ever that the project (as outlined by the founders, not in terms of economic or military might) has failed on its own terms. The 200th fell in the aftermath of Watergate so maybe these anniversaries are jinxed

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John T @jtatlife.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

15 top TV shows ever, gut instinct edition (in no particular order) Shogun HBO's Rome The Good Place Friends Firefly Star Trek TNG Reacher The X-Files (S1-3) Elementary Stargate SG1 House Mad Men Simpsons (S2-10) Ted Lasso (S1) How I Met Your Mother

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Sloosecannon @sloosecannon.io · 22/04/2026

Yeah I think this is the more nuanced take. C suite types don't like HR because they're the ones who stop them from harassing the interns. Line staff don't like HR because they're the ones who pass on the message that they're fired.

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John T @jtatlife.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

The EU is perhaps also a factor in Orbàn not going down the Erdoğan route and simply arresting Magyar. Just enough space was left for this, because Hungary has some external checks & balances

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RedruM @dorsalstream.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

The horse op-ed is an instant classic. I can't tell you how much joy this piece gives me. It should be taught in every introductory writing class in no small part because the horse arguments are so compelling. "I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children."

I Work Very Hard, And I Would Like To Try Cake

By A Horse

Hello. I am a horse. I work very hard at my job of being a horse. When humans say move the heavy thing, I move the heavy thing. When humans sit on top of me and pull on my head, I carry them where they want to go. The main food the humans give me is hay and oats. But I am thinking it would be nice to have a different food.

I am thinking I would like to try cake.

Yes, yes. Cake. I know all about it. When humans eat cake, it is in glad times. It is the food for a celebration, such as when a woman becomes 47. I have seen cake on the Fourth of July. When humans have a cake, they stand around it and clap hands and smile and say happy birthday at each other. Sometimes there are beautiful markings on a cake, such as balloons or a pink shape.

Sometimes the top of a cake is on fire and a boy must blow on the fire with mouth wind. This is the scariest cake. I do not want this kind. But I will eat any other cake. Any cake that is not the fire cake that tries to kill the boy.

Please understand: I do not get money for doing work. I do not get to go inside the house. All I am either doing my horse job or standing in my pen or eating food off the floor. I always do these things. But I have never once gotten cake and I would like it very much.

I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children. I am more helpful to the farm. Children do not move the heavy things like me or let anyone ride on them. And yet they get cake. Maybe the humans will realize this. Maybe they will say, "You know who deserves cake? That horse. That horse whose back we are always on."

Every day I dream about what it will be like if I get to eat cake. Here is what will happen. First, I will walk to the cake and putt my nose at it like hrrfff to make and stomping my hooves to make sure it is not a snake. Then I will trot in a circle to show that I am a horse and I am large. After that, I will nuzzle the cake to …

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John T @jtatlife.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

To position this a little bit, and assuming some exaggeratiion: For every 2 Russian boys born last month, 1 Russian man was killed or maimed in Ukraine For comparison, in 1968 during the height of the Vietnam war, for every 100 US boys born, one American man was killed in Vietnam.

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John T @jtatlife.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

This seems entirely typical of the Israeli approach. Theoretically blowing up militia stations would reduce the regime’s control, but doing it with a 900kg bomb & so deliberately slaughtering dozens of other civilians strengthens regime support. It’s just crazed murder www.bbc.com/news/article...

bbc.com

Iran war: Inside Tehran as the civilian toll of US-Israeli strikes rises

One month since the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran, Tehran residents tell the BBC their lives have been devastated.

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Kate Bevan @katebevan.com · 23/03/2026

Destroying ambulances run by a Jewish group does not make you a good person: it makes you an anti-semite. And wanging on about "but Israel" as you seek to defend destroying ambulances run by a Jewish group similarly makes you an anti-semite.

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Hugo Gordon @hugogordon.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

One of my favourite facts is that the spiky tail of a stegosaurus didn't used to have a specific name, until Gary Larson published this Far Side cartoon, at which point "thagomizer" was adopted by paleontologists.

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John T @jtatlife.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

The last thing here is redolent of one the most famous sci-fi novels of this century, Liu Cixin's Dark Forest. In which an overwhelmingly technologically outmatched and surveilled humanity must give complete autonomy to its commanders to avoid plans being leaked

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Micah @rincewind.run · 12/03/2026

I am forever grateful that Terry Pratchett was with us as long as he was and it was not even close to enough his work made me a better person, and I do not think I'm alone in that GNU Terry Pratchett, we are so much poorer without you

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Joshua Reed Eakle 🗽 @joshuaeakle.com · 11/03/2026

This is hilarious. Also, completely enraging.

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John T @jtatlife.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

US officers are concerned because these posts are not posts of warriors, they're the posts of executioners. And nobody respects executioners, themselves least of all

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John T @jtatlife.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

So there's been a 'war' on for a week now, during which the aggressors have suffered 6 deaths (from two hits) and their victims have suffered thousands. As van Creveld once said, at these proportion of loss it's not war, it's massacre. People involved are not warriors but butchers.

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Henry Snow @henrys.now · 02/03/2026

as far as I can tell the US wants Iran to become Venezuela, while Israel wants it to become Libya

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John T @jtatlife.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

At least the 'strategic analysis' community' seems happy with the recent turn of events. I appreciate that the rule 'don't go around attacking other countries' was dull for them, but they don't seem to think it was *good* dull. I mean, 1900 was a very interesting time strategically....

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Chris Kendall @ottocr.at · 28/02/2026

Speaking as a private EU citizen, I am beyond embarrassed that our leaders and representatives criticise Iran while staying silent on the US and Israel. Values are supposed to be universal and if the EU has a point it has to be to defend universal values. That’s my EU.

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Rafael Behr @rafaelbehr.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

Very much this. Westminster relying on muscle memory of two-party politics is in no fit shape for politics as it is now playing out in the country.

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timoconnorbl.bsky.social @timoconnorbl.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

If criticism of breach of an ethical code only ever results in closed ranks with the offender against those complaining, there is no ethical code, simply lipstick on a pig of self-interest against the laity. Compare and contrast lawyers, who criticise ethical breaches *all the time*.

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

If nothing else, I think we can say that giving power to people who say the country’s problems are easy to fix has provided conclusively that the country’s problems are not in fact easy to fix - and that those people couldn’t arrange a mess in a kindergarten

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John T @jtatlife.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

If you see this, quote with a robot that isn’t from “Star Wars”, “Star Trek”, “Dr. Who”, or “Transformers.”

Ava, the experimental humanoid robot from 'Ex Machina'

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John T @jtatlife.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

The sad thing about Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is that the actors, the writers & the characters are well suited to a 22 episode/year format (The actors have charisma & are game, the writers like experimenting, and the characters are strong enough that just their interaction is good TV)

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Mickey Kuhns @mickeykuhns.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

A message from Greenland…

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Starfire’s Deranged Neocon Foreign Policy Podcast @irhottakes.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

*wisely, in my "I have read ten million books" voice If a bad person does a bad thing and nobody stops him, he will do a bad thing because he was not stopped.

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British Antarctic Survey 🐧 @bas.ac.uk · 21/01/2026

tragically, we actually have great internet

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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

CARNEY: “.. You cannot live within the lie of mutual benefit through integration when integration becomes the source of your subordination.” 🔥

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John T @jtatlife.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

Words cannot express what an absolute unit of a chicken I just walked past. 5-10 the volume of its buddy

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John T @jtatlife.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

Presumably most of Britain's cartoonists are already preparing something with Jenrick as a scorpion and Farage as a frog. 🦂 🐸

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timoconnorbl.bsky.social @timoconnorbl.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

The imperial presidency is just rolling the dice hoping you don’t throw a mad king. Sooner or later, you *will* throw a natural mad king.

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John T @jtatlife.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

Let the record show I have a lovely wife, four interesting kids, a house in a pleasant village, a job, enough money in the bank and a Christmas tree. It is enough, I want no more.

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John T @jtatlife.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

Happy to live in a country a) that's economically competitive and b) where our trashiest newspaper cheerfully leads with that news

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John T @jtatlife.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

Jesus - this toy remake has literally the best, widest cast of anything ever. Why is not more famous? It's a little masterclass in actors redoing classic scenes. And yes, the ending is suddenly even more moving

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John T @jtatlife.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Surely 12 monkeys escaped...

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John T @jtatlife.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

This is the problem with Europe that needs solving. A leading EU citizen has been kidnapped at sea by the thugs of a small, crappy neighbouring country and tormented by them. If this is to be borne, what is not be borne? It's pathetic.

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