iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

Right UK peeps, it's #BankHolidayChallenge time. This involves doing what you want, where you want, when you want, as long as it makes you happy. This only applies to people who's jobs are not vital. Sorry.

The view from a high Cliffe overlooking the bay between Saltburn and the mouth of the Tees. Blue sky, dotted with clouds close to land, the waves rolling in from right to left.

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Reposted by Karis Lou Sirak

Tits McGee @scientits.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

Talking of banger tweets

David Hughes tweet, 2015

Judas: still on for Friday?
Jesus: Friday?
Judas: yeah, the last supper
Jesus: the what?
Judas: supper. Normal supper with the fellas

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Recommend the latest podcast from Jamie Bartlett: Everything is Fake (and Nobody Cares). It's weirdly reassuring. Like Things Fell Apart, but for where we are now. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

bbc.co.uk

BBC Radio 4 - Everything Is Fake

Fake is the new real. Jamie Bartlett investigates.

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

There was a hedgehog outside my front door last night. I think our patch might be the last stronghold in the sea of concrete and plastic grass for the once common creatures. It made me incredibly happy to see it. It's the little thing keeping me going. 🦔

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 14/03/2026

Willingly sits indoors on the weekend for a fascinating set of talks on water folklore, folk horror, and elves and dwarfs.

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

Reading historical fiction, England in the medieval period, which just described a duvet on a four-poster bed. Can't keep reading it. I want my news distractions to be engaging and at least attempt accuracy...

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

Just been looking online for a book that was sat next to me on the desk, so, yeah, how's your brain doing right now?

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

I've just had a delivery from the most zen and ethereal postman, I feel like this parcel might unleash the magic of the realm.

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

A spate of double spacing is haunting this document I'm editing, and it's driving me insane. It's like it's been possessed by word processors of yore, ghost written by an old soul to curse my very existence. Why ?

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

Archive 81 on the webfilm is superb - like I wanted House of Leaves to be (still a superb book, just not met the full expectations) mixed with a strong dose of Lovecraft and Beyond the Veil podcast (as A81 began life). An absorbing watch.

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

Snowy scenes up here on the Yorkshire Teesside Coast. #winter

A woodland covered in snow with a pond iced over

A path through stub to woodland covered in crisp white snow.

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

Some Solstice birds from yesterday: heron, robin, long-tailed tit (a fluffball with a tail), and a female blackbird. I love observing these "common" beauties. #birds

A heron hunched on the edge of water in a marshand

A robin sat on a branch of a tree bare of leaves

A long tailed tit in a bush bare of leaves, but sprinkles with red berries

A female blackbird in a tree, not leaves, but the beaches are green with moss and dotted with red berries

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Reposted by Karis Lou Sirak

Glennyrodge @glennyrodge.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

In these challenging times someone might need one of them: Childline: 0800 1111 Samaritans: 116 123 Domestic Violence Hotline: 0808 2000 247 Mind: 0300 123 3393 Age UK: 0800 169 6565 Alcoholics Anonymous : 0800 9177 650 Cruse Bereavement Care: 0808 808 1677 MH text support: 85258

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

Nothing surprises me anymore, but the fact that these are all still going makes me apoplectic.

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

Tried writing on an offline word processor program without any input. Whilst I was productive, I realised in editing that I am closer to being illiterate than a wordsmith. It's a good job no one needs to read my handwritten work anymore too. Without technology my writing is illegible to anyone else.

media.tenor.com

a cartoon character is holding a piece of paper and wearing a hat .

ALT: a cartoon character is holding a piece of paper and wearing a hat .

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

Got this week's target editing done in the manuscript. Now to try and get some semblance of Christmas spirit over the weekend with a Christmas read, and related activities.

Front cover of Val McDermod's Christmas is Murder: A Chilling Short Story Collection. Although a joke, I will be reading this this weekend. The cover features a wood cut style illustration of a snowy countryside, a robin in the foreground, two shadow figures walking towards a cottage in the distance.

A lego version of myself in a Dr Who themes Christmas jumper, holding a gingerbread house.

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

Today is Christmas Jumper day at one of the places I work. Do you think this counts?

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Well this book is an absolute blooming delight, just what's needed in December. "The Dead of Winter: The Demons, Witches and Ghosts of Christmas" - Sarah Clegg. Going to try and source Clegg's previous work "Women's Lore" too. #WhatAreYouReading

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

Watched the Sycamore Gap Doc on Channel 4 last night on live TV like the old days. Fictional detectives are all about profiling, lab analysis, and interrogation. Real-life detectives: tip-offs, checking CCTV, and looking at a suspect's phone.

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

Currently feeding my longest held interests by reading Adam Allsuch Boardman's An Illustrated History of Urban Legends. It seems to be the best distraction from the world right now.

A silhouette of a bat human or moth human hybrid in front of a yellow moon with pink haze, with the title of the book in yellow and pink, all on a black background.

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

Fungi in the frost for today's walk. Panaeolus foenisecii for the fungi fiends. #Fungi 🍄❄️

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 16/11/2025

Stottie fungi (barm, bap, bun, bread) growing alongside a regular route.

A brown grey mushroom or fungi growing in a cluster in the grass. One is round like a bread bun.

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

Was in an online meeting with terrible sound and no video, thought someone said "I've got two cats today" but they said caps, as in jobs. I would've preferred to be meeting with the cats.

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

Here are some recent photos of moss and fungi which I particularly like, enjoy. #Fungi

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

A conversation with teenagers about social media, the fundamental difference is that they see it as entertainment, not as a means to make connections. That's what it's become, a media source, whereas us oldies are still chasing the social bit. This was a revelation to me, and feel slightly unburned.

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

Day 3 of sitting in very uncomfortable chairs listening to people talk about interesting things. Hoping that today is a revelation...

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

This week I've mostly been collecting material for my game "Corporate or Cult?" and let me tell you it's a difficulty hard rating.

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Reposted by Karis Lou Sirak

Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

Calling English a 'rip-off degree' is one of the most blatant exhibitions of personal barbarism I've ever seen. You've demonstrated nothing but the poverty of your own mind.

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 06/10/2025

But, libraries aren't very well protected either...

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

It was a two walks kind of day yesterday. Today is a yoga kind of day. Distraction is the name of the game right now. It'll all be okay🤞

Where the sand dunes meet the shore, a sea of grass, blue sea, blue sky peeking through white whisky clouds. A massive washed up tree trunk on the beach.

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 13/09/2025

Been for a walk, now making a proper meal from scratch, these are things I heartily recommend doing right now because while the world is going into darkness and there's not a thing you can do about it, you can distract yourself and take moments of joy from the small things.

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

Well this book hits hard. Tired of reading the same spooky tropes and guessing what was going to happen, I picked up Lafcadio Hearn's Some Japanese Ghosts from the Amnesty Book shop in Newcastle. Needless to say, it's anything but predictable 👻 #ReadingGhostStories 📚

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

This reminds me of when someone painted a large phallus on the school field in white paint, and the caretaker just cut out the paint from the grass, so you could still see the shape for ages. Not sure whether both examples are covert support.

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

Mini week motivation fellow PhDers

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

My nearest conker tree has had its lowest branches all lopped off before the conkers had a chance to drop. The kids won't be able to reach them easily now. *Shakes head in a melancholic fashion*

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 05/09/2025

Went to a public lecture recently in an old theatre that is now a nightclub. Used to go to the nightclub years ago. It still has the same smell, the same inexplicable heat in the upper floors, the same warren-like structure which meant you lost people regularly. Still the same random eccentricness:

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Reposted by Karis Lou Sirak

Dr Sue Oosthuizen @drsueoosthuizen.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

What research! What a story! It seems the statue of the winged lion in Venice may have been a tomb guardian brought from China by Niccolò & Maffeo Polo - &, once in Venice, it was modified to resemble the Republic’s emblem – the winged lion of St Mark ... www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

theguardian.com

Venice’s Lion of St Mark’s Square was at least part made in China, study suggests

Isotope analysis finds copper ore came from Yangtze River basin while statue could be a repurposed Tang Dynasty tomb guardian

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

Watched Versailles, The Musketeers, and Marie Antoinette in a row. They are now the definitive versions in my mind, down to the actors who appear in various roles meaning that those characters are canonically related, and there were several men in iron masks. Historical accuracy.

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 31/08/2025

Hedgehog in the garden last night, an absolute whopper I'm happy to report 🦔

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 30/08/2025

Making me think of Cris whose mother read The Communist Manifesto as a bedtime story. He always delivered lectures looking at points well above our heads. Cycled everywhere. Once gave us all a copy of Thomas Hardy's The Oxen at Christmas and read it to us with such reverence.

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

Lone Canada Goose wandering round a priory garden.

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

A middle-aged person asked why farmers put so much time and field space into just growing hay and straw. It's harvest time near us right now, and they've lived here most of their life. The same person talks non-stop about investing in alternative currencies. I think I'd like to be alone for a while.

media.tenor.com

a green john deere combine harvester is working in a field of wheat

ALT: a green john deere combine harvester is working in a field of wheat

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

What's the most niche Angel of the North merch or ephemera money can buy? This is a window crystal. #AngelOfTheNorth

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 29/06/2025

Submitted the PhD thesis, went for a walk in the sea, saw a lovely poppy patch (pictured). Little breather before we start preparing for the Viva (start the PGR Summer School tomorrow). #PhDLife #PhDMilestone

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

Investigative podcasts peaked with "Death In Ice Valley" re: Isdal woman. I've listened to two podcasts back to back which have used the most spurious information prevented as factual evidence, totally obscuring the very important messages about social injustices which were part of it. Infuriating.

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

Visit to the library yesterday - free book: one of the Reading Agency Quick Read titles, "The Suprise Visitor" by Cathy Bramley. These are great original stories. I know I'm not the target market, but these make great back pack books (emergency reads) 🎒📖 #LoveLibraries

Book mark and book on a light wood desk. The Surprise Visitor by Cathy Bramley (2025). Tagline: "Two best friends. Two big secrets."

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