iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mark Allan @markxa.com · 28/08/2026

If you see this, post your getaway vehicle

Mark Allan @markxa.com · 07/08/2026

Repost with a picture of the very first game you remember playing (This was my first video game, first computer game was on a teletype 😅)

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Mark Allan @markxa.com · 03/08/2026

Ever more of the PRs I'm getting for review these days

The meme -

i ain't reading all that
i'm happy for u tho
or sorry that happened

100

Mark Allan @markxa.com · 18/07/2026

Stop scrolling and post two characters who bring you happiness.

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Mark Allan @markxa.com · 16/07/2026

Describe yourself in three characters

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Mark Allan @markxa.com · 28/06/2026

Sadly I'm drinking Beamish.

A vintage white enameled sign in a pub that reads "Ask for your GUINNESS Cellar Cool. To ensure that your GUINNESS is served at the correct temperature in hot weather a Cool Shelf has been installed in this House. Next time try your GUINNESS served Cellar Cool"

000

Mark Allan @markxa.com · 20/06/2026

Got a pair of clip-on earbuds and I'm never going back. Comfortable enough to wear all day without getting irritated (unlike in-ear buds), great sound quality (unlike bone conduction), and I can still hear what's going on around me (noise cancellation fans may look elsewhere).

A photo of somebody's ear wearing a clip earbud

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Mark Allan @markxa.com · 15/04/2026

Am enjoying the holiday in case anyone was wondering

The view down from Castell de Santa Bàrbera in Alicante down to the Mediterranean, which is bathed in sun.

140

Mark Allan @markxa.com · 05/04/2026

Top tier Easter breakfast

A pain au chocolat from Spar, marked down to 34p

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Mark Allan @markxa.com · 15/02/2026

Marcus du Sautoy, Jim Al-Khalili and Alice Roberts one after the other, each giving a fascinating talk (did you know Jackson Pollock's work is fractal in nature?). Extremely solid day at @niscifest.bsky.social all round 🧠

Marcus du Sautoy on stage in the Whitla Hall. The slide shows the cover of A Mathematician's Apology alongside the quote "A mathematician like a painter or poet is a maker of patterns. I am interested in mathematics only as a creative art".

Jim Al-Khalili on stage in the Whitla Hall. The screen shows the title slide of his presentation "Quantum 2.0 - From 'spooky' physics to technological revolution"

Alice Roberts on stage in the Whitla Hall. The slide shows a small stone engraved with a cross next to a measuring stick

031

Mark Allan @markxa.com · 28/01/2026

Just got home from The Bone Temple ...

Your private part is named after the last movie or TV show you watched. What is yours?

000

Mark Allan @markxa.com · 18/01/2026

Separating the art from the artist.

3 panel Peanuts comic of a sad Charlie Brown sitting on a bench finishing his lunch, standing up and walking slowly away. The speech bubbles say "So you go and stand on your own", "And you leave on your own", "And you go home and you cry and you want to die"

000

Mark Allan @markxa.com · 27/12/2025

This is my origin story. I know, I could knock you down with a feather.

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter. The book is subtitled "A metaphorical fugue on minds and machines in the spirit of Lewis Carroll"

4473

Mark Allan @markxa.com · 24/12/2025

How I'm turning up to the Bluesky Christmas party.

000

Mark Allan @markxa.com · 05/12/2025

“What was the first code editor you ever used?”

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Mark Allan @markxa.com · 05/12/2025

Good work, Guardian caption writer.

A photo of Donald Trump standing next to the FIFA Peace Prize (yes, it's a thing). The caption reads "Donald Trump with the First Annual Montgomery Burns Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence"

010

Mark Allan @markxa.com · 02/12/2025

Bless it, YouTube Music's 2025 recap has tried very hard to get excited about the fact that I only use it to shuffle one playlist

A list of my top 5 tracks, which are all from Robert Fripp's "Music For Quiet Moments" playlist

010

Mark Allan @markxa.com · 07/11/2025

Took me ages to work it out, but selecting "Following" here gives you a plain chronological feed

110

Mark Allan @markxa.com · 16/10/2025

It is 2 days until I go to Tokyo and I am in no way prepared. Nor will my head let me work out exactly what it is I need to do in order to become prepared, it just knows I'm not.

A cartoon mushroom holds its head and screams over a scrolling background of "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA..."

120

Mark Allan @markxa.com · 11/10/2025

Made these down the pub this afternoon (painting TBD once dry)

A reindeer, Santa and Christmas pudding made of modelling clay

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Mark Allan @markxa.com · 11/09/2025

Today I'm at BSides Belfast with my security hat on.

A conference slide about a perfectionist vision of a detection pipeline

050

Mark Allan @markxa.com · 02/09/2025

Achievement unlocked: driving Route 66. (Also, mariachi frogs)

A traditional Route 66 surrounded by three metal frogs playing their metal instruments.

120

Mark Allan @markxa.com · 01/09/2025

Really captures Marilyn's enigmatic beauty I think.

A hand-painted picture on a shop wall showing Elvis, Marilyn Monroe and James Dean. A creditable effort but not 100% accurate.

110

Mark Allan @markxa.com · 23/08/2025

The pub I'm in has a pool table in the beer garden. I'm pretty sure I've never seen that before.

000

Mark Allan @markxa.com · 28/07/2025

Things the world does not need.

"More opinion" (the title of a section in a news app)

040

Mark Allan @markxa.com · 17/07/2025

Oh dear. How sad. Never mind.

000

Mark Allan @markxa.com · 05/07/2025

Street's first paramilitary flag has gone up. Yay.

Red brick terraced houses with 4 flags flying - a Union Flag, a UVF flag, a Queen's Platinum Jubilee flag and a Red Hand Of Ulster flag

010

Mark Allan @markxa.com · 30/06/2025

Alanis was excellent and only slightly damp. Also I need that guitar.

The stage at Belsonic in Ormeau Park. Alanis Morrisette and her band are on the stage, small and far away. Fortunately a very large Alanis is on the screen at the side of the stage so you can see her beautiful glittery guitar.

010

Mark Allan @markxa.com · 12/06/2025

Am I the only person in Ireland who didn't know that Pusheen is a transliteration of the Irish word puisín (meaning kitten)?

100

Mark Allan @markxa.com · 10/06/2025

Got a bit of Lego done but my brain has been mush all day so that's as much I can manage, time for bed 😪

A box with a picture of a completed Lego (Chinese version) panda on it, next to an instruction sheet, a pile of bricks and 3 layers of actual completed panda.

000

Mark Allan @markxa.com · 02/06/2025

Somebody showing off that they can afford a bin in Cambridge.

A wheelie bin with "1 High Worth" painted on it

011

Mark Allan @markxa.com · 21/05/2025

Got home, thought I might pop out the back door for a kebab tonight. But no, there's some sort of birthday offer on so no kebab for me (well not before I starve anyway!)

A kebab shop with a very long queue coming out of the door. You can just about see a Happy Birthday banner in the window.

000

Mark Allan @markxa.com · 18/05/2025

Oh look, they wrote my biography.

A book titled "I'm not ignoring you: I'm just overwhelmed - A memoir"

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Mark Allan @markxa.com · 17/05/2025

Lovely day for a trans rights march.

Lots of people marching towards Belfast City Hall carrying trans rights banners

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Mark Allan @markxa.com · 30/04/2025

I have shit to do, but this is approximately how I feel right now.

Wile E Coyote flattened on the ground after falling from a great height

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Mark Allan @markxa.com · 22/03/2025

Today I will be mostly in the National Museum.

The front door of the National Museum of Ireland (Archaeology)

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Mark Allan @markxa.com · 10/03/2025

For the first time since late January, I'm not going out any of the evenings this week. Which given how wiped I am already is probably a good thing.

A cat sleeping on a desk covered in papers

001

Mark Allan @markxa.com · 23/02/2025

Repost the first album you bought with your own money

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Mark Allan @markxa.com · 13/02/2025

My eyes feel like they're twice their usual size and trying to escape. Might be time for decongestant.

Marty Feldman with googly eyes, one rotating

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Mark Allan @markxa.com · 11/02/2025

Nice wee arrangement on the platform at Penrith station 🐑

A couple of planting boxes dressed up as sheep with some luggage scales between them that have a teddy bear sitting on them. British Rail steps are on either side, one has a pair of hiking boots on it.

010

Mark Allan @markxa.com · 01/02/2025

Coffee and a custard doughnut. Because I'm worth it.

A coffee and a caramel custard doughnut with a bite taken out of it sitting on a table in Greggs

020

Mark Allan @markxa.com · 29/01/2025

Just had some gloriously rancid goat's cheese courtesy of Mike's Fancy Cheese. 😋

000

Mark Allan @markxa.com · 29/01/2025

The team's new feature is going out in a 5:30pm release, but everything will be fine and I will not have to roll anything back this evening. Probably.