iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 15h

On principle I’m not watching your podcast. In much the same way that I don’t go to the National portrait gallery to listen to the pictures.

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 16h

Fascinated by this picture on Sky News site. I’ve been to many petrol pumps over the years. But never, I think, rainbow 🌈 pumps. I’m guessing this is where the people who have “powered by pixie dust” bumper stickers fill up?

A row of petrol pumps with blue green tell red and black handles.

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 17h

Feel like Nigel was phoning it in a bit today.

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

There should be a “cobble-free” option on Google maps for cyclists in the rain.

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Reposted by Graeme Beale

Dr. Sarah Parcak @indyfromspace.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

On Easter Island, less is Moai

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Reposted by Graeme Beale

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Tweed is such a beautiful fabric to wear this time of year because it produces, in Dolly Parton's phrasing, a coat of many colors. Even a solid-colored brown is not just brown, but bits of red, blue, and yellow to produce something that looks lifted off the Scottish landscape.

There are two photos taped together. The top shows a brown stone building with a brown thatched roof. It's surrounded by green grass, stone walkways, and blue-gray sea. Below is a checked brown tweed that reflects the colors in the landscape above it.

There are two photos taped together. The one at te top shows a rocky hillside with green and straw-colored grass, gray rocks, and a tan sandy beach below. The blue waters are crashing at the shore. Below is a green herringbone tweed that reflects the colors in the landscape above it.

There are two photos taped together. The top shows a field of green and straw colored fields with bits of purple flowers. Below is a a series of checked brown tweed that reflect the colors in the landscape above it.

A swatch book of solid-colored tweeds. The green tweed has visible flecks of red, gold, and blue.

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

It is officially autumn. (I have had porridge for breakfast and turned the heating on as it was 15 degrees when I came downstairs.)

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

It's #Quaker week! In the last couple of years I've offered an AMA to anyone who wants to ask about #quaker things. Since no questions flooded in, this year I'm celebrating in a different way. I shall be rating pies 🥧 By how quaker they are. Feel free to suggest your favourite pie.

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Genuinely fascinated by the Scotland sections in this map. Like, what are the regions here? Fife seems to have ceded Newburgh/Tayport to Dundee, Perth and Kinross now extends to the west coast? Mesmerising.

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I rarely go on Facebook. Baffling AI slop like this is why. Yes there is a castle in the middle of Loch Leven... but... um??? Wot?

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Little vignette in the furniture project shop. Just overheard the best conversation here. “Oh that one’s nice. “ “Mum that table’s glass topped,” “Yeah it’s nice” “Just say you don’t like your grand weans.”

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Just did this 1.1 degree up here in Kinross, but looking at Oxford where we went in the summer it was more than 4 degrees. Just scorching.

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Who got up early to do uninterrupted survey analysis? Who just lost the last 3 hours with a network crash? 😵‍💫 Almost feel like a proper researcher again…

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

By your mid forties it is essential that you have at least half a dozen keys 🔑 of unknown origin. We don’t know why this is. Only that it is.

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I think I found the prize-winner for AI craft poster #slop on the Kinross notice board today. For the Christmas #craft fair. AI confirmation text left on at the bottom. “your festive poster is above”

Poster advertising a craft fair that says your festive poster is above

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I have spent time in the last couple of weeks looking through UKRI project bids for 'policy relevant projects'. Genuinely if you, as an academic, want to claim deep expertise why would you repeatedly misname organisations outside England, and/or assume their role is to 'translate Defra policy'? 🤷‍♀️

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Reposted by Graeme Beale

Dave Walker @davewalker.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

New cartoon: The RNLI

Cartoon titled “The RNLI: Some of the people they help,” showing six scenarios involving people rescued by the RNLI. Including a man caught by the tide, a YouTuber swimming without preparation, a middle-lane driver, a neighbour with different political opinions, a superyacht owner who forgot to refuel, and people crossing the Channel in a small boat. The final caption reads, “All human beings – all deserve saving.”

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

When you’ve had your annual vaccination and have finally been released. Morag was described by the vet as “a lady with a lot of opinions”.

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Little does she know that we’re heading to the vet for her annual vaccinations. 😬.

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Went to see Coyote vs ACME last night. Genuinely a good time, multiple generations laughing at the same film and chatting about it afterwards. Realised the teenagers have never seen Who framed Roger Rabbit? on the drive home, so that will have to be remedied.

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Reposted by Graeme Beale

Ben Paddon 🎃 @benpaddon.net · 13/09/2026

An AI flyer is a brown M&M test. If your event or business is cutting corners by using an AI flyer, where else are you cutting corners? What else are you cheating out on? Why should I be bothered to go somewhere you couldn't be bothered to promote with a little of your own personality?

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I think I missed it, but about 6 months ago I think someone put out a notice saying all community event notices must use the same AI template. As a regular community notice board reader, this has greatly reduced their interest and distinctiveness.

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Sending on for my #quaker folks. Joseph #Rowntree is definitely on the list in the classic PPC (Peace, porridge, and chocolate) style. [The three things folks have heard about us for.] Unfortunately the other thing is probably confusing us with the Amish. 🤷

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Morag removing the evidence that she’s snuck a corner of butter off the breakfast table.

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Just finished Shattered Lands by Sam Dalrymple. As someone who went to college in India I thought I knew a fair bit of the history. I can’t think of a book that has done a good job of making me look again- from Partition with a capital P to seeing a series of partitions covering half a continent.

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Seeing sugar described as “a sweetener” here. I shudder linguistically. Feels like being at the birth of the first time someone used the words acoustic guitar.

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Morag in apex predator mode

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Bought this yesterday. It will definitely solve things…

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Yous all know Toronto Matt, right?

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Can't believe there's folks who follow me but not the Scottish Land Commission, but just in case - an interesting piece of work going to evaluate their rural land reporting.

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Just heard a colleague is moving to an island croft. The official RESAS response is "my goodness, think of all the surveys we'll send you!" ✅📋✅

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Which civil servant just completed his mandatory GDPR training and is therefore absolutely, completely, and totally, up to date on their mandatory training(s)? This one! I shall nominate myself for the Order of the Safety Paperclip, or somesuch.

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Cat/laundry a a #cat #poem about trying to do the laundry whilst having a cat. I think “bandage scratches appropriately” may be my rosy fingered dawn. youtube.com/shorts/8Cd1D...

youtube.com

Cat/laundry

YouTube video

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Is it thunder? Or is it bin day? I heard the rumble, And looked outside. Now I’m running with, The garden waste, dear. It wasn’t thunder, It was the bins. GB 20th August 2026. With apologies to The Killers etc. Early morning #poetry

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Been watching The Pursuit of Jade in Netflix. I thought- oh another nice East Asian romance. That’ll do. I was not expecting the war crimes turn midseason I was not expecting the deep exploration of the aftermath of war crimes. Devastating show. But absolutely compelling.

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Just love rearranging all the suitcases when there’s no bike space left on the ember bus. Will I make everyone wait to get on? Yup. Will there be screams at the airport when people find their bags are in different places? Yup. Was this avoidable by keeping the pre-booked bike space free? Yup.

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

What publishers fail to realise about Bluesky is that it’s literally the home of #cat #poetry. Given the gender split on 🐈 poems, (80% blokes), could solve the “male literacy crisis.” I’m still waiting for the mighty people at Penguin Books to swoop in with a 2 or indeed 3 figure contract.

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

I always feel a sadness passing felled trees. I understand that wood comes from forests, and it’s a crop, an essential material for life. But it’s also possible to mourn a woodland. Even knowing it will regrow.

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Off to sing with the choir at the children’s hospice across Scotland (CHAS) day in Kirkgate park. Looks like we’ve got the weather for it. 😀

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Loch Leven looking quite good this summer. Zoom to see the castle.

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Survey season again. Sorry folks, as a civil servant, I'm just extremely unlikely to participate in student research projects. It's in the civil service management code: www.gov.uk/government/p... Where we make exceptions its nearly always for govt. funded research/evaluations or trusted academics.

4.2.8 Civil servants must not take part in their official capacities in surveys or research projects, even unattributably, if they deal with attitudes or opinions on political matters or matters of policy.

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Apparently it's world #cat day. So naturally a #poem. About Morag, and getting older. Full text in thread. youtube.com/shorts/kRP01...

youtube.com

Morag- the airing cupboard a cat poem for world #cat day.

YouTube video

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Re-upping. Open call tomorrow for interested folks.

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Scottish Government is #hiring #social #researchers. B2 is our entry level grade, for masters or PhD with an interest in applied social research. 2x 4yr posts initially, but with a reserve list. Apply by 20/08/2026 Pls share to folks! fa-evxn-saasfaukgovprod1.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

fa-evxn-saasfaukgovprod1.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com

Social Researcher

Want to help shape Scotland’s Census, informing the decisions that improve public services and capture the story of Scotland for generations to come?

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Bluesky needs a sports guy, is very much our pub quiz team circa 2008. History lady✅; politics guy✅; literature enby ✅; sports guy ❌🫤

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

For religious reasons I don’t celebrate the passing of any human life. There are however some people I would not light a candle in memory of. I feel that is enough.

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Have to assume this is a Heated Rivalry spin off?

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