iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

8*(4*9 - 2) - 3 Who needs big numbers?

Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Also: If Tim Stanley is one's chosen standard-bearer for a return of sanity to conservatism, then one is a lot further from sanity than one realises.

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Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

If one has to tell people that one's concerns are legitimate, then the chances are very low that the concerns are in fact legitimate. There must be a word to describe this situation: where the use of a word intended to bolster a point instead conveys that the point is tendentious.

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Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

and that 'pony play' is a very different beast to 'horseplay'?

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Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

A former colleague's habitual email sign-off prefix was "KR". I haven't received a passive-aggressive sign-off style that conveys contempt more clearly than that. "You aren't even worth typing 'Kind Regards' in full". And she used it to absolutely everybody.

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Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Creswell Crags in the sunshine yesterday morning

A lake extending along a valley with vertical, rocky, sides. Trees grow along the tops of the sides, and a path runs around the lake. The sun shines gently from a blue sky above.

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Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Baffled how few of your regular correspondents have gone for (10+1)*(9+2)*(7-1) here

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Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Joined a band tour en route once. "Hello, I'm Dave" "Oh, then you're Dave 6" Had a Dave group photo at the end.

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Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

And still Richard Littlejohn has his job

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Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

And 2022 was successive days, not widely separated peaks

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Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

So many conversations with the Scottish in-laws this summer: "It's going to be really hot up here" "Oh no! How hot is it going to be?" "We might get 25" Us in Oxford: "..." <raising eyebrows at each other in mutual "aargh" as yet another week rolls past where that would be the lowest max>

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Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Honestly a moment of disappointment in learning this

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Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

The BBC is huge. Some bits are great. Others are compromised by fashy infiltration, and it can vary by individual. It's never been as neutral as it says, but it used to try. For UK news, I find Byline Times consistent actual journalism, and their Trans coverage seems sane too. Much smaller though.

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Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

The idea that the UK justice system is fundamentally fair has taken a heavy knocking of late, with the FWS judgement another blatant poke in the eye for fairness enthusiasts, seemingly engineered by underhand means. The "GL" part of GLP starts to seem more and more of general importance.

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Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Strong agree. Identical outputs can have differing values. Relatedly, this world <gestures around> never lets us experience boredom. But... Boredom is vital for creativity. We have to actively suppress the background to find creative space now. I think this is a huge problem for creativity.

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Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

I feel like this must be round the houses, but this is how it worked out on a first look: 4*(7 + 6*(25 + 10 + 1))

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Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Reform's unthinking parroting of US-specific culture war lines may yet be the undoing of them. This kind of action is so alien to the UK, and cannot help but make them look quite mad even to their supporters.

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Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

There's probably a name for this already. If not, I suggest The Pratchett Paradox, or something long and German. Nichtpratchettvergleichenerlaubenkeitseit

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Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

This is how Jasper Fforde was put to me. And Fforde is not terrible. In fact, I think he's very good. But comparing to Pratchett... I see why one would - fantasy farce with real subtext. But anything actually worth being compared to Pratchett deserves to stand on its own merits, and so shouldn't be.

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Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

You probably know this dodge already: web.archive.org can usually see it even if you can't. This is how I read Guardian articles almost exclusively these days...

web.archive.org

Wayback Machine

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Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

One might suspect that the Oxford Mail has been running this model for some while now, judging by the quality of its output

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Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Yes, it's really striking, isn't it? Needs at least some experience of both broad cultures to believe it, but really slaps one around the face immediately on doing so. Religious affiliation in the US has sharply decreased over time, and continues to. I wonder when the mindset tipping point occurs.

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Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

It feels simultaneously six months and sixty years ago, doesn't it?

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Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

People are so bad at evaluating risks objectively. One time years ago a then-gf was working in Chicago, living centrally in the city and working in the western suburbs. A shooting (which had one victim, as I recall) on the south side came to my stepmother's attention, so she rang up in a panic...

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Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

e.g. All technical work outsourced to another company, wholly-owned. Only employees of original company are the C suite. I guess legislating against this kind of top-heavy ratio would be possible.

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Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

This was a house of many fart jokes last night

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Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

Everyone seems to have decided that it's expedient to abandon trans people. It is such BS. Obviously Labour (of whom I'm still a member, voting against transphobes for positions) are the most disappointing of all on this front, but so few others are willing to stand up for the victims here.

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Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

At the top of the thread, I'd pondered if you were EO or OWAB. I have confidence that Moran is well on side for trans people. Otoh, I have written to Dodds several times to emphasise how unhappy I am that Labour is being shitty to them, and received nothing meaningful back.

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Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

I do hope they enjoy me noodling along to the hold music

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Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

My second guess is Blackness Castle, btw

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Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

Comes with manual, various bits. Also a set of slides of plant and animal samples (see pics). Also comes with a second microscope, slightly smaller in a second box.

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Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

Attic clearout... Soviet microscope going free. Worth about £100 if eBay is a reliable guide. Don't want to post it. In Oxford, UK.

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Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

This is top quality trail-leaving. "Oo, I wonder where that is" "Oo, Movies Silently is in Edinburger!" "There aren't many stately homes near Edinburgh..." "<to Edinburgh-born wife> Where do you reckon?" "Probably Hopetoun?" Is it Hopetoun House?

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Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

A pest control company, you say? Well, that is not a surprise.

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Dave Taylor @moomindave.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Detaching one's ego here pays so many dividends. Not only is one completely liberated from any urge to BS, but one gains the superpower of adopting the learning posture habitually.

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