iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 15/03/2026

was just on my way to let you know your old X account is hacked - what's the best way to report?

100 1

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 12/06/2025

that's a point, my British Leyland T-shirt has drifted out of my T-shirt rotation, wonder where I've put it.

000 0

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 24/03/2025

🚨 PhD Project Alert 🚨 UK and RoI students - here's a project looking at understanding how lowering methane emissions may change the quality profile of beef produced under typical UK/Ireland production systems. #phdprojects #phd #foodsecurity www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

020 2

Reposted by Dr Nick Birse

Mike Galsworthy @mikegalsworthy.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

How Labour abandoned its own legacy and betrayed Britain’s farmers… Post-war policies reshaped Britain’s agricultural scene, but today's neoliberal policies threaten both food security and farmers’ survival.

westenglandbylines.co.uk

How Labour abandoned its own legacy and betrayed Britain’s farmers

Oli Post-war policies reshaped Britain’s agricultural scene, but today's neoliberal policies threaten both food security and farmers’ survival

1615970 159

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 19/01/2025

it's very good, in the way most of the Chinese EVs are, but it's not a proper Volvo. The interior is very Scandinavian, but lots of those little thoughtful things Volvo used to do to improve safety with their interior ergonomics are missing, like easy to use heater controls, or a clear dashboard.

000 0

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 17/01/2025

I was always enormously fond of Joan's little cameo in 'Last Action Hero' as a teacher showing Laurence Olivier's Hamlet, though obviously it's things like Equus that Joan Plowright will rightly be remembered for. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Dame Joan Plowright: Acting legend dies at 95

She was one of Britain's most acclaimed stage and screen stars and the widow of Sir Laurence Olivier.

000 0

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 17/01/2025

What's with the soppy messages at Kings Cross - a child telling me not to clean my shoes on the escalator brushes and a random bloke talking about the gap between the train and platform being some sort of river or ribbon.

000 0

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 15/01/2025

Exciting to be able to announce a new major grant that Queen's University is a partner on, looking to improve supply chain resilience - a sister project to our RISC Network Plus reimagining supply chains project. www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/news/ifm-sec...

ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk

IfM News and Features

News and Features from Institute for Manufacturing (IfM), University of Cambridge.

010 1

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 14/01/2025

rear wiper but steel wheels - even at that money, VW still churning out MEB kit with steel wheels and Halfords wheel trims. The 'Drammen' alloys were lovely, especially with Honey Yellow paint - VW should have taken the financial hit and shipped all the ID range with alloys and more colour choice.

120 2

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 14/01/2025

yeah - it's little things like that which are missing from ID.3 and would make it feel higher quality/more premium.

020 2

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 14/01/2025

Why was Glen Sannox so hard to build ? 1. It's made of metal, which is harder to nail together than wood 2. It's very long so can't be assembled in a garage or shed 3. Chris de Burgh's refusal to pay the ferryman in advance caused a shortage of cash. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Why was Glen Sannox so hard to build?

The new CalMac vessel at the centre of Scotland's ferries saga has finally been delivered by Ferguson shipyard

000 0

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 14/01/2025

yes, but I do quite like the ID.4 and ID.5 interiors, though they could be higher quality still, and what the ID.4 got, that should have been the ID.3 level. The thing that annoys me most about the VW ID cars is the door feel, they lack weight and sound tinny when closing.

120 2

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 14/01/2025

but it has no rear wiper...

110 1

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 14/01/2025

It don't really know why it had to take Tony Slattery's extremely untimely death, but back to Whose Line on Channel 4 we go, and the mad mad world of Slattery next to Bond villain par-excellence Jonathan Pryce, plus Rory McGrath and John Sessions. www.channel4.com/programmes/w...

channel4.com

Whose Line Is It Anyway? - Series 1 Episode 7

Tony Slattery, Jonathan Pryce, Rory McGrath and John Sessions feature in this show

000 0

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 14/01/2025

Postdoc positions attached to my research group now available - will be recruiting for 2 positions through this advert (one for 3 years, one for 2.5 years). Supply chain, sustainability and resilience focused for someone interested in modelling and digital twins. hrwebapp.qub.ac.uk/tlive_webrec...

hrwebapp.qub.ac.uk

Job profile

000 0

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 14/01/2025

they're the masters of airport security scanners now - don't think I've been through an airport in the last decade which didn't have a Smiths Detection systems of some sort getting upset at my laptop or rucksack.

100 1

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 14/01/2025

Producing food is arguably the easy (well, easier) part - making sure all of that food is safe to eat and isn't going make human or animal consumers ill, that's the real challenge. #FoodSafety www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/food-produ...

000 0

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 14/01/2025

Really sad to hear about Tony Slattery's death - a former Rector of the University of Dundee, he was simply incredible on Whose Line, and then scene stealing in Kingdom. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Tony Slattery: Comedian and actor dies aged 65

He was known for his quick-witted improvisations on shows like Channel 4's Whose Line Is It Anyway.

000 0

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 13/01/2025

Is Nigel Farage really selling nappies over on X at the moment @mikegalsworthy.bsky.social ? It must surely be a wind-up.

Screenshot of Twitter/X showing Nigel Farage advertising nappies.

000 0

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 13/01/2025

I despair at Imperial - not knowing King Crimson or Brian Eno is entirely unforgivable. #universitychallenge

120 2

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 13/01/2025

Reports that the pool was being heated up by a janitor equipped with a Russell Hobbs kettle were neither confirmed nor denied by Perth and Kinross Council... www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/pert...

thecourier.co.uk

Perth Leisure Pool to reopen as 'temporary solution' found

The boiler issue remains unresolved.

010 1

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 12/01/2025

don't think anybody hates Scotland these days, it's more head scratching at the mess things are in Scotland - falling achievement in core subjects in secondary school, destitute colleges and essentially bankrupt universities. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

'Very worrying' pass rates for maths and science in Scotland

Education experts have found low attainment in subjects like maths and science in Scotland this year.

010 1

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 11/01/2025

PhD project alert - I'm co-supervising a mass spectrometry PhD, making use of our Waters TQ-Absolute system with DESI-XS imaging platform to develop faster, more sensitive food contaminant tests. Deadline 7th February. DMs open for queries. www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

A picture of a Waters TQ-Absolute triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer fitted with a Desorption ElectroSpray Ionisation (DESI) imaging platform source.

073 7

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 11/01/2025

almost all of the cadmium and quite a lot of the lead found in chocolate is naturally occuring - geogenic in origin. Good quality elemental analysis is easily capable of detecting hazardous levels and allowing mitigation to be put in place though.

100 1

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 08/01/2025

Average car mileage in the UK is now about 6500 miles per year (based on average via MoT mileage) and that's down by around 10% from prior to COVID in 2019, when it was about 7100 miles. www.bymiles.co.uk/insure/magaz...

bymiles.co.uk

MOT data shows the UK's mileage is still around lockdown levels.

A look at the 2023 MOT data to uncover mileage trends, the most reliable models, the best day to book your test - and much more.

110 1

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 05/01/2025

was thinking the same, the Crit'Air rules have presumably all but killed off the Mk.1 Twingo.

010 1

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 04/01/2025

unfortunately we're stuck with a government which is (at best) penny wise and pound foolish. They don't get that £1 invested in STEM today (whether it's university courses, facilities or apprenticeships) is £10 returned in 2035. And we're up against some countries who really get it.

000 0

Reposted by Dr Nick Birse

Alastair Jamieson @alastairjam.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

Our front page tomorrow @the-independent.com Five years on, the true cost of Brexit - in numbers

Independent edition front page showing statistics highlighting the cost of Brexit to Britain’s economy

146 6

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 04/01/2025

Just watching #1917 on TV tonight and remain staggered by the film, but also a little sad that I'm unlikely to see it in all its glory in a cinema again. The nighttime scene with the flares and fires remains one of the finest pieces of film I've seen in a cinema (the old Dublin Road Movie House).

000 0

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 04/01/2025

Vienna has maintenance trams but didn't see any lubricating tram like the Prague one when I was visiting over the summer.

A maintenance tram coupled to a freight wagon, seen in front of Austria's parliament building on the Ringstraße. The maintenance tram and wagon are in the rainbow flag colours, ready for the annual Vienna Pride procession.

020 2

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 04/01/2025

it's back! That's brilliant news, have genuinely missed it whilst the feed has been offline. We had a brief liaison in September 2022, don't think I saw the lubricating tram when I was out in November last year.

My photo of Prague's lubricating tram as it passes Praha Masarykovo nádraží. The photo shows an orange Tatra T3 tram modified to undertake maintenance tasks.

The tram's photo of me, having just finished taking a photograph of the tram. A man with his hands in his pockets stands in front of Praha Masarykovo nádraží.

100 1

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 04/01/2025

South Korea with nuclear weapons may be more dangerous than North Korea. They've an ineffective parliamentary and judicial system to keep the use of nuclear weapons under control, political games of the sort Yoon Suk Yeol has played in recent weeks could easily lead to nuclear war by accident.

210 2

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 04/01/2025

he's had a thing about them for the last half-dozen years, because, shock horror, he thought they would spoil the view from his golf course in Scotland... www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scot...

bbc.co.uk

Scottish government wins Donald Trump wind power legal costs

Donald Trump had claimed the 11-turbine wind farm off Aberdeen would spoil the view from his golf course.

010 1

Reposted by Dr Nick Birse

Dan Kaszeta FRHistS @dankaszeta.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

Who let the wanker in

5101 10

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 04/01/2025

at a time when we're needing to reduce the numbers of pets, particularly cats, to try and reverse their impact on biodiversity, this probably isn't the best of ideas. The energy and feedstocks needed to produce lab-grown meat still have to be produced and their carbon footprint isn't fully clear.

000 0

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 03/01/2025

I find myself tonight momentarily looking to see who Sean Lock has on his team as the camera pans around the studio and being sad for a minute when I remember he's sadly no longer with us. #CatsCountdown

110 1

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 03/01/2025

I think so - our local library had what I think were the WY85 keyboards on their terminals but that's 25 years ago. I last saw a Wyse terminal when I sold a pair in 2003-ish (I used to buy, refurb and sell old and unusual IT equipment).

000 0

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 02/01/2025

love that the box has their old logo, which hasn't been customer facing for 25 years now. Tesco/their suppliers do the same.

100 1

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 02/01/2025

UK banks may still be using computer systems from before 1971, converting transactions in and out of pre-decimal currency. Rumours abound of banks with computer systems that nobody now knows quite what they do, but things break if they're not running. www.ft.com/content/4661...

ft.com

Bank systems creak under weight of digital transactions

Billions must be spent to underpin services and battle online challengers

051 5

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 02/01/2025

memory might be playing tricks on me, but I have long maintained the keyboards Wyse shipped on those terminals is the best keyboard ever developed.

110 1

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 01/01/2025

have you driven one ? Kinda curious as to how they compare to the Model 3 RWD.

110 1

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 01/01/2025

that's a ground source heat pump, the majority of people should be using an air source heat pump - which needs about 100mm of excavation for the pad it sits on, rather than a 100m borehole. They're also safer than gas boilers (negligible explosion risk, no CO incomplete combustion risks).

A compact air source heat pump (ASHP) sit beside a grey wood clad and brick wall.

011 1

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 01/01/2025

off we go back to Vienna, sadly only virtually today, to once again hear the Vienna Philharmonic.

000 0

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 31/12/2024

Really sorry to hear of Johnnie's passing - I was an enormous fan of his back in the days of Drivetime, such a warm and fun time with Johnnie and Sally frequently in hysterics. I even got my pick of songs on the Crusin' feature. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Johnnie Walker: Former BBC Radio 2 DJ dies at the age of 79

The presenter retired in October due to ill-health having worked as a DJ for 58 years.

010 1

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 31/12/2024

If you're wondering about coming to @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social to study, one enjoyable reason to head for Belfast is our wonderful cinema, Queen's Film Theatre. 2024 saw it show 444 films from 67 countries and it's certain to be showing most of the films on The Guardian's 2025 list.

010 1

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 30/12/2024

terribly sad news - really enjoyed reading his twittering across on the other site, that familiar blend of chemistry and Scottish culture was always entertaining to this fellow Scottish chemist.

010 1

Dr Nick Birse @nbir.se · 30/12/2024

genuinely don't know how they're still in business, when I was an intern during my undergrad 15 years ago, they already had a longstanding reputation of producing unusable junk. I'll not let any of my group use them (not that I do much that needs antibodies, thankfully).

010 1