iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Mark H

Bob Downie @geomannie.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 5h

I mainly use Mastodon but I am also on #BlueSky to follow & interact with people who are not here. Having said that, I am pissed that due to the #UK government age verification laws I have to prove my ID/age via an 3rd party company to use the site for direct messaging. Thank you but no. I […]

mastodon.scot

Original post on mastodon.scot

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Reposted by Mark H

Anna Anthro @annaanthro.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 30/09/2026

“ Scientists have unveiled an exceptionally well-preserved 100-million-year-old fossil of a small, feathered #dinosaur in northeastern #China that could reshape our understanding of how dinosaurs took to the skies. The newly discovered species, named Norellraptor barsboldi, is a FOUR-winged […]

mastodon.social

Original post on mastodon.social

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 16h

Mild terror of editing my site's .htaccess file and panic-checking to make sure I've not broken it. Lots of visits to random pages from random IP addresses all from the same referrer which absolutely isn't linking to my site. That's a paddlin'.

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 17h

The late 1970s for #ThrowbackThursday and a makeshift tent in the back garden of my childhood home. That's me with Samantha in the middle and her sister Tracey on the left. I have rarely spent any time in tents since. I am not one of life's campers. #Photography #1970s #70s #Seventies

Scan of a colour photo taken in the late 1970s on a bright, sunny day. It's the back garden of a terraced house and the grass is cut short with some signs of patches in it to suggest it's been a hot period with not too much rain around. Three children, all under nine years of age, are sitting inside a makeshift tent formed from blankets wrapped around a sloping frame, possibly of a garden swing. A flap held open shows the kids posing for the photo. There are two girls on the left and a boy on the right, all with just shorts, socks, and sandals because of the heat and because they're young, and they're all shaded from the sun inside the tent. An upturned plastic box is on the ground in front of the youngest girl on the left.

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 30/09/2026

Racked off some tea wine to remove sediment earlier, then bottled some raspberry wine to free up a demijohn. Slightly too much for the bottles so had a glass of the wine at lunch. Very European of me. Also, totally trashed for the rest of the afternoon now. Pokey stuff. #Wine #Homebrew #Alcohol

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 30/09/2026

Wife got a backdated pay rise applied to the bank account today so that's a bonus £5.47 we weren't expecting. Party time!

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 30/09/2026

For #MeerMittwoch this is Manta, Ecuador earlier this year. Don't let the picture fool you: it was baking hot and the sun behind the thin cloud was fierce. We both got sunburnt despite factor 50 protection. The danger of being so close to the equator. #Photography #Manta #Ecuador #Boats

Portrait orientation view taken on the shoreline looking out across a bay of water with low land on the horizon. The shoreline is mostly pale rock with tufts of long grass sparsely popping up. The water is calm, rippled gently, and a greenish hue of grey picking up reflections of the largely lightly-overcast sky ahead which has patches of palest blue just cutting through some of the upper atmosphere haze. The bay of water is acting as a parking lot for dozens of small boats. Most of the boats are nearly identical with yellow hulls and blue interiors, a few benches, and an outboard motor. Several have a small sheet of shelter material over some poles mounted at their rears. Many boats are anchored in the water more-or-less apart from any others but there's a grouping of over half a dozen together not too far off shore. A handful of men are in some of the boats and they almost appear to be wearing a similar uniform of yellow hooded top, most of them with the hoods up, not because of any rain but because despite the light cloud cover the UV index is high.

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Reposted by Mark H

Pixel Prophecy 🇵🇸🇺🇦🇪🇺 @pixelprophecy.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 29/09/2026

So cray what this supercomputer looked like; they don’t make them like they used to. Yes, it even has a little upholstered bench to sit on. 🥰 #Retrocomputing #retro #ComputerHistory #cray

A person standing inside the circular section of a CRAY X-MP supercomputer in pale blue

Vintage photo of a red CRAY X-MP supercomputer in a computer lab, photographed from the outside with some potted plants and fugly carpeting in the foreground

Photo of a person sitting in a computer lab at a keyboard and computer screen, typing. IN the background is a red CRAY X-MP supercomputer

A yellow-and-blue version of the CRAY X-MP supercomputer in a computer lab that I think is somewhere in CERN.

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 29/09/2026

For #TravelTuesday a look back to 2023 and Cartagena, Colombia when I gave in to the constant pestering and agreed to take a photo of two palenqueras, the women descended from slaves in traditional, colourful dress who balance fruit and other foods on their […] [Original post on mstdn.social]

We're standing within the arcade of a shopping area in a colonial, South American city. We're looking out between two of the yellow-plastered pillars that support the sheltered, arched walkway, and across a narrow street there's a bus and some trees behind with a vibrant blue sky and just a few, light clouds in the sky. Posing for us here are two Colombian women, reasonably old and wearing colourful layers of clothing is yellows, reds, blues, greens, blacks, and whites. Both stand next to one another with one arm holding out their voluminous dresses or skirts to the side to create a fan effect. Both women are balancing bowls on their heads; the woman on the left is carrying bananas while the woman on the right supports a variety of foodstuffs protected by cellophane wrap.

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 29/09/2026

Alleged. You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm2kwlx…

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 28/09/2026

An actual classical music starter question I knew the answer to. I knew there had to be one in me. #UniversityChallenge

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 28/09/2026

Watched a couple of videos about a place we'll be visiting in November. First video was supposedly highlights of the place and half of it was walking through a duty free store. Second video was by an Irish guy who mentioned a couple of times that Spanish place names were difficult to pronounce […]

mstdn.social

Original post on mstdn.social

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Reposted by Mark H

essjax @essjax.m.essjax.com.ap.brid.gy · 27/09/2026

I'm sure the Enid Blyton stories were more wholesome when I was a kid

Headline: Five arrested on terrorism charges after explosives found near RAF base used by US

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 27/09/2026

We were definitely a better team before Vrabel cheated on his wife. #NFL

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 27/09/2026

Patriots are about to go 1-2 after three games and, yeah, it's not been good, but it is 1-2 after three games, not 1-9. It's not a disaster yet. Plenty of time for that. #NFL

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 27/09/2026

They should get rid of taunting as something that can be penalised. It's not as if this is some gentlemanly sport. Let the players taunt. #NFL

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 27/09/2026

We may as well give DeVito a shot for the final quarter now. Tommy or Danny, I'm not fussy. #NFL

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 27/09/2026

You can set your watch by the regularity of us giving up a third and long. #NFL

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 27/09/2026

Other than the throwing game, the catching game, the kicking game, the tackling game, and repeatedly getting fooled by a hard count we're doing okay and aren't out of this yet. #NFL

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 27/09/2026

I need a rolled-up newspaper long enough to cross the Atlantic so I can give Drake Maye a firm tap on the nose and a stern "No!" #NFL #Patriots

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 27/09/2026

Caught up with the Penrith Panthers (who my wife supports) and Newcastle Knights match from this morning. Could've gone either way right up to the last minute but the obvious turning point was the horrible injury to Nathan Cleary. The World Cup will miss him. #RugbyLeague #NRL

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 27/09/2026

Portsmouth is the only city in England not on the mainland, separated by Hilsea Moat. To the right in the picture you can see the M27 motorway on the mainland while Portsea Island and some of the new sea defences are on the left. There's been a lot of climate […] [Original post on mstdn.social]

We're on a bridge over a river-like stretch of water about thirty metres wide that runs in almost straight line, practically calm, away from us. To the right there's raised land and a motorway running parallel to the water. To the left the land is a little lower with trees and grass set back beyond sea defences in the form of large boulders plus space set aside for cycling and walking paths. It has the look of something still under construction.

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 27/09/2026

#FotoVorschlag - See oder Teich Photo theme - sea/lake or pond Lake Bled, Slovenia, from a visit in 2023. #Photography #Travel #Slovenia #Bled #LakeBled #Lake #Landscape

It's an overcast day with lots of layers of bubbling grey and white clouds but a brightness behind them that suggests the sun is ready to break through and bring with it more of the cloying warmth we can feel. We're standing at the edge of a very large lake. The bank of grass at our feet that stretches a couple of metres to the still water's edge is filled with daffodils in bloom, all at the same height and with their flower heads turned slightly to the left. The far side of the lake has a few, large hills, covered in trees and backed by a more distant range of higher hills that appear fainter in tone and with parts of their tops lost in the low cloud. Directly centre, far out in the lake, there is a small island rising half a dozen metres from the water to a flat top on which there is a small grouping of buildings, white-walled and topped with terracotta tiles except for a square tower, taller than the other structures, which has a black turret.

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 26/09/2026

I've somehow managed to get sunburnt from one pint in late September sunshine. I'm such a sensitive flower.

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 26/09/2026

Wigan 6 - 33 Wakefield. My God, we were wonderful. What a result. Grand Final, baby. #RugbyLeague #SuperLeague #Wakefield #WakefieldTrinity

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 26/09/2026

Right. Wigan versus Wakey. Not expecting us to win, but hopeful, of course, and a Grand Final appearance the prize, so come on the Trin. #RugbyLeague #SuperLeague #WakefieldTrinity #Wakefield

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 26/09/2026

Very appreciative of the local council making bus travel free each weekend this month. Used it to get up to a friend's house to help with some shed clearance, and using it to get back home from the brewery we subsequently spent a few enjoyable, sunny hours in. Free public transport really should […]

mstdn.social

Original post on mstdn.social

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 26/09/2026

Today's #SchiffsSamstag features the original 1998 Grand-class vessel Grand Princess on the left, and the 2012 Solstice-class Celebrity Reflection on the right in St Maarten last year. Both ships have capacities of around 3000 passengers, the ideal size for us […] [Original post on mstdn.social]

We're in a flat cruise port, looking across a paved area to a very low wall of rocks built up to provide some sea defence protection, although they're not needed now as it feels like a still day with the sea looking nearly flat. There are clouds in the sky, thin with hints of the blue sky behind, and it feels sticky and warm, typical of Caribbean island countries. Our focus is on the two cruise ships that are docked at a low pier that emerges from just right of us. Both ships are facing in towards land so our view of them is one partly obscuring the other, both next to each other with prows pointing towards and to the right of us, and a stream of passengers walking along the pier between the vessels on their ways back to their ships. The ships are similar in size but of different designs. The ship on the left is mostly white with a stylised blue female form with wavy hair painted on the hull. The prow has a slight curve to it and a split that runs around it which contains a covered wraparound promenade deck but also lends the vessel a semi-dolphin-like appearance. The ship on the right looks more traditional with a sharper prow and dark blue hull beneath its decks of white balconies.

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 26/09/2026

There's an old episode of Runaround on Talking Pictures TV right now. It's a bloody joy.

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 25/09/2026

Fun end. Tight contest. If that Leeds 40-20 had been allowed... #RugbyLeague #SuperLeague

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 25/09/2026

I like any chance to be reminded of this Jimmy Somerville related video. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_DWWE3cjgg #TOTP

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 25/09/2026

When are zoot suits making a comeback? #TOTP

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 25/09/2026

I don't think I'd seen that Big Country video before but I liked the idea behind it, even if it felt like there was more of anthemic concept than the song deserved. #TOTP

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 25/09/2026

Farley's got all the Soul Glo in his hair. #TOTP

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 25/09/2026

I really fancy a Rowntree's Montego chocolate biscuit now. #TOTP

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 25/09/2026

D.I.S.C.O. (Mastodon version) They are D... Divergent (Neuro) I... Into Linux S... So into Linux C... Crikey, how much Linux? O... Oh, that much Linux. #TOTP

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 25/09/2026

There's a fastest mouse in all Mexico somewhere feeling underdressed. #TOTP

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 25/09/2026

The felt like an entire hour of back-to-back shit. I couldn't even find the energy for snark. #TOTP

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 25/09/2026

Sub-mediocre hip hop is still far better than Oasis or Craig David. #TOTP

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 25/09/2026

I'm glad I don't have to drive very often. It means I don't have to fill the car up very often. Probably every two months. Just filled it up today, though, and ouch, that's a pricy bit of petrol.

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 25/09/2026

#FotoVorschlag - Protz und Prunk Photo theme - ostentation and pomp If I dress up for formal or black tie night on a cruise - and I don't always - then the Tuxedo comes out, the EU cufflinks come out, and even though I don't normally wear a watch at all, the […] [Original post on mstdn.social]

We're looking down at an arm resting on the edge of a table with the carpet visible below. The table is a black granite top with flecks of gold in it reflecting some recessed spotlights above us to create some glows and sparkles on the surface. The carpet visible to the right is also black and gold with a straight geometric pattern of gold lines giving the sense of luxury. The arm is wearing a Tuxedo jacket showing off some of the white cuff of a shirt underneath. A gold cufflink with blue inset and small gold stars representing the EU flag just pokes out from the jacket sleeve. Also partly visible is the watch being worn on the wrist. It has a sense of understated luxury with tones of silver and gold in the metal case and strap picking up highlights from the lighting above us, and has a dark face.

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 24/09/2026

Two of my wife's great great grans for #ThrowbackThursday this week. One had a nickname that was then adopted by my wife's sister for some reason, despite the nickname not really relating to either of their names. #Photography

Scan of a very old, faded, black and white photo with some signs of damage in the form of scratches and tears around the edges. The photo is a portrait of two women standing in a garden against a brick wall that comes up to their torsos and is topped with diagonal trellis work that reaches head height. The two women are standing next to each other, one with her arm around the shoulder of the other. Both women are old with short, lightly curled grey hair, and both have similar dark clothing on. They could almost be taken for sisters.

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Mark H @neonbubble.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 23/09/2026

Won a tenner on the lottery. The drinks* are on me. * Tap water.

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