iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

@pastglasgow.co.uk @lostglasgow.bsky.social @glasgowheritage.bsky.social @thisismyglasgow.bsky.social Have any of you any ideas on what church in the distance to the right of Scott might be? Wrong direction for the cathedral & nearer Free & U.P. churches' pics do not seem to have such a huge spire.

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Just got this super pair of stereo photos of George Square looking east towards where the city chambers would eventually be. Just in time to add it to my slides for tomorrow's talk at the Mitchell Library. www.alexanderthomsonsociety.org.uk/events/more-...

View of George Square looking east, from before the city chambers was built.

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

I assume you mean this. The 'pencil' monument commemorating the battle of Largs.

The Pencil was built in 1912, to commemorate the Battle of Largs 1263, when the Scots defeated King Haco of Norway's troops on the shore at Largs, after the 160 long ships got caught in a storm.
https://ayrshireandarran.com/pencil-monument/

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Sadly, the history of Douglas, Heron & Co (AKA the Ayr Bank) did not end well: yourscottisharchives.com/catalogues/3... Appropriately their main address was Sandgate, which means street of sand.

THE PRECIPITATION AND FALL OF MESS. DOUGLAS, HERON, AND COMPANY, LATE BANKERS IN AIR, WITH THE CAUSES OF THEIR DISTRESS AND RUIN, INVESTIGATED AND CONSIDERED, BY A COMMITTEE OF ENQUIRY, APPOINTED BY THE PROPRIETORS.

[Messrs Douglas, Heron & Co.]

Language: English

Published by Edinburgh, 1778

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

To create a great thorny hedge with berries for birds, we ignorantly planted Buckthorn. Disgracefully, IMO, vendor made no mention of its incredibly invasive nature. It came up all over, including getting under the front wall, coming up through the asphalt pavement. Helluva job to get rid of.

Root system of buckthorn showing its sucker system.
Arguably we, too, were suckers for planting it in the first place.

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

She is amongst the many fascinating stories of women chemical engineers in my book. It is no longer in print (although I have hopes of a new enhanced edition next year) but the pdf is free if you DM me with your email.

Cover of:
From alchemy to transport phenomena: a global history of women in chemical engineering

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Wot, no Lucozade? I guess you are too young to regard it as medicine, as my generation do/did before the ridiculous sports marketing. In case this might matter it is the exact colour of Wotsits.

Medicinal lucozade with the essential orange cellophane.

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

The man is actually using a primitive washing 'machine'. The lid with the 3-legged 'dolly' appears to close to allow hand rotation. I think the writing on the side (seen through the bike spokes) says something like "Perfect washer" I would LOVE to know more. @politicdormouse.bsky.social #history

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

So what will fill the time? More repeats? Empty space? The World Service seems to have gone down this path already. If, like me & many others, you like WS for late/early listening you will know it is a mess of repeated news bulletins and not much else.

"By commissioning fewer programmes overall, we can focus our investment and make our best shows work across broadcast, on demand and different formats," he said in a statement.

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

An amazing woman who never completed her degree due to boredom but later gained an MPhil. Her lifelong struggle with serious arthritis was no barrier to her work. Butland curves were/are seminal in computerising data processing.

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Commemorated with a bust and a mural in Glasgow.

Drinkwater head in Clyde View Park, Renfrew.

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Reconstructed as habitats at Cambridge botanical gardens, along with their apology for all the stone they nicked. I have to say that the limestone area is fantastic as you can walk all over it, using stepping stones amongst the rivery bit and steps down into the ravine which is a bout 2m deep.

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

September rainfall, Cathcart, Glasgow. I know @metoffice.gov.uk and @scottishepa.bsky.social dont care about amateur rainfall data but here it is anyway. September 2026 = 110mm, the highest monthly rainfall in 2026.

Rainfall in mm
Sept 2025 103
Oct 2025 103
Nov 2025 141
Dec 2025 145
Jan2026 88
Feb2026 91
Ma2026 96
Apr2026 71
May2026 41
June 2026 74
july 2026 56
Aug 2026 92
Sept 2026 110

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Why am I getting this error message?

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Have you tried using a sailmaker's palm to push the needle through? I have one left over from my seafaring days and it is surprisingly useful for landlubber crafts too.

Sailmaker's palm. Lefthanded ones are easily available too.

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Do you know this guy and his AMAZING project? Worth being on FB just for this.

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Best story about her is that she was asked to do the calculations on design for the Tarrant Tabor & told the designer it wouldnt work with the heavier wood he was going to have to use due to war shortages. It was built anyway. It crashed on 1st flight, unfortunately killing both pilots.

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

#BookBudgetAlert I got these two treasures at www.gdavidbookseller.com in Cambridge when I was there last week for the @constructionhist.bsky.social annual conference. Both 1st editions. @politicdormouse.bsky.social @daledebakcsy.bsky.social

Women at Cambridge. Published 1975 and with several newscuttings from that year stuck inside.

Air Spy, about photographic intelligence in WW2.

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

@everyheron.bsky.social Following the disappointment of the failure of Tower Bridge to open & let us go on a voyage on the PS Waverley, we went instead to London Wetland Centre to be cheered up by otters & herons.

Heron poking about for otter food. That white ball had some fish in it for the otters, but of course they drop a lot.

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

@everyheron.bsky.social Heartbreaking. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Conservation (single image) - gold: Not a Good Day Fishing by Kent Stuart from the US
This image of a great blue heron was taken at a local pond that I frequent in Warren County, New Jersey. It has limited access, so I hike in from a cornfield on the back side. I was wearing chest waders and worked my way out to a mud flat
Photograph: Kent Stuart

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Off to Cambridge tomorrow for a spot of museum-bothering before the @constructionhist.bsky.social annual conference. Links in ALT. Not too late to book to come to a fascinating couple of days. We are a very friendly lot, so if you havent been before, let us know at registration & someone will buddy.

Programme: https://www.constructionhistory.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Programme.CHS_.2026_FIN.pdf

Booking: https://onlinesales.admin.cam.ac.uk/conferences-and-events/faculty-of-architecture/construction-history-society-conference

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

I love that people were winding them up in this way!! To be fair, the ordinary path begins in a pub's back yard. A more valid moan is that there is much of a view until you are at the summit. Although the June day when I went up it was a white-out at the top: no view there either!

Me at the top of Ben Nevis in a June snowstorm.

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

I have spotted Wally in the front row. Truly the Anderstonian lectures were for everyone, as I am sure yours are too.

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

www.facebook.com/profile.php?...

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Perhaps they needed instruction from Sub Lt Phillips...

Left hand down a bit - famous catch phrase from the Navy Lark.

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Haha! www.talkingoffood.com/cheese-in-li...

Treasure Island: R.L. Stevenson

When Jim Hawkins lands on Treasure Island he encounters Ben Gunn, a half-crazed sailor who has been marooned there and living alone, foraging for food.

“Marooned three years agone” he continued “and lived on goats since then, and berries and oysters. Wherever a man is, says I, a man can do for himself. But, mate, my heart is sore for Christian diet. You mightn’t happen to have a piece of cheese about you now? No? Well. Many’s the long night I’ve dreamed of cheese—toasted, mostly—and woke up again and here I am.”

“If ever I can get aboard again,” said I, “you shall have cheese by the stone.”

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I love fantasy films. Those ones where there is a competent, ethical POTUS.

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

www.wedge-galv.co.uk/plants/scott... aren't on here but should be. They are putting on wonderful guided tours of their fascinating works in Glasgow. Rusty things turned into shiny things almost instantly. Circular economy at its best. Waste ZnO goes to become Sudocrem.

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Passport to Pimlico comes to mind (although you might need to be of a certain age to appreciate it fully).

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Not a zebra crossing if it has green man lights. It is a cross between a zebra and a pelican crossing perhaps.

Mr Bright's pelican from the Endeavour TV series
"Remember if the Pelican, so can you"

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

#OTD 12/sept/1918 Stewardess Jane Ambler, 3rd Stewardesses Alice Smith & Sarah Topp died when their ship, SS Galway Castle was torpedoed off Western Approaches by U-82. 143/950 were lost. More about women seafarers lost in #WW1 & #WW2 in my book.

SS Galway Castle from https://www.bandcstaffregister.com/page38.html
See also https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?12350

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

For those of a certain age, do Fishophiles have FiloFishes?

Filofax diary pages for tracking when and where the fishes are likely to be best.

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

#WW2 #history challenge: Can anyone tell me ANYTHING about "Operation Pork Pie"? Google insists it is fictional but I found this reference to it in TNA AVIA 54/1403 which is a file about recruiting German scientists or at least stopping them from going to Russia. @ww2tv.bsky.social

List of names of German scientists. One underlined is Paul Klagers whose address is unknown but who was detained under Operation Pork Pie.

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

She also had a go at setting up a Women's Motor Club. Sadly not a great success but hers was one of many in UK and worldwide then and now in my new book: amzn.eu/d/089vVpzH

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

I really do not see why the Scott Monument cannot become a tethering point ('mooring mast')for airships. It is perfect for such a role.

Airship attached to top of Eiffel tower.

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Excuse, my British ignorance but it looks like a dish of cornflakes. In Scotland the food you have after a funeral is called a "Purvey". It is more or less compulsory to include sausage rolls, sandwiches and scones, washed down with tea.

https://www.rathoparkgolfclub.co.uk/funeral_purveys#

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

However there were metal dirigibles of varying levels of success. The City of Glendale is my favourite. It was made of pleated aluminium sheeting, had a totally bonkers propulsion system and a cabin on a string to raise passengers from their hotel to the airship.

The image is from a leaflet which I have a copy of but this picture is taken from here: https://welweb.org/ThenandNow/City%20of%20Glendale.html

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

I never see a delphinium without thinking of this charming poem: www.glirarium.org/bilch/litera...

The Dormouse and the Doctor
A.A. Milne
There once was a Dormouse who lived in a bed
Of delphiniums (blue) and geraniums (red)
And all the day long he'd a wonderful view
Of geraniums (red) and delphiniums (blue)

A Doctor came hurrying round, and he said:
"Tut-tut, I am sorry to find you in bed.
Just say 'Ninety-nine', while I look at your chest...
Don't you find that chrysanthemums answer the best?"

The Dormouse looked round at the view and replied
(When he'd said "Ninety-nine") that he'd tried and he'd tried,
And much the most answering things that he knew
Were geraniums (red) and delphiniums (blue).

The Doctor stood frowning and shaking his head,
And he took up his shiny silk hat as he said:
"What the patient requires is a change," and he went
To see some chrysanthemum people in Kent.

The Dormouse lay there, and he gazed at the view
Of geraniums (red) and delphiniums (blue),
And he knew there was nothing he wanted instead
Of delphiniums (blue) and geraniums (red).

The Doctor came back and, to show what he meant,
He had brought some chrysanthemum cuttings from Kent.
"Now these," he remarked, "give a much better view
Than geraniums (red) and delphiniums (blue)."

They took out their spades and they dug up the bed
Of delphiniums (blue) and geraniums (red),
And they planted chrysanthemums (yellow and white).
"And now," said the Doctor, "we'll soon have you right."

The Dormouse looked out, and he said with a sigh:
"I suppose all these people know better than I.
It was silly, perhaps, but I did like the view
Of geraniums (red) and delphiniums (blue)."

The Doctor came round and examined his chest,
And ordered him Nourishment, Tonics, and Rest.
"How very effective," he said, as he shook
The thermometer, "all these chrysanthemums look!"

The Dormouse turned over to shut out the sight
Of the endless chrysanthemums (yellow and white).
"How lovely," he thought, "to be back in a bed
Of delphiniums (blue) and geraniums (red)."

The Doctor said, "Tut! It's ano…

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Women in #aviation #engineering If you are in the #Surrey area this evening 10/Sept/26, I am giving this talk at the United Church, High Street, Egham at 1930. For the Egham by Runnymede Historical Society but all welcome, £2 entrance. Come and say hi if you know me from here. #history

Wind Tunnels and Slide Rules:
Women Engineers of the Royal Aircraft Establishment Farnborough

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

My house (UK) is loadbearing sandstone (external walls) and brick (internal walls) built circa 1905 and I would be confident of finding the people to rebuild it as is, if necessary. Not cheap of course but perfectly do-able. Most of Glasgow is like this but tenements rather than houses.

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Huge range of colours for pumpkins:

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Fascinating quiz to do. I seem to be linked to the far north east, bits of coastal California and the islands.

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Tomorrow, 3rd September is Merchant Navy Memorial Day in the UK. The date commemorates the loss of the Athenia sunk by a u-boat just after declaration of #WW2. 4 Glasgow women, merchant navy stewardesses, died. They, & scores of other such women who died in both wars are in my book. Details in ALT.

Cover of "Supposed killed or drowned by enemy action at sea" Image is of the Athenia sinking with lifeboats in the foregroun.
Buy it here: https://amzn.eu/d/0cJIiD22

Memorial plaque in Govan parish church. Stewardess Alison Thornton Harrower was one of the Glasgow women who died when the Athenia was sunk.

Despite what it says, they died in September, when the Athenia was sunk by a u-boat.

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

@themerl.bsky.social might your Absolute Unit Curatorial staff have any thoughts on how old this fork might be? Made by Skelton & Co of Sheffield, bought at the recent Scottish Opera props sale for almost nothing. Sharpest thing you ever saw!

Maker's stamp CT Skelton & Co made in Sheffield.

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