iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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steph @stephthorpe.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

For our wedding favours I wanted to make my own Birmingham collectible pin badge 😍 Celebrating another iconic Birmingham building ✨️ Designed by me, printed on acrylic by Sticker Mule. International Day of Birmingham

Acrylic pin badges of Fazeley Studios with the Library of Birmingham pattern as the sky

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Simon Harper @onesharper.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

"What did you get up to this weekend?" "Not much." Well, in a change from the usual, @stephthorpe.bsky.social & I tied the knot on Saturday. We had a wonderful day, surrounded by our families & friends. It was a bit of a whirlwind & we're still recovering but looking forward to our honeymoon now. 🥂

A bride and groom sat at a ceremony table on their wedding day. The groom is visibly punching above his weight.

A bride and groom on the dancefloor during their first dance. The bride is wearing a very twirly white dress with sparkly red shoes.

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Millions of Chopped Landlord Pieces @thirteentwelve.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Charlotte Church roasting Ed Sheeran over a Dead Kennedy's cover

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Jack Bernhardt @jackbern.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

a real advert on UK TV currently: Oi! Grown ups! Save some water for us kids! ADULTS! stop having such long showers! GARDENERS! stop using so much water for your plants! WATER COMPANIES WHO HAVE DRIVEN RESERVOIR INFRASTRUCTURE INTO THE GROUND: Keep up the good work! PENSIONERS: stop drinking tea!

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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 14/09/2026

Your regular reminder: If the Russians stop fighting, the war ends. If the Ukrainians stop fighting, their land will be occupied, their leaders will be killed, their history and language will be erased, their children will be kidnapped to serve Russia.

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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

The Onion has created a machine that will kill everyone on Earth that is coincidentally running out of money and the only way to slow it down is if my staff and I take a six-week vacation to Cabo San Lucas.

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Charles Fourier @charlesfourier.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Bill Bryson’s words seem appropriate to post right now

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Daniel Bachman @danielbachman.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Announcing my new album/full length documentary, The Witness Tree, out October 2nd at Bandcamp and YouTube. The Witness Tree | Daniel Bachman

danielbachman.bandcamp.com

The Witness Tree, by Daniel Bachman

16 track album

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Bruno Dias @brunodias.dev · 21/08/2026

sorry but "not using LLM chatbots at all" *is* the pragmatic middle ground. you are not making a practical decision by engaging with an addictive system largely designed in ways meant to make you worse off by people who do not have your best interests in mind

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Gary Brannan @garybrannan.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Ach, you know what? Why not. Here’s Alan Bennett’s closing monologue from ‘On the Margin’, missing for nearly 60 years, and found on a Sony CV2000 tape in the Galton and Simpson archive You, dear viewer, are one of the few people ever to have seen this. Enjoy! discover.york.ac.uk/collections/...

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Marc Masters 🌵 @marcissist.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

“There is no ethical use of generative AI. The labour of working creatives has already been steadily devalued over the years, and now it has arrived at a place where it only holds financial merit when fed to the machine.” www.anxietyshark.ca/an-empty-bit...

anxietyshark.ca

An empty bit of good.

Let the machine work and drain and sputter and purge, may we dance and clap at what meagre pleasures it can conjure.

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Daniel Bachman @danielbachman.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

I keep thinking about a part of this interview where they talk about how increasingly, popular culture/underground arts don’t reflect what we’re living through. Its like an amalgamation of past culture with a thin veneer of contemporary life without engaging with the tragedy/hardship of our times.

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Simon Harper @onesharper.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Monday morning mail delivers the goods. Signed paperback copy of @markabowles.bsky.social's new book, How Do People Stay the Same. Absolutely loved All My Precious Madness, so looking forward to this.

A paperback book lying on a picnic blanket. The book is How Do People Stay the Same, by Mark Bowles.

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Simon Harper @onesharper.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Just finished reading On the Calculation of Volume Book 1. It's obviously a really good novel, and I got a lot out of it, but (and I'm sure I'm not the first person to think or say this) the heavy repetition of the phrase, "No one had died," just made me think of this every single time...

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Simon Harper @onesharper.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Mini Stag assemble! Fun day w/ best man, brother-in-law & nephew (who's too young for the whisky tasting lined up for the main stag do). Ice-free curling (!), electric darts & mini golf, followed by pizza & some cold drinks. 👍🙏🎉 (Bold move to have a stag do before the invitations have gone out?!)

Some idiots sat at a table in a taproom, looking a bit warm and a bit smug. Some cold drinks may have already been taken by this point (for 3 of us anyway).

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Jason @nickmotown.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

In much the same way that Stuart Pearce got to banish the demons of his penalty miss years later at Euro 96, I do hope Diana Ross is afforded the same chance at redemption at this upcoming World Cup.

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Jeff Conklin @thetrailhead.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Playing chill music for chill people on the radio air & streams from 10am-Noon ET. Hudson Valley folk hit 91.3FM, everyone else tune in at a link wvkr.org Apple: music.apple.com/us/station/w...

wvkr.org

WVKR 91.3 FM – Independent Radio

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Mutable Joe @mutablejoe.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

a horse walks into a bar and says to the barman, "on a right angled triangle with sides x, y and z, if x and z are perpendicular which side is opposite the right angle?", and the barman says "y, the long face"

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steph @stephthorpe.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

Another great day at the #GreatBirminghamRun New 10k PB achieved of 51:12 🥳 Convinced @onesharper.bsky.social to do it this year 💕 Also what a medal this year! A nod to Birmingham’s musical history 💜💿

A medal with a vinyl record pattern and the Library of Birmingham pattern, in Black Sabbath purple.

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Simon Harper @onesharper.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

I'm not a Capital 'R' Runner, merely Someone Who Runs, but today I did my first ever race, running the Birmingham 10k with @stephthorpe.bsky.social in the year we're getting married. I'm now quite tired & achey but I might have... enjoyed it? Yeah, I'm disturbed by that as well. Playlist helped. 🏃‍♂️🎧

A photo of a smug man with a medal, in front of a series of all caps letters making up the word 'Aston'.

Photo of a smug man and his fiancee, who is holding her 2026 Birmingham 10k medal up to the camera.

Photo of a smug man with a medal, stood in front of the Tony Hancock statue in Birmingham City centre.

Screenshot from the Great Run app, showing an unofficial finish time (00:50:16).

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Joel Morris @gralefrit.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

If we can move past having usable peripheral sockets on a laptop, we can move past the Boiling Hot Lying And Stealing Machine That Only Helps Billionaires.

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Scott Innes @flyinginside.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

The whole world tonight

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Blue sky nice ghost @rajandelman.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

I hate every bot I see. From gpa to gpt

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Simon Harper @onesharper.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

Top weekend with @stephthorpe.bsky.social. Yesterday: lunch in the sun, visited Bodleian Library for the Tradecraft exhibition from the John le Carré archive, conversation between John Finnemore & Mick Herron at Oxford Literary Festival. Today: afternoon walk followed by Tim Key at Birmingham Rep. 🙏

Radcliffe Camera in Oxford, with blue sky and sunshine behind it.

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John Bleasdale @www.johnbleasdale.com · 19/03/2026

A podcast episode of the James Bond Book Club to salute and celebrate The late great Len Deighton podcasts.apple.com/it/podcast/t...

podcasts.apple.com

Len Deighton RIP

Podcast Episode · The James Bond Book Club · 19 March · 1h 3m

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John86 @john86l.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Waking up to news of missing Doctor Who episodes being found certainly beats the usual news.

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Greg Pak @gregpak.net · 11/03/2026

Increasingly of the opinion that the correct answer to the Trolley Problem is "fuck you, why are you so fixated on finding reasons to justify killing people?"

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Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

A by-no-means definitive #IWD composer playlist I made in 2023. You can listen to it on whatever streaming service you like via this link: www.tunemymusic.com/share/GfxCb4...

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🎃 Smersh Pod 🎃 @smershpod.com · 05/03/2026

World Book Day

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Simon Harper @onesharper.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

This is superb. Beautiful and essential.

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Streetwise, Cville Safety Cat: Interested Female Vocalists Write @averysafecat.bsky.social · 15/02/2026

Every promo shot of every British electronica trio c. 1997.

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James Hamilton @jameshamiltonwriter.com · 30/07/2025

If you use AI for writing anything, or “making” anything creative, you know what that says about you? That you have fuck all to offer the world, and the sad thing is: you don’t even want to change that. It’s just so fucking pathetic.

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Simon Harper @onesharper.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

I'm genuinely impressed at how Evernote continues, against all odds, to somehow find ways to keep getting even worse. Superb commitment to the bit. Imagine thinking that forcing ads into a *note-taking app* will make people pay you rather than, say, lead to them binning off using your app entirely.

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Scott @merseytart.com · 12/02/2026

I wrote a listicle like in the good old days of the internet where I've ranked the lairs of Bond villains from worst to best. dissecting007.blogspot.com/2026/02/clau...

dissecting007.blogspot.com

Clausewitz's First Principle

There are many essential elements necessary for a good Bond film. 007 himself. A girl. A villain. And, somewhere in the mix, a lair. Bo...

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James Bailey @drjamesbailey.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

Tori Amos in 1994:

A still from Keeping Up Appearances, in which Hyacinth Bucket is delivering the line “this is not a cornflake establishment”

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Simon Harper @onesharper.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

Listening to some jams while writing. Loving the new Wet Tuna track. Tune in!

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Jeff Conklin @thetrailhead.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

Here’s my most recent radio show archive. It’s a little survey of *some* of my favorite music of 2025. Become a paid sub to Ambient Audiophile and get access to more shows www.mixcloud.com/jeff-conklin...

mixcloud.com

The Trailhead 195 (1/4/26)

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Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Just some of those we lost in 2025. The gaps are there for us to remember those close to us. Wishing us all a better 2026. x

RIP 2025

Namewall of some noteworthy names who died in 2025.

There was too much text for one ALT description, so Part 2 and 3 to follow.

Part 1: Jan - Apr

JAN:
A.D.O.R. / David Lodge / Wayne Osmond /
The Vivienne / Brenton Wood / Barbara Clegg
Laurie Holloway
Christopher Benjamin / Sam Moore
Keith Dewhurst / Merle Louise / Joel Paley
Tony Slattery / Gwen Watkins
Paul Danan / Diane Langton / Linda Nolan
David Lynch / Joan Plowright
Jules Feiffer / Denis Law
Geoff Nicholson / Claire van Kampen
John Sykes / Garth Hudson
Charlotte Raven
Elisa Rae Shupe
Christopher Hughes
Marianne Faithfull

FEB: Brian Murphy
Dave Jerden / Mike Ratledge
Dafydd Elis-Thomas / Tony Roberts
Tom Robbins
Tony Kinsey
Nike Arrighi / Tommy Hunt / Simon Mawer
Steve Hodson / Julian Holloway / Kim Sae-ron
Rick Buckler / Jamie Muir
Gene Hackman
Jerry Butler
Gwen McCrae
Bill Fay
Chris Jasper
Roberta Flack / Robert John
Henry Kelly
Boris Spassky

MAR:
Bill Dare / Marged Esli / Joey Molland / Angie Stone
Kathryn Apanowicz / Geraint Jarman
Roy Ayers
Brian James / Troy Seals
Richard Fortey / D’Wayne Wiggins
Bill Ashton / Athol Fugard
Stedman Pearson
Cocoa Tea
Sofia Gubaidulina
Eddie Jordan
George Foreman
Gillian Baxter / Andy Peebles
Jemini the Gifted One
Richard Chamberlain
Lee Montague

APR
Val Kilmer / Johnny Tillotson
Clem Burke
Ted Kotcheff / Nino Tempo
Mike Berry / Max Romeo
Roy Thomas Baker
Jean Marsh / Mario Vargas Llosa
Wink Martindale
Mac Gayden
Colin Berry
Clodagh Rodgers
Pope Francis
David Thomas
Virginia Giuffre / Philip Lowrie
Jane Gardam / Mike Peters

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Simon Harper @onesharper.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Some 2025 favourites... Album: Gwenifer Raymond - Last Night I Heard the Dog Star Bark Fiction: Mark Bowles - All My Precious Madness Non-fiction: John Higgs - Exterminate/Regenerate Film: Ballad of Wallis Island Cinema experience: Hundreds of Beavers, GoldenEye Podcast: A Wheezing Groaning Sound

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Simon Harper @onesharper.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

The new Papir record, 'IX', sounded fantastic on my run this morning. 👍

Screenshot from Strava showing my Papir-powered PR (15k).

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Daniel Bachman @danielbachman.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

As another failed COP conference now sentences future generations to a hell we refuse to even imagine, now would be a great time for US arts/music writers to get creative working with climate science communications, writing on artists affected by disaster, protest music, etc. as much as we can.

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Andy Lewis @andylewis.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

A moment, please, to consider the absolute majesty of Daphne Oram's unbelievable score to this. A pitch shifted, time stretched, frequency agile glimpse of the future of music production; a liberty-taking all analogue remix of Sandy Nelson's Teen Beat realised in real time with the visuals.

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Gwenifer Raymond @gweniferraymond.bsky.social · 09/11/2025

November 16th I know it's a Sunday. It's no bloody excuse! One week from now get off your bum and down to The Kitchen Garden Cafe in Birmingham. www.kitchengardencafe.co.uk/event/gwenif...

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