iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 16h

Well this could look better…

A screenshot showing that the log contains a bunch of messages reading "Out of memory: Killed process linuxsys"

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 18h

My 9 shows that define me (the last 2 are probables; I might change my mind) 9things.me/g/B8KzbBD #My9Things #My9Shows

The Americans. Andor. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Supernatural. Babylon 5. For All Mankind. The Last of Us. Ghosts. Tracker.

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 03/10/2026

Ok, fine, I will do the #my9albums thing. Ngl, kinda thought it would be more gay. (Though if I could add a 10th, it would prolly be "Love is a Drag", a collection of jazz / easy-listening standards written for female voice, sung by a man; link in thread) www.my9albums.com/s/cgpjr04AsR

Rumours by Fleetwood Mac. Actually by the Pet Shop Boys. Automatic for the People by REM. Something to Remember by Madonna. Ten by Pearl Jam. The Piano (original soundtrack) by Michael Nyman. Futures by Jimmy Eat World. Minutes to Midnight by Linkin Park. American Beauty / American Psycho by Fall Out Boy.

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 02/10/2026

I'm trying to sign up to Aeroplan, so that I can select my seat on some upcoming Air Canada flights, but it keeps telling failing. It looks like the address-search widget it's using doesn't know about our flats (which have been here over 20 years). Wtf do I do?!

Aeroplan

We're sorry, your enrollment failed

We weren't able to validate your Aeroplan registration. Please make sure your personal and contact information are accurate, then try again.

Button: Try again

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 30/09/2026

My Top 10 for the 2020s (so far) (Though I'm sure some of those would change if I spent very long thinking about it)

Barbie (Greta Gerwig, 2023)
Everything Everywhere All At Once (Daniel Scheinert & Daniel Kwan, 2022)
Glass Onion (Rian Johnson, 2022)
I Saw the TV Glow (Jane Schoenbrun, 2024)
Kiss of the Spider Woman (Bill Condon, 2025)
One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2025)
Prey (Dan Trachtenberg, 2022)
Sinners (Ryan Coogler, 2025)
Soundtrack to a Coup d’État (Johan Grimonprez, 2024)
Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse (Thompson, Powers & Dos Santos, 2023)

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 30/09/2026

One of the few DVDs I still open a physical copy of is the Criterion Collection boxset of Idaho

Outer case (front), DVD case and book of essays

Outer case neck, listing the contents, which include a hi-def digital transfer of the film plus supplementary audiovisual material (Todd Haynes interviewing Gus van Sant, a making-of documentary, an interview of academic Park Arthur about van Sant's adaptation of Orson Welles and Shakespeare, a conversation between producer Laurie Parker and Robert Phoenix's sister, a conversation between JT LeRoy and Jonathan Caouette, deleted scenes) and a 64-page book of essays and interview reprints

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 25/09/2026

Inventive LinkedIn spam with something of a non-sequitur alert…

Hello Owen

Your post about the speech at the Wikimedia LGBT+ × LSP event stuck with me. Coordinating such diverse and inclusive efforts often faces unexpected hurdles!

I've built an n8n template that cut agent-workflow failures ~40%. A quick 5-minute chat could be beneficial for both of us.

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 24/09/2026

Thanks; I saw it and had to get it. It's from @annehealthcare.bsky.social and all the profits go to fund gender-affirming healthcare. They have a bunch of other designs too: merchify.me/annehealth/

Welcome Anne, supporting gender-affirming care

Shop merch that helps make healthcare more accessible. Every purchase from the Anne merch collection helps fund gender-affirming care to trans+ people who need it most. 100% of profits go toward helping people access essential healthcare regardless of financial barriers.

A tote bag and a mug are visible, each reading "this tote / mug is doing more for trans+ rights than Parliament"

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 24/09/2026

Trans rights are, in fact, human rights. Pass it on.

Me (a bald 50-year-old white guy with a beard and a dadbod, wearing a blue t-shirt reading "This shirt is doing more for trans+ rights than parliament" and wearing a trans flag like a cape. Behind me are several people holding trans flags, some of whom are wearing trans-slogans on their clothing and trans flag facepaint.

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 23/09/2026

Every time I try to work out local government areas in England by population — wanting to see the upper tier of the shires, not the districts within — I wish that Redcliffe-Maud had been implemented as-is, without this two-tier Tory bullshit that has been gradually unpicked ever since.

Redcliffe-Maud's 1969 proposal to abolish all local authorities across England (outside London) and reconstitute with unitary authorities based on major towns. The idea for Merseyside, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands metropolitan counties largely came from here, but the divisions here are almost unrecognisable compared to what actually happened in 1974 local government reform, which was entirely two-tier

English local government districts as of 2023. I think this is the status-quo (ignoring combined counties and combined authorities) but it's entirely plausible that yet another bit of local government reform happened when I wasn't looking

English ;local government districts by year of reorganisation. A lot of the map is coloured magenta, for reforms currently paused. Almost nothing is in the pale pink of "we haven't fucked with it yet". There's quite a lot of yellow for reforms between 2019 and 2023, a few bits of green for reform in the 1990s, some red for reform in 2009 and all the metropolitan counties that Maggie abolished because they didn't like her are in blue. It's unarguably a fucking mess.

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 22/09/2026

Incidentally, the chief commissioner's report in the meeting papers (jcc.nhs.wales/committees/c...) also mentioned Children's and Young People's gender services across E&W. I don't think they're gonna discuss this is any further detail.

Heading: CYP Gender services

Text: The NWJCC commissions all aspects of CYP Gender Services through NHS England. NHS England has continued implementation of recommendations of the Cass Review (2024) through the establishment of regional Children and Young People's (CYP) Gender Services. Alder Hey, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Bristol and Southwest are operational and the East of England service, hosted by Cambridge University Hospitals, has recently come online and is recruiting staff. Sheffield, Birmingham, Newcastle and Southampton are in the process of being mobilised. It is anticipated that all services will be established by mid-2027.

Welsh patients continue to access Specialist CYP Gender Services through NHS England's regional service network. In early 2026, the Bristol and Southwest service set up a Satellite Clinic in Cardiff hosted in clinic space within CVUHB but run by Bristol and Southwest. The frequency of these clinics has increased in this period from one to two per month.

These new Children’s services are underpinned by a holistic assessment model with children and young people seen up to the age of 18 years. Referrals to the service are made by CAMHS teams regionally in Wales and are allocated to a National Waiting list held and managed by NHS England Arden and Gem Clinical Support Unit.

In addition, a National Provider Network hosted by Alder Hey NHS Foundation Trust has been established. This serves the function of implementing the recommendations of the Cass review and enables leaders to benchmark, develop shared learning, quality improvement initiatives, and build upon practice evidence.

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 21/09/2026

How many strawberries do I need to buy to get a dinner date with the farmer?

A bearded farmer holding a tray of strawberries. He has long hair tied back and chest hair showing through the collar of his shirt

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 19/09/2026

And I had forgotten that Julian Caillon is one of the most attractive men in the world. I am definitely not gonna think for a long time about this photo from his Instagram. www.instagram.com/p/DdRsSNUDjk...

Julian Caillon and Vito Coppola wearing deep red-brown vests and red satin ties from behind-the-scenes Strictly footage. Julian is kissing Vito on the cheek; Vito is grinning joyfully.

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 17/09/2026

www.instagram.com/p/DdYR6hpDdqH/

Hayley Williams changes pre-show playlist to feature former Ed Sheeran tour openers

Image of a tweet from @ChartData

First pre-stage songs played at tonight's Hayley Williams concert:

Can't Hold Us, Macklemore

Mama Said, Lukas Graham

For Cryin' Out Loud, FINNEAS

The Lane, Aaron Rowe

Aurora II, Beoga

Thrift Shop, Macklemore

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 17/09/2026

A lot of members of the public want to attend the next meeting of the body that suspended all gender-affirming surgeries from NHS Wales, you say? 😅 #LHD_gyda'r_T #LGBWithTheT

Further to your previous email,

Thank you for your interest in attendance at our Joint Committee meeting of the 22nd September 2026.

Due to the high level of public interest in this meeting, and recognising that the available venue facilities cannot accommodate the number of individuals wishing to attend in person, the Joint Committee will hold the meeting online via Microsoft Teams. This approach enables the Joint Committee to make attendance as accessible as possible, ensuring that all interested members of the public have the opportunity to observe the meeting irrespective of location or venue capacity restrictions.

The meeting papers are now available online and a virtual link for the meeting will be shared on this webpage here prior to 5pm on Monday 21st September 2026.

Kind regards,

NWJCC Corporate Governance Team

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 17/09/2026

They are so pretty though! Not Field Notes, but I had to buy a proper notebook the other day (visiting a secure children's home for dayjob and can't take my usual spiral bound reporters' notebook) and found this beauty from Museums & Galleries' range

A notebook with rainbow coloured chevrons, each containing filigree work

The same pattern on the inside fly, with credits details:
Mary Katrantzou is a Greek fashion designer living and working in London. Dubbed "The Queen of Print" by press, Katrantzou's work has changed the face of 21st Century fashion, inspiring high fashion and high street designers alike.

marykatrantzou.com

Rainbow Chevrons

Copyright Mary Katrantzou 2026

Design copyright Museums & Galleries Ltd 2026

www.museumsgalleries.co.uk

GAN 682

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 16/09/2026

What scene makes you emotional no matter how many times you see it?

Emma Caulfield, as Anya in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, giving get monologue in the season 5 episode The Body

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 13/09/2026

Ok, this zomromcom looks delightful www.amazon.co.uk/Doomsdate-de...

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 12/09/2026

The Men Who Shout at Hotels What happened to the boys I grew up with? The far right have even privatised working-class identity. supertanskiii.substack.com/p/the-men-wh...

Most of us understand that the rich have, for centuries, divided us. Division has a tendency to extinguish the heat of an uprising. Yet even in 2026 serfs continue to doff their caps. The poor have always been easy targets; a cursory glance at the history books will prove that. In those books, you will find stories about castles, wars, kings and queens but no mention of the Battle of Lewisham. Tales of working-class resistance used to be proudly discussed in pubs, but most have now closed down.

Nowadays the poor don’t riot against oppression; they riot to guarantee their own.

The barely concealed truth is that Britain is under threat from the men in Savile Row suits who radicalise mobs. Despite that, crowds manipulated by the three-word slogans of fash-for-cash populists gather to violently defend what they think is a country destroyed by immigrants. Many of us are now discovering, to our horror, that we know those who are sharpening the pitchforks. I am, unfortunately, no exception. While I do not share the views of those who attend “hotel protests” or Unite the Kingdom rallies, I share their social class. I even share a bloodline with some. I grew up with boys like that. But they were different then.

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 04/09/2026

UN to vote on adopting new world map that shows Africa’s true scale Togo-sponsored resolution calls to phase out Mercator projection, which depicts continent as similar size to Greenland, in favour of Equal Earth Map www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...

Equal Earth projection of the globe, correctly showing Africa and South America as huge, unlike North America, Europe and Greenland

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 02/09/2026

Without saying your age, what is your favorite movie that came out when you were 20 years old?

Glen Berry and Scott Neal as Jamie and Ste in Beautiful Thing (1996). There is peppermint foot lotion involved in this scene 🥰

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 01/09/2026

Listening to one of Spotify's daily mixes and I hadn't previously paid attention to the lyrics of “One of the Greats” by Florence + the Machine. This is glorious! (The annotations at genius.com/39803260 are also great, with some excellent shade thrown at Henry "the good die young" Kissinger)

You'll bury me again, you'll say it's all pretend
That I could never be great being held up against such male tastes
Because who really gets to be one of the greats, one of the greats?
But I've really done it this time, this one is all mine
I'll be up there with the men and the ten other women
And the hundred greatest records of all time
It must be nice to be a man and make boring music just because you can
Now don't get me wrong, I'm a fan
You're my second-favourite frontman
And you could have me if you weren't so afraid of me
It's funny how men don't find power very sexy
So this one's for the ladies
Do I drive you crazy?
Did I get it right?

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 28/08/2026

No gods, no kings and all that, but Haakon VIII ain't all that bad-looking

A 2025 photo of Haakon VIII, at the time crown prince of Norway. He's a relatively average looking white guy with a receding hairline, tbh, but I'm a sucker for a beard. And the silly outfit with sash and medals and the big shiny collar of the Order of Saint Olav and gold brocade epaulettes and Nehru collar does suit him, I guess

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 26/08/2026

From Comrade Saint Dolly's autobiography

From Dolly's autobiography

How long was Porter in your life?

The same length he's always been.

How do you feel about gay rights and gay people?

Well, I believe in "human rights" and the Scripture, "Judge not, lest ye be judged." I have many gay friends who I love dearly. I have also lost some very special friends to AIDS. I believe that being gay is something you are, not something you do.

What do you think of female impersonators, transvestites, and people who have sex-change operations?

Well, I've always said that if I hadn't been a woman, I would have been a drag queen. I have seen men impersonate me, and I consider it flattering. I especially like it on Halloween. Then I can go anywhere in Hollywood and never be noticed. All I know about sex-change operations I've learned from my good friend Jason, who used to be my good friend Suzie.

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 25/08/2026

Anyone know how to make Slack stop highlighting that I can add tabs to channels and DMs? Clicking on the plus doesn't make the blue dot go away

A slack header for a channel called X-LGBTQIA plus. Tab buttons are labelled Messages, Add canvas, Files and links, Bookmarks, Pins. An extra button is just a plus sign, with a blue dot highlighting that something is new. Except it isn't new.

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 24/08/2026

Reading a bit further on and finding that it's more complicated than just Polari — and recognising some Nadsat in there too — I spotted an interview where he talks about NuPol a little more: jamreads.com/interviews/s... Really enjoying this. (Have I ever mentioned that I enjoy revolutionary art? 😅)

7.- Something that took my attention is how varied the languages are across the Safina, and how each quarter/zone has developed its own slang. Could you tell us more about why you decided to give language such a prominent role in your novel?

Short answer: I’m a language nerd. My first “proper” job was as a translator for an Arabic-language newspaper and I remember that moment of realising that translation is more than saying x in one language means y in another but rather that these concepts go much deeper and do not always align perfectly. The first line of The Republic of Memory (discounting the prologue) is: When you speak a different language you become another person. I do think that is a truism. I’m interested in soft linguistic relativity, in the idea that the language we are speaking in and thinking in can, subtly, shape the tenor of those thoughts.

The novel includes Nupol, a conlang (an argot, really) made up of various languages. English grammar and syntax but vocabulary from French, Spanish, Portuguese, Cockney Rhyming Slang, Polari and even Nadsat – A Clockwork Orange. It’s the language of the rebels and the youth and I’m interested to see if I can get the reader on the rebels’ side by making them learn their language.

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 24/08/2026

MADE and Barbican have created a gorgeous design collab that I need to win the lottery to buy all of www.made.com/promotions/m...

4 more product images: a low coffee table of mid-brown wood with a pair steel blue top that splits into 2 semicircular tables. A dining table and chair set (across 2 product images): the table is oval with parallel long edges, its top of mid-brown wood supported by 2 pale yellow X-shaped columns. The chairs have an X-shaped seat with a circular off-white cushion and slender frame. The 4th product is a square wall lamp, with a square inset with rounded corners around a rounded-square light diffuser

4 more product images: a burgundy and white cushion on a pale grey sofa, where the sofa structure on steel tubing and a flat mid-brown wooden panel making the arm. The 2nd image is a £900 mid-century modern sideboard that I would contemplate great works of evil in order to own, its simple structure being made of clean lines with drawers in 3 rows, 3 columns. The 3rd image shows the olive-cushioned armchair again and a wall mounted lamp: a tightly curved reflector over the bulb, mounted with a long graceful curve of steel. The 4th is a narrow shelving unit in mid-brown-stained oak. The structure is made with 3 verticals, 2 at the front edges and 1 at the back venue. 2 small drawers at the bottom and simple rectangles of wood making up each shelf

4 more product images; 3 show a small squat desk lamp with a curved reflector over a cylindrical chrome base. The 3rd also shows embroidered wall art in shades of grey. The 4th showed a beautiful floor lamp with the same curved reflector, a small flat circular base and a big, slender curved support that made me gasp with delight. All the lamp reflectors are backed in a block colour of burgundy, steel-blue or olive

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 14/08/2026

Just had an emergency alert, only in Welsh, about the increased risk of wildfire and not to use disposable BBQs etc. (The English version came 4 mins later, as I was typing this) Fuck me, is this really the right way to go about it? And still Burnham is all drill baby drill about North Sea oil.

Severe alert

Anfonwyd gan Lywodraeth y DU

Mae yna berygl difrifol o dân ar draws y genedl. Ni ddylai trigolion, tirfeddianwyr nac ymwelwyr ymgymryd ag unrhyw weithgaredd a allai achosi tân, gan gynnwys barbeciwiau tafladwy, pyllau tân, Ilsgyddion gardd neu dân gwyllt. Gall hyd yn oed fflam fach ddatblygu'n gyflym yn dân gwyllt mawr, gan beryglu bywydau, cartrefi, busnesau ac ymatebwyr brys.

Dilynwch y diweddariadau swyddogol ac adroddwch arwyddion o dân ar unwaith drwy ffonio 999. Edrychwch ar gov.uk/alerts am fwy o wybodaeth.

Severe alert

Issued by the UK Government

There is a very high risk of wildfires nationally. Residents, landowners and visitors should not undertake any activity that could start a fire, including
disposable barbecues, firepits, garden incinerators or fireworks. Even a small flame can rapidly develop into a major wildfire placing lives, homes, businesses and emergency responders at risk.

Follow official updates and report signs of fire immediately by calling 999. Search gov.uk/alerts for more information.

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 12/08/2026

Found these in a box this afternoon (after a friend had sent me a more recent pair too) This best before date doesn't appear to make much difference 😂

A pair of solar glasses, with instructions down one side and, highlighted, text reading "DO NOT use after Aug. 12 1999"

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 12/08/2026

I just saw this delightful comment on the Royal Observatory Greenwich's feed (www.youtube.com/live/X_lWDBT...)

A user called "completely unprofessional PL" posted "Stop the Pacman"

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 12/08/2026

Not quite, @support.bsky.team; the Clacton by-election isn't until tomorrow.

Trending

1. Perseid meteor shower peaks August 12
2. Farage wins Clacton seat
3. UK fifth heatwave arrives
4. Russia threatens Europe and Ukraine
5. Bluesky adds repost muting

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 08/08/2026

Beetroot is high in fructans and GOS. I would speak with your doctor about finding something else to deal with your blood pressure because it is almost certainly exacerbating your IBS. (I've annotated which colours are which in the alt text)

A screenshot from Monash University's Fodmap app, showing that beetroot is green at 75g, amber at 250g and red at 290g

A long scrolling screenshot about raw beetroot and its Fodmaps, providing the added detail about GOS and fructans being the danger points. For 290g, fructose, lactose, mannitol and sorbitol are all green, GOS is amber and fructans are red. At 250g the fructans are also amber, at 75g, all six are green

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 07/08/2026

Was political discourse always this fucking pointless and pathetic but I previously just failed to notice?!

Screenshot from The Guardian sidebar, showing the headline on today's politics liveblog reading "Labour minister denies Burnham 'too blokey'"

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 03/08/2026

My July reading, featuring a @seananmcguire.bsky.social re-read, 2× @nghivo.bsky.social, @davidbowles.us (at last!) and an ARC from Becky Chambers, as well as starting 3 others (and a 4th on 1 Aug 😳) No prizes for guessing when Wikimania was from that calendar view 😂 #booksky #📚

My Storygraph wrap-up graphic for July 2026.

5 books, 1,128 pages, average rating 4.65. Highest rated reads are 5.0 for "As You Wake, Break the Shell" by Becky Chambers and 4.75 for 2 Nghi Vo novellas: "A Long and Speaking Silence" and "A Mouthful of Dust", both of which have gorgeous covers by Alyssa Winans, who definitely deserves another Hugo Award already. My average book length was 203 pages and my average time to finish was 5 days.

Everything I finished in July was digital and fiction. 3 books were fantasy, 3 were scifi, 3 were LGBTQIA+ (probably more than that tbh) and 1 was horror. There's also a line graph showing pages read per day, with spikes on the 2nd and the 14th and an almost complete flatline from 21 to 29 July, when I was at a conference.

A calendar view of my reading through July, showing just under a week for each of 3 books read wholly in July (Nghi Vo's most recent Singing Hills novella, "Lords of the Earth" by David Bowles and "As You Wake, Break the Shell" by Becky Chambers), plus an hour or so for Please Do Not Taunt the Octopus by Mira Grant. 3 other books were started in July ("Antifa Lit Journal, Volume 1: What If We Kissed While Sinking a Billionaire's Yacht?", "The Deep and the Drowned" and "Plastic, Prism, Void"). It also shows the number of pages I read each day, plus ratings: 5 stars for Becky Chambers, 4.75 for both Nghi Vo books, 4.5 for Mira Grant and 4.25 for David Bowles

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 03/08/2026

Ok, this is definitely a session I wish I could attend

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 03/08/2026

Glancing through the LACon programme guide while I waited for something and I love the look of this session. Also pleased to see that @casella.bsky.social is another person who agrees Best Related Work needs splitting in twain, so long and short works can be recognised separately

The Red Army: Leftist Military Science Fiction
Location: Palos Verdes (Hilton)
Starts: 09:00 PDT con time, 17:00 BST local time
Duration: 60 mins
Participants: Howard V. Hendrix, Jake Casella Brookins (moderator), Jeremy Clift, Kathy Bond, Molly O'Neill
Tags: Literature, Panel, Politics, Science Fiction, Futurism, Military Fiction, In Person, Recorded, Streamed

Description:
Military science fiction has long been associated with rigid hierarchies, imperial expansion, and nationalist narratives, but what happens when the genre is reimagined through an explicitly leftist lens? From worker-led space fleets to post-capitalist defense forces, this panel explores stories that center collective struggle, anti-imperial resistance, and revolutionary politics within futuristic armed conflicts.

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 02/08/2026

When did Pornhub start requiring 2FA from users? Nice!

A redacted screenshot of Pornhub's 2FA setup screen

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 31/07/2026

Skimreading the LACon programme guide between tasks and I really wish the cis-hets would remember that Covid-19 is not the first plague in living memory.

Epidemics and Pandemics: Truth vs. Fiction
Location: Malibu (Hilton)
Starts: 13:30 PDT con time, 21:30 BST local time
Duration: 60 mins
Speakers: Glen Olson (G.W.Olson) (moderator), Laura Antoniou, Liz Argall, Richard Swan, Sam Scheiner
Tags: History, Literature, In Person, Not Recorded, Not Streamed, Panel

Description: Plagues have been used in literature since before the Bible. Now that we’ve seen one in person, how does that change the way we view tropes around illness and human responses to disasters? What stood up to reality, and which were absolute lies? How has this changed how we write about disease and disaster?

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 26/07/2026

Just started reading "Plastic, Prism, Void" by violet allen and these footnotes are delightful!

12 More precisely πειραζωη, peirazon, translated in the King James as "temper". Literally "the probing one", carrying both senses of "probe", to test and to pierce. Cf "empiricism" and it's Italian cousin "experiment". Fitting, i think, for a man who is a scientist and a top and a fuckboy.

13 In the original, Pandora's vessel was a jar, but ol' Erasmus got his stories mixed up, confusing a pyxus full of Sleeping Beans for a pithos of Adam and Eve. But as a mistranslated (πολύτροπος) Roman mussels, i do identify with a gal who must suffer speculation as to whether or not she has a box.

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 25/07/2026

I'm in Paris for the last day of Wikimania today but I hope everyone at London Trans+ Pride has an amazing day; i wish I could do both. Together we will overcome the bigoted bullshit we are forced to live with. Together, we are invincible.

Me, at the Cardiff march for Trans Liberation earlier this year. With s backdrop of trans pride flags and wearing one as a cape, my t-shirt reads "this shirt is doing more for trans rights than the government"

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 20/07/2026

I'm on the train to #Wikimania and it would have been nice had Amex (who booked scholarship travel) let me know there's an extra hour in my Londonbound journey due to engineering/ track work between Bristol and Swindon. Very pleased I asked for the later Eurostar 🥲

The Great Western Railway app showing my train, with a 54-minute journey between Bristol Parkway and Swindon during a 2h38m journey from Cardiff Central to Paddington (which is usually a 2-hour journey)

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 14/07/2026

I'm not an astrology gay either but these colours are pretty, I guess. And the stars say trans rights! pantonecolors.net/pantone-birt...

Apparently my Pantone colour birth chart is a deep red called Black Cherry for my Scorpio sun, a dark mustard called Olive Velvet for my moon in Taurus, a nice baby blue called Clear Sky Note for my Gemini ascendant and a baby pink called Silk Ballet for my Venus in Libra or whatever

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 11/07/2026

Are you not able to click a Details button, where you can do that?

Screenshot of a media view on the English Wikipedia, with a red arrow drawn in to point at a blow bottom reading Details

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Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 06/07/2026

Huh, apparently I can select a seat preference. Except I'm not sure how to read the seat picker (and there's no indication of which seats are 1st class and thus not available to me)

A seat picker, showing 84 seats available, with some gaps that I don't understand (and some grey boxes that are presumably tables)

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