iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

A couple of killer sweaters in Shallow Grave:

Christopher Eccleston wearing a sweater in Shallow Grave.

Kerry Fox wearing a sweater in Shallow Grave.

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Lady Victoria Hervey, that is a name I haven't heard since FHM circa 2000. Obviously she's a Reform supporter now.

Former model and current Reform supporter Lady Victoria Hervey

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Nice idea! I did one game per platform so there was a lot of agonising over putting Champ Man 3 as the PC game rather than one of the Civs but I'd be fooling myself by pretending that isn't the game I've lost more of my life to than any other!

Grid of nine games covers - Treasure Island Dizzy (ZX Spectrum), Supercars 2 (Amiga), John Madden 94 (Megadrive), Link's Awakening (Gameboy), Championship Manager 3 (PC), Super Mario Kart (SNES), Gran Turismo 2 (PlayStation), Super Monkey Ball (Game Cube), Skyrim (PS3)

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Obviously lots about Reform in the news so a lot is going under the radar but it is worth remembering that not only are they grifting criminals they are also vile racists who increasingly aren't even bothering to try and hide that fact behind weasel words.

Goodwin added that the Tories have “completely betrayed” the British people by replacing the best and brightest in the country with “drug dealing goat herders”.

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Hoping but sceptical that we're going to exit the era of "governing by tweaking inputs to the OBR model".

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Given the (fatal) extent of her injuries we probably need to talk about roads like this being 30 mph speed limit and/or having cars parked both sides but obviously that's not going to happen.

A picture of Wildwood Road from Google Streetview showing a narrow urban road with cars parked on both sides of the road and not enough room for two cars to pass. The road has a 30 mph speed limit.

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

I wrote about this cup in the intro to my PhD thesis. It has gold nanoparticles in it which is what causes it to change colour depending on lighting angle. Here are some gold nanoparticles I made during my PhD in 2006 or 2007, they are purple because they are smaller than the ones in the cup:

Some purple gold nanoparticles suspended in a liquid in a slightly grimy vial which I probably should have cleaned before I took this photo just now.

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Oh oh, the Spanish have discovered Asia.

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Honestly cycling commuting is so awesome that it does make you feel like you should write a book about it. This morning I stopped for far too long watching two swans trying and failing to balance on a large piece of plastic floating in the canal. You don't get that in a car.

Two swans trying and failing to balance on a large piece of plastic floating in the canal.

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Reminded me of this that I saw recently:

Poster for a play called "The Ghost of White Hart Lane" about John White at Underbelly Boulevard Soho from the 31st July to 2nd August

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

I seem to remember not six years ago we managed to send police to these places and fine them *just for being there*. Resorting to a ban is just:

We've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas Simpsons meme.

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

I think this is the most incoherent thing I have ever read. If I showed this to a hundred 10 year olds I think most would be able to see the contradictions here.

Exerpt from a New York Times article entitled "Trump’s Plan for Science: More Money for A.I., Less for Universities":

"He also directed federal science agencies to focus on a handful of priorities set by the White House, including physical sciences, chemistry and biological sciences.

Those fields, he wrote, were crucial to what he called the Trump administration’s “national missions” — a list that includes artificial intelligence, nuclear fusion, robotics, quantum computing and space exploration.

The report is less clear on the areas of scientific research for which the federal government should reduce funding. It says federal agencies “should prioritize foundational research in the biological sciences over the life sciences.”"

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Are Labour going to go with this guy again?

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Hmm, maybe we should get together or something.

Map of solar PV potential across the UK showing the highest potential in the southeast and the lowest in Scotland.

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Double rainbow in suddenly quite grim north London. I of course do not have a jacket and am soaked.

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Probably not the oldest thing I use regularly but just because I was thinking the other day that this rucksack I still use a lot is almost 30 years old I think.

Purple Adidas rucksack with pink stripes dating from around the turn of the century.

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Mandarin ducks - big fans of the pumpkin seeds I gave them the other day but not so keen on today's nuts and raisins.

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Yeah I'm sure they'll eventually persuade someone to pay them to reopen it.

Tonight queen meme for Centrica wanting to reopen the Rough gas storage facility.

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Fed some ducks on the way in to work this morning to hear their cute squeaks and get a photo for you lot:

A family of Mandarin ducks eating pumpkin seeds in the Regent's Canal.

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

On the one hand, probably good, on the other, what the hell else would I use this for?

Can you summarise any important information from the last 100 messages in the 6B WhatsApp group?

I wish I could, but I can’t see into your WhatsApp groups or pull messages from 6B directly. I don’t have access to your chats, contacts, or any private messages for privacy reasons.

If you copy/paste the important bits here, or upload a screenshot/export, I can absolutely summarise it for you and pull out dates, tasks, decisions, etc.

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

New contribution to the transatlantic food discourse courtesy of the BBC:

A hot dog purchased at the Japan - Netherlands World Cup game looking extremely unappealing.

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Also worth pointing out that the warming caused by escaped methane during LNG production and transport is as bad if not worse than the actual burning of it:

Bar graph showing CO2 equivalent emissions from LNG, demonstrating that the warming potential from escaped methane is similar to or greater than the warming potential of the CO2 released when the LNG is finally burnt.

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Ha, just made this as a joke but obviously because they hate us that's what they actually went and did.

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Suspect that might be short lived... Rainfall radar says we should be more or less clear from ~14:00 to close of play though.

Rainfall radar showing heavy showers all round London at 12:00.

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Easy to forget given the last 15 years but the UK actually had by far the highest growth of the major European economies in the period in question:

GDP per capita for UK, France, Germany and Italy from 1992 - 2007, showing UK started the period with the lowest GDP per capita and finished with the highest.

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

These are the rest of my recommendations from that article:

Only heard of one of these - Thee Headcoatees. They were the first band I ever saw live, supporting Mudhoney in 1995.

I have no idea what a cutoff should be for "obscure", but I arbitrarily picked less than 100 "haves" on Discogs. So I have many obscure records from the late 90s/2000s, and almost all of them are terrible. But ones which spring to mind which I still occasionally listen to (or would love to listen to again but have sadly lost over the years):

Wall of Sleep - Wall of Sleep - there are at least two other bands called Wall of Sleep but these ones are from 1995 Coventry and released this amazing pyschedelic doom album on the Bevis Frond's label Woronzow. And then split up. A perfect one for listening to with the lights down low and the smell of your favourite burning leaves in the air.

Vialka - Curiosités Des Coutumes Populaires - bizarre nomadic French experimental punk. This one is from 2005 but they've been releasing stuff for years and still are I think. My favourite song on this album is called Shitty Monkeys

Among the Missing - Disorder of the Templar. Disclaimer - I know these guys. But still, an absolutely brutal slice of mid-00s sludgecore/grindcore with obligatory British humour and references to smoking too much weed.

Finally, not an album, but I did have an amazing hardcore punk song that I absolutely loved on the compilation album Peace-War, called "Endless Blockade for the Pussyfooter" which was by a Japanese hardcore band called GISM. I never saw a copy of the record it was on, I never met anyone who had it, but I just looked it up on discogs and saw it's going for over £200!

Anyway, god knows why I bothered writing all that seeing as it's unlikely that anyone will have the faintest clue what I'm talking about, but it did fill my lunch break with reminiscences of old bands I liked.

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

It's true, ancient Greeks did just like hot men.

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

This from Simon Case seems entirely divergent from reality. I don't know who he thinks was the previous government or who they put in charge of things like the BBC. I don't think revolutions are famous for their clear and consistent instructions either beyond "execute all our enemies".

Quote from Simon Case: "Those leading the Brexit revolution have never taken control of all of the key institutions of power in the UK – it took three years to deliver a leave prime minister, and parliament has yet to see a leave majority. Whitehall has never been given clear and consistent instructions that an alternative vision of the country’s future is to be pursued. Whilst the constitutional change has been completed, the vision has never been defined and implemented. The revolution has failed."

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Slow hand clap. Why even bother? The £500 they're spending on this is totally wasted money.

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

What are we thinking Bluesky - genius or abomination?

Photo of a tin of olives stuffed with blue cheese.

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Important London news - some baby moorhens hatched on the Regents Canal:

Extremely tiny moorhen chicks on the Regents Canal.

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Unsurprising result for me. Was a bit confused by the independence questions because I agreed with all of the statements (eg independence can be both a legitimate democratic outcome and a terrible idea).

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

I realise this game is American but really?

Geoguesser game asking to tap as close as possible to Istanbul with a 3x hard rating for the question.

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Interesting development and hopefully good news for the west of England region.

Labour's West of England mayor chooses Green councillor as her deputy
Steven Morris
Steven Morris
Steven Morris is a Guardian correspondent covering the west of England.

There has been an unusual outbreak of harmony in Bristol – two political parties building bridges.

In what they say is a first for England, Helen Godwin, the Labour mayor of the West of England, unveiled Cllr Tony Dyer, the Green leader of Bristol city council, as deputy mayor.

Godwin’s people say this is the first appointment by a Labour leader of a Green politician as deputy mayor of any combined authority in England.

Godwin said the pair were united over issues such as improving transport, building new homes and creating new jobs.

Dyer said working together across political parties was the way to make sure the west of England fulfilled its potential.

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Paul Boldrin @paulboldrin.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

As far as I can tell this is right in the middle of where the solar farm will be looking towards the colliery tip in case anyone can bear to look at the epic beauty of this place. It's also less than 10 miles from the Peak District national park in case the residents need some actual scenery.