iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

I went to archives today and now I’m going to have to sell a kidney to pay for the camera fees.

Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

For some light relief I’m currently reading ‘The Exorcist’ but I’m thinking of abandoning the book 50 pages in. Mrs S thinks it’s because it’s too scary but really it’s not. It’s the author’s style: written in a pretentious 70s style and there are far too many one word sentences. For. My. Liking.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

If any Chinese spy is stuck for something to do, I can bore them to death with tales of early modern Bedfordshire.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

One of the great benefits of YouTube and streaming catch up services is that I can rewatch some great dramas from the 70s and 80s. According to my son, they are older than some of the content he teaches in A level history.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

It’s a good reason to get rid of the money grubbing PL and going back to a single football league. Ideally it should be a massive fine, name stripped from the record books and relegation to division 3. Let’s see if the Emirates are interested then. Alas, they’ll be tickled with a feather duster.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

The media is full of talk of potential sanctions for Man City. Well, let me tell you that Leeds City FC was abolished in 1918 after being found guilty of financial irregularities. Just saying…

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Today’s appropriate name of the day: Blastus Godly, vicar of Barton Le Clay. 1682.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

I’ve just read the government advice on stockpiling food in case of a severe winter and very quickly reached the conclusion that the weather is a front (no pun intended) for a potential war. I don’t think it’s missiles and drones, but cyberattacks on national infrastructure such as water and power.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

I haven’t got the best hearing but I’m sure I’ve just heard someone on Radio 4 say that the Bayeux Tapestry is not historical.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

I ask my son to keep me updated on the Leeds v Brentford match while I prepare Sunday dinner. I hear nothing for 70 minutes and when the silence is broken, it’s with the words, ‘Come on!!! …Dickhead!’ John Motson, he is not.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

‘Licentiousness is the mother of contempt, and contempt is the mother of sedition, and sedition is the mother of rebellion, and in fine, rebellion is the mother of desolation and utter confusion.’ The will of Thomas Archer, Rector of Houghton Conquest, 1630. An interesting preamble for a change.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

1. ‘Oh dear, I’ve wasted my life’. 2. ‘I see you’ve played knifey-spooney before’. 3. ‘Are you listening to me?’ (Cue clapping monkey) 4. ‘Come into my pube for a pint’. 5. ‘It doesn’t say Die Bart Die. It’s German and says The Bart The’.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Today’s name of the day is Miss Lettice Herring, who could not find a husband in early eighteenth century rural Bedfordshire. One hopes it wasn’t because of her daft name.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

It’s called ‘loaf of breading’ in our house.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

I did the six degrees of Kevin Bacon test today and found out that I am one step removed from Albert Einstein. Crazy.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

I know I shouldn’t expect every document to be in the archives, but I do get cheesed off when I see them for sale in antique shops, like this indenture, ready to spend the next 50 years as a piece of interior decor without a single historian even knowing of its existence.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

We must brush up on our civil defence procedures. Our 1st reaction was to check the smoke alarm. 2nd reaction was to imagine Armageddon. 3rd reaction was to wonder if a warning was totally necessary. If the system is used inappropriately, it will all go Pete Tong when the real warning is issued.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

I thought we were under nuclear attack for a second!

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

That was pretty underwhelming. Eclipses seem to be totality or don’t bother.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Things move at a slower pace in rural Derbyshire.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

When I was a young lad of 18, back in the early 80s, me and my mates would pile into a vintage Saab, and armed with a Good Beer Guide, would search the wilds of Yorkshire looking for pubs that sold Tim Taylor’s bitter. Now, every second pub I go in is selling the stuff. Oh, all the wasted youth!

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

I have a sister who replies to a text question with ‘yeah’ and a sister-in-law’ who speaks entirely in emojis. (👍). They think I’m odd because I try to ensure that my texts are grammatically correct. (He writes, using a split infinitive).

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

It used to be a matter of pride that I finished every book I started. Now I’ve decided that life is too short. The latest to suffer the axe is Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake. Utterly incomprehensible gibberish.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

‘James Barber, died 10 March 1743. Bastard.’ I wonder what he did to offend the vicar.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Try Bedfordshire - it’s a few pence under £30 a day.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

If I hacked a network I’d be off to prison. Where’s the criminal culpability for those involved in the development of these AI systems?

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

The comment was so far above Eric’s head, he’s just filed a UFO sighting.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

It’s almost as though we don’t value the acquisition of knowledge anymore.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

It’s called the World Cup but the current abomination is an abstract sculpture. There’s no bowl in which the victors can pour the champagne. Maybe we’ll win the World Abstract Sculpture in 2030.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Can’t wait to see Trump’s face when he has to hand the cup to Spain.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

A film about the Peasants’ Revolt coming in October. They’ll probably get most of it wrong, but who cares? I’m still looking forward to it.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

It’s what I’ve been telling the family. Perhaps I have a new career beckoning as a pundit.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

I think I can say with absolute certainty that Lionel Messi is not the ‘greatest player the world has ever seen’ as the BBC pundits are suggesting. They are just showing their relative youth. Not only were Pele and Cryuff better, they did it in heavy boots, using leather balls, on rough pitches.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

It’s a simple game. If we have the ball, they can’t score. We should have kept an attacking formation, which among other things, means Kane playing centre forward, not centre half. Sitting back and absorbing pressure was madness.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Totally agree. When you’re one up against Argentina you score a second. Once we went to nine at the back we gave up any chance of killing off the match.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

www.museumsassociation.org/museums-jour... I feel for US historian colleagues. I cannot imagine operating in an environment where I am told my conclusions must support a flawed narrative of national superiority.

museumsassociation.org

Smithsonian accused of ‘extreme political activism’ as America celebrates 4th of July - Museums Association

Report exposes ideological battle between museum body and Trump administration

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Once you are used to the letter formations they are pretty easy to read. After a week or two you’ll be able to read them almost as fast as a modern typed document. If there are words you struggle to decipher, this forum is always very helpful.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

news.sky.com/story/iran-w... Curious timing for renewed strikes, while Trump is at the NATO summit. Makes me wonder if this is a contrivance designed to pressurise the defensive alliance into supporting offensive actions.

news.sky.com

Iran war latest: Trump says ceasefire with 'cuckoo' Iran is over

Donald Trump says the ceasefire is over after renewed strikes between the US and Iran overnight. Follow the latest - and submit your question for Michael Clarke's live Q&A at 1pm.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

***some*** men. Don’t tar us all with the same brush.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Neither are fit to lace the boots of Pele. Both are far too one-footed.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Thankfully, there is a greater chance of me being elected as Pope Paul VII. (Thinking about it, maybe I could get the Great Orange pumpkin to put in a call to the Vatican).

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

My forebears were from the Low Countries (hence the surname). Tonight I am a Belgian.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

It’s a shame that Chris Froome, seven time Grand Tour winner and Olympic medalist is retiring with barely a peep from the media. He’s the (unrecognised) greatest athlete Britain has ever produced but I guarantee our daft honours system will ignore him.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Wow! This World Cup is turning into a great advert for the US. Funny how it’s only non-white teams that suffer grief.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

As the end of the school year approaches, the pupils of my history teacher son begin to lose interest.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

I makes you wonder how many more treasures as hiding, uncatalogued in archival stores.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Suddenly the decision to leave Trent Alexander Arnold at home seems a bit suspect. Good goal by DR Congo.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

We really do have the durgiest, most depressing national anthem. It’s difficult to think of a country with a worst one. I vote we change it to the Sex Pistols version.

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Paul Schoon @paulschoon.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

The table next to us ask the waitress, ‘Would you recommend the pizza?’ She replies, ‘Not really, I prefer pasta’. I predict she’ll be looking for a new job pretty soon.

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