iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Laurence @pdxpatterman.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Tickets for my company’s latest production in Portland Oregon went on sale today! If you’re in the PDX area, love lively classical music, and don’t hate laughing, you can get ticket information at www.lightoperaofportland.org/tickets

Characters from the opera H.M.S. Pinafore with text details about the show; performing October 9th - 25th 2026 at the Brunish Theatre in Portland Oregon. Tickets at www.lightoperaofportland.org/tickets

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Laurence @pdxpatterman.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Confirmed from Portland Oregon. Guess I have to find a new maps app. 🤬🤬🤬

A screenshot of Google Maps showing Lake Ontario with the wrong name, demonstrating that Google is in full collaboration with the Trump administration.

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Laurence @pdxpatterman.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

My grandparents would be pre-teens, but from what I know of my great grandparents it would be either running a shop in Southampton selling cutlery, sporting goods, and shotguns, an accountant for a London real estate firm (which I discovered yesterday still exists) or an architect in North London!

A thatched cottage in NW London that looks 400 years old, but was actually built in the 1920s.

Side view of the cottage, showing more of the thatched roof, and wooden plank siding, and windows.

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Laurence @pdxpatterman.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Sign found at one of my work locations, the Hotel Oregon in McMinnville. Answer to the question, what has Andy Burnham been up to this week..?

A stairway in a historic hotel in McMinnville Oregon. A sign hangs next to it that advertises the London And Manchester Assurance company.

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Laurence @pdxpatterman.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

One of mine does the same thing… XD

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Laurence @pdxpatterman.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

The Southern Pacific’s Red Electric service ran two lines from Portland all the way down to Eugene, one via Lake Oswego/Newberg, and the other via Beaverton/Forest Grove. I was just researching them for my job doing history tours at the McMenamins hotels in Forest Grove and McMinnville!

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Laurence @pdxpatterman.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Buried in the middle of this article about Andy Burnham receiving almost enough votes to become leader of the Labour Party in the first round comes this bit where he endorses Count Binface!

Screenshot of BBC News article where Andy Burnham says “Count Binface, you are carrying the hopes of the nation. Don’t let us down.”

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Laurence @pdxpatterman.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

The rest of the world after this nonsense…

Early WWI cartoon showing a young boy standing against a much larger older man with a big stick and a string of sausages in his pocket from walking over the boy’s field. The caption reads “Bravo, Belgium!”

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Laurence @pdxpatterman.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

In some ways, getting a wound before the attack began might have been lucky for my Great Grandad, as he avoided that experience, and lucky for me, because my Grandad wasn’t born until 1918, so if George had gone over that morning, I might not exist today!

George Earnest Draper, in the uniform of a Rifleman in the 12th London Regiment (The Rangers) standing in a garden with his wife Ethel on their wedding day in 1915.

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Laurence @pdxpatterman.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

I’ve learned that my Great Grandad received a shrapnel wound in his left arm, serious enough that within 48 hours he was in a hospital back in the U.K., and wouldn’t return to France for over a year.

A page of George Draper’s 1916 diary, showing the days leading up to the attack on the 1st of July, and a brief description of his route away from the front. Appears to say “Hit abt 4:30am”

A page of George Draper’s 1916 diary giving more details of his journey back to the U.K.

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Laurence @pdxpatterman.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Anyone who has heard anything about the WWI has heard of The Somme, particularly the first day. The images of men climbing out of their trenches and walking towards the enemy front line that they were assured had been utterly smashed by the largest artillery barrage the British army had ever issued,

Photo of a British trench in the Gommecourt sector

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Laurence @pdxpatterman.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

It’s true. Also, say hi to one of my cats. 😜

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Laurence @pdxpatterman.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

I wish my local con would get Brian Blessed, but I think Oregon might be a bit far… I did have the privilege to loan John Rhys Davies my neutrona wand, and after these photos he handed it back saying, “Thank you sir, for the use of your weapon!” 🤩

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Laurence @pdxpatterman.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Got cast in a town and gown production of The Pirates Of Penzance in a small Welsh seaside town while at university…

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Laurence @pdxpatterman.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

I’m at the UFO Fest with jelly babies, say hi if you spot me! 😁

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Laurence @pdxpatterman.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

Opened my latest show last night, Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Gondoliers is running at Portland OR’s Brunish Theatre for the next three weekends, ticket info at www.lightoperaofportland.org/tickets

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Laurence @pdxpatterman.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

In 410AD the Emperor Honorius told a delegation from Britannia to “Look to your own defences,” instead of providing support against the raids by Saxons, Picts, and others. It is widely considered as the end of the Roman Empire in Britain, and another step on the collapse of Rome in the West

A screenshot of the BBC News app where Trump tells the U.K., “Get your own oil, the USA won’t be there to help you.”

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Laurence @pdxpatterman.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Saw a few people sharing those video clips of Sen Tillis getting mad at Noem today and expressing support, but I just wanted to clarify that he’s mostly mad at the fact that DHS’s gestapo tactics are turning popular opinion against deportation in general…

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Laurence @pdxpatterman.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Something must have glitched out at the BBC, because this result doesn’t seem to have made their website at all… 🤔

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Laurence @pdxpatterman.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

Are this guy’s kids named Stephen and Mathilda by any chance… @thebhp.bsky.social

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Laurence @pdxpatterman.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

Looking forward to listening to this one!

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Laurence @pdxpatterman.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

Remember this nonsense…? XD

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Laurence @pdxpatterman.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

A day may come when I can watch one of the Lord of the Rings movies without crying…

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Laurence @pdxpatterman.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

I’m picturing Andy Samburg dressed like Weird Al’s Rambo costume..,

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Laurence @pdxpatterman.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

Meet Harvey the Rabbit, from Hillsboro OR!

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Laurence @pdxpatterman.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

I was in this spectacular part of the world this summer for a choir festival, and we absolutely fell in love with it!

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Laurence @pdxpatterman.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

Trumpian airport passport control, checking to see if you’ve been mean about him in the last five years.

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Laurence @pdxpatterman.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

I look forward to listening! My Great Grandad getting a Blighty wound early in the day there likely led to my existence, as my Grandad wasn’t born until 1918.

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Laurence @pdxpatterman.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

My Oregon based opera company purchased these helmets last year from a creator in the UK, doubt we’d be able to get them now!

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Laurence @pdxpatterman.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

He was in The Rangers, the 12th Londons alongside the London Scottish. As my grandad wasn’t born until 1918, him being wounded at 4:30am likely saved his life and led to my existence, as the Rangers were in the first wave and suffered terrible losses.

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Laurence @pdxpatterman.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

These are the pages of my Great Grandad’s diary leading up to and immediately after that day, he was in the attack at Gommecourt with the 56th London Division.

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Laurence @pdxpatterman.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

This exists not far from my house…

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Laurence @pdxpatterman.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

Yep, pretty much what we thought. People (and the media especially) have got to get out of the habit of reporting what these two say credulously.

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