iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Pretend Cato @pretendcato.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

In entirely unsurprising news, the panettone isn’t looking great (not proving)

Pretend Cato @pretendcato.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Back to the colder months so, once again, I bravely try to bake despite all the evidence that I should give up. And why not bite off more than you can chew? So today, I attempt two breads I’ve never made before: panettone and ciabatta. Italians, mi dispiace

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Pretend Cato @pretendcato.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

My 6 year old son and I have made it using apples from our garden trees in Somerset. He’s just got into The Great British Bake Off with @nigella.bsky.social and he wanted to make a cake with a story, so this is ours :)

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Pretend Cato @pretendcato.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

This is made using my nanny’s apple cake recipe. She grew up in Hertfordshire in an adoptive family. Nanny was born with a disability which - among other things - meant her grip wasn’t very strong, but meant her cakes were amazing, never overworked. She was a formidable 4ft 11 with big person energy

An almond and apple cake in the shape of heart

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Pretend Cato @pretendcato.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

This is such, SUCH a good essay. That feeling of a veil being pulled between who we really are and how we want to communicate vs what is acceptable to the algorithms and corporations

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Steve Mullis @stevemullis.net · 05/10/2026

[car dealership waiting room] Me: [chanting] knobs, knobs- Other car buyers: knobs, KNOBS Car salesman: [pounding desk] KNOBS, KNOBS, KNOBS!

forbes.com

Knobs Returning To Some Automakers’ Vehicles, To The Relief Of Many

Auto companies are listening to the complaints of consumers, who want their knobs and buttons back.

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Maria Popova @mariapopova.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

The vocabulary of vulnerability – 10 words from around the world for complex and difficult emotions, from "abhiman" (Sanskrit for the pain and anger we feel when someone we trust hurts us) to "żal" (Polish for the melancholy felt at an irretrievable loss) www.themarginalian.org/2026/08/24/b...

themarginalian.org

The Vocabulary of Vulnerability: 10 Words from Around the World for Complex and Difficult Emotions

Language is the chalice we lift to our lips to taste our own experience — a vessel that constrains what it contains by giving it its own shape. The more complex our experience, the more muddl…

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Dan Hon @danhon.com · 09/07/2026

Tomorrow at 9am PT join @jukes.ie and myself for the very first How People Work, Live! where we'll be talking about how the tricky thing about making software isn't really the code, it's people. It's always just people. July 10, 0900, free on Zoom! calendly.com/verylittlegr...

Banner for the How People Work, Live! event on Friday 10 July at 9am Pacific.

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Buckinghamshire Archives @bucksarchives.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Let's talk about mass trespass.

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Pretend Cato @pretendcato.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Growing potatoes is the closest I’ll ever get to magic. A wizened old nugget goes in the ground and then a couple of months later it’s made about 5 legit-looking potatoes #POTATOES

Some halved, home grown baby potatoes, on a grey chopping board

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Pretend Cato @pretendcato.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

And then, after a couple of Pimms, we went to see @smithandsniff.bsky.social and heard a lovely story about piss

The London Concours car event - an image of a large grassy open air arena in the sunshine surrounded by tall buildings and filled with people, some yellow cars, marquees and other cars

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Pretend Cato @pretendcato.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

And this Montreal made me make a small noise out of my nose

A beautiful red Alfa Romeo Montreal car, parked in a grassy arena with a few other cars, buildings and marquees in the middle distance

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Pretend Cato @pretendcato.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Amazing deployment of the corporate myself and yourself on the train: “I’m afraid the trolley service to yourselves will be slower today due to myself working by myself”

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Pretend Cato @pretendcato.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

This beautiful Citroën had a cassette tape of Grace Jones inside, all it was missing was a pack of Gitanes and a passing whiff of Serge Gainsbourg’s trousers and we’d be all set

A beautiful grey Citroën CX sitting under a sunny blue and white clouded sky on a grassy arena surrounded by people, marquees and other cars in the background. It sits long and low to the ground with a hooded back wheel

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Gareth @gawuffy.co.uk · 05/06/2026

I'm sorry what? As part of its 1987 rebrand British Rail's sectorised freight business Railfreight had its own branded After Eight mints and called them AFTER FREIGHT!?

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Pretend Cato @pretendcato.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Only the TV, he’s Stevie the TV

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Pretend Cato @pretendcato.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

I’ve spent the train ride back from #Interesting2026 looking up Bertolt Brecht, subscribing to Stack magazines, and finding other weird time signatures in Radiohead songs. The magic potion worked!

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Pretend Cato @pretendcato.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

Ah I was there too! That one was absolutely my highlight as well :) but they were all great

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Jukesie @jukes.ie · 18/05/2026

The Product for the People meet-up series is returning to Bristol on the 3rd September in some shape or form to be decided so save the date...or don't...I'm relaxed either way. Product for the People is for people interested in public service product management - but not just product managers!

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Pretend Cato @pretendcato.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

like a mantis shrimp, they may be small but they are punchy

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Pretend Cato @pretendcato.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Been extremely successful at growing things again. What a harvest. (coin for scale)

Two miniature chillis, one teeny tiny red one and a very slightly larger yellow one next to a 5 cent euro coin (which is about the size of a 1 penny UK coin) for scale

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Pretend Cato @pretendcato.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Taking a punt that it’s this excellent album

The cover art for Chemical Brothers debut album Exit Planet Dust featuring a boho couple walking on the grass along the side of a highway while a large American car is about to pass them on the carriageway

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Pretend Cato @pretendcato.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

The Bond Lotus Esprit on our Christmas tree (next to a traditional christmas angler fish) And today, at Bicester Scramble, the real life one!

A small white lotus esprit Christmas tree decoration hanging on a Christmas tree near other decorations

The real Bond film white Lotus Esprit on display at a car event. It is in front of a building and has quite a lot of people around admiring it

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Pretend Cato @pretendcato.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

😖 I hope it’s a better day coming up and all those iv’s and tests start making a breakthrough for you 💚

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Saloni @scientificdiscovery.dev · 05/04/2026

Few people are aware of how much progress has been made against cancers. Leukemia is probably the most striking example. Before the 1970s, most children affected by leukemia would soon die from it. Now, most children in rich countries survive. ourworldindata.org/childhood-le...

Survival curves of acute lymphoblastic leukemia and acute myeloid leukemia

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The Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) @themerl.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

The results have exceeded even our most whimsical expectations. Meet our rats!

A group of rats in beautiful garments, posing for the camera at The Museum of English Rural Life. Each rat is wearing a different costume, inspired by experiences of childhood in historic rural England.

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Rebecca Montacute @beckymontacute.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

Do you know how much is in your pension? When was the last time time you checked? Do you know your own contribution levels? Or your employers? New SMF research out today finds far too many of us are not on top of our pensions -

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Anthony Zacharzewski @anthonyzach.be · 26/01/2026

Measles vaccination, human rights, international peace, European unity. The far right have never met a 20th century achievement that they don't want to destroy, and all in the name of the most fragile and pathetic men on the planet.

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Jukesie @jukes.ie · 26/01/2026

Morning folks - for all the people at Govcamp who were asking me about the National Data Library here is an actual, official update with some specifics...for the first time I think 🎉 www.gov.uk/government/p...

gov.uk

National Data Library: progress update, January 2026

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Hadley Beeman @hadleybeeman.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

Sending love and good wishes for inspiring conversations, effective planning and important mutual support to everyone headed to #ukgc26. I’m sad I can’t be with you this year, but my thoughts go with you! @ukgovcamp.com

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Pretend Cato @pretendcato.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

We watched this too, then followed it up with watching The Brian Jonestown Massacre set from Glastonbury this year, just to really pile the cement of time on things

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Pretend Cato @pretendcato.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

I liked this very much. I also did not have ‘buy a book about vents’ on my list for today, but here we are

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Odd This Day @oddthisday.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

Have you ever wondered what a review of the year would be like if it was written by a halfwit who spends too much time on here? WELL... Historian John Julius Norwich used to publish a ‘Christmas Cracker’ of stuff he collected each year from history and literature. I do the same, but stupider

mulberryhall.medium.com

Christopher’s Christmas Cracker 2025

An explanation of what follows

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Pretend Cato @pretendcato.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

“Your Scientists Were So Preoccupied With Whether Or Not They Could, They Didn’t Stop To Think If They Should”

A trainer-loafer hybrid shoe. The top is a grey loafer but the sole and someway up the side is orange. On the sole this merges to red ombré at the back and is a chunky running shoe sole with grey tread underneath and serrated running shoe lines across the side

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Pretend Cato @pretendcato.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

😂 Shave my head for charity? Yeah probably. Wear these? Heck no

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Pretend Cato @pretendcato.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

MY EYES (a mere £600 for this chimney with toes)

Knee high black leather boots with a peek toe at the bottom, slightly resembling a chimney with toes poking out the bottom

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UK Gov Camp @ukgovcamp.com · 12/10/2025

UKGovCamp Birmingham: Join Us! UKGovCamp is happening on 17 Jan 2026. If you work in gov and haven’t attended, now’s the time! Leaders in policy, operations, and diversity, please share with your teams, connect with colleagues, and help spread the word! Contact us to get involved.

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Pretend Cato @pretendcato.bsky.social · 28/09/2025

This whole thread. I can think of a person who’d love each one of these cursed items

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