iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

For my birthday I'm going to buy a book on James Abbott McNeill Whistler. Any suggestions?

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I'm thousands of miles away, and even I can see this @karinarykman.bsky.social thing is happening. 🎸🌞

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Contingent events. A problem for Manchester City and the Premier League is that, subject to possible appeal, everyone now faces an avalanche of what-ifs. We are about to enter the era of the football counterfactual. The breaches mean years of sporting endeavour have been tainted. #ManCity

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

If I illegally access ("hack") private healthcare data belonging to Australian citizens, I would rightly face the full force of Australian law. If an AI *agent* does likewise, are we saying there is a victim but no indictable perpetrator? OpenAI leadership *must* face direct consequences. Enough.

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

So, Ed Davey, suddenly it appears that, if the UK does this new thing and joins the EU single market, it can miraculously find £17b for tax cuts, upping the tax free personal allowance to 15k and the 40p threshold to 56k. Genius thinking? New money? No. Just partial repair of a disastrous #Brexit.

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Interesting vocabulary and sound bytes coming out of #Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. „Die Frau gegen Blau” is a good one (for Manuela #Schwesig). I also like „Kanzlertausch” (maybe for Friedrich Merz). „enttäuschen” (to disappoint) is seemingly rather closely related to changing the Chancellor.

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Thinking of moving house. "Total Recall" on the TV. Maybe I should have an implant, and get my ass to Mars. #FilmSky

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

UK law makers should understand it is a tradition for the country to fail (Sam Fender aside) in the #Eurovision song contest. There is *no point* in an inquiry; this is utterly ridiculous and a complete waste of parliamentary time. #aucunpoint #ukpol

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

The problem I have with AI is a rather obvious, but nevertheless seemingly intractable, one. It creates a crisis of trust - in people, content, most things; even extending to rejecting the valid and truthful 'to err on the safe side'. The only antidotes are embodied experience and curated knowledge.

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Just thought I should call my band 'And Many More...' Instant royalties.

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I don't think we are that far away from there being no need for a dictionary to contain the word 'consensus'. I think the thesaurus entry 'fragmentation' will be ever more useful.

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Can't help but think Eric Coates should have got the commission for "Land of Hope and Glory". #TheProms

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

And breathe. #TheProms returns to *classical* music. #YujaWang is a genius of the age. Sublime interpretation on top of unbreakable technique. Stylish heels, too.

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

The embers of a band I used to see around Birmingham (UK). Many times, at the end of the gig, sang along with my friends to this Little Feat ballad. Don't exactly remember how I got home afterwards. Thought @vermontom.bsky.social you might enjoy. #VincentFlatts #enumbers youtu.be/WiBC7xajNF8?...

youtu.be

Willin', Little Feat (1971), performed by Vincent Flatts Final Drive

YouTube video by Vincent Flatts

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

They just remind me of sales guys fronting a water filter pyramid scheme, or some crypto selling scam. Same gaudy patter, same badly fitting suits, same way of working the audience.

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Beauty this. #NowSpinning. Lovely plaintive pacing to it from Sir Malcolm. #MusicSky

Cover of my 1988 EMI LP, Elgar's "Serenade in E minor", Op 20; Warlock's "Capriol Suite"; and Holst's "St. Paul's Suite" and "Beni Mora" (Oriental Suite). Conductor Sir Malcolm Sargent, Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic and BBC Symphony Orchestras. Originally recorded in 1971 and digitally remastered at Abbey Road in 1988. The cover shows detail from "The Beach at St. Adresse", Claude Monet. A shore scene: fishermen stand around their boats, wicker creels lie on the sands, a sitting figure gazes out to see through a telescope, sailboats circle the calm bay waters, behind lies the town and its church spire. The colour palette is of blues for sky and water, dark green and greys for the shoreline and buildings.

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

As the C4 News story hits the wires, it really does bear repeating just how impressive is Jane Mayer's "Dark Money". Want to see how the American radical right bought politics? Read Jane Mayer and weep. #ukpol #c4news #reformuk

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

You've got to love Sally Bowles. No? I think I do. #isherwood #berlin

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

How abject is British politics. We have a Tory opposition leader trying to deliver a lecture about borrowing costs. #Truss

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

"We're in the Common Market now, and my new deal is with Europe." It's depressing that #HaroldShand is actually more pro-EU than the Prime Minister. #LongGoodFriday

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Any day you get up and travel to one of the greatest cities in the world is, to quote an Australian philosopher, "Lucky, lucky, lucky".

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Good luck to everyone for the jog through town in the morning. ✊ #Sydney2026 🇦🇺

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

I can't find the 2 C60s from the mixing console of the Bredon Bar. So no Stu on "Yo' Cash Aint Nothin' But Trash", but I'll play him out with this groove... #StuFord #enumbers #foulplay #MusicSky youtu.be/PNqk9p3hsJw?...

youtu.be

The Fabulous E Numbers - Cartune

YouTube video by Toby Langford

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

I expect we might shortly see an executive order (which is purely an instrument of autocracy) to declare day is night.

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Oh man. Really? Say it isn't so. I didn't know Stu Ford had died. Brilliant blues guitarist and lovely bloke. So much great music and so many good times. So long, Stu, RIP. #enumbers #BredonBar #fender #birmingham

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Until Christine Rosen I hadn't encountered Andreesen's "Reality Privilege": a defence of ever increasing digital (online) unreality based on the premise that for many their real world is one of disadvantage, even misery. A real world of plenty, stimulation and beauty exists only for the rich. 1/2

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

If I'd had a few sharpeners and got into a spot of handbags in a club outside work hours, I wonder if my employer would have fired me. Also, Pieterson was right. Social media would have crucified Atherton had it existed in the 90s; and that was for something *on* the pitch.

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

That uncertain, interstitial time when you are thinking about the next book to read... There are some strands; say, an author or a subject. Then there are books I *should* read - or so I'm told. Often I like randomness as method. It has led to some real treasures. #books #BookSky

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Thought I was settled on the piece of John Barry with which to play myself into eternity at my funeral: the main theme to "Walkabout". Then I listened to BBC Radio3 "Record Review" with Andrew McGregor and Neil Brand. Intricate and brilliant. Now in a quandary. #moog youtu.be/vafSPUXMXXU?...

youtu.be

The Persuaders! Theme Tune by John Barry - ATV/ITC (ITV) 1971

YouTube video by Lost 1960s TV and Radio

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Started reading some William Blake again, and Frye's "Fearful Symmetry" is probably the greatest companion. Sitwell commented, "Several great poets have written of Blake, but this book, I believe, is the first to show the full magnitude of Blake's mind, its vast creative thought." #BookSky

Cover of Northrop Frye's book "Fearful Symmetry" (Princeton University Press, 1947, this ed. 1974). The cover image shows detail from "The Ancient of Days" (1794), a famous relief etching and hand-colored print that served as the frontispiece for Blake's prophetic book, "Europe a Prophecy". It depicts the figure of Urizen, Blake's mythological embodiment of conventional reason, law, and logic, shown crouching within a circular burst of light and using a geometric compass to measure out the universe from the void below. The colour palette is white, fiery red, yellow and orange, against a brown background

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Man. Utd. having a terrible season, 29' in. Manager just has to go.

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Throughout my life the #BBC has been a constant companion. However, apart from Radio 3, it is ever more irrelevant. Actually, BBC News and much World Service content is, on my random selections, pretty much BBC America. I'll keep the licence just for Radio 3 until its inevitable ClassicFMisation.

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

No, look, it's not a big thing, but why does the table of bowling stats for #TheHundred show "economy" as "average runs conceded per *six* balls"? The format is about sets of *five*. No? There's surely no point in comparing other tournaments which have a different structure. Come on, BBC Sport.

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

So, what do we know? The eclipse tells us we live on a planet, the wildfires across Europe that we are burning it down. What do UK politicians do? They give a green light to North Sea drilling. Criminally insane, isn't it? Remember the 2026 Summer at the polls, everyone. #EclipseAndFire #ukpol

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Another family funeral today. Obviously this makes you think about time running down. In a few days, though, I'll be back to "the plentiful waste of time of day..." How we survive, I suppose. youtube.com/watch?v=4L0m...

youtube.com

Lotte Lenya - September song (from "Knickerbocker Holiday")

YouTube video by Javi Lomax

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Phoebe Litchfield 🇦🇺 is on fire. That "almost catch" for Sunrisers vs. SuperGiants was worth the gate money on its own. #TheHundred #PhoebeLitchfield

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

I'm grateful I grew up in an analogue world: a more embodied, unmediated, unpredictable, ephemeral (unrecorded), authentic, F2F existence. Christine Rosen makes a case to save this even as it fades out. Her thoughts here are troubling, but always insightful, I think. #BookSky #books

The front cover of Christine Rosen's (2025) book "The Extinction of Experience. Reclaiming Our Humanity in a Digital World." In the centre is an arm holding up a camera 'phone to capture an image of a beautiful lake with hills on each side, blue sky above. We see a representation of this natural scene on the screen: real experience versus a mediated (digital) view of the world.

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Why doesn't The Proms warrant its own submenu and wider reporting via the culture page of the BBC website? The FIFA World Cup was awarded its special place on the site, and also The Hundred on the cricket page. The Proms is a huge cultural event over a whole Summer, and it's the *BBC* Proms.

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

I lost the best part of 2 years in the B'ham pub blues scene, but it was magnificent. Oh man, I miss it. #BredonBarAndBorderCafe youtube.com/watch?v=SL6K...

youtube.com

Arithmetic Blues

YouTube video by The Fabulous Murray Brothers - Topic

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Getting into #Rush. Wonder where my old mate Johnny Meldrum lieth. #FindingMyWay #GibsonLesPaul

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Birmingham Phoenix. So bad again that the BBC coverage has had to introduce a short film about grey squirrels to make up for the early end of the match. Use that as a motivator for next year. #TheHundred

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Presumably the tickets have an obscenity clause. The winner of the $900 million US Powerball lottery jackpot has to invest the winnings in fossil fuel shares. #ItWontBeMe

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

I'll say it again. "Hormuzian victory": a victory where the losing party dictates terms after the conflict.

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

"Rehabilitated" sounds very Democratic Kampuchea #KemiBadenoch.

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Phoebe Litchfield with a Yorkshire accent is a thought experiment worthy of Kahneman and Tversky. #TheHundred

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

"The LLM did it". No, look, legally the software developer of the LLM did it. Can we really accept that an LLM can be a defendant - autonomously? This would be a big legal and philosophical step? To do so anthropomorphises a software structure.

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Slight oddity, if true. Leaders of military juntas or militia groups in Africa seem to be adopting lower ranks, of late: captain so and so, etc. Presumably this makes them appear more "front line" and down with the rank and file? It's been a slow day...

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