iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

The story that is more prominent on the front page doesn’t include that headline. It’s linked to at the bottom of the page in the “More to explore” section www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

What kind of unholy user interface for selecting a year is this from Tesco/Pharmadoctor!? It really isn't hard to make these things usable. Just obey UX conventions that have been around for literally decades at this point. FFS.

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Yep. And they’re actually really cute. I met a juvenile a few months ago at the same sanctuary, and he followed you around like a puppy looking for treats!

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Although I’ve got to say, we can’t see much given the rain and humidity…

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

If we are insisting on installing them on railway property a far better place for solar panels would be largish, flat(ish) places… like station roofs or the roofs of maintenance depots. A couple of Swiss examples attached from Basel

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Without downloading any new pics, where are you at mentally? (Yes, I’m the pigeon)

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

This driver cut left across me dangerously from Talbot Rd to Milton Rd today. In no universe is this not careless driving. Yet I see similar most days - a total lack of respect and care that gets pedestrians and cyclists injured or killed. @walkridetrafford.bsky.social @owlernook.bsky.social

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Something a bit different for dinner tonight: grilled halloumi and red peppers, with a strawberry, rocket and baby leaf salad in a raspberry vinaigrette with pumpkin and sunflower seeds sprinkled on top, and a drizzle of balsamic glaze. Paired with pitta bread and a glass of rose wine 💯

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

These issues could be fixed by rerouting the 7 past Cambridge South, i.e. along Robinson Way and (ideally) Papworth Road between Royal Papworth Hospital and AstraZenica. Unfortunately, Papworth Road has been built with tight corner radii that would preclude this... cc @rantyhighwayman.bsky.social

Aerial photo showing Papworth Road, the bus-only road between Royal Papworth hospital (in the lower part of the photo) and AstraZenica (in the upper part of the picture). Overlaid are purple arrows showing a possible route for the 7 bus, if it were rerouted via Papworth Road to serve Cambridge South station (on the left side of the photo). However, the turning radii at each end of Papworth Road are too narrow for a bus, and therefore it is likely that if the bus were to be rerouted it would need to be around the north side of the AstraZenica building - making the route longer and not serving Royal Papworth as well.

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

If you actually want to catch the only local bus from Cambridge South which serves villages outside Cambridge (the 7), you've got to walk approximately 800 metres to Dame Mary Archer Way - passing Royal Papworth and a skirting around the southern part of Addenbrookes itself. This is ludicrous.

Screenshot of a map showing the new Cambridge South station in relation to Addenbrookes and Royal Papworth Hospitals, and the nearest bus stop that serves local villages via the route 7 bus. This is approximately 800 metres from the station. The map shows the bus stop with a purple star, and the walking route from the station with purple arrows.

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

On bus integration: Cambridge South station itself is right next to the Guided Busway bridge over the railway (red arrow). But the nearest stops for the Busway A service are outside Royal Papworth hospital/AstraZenica - approx 200m away from the station. And that only goes to Trumpington P&R!

Screenshot of an aerial image of the new Cambridge South station and the Biomedical Campus, showing the locations of the two nearest bus stops with purple stars. The image shows they're around 200 metres from the station, and the services from each bus stop - which are relatively limited.

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

A small slice of self care at the excellent Maison Clement bakery, Cambridge

Photo showing a slice of Frasier cake, consisting of strawberries and cream with sponge layers, and a small cup of coffee directly next to it. In the background is part of Maison Clement bakery on Hills Road in Cambridge, showing a glass display cabinet with quiches and a wooden rack with pastries.

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Yep - and replacement of Mk1 based stock where the body would shear from the chassis. Also the introduction of funny zigzag bumper-like buffers (don‘t know the technical name) to prevent carriages “riding up” over each other - seen below the light clusters here: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

It was a (belated) eagle experience day my partner got me for a big birthday - despite intermittent heavy rain we had the best day. Alongside the Stella’s Sea Eagle we met a Wahlberg‘s Eagle, Great Horned Eagle Owl, African Hooded Vulture, a gorgeous Chilean Blue, and this juvenile Bald Eagle.

Photo showing me looking at the camera in a green waterproof jacket, with my left arm outstretched behind me resting on a wooden post. On top of my leather-gloved hand is a juvenile Bald Eagle, with a yellow beak and brown and white plumage. It is raining but I’m smiling at the experience

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Going through a cardboard box of papers from my parents marked "school/uni" and unearthing a whole pile of memories... University acceptance and rejection letters - and open-day registration responses, as this was shortly before UCAS became fully electronic. And this 2004 Darkness + Ash gig ticket

Photograph of a concert ticket for The Darkness plus Ash, Saturday 27th November 2004 at the SECC in Glasgow. The ticket cost £22.50.

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

“I drive a Bentley, the law doesn’t apply to me”

Photo shows a grey Bentley luxury car parked on double yellow lines in central Manchester

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

That’s a gorgeous photo Josh. (Also, I need to get back into nature photography - I’m very rusty, as I discovered when trying to take some photos of birds of prey last month…)

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Partly prompted by @jack-bailey.co.uk's tax posts, decided to make an Excel calculator to replicate (some core) functionality of www.thesalarycalculator.co.uk/salary.php Assumed someone has created a spreadsheet of this before, so Googled. AI overview provided a formula, but... its wrong

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

The card shop in Barnard Castle sells these as postcards. The guy behind the counter said he has to pay a license fee to DC for use of his image in the secons one!

Photo of a shop window in Barnard Castle, with a poster showing an eye test style chart with letters getting smaller towards the bottom of the poster. The letters on the chart read out:
E
YE
TESTS
AVAILABLE
INBARNARDCASTLE
which is a reference to the Dominic Cummings scandal.

Photo of a shop window in Barnard Castle, with a postcard displayed. The postcard shows 4 pictures of historic buildings in and around Barnard Castle in the four corners, with a photo of Dominic Cummings in the centre. The text at the bottom of the postcard reads “Cummings and Goings in Barnard Castle”, a reference to the scandal in which Dominic Cummings broke lockdown rules to drive to the town to “test his eyes” after being positive for covid.

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

That was a very enjoyable, but very tiring day… a 75km cycle ride is slightly more than my regular commute…

Map showing the route of a circular 75km cycle ride from Altrincham through Cheshire

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

Not sure that @realtimetrains.co.uk is entirely correct on this: 20 coach Pendolino…?

Screenshot of RealTimeTrains website showing 16:12 London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly today. The train formation at the top of the page says it is a 20 coach Pendolino, which isn’t correct.

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

This was in a supermarket a few weeks ago - a Waitrose, at that. What the hell?

A photograph of the bare legs and feet of a man pushing a trolley in a supermarket

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

I need to get back to the Farnes, it’s been way too long. Here’s my humble attempt at a puffin portrait from my last visit

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

Time for my regular rant about the piss-poor state of public transport in Cambridge. Stagecoach 7 service south from Cambridge towards Sawston is officially every 20 mins. Bus should have left 17:00. “Real time” indicator stuck at 5 mins since 16:55. App useless: bus in town, but showing on time!?

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

Hmm. So... Sat 18th Apr: 11:34 ex MAN arrives Nuneaton 12:41, XC from there 12:51 arrives CBG 15:04. Cheapest off peak return offered is £141.90 as LNER's site showing only routes via KGX/EUS for return. If I filter to avoid London Terminals, it finally reveals cheap option of £113.50

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

Hmm, that's weird. Alternative browser, and can force "changing at..." to Stevenage. Outbound via Nuneaton, return via Stevenage and Doncaster... Still only offering £141-ish return. That's definitely not right... @lner.co.uk ?

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

Unfortunately when I try to filter my journey to go via or change at some of those usual alternative routes, the text boxes don't display what I'm typing and don't scroll properly through options. Might be a browser extension/content blocking issue but had disabled them (paging @gawuffy.co.uk)

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

Right, any of my #train or #ticketing followers know what's going on here...? Off Peak Return Manchester to Cambridge - route Not London is usually £113-odd. But today @lner.co.uk is only offering £141-odd for weekend days 18th Apr-early May. Outbound via Nuneaton; return is only showing via EUS.

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

Prices for SSDs have gone crazy. 4TB Samsung T9, hovering around £300-350 for months and occasionally as low as £260. Since early Feb have shot up to £650 uk.camelcamelcamel.com/product/B0CG...

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

If they’re of interest to you I’d be happy for you to have them - I’m trying to thin out my book collection! Here are a couple of screenshots from my phone catalogue of ones that might be most relevant - may have others but most of these on security, war, conflict and terrorism aren‘t my area now

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

On Thursday I came back from an appointment via the “Addenbrookes access road” in Cambridge. Lots of emergency vehicles - later cycled past & saw car being recovered from garden barely feet from ground floor flat (red dot). Unsure if other factors but my guess is speed & lost control on roundabout

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Feels like precedent is Brexit leave campaign football sweepstake, covered by an insurance policy in case someone beat ludicrous odds, which was actually a covert data gathering exercise - allowing hyper-targeting of people who wouldn’t otherwise be interested. See www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-poli...

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

Visiting parents on outskirts of Cambridge. Heard unusual (to me) birdsong, but not sure what. Thanks to @birdsoftheworld.bsky.social for IDs, my first ever flock of Fieldfare, along with things I might have only come across occasionally before (Dunnock, Mistle Thrush) #birdsky

Screenshot from the Merlin Bird ID app showing matches from birdsong for Dunnock, Common Starling, European Goldfinch, Common Kestrel, Common Moorhen, Fieldfare, and Mistle Thrush

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

I was part of an “Amphibienhilfe” group when I lived in Germany - spent 4 or so weeks each spring during mating season going out at dawn/after dark and picking them up on each side of the road through the village - we put up nets to avoid them splatted by cars, but had to them ferry them across!

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

Aside from all the serious commentary about what this says about *gestures* the state of the world… …All I can think when reading this nonsense is the clip from Chicken Run. Fowler: “Pushy Americans. Always showing up late for every war”

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

Looking forward to Operation Mincemeat!

A photo with a yellow and black programme for Operation Mincemeat in the foreground. Behind it, a staircase leads up to the right, and an open doorway with the label B above it leads off to the left to the Lowry auditorium

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

Given the darkness in the world at the moment, I thought I’d focus on a small ritual of self-care at home. An appropriate dessert for after tonight’s Burns supper.

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

Chicago, APA etc aren’t *too* bad to do by hand, though I’d prefer not to go back to doing it like that. But ACM In computer science has just adopted a terrible citation/referencing format that combines the worst of numbered and alphabetised in one unholy mess…

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 27/12/2025

Like... what is this (2019-20 and 20-21 data)? Why is it only available in a .ODS and not in a CSV or some other reusable data source such as RDF or JSON or indeed *anything* that doesn't require manual wrangling...!?

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 27/12/2025

That's before I even get into the fact that East West Rail will pass through Cambridge South, and yet despite adding 2 new tracks for the platform areas, they've not extended the loops as far south as the junction where King's Cross/Liverpool Street lines diverge.

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 27/12/2025

Despite Guided Busway passing right next to the new station (magenta dot), there is no bus stop. The nearest is ~300m east (blue/cyan dot) between the Astra Zeneca building and Royal Papworth. Not a seamless connection - especially in inclement weather or for anyone with mobility issues.

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 27/12/2025

That is where the good news ends. The bad news: 1. The utter lack of meaningful integration between Cambridge South and other modes of transport - despite being literally next to the 'flagship' public transport project in Cambridge, the (mis)guided busway, is unforgivable. See attached map

Aerial screenshot from Google Maps showing locality around new Cambridge South station which is located in the middle-top of the image. This includes Hobsons Park nature reserve immediately south-west and the 'Chalk Farm' development west of that; the Addenbrookes Biomedical Campus directly east of the railway station including the new Astra Zeneca Discovery Campus, and the hospital complex next to it (including Royal Papworth Hospital, the Rosie Maternity, and the main hospital buildings of Addenbrookes itself). Highlighted in magenta is the railway line, bisecting the image down the centre in a north-south direction with the location of Cambridge South station itself shown with text and a magenta dot. In cyan are the routes of the Cambridge Guided Busway, cutting across the top left corner of the image with a spur east into the hospital, just north of Cambridge South station but with a bus stop only several hundred metres east. In orange is the route of the Stagecoach Citi 7 bus with the bus stop on Dame Mary Archer Way highlighted directly south of the Addenbrookes campus.

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 27/12/2025

Whichever FT subeditor chose the photo for this piece - very well done.

Screenshot of a Financial Times 'opinion' story by Lex, titled "Weight-loss drugs come for Fluffy and Fido - if semaglutide can shrink a human waistline, why not a canine or feline one?". Under the headline is a photo of an overweight tabby cat, ears flat backwards and eyes wide, looking scared.

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 25/12/2025

Backed this book on Margaret Calvert, “Woman at Work”, months ago; by sheer coincidence it arrived just before Christmas. One for fans of wayfinding, graphic design and typography. @thebeautyoftransport.com @themodernist.bsky.social @marktewdwr-jones.bsky.social

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

Best job title I've seen in a while - take a bow Manchester Computer Science formal methods group @manchester.ac.uk "Research Associate in Learning to do Math with Vampires and Spiders" www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

Screenshot of a Manchester University job advert website for a Research Associate position titled “Research Associate in Learning to do Math with Vampires and Spiders"

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Case in point: peak trams on Altrincham branch in Manchester are always at or over capacity. Often have to wait for next or even subsequent tram to fit on. Could be improved by doubling up every service to reduce build up of queues between double trams. But (I assume) insufficient stock.

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

I live near a primary school that was suspiciously quiet one day in summer. I googled “Trafford term dates” which the AI summary interpreted (wrongly) as my asking for the 2025-26 dates. It then told me they weren’t available (wrongly) . When clicking the link to the source they clearly were there:

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

I forgot *just how windy and wet* the east coast of Scotland could be in winter. On the plus side, I brought my waterproof and layers!

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Sunil @sdvr.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Oh goody… I’ve got some lounge visits via an Amex Gold priority pass. Neither Aspire nor Escape are accepting PP visits. Complete waste of published benefit, as from what I can see online it is like that most of the time. Escape have a printed sign with fixed time, so clearly not uncommon!

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