iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 15h

Off to see the wonderful Madra Salach with @onlyindevon.co.uk tonight. Very much looking forward to an evening of alternative Irish folk and drones. This one especially I am sure will be a highlight: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2Gn...

youtube.com

Madra Salach - The Man Who Seeks Pleasure (Live From London)

YouTube video by Madra Salach

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 26/09/2026

An emu and a python in one week - I think the animals are up to something...

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 26/09/2026

This is my opinion about pretty much everything on the internet

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 31/08/2026

Stride was my utterly useless MP for years, he never did a single positive thing the whole time I lived there. I presume he was given his knighthood for being a loyal toady lickspittle,the only thing he excelled at.

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 29/08/2026

Did a secondhand book buying spree ready for the coming autumn evenings. Because my already teetering pile of unread books might somehow not be enough...

Four books : The Given World by Melissa Harrison, Parable of the Shower by Octavia Butler, The Ghost Who Bled and The Devil's Highway by Gregory Norminton.

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 28/08/2026

I walk past that nearly every day but never noticed the hydrant before

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 19/08/2026

I've managed to fill one other square! If I can continue at my current rate of one square per day then three months will turn out to be quite an accurate guess 🤣

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 19/08/2026

Make sure to watch it with the volume up, the sound design is amazing

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 19/08/2026

You can watch it on that New Yorker page for free :)

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 19/08/2026

I imagine those rules are the only reason it's solvable :D

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 19/08/2026

Have you seen this incredible documentary about the walruses in Siberia? It's very surreal and strangely unnerving. I had very odd dreams for days afterwards. www.newyorker.com/video/watch/...

newyorker.com

"Haulout": Melting Sea Ice Pushes Walruses to the Brink

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 19/08/2026

It definitely means the first, but I don't know if it also means the second.

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 19/08/2026

Apparently this is a solvable sudoku. If you don't hear from me for the next three months you know why.

An apparently solvable sudoku puzzle with only two numbers in the grid: a "1" in the bottom left, and a "2" in the third column of the bottom row.

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 17/08/2026

Only one? She needs to up her game if she goes down to the Barbican.

A man with two live snakes hanging round his neck.

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 06/08/2026

Some neighbours are having a party and the singing is just beautiful

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 05/08/2026

Clashes with fire hydrant day :)

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 05/08/2026

I think I need to keep one day a week free 😂

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 05/08/2026

I'm loving all these hashtags of the everyday and the mundane on here. Thanks to @tamarphotography.bsky.social for bringing #wheelieBinWednesday to my attention. -- #photography

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 01/08/2026

I'm not sure, I haven't started using it really yet

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 28/07/2026

That's great to hear, thank you!

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 28/07/2026

@tamarphotography.bsky.social This is just what you were asking me about earlier :)

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 28/07/2026

I'm really impressed with the @offprint.app platform - the editor is very slick and articles look great. Just one high priority request if they happen to read this: can we please have the ability to add alt text to images?

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 28/07/2026

I've just posted my second article (a mere four months since my first one!) at simonblackbourn.offprint.app/a/3mrq5qxc2n... . I doubt it will win any literary or photographic prizes, but I'm starting to feel that I might be able to slowly start to enjoy the process of writing. -- #photography 📷

simonblackbourn.offprint.app

hello yellow

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 28/07/2026

I love Pixies for their mastery of extremely short but perfectly formed songs: most tracks on their first three albums are way under three minutes and only one is over four minutes.

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 27/07/2026

'Accidentally' setting my phone to Do Not Disturb mode for the whole of Monday morning is from now on my new way of starting every week. Highly recommended.

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 26/07/2026

I'm up on the moor, it's actually a bit chilly up here 😮

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 26/07/2026

New coffee day here - had amazing barraquitos made with this at a festival recently and curious to see if it tastes as good at home ☕😊

A packet of Colombian coffee next to a moka pot.

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 25/07/2026

Apocalyptic is a massively overused word, but there really is no other word for scenes like this 😢

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 25/07/2026

The bravery of these fire crews is beyond words

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 25/07/2026

Not many activities are as deeply satisfying as shelling broad beans freshly picked from the allotment

A pile of freshly shelled broad beans on a wooden table, with the pile of shells on the left.

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 21/07/2026

Anything called an "immersive experience" gets an instant boycott from me. But they do seem to be wildly popular for reasons that are an unfathomable mystery to me.

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 14/07/2026

This, all the other RTS street parties, squatting, anti roads and climate change protests, the free party scene... Feels like a very long ago time of youthful optimism and demand for change that the governments of the time very quickly decided had to be comprehensively stomped on.

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 07/07/2026

Standing with the stones at the entrance to West Kennet long barrow near Avebury on a beautiful June evening just before sunset. -- #tombTuesday

A black and white photograph taken at West Kennet neolithic long barrow at sunset in summertime. The sun is behind me and the standing stones and me cast long shadows across the grass. Arable farmland is in the distance and the sky is clear.

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Reposted by simon blackbourn

Guy Shrubsole @guyshrubsole.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Devonians were horrified to learn last week of plans for a massive AI data centre near Great Torrington, north Devon. The proposals from company XLinks Ltd would cover 850 acres of farmland. But who owns the land? I decided to investigate. 1/ www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Plans for massive data centre near Great Torrington in Devon

Xlinks wants to build a Devon data campus but is facing opposition from residents.

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 03/07/2026

I took my little wooden 35mm pinhole camera along to an analogue photowalk in Exeter last weekend. I'm not used to shooting with it in such bright sun so I about half my shots are over-exposed. I do like this one, even though I have absolutely no idea why it came out pink and orange! -- #pinhole 📷

A photograph made with a pinhole camera of a young man sitting on a BMX bike. The camera has a very wide angle of view, so the front wheel of the bike appears huge and the man quite small. The entire photo is tinted with shades of orange and deep pink.

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 29/06/2026

I'm sure that Tidal is nowhere near ethically perfect, but it's at least an improvement on Spotify and I have no regrets about switching last year. Their new policy on AI generated music and royalties seems pretty good.

A screenshot of Tidal's policy on AI generated music, theft and royalties.

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 29/06/2026

Until recently, my dad regularly wore a pink La Coste t-shirt that I gave to him when I became a goth aged 17 and started dressing in nothing but black. I am now 55, so that t-shirt must have lasted at the very least 35 years.

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 25/06/2026

1pm today: not a single person on the new benches at the top of Armada Way (not one of which is sited in shade and all surrounded by concrete), but loads of people on the benches and grass down at the bottom nr the Civic Centre enjoying the shade of the mature trees. Whoever would've thought it?

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simon blackbourn @simonblackbourn.net · 25/06/2026

My milk kefir is fermenting in about 1/3 of the time it usually takes

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Reposted by simon blackbourn

Abbey @abbeyarletto.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

When reality surpasses fiction! Top: fictional forecast for August 2050, broadcast by French TV in 2014 to warn about the consequences of global warming. Bottom: Real French forecast for yesterday, June 22, 2026.

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