iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 14h

I think it's from the end of the episode, when the planet starts to come back to life after the Guardian (obligatory mad computer) is destroyed.

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 16h

Well, 1) I read *everything* - when my mum wouldn't let me have a book at the breakfast table, I would read the nutrition information on the cornflakes packet - and 2) however bad something is, *I've read worse*.

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 17h

Well, to be fair, I did think "oh, this is HTML, I can just change the font and background colours myself" after... less than three hours.... (I am a computer professional, I really am, honest.)

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

(In red text on a black background, too. The things I had to put up with....)

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Perhaps I should point out that, as someone who spent years in the trenches as a NaNoWriMo ML, I'm actually not all that bad at providing encouragement to flagging writers. Well, with the possible exception of ones who produce hideously over-described Christmas dinners, @slindseywales.bsky.social

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Live your life so that, when you die, social media isn't flooded with comments about what a nasty vicious lying piece of shit you were. Sound advice, I think. Jeffrey Archer should've taken it.

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

That reminded me of something - Jack Vance's "To Live Forever", where people who've reached the peak of society and become immortal are always The (Whatever Their Name Is.) Fortunately, I don't think she's read Vance. Just emulating her cult leader, The Donald. (I'm just A Steve Wright.)

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Hmm. I don't... any takers? Help me keep on writing? (Or perform a genuine service to literature by getting me to stop.)

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Catching up here. (#Novelmber) 3) Not a lot, but a story idea hit me between the eyes on Saturday night, so now I'm thinking it through. 4) This one, probably 3rd person, multiple POV.

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Lots of great stuff already mentioned. I would add Anna Smith Spark's "A Sword of Bronze and Ashes" (and sequel) and Shauna Lawless's "Gael Song" books. Going back a bit, I loved Patricia McKillip's "The Forgotten Beasts of Eld" and Barry Hughart's "Bridge of Birds".

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Star Trek. Original series. The monster in "The Man Trap". Caught the first broadcast in the UK, I was seven at the time. I'm rather older than seven now, and I *still* think that thing is impressively horrible.

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I remember that scene. Not much about the show comes to mind, but that particular image... sticks in my memory. For some reason. (1992 was not a banner year for "AI" imagery, IIRC.)

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

The reason I don't go out to lunch with right-wingers is, I know damn well they'll stick me with the bill.

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Reposted by Steve J. Wright

donoteat @donoteat.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

lotta people out here bragging about "training models" but why do that when you can model trains

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Good morning Womble. I'm reading "Wickhills" by Premee Mohamed, and enjoying it so far.

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

The price of crumhorns these days is scandalous.

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Been a while since I did one of these...

I didn't say anything, I just stood there, sweating. The boss looked like he'd been on a Rex Stout kick; the interview was taking place in a version of the plant room in Nero Wolfe's famous brownstone, and the boss was wearing an expensive-looking 1940s style suit. He hadn't gone in for the great detective's massive bulk, though; he was tall and slim and angular, and the irises of his eyes were as black as his pupils.
Also, the boss being the boss, the orchids in this plant room could fight back, a bit. One of them made a lunge at the boss's sleeve, and the pruning shears flashed out and clicked again. The severed flower fell to the floor, gnashing its petals reflexively as it died. I shivered a little, even though the plant room was hot – as hot as hell, a rube might say, and they'd be right, by definition.

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

FFS "Bluesky meme: Post a vampire" STAKE. It's STAKE. You STAKE a vampire. What are they teaching the kids these days?

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Several. Two of them (former NaNo projects) I've self-pubbed through Kindle. Others may get the same treatment. Not to mention the fanfic, some of it novel-length. Then there's the two I wrote in the mid-80's, which will never be seen by mortal eye if I can help it.

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Can't help but notice that Cleveland is doing all the pedalling while Victoria steers... she gets a free ride to wherever she wants to go, which is clearly how the British Empire always thought things should work.

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Lovingly detailed historical setting, knotty logic and theology, murder mystery, sex and violence, and a secret library, plus numerous literary allusions that I'm smart enough to get - this is a book that's got *everything*, and Eco brings it all together perfectly.

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Steve Wright, he/him, favourite book... well, it changes depending on my mood when I'm asked, but right now I'll go with Umberto Eco's Name of the Rose.

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

It's an omission... but I'm sure he's not beating himself up about it.

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Slightly surprised to be living in Marillion territory, myself. Though, looking at some of the others, it could be worse.

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The outlier is clearly Huang, whose signature conveys Dynamism and Boldness and Clarity and several other business-friendly virtues, suggesting that he has spent many, many hours (or possibly years) perfecting it, probably with the aid of focus groups.

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I don't put any stock in handwriting analysis... Amodei and Musk both have bog-standard "busy man in a hurry" signatures, Zuckerberg and Brockman clearly just can't be bothered, I'm guessing Pichai's is in a non-Roman alphabet, and Trump is, well, Trump.

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

What would you say is the greatest British film of all-time? Gimme a Top 5. Hell Drivers Chariots of Fire A Bridge Too Far Seven Days to Noon Kind Hearts and Coronets

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Ooo. You are one of today's lucky 10,000! It's the sort of piece I wish I could hear for the first time, again.

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

If you don't feed your printer, it'll get all sulky and refuse to cooperate. Although that's what it would do anyway, so, fair enough, why bother?

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Unless he's been told not to, perhaps by an informative leaflet. As to the bad people who are already here, that we can't control... I presume you refer to black-clad masked hooligans vandalizing roundabouts and slashing the tires of heroic RNLI volunteers?

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

If a man comes to the UK from a country where women are expected to cover up from head to foot, and he sees a 15-year old girl in her best Daddy-said-"You're not going out dressed like that young lady" outfit, he may draw unwarranted conclusions as to her sexual availability.

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Good morning Womble, and best wishes for a speedy recovery. I'm currently dipping into the Secret History of Procopius, always a good source of sleazy entertainment.

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Reposted by Steve J. Wright

Arr Ghoulish David @arrdavid.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Note to British millionaires and billionaires not wishing to pay tax: You are not self-made men or women. You are products of the environment you and your parents grew up in. The myth of the "self-made" tycoon is one of the most toxic fictions in modern Britain 🧵

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Nah, it fell out of my pocket sometime while I was walking back. This one may well do the same, but I'll enjoy it while it lasts.

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Ah, you remind me of Martial's classic line: at mihi nulla satis nuda puella iacet (Epigrams XI:104) Don't you just love the splendor and the ethereal elegance of Latin poetry?

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

"There is no reason why good cannot triumph as often as evil. The triumph of anything is a matter of organization. If there are such things as angels, I hope that they are organized along the lines of the Mafia." - Kurt Vonnegut

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

In addition to some sensible things, the RNLI merch included a replacement for the world's crappest lightsabre, which went missing after an Eleven Month Group meeting more than twenty years ago.

Me (a fat bloke with glasses, wearing a green jumper) standing in a terribly heroic pose while holding a small LED glowstick in both hands as if it were a lightsabre. The glowstick, green in this image, changes colour, but you can't see that in this still picture. You also can't hear me making VRRRM WHSSHHH lightsabre noises.

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Heh. I just frustrated a postman. Heard the knock, got to the door *before* he'd finished shoving the "sorry we missed you" card through the letterbox. (He was delivering my order of RNLI merch, so I'm happy.)

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Magic, anti-authoritarianism, harpies, and cake, what's not to love?

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Reposted by Steve J. Wright

Sebas @ohlookbirdies.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

If you have more empathy for the box of blinky lights than you do for, say, trans people or refugees, you are frankly a bad person

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J.A. Prentice @japrenticewrites.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

This is writing. If you want money, get into fraud.

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Reposted by Steve J. Wright

Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 26/09/2026

Does my Speak-n-Spell feel pain when I type O-U-C-H? The jury is out. Philosophers and neuroscientists say that's fucking stupid, but I called a guy from the Center for Pretending that Household Electronics Are Sentient and he said there's no way to know for sure.

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Basil Fawlty was bewildered by England in 1975. That was... sort of the point of him.

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

When they "go rogue", they are doing exactly what they've been told to do - by someone who didn't bother to give the right instructions. Sloppy coding. That's all it is.

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Or has he? Has he given way to his robotic criminal instincts? Or has he just responded to my instructions too literally? Remember, folks; robots (and computers) cannot respond any way *other* than completely literally. They do not understand context, connotation, colloquialism.

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

... and several intervening structures before he reaches the shops. He causes absolute mayhem in Curry's, Halford's, and World of Leather. At last, he finds Sainsbury's, grabs a packet of mints, and runs back home. Without paying. Jeevz has Gone Rogue!

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

On "Rogue AI" I turn to my faithful robot butler. "Jeevz," I say, "run straight down to the shops and get me a packet of mints." Jeevz, like all robot butlers, has a titanium reinforced chassis and a top speed of 515 km/h. He punches his way straight through the front wall....

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Gianni Garko. I know that name. Guest-starred in the "Dragon's Domain" episode of Space:1999. (The first season of Space:1999 was a co-production between ITC and an Italian network - RAI, I think - so there were a couple of Italian stars introduced into the show.)

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Steve J. Wright @stevejwright.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

And, of course, the one that actually works (Vulcans and humans do have *something* in common.) "Why did the chicken cross the road?" To get to the other side.

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