iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 17/09/2026

Proper lots of moving parts fantasy of the mostly politics and intrigue variety. Is 800 pages but flies past. And huzzah, not a festival of grim although not all funsies. Some lovely writing and characters who have nuance which is nice.

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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 04/09/2026

you can’t fool me young man, it’s claudes all the way down

A flow chart entitled dynamic workflows with three paths where every box is labelled claude. no, really

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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 29/08/2026

Cinderella but she’s a ghost. So much better than that makes it sound. It’s worth it just for the what it would be to embody a building bits. Obvs you know how it ends but it’s just twisty enough to be fun all the same.

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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 10/08/2026

Feels like a love letter to architecture and an excoriation of the ego of architects. Great on the power of spaces, the monomania of legacy and the unintended consequences of machines. Does a lot in a hundred odd pages without seeming to.

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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 10/08/2026

Arthurian but not really about Arthur and more about the power and value of myth, being trapped by it and yet not. Long, slow build to a, for me, unexpected and lovely ending. The sort of book you want to read again to enjoy how it got to the ending.

The Witch Below the Dreaming Wood by H G Parry

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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 02/07/2026

Nuns, lady knights, bees, sulphurous ferrets, cannibalism, weird magic and limited explanation. There's a delightful edge of whimsy, the horror is not too horrible and it just gets madder as you go on. Probably not for the squeamish.

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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 25/06/2026

Last in a trilogy of slightly folk horror murder mystery coming of age class war sort of fairytales. Excellent main protagonist and support, some lovely writing and the right amount of wryness. YA technically but a chunk cleverer than half the stuff in the adult fantasy section. Just a joy

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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 06/06/2026

why yes Tim, I am on holiday

Apple health steps chart showing the 8 day average as 19546 vs the 20 day average of 7576

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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 31/05/2026

We can barely manage a fast train line and the Japanese are building star gates

A sculpture that is a big segmented metal ring in Tochomae Metro station, Tokyo

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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 27/04/2026

Ah, court politics with a side of murder mystery and succession competition you think as you start and then it becomes gently unhinged. All sorts of standard tropes but all of them at 15° off so they feel fresh, excellent characters and so much huh, did not see that coming. Just great.

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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 11/04/2026

Do you want reluctant older protagonists, angry geese, faux regency vibes, a horse that almost surely would not want cake and magic? If so then this is for you. Really good fun with a mild edge of horror. Also, all the men are idiots which, fair.

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T Kingfisher

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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 06/04/2026

Short, whimsical in the good way, also angry in the good way. For a book written 70 years ago it reads very modern and does delightful things with myth and history. I realise the term is slightly pejorative but a cozy written by someone who has ideas is probably the booktok summary.

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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 07/03/2026

Drops you right in and lets you work it out as you go. A road trip and a mystery of capricious gods, weird magic and distrust. Loads of lovely ideas.

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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 07/02/2026

Deeply anachronistic and I suspect it might annoy people who know more about Arthurian myth than my saw Excalibur thirty years ago knowledge, but super fun on the world post Arthur. Feels both modern and also old and does some interesting things.

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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 07/02/2026

Books I have enjoyed this year, an ongoing thread for my own amusement. Will be sci-fi/fantasy forward. Good bit of magical realism in inquisition era Spain. More magical than real tbf, doesn’t quote stick the landing for me and her YA origins are visible in the cracks. Enjoyable and immersive

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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 06/10/2025

Do I want to know how they add him?

Bag of compost described as “Multi purpose compost with added John Innes”

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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 06/10/2025

The use of virtually in this marketing copy is less load bearing and more single brick upon which the entire foundations depend

Label for a tube of adhesive that reads “DESCRIPTION & BENEFITS
STIXALL®, based on hybrid polymer technology, has the most Extreme power to both bond and seal virtually EVERYTHING to ANYTHING in virtually all conditions, even under water or in the rain!
STIXALL® offers almost limitless benefits as an adhesive and a sealant removing the prevous application barriers associated with conventional products.

AREAS OF USE
Think of a bonding or sealing application and it is virtually certain STIXALL ® wil handle it with ease.
STIXALL® bonds to virtually all materials Porous and Non Porous such as GLASS, MARBLE, GRANITE, MIRRORS, BRICKS, STONE, PLASTERBOARD, CONCRETE, ALL METALS, HARD PLASTICS, CERAMICS, FIBREGLASS, TIMBER & MUCH, MUCH MORE. Stixall® even sticks under water!!”

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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 09/08/2025

Strong applause to the FT for this sub heading and indeed for investigating imported questions www.ft.com/content/6256...

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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 18/04/2025

Surely Royal Mail of all people know where he lives and could just send a card?

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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 03/01/2025

Today in totally obvious things your iPhone can do that are super easy to find out about is translating the washing labels on clothes. Click the little i beneath the photo and then click laundry care at the top of the details thing and et voila.

Screenshot from the apple photos app showing a garment label at the top and at the bottom a list of the care labels and an explanation of them.

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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 24/12/2024

So, we don’t link to the old place but also I have a tradition so you get a screenshot.

‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house
Not a creature was stirring not even a mouse
The sun has gone down and the moon has come up
And long ago somebody left with cup
But he’s striving and driving and hugging the turns and thinking of someone for who he still burns

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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 21/12/2024

That explains why the dishwasher stopped working.

A plug with some very corroded wires inside. Totally not a fire hazard.

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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 15/12/2024

For marketing values of everything.

Sign in a window proclaiming 20% off everything with a footnote saying exclusions apply

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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 03/12/2024

This popped in to my head on a bike ride at the weekend and I must excise it.

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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 23/11/2024

I very much want to watch the version of The Intern this implies.

A list of films from a justwatch.com search for tai chi which includes The Intern for no immediately discernible reason

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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 22/11/2024

Easing in to the is that water or ice cycling season

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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 24/09/2024

On the motorway front, could this be because France is twice the size of the UK and its major cities are much more evenly distributed around the country? It also has half the population density so there is just more room for things like motorways and high speed rail.

Text from Foundations report into why Britain has stagnated comparing transport infrastructure, specifically "France has nearly 12,000 kilometres of motorways versus around 4,000 kilometres here "

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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 05/09/2024

As close to the platonic ideal of a mountains as you can get.

Monviso in Western Piedmont viewed through trees

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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 05/09/2024

There is a building site next to where we are staying and at the end of each day the builders attach their toolboxes to some chains and then use the crane to hoist them up, I assume for theft prevention.

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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 04/09/2024

There is some magnificently chaotic roofing in the Piedemont hills.

View from an Airbnb in Ostana in western Piedmont looking south over a stone roof towards mist shrouded hills.

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