iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 25/09/2026

I want my hat back (Jon Klassen) and The wonky donkey (Craig Smith) were always favourites.

Cover of ‘I want my hat back’ by Jon Klassen.

Cover of The Wonky Donkey by Craig Smith, illustrated by Katz Cowley

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 24/08/2026

It’s an obvious enough joke to have been done a thousand times I’m sure, but the example that springs to mind is from Blackadder Goes Forth. Brigadier Sir Bernard Proudfoot Smith, the British spy who’s been behind enemy lines for so long he ‘may have picked up a teensy veensy bit of an accent’.

Brigadier Sir Bernard Proudfoot Smith from Blackadder Goes Forth, in hospital pictured with a head dressing.

110

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 05/08/2026

Have you read the FT article? I only ask because lots of commenters on Bsky this morning clearly haven’t & a lot has been read into a fairly off-the-cuff briefing based on its headline alone. Adjusting criteria & weighting seems to be what is being suggested, though they could have framed it better.

Social value criteria currently account for 10 per cent of the score given to bids for government contracts, but this will increase to 20 per cent for contracts worth E5mn or more under the proposed model.
Haigh said the old procurement system included "a whole gamut of conditions around net zero, around the environment. There were things that I think a lot of businesses would have struggled to prove, like tackling domestic abuse and improving high streets. It became quite amorphous".
The result was that "certain players could really game the system" and small and medium-sized businesses were
"crowded out", she said.
The new, simplified system will apply only to contracts above £1mn, allowing SMEs and civil society organisations to avoid red tape when making smaller bids.
Technical guidance will be published this autumn and the new model will come into effect from January next year.

110

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 05/08/2026

The article doesn’t quite support that headline imo. I read it as a throwaway line in an article about streamlining the procurement process so that smaller businesses have half a chance to tender, and to increase social value weighting. Would wait for the detail before too much doom-mongering.

Excerpt from the FT article: “Social value criteria currently account for 10 per cent of the score given to bids for government contracts, but this will increase to 20 per cent for contracts worth E5mn or more under the proposed model.
Haigh said the old procurement system included "a whole gamut of conditions around net zero, around the environment. There were things that I think a lot of businesses would have struggled to prove, like tackling domestic abuse and improving high streets. It became quite amorphous".
The result was that "certain players could really game the system" and small and medium-sized businesses were
"crowded out", she said.
The new, simplified system will apply only to contracts above £1mn, allowing SMEs and civil society organisations to avoid red tape when making smaller bids.
Technical guidance will be published this autumn and the new model will come into effect from January next year.”

020

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 29/07/2026

The income-linked disparity is very striking.

Percentage of participants meeting NHS guidelines by income bracket, age and sex-standardised. At the £18k end of the scale, 48.7%, while the >£100k value is 59.6%.

100

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 24/07/2026

All the voters, so many voters...

The cover of Blur's Parklife album, but the text has been changed to 'burnham' and 'labourlife'.

010

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 20/07/2026

As @davidallengreen.bsky.social put it, it’s an input issue, not an output issue; that we keep appointing poor PMs, rather than that we get rid of them quickly.

Post by David Allen Green. The six last PMs are featured with the caption “Reversed, wrong-headed, lied; unhinged, wrong-headed, deprived.”

061

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 20/07/2026

Looks like he picked the wrong day to quit amphetamines.

Lloyd Bridges as Steve McCroskey in Airplane (1980)

010

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 20/05/2026

Exclusive behind the scenes on the first Amazon-era Bond film.

0144

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 13/05/2026

AMAZING right, though antimicrobials have been produced since single-celled species first found themselves in a natural arms race with one another. BUT from millions of such extant species today, pretty much all major abx in use are derived from only five classes, and the low-hanging fruit has gone.

Figure from Lewis, K., 2020. The Science of Antibiotic Discovery. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.02.056. Antibiotics are shown on a timeline by year of discovery. The 'golden age' of discovery in the 1940s-1960s is clear.

000

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 28/04/2026

Literally unrecognisable taking on the iconic role of Columbo.

Nic Lyndhurst, an actor who looks a bit like Nic Cage who looks a bit like John Travolta, wearing a tan overcoat and a porkpie hat a bit like Columbo if you squint a bit. That’s it. That’s the joke.

0120

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 02/04/2026

My (rather ham-fisted) point was that it didn’t work well without the US.

Excerpt from Britannica article on the League of Nations: In a March 1920 vote,
ratification was defeated again in the Senate, and the hope of U.S. membership disappeared, as it proved, forever.
The effect of this event upon the future of the League was, in one sense, decisive, since it ruled out all possibility of collective security as embodied in the Covenant.
There was no certainty of a complete economic boycott which, it was confidently expected, would suffice to make even the most aggressive government prefer to settle its disputes by negotiation rather than by armed attack. The other component parts of the system could still function, and did in fact function, though with less effectiveness than if the United States had fully participated therein.

020

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 28/03/2026

Orbital mechanics - they’ll be about 5-6k miles beyond the moon at apogee, and should be able to see its whole disk (compare with how ISS astronauts never get to see the whole disk of the Earth). Because they’re not landing & won’t need an orbital insertion burn, they’ll get home ‘free’.

NASA concept art comparing the approximate altitude of the Orion capsule during Artemis II to the orbit of NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which has been studying the Moon since 2009, and the average altitude of the seven Apollo missions that orbited the Moon between 1968 and 1972.

010

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 26/03/2026

I can only imagine the soldiers didn’t break step.

Sign reads: “The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea Albert Bridge Notice: ALL TROOPS MUST BREAK STEP WHEN MARCHING OVER THIS BRIDGE”

010

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 12/03/2026

I don’t begrudge them wanting to get ahead of the narrative with Key and Gould speaking first, but this seems a bit ham-fisted. If they want first dibs on the messaging they should just get on and talk.

Excerpt from the linked article: “The ECB has confirmed to The Times that it has requested England players do not speak before Gould and Key have spoken publicly, but that they will they will be able to talk openly after that.”

000

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 23/02/2026

Do you also have a son called Little Bobby Tables?

XKCD 327: [Mrs. Roberts receives a call from her son's school on her wireless phone. She is standing with a cup of hot coffee or tea (shown with a small line above the cup) facing a small round three-legged table to the right. The voice of the caller is indicated to come from the phone with a zigzag line.]
Voice over the phone: Hi, This is your son's school. We're having some computer trouble.
[In this frame-less panel Mrs. Roberts has put the cup down on the table turned facing out.]
Mrs. Roberts: Oh, dear – did he break something?
Voice over the phone: In a way –
[Mrs. Roberts is now drinking from the cup again looking right. The table is not shown.]
Voice over the phone: Did you really name your son Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;-- ?
Mrs. Roberts: Oh, yes. Little Bobby Tables, we call him.
[Mrs. Roberts holds the cup down.]
Voice over the phone: Well, we've lost this year's student records. I hope you're happy.
Mrs. Roberts: And I hope you've learned to sanitize your database inputs.

010

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 15/02/2026

The secret to a happy marriage is cheese-based.

An extract from a book page titled ‘spells charms and incantations’ that has been doing the social media rounds since forever. A finger points to a highlighted passage; ‘you may fascinate a woman by giving her a piece of cheese.’

042

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 15/02/2026

What a tit. Over 16s can give their own consent and under 16s can too if they are judged to be competent.

NICE explainer titled ‘Vaccinations for school-based children and young people: invitations, reminders and escalation of contact’. In particular, the section on Gillick competence: Assessing Gillick competence
• Be aware that young people under 16 can give their own consent to vaccination if they are assessed to be Gillick competent.
• School age immunisation providers should ensure that they a have a policy in place to support school aged immunisation teams in assessing Gillick competence. Include guidance on what action to take when a young person's vaccination preference is different from that of their parents or carers.

061

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 02/02/2026

With apologies to Jonathan Banks, they always need a fixer.

Mike Ehrmantraut from Breaking Bad & Better Call Saul, portrayed by actor Jonathan Banks. A bald, weathered older man with a grey goatee, wearing an open-necked collared purple shirt and a dark, lightweight jacket, stares into middle distance.

010

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 31/01/2026

It’s a public service. If you leave them for long enough they get reclaimed by nature.

A skip, pictured on a back street in Bankside just short of double yellow lines. It is filled with greenery and trees, a lovely garden. The Shard towers above London in the distance. The arches of a railway are to the right of the street.

040

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 17/01/2026

There’s one up near Settle, in North Yorkshire, at the thoroughly wonderful Courtyard Dairy. www.thecourtyarddairy.co.uk

Cheese vending machine at The Courtyard Dairy, Settle, North Yorkshire

0102

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 15/01/2026

You can have him at 66/1, or Truss at the bottom of the board at 250/1 - could be a lot of lettuce for a minor outlay 🥬

Betfred odds on next Conservative leader as of 12:25 on 15th Jan. James Cleverly is 4/1 at the top of the list.

100

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 15/01/2026

I imagine Lt Col ‘Mad Jack´ Churchill - DSO & Bar, MC & Bar - wouldn’t let a little thing like being dead stop him from pulling it off. Almost unfair on an invading force, really. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Ch...

Except from Wiki page linked: John Malcolm Thorpe Fleming Churchill, DSO & Bar, MC & Bar (16 September 1906 - 8 March 1996) was a British Army officer. Nicknamed "Fighting Jack Churchill" and "Mad Jack", he fought in the Second World War with a broadsword, longbow, and a set of bagpipes.

243

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 11/01/2026

A good book and a fast-asleep dog, it’s what Sundays are made of. I can see the radio series now you’ve said that, it would be great for a full-cast reading. Who would your dream cast be? Jennifer Saunders as Brenda…

A copy of ‘Wish you weren’t here’ by Gabby Hutchinson Crouch next to a fast-asleep black Labrador.

001

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 09/01/2026

Never felt older than when I realised the only time my kids would likely use a public phone was the exhibit at the Museum of Science & Industry

A child reaches up to a museum exhibit telephone handset in a classic British red ‘phone box.

080

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 02/01/2026

Can I push back on the idea that farmers disproportionately voted leave? The breakdown was in line with the national result. Leave factors were complex but a core ideal was that ag policy could be less prescriptive outside the EU. See doi.org/10.1016/j.jr...

Extract from paper: “Conclusion
The Brexit voting decision has given rise to a number of questions, especially about farmers' voting decisions. The study found that, for the sample group examined, voting choice was strongly influence by farmers' perceptions about EU legislation, their attitudes towards the EU, their perceived capacity to control factors that impact on the farm performance, and their sense of self and notions of autonomy within the confines of prescriptive agricultural policy. The sense that leaving the EU would make agricultural policy less restrictive and the farmers' need to make farming more profitable, allow for reinvestment and to have more power in markets and have more confidence in their decision making were all key drivers of their voting preference, but will this happen in practice? This research identifies a range of influences that affect farmer decision making that are worthy of further research in different contexts to see how they inform and influence wider farmer decision making. An important research question that this study presents is that if attitudes against EU regulation and perceived capacity to control factors that impact on the farm performance are key to farmers' engagement with and acceptance of regulatory and market requirements and associated policy instruments, what is it that shapes those farmer attitudes and perceptions of agency and self-identity in a largely prescriptive regulatory and market environment?”

110

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 22/12/2025

Finished off the Christmas decorations earlier.

Photo of John McClane in the Die Hard a/c duct scene, blu-tack’d to a microwave.

010

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 19/12/2025

This is a fabulous book and always near the top of our gift list for friends with children arriving. A kiwi friend returned the favour with "Baa Baa Smart Sheep" which is also lovely (apols for the Amazon link, it's not on bookshop.org) www.amazon.co.uk/Baa-Smart-Sh...

Cover of Baa Baa Smart Sheep, by Mark and Rowan Somerset. A cartoon smiling sheep dog-sits page centre, resting his chin on his front hooves, smiling, eyes fixed as if daydreaming. An orange boxout reads "Warning! Contains Mischief".

010

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 04/12/2025

Yeah… I have a water-seeking missile 🤣

A black lab in the middle of a lake, clutching a tennis ball in her mouth.

120

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 23/11/2025

Post a movie where you’re from

Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Carlyle in 51st State (Formula 51 in the US)

070

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 21/11/2025

It seemed like such a long article, fortunately as soon as I opened it Siri offered to summarise it for me 🤦‍♂️

Siri’s summary of an article about students using AI to cheat: “The article describes the author's experience with Al-generated work in their classroom. The author used a
"Trojan horse" technique to identify Al-generated work, which revealed that nearly 40% of the submissions were at least partially Al-generated. The author expresses concern about the impact of Al on education and the importance of critical thinking and independent learning.

000

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 17/11/2025

Always makes me think of Alan Partridge.

Title card for Skirmish with Alan Partridge. "After a couple of years of being clinically fed-up, Alan has "bounced back". He's got the third best slot on Radio Norwich, a military-based quiz show on cable TV called Skirmish, a 33 year-old girlfriend called Sonja, an autobiography (Bouncing Back) and is only living in a caravan until his new house is finished."

140

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 15/11/2025

As @davidallengreen.bsky.social has pointed out, that’s not advisable here because they did make a mistake. www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Whenever there is an aggressive legal letter in the news, some people online urge that the recipient respond with the famous reply given in Arkell v Pressdram. But here the BBC could not afford to be so playfully robust. In that hallowed incident, Private Eye knew they could stand by their journalism and so could be less worried about how any litigation would go. They could risk an elegant response ending with an expletive.
In this situation, however, the central facts were not in the BBC's favour. They had mucked up.

210

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 13/11/2025

Mere seconds after I read this thread.

Website error message: "The BillingAddress1 value is too long". Err, it's still my address.

0110

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 12/11/2025

Always thought this was a bit on the nose (St. James’ University Hospital)

Entrance to the Beckett Wing, St. James’ University Hospital Leeds

020

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 11/11/2025

"Our friends had been suggesting for a long time that we visit the famous Congress"

Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov (names assumed to be aliases), both implicated in the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, interviewed on Russian state TV.

050

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 11/11/2025

Bond needs Brigadier Sir Bernard Proudfoot-Smith.

Brigadier Sir Bernard Proudfoot-Smith, who picked up a "teensy veensy bit" of an accent while working undercover in Germany, played by Bill Wallis in the Blackadder Goes Forth episode 'General Hospital'.

020

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 23/10/2025

I thought you were talking about Duncan for a moment and then I scrolled down...

"Keeping the British End up" scene from The Spy Who Loved Me

020

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 20/10/2025

There’s always the cricket instead.

David Mitchell dressed in cricket whites and a parka jacket, holding a cricket bat, from the Mitchell & Webb “can Pisswiddle win the Ashes?” sketch.

110

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 15/10/2025

Asimov wrote ‘The Feeling of Power’ in the 50s. The future humans in the short story can’t even count because they’ve depended on AI for so long. A technician re-discovers how to do pencil-and-paper maths, a technique which they refer to as ‘graphitics’ and use to wage war. The tech kills himself.

Cover of the short story ‘A feeling of power’ by Isaac Asimov. A suited astronaut looks towards a rocket. There is a nuclear mushroom cloud in the distance.

010

James @studiousbadger.eurosky.social · 12/10/2025

What they lined up was, compared to an actual pie, roughly what this is to cheese.

A can of… I don’t know. Industrial sealant? Expanding loft insulation? It says cheese whizz, anyway.

000