iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Okay, these ones aren't all green; but surely…?

Spirit bottles "hanging" upside on a wall with serving mechanisms

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Millionaire Brownie in Ballymena

A cake with brownie on the bottom and then a layer of caramel and a layer of chocolate 🍫

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Thank goodness for this map on the Waterloo & City line - now I can stop worrying about getting off at the wrong stop!

A map of the line showing just two stops

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Ah yes - the famous English town of “Cheshire”!!

A Netflix screenshot - the show is Leaving and it says “In the English town of Cheshire”!

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

You can't hate on Cleveland for being a glitter pen song - that's like hating on this tree outside my window for being a tree. Also… c'mon - the delivery of "You only need to find one person in this entire world who doesn't find you completely insufferable!" - that's a 10 right there!

The tree outside my window - it's a tree - a medium-sized horse chestnut, to be more precise. Most of the leaves are fallen to the grass below.

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I reckon Taylor saw my recent Apple Music Replays and was like: "Who the freak does Jax think she is? I'll show her!"

May top artists for August:

1. Jax (1,016 minutes)
2. Taylor Swift (344 minutes)

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Charging my laptop from my sofa like I’m living in the future!

My MacBook attached via a USB C cable to a charging port in my fluffy sofa

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Boarded up shop fronts for rent/sale in Spain. None of it is real - they are illusions and everything you see is intricately painted on to the boardings.

A blue door with a lamp above and a flower pot by the steps

A wooden door with brass bars and a shuttered window

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

For example, the issue here would far more likely be that there was a reason it was like that, and you’ve just screwed up an entire other department’s dataset and/or business process.

There may well be speed and efficiency advantages in no longer having to track down an expert colleague for help with something like a software issue, albeit possibly at the cost of a less collaborative and conversational culture. (And provided you don’t wade into mistakes the specialists eventually have to fix anyway.)

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

How it started vs How it’s going

Two glasses of drink - a tinto y lemon and a beer

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

“Peaceful protesters expressing their legitimate concerns.”

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

FWIW Google Maps in the UK is still showing "Lake Ontario".

A Google Maps screenshot from today (2 September 2026) showing "Lake Ontario".

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

“Second Hand Greggs” in Newcastle

Greggs Bakery Outlet - a slightly run down looking shop

A shelf selling milk chocolate shortbread offcuts

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Interesting from Sam Freedman's latest - talking about Reform's proposals for welfare savings.

Another big saving (it’s not clear how much) comes from shifting costs on to employers. The policy, borrowed from the Netherlands, would see employers having to cover the cost of a sick employee for the first two years. In practice this would force businesses to get insurance. Reform says they would reduce employer national insurance by 0.2% to cover the cost. But in the Netherlands the insurance costs anywhere up to 5.5% of payroll. Even if our benefits were less generous it would still cost a lot more than 0.2%. So it’s essentially a tax on business.

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

What is the difference really between "mandatory insurance" and tax? Especially as it would have to be highly redistributive? It's just semantics, isn't it?

The other is that you decide we need to take a leaf out of our peers’ books and decide that more of the cost of healthcare and of an ageing population will be paid for out of private spending — whether through mandatory insurance, a mixed model or something else entirely.

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Something feels off about this supposed AI map that is doing the rounds - my guess is that it is NOT actually AI - not all the way down, anyways - it has been created by someone with an agenda to make AI look silly/bad.

The (aledged) AI UK political map everyone is talking about

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Crazy the extent to which Netflix's Little House on the Prairie was so clearly trying to ensure that the girls looked as much as possible like the girls in the 70s adaptation.

A still from the 70s show, showing the two girls

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

It's a great idea, but if I did this the Shame List would be longer than the lifetime of the universe by the end of Day One! (Screenshot because I suspect OP is going to be drowned in notifications and it didn't seem fair to add to that.)

I have started a new todo list system where each week if something fills me with a sense of immense dread and guilt it goes on a separate Shame List and as soon as I've done one thing from the Shame List each week I don't have to look at it or think about it again until the following Monday

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

That’s the dream - a rich Italian!

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

When you want to name your new road after your favorite American singer, but you’ve had a few beers when you fill out the form.

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

At Great Malvern station every pillar has a unique floral design.

A pillar with a floral design at the top

A close up of one of the designs with green leaves

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

London wildlife this morning in Hampton.

Bright green parakeets clinging to an old tree

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Feel like I'm seeing a lot more jobs in cricket advertised (and paid) as "part time" when everyone knows they will effectively be full time in practice. I guess another unintended side effect of the ongoing uplift in the minimum wage while salaries more generally stagnate?

Location: Remote/home-based, with evening and weekend work and regular travel nationwide essential to support programme delivery and operations

Reports to: Head of Operations

Salary: £22,000–£25,000, dependent on experience (for 3 days per week / 0.6 FTE).

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Have decided that these are just 3 seasons of the same show, called “Bad Things Happen To Rich People At The Beach”!

Posters for The Five Star Weekend, The Perfect Couple & We Were Liars

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Honestly… probably because their train was cancelled?

A security poster asking: “Why have they been hanging around for so long?”

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

West London at 6:30am this morning...

A flooded street with some light industrial buildings in the background

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

I'm veering wildly out of my lane here, but was it… nicotine addiction?!?!

A screenshot from The Guardian, asking "what was behind David Hockney’s lifelong love of smoking?"

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Uncle Donny's karaoke version of Affirmation by Savage Garden made a few changes to the original lyrics…

Trump Truth Social post:

"I believe we have the Most Dishonest Elections of any Country, anywhere in the World!"

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

I have solved the Cream-Jam Problem (AKA the Jam-Cream Problem) that has boggled boffins for years… and I didn’t even need AI to do it - the answer is… just butter!

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

Port Talbot Docks & Mill

A sandy beach with dock cranes and the steel mill chimneys in the background

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

She does, however, have her very own pub nearby!

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

The grave of Mary Shelly in Bournemouth - a slightly offbeat resting place for one of the greats of English literature.

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

Loved The Last Princesses of Punjab at Kensington Palace

Colourful poster for The Last Princesses of Punjab

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Guerrilla vegan campaign in Finsbury Park.

A handwritten A4 sign taped to a lamppost that says “DO NOT EAT GUMY BEARS!! (THEY ARE MADE OF PIGLETS SCINS)”

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

Eternal? Eternal? It lasted about 5 minutes!

A glass of beer next to the can, which is branded “Eternal”

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

From Banksy… to North Banksy! (Under a railway bridge near the Arsenal football stadium.)

Two of the “North Banksy” Arsenal murals painted on a brick wall (under a bridge) of a stylised “A” and a footballer in Arsenal kit

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

Stopped off on my way into town to see the new Banksy. (Along with a thousand other people!!)

Banksy statue of a blinded man carrying a flag obliviously stepping off a plinth.

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

Ice, ice latte in Hampton Hill.

A cup of iced latte with a straw on a wooden table

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Bought this because SiL is pregnant, and I have to say… A bottle of Windolene mixed with some leftover beetroot juice would be: a) nicer b) more like actual wine

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

Having stuff for a few days makes sense but this is actually a bit sad. Like… this is way beyond the point where your (likely extremely limited) ability to defend your stockpile will be all that matters.

The environmental campaigner and Guardian columnist George Monbiot has frequently warned of the fragility of the food system and revealed the contents of his own stockpile last year: 25kg of rice, 15kg of dried chickpeas, 15kg of bread flour, 7kg of chapati flour, 5kg of oats, six litres of vegetable oil, a slab of tinned tomatoes, some nuts and dried fruit. Along with the vegetables he grows, he says this is about two months’ supply for his family of three.

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

Reform going in studs-up on people Working From Home in (checks notes) Richmond which (checks stats) has the 6th highest WFH rates in the country!

Reform leaflet saying in 2024-25, Richmond Council office occupancy was just 28%.

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Syd E @syd-e13.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

... it turns out they were waaaaay ahead of me!

Product description: "The figurine's head is detachable"

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