iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Colin

@thefizma.bsky.substandard.info

From Scotland, in Silicon Valley

Colin @thefizma.bsky.substandard.info · 01/10/2026

Some kind of bird of prey swooped in right in front of me during the commute home tonight! The bike camera makes it seem kind of plain but it was only a couple of feet away from me, I had started to pull on the brakes before it successfully passed me (to grab something on the ground)

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Colin @thefizma.bsky.substandard.info · 19/04/2026

One of my favourites from my "antique computer collection", anything with a built in screen is much more convenient for retro computing :D This one was kept under a dust cover when not in use by the original owner so the plastic looks really good.

An Apple Macintosh SE running After Dark with the famous flying toasters, sitting on a shelf next to a Next Cube monitor. Nearby a CRT TV can be seen along with some tools.

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Colin @thefizma.bsky.substandard.info · 30/03/2026

I am unreasonably excited about this. I found the manga first so it was always my favourite version (and I also love Dan da Dan)

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Colin @thefizma.bsky.substandard.info · 22/01/2026

I enjoyed this mural while I was riding along the Guadalupe river trail today. Don’t know how I didn’t notice it before!

A mural depicting a lady bathing in lovely cyan water, amongst mossy rocks at the she of an ocean. There are some flowers on the closest rock, and some mountains on the horizon. The mural is under a bridge over a river and the mural can be seen reflecting in the water of the river.

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Colin @thefizma.bsky.substandard.info · 22/09/2025

Considering trying that diet where you just eat potatoes

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Colin @thefizma.bsky.substandard.info · 11/09/2025

Just went to use Google with lynx/links, something I use semi-regularly when I just want a quick, text-based search. Good to know they're continuing to try really hard to become worse in all sorts of random ways.

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Reposted by Colin

𝕡𝕙𝕠𝕤𝕡𝕙𝕠𝕣 𝕘𝕝𝕠𝕨 @phosphorglow.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

found a new stupid obsolete and dead-end tech product that i desperately need

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Colin @thefizma.bsky.substandard.info · 27/08/2025

Finally, after five years of avoiding it through masking and such, I have caught COVID. Before I had "symptoms" I had several nights of insomnia (which have continued) so I assume that was the actual start. One day I hope to have a good night's sleep again :(

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Colin @thefizma.bsky.substandard.info · 15/08/2025

BSky pro-tip: don't configure your entire web server to block all requests from anything vaguely bot-like in an attempt to stop AI scraping...then spend several months replying to people's posts and things and only now discovering that nobody ever saw them because Bsky couldn't access your PDS!

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Colin @thefizma.bsky.substandard.info · 15/08/2025

Test post, I think something is up with my pds

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Colin @thefizma.bsky.substandard.info · 05/05/2025

Took this in a park near Cupertino. Wish I'd taken my DSLR, for the zoom lens

A bird of prey sits on a dead tree branch against a blue sky. Towards the right of the picture is the moon.

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Colin @thefizma.bsky.substandard.info · 26/04/2025

I was watching The Return of the Living Dead and spotted an antique computer I actually own - an Epson HX-20! They stuck it in a console to make a keyboard. Later they show the general from through this prop and you can see the DIN serial connectors, power port and ROM/tape drive eject button.

A still from the movie "The Return of the Living Dead", showing a general in his pyjamas in dressing gown looking at the printout emerging from a dot matrix printer in a console concealed in a wooden cabinet, which also has many lights and knobs, a keyboard, a display showing a map of the US, a telephone and a keypad.

A picture of an Epson HX-20, featuring a full keyboard, an LCD screen, a speaker, a small dot matrix printer and a micro cassette drive. This unit is branded British Telecom Merlin instead of EPSON, and has the model number CM6000 instead of HX-20. This specific unit was intended to be used with a BT office PBX, though its ROMs have been switched to the original HX-20 software.

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Reposted by Colin

actual heathcliff comics @realheathcliffs.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

01 Mar 2025

Heathcliff is painting several large paintings of robots. Iggy and his friend watch, and Iggy explains "He's fighting back against AI."

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Colin @thefizma.bsky.substandard.info · 12/01/2025

Chocolate Brussels sprouts and beetroot, quite a change from chocolate coins

A basket containing several net packages filled with chocolate wrapped in foil to resemble various Christmas dinner vegetables including beetroot and Brussels sprouts. Each package is labelled “M&S Food Christmas Veg, solid creamy milk chocolate shapes”

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Colin @thefizma.bsky.substandard.info · 09/01/2025

My parents cat was unimpressed by our visit

A cat sitting on the roof of a swing chair, peering upwards

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Colin @thefizma.bsky.substandard.info · 04/01/2025

So for our trip to Scotland I set up the "YOLO" image detection model to keep an eye on our CCTV, by just recognising things like "person" and "cats" and sending a message each time. For the past thirty minutes this cat has been blowing up my phone.

A CCTV image of a cat sitting on a window ledge, highlighted with a bounding box labelled "cat 0.88".

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Colin @thefizma.bsky.substandard.info · 03/01/2025

Visited Tantallon Castle today

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