iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

tom brandt @twbrandt.net · 14h

This was evidently a good thing.

120

tom brandt @twbrandt.net · 17h

Can’t find a bar showing the Michigan game here in Edinburgh for some reason.

110

tom brandt @twbrandt.net · 17h

If your following count has a “k” after it I’m not following you back.

230

tom brandt @twbrandt.net · 18h

It’s kind of weird to be five hours ahead of many of my bsky follows.

010

tom brandt @twbrandt.net · 18h

Royal Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh

A small pond with green vegetation floating on top. It is surrounded by trees and other plants.

A sign reading:

The National Memorial for Organ and Tissue Donors in Scotland
Taigh: a wilding garden
Ale@finlay, commissioned by The Scottish Government,
in association with Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop.
I EDINBURGH
SCULPTURE
WORKSHOP
Royal
Botanic Garden
Edinburgh
The Scottish
Government
Riaghaltas na h-Alba

Welcome to this 'wilding' memorial garden, a place for donor families,
transplant recipients, and those whose lives have been touched by donation
or transplantation to come for quiet reflection.
The dry-stane Taigh (Gaelic for 'house') draws on traditional Scottish dwellings
such as Taigh na Caillich in Glen Lyon. Under its foundations, a book containing
the handwritten name of every organ donor in Scotland is buried in an oak kist,
along with a surgical scalpel and anti-rejection medication commonly taken by •
organ recipients. 'Organ'-stones, collected from the River Lyon (pictured) and
woven with Soft Rush and Purple Moor-grass, are embedded in the turf-roof.
A font contains 'offering' pebbles gathered from beaches around Scotland.
"The wilding garden and Taigh is a work of remembrance: it was made for the dead,
the donors and their families, and those who are alive today through the gift of
donation. Organ and tissue donation touches many people: as an act of giving that
passes between the dead and the living it speaks to our values as a culture. A memorial
artwork that is made for a particular community will, if it has resonance, inevitably be
taken on by others over time, each tying on their own thread of meaning." - Alec Finlay
A book documenting the project records the many individuals and groups
that contributed to the memorial, including makers, gardeners, donor families,
transplant recipients, and clinical staff.

Alec Finlay
with Norman Haddow, Luke Allan, Caroline Dear, Amy Todman,
Hanna Tuulikki, Galgael, Neville Rae & Scott Laverie, StudioLR,
Brodie Sim, and staff of Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
Information on organ and tissue donation:
www…

091

tom brandt @twbrandt.net · 18h

That’s always seemed like a HIPAA violation to me.

020

Reposted by tom brandt

Ross in Detroit @rossindetroit.bsky.social · 22h

Hey I’ve decided to just self police from now on so I won’t be needing law enforcement. Spread the word.

173

tom brandt @twbrandt.net · 22h

🧵There is a Sheela-na-gig on the church at the 13th-century nunnery on the Isle of Iona, Scotland, where I was most of this week. The plaque describing it speculated that its purpose was to ward off evil so the nuns could worship in peace. Interesting thread.

010

Reposted by tom brandt

Adam Jaskiewicz @ajjaskie.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I hate that downtown Open Streets in Ann Arbor shuts down for the year just as it’s starting to get less muggy out. This shouldn’t be a summer-only thing. Crisp fall weather is a great time to be outdoors. Bring on the fire pits and hot drinks! #A2Council

3324

tom brandt @twbrandt.net · 02/10/2026

Scottish weather is being very Scottish atm.

010

tom brandt @twbrandt.net · 30/09/2026

State Farm made a big deal over a huge “dividend” they were giving to their customers. Mine was a whopping $10.76.

011

tom brandt @twbrandt.net · 29/09/2026

On the Isle of Mull looking across to the Isle of Iona, panning back to Mull.

160

tom brandt @twbrandt.net · 27/09/2026

I’m in Scotland, but reddit is feeding me ads exclusively in Dutch.

010

tom brandt @twbrandt.net · 25/09/2026

Random pictures from Glasgow

A red brick bridge arched over a river. There is greenery on either side of the river.

An old building with arched windows and turrets on the four corners.

090

tom brandt @twbrandt.net · 25/09/2026

I’m off bsky for a couple of days and then I see stuff about iced coffee and Kai Ryssdal and think nope, didn’t miss a thing.

010

tom brandt @twbrandt.net · 24/09/2026

View from my hotel room.

View from the 9th floor of a hotel. There are trees in the foreground, a river in the middle ground with a brown sandstone building on the other side of the river. There is a bridge on the right side of the building.

010

tom brandt @twbrandt.net · 24/09/2026

Glasgow, Scotland, is in the Western European Time Zone.

240

tom brandt @twbrandt.net · 24/09/2026

Very nice! Who did you use?

110

tom brandt @twbrandt.net · 24/09/2026

I’m so sorry. Sending good thoughts to her and you.

010

tom brandt @twbrandt.net · 24/09/2026

There is no good reason to connect your fridge to the internet and an infinite number of good reasons not to.

031

tom brandt @twbrandt.net · 23/09/2026

I will be on the other side of the pond

001

tom brandt @twbrandt.net · 23/09/2026

I remember what somebody said about Gerald Ford: He played football too long without a helmet.

110

tom brandt @twbrandt.net · 23/09/2026

Saw a Waymo on EB I-94 today, a few miles west of Detroit. It got on at Merriman Rd. It had someone in the driver’s seat, but no passengers. It wasn’t clear if the person was actually driving or just observing. This is the first one I’ve seen.

020

Reposted by tom brandt

kottke.org @kottke.org · 23/09/2026

Engaging read on how the Bugs Bunny cartoon What’s Opera, Doc? was made. “To get the extra work done, Jones and his crew secretly shaved a couple weeks off other, easier films and faked their time cards. It was something they did on occasion.” [animationobsessive.substack.com]

animationobsessive.substack.com

Why ‘What’s Opera, Doc?’ Looks Like That

It’s one of the really famous cartoons. If you’re reading this newsletter, you’ve probably watched it yourself. After almost 70 years, What’s Opera, Doc? endures.

315046

tom brandt @twbrandt.net · 23/09/2026

The absolute stupidest people are running this country.

010

Reposted by tom brandt

fred-decker.bsky.social @fred-decker.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

So, in cool/bizarre music today, my kid just sent me this video of a guy who used an old Singer sewing machine treadle to drive an old-school hurdy-gurdy ("the Renaissance synth"). Hey, @shiplives.bsky.social and @gavinyamey.bsky.social, did you know about this? youtube.com/shorts/ySB_u...

youtube.com

Singer Folk Session #1

YouTube video by SingerSoundSystem

1127

tom brandt @twbrandt.net · 23/09/2026

Repost with image of favorite James Bond (wrong answers only)

Donald Sutherland looking particularly unhinged

040

tom brandt @twbrandt.net · 23/09/2026

🧵 there are worse places to be stranded than Reykjavik.

000

tom brandt @twbrandt.net · 22/09/2026

I wonder just how much AI is some guy in the Philippines

100

tom brandt @twbrandt.net · 22/09/2026

at my neighborhood bar for 1/2 price pizza night, and it’s funny to see the anti-El Sayed ads followed immediately by pro-El Sayed ads. One of the anti ads had the word SOCIALISM in all caps, followed by the question “is this the path you want?” And I’m thinking, well yeah.

0142

Reposted by tom brandt

Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Suffolk: El-Sayed 47%, Rogers 40. www.suffolk.edu/-/media/suff...

suffolk.edu

623235

tom brandt @twbrandt.net · 22/09/2026

Happy Autumnal Equinox, y’all!

021

tom brandt @twbrandt.net · 22/09/2026

Between 2012 and 2017 I worked for a startup in based in Mountain View. I routinely traveled on the Caltrain service between Mountain View, San Francisco, and a bunch of other cities. It was so good. It kills me that we don’t have a service like that here.

010

tom brandt @twbrandt.net · 22/09/2026