Colchester has UKs only Roman chariot racing site where 4 coloured teams raced against each other, sites often where Roman political protests happened. Colchester site is a polling station today for a by-election involving 6 coloured sides. History repeats today. catuk.org/event/roman-...

Our Aquila game board is based on an archaeological find in Stanway and uses our own "rule set". We think the British adapted the Roman game of Ludus Latrunculorum with the addition of the Aquila piece. Alternative rules for the game are over-complex and no fun. www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rL4...

Our Aquila board game returns to Colchester on 29th, 30th, 31st October 2025 based on an interpretation of the rules of a lost game board found opposite Colchester Zoo in 1996. The event happens at Colchester Roman Circus between 11am and 3pm. The event is called Ludi Remus.

Denmark proposes social media ban for under 15's to stop social media platforms "stealing ... childhood". edition.cnn.com/2025/10/08/t...

Our city of Colchester has been awarded "Sanctuary City" status, as we are a place of safety for refugees from war and persecution. We have been a place of sanctuary for 2000 years starting with those who fled here from Gaul when Julius Caesar invaded Gaul. www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/2549828...

The AI revolution is going to create laziness and e-waste, for example, what is the point of robo-lawn-mowers? Surely gardens encourage mental and physical health rather than handing this over to robots? How long before a robo-mower breaks and ends in a rubbish dump?

The second house move in three months means a new location in Colchester to the centre of where the entire Roman invasion force of Britain was encamped waiting the arrival of Emperor Claudius. Within a mile of me was four Roman legion Aquila standards of the 2nd, 9th, 14th and 20th Roman legions.

The race by Estonia to be the first nation to introduce AI to all students in the classroom faces two hurdles: their own data protection laws; and the possibility of students not using the AI app as not serving their individual needs. news.err.ee/1609780941/e...

Estonia plans to be a world leader in the introduction of AI into the classroom, however, a student offers an opinion that this approach may not bring any benefits but will actually harm learning by students in Estonia. news.err.ee/1609778376/g...

UK users need to verify their age to access Direct Messages and Mature content. We won't verify our account as the denial of DM's and mature content here is no big loss.

Children aged 7-11 are invited to come along to Colchester Roman Circus to learn about what it is like to be a Roman chariot racer in Britain's only known chariot racing location on Monday 18th August 2025 10am to midday. catuk.org/event/young-...

We welcome the proposed ban on teens holding YouTube accounts in Australia. YouTube has a poor record for protecting young people from toxic content and their moderation of content is slow and ineffective, www.bbc.com/news/article...

An idea to design and publish a run of 100 books by the world's first scifi female author Margaret Cavendish called "The Blazing World" to contribute to the " One Square Mile" project by St John's Green Primary School in Colchester located near their former home. www.onesquaremilecolchester.co.uk

Not sure if the age verification on Bluesky has kicked in for our UK-based account. We won't be getting involved in any age verification: the loss of access to DM's and mature content won't be a big loss to us. www.forbes.com/sites/barryc...

Anyone with a love of science fiction should know about the founder of the scifi genre called Margaret Cavendish, who was born in our city of Colchester, and whose former location of her home I pass most days in St Johns Green. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margare...

With too much power being focused in a few tech companies in the USA, the Europeans are working on building an internet infrastructure to break the monopoly that Silicon Valley has over the internet and data by working on projects such as Eurosky an AT Protocol based alternative. www.eurosky.social

Investigations into the family of Cunobelin, who played our game of Aquila 2000 years ago, drew us to Mersea Island and a new mystery involving some Romans buried there. Spinning off from this was an interesting find from Roman times: what this is we do not know. Photo by Callum Allsop / ADAS.

Estonia to decide on which AI platforms such as ChatGPT to use in August 2025 for their schools as part of their plan to introduce all students to AI-based learning. news.err.ee/1609749719/a...

Bluesky starter packs have been part of the reason for the initial growth of Bluesky, but they are only useful if the Bluesky accounts on them are relevant, receptive to follows and are active. www.tu-darmstadt.de/universitaet...

Creatives, academics, scientists and writers have found a new home in the social media app Bluesky, part of a family of apps built on the AT Protocol. Early on Bluesky was seen as a new place to go for teachers too. www.edweek.org/leadership/i...

Our game of Aquila comes full circle after 2000 years after Italian students from Essex University gather round to learn and play the game in Colchester Roman Circus. British hostages in Rome adapted the Roman game of Latrunculi into the Aquila version 2000 years ago. Photo by Samantha Rowley.

This is a useful site for community building starter packs on Bluesky based on interest, updated July 2025. blueskystarterpack.com/community-bu...

If society want happy kids and teens, give them "independence of movement" without adults constantly tracking and restricting where they go. It is why kids fall to predators and toxic chatbots online as they are unable to interact with other kids because of parents. edition.cnn.com/2025/06/29/h...

A welcome addition to Bluesky app is age verification for users in the UK that will protect young people from direct messaging and mature content. www.msn.com/en-us/money/...

There is a play day for our Aquila Roman board game at Colchester Roman Circus in Colchester on Saturday 12th July 2025 10am to 4pm. We will be around to teach the game around midday, but game boards can be played with available rules from 10am. catuk.org/event/roman-...

Bluesky app has created three useful changes to noitifications to help users better control what they want to see in notifications. startupnews.fyi/2025/07/08/b...

Signals in Colchester are offering creative digital learning courses in art and technology to children and young people (under age 18) during 2025. Their programme of events either as per attached or via their website at signals.org.uk

It is an amazing feeling to find something that has been hidden over a thousand years. This is a possible Roman coin found yesterday by me in Oaks Drive Colchester when I was helping with a garden. I will use soaking in distilled water to clean the coin up for identification.

We were invited to hold an Aquila board game event at the Colchester Roman and Castle Road residents Midsummer Fayre in June 2025. Residents got to play this 2000-year-old Roman game again next to the Colchester Roman wall as they did over a thousand years in the past.

Britains first City Colchester, where we are based, has much in common with Tallinn the capital of Estonia. One thing in common is both cities were at one time Viking bases of the folk of Denmark. In Colchester we became a raiding base as part of the Viking Danelaw. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History...

Back from Tallinn in Estonia after a four-day visit. What a beautiful and awesome nation, which values liberty, independence and freedom of expression more than many nations. With a great education system and one of the most advanced technological societies in the world. estonia.ee/estonias-amb...

Will be visiting the technological powerhouse Estonia next week to get an idea of how technology has transformed a small nation into a leading tech giant in the world. www.thestack.technology/estonia-tech...

Here are the apps being developed on the AT Protocol that Bluesky is built on. techcrunch.com/2025/06/13/b...

There is something epic about our Aquila game board meeting the original 2000-year-old game board in the Colchester Castle Museum. We have reintroduced a Colchester strategy game played by the Romans to modern Colchester children, literally bringing a game back from the dead. Photo Barbara Butler.

Tech Crunch makes a good point that the recent debate over the so-called political leanings of users on Bluesky misses the point that Bluesky and the family of apps built on the AT Protocol have the capacity to change the social media landscape forever. techcrunch.com/2025/06/12/b...

A Canada-based local council authority in Halifax has become the latest council to ditch X in favour of Bluesky after a review identified Bluesky as a positive, transparent and practical app to engage with local residents and other users. www.ctvnews.ca/atlantic/nov...

Would a focus on community building using Bluesky and the other apps built on the AT Protocol be the answer to the future success of Bluesky? www.happiness.com/magazine/rel...

There is a move back to old-style media as sections of society become less enthusiastic with the flood of online-sourced information, hence why Microsoft is publishing Signal, a printed publication. www.techticia.com/2025/06/why-...

CEO of Bluesky Jay Graber indicates that paid subscriptions are on the way, and possibly limited advertising, but will not make money from user content with AI training, as the app seeks to make money. uk.pcmag.com/social-media...

Bluesky has become the haven for academics and scientists in a social media landscape increasingly drowned in misinformation and hostility to learning and science: we welcome Lancaster University in the UK bsky.app/profile/lanc... joining the Bluesky community.

We will be visiting Estonia this month to amongst other things get an idea of the scale of the technological revolution that is marking Estonia as one of the top AI nations in the world. There is also an AI revolution going on in the schools of Estonia. www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Bluesky is beta testing an option for users to go "live" via Youtube or Twitch. www.engadget.com/social-media...

Bluesky plans to rule social media: an interview on Wired with CEO Jay Graber. www.wired.com/story/big-in...

For those leaving X which is better as an alternative: Bluesky or Threads? PC World offers a comparison. www.pcworld.com/article/2764...

Would love to export our Aquila strategy game to USA, but the tariff madness has put those plans on hold for the moment.

A series of events called Janes Walks takes place in the UK city of #Colchester starting this Saturday 3rd to 11th of May, walks that link people to the history, culture and environment in their local areas. Janes Walks happen around the world at the same time. www.walkcolchester.org.uk/janes-walk

The future of social media, as legacy social media begins to decline and new apps like Bluesky begin to rise. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Questions and answers relating to the new Bluesky verification blue ticks system. techcrunch.com/2025/04/22/b...

Bluesky has rolled out the blue check tick system to verify official accounts. www.wired.com/story/bluesk...

Bluesky is known for a strong community of creatives and innovators, the perfect site for Adobe to connect with, but Adobe created a predator-prey relationship with creatives over their pricing and policies, thus got a hostile reaction from Bluesky users. www.creativebloq.com/design/adobe...