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Bob Marshall @bobmarshall.co.uk · 19h

It's safe to say this software changed my life. That's why I have continued to support the Blender Development Fund for many years. It feels like Christmas whenever there's a new update!

fund.blender.org

Blender Development Fund

Join the Development Fund and support Blender Foundation to work on core Blender development.

fund.blender.org

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Bob Marshall @bobmarshall.co.uk · 19h

It's my 20th anniversary of using #Blender3D. 🎂

I can't recall what version I started with, but it was probably 2.40. I was a Maya user before discovering Blender. There were very few tutorials around back then. Help came from a small and quite geeky online community. Perseverance paid off.

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Bob Marshall @bobmarshall.co.uk · 1d

Something like that, yes. A Mixed Reality AR/VR experience of sorts. Possibly voice and gesture prompts (dare I suggest AI prompts) will replace standard keyboard input. I think smart glasses rather than clumsy and bulky headsets, though.

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Bob Marshall @bobmarshall.co.uk · 1d

This thought-provoking question has me contemplating what route creative software will take in the next decade. I can't imagine doing delicate 3D modelling on a tablet. Perhaps 3D will be done via immersive VR headsets and gesture technology. 🤔

Joana Valdez-Tullett @joanavaldez.bsky.social · 1d

People advocate for digital literacy which in our current world is fundamental. But what I’m finding is that kids don’t know how to operate a computer bc their digital literacy is tablet/smartphone based. Is this the end of computers or how useful is this kind of digital literacy for their future?

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Bob Marshall @bobmarshall.co.uk · 3d

Yet another Jury citation landed through my letterbox. Third year running. The High Court again. Each time I get summoned, I wait around for days, then get dismissed. I know it's my civic duty and all that, but it's such a pain with a small business and tight deadlines to meet. Argh! 😣

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Bob Marshall @bobmarshall.co.uk · 3d

#VirtualArchaeology #AugmentedReality job opportunity in South Uist 👇

UHI Archaeology Institute @uhiarchaeology.bsky.social · 3d

The UHI Archaeology Institute team behind Uist Unearthed is looking for an assistant for the next stage of the award-winning, virtual #archaeology project.

Western Isles job opportunity with new virtual archaeology project

Augmented reality at Cladh Hallan, South Uist. The UHI Archaeology Institute team behind Uist Unearthed is looking for an assistant for the next stage of the award-winning, virtual archaeology project. The full-time position, which runs from January 2026 to May 2027, is to help deliver the new Barra and Harris Unearthed project. Since it was launched in 2021…

archaeologyorkney.com

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Bob Marshall @bobmarshall.co.uk · 5d

IDK if Conferences are any good for fermenting (not for proper perry cider, at least), but that's where I'd start ;)

I haven't seen Thistly Cross do a pear cider, but you could ask if they know. Someone once told me they collected windfall fruit, but I may be wrong.

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Bob Marshall @bobmarshall.co.uk · 7d

Managed a full circuit in 50min early on Saturday morning, although at a brisk walking pace (jogging strictly forbidden). Easier with fewer tourists to negotiate in the narrow sections at this time of day. Almost possible to do it in a lunch break from Tanner Row, but probably without the lunch!

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Bob Marshall @bobmarshall.co.uk · 7d

Walmgate Barbican looked rather splendid in the sun on my Monday morning walk around the City walls.

A view of Walmgate Bar and Barbican Gate, York, in the early morning sunshine. September 29, 2025.

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Bob Marshall @bobmarshall.co.uk · 10d

Spotted in York. My old Jack Russell terrier loved a good pub. I'm trying to get my Dachsie interested, but he's a bit grumpy. #dogsinpubs

A black and white sign outside a pub in York, England, welcoming dogs, on condition their owners behave themselves.

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Reposted by Bob Marshall

Andy Arthur💃🏰⚓🦌 Threadinburgh 🧵 @threadinburgh.scot · 10d

Does anyone who kens their Christian symbolism know if a cross with its arms tilted slightly upwards has a specific significance? Context is this is in a burial ground for Franciscan nuns of the Poor Clares order.

A small wooden Christian cross on a stone wall, its arms are tilted slightly upwards.

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Bob Marshall @bobmarshall.co.uk · 11d

Loved seeing the brand new Station Hall exhibition at the National Railway Museum today, which opened to visitors this weekend. The interior lighting could be a little better to help you see inside one or two of the historic carriage interiors, but that's my only minor complaint.

A view inside the Station Hall exhibition space at the National Railway Museum in York. The Station Hall was opened on 26 September 2025.

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Bob Marshall @bobmarshall.co.uk · 12d

What better way to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the modern railway than a visit the National Railway Museum in York.

LNER Class A4 4468 Mallard at the National Railway Museum in York. A 4-6-2 "Pacific" steam locomotive designed by Sir Nigel Gresley and built in 1938 for operation on the London and North Eastern Railway.

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Bob Marshall @bobmarshall.co.uk · 12d

Pre-breakfast power walk around York City Walls. It's becoming something of a ritual whenever I visit.

View of York Minster from York City Walls

York City Walls in the early morning sunshine.

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Bob Marshall @bobmarshall.co.uk · 14d

#AdoorableThursday West door, Dunblane Cathedral.

The mid-thirteenth-century west door of Dunblane Cathedral, Scotland.

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Bob Marshall @bobmarshall.co.uk · 14d

You'll Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Castles.

#kitchens #castles #Doune

Photo of the kitchen at Doune Castle, Scotland.

Photo of the double kitchen servery hatches at Doune Castle, Scotland.

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Bob Marshall @bobmarshall.co.uk · 15d

That's interesting that it was rented out to students. It's certainly a long way to get to lectures. Maybe they all shared a car because it's a long hike to the nearest bus stop and in winter it gets really wild out there. I used to get the bus from Newburgh when I studied in Aberdeen.

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Bob Marshall @bobmarshall.co.uk · 16d

The land and castle are still owned by the Earls of Erroll who are doing up the timber framed house perched precariously next to the castle. I don't know to what extent there are obligations to consolidate the castle ruin for posterity, but there is probably a remit to ensure its structural safety.

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Bob Marshall @bobmarshall.co.uk · 16d

Only where there's money and local willpower for it. Sadly, I don't think the community is large enough here to give it that kind of support.

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Bob Marshall @bobmarshall.co.uk · 16d

I would have known the Stratfords at Old Slains until about 1984/5, so you may know a different family that lived in the A-frame after that. My Godparents rented the now derelict cottage overlooking the castle. I had great memories of my time there, so it's sad to see the building in that state.

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Bob Marshall @bobmarshall.co.uk · 16d

I had a schoolfriend - Charles Stratford, if my fading memory serves me correctly - who lived in the A-frame house in the 80s. We played together at that house, although I don't ever recall any secret rooms!

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Bob Marshall @bobmarshall.co.uk · 16d

Stretch target of £25K reached and surpassed. Well done, everyone! 👏

Bob Marshall @bobmarshall.co.uk · 20d

There are four days left to help buy the land for the Big Broch! The money raised will demonstrate the level of public support for the project and encourage larger funding bodies to finance the rest of the site purchase. Can you help them reach their stretch target of £25K?

Buy The Broch Site

We've produced reports, we've secured partners, now we need to buy the site to make the Big Broch Build a reality!

www.crowdfunder.co.uk

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Bob Marshall @bobmarshall.co.uk · 16d

The recording, consolidation, preservation, restoration, and reuse of castles like this will hopefully be discussed at the forthcoming Scottish Castles Association conference in Stirling. Book your place using the following link.

scotlandscastles.org/event/sca-co...

SCA Conference – Scotland’s Castles: Use Them or Lose Them – 9th October 2025 – Scottish Castles Association

Join us as we explore how to encourage more people to restore and re-use Scotland's castles and other historic buildings. Held with the support of Historic Environment Scotland (HES) and fellow h...

scotlandscastles.org

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Bob Marshall @bobmarshall.co.uk · 16d

Old Slains is one of many listed heritage sites that will inevitably succumb to the elements and the accelerated impact of climate change. I do not think it will survive. But can we record enough of this castle using digital technology while there is still time and before it is lost forever?

The ruins of Old Slains Castle, on the north east coast of Aberdeenshire. These are the precarious remains of Francis Hay, 9th Earl of Erroll's castle that was blown up by King James VI of Scotland's army in 1594 after the Earl's persistent support of Catholicism. The Earl was later forgiven, and he built a new castle north of the village of Cruden Bay called Bowness. It is now better known as New Slains Castle and romantically associated with Bram Stoker, the author of the Gothic horror novel, Dracula.

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Bob Marshall @bobmarshall.co.uk · 16d

The ruins are pretty much as I remember them when I was young, but for how much longer? There are worrying signs of coastal erosion and land slippage all around the cliff edges here.

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