iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Alexandra Lanes @ajlanes.bsky.social · 13h

This is an interesting read on the status of the perhaps 10,000 Jews living in the Islamic Republic of Iran. It highlights how Iranian Jews have formal legal protection and recognition but their tolerance is conditional on being perceived as loyal to the regime.

meforum.org

Recognized, Yet Suspected: Iranian Jews and the Paradox of Citizenship under the Islamic Republic

From Dhimmitude and Pahlavi-Era Citizenship to the Politics of Loyalty after 1979

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Alexandra Lanes @ajlanes.bsky.social · 16h

It is a beautiful day in the bus meme and you are a very smug cat on the horizon.

The original poster had produced the famous “bus meme” where a character on one side of the bus had a positive experience and another on the opposite side has a negative experience. In the OP’s post the inage is mirrored around the vertical centre line so the bus has a negative experience on both sides. The result is that the horizon looks like a smug cat with a halo.

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John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

My teacher brother has just informed me that his primary school kids now refer to anything shit or old fashioned as "Brexit". Which has made my morning.

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Alexandra Lanes @ajlanes.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

This is one of those etymologies that sounds like a just so story but is in fact true.

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Alexandra Lanes @ajlanes.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

It was hard to take the Orange Order seriously before I learned they abbreviate themselves LOL.

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Roger @rogger.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

This is getting out of hand. When I see or someone mentions a book that sounds interesting, I write it down to look up later. This is just stuff I've added to the list this year, ones I bought crossed out. Which is categorically not all the ones I bought...

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Melissa Caruso @melissacaruso.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Discoverability for new SFF books seems way down these days, especially outside of bestsellers and certain subgenres. I'm noticing this as both a reader and a writer. Great stuff is in danger of sinking without a trace. Please post about new/recent books you love or are excited for!!! I'll start:

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j4 @jaffa.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

creature Mouth perfec t size for put vicar in to preach! inside very Soft and Comfort

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Alexandra Lanes @ajlanes.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Periods of torpor? Me too, bats, me too.

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Philby Bear (they/them) @philbybear.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

"Bear Talks Games: Eternal Darkness." I'd played this once, years ago, as a rental. At the time, I don't think I'd played anything like it on the GameCube, and Luigi's Mansion doesn't count. Hell, I'm at least 50% certain this was my first proper survival horror game!

The cover for Eternal Darkness, depicting a pre-rendered 3D representation of a Stone Henge-like circle.

... unless that is, in fact, meant to *be* Stone Henge.

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Alexandra Lanes @ajlanes.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

It’s me. I’m the convex fogey.

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Ian Coldwater 🧊🚫 @lookitup.baby · 30/09/2026

BREAKING NEWS: “Do geese see God” is a palindrome

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Alexandra Lanes @ajlanes.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I thought people weren’t supposed to be able to break into the cockpit any more.

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Alexandra Lanes @ajlanes.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Depressed at the thought of being unemployable for refusing the LLM koolaid

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Alexandra Lanes @ajlanes.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Is the plural of nginx nginges? I think it must be.

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Kathryn Salamander: Witches' Road or bust 🎃 @transsalamander.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

"xkcd feldspar" is such an incredible verb

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Alexandra Lanes @ajlanes.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Also the plod I asked for permission to take this photo can only have been twelve or something.

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Alexandra Lanes @ajlanes.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Police and assorted security jobsworths have cordoned off most of the street level area between St Pancras and Kings Cross. I am now lost in a maze of twisty little passages.

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Alexandra Lanes @ajlanes.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Saw a sign for a museum near St Pancras, the usual M in a portico iconography and absentmindedly thought “متحف” (matHaf, the Arabic for museum). I’ve not had need for that bit of vocabulary for going on thirty years and yet it pops up unbidden while I’m wandering around London. Memory is odd.

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Nerds of a Feather @nerdsofafeather.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

TV Review: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Season 4 60 Years of Star Trek wraps up with an unusual 4th season of Strange New Worlds @annmichelleharris.bsky.social has our recap and review at the NOAF blog: www.nerds-feather.com/2026/09/tv-r...

nerds-feather.com

TV Review: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Season 4

60 Years of Star Trek wraps up with an unusual 4th season of Strange New Worlds From its first season, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds quickl...

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yaoi gagarin @mel.bzky.team · 30/09/2026

while i appreciate the in depth discussion about the benefits and shortfalls of a democratic state order happening in my replies i would like to remind everyone involved that this is in response to a poll asking if people want to fuck me

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Alexandra Lanes @ajlanes.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

This is rather excellent. A trial of a commuter connection on a heritage railway, integrated into the ticketing system and timetabled to connect with the mainline services.

realtimetrains.co.uk

Realtime Trains

Realtime Trains is an independent source of live realtime running information for the Great British railway network.

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Alexandra Lanes @ajlanes.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I’ve heard decent people I respect describe Burnham’s speech as the most consequential of their lifetimes. For trans people - not mentioned at all - it has no consequences beyond the continuation of our demonisation and exclusion.

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Alexandra Lanes @ajlanes.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I still hear it as “Cross Incontinents” #bbcradio4

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Alexandra Lanes @ajlanes.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Weird recollection: I think I had tea there when I was in Palestine; one of the other Cambridge students I was with was related to someone on the consulate staff.

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Dan Davies @dsquareddigest.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

"we didn't have anything like as many people claiming to have ADHD back in the days when everyone carried around a pack of inhalable stimulant drugs and took between 20 and 40 doses every day"

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Baroness Floella Benjamin @floellabenjamin.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Today it’s 50 years since I first presented Playschool wearing my blue beads and silver heart. I adore bringing joy into the lives of my Playschool Babies during the 12 years I was on the programme. ❤️

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Emoria - Aftertaste OUT NOW @emoria.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Trans people: love the shit out of yourselves. You probably spent the majority of your years absolutely wallowing in self-loathing. Make up for lost time. Love yourself. You fucking deserve it.

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Alexandra Lanes @ajlanes.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I've decided. My habit of reacting to someone's message about a thing with an emoji of the thing shall be called emoji echolalia.

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Alexandra Lanes @ajlanes.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Leaving the country because the government is set on eliminating you? Because government only cheers on racism and xenophobia? Because there is no hope or ambition for a better life in our politics? Terrible that it's that way but I understand. But because of some bollards? Bollards to you.

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Uncut Femmes @juliagiantrat.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

"damn I hate this discord stuff" "why dont you join Smumblo??? Smumblo is way better" "does anyone at all use Smumblo" "...you can be the first one"

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Robin Moira White @robinmoirawhite.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The Labour Party’s women’s conference on 26/9/26 was an embarrassing farce, with only 200 delegates of the 1,000 normal attendance (no major unions) in protest of the Labour Party’s shameful abandonment of trans people following the legally absurd ruling of the Supreme Court in FWS in April 2025.

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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Spider pot Spider pot Does whatever a spider pot does Can it store Stuff you bought? Course it can It's a pot LOOK OUT! Here comes the spider pot

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Eric Williams @geoliminal.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

T.S. Eliot's birthday, so why not go and read H.P. Lovecraft's satire of "The Waste Land," his actually-pretty funny "Waste Paper" www.hplovecraft.com/writings/tex...

hplovecraft.com

"Waste Paper - A Poem of Profound Insignificance" by H. P. Lovecraft

'Waste Paper - A Poem of Profound Insignificance' by H. P. Lovecraft

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Alexandra Lanes @ajlanes.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Who is to say these two are so different anyway?

App icons for two applications. On the left, fetlife, represented by an abstract shape resembling a fox. On the right gitlab, illustrated by a heart with horns for tackling the hard problems in one’s labour of love.

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Beccas can't be choosers @beccanical.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

you should never bring an iced coffee to a job interview. instead, assert dominance by drinking the interviewer's beverage

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Alexandra Lanes @ajlanes.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

These curtains are apparently “postmarked” Paris, France, 14 April 1912. Why that date?

Curtains, black but letting quite a lot of white light through. On them in white is printed an image of a postmark. It has two concentric circles, the outer reading Paris France at the top and 1912 at the bottom. In the centre is “14 AVRIL”. To either side of the circles are the usual postmarky wibbly horizontal lines.

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I Hope This Email Finds You @thisemailfindsyou.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I hope this email finds you guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

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Alexandra Lanes @ajlanes.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

When we interview people there’s a list of criteria in the job ad and we try to assess how well the candidate fits those criteria. None of those criteria has ever been based on coffee.

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Alexandra Lanes @ajlanes.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Looking these up. From the top, clockwise: Scotland Corsica Man Ireland Cornwall Sardinia Brittany Wallonia Basque Country Flanders Asturias Catalonia Galicia Wales ...and I can't identify the one between Wales and Scotland.

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Alexandra Lanes @ajlanes.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

No, kagi, THOT is not from Koine Greek.

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Alexandra Lanes @ajlanes.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I know it’s just an upper/lower case thing in this feed, but I am tickled by the idea that F1 cars need their plutonium replaced.

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