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Amanda R

@ajr595.bsky.social
121 followers 70 following 203 posts

Beekeeper, ex-bellringer. Change of avatar pic from tabby to primulas, because new start over here.

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Reposted by Amanda R
Bumblebee Conservation Trust @bumblebeetrust.bsky.social · 15/10/2026
Is this bumblebee knitting?🧶 Female bumblebees collect pollen by brushing the fine grains out of their hair and into the pollen baskets on their hind legs. Still, how cute would it be to see bumblebee queens wrapped in tiny woolly jumpers as they settle down to hibernate over winter?
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Amanda R @ajr595.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
For me, it's a hermit crab reaching out from its shell. :)
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OceanCare @oceancare.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The 70th meeting of the International Whaling Commission, #IWC70, has just ended in Hobart, Tasmania, & the most important news first: the moratorium on commercial whaling was upheld. Learn more about the results in this video by OceanCare's Fabienne McLellan. 📹👇 @fabiennemcl.bsky.social
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Bat Conservation Trust @batconservation.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
🦇 Would your place of worship benefit from a small grant to help manage bat roost-related issues? Living Alongside Bats in Churches Grant applications are open and will close at 10am, 26 October. More information: www.bats.org.uk/our-work/bui...
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Farrukh @implausibleblog.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
The BBC is already giving Nigel Farage coverage for a speech he hasn’t even delivered. Report on what he says tomorrow, by all means. But previewing it now gives him free publicity and lets him set the agenda before anyone can scrutinise his words.
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Anna H @athenepallas.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Latest far right malign effect - unfounded accusations of immigrants stealing wild birds to eat have led to a physical assault on a volunteer rescuing a cygnet. The Greenwich Wildlife Network statement is long, but worth a read - it's thoughtful, courageous and impeccably argued:
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AltYellostoneNatPar @altyellonatpark.org · 10/10/2026
You can read up on what we do here AltYelloNatPark.org We study how moose shed papillomavirus with no scarring and no effect on their ability to reproduce. In women a very similar disease is the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Please donate tonight.
altyellonatpark.org
The Polar Zoo @AltYelloNatPark
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AltYellostoneNatPar @altyellonatpark.org · 10/10/2026
Donations are down way down but we're not giving up. The paper is just too important. We're waiting on some minor edits and going to resubmit ASAP. We didn't have the money for samples and without them the last journal rejected us. Please donate tonight Yes we are a 501c3 gofund.me/b1b9e683a
gofund.me
Donate to please support our research at ALTYNP, organized by Ominous Ann
Having found a research project here in the park, now its up to me to find funding. … Ominous Ann needs your support for please support our research at ALTYNP
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Amanda R @ajr595.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
I suppose there's no info yet on when Horngard will be available in the UK? Not fussed about format, just yearning for the story. :)
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Admirable Women @admirablewomen.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Thank you for leading the team that wrote the onboard software for the Apollo missions, guiding Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to a safe landing on the moon. Yours is an amazing legacy & everyone should know your name. Goodnight and godspeed, Margaret Hamilton. 🕯️
nytimes.com
Margaret Hamilton, Whose Software Guided the Apollo Missions, Has Died (Gift Article)
Margaret Hamilton, the first female programmer hired to work on the space project at M.I.T., was 90.
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Amanda R @ajr595.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Amazing thread!
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AltYellostoneNatPar @altyellonatpark.org · 04/10/2026
We're a 501c3 so your donations are fully tax deductible. We're listed on Guidestar, registered with the IRS, the state of Colorado and the state of Montana. And we could really use the help ;-) If you can manage it Please donate today.
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AltYellostoneNatPar @altyellonatpark.org · 04/10/2026
The moose in our study area shed papillomavirus with no scarring and no adverse effects on their reproductive capabilities, we want to know how they do that. You can read up on what we've got so far right here on our website. And yes we are a 501c3 Please donate today thepolarzoo.org/our-story
thepolarzoo.org
About ALTYELLONATPARK™ — The Polar Zoo @AltYelloNatPark
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AltYellostoneNatPar @altyellonatpark.org · 04/10/2026
We'll barely make end of season. Coolers empty, tanks low, shoes are paper thin but we'll make it. What a ride and there's so much more to do. We study papillomavirus in moose looking for parallels in human medicine. If you can manage it Please donate today gofund.me/b1b9e683a
gofund.me
Donate to please support our research at ALTYNP, organized by Ominous Ann
Having found a research project here in the park, now its up to me to find funding. … Ominous Ann needs your support for please support our research at ALTYNP
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Amanda R @ajr595.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Amazon UK has 24 Nov as the hardback date I think.
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rprobbins.bsky.social @rprobbins.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The intelligent way to employ data centers 💯🎯
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Amanda R @ajr595.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
A collection of horizontal lines, in Whitstable yesterday.
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Amanda R @ajr595.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The smell of nectar collected from ivy blossom is all round the hives at the moment. Ivy honey sets really hard but the honey bees cope with it in their stores.
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Miaganga @miaganga.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
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Amanda R @ajr595.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Honey bees walking back up into their hive, to where the scents and vibrations tell them it's safe.
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Amanda R @ajr595.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Autumnal en-socking is always a nuisance.
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NikkSinc 📚 @nikksinc.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Microsoft wants to build three massive AI data centres in Leeds. It’ll drain thousands of litres of water from the River Aire and become the city's biggest carbon emitter. We can still stop the council's final sign-off, but we need more voices. Add your name: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/pr...
you.38degrees.org.uk
Stop the Microsoft AI megasite in Leeds!
Microsoft want to build three huge AI data centres at Skelton Grange. It would drain the River Aire and become the city's biggest carbon emitter. We can still stop it - add your name to the petition.
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THE NERVE @thenerve.news · 20/09/2026
Good morning @tomwatsonofficial.bsky.social Your journey from MP who most understood the Cambridge Analytica scandal to paid-up Palantir apologist is really quite the journey. Hope the pay packet is worth it. 💰 Here’s some background reading ahead of your first day 🧵👇
A throwback to Tom Watson’s days as the MP fighting back against Facebook after the Nerve team published the Cambridge Analytica investigation at the Observer 
(Tom’s standing, with investigative reporter Carole Cadwalladr on right and whistleblower Chris Wyler 2nd from left)🏁
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Good Law Project @goodlawproject.org · 20/09/2026
£1m-plus donations from individuals 2001–19: 💷💷💷💷💷💷💷 2019–25: 💷💷💷💷💷💷💷💷💷💷💷💷💷💷💷💷💷💷 It’s time we took politics out of the hands of a wealthy few. www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/s…
theguardian.com
UK politics increasingly funded by billionaires as mega-donations surge
Exclusive: A total £179m has been donated by wealthy individuals since 2019, research reveals
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Little Green Space 🐝 @lgspace.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
A single 400-year-old ancient oak produces 234,000 litres of oxygen a year while soaking up carbon dioxide, and can support more than 2,000 species of bird, insect, fungus, and lichen. Nature is amazing - we need more of it, not less. Please repost if you agree 🌳
Mature oak trees with bare branches in an autumn woodland
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Dr. Jonathan Foley @globalecoguy.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Climate scientist here. 👋 We are NOT fucked. BUT we are behind where we should be. The good news is that we have the solutions we need to stop climate change. We just need to get busy deploying them! And here’s the proof. Almost 120 solutions, with more coming. drawdown.org/explorer
drawdown.org
Drawdown Explorer™
We know what we need to do: stop climate change as quickly as possible. Now, with the Drawdown Explorer, we know how to do it.
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Amanda R @ajr595.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I'm often pleasurably surprised by the offers that my phone network company can magically come up with once I produce evidence of a good deal elsewhere and say I'll move if they can't match it. If you don't ask, you don't get...
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Amanda R @ajr595.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
You share my birth year, too. :) And, I sometimes feel as though the skills I acquire and use could help people and it's good to have a chance to say 'have you tried...?' occasionally.
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Reposted by Amanda R
AltYellostoneNatPar @altyellonatpark.org · 14/09/2026
You can read up on our work on our website. Oh and yes we are a 501c3 Please donate tonight thepolarzoo.org/our-story
thepolarzoo.org
About ALTYELLONATPARK™ — The Polar Zoo @AltYelloNatPark
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Reposted by Amanda R
AltYellostoneNatPar @altyellonatpark.org · 12/09/2026
We're looking at how moose shed papillomavirus with no scarring and no adverse effects on their reproduction. There could be a non invasive treatment option in that just waiting to be discovered. Please donate tonight Oh and yes we are a 501c3 gofund.me/e15d82287
gofund.me
Donate to please support our research at ALTYNP, organized by Ominous Ann
Having found a research project here in the park, now its up to me to find funding. … Ominous Ann needs your support for please support our research at ALTYNP
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Reposted by Amanda R
Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
It's Friday. I wrote a poem about the spiders who are trying to kill me.
Poem and art. A poem titled, "Ambition" with a black and white drawing of something that might be a spider. The poem begins on the left side of the page, has one line in the middle of the page, and then continues on the right side of the page. The drawing of the spider is on the bottom right.

The text of the poem reads:

"The spiders here are bold.
They stretch their thin lines
all the way across the sidewalk,
from fence to wall,
hoping, I think, to clothesline me,
knock me to the ground,
then rush out to secure me
before I struggle to my feet.
Perhaps they dream of
dragging me into their halls,
to feast like Vikings
at the never-emptied table,
hosting foes and granting rings
and singing songs of victory
about my death."

 It has not worked yet.

Every time
I walk on through their traps,
hardly even pausing in my stride
to let them think they had a chance.
I am a hammer
to their nets and hopes,
inconsiderate and blunt.
And yet, despair does not claim them.
They are persistent hunters,
for every time I take another lap,
and come again into the space
that runs between
the fencing and wall,
I have to wipe away a brand new snare
that some ambitious spider 
spun across my path
in futile hopes of glory.

One day, bold friend,
you might be king among the spiders
and fete your shield-kin on my heart.
But not today."

The drawing of the spider is a black and white ink-pen drawing, made of abstract shapes and lines. The spider appears to have wavy hair, which is a little concerning, and deformed pincers. This is not an accurate rendering of a spider, but don't tell it that. It has skeptical eyes.
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Dr Tess Machling @tessmachling.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
My mum wanted the details of her death heard. She strongly believed in the right to die & had a living will. We need to be honest about what death often looks like & that there is often *no* palliative care that can make someone like my mum's death any easier. TW: This thread is a difficult read.
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alix e. harrow @alixeharrow.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
"books should start with action" "the first pages must introduce the protagonist" "world building should be invisible" hush child ms. robin mckinley is speaking
CHAPTER

1

The magic in that country was so thick and tenacious that it settled over the land like chalk-dust and over floors and shelves like slightly sticky plaster-dust. (Housecleaners in that country earned unusually good wages.) If you lived in that country, you had to de-scale your kettle of its encrusta-tion of magic at least once a week, because if you didn't, you might find yourself pouring hissing snakes or pond slime into your teapot instead of water. (It didn't have to be anything scary or unpleasant, like snakes or slime, especially in a cheerful household magic tended to reflect the atmosphere of the place in which it found itself-but if you want a cup of tea, a cup of lavender-and-gold pansies or ivory thimbles is unsatisfactory. And while the pansies-put dry in a vase-would probably last a day, looking like ordinary pansies, be-fore they went greyish-dun and collapsed into magic dust, something like an ivory thimble would begin to smudge and

crumble as soon as you picked it up.) The best way to do it was to have a fairy as a member of your household, because she (it was usually a she) could lay a finger on the kettle just as it came to a boil (absentminded fairies could often be recognised by a pad of scar-tissue on the finger they favoured for kettle-cleaning) and murmur a
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Amanda R @ajr595.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Thanks for that, fascinating.
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AltYellostoneNatPar @altyellonatpark.org · 08/09/2026
The blood vessels in their legs are set up like little heat exchangers so the cold blood from their feet warms a bit long before it gets to their body and the warm blood cools a bit before it gets to their feet. They're very efficient that way.
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Amanda R @ajr595.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Electrical faults always seem a bit Schrodinger-ish. Hope it decides to be found.
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Amanda R @ajr595.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
How do their legs keep warm in v low temps? Do they have more blood vessels along them, or is it down to their fur?
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Luca @lucagalletti.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
The US has a dark history of unaccountability.
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Joanne Harris @joannechocolat.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
This is just to say... I have stolen the work that you spent years creating and which you were probably hoping would pay your bills But online sharing doesn't count It's actually a compliment So fuck you BTW, I'm a fan
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Ward Q. Normal (he/him) @wardqnormal.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
A particularly infuriating aspect of this A.I. bullshit is that nobody seems to remember that we all got along just fine without it for centuries. How are we all suddenly incapable of reading and understanding written words? Of creating art? Of telling stories? It’s madness.
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Bumblebee Conservation Trust @bumblebeetrust.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Ivy comes alive in September. These globe-shaped flowers are a vital source of pollen and nectar when not much else is in flower 🐝🍂 For even more seasonal tips, download our gardening guides: ow.ly/uM3b50ZFYEp
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Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
I think the Telegraph misspelled “the highly respected leader of Camden Council” in the headline.
Somali refugee tipped to face Polanski in Starmer by-election
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Kent Wildlife Trust @kentwildlife.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Under the framework, plans set to destroy ancient woodland should be refused unless there's a wholly exceptional reason and a credible plan to compensate for the loss. Oaken Wood's allocation as a quarry site hasn't met either test. You can help object to the destruction: kwtg.uk/save-oaken-wood
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Kent Wildlife Trust @kentwildlife.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Oaken Wood is a living, breathing habitat, filled with rare and exciting species - including ancient woodland indicators. 🌱 And yet a Mineral Sites Plan threatens to destroy it... How is this even a possibility when the National Planning Policy Framework is meant to protect irreplaceable habitats?
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Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
My latest about the real risk that Trump is wiling to take down the entire vote by mail system and cause a failed midterm election. newsletters.democracydocket.com/trump-doesnt...
newsletters.democracydocket.com
Trump doesn’t think mail-in voting is "too big to fail"
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Jon Cooper @joncooper-us.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Cartoon by @mackinnonart.bsky.social.
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Amanda R @ajr595.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Once they've been identified... :)
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Dignity in Dying @dignityindying.org.uk · 24/08/2026
Dr Andrew Green, Chair of the BMA Medical Ethics Committee reaffirmed “Neutrality means the BMA neither supports nor opposes attempts to change the law on physician assisted dying. We are therefore neutral both on the principle of assisted dying and on any particular bills or legislative proposals”.
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Amanda R @ajr595.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Honey extraction is a very sticky time... :)
A frame of honey in the process of being uncapped, to allow the honey to be spun out.Looking down into a radial honey extractor, with a little honey from the previous spin still remaining.
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