iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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The Grand Drawing In @theauldsthretch.bsky.social · 19/04/2025

Today is 2025-04-19, the sun sets at 19:32:55 (20:32:55 with DST!) and the grand auld stretch tonight was 3 hours, 27 mins and 12 secs. #GrandStretch #SpringStretch

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RTÉ News @news.rte.ie · 19/04/2025

Thousands of people rallied in central London in support of trans rights, after a landmark court ruling on the definition of a "woman"

rte.ie

Trans rights supporters rally outside UK parliament

Thousands of people rallied in central London in support of trans rights, after a landmark court ruling on the definition of a "woman".

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Accessibility Awareness @a11yawareness.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

People often ask what accessibility considerations to keep in mind when creating data visualizations. For guidance and advice, check out Sarah L. Fossheim's list of 10 things to do (or not do) when designing accessible data visualizations. fossheim.io/writing/post...

fossheim.io

An intro to designing accessible data visualizations by Sarah L. Fossheim

10 dos and don'ts for designing accessible data visualizations, including real-life examples and resources

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Siobhán Dowling @siobhandowling.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

Reminder: Kennys Bookshop delivers for free in Ireland. Easons have free delivery over 10 euros (and also sell toys and games and stationary). Lots of lovely booksellers in the actual stores too, like Books Upstairs, Gutter Bookshop, Hodges Figgis.

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Jesspooka Kant 🎃 @jessdkant.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

I can't remember the last time I saw an article just focus on this. Not that they've bent the truth or misrepresented a few facts a little, but that every single solitary thing that the GOP says on the topic is a stone cold lie with absolutely no basis in reality. ftw.usatoday.com/story/sports...

They're lying to you about transgender women and girls in sports
Michelle R. Martinelli
For The Win

They’re lying about transgender people in this world. They’re lying about what LGBTQ+ inclusion in society really means, and they’re lying about trans people in sports. They’re lying about a “transgender cult” and “transgender insanity,” about teachers indoctrinating kids with “transgender ideology” and about “making mice transgender.”

Right-wing activists, anti-trans bigots, many politicians, the president — they’re lying to you about many things but especially trans women and girls in sports. They’re lying about transgender athletes supposedly ruining women’s sports, and they’re lying about this being a ubiquitous “problem.”

They are deliberately and strategically lying about trans folks’ lives, about trans athletes and about their own disingenuous motivations for pushing these lies. They don’t care because they keep doing it.

Worse, it’s working.

They're lying about trans people, especially trans women and girls in sports, probably, in part, because the actual data doesn't support their arguments.
Yet several states have their own bans against trans athletes competing in sports consistent with their gender identity, despite expert estimates of fewer than 100 trans high school athletes nationwide. In 2022, Utah's Republican governor, Spencer Cox, vetoed an anti-transgender bill - it was eventually overruled by the legislature - and outlined his rationale. Along with the high suicide rates for trans youth, he noted that of 75,000 high school athletes in the state, four identified as trans and just one student was playing girls' sports. A whole state bill targeting four athletes, but really, one.

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Graeme 🦋 @fatherhilarious.blog · 12/03/2025

A new four-lane highway cutting through tens of thousands of acres of protected Amazon rainforest is being built for the COP30 climate summit in the Brazilian city of Belém... hosting more than 50,000 people - including world leaders - at the conference in November 😳 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Amazon rainforest cut down to build highway for COP climate summit

The infrastructure required to host climate talks in Belém is undermining the cause, campaigners say.

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Ciara | Ciaraíoch 🎨 @ciaraioch.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

First #MiniMná is Bernadette Devlin McAliskey - civil & human rights activist, shot by paramilitaries, clattered the Home Secretary when he said British soldiers on Bloody Sunday acted "in self-defence", and all-round legend. (There's a less cartoony print here www.ciaraioch.com/artprints/p/...)

Black and white cartoony drawing of Devlin McAliskey speaking into a microphone

Photograph of Devlin McAliskey sitting on a stage with her fist in the air

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Susie Dent @susiedentwords.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

Word of the day is ‘lickspittle’ (17th century): a person who fawns upon someone in power for personal gain.

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Karen Costa (she/her) @karencosta.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

This is this week and has a virtual option. Looks like a great opportunity to support trans students in #HigherEd and beyond. www.reddragonnetwork.org/s/1612/19/in...

reddragonnetwork.org

TransAction 2025 Conference

SUNY Cortland invites you to TransAction 2025, the 7th annual conference about the needs and experiences of transgender and gender queer individuals in the college environment.

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Accessibility Awareness @a11yawareness.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

When using Microsoft Word or Google Docs, don't just make text bigger and bolder to make it a heading. That will work for sighted users, but screen reader users will miss that and just hear it as normal paragraph text. Use actual heading styles, like level 1 through 6.

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Jess ~ Bettyoctopus (She/Her) @bettyoctopus.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

Really heartbroken, Michelle was phenomenal in Buffy. RIP

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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 16/02/2025

We should first recognize that gender codes are socially constructed. Clothing is not inherently masculine or feminine—codes are contextual and can change over time. Aristocratic men once wore bright red heels. Then they became womenswear until that notion was challenged again.

A painting of King Louis XIV of France. He's wearing an opulent outfit made of furs, lace, and gold. He's also wearing white buckled shoes with a high red heel.

A close-up of the white buckled shoes with a high-red heel. There appears to be a red lace at the top of the shoes.

Fashion influencer Luka Sabbat wearing a black leather suit and black boots with a very high heel.

James Baldwin wearing a white, short-sleeved button-down shirt, white cotton pants, and brown Cuban heeled side-zip boots. He also has chunky gold and turquoise jewelry (bracelet and ring).

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Erin Kissane @kissane.myatproto.social · 14/02/2025

Lisa Sterle's incredible Ten of Swords tarot card from the Modern Witch tarot, depicting a woman with long hair lying on a jagged landscape under an ominous sky. She's stuck full of swords and looking at her phone. It's captioned EVERYTHING IS FINE.

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Susie Dent @susiedentwords.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

Word of the day is ‘arsle’ (19th century): to have a distinct sense of going backwards.

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Dr Mary McAuliffe @drmarymcauliffe.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

Google Calendar removes Black History Month, Pride and other cultural events Of course they did, like all the tech companies, their support of Pride etc was always conditional! The backlash continues www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

theguardian.com

Google Calendar removes Black History Month, Pride and other cultural events

Company says listed holidays were not ‘sustainable’ for their model in latest move to roll back diversity efforts

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Accessibility Awareness @a11yawareness.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

Capitalization affects how people read hashtags or how people hear them on screen readers. Use #camelCase or #PascalCase in hashtags instead of lowercase. You could have #SuperBowl ("Super Bowl") or #superbowl ("superb owl.") And while owls are indeed superb, confusing hashtags are not.

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Simon McGarr @tupped.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

Hey! HEY! WE are at 77% of target right now and we ought to be at over 80% by now. This is evidence of Slacking. Whattaya want, Poland coming up behind us and taking the next spot? Think of somewhere new to share that link. Go on, tell em I sent ya. eci.ec.europa.eu/043/public/#...

eci.ec.europa.eu

European Citizens' Initiative

Give your support !

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Ciarán O' Driscoll / Ó Drisceoil @bearaboi.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

We're just 3,775 signatures away from Ireland becoming the third country in the EU to reach its threshold! To be successful, a European citizens' initiative has to reach one million statements of support as well as minimum thresholds in at least 7 countries.

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Jess ~ Bettyoctopus (She/Her) @bettyoctopus.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

My zen space where I forget all the troubles is a field in county Limerick where I can watch the incredible show of a murmuration of starlings

A murmurations of starlings over a field on a clear evening

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Casey S. Pumpkins 🎃 @caseyexplosion.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

If anyone claims that the current anti-trans panic was caused in any part by trans people advocating for our human rights, that person is lying through their teeth. The religious right lost on marriage equality, and immediately started going after trans people instead. That's what happened.

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Simon McGarr @tupped.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

Here's something that takes seconds and could have actual positive outcomes. There is an official 'citizen's petition' system in the EU. There's one open at the moment to ban conversion therapy for LGBT+ people in the EU. Ireland can be 1 of the 7 nations needed eci.ec.europa.eu/043/public/#...

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Stereogum @stereogum.com · 03/02/2025

Chappell Roan: "I would not be here without trans girls." #Grammys

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The Grand Drawing In @theauldsthretch.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

Today is 2025-01-31, the sun sets at 17:06:24 and the grand auld stretch tonight was 1 hour, 00 mins and 41 secs. #GrandStretch #NewYearNewStretch

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Dr Panti Bliss-Cabrera @pantibliss.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

But… but… avocado toast and Netflix or whatever

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Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

I will never stop being mad about how the media has treated the anti-trans movement as a group of ordinary people with legitimate concerns rather than the obvious frothing bigots they are.

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Leah from South Dakota @leahfromsd.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

Now more than ever 🏳️‍⚧️

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Taryn de Vere @taryndevere.bsky.social · 18/01/2025

It's so dark that Israel are doing as much murdering as they can ahead of the official ceasefire.

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dial “m” for marlo @marlo.ooo · 16/01/2025

david lynch on angelo badalamenti, who passed away in 2022

MS: I've noticed that all the way through this conversation David, you've referred to him in the present tense.

DL: You have to keep Angelo alive. I believe life is a continuum, and that no one really dies, they just drop their physical body and we'll all meet again, like the song says. It's sad but it's not devastating if you think like that. Otherwise I don't see how anybody could ever, once they see someone die, that they'd just disappear forever and that's what we're all bound to do. I'm sorry but it just doesn't make any sense, it's a continuum, and we're all going to be fine at the end of the story.

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Mark Frost @markfrost.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

Thanks to all for your kind remembrances on this awful day. Words will come later. Only feelings at the moment. Mourn and remember him but don’t forget to celebrate too. We won’t see his like again. The man from another place has gone home. #DavidLynch #TwinPeaks

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Emily✨ @emilyoram.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

This is a beautiful tribute.

kyle_maclachlan Forty-two years ago, for reasons beyond my comprehension, David Lynch plucked me out of obscurity to star in his first and last big budget movie. He clearly saw something in me that even I didn't recognize. I owe my entire career, and life really, to his vision.
What I saw in him was an enigmatic and intuitive man with a creative ocean bursting forth inside of him. He was in touch with something the rest of us wish we could get to.
Our friendship blossomed on Blue Velvet and then Twin Peaks and I always found him to be the most authentically alive person I'd ever met.
David was in tune with the universe and his own imagination on a level that seemed to be the best version of human. He was not interested in answers because he understood that questions are the drive that make us who we are. They are our breath.
While the world has lost a remarkable artist, l've lost a dear friend who imagined a future for me and allowed me to travel in worlds I could never have conceived on my own.
I can see him now, standing up to greet me in his backyard, with a warm smile and big hug and that Great Plains honk of a voice. We'd talk coffee, the joy of the unexpected, the beauty of the world, and laugh.
His love for me and mine for him came out of the cosmic fate of two people who saw the best things about themselves in each other.
I will miss him more than the limits of my language can tell and my heart can bear. My world is that much fuller because I knew him and that much emptier now that he's gone.
David, I remain forever changed, and forever your Kale. Thank you for everything.

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Sharon Slater @limerickslife.com · 02/01/2025

Monthly reminder. Limerick County has never had a woman representative in the Dail. Limerick City has only ever had two, seventy years apart

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Susie Dent @susiedentwords.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

Word of the Day is one I keep posting at the end of the year, hoping its time will come. ‘Respair’, from the 16th century, is fresh hope, and a recovery from despair. Here’s to a few drops of respair in 2025.

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Lamhfada @lamhfada.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

The "extreme anti-Israel policies" in question being Ireland opposing genocide....

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Jess ~ Bettyoctopus (She/Her) @bettyoctopus.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

We’re nearly there, folks. Brighter days are coming

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Lamhfada @lamhfada.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

My polite but angry letter to my local SF TD and to Mary Lou on the SF vote in Stormont against transgender youth. Please write to your SF reps and tell them no British imported transphobia! #Spéirgorm #Speirgorm #IrishPolitics #Ireland #TransRights #Stormont #LGBT #TransEquality

A Theactaí Dála,
I am deeply disappointed to have to write this letter to Sinn Féin representatives, as I know Sinn Féin in general, and in particular the both of you, Deputy Farrell and Deputy McDonald, have been strong supporters of the LGBT+ community in Galway and in Ireland for the past few years.
However the decision today by Sinn Féin in Stormont to vote with the homophobic and transphobic DUP, to fall in line with a transphobic British Government policy started by an extreme right Tory government and continued by a cowardly Labour government, leaves a stain on your good work in this regard.
As a member of the LGBT+ community, and as a mental health professional, I am saddened by vote here, without taking careful time to consider the actual science (see eg, Turban et al 2020, showing that puberty blockers for transgener youth decreases lifetime suicidal ideation and Chen et al 2023, showing that gender affirming healthcare, which can include pubertal suppressants for transgender youth, increases appearance congruence, positive affect, and life satisfaction and decreases depression and anxiety symptoms in trans youth) and reportedly, without taking the time to talk with trans youth and their families and the LGBT+ community generally.
The current minority strain of transphobia in Ireland is mostly a British import, from a transphobic media class with some backing from international hate organisations often with an extreme religious motivation (eg Novae Terrae Foundation, using laundered Russian money, to fund anti-gender movements in Europe, including Ireland's own anti-LGBT hate group, the Iona Institute). As you are both aware, the homophobic, misogynist and transphobic laws and culture present in Ireland in the Free State are often a direct result of British colonization and occupation, so it's a shame to see Sinn Féin so uncritically take on an anti-LGBT+ British import, which will harm LGBT+ children across the Island of Ireland.
I'm asking Sinn Féin

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Jess ~ Bettyoctopus (She/Her) @bettyoctopus.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

We had a really productive meeting of our Faculty Inclusive Practice Group today. We have some brilliant plans for the new year and it’s my very favourite thing about my role at work.

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David Allsopp @doublehelix.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

This cannot be overstated: if you've seen anything about trans people via the newspapers, BBC, government ministers, or even bookshops - most of it isn't merely inaccurate, it's deliberate, calculated, malicious lies and propaganda, or baseless bigoted conspiracy theories at best.

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Jess ~ Bettyoctopus (She/Her) @bettyoctopus.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

Ireland 2024. This is what you voted for.

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Niamh NicGhabhann Coleman @niamhroisin.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

At a time of deepening divisions, the need for research that supports critical thinking and a deep understanding of society has never been more evident. We need expertise in human complexity to address the challenges of climate change as much as we need technological solutions.

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Jess ~ Bettyoctopus (She/Her) @bettyoctopus.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

My Wrapped is 100% Chappell Roan and I love that for me and Chappell 💕

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Jess ~ Bettyoctopus (She/Her) @bettyoctopus.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

For people looking for neuro-affirming autism resources and assessments. I can highly recommend Childversity, @thrivingautistic.bsky.social and As I Am as a place to start. We had a brilliant and positive experience with them this year ❤️

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