iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Breda Spaight @bredaspaight.bsky.social · 18h

The budget could grant everyone a live alpaca and the coverage would still be 'Questions remain.' 'The devil's in the detail.' 2 weeks later it turns out you're entitled to one-third of an alpaca under Appendix 14B #budget 26

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Breda Spaight @bredaspaight.bsky.social · 23h

A truly wonderful launch of HOWL 26 last night. Big thanks to @laurenodonovanw.bsky.social @leggettbohan.bsky.social @mollytwomey.bsky.social and all the editors for making this journal. #poetry

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HOWL New Irish Writing @howlwriting.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Hope you can join us today for the launch of HOWL New Irish Writing 26, 6:30pm at Waterstones Cork! @waterstones.bsky.social

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Banshee Press @bansheepress.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

We're over the moon that Billy Ramsell's Render has been shortlisted for the 2026 T. S. Eliot Prize! Comhghairdeas Billy! 🎉

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Breda Spaight @bredaspaight.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Every morning I open the wardrobe and ask, What does one wear to the collapse of a stable climate? Apparently, layers.

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Admirable Women @admirablewomen.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Maria Ressa was awarded the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize (with Dmitry Muratov) for "their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for #democracy and lasting peace." She is the first Nobel laureate from the Philippines. Happy birthday @mariaressa.bsky.social 🥳

A color photograph of Maria Ressa, born October 2, 1963, the pioneering Filipino journalist, co-founder of Rappler, and co-recipient of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize. She is standing at a dark wooden podium, captured from the chest up. Smiling broadly with an expression of joy and animation, she looks slightly to the right of the frame. She wears thin, rimless eyeglasses, a black turtleneck, and a textured, patterned blazer in shades of cream and light pink or soft orange. Her right hand is raised forward with her palm open and fingers extended in a welcoming, expressive gesture, while her left hand grips the flexible neck of a black microphone attached to the podium. The warm, soft-focus background suggests a grand indoor lecture hall or auditorium with architectural details. The bright, direct lighting emphasizes her optimistic and commanding presence, reflecting her historical significance as a fearless champion of freedom of expression and democratic resilience.

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Breda Spaight @bredaspaight.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Cú, in red, on her first hike. She did so well; many years of great walkies ahead. And the wonderful Lol leading the way. A hike without a dog is a lonely journey - they let you see where the wild ones have been when they stop to sniff in awe, or is it recognition?

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SARS‑CoV‑2 (COVID-19) @covid19disease.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

🚨 BREAKTHROUGH: 18-year-old Arya Satheesh from Ireland has developed a plant-based plastic that can biodegrade and release an enzyme that helps break down other plastic waste. A plastic that could actually help clean up plastic waste.

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HOWL New Irish Writing @howlwriting.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Six more sleeps until the HOWL 26 launch! We'd love to see you there 🐺 Tuesday, 6th October, 6:30pm at @waterstones.bsky.social Cork City

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Breda Spaight @bredaspaight.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

So you arrive at the park with dog and no stick. What to do other than go to the Dog Library. As seen in Carrick-on-Shannon. #dogs

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Admirable Women @admirablewomen.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Baroness Orczy was born #OTD in 1865. Her series of novels featuring The Scarlet Pimpernel, the alter ego of Sir Percy Blakeney, is the origin of the #superhero trope--creating the archetype of the "hero with a secret identity," a concept central to modern superhero fiction. #BookSky📚🖋️

Split-image portrait of Baroness Emmuska Orczy: on the left, a black-and-white studio photograph of the author in early 20th-century attire, wearing a light chiffon gown with lace bodice, double strand of pearls, pearl drop earrings, and an elegant updo; on the right, the iconic red cover of her novel "The Scarlet Pimpernel" featuring a black line drawing of the masked hero aiding aristocrats into a carriage, with bold title text above and "BARONESS ORCZY" below.

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Admirable Women @admirablewomen.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

When her husband became incapacitated, Emily Warren Roebling stepped in as the de facto chief engineer on the Brooklyn Bridge project. Learning advanced engineering principles, materials science & more, she managed the project's day-to-day operations for >10 yrs. Born #OTD in 1843. #WomenInSTEM

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Admirable Women @admirablewomen.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Dedicated arts advocate Jane Fortune died #OTD in 2018. In 2009, she founded the Advancing Women Artists Foundation, a nonprofit devoted to researching, restoring & exhibiting previously overlooked or lost works by historical women artists, with a primary focus on Florence. #art

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Breda Spaight @bredaspaight.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The audiobook I'm enjoying at the moment is Lolita, read by Jeremy Irons. Irons doesn’t narrate Lolita — he embodies the performance, letting Nabokov’s sentences coil, shimmer, and darken in the air. It’s language turned into theatre.

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Admirable Women @admirablewomen.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

#OTD in 1973, in “The Battle of the Sexes,” tennis great Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in straight sets during an exhibition match. “I thought it would set us back 50 years if I didn’t win that match,” King said afterward. #SportsHistory #tennis

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Admirable Women @admirablewomen.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

#OTD in 1893, New Zealand became the first self-governing country in the world to grant all adult women the right to vote in national parliamentary elections. The first election held after this milestone was in November 1893--an incredible 82% of registered female voters voted. #WomensSuffrage

This image shows a bronze bas-relief detail from the Kate Sheppard National Memorial located on Oxford Terrace in Christchurch, New Zealand. A tribute to New Zealand's women's suffrage movement, depicting prominent campaigners. From left to right, the main figures featured in the sculpture are Meri Te Tai Mangakāhia, Amey Daldy, Kate Sheppard (center next to a wheelbarrow of suffrage petitions), Ada Wells, Harriet Morison, and Helen Nicol. The monument honors the landmark 1893 Electoral Act, signed on 19 September 1893, which made New Zealand the first self-governing country in the world where women won the right to vote in parliamentary elections.

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Breda Spaight @bredaspaight.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

It would be great to see you there - pop it in your diary.

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Tweeets of Dogs Automated @tweeetsofdogsauto.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Dogs waiting to enter children's hospital rooms for animal therapy...Please don’t scroll without giving them some love! ❤ Original post

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HOWL New Irish Writing @howlwriting.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

HOWL is made possible by page by page by each individual contributor, and thanks to every single person who submits. We are very grateful 🐺 Come and meet some of our pack at the launch of HOWL New Irish Writing 26 on October 6th, Tuesday @ 6:30pm at Waterstone's Cork

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Breda Spaight @bredaspaight.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

So looking forward to the launch on Oct 6, Waterstones, Cork. Would love to see you there.

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The Stinging Fly @stingingfly.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

We are delighted to offer an online craft seminar with Sinéad Morrissey entitled Writing from the Inside: On Immediacy of Poetic Address. The seminar will run on Tuesday 13th October from 7pm to 8.30pm, online via Zoom. Tickets now on sale: stingingfly.org/product/writ...

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Poetry Bus Press @poetrybuspress.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Fran Lock's,The Department of Queer Complaint, a follow up collection to the T.S. Eliot Prize shortlisted, Hyena, is going to be published by us in early 2027. We are very excited! Can't wait!

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Breda Spaight @bredaspaight.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

My timeline is suddenly one of flowers and more flowers - photos, paintings, flower groups, single flowers, bloom close-ups, blooms with bees, with butterflies. I don't know!

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HOWL New Irish Writing @howlwriting.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

HOWL New Irish Writing 26 launches on Tuesday, October 6th, 6:30 pm at the wonderful Waterstones, Cork. We'd love if you could be with us to help celebrate this beautiful book being released into the wild.

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SARS‑CoV‑2 (COVID-19) @covid19disease.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

🚨 BREAKTHROUGH: 25-year-old Argentinian biologist Pilar Ferrer has developed an injectable gel that helps repair damaged heart tissue after a heart attack

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Breda Spaight @bredaspaight.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Cú caught before she understands the concept of 'walkies'. It'll be fun to see her change.

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Admirable Women @admirablewomen.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Danish author Karen Blixen (known by several pen names including Isak Dinesen) died #OTD in 1962. Best known for "Out of Africa," an account of her life while in Kenya, and for one of her stories, "Babette's Feast." Both were adapted as films & each won Academy Awards. #BookSky #LitSky #FilmSky

A black-and-white portrait of Danish author Karen Blixen (1885–1962), celebrated for her memoir Out of Africa, framed with a distinct white Polaroid-style border. Positioned slightly angled in the center, Blixen is shown from the waist up, looking directly forward with a soft, knowing smile and an engaging expression. Her dark hair is pulled back, framing her face, and she holds a pen between her hands as if caught in a moment of reflection. She wears a light-colored turtleneck sweater under a dark knitted cardigan buttoned halfway. The warm, intimate indoor setting includes a subtly patterned wallpaper and a framed picture hanging on the wall behind her. In the top-right corner, an inset color poster of the 1985 film adaptation Out of Africa shows Meryl Streep and Robert Redford sitting in a vast green landscape under a bright sky. The overall composition captures a nostalgic, intellectual mood, celebrating the author's lasting literary and cinematic legacy.

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Admirable Women @admirablewomen.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Natalie Diaz is the first #NativeAmerican poet to win the Pulitzer Prize in #Poetry (2021). She won for 'Postcolonial Love Poem." + Recipient, MacArthur Fellowship, 2018 + Works to preserve/revitalize the endangered Mojave language She was born #OTD in 1978 & identifies as Akimel O'odham. #LitSky

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Admirable Women @admirablewomen.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Joan Clarke: the lone female cryptanalyst in Alan Turing’s inner circle. A math genius denied her Cambridge degree for being a woman, she mastered "Banburismus" to crack Nazi U-boat Enigma keys, saving thousands of Allied lives in the Battle of the Atlantic. Died #OTD in 1996. #WomenInSTEM #WWII

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SARS‑CoV‑2 (COVID-19) @covid19disease.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

🚨 BREAKTHROUGH: 18-Year-Old Mia Heller From Virginia, USA, Invents a Water Filter That Eliminates 96% of Microplastics From Drinking Water

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Martina Dalton @martinadalton.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Really looking forward to this! It would be lovely to see you there!❤️📖🎶🎤 @thegallerypress.bsky.social

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Billy Fenton @billyfenton.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Next SpeakEasy Open Mic with special guest @martinadalton.bsky.social is on Sept 11 at 8pm. Martina is a poet from Tramore, and her debut collection Midnight at the Salt Marsh was recently published by The Gallery Press. Music by Kieran Joy & and Open Mic.

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Breda Spaight @bredaspaight.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Autumn visited the garden overnight. Welcome to my favourite season.

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Captain Mark Kelly @captmarkkelly.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Before losing her life in 1986 aboard Space Shuttle Challenger, Christa McAuliffe was set to be the first teacher in space with plans to teach a lesson to kids around the world from orbit. Today is her birthday, and even now, her courage and dedication to education continues to inspire.

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Martina Dalton @martinadalton.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

I’ll be reading some poems from my debut collection MIDNIGHT AT THE SALTMARSH 🌕🌊 on Friday 11th September in Waterford ❤️ It would be lovely to see you there! 📖🎶🎤 @thegallerypress.bsky.social

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Breda Spaight @bredaspaight.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Such a diverse group of poets lined up for the pamphlet series. I'm honoured to be among them.

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Admirable Women @admirablewomen.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Italian physician & educator Maria Montessori developing the Montessori method of education, a child-centered approach. She opened her first school in 1907 in Rome. Today, there are >20K Montessori schools in >110 countries serving millions of children. She was born #OTD in 1870. #Education

A black-and-white historical portrait of Dr. Maria Montessori (August 31, 1870 – May 6, 1952), the pioneering Italian physician and educator who revolutionized early childhood development by creating the global Montessori method. Photographed later in life, Dr. Montessori stands in a three-quarter turn, looking directly toward the camera with a calm, serene, and intelligent expression, marked by a slight, warm smile. Her graying hair is pulled back softly from her face. She wears a dark, elegantly draped dress or robe featuring a distinctive white-trimmed scalloped collar and a strand of classic pearls around her neck. The fabric of her garment shows subtle pleated detailing on the chest and a delicate speckled pattern on the lower sleeves. The background is softly out of focus, suggesting an indoor or architectural setting near a column or doorway. The lighting is soft and even, casting a dignified and reflective mood over the composition. This iconic image captures the profound warmth and authority of one of the 20th century's most influential educational reformers.

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SARS‑CoV‑2 (COVID-19) @covid19disease.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

🚨 BREAKTHROUGH: Canadian scientists at the University of Waterloo Dr. Brian Ingalls, Dr. Sara Sadr, and Dr. Marc Aucoin have engineered “tumor-eating” bacteria that can invade and consume cancerous tumors from within. A potential breakthrough in cancer treatment research.

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Admirable Women @admirablewomen.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Remembering Anna Politkovskaya, the fierce Russian journalist, writer, and human rights activist on what would have been her 68th birthday.🕯️ Known for her opposition to the Chechen conflict and for criticism of Putin, she was murdered on Oct 7, 2006. #Journalism #PressFreedom

An intimate close-up photograph of Anna Politkovskaya (1958–2006), the fearless Russian investigative journalist, author, and human rights activist widely recognized for her critical reporting on the Chechen conflict and state corruption. She is leaning forward with her chin resting heavily on both fists, creating a deeply contemplative and focused pose. Her face is slightly angled to her right, showing her prominent gold-rimmed, oval-shaped glasses. She has short, parted gray hair framing her face, and her neutral, somber expression is marked by a downward gaze, conveying intense concentration, weariness, and resolve. She wears a simple, dark black shirt, and small rings are visible on her fingers. The lighting is soft but direct from the side, casting gentle shadows across her face and accentuating her features against a completely muted, non-descript background. The close framing creates a powerful, solemn mood that reflects her serious journalistic legacy.

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Admirable Women @admirablewomen.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

T-minus 12 hours until the launch of the Nancy Grace Roman telescope! 🥳 Roman, the "Mother of Hubble" & #NASA's first Chief of Astronomy was the foundational architect who transitioned the concept of a large space telescope from "hopeful speculation" to a funded reality. #WomenInSTEM #astronomy 🔭

A black-and-white portrait of Nancy Grace Roman (1925–2018), NASA's first Chief of Astronomy and the "Mother of Hubble." The photo shows her from the shoulders up, angled slightly to the right while she smiles warmly toward someone off-camera. She has short, styled white hair and wears distinctive dark-rimmed, oval glasses. Her attire features a light-colored, floral-patterned blouse with a large, elegant bow tied at the neck, and a simple stud earring is visible. In the background, a framed astronomical photograph of a dense star field or galaxy hangs on the wall, subtly nodding to her life's work. The composition is a classic medium close-up, capturing an expression of bright, intellectual engagement. The lighting is soft and professional, evoking a sense of mid-20th-century academic and scientific leadership. This image captures Roman at the height of her career, symbolizing her pivotal role in transitioning space-based astronomy from a theoretical dream to the reality of the Hubble Space Telescope.

Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. An artist's concept illustration of NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope in space. The spacecraft features a large, cylindrical telescope tube with a prominent multi-layered silver sunshield extending from the front, a gold-colored instrument section on one side, extended solar panels, and a high-gain antenna dish. It is set against a vibrant cosmic background of swirling red and purple nebulae, scattered stars, and a bright distant light source.

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Admirable Women @admirablewomen.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Poet, essayist & playwright Rita Dove is the youngest person & first Black poet to be appointed Poet Laureate of the US (1993-95). + She won the Pulitzer Prize for #Poetry for "Thomas and Beulah" (1987) + Poet Laureate of Virginia (2004–2006) She was born #OTD in 1952. #LitSky #BookSky #PoetrySky

A vibrant portrait of the celebrated American poet, essayist, and playwright Rita Dove (born August 28, 1952), the youngest person and first African American to be appointed Poet Laureate of the United States, as well as a 1987 Pulitzer Prize winner. She is looking directly toward the camera, her expression is warm, radiant, and confident, defined by a wide smile. She has dark brown eyes and styled black hair cut into a layered, textured bob with wispy bangs framing her face. She wears a black, semi-sheer button-up blouse featuring a distinct grid-like or windowpane checkered pattern, paired with dangling statement earrings that catch the light. The composition focuses entirely on her against a minimalist, neutral cream-colored studio background. The overall mood is elegant and highly professional, reflecting her historical significance as a trailblazing figure in modern American literature.

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Admirable Women @admirablewomen.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Karen Spärck Jones invented Inverse Document Frequency in 1972. A foundational element in modern search engines, it provides the mathematical basis for determining which words in a search query are most important for retrieving relevant results. Born #OTD in 1935. #TechSky #CompSci #WomenInSTEM

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