iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Prof. Sam Lawler @sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 18/02/2026

New article on too many satellites and ways that we SHOULD be allocating orbits (by Gregory Radisic with me as second author) theconversation.com/too-many-satell… Been up for about 30 minutes and I already got a […]

mastodon.social

Original post on mastodon.social

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Amber Griffiths @amberfirefly.mastodon.green.ap.brid.gy · 19/01/2026

Northern lights from our house in Cornwall just now 😍

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Prof. Sam Lawler @sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 19/12/2025

Also the dog house has a removable roof, so I was able to get a picture of the 3 goats, who are still happily snuggled in there.

A small white goat next to a small black goat, next to a large white goat, all smushed comfortably together inside a wooden-sided box. They are looking up at the camera and it's very cute.

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charis @charism8.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 18/12/2025

Ginger Cat dribbles when he's happy... he was definitely enjoying his fuss this #WhiskersWednesday

Close up of the broad face of a ginger cat. He has yellow eyes, a pinkish nose and splendid whiskers. There is drool in the front of his closed mouth as well as at both corners

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Prof. Sam Lawler @sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 05/12/2025

Double-cat-lap-trapped at my desk again. Good thing I am very very slow at writing code.

2 grey cats, one fully grey, one stripey, laying in opposite directions on a lap, with a keyboard tray in the background. The stripey cat is halfway draped over the larger grey cat.

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charis @charism8.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 03/12/2025

This #WhiskersWednesday Trouble and Genie demonstrate perfect form in the lesser- known Olympic sport of Synchronised Napping

A tabby and a black cat curled up next to each other on a grey blanket. Their curls are almost perfectly aligned although Genie, the black cat, is slightly less tightly curled due to resting her head against her brothers back

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charis @charism8.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 26/11/2025

#WhiskersWednesday without whiskers... today is a day to bury your nose into your tail

A ginger cat curled up on a red beanbag. His face is smooshed into his tail and he is adorably circular

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Bruce Lawson ✅ ♫ ♿ ✌️♂️✊ @brucelawson.vivaldi.net.ap.brid.gy · 04/11/2025

75 years ago today, European nations signed this Convention, so the Holocaust could not be repeated. Beware those who want this to end.

Right to life.

Prohibition of torture.

Prohibition of slavery and forced labour.
Right to liberty and security.

Right to a fair trial.

No punishment without law.

Right to respect for private and family life.
Freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
Freedom of expression.

Freedom of assembly and association.

Right to marry.

Right to an effective remedy.

Prohibition of discrimination.

Prohibition of abuse of rights.
EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS

75 YEARS (1950 - 2025)

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Prof. Sam Lawler @sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 04/11/2025

Hot chicks in your barn right now. At least, pleasantly warm, incredibly fluffy chicks.

Looking down on a black mama hen with 9 small fluffy black and yellow chicks all eating from a small round container. They're standing on straw with a red heat lamp shining on them.

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Prof. Sam Lawler @sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 03/11/2025

Listening in to a meeting of radio astronomers: direct-to-cell satellites are SO BRIGHT that even though they're following the rules and broadcasting in their allocated bands, they destroy astronomical observations across a huge swath of frequencies. Radio telescopes were designed to operate in […]

mastodon.social

Original post on mastodon.social

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Prof. Sam Lawler @sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 02/11/2025

I keep thinking "surely today is the last day I'll get the goats out in the electronet pasture" and then the snow melts and the weather gets (somewhat) nicer again. Not a whole lot of grass left, but the goats (and dogs and llama) definitely do appreciate a change of scenery.

An open grassy pasture under bright blue sky, with somewhat sad looking grass because it's been frosted several times. There are a bunch of black, white, and brown goats eating over on one edge, a fuzzy brown llama eating on the other edge, a big yellowish dog lounging in the sun, and a fluffy white dog trying to figure out how to get herself into trouble.

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charis @charism8.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 02/11/2025

Went for a walk around Westport lake on #StokeOnTrent today. An amazing haven for wildlife given it's in the middle of an industrial landscape. Walking alone the canal we were admiring a couple of grey wagtails when a kingfisher flashed past with a fish in […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

A tangled of branches. In the middle is a chestnut blur which is the breast of the kingfisher. Above is a pale blur which is the fish it is holding.
It's a terrible picture!

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Prof. Sam Lawler @sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 02/11/2025

Spent allll day outside, fixing things, cleaning up, getting the farm and house ready for Real Canadian Winter, and hanging out with my animals. It was pretty good.

A 4 by 4 mosaic of pictures of the same grey stripey fluffy cat rolling around ridiculously on a gravel driveway.

A fuzzy brown llama happily eating some bolted lettuce with his super weird sticky-out bottom teeth. There are some goats eating lettuce and weeds on the ground in the background, and the sky above is cloudy.

A fully feathered but very small grey and brown chick sitting on top of an orange hen. They're on top of a bench, and both looking very relaxed.

Looking down on a black mama hen with a whole bunch of fluffy black and yellow chicks. They're on straw, with a red heat lamp lighting up the area.

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Jim Howard-Birt 🐦📸: Photos @jimsphotos.ohai.social.ap.brid.gy · 01/11/2025

I found this little fella dazed on a path in the garden. So brought him into the warm to recover for an hour, and I'm happy to say that he recovered well and eventually flew off towards the trees. Bluetit #birds #Wildlife #photography #NaturePhotography […] [Original post on ohai.social]

A small bird recovering from concussion in a warm tub.

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Terence Eden @edent.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 26/10/2025

It's a lovely sunny day! If you're out for a walk, please take some photos of memorial benches and add them to openbenches.org We're *very* close to thirty-nine *thousand* benches mapped 😃

Map of Europe showing locations of benches.

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charis @charism8.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 01/11/2025

My bed is looking very cosy this #caturday morning. Not for me, obviously, there's clearly no room, but very cosy nonetheless😁

A tabby and a black cat curled on a fleece-covered bed. The tabby is washing his face while the black cat is fast asleep

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Prof. Sam Lawler @sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 31/10/2025

I wrote a paper ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2022AJ...… a few years ago with Aaron Boley and @hannorein and our horrifying predictions for light pollution from satellites are matching up perfectly, Lemmon was low in the northwest for this video […]

mastodon.social

Original post on mastodon.social

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Prof. Sam Lawler @sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 31/10/2025

The astrophotographer I worked with earlier this month, Jeanine Holowatiuk www.instagram.com/jeanine.holowatuik northernescapephotography.com/about sent me some horrifying (Halloween-levels of scary) time lapse movies she took of Comet Lemmon. Why horrifying? Starlink.

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Prof. Sam Lawler @sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 31/10/2025

The goats would like you to know that they are not happy about their grass getting covered up by a bit of snow (even though it was getting kind of iffy from repeated frosts). The dogs, however, would like you to know that snow is the BEST and they are very happy.

A few brown and white goats milling around a barnyard surrounded by a tall wooden fence, with snow mostly covering the grass and straw on the ground.

A dozen or so black, white, and brown goats milling around a farmyard with a little bit of snow on the ground mostly covering the grass. There's a metal-sided barn in the background, a large wooden barn in the far background. If you look carefully you can see a couple of floofy dogs mixed in with the goats, and a fuzzy brown llama just peeking out of the metal barn. The sky is cloudy.

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Prof. Sam Lawler @sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 29/10/2025

Ok interview done! Will be on Quirks and Quarks this Saturday! (Feels like that was not my best interview ever, they had rather restrictive questions...hopefully they edit it well! And hopefully lots of people will be angry about this)

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Prof. Sam Lawler @sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 29/10/2025

Going to add some pretty things to this thread. Because today is Quirks and Quarks interview day(!!!), and at this point I'm about equal parts INCREDIBLY EXCITED to be on that show, and SUPER PISSED OFF that instead of getting to talk about cool astronomy research, I have to talk about a […]

mastodon.social

Original post on mastodon.social

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charis @charism8.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 29/10/2025

I wish I could curl up with them, this ##WhiskersWednesday...unfortunately I have to work to fund their dreamies habit!

A tabby and a black cat curled up together. His head is smooshed against her neck while her head is resting on his flank. His tail is just curving around under her chin. They're both totally peaceful, the bastards!

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Prof. Sam Lawler @sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 28/10/2025

Just got an email from a astronomer colleague who got asked by their local CBC station to do an interview tomorrow. "Do you know anything about Reflect Orbital?" Hahah, sorry dude, it's sort of my fault that you have to talk about it. The campaign to reach out to journalists to educate the […]

mastodon.social

Original post on mastodon.social

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Frank Sonderborg @fsonder.mastodon.ie.ap.brid.gy · 28/10/2025

women use exclamation marks in communication three times more often than men do, something rooted in their realisation that society will reject them as cold and unfriendly if they don’t go out of their way to appear enthusiastic!? […]

mastodon.ie

Original post on mastodon.ie

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Prof. Sam Lawler @sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 28/10/2025

The stars are still there, behind the clouds, satellites and light pollution, waiting for us.

A nighttime shot looking across flat fields, with some gently lit clouds across the sky, and the gloriously detailed Milky Way vertically behind them. There are a couple of satellite streaks too, of course.

Looking toward a light polluted area, where the clouds are bright, but with a long time exposure, the Milky Way is still visible vertically.

The Milky Way stretching diagonally across the sky, with some clouds on one side, and some nicely silhouetted spruce trees on the other.

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Roy @roytoo.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 26/10/2025

Finally got a 30 chain single crochet that looks reasonably good. Still not keeping consistent tension but now I'm noticing and try to correct as I go. #crochet

A 30 chain single crochet in a bright yellow yarn. It isn't very even but looking better. Lying next to it is a 5 mm crochet hook.

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charis @charism8.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 26/10/2025

Walking from Kington YHA to Gladestry ( and back) along Offa's dike yesterday. Lots of sunshine and showers but a lovely walk and a good pub at the half way point! #walking #youthHostel

Three people walking away from camera on a wide footpath bordered with gorse and rough grass. They all have rucksacks and walking gear on. In the distance are rolling hills in dappled sunlight. Sky is blue with grey and white clouds

Looking along a wide footpath with two tyre tracks sunken into it. To the side is brown bracken. The sky is blue overhead and the sun is out but in the distance is darker cloud and a rainbow arcing down from a distant shower.

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Prof. Sam Lawler @sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 24/10/2025

They're SO CUTE. Little puffballs! And now they are in a nice warm room with a heat lamp. Yay I guess. And I've been thinking about the mass-to-area ratio of falling space debris so much that now I can't stop thinking about a terminal velocity calculation […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

A fluffy black mama hen with several black and yellow puffball chicks standing next to her on straw

A black mama hen looking threateningly at the camera while her yellow and black puffball chicks wander around her, one drinking out of a plastic waterer.

A black fluffy mama hen standing next to a clump of puffball yellow and black chicks, on straw, lit by a red heat lamp.

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Prof. Sam Lawler @sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 24/10/2025

Just texted my partner "There are CHICKS in the CEILING" and I will just leave this here as a teaser for a future hilarious post.

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Prof. Sam Lawler @sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 23/10/2025

Terrible traffic on my bike ride earlier.

A view down a very long straight dirt road, with fallow fields and some scrubby bare trees on each side, and bright blue sky overhead. A little ways down the road is a bright orange fox walking across the road.

A view down a different long, straight dirt road, with scrubby mostly bare trees on both sides, and bright blue sky overhead.

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Catherynne M. Valente @catvalente.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

Every once in awhile, I think of my favorite “…the fuck did you just say?” phraseology, which is from Homer’s Iliad, proving we have never, ever changed as a species, only less fancily inclined. “What nonsense has escaped the barrier of your teeth now?”

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Prof. Sam Lawler @sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 23/10/2025

Goats and the very last of the pretty fall leaves. (Winter is coming...)

Several goats standing around eating in a grassy field, with a small brown horse in the process of walking across the field, seemingly oblivious to the black and white goat who is riding on his back. The sky above is blue.

A stand of brilliant yellow-leaved trees with white trunks, gorgeously contrasting with the bright blue sky above.

Looking up into a canopy of mostly bare trees, with one tree still covered with bright yellow leaves, against the bright blue sky.

3 black goats all with long droopy white ears, standing around the doorway to an old barn, looking curiously at the camera.

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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

We're facing a political emergency: a high likelihood of an shamelessly authoritarian government in 2029. So we urgently need this basic safeguard: a codified constitution. This week's column explains what we're missing and why it's so important. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

theguardian.com

We must act now: without a written constitution, Reform UK will have carte blanche to toxify our nation | Goerge Monbiot

It means breaking with hundreds of years of tradition, but it can’t wait. As hard-right figures spread division and laud autocrats, a fail-safe is vital, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

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myrmepropagandist @futurebird.sauropods.win.ap.brid.gy · 22/10/2025

I am exposing Pica‘s dark secret. Many people think because she has big eyes and a small button nose she also has a “cute little mouth.” This is a lie. Pica‘s mouth goes all the way back to the corners of her head, practically to her ears and she can hinge her […] [Original post on sauropods.win]

Cute photos of the face of an innocent looking brown tabby cate with very big eyes.

Pica has long white whiskers and a mouth that looks small only when it is closed.

The truth about Pica’s mouth exposed in the photo she’s lying on her side and yawning, and her mouth opens incredibly wide and obtuse angle, allowing you to see down into her throat, which is pink and surrounded by tiny pointy teeth

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Erik Uden 🚩 @erikuden.mastodon.de.ap.brid.gy · 21/10/2025

hm. i wonder what this may cause

A screenshot of a statistic titled “Crime: Mentions of suspects' origins by German media”

TV Reports mentioning origin in 2025: 5.4% Germans, 94.6% foreigners.

Newspaper reports mentioning origin in 2025: 9.2% Germans, 90.8% foreigners.

Police crime statistics in 2024: 65.7% Germans, 34.3% foreigners.

Source: Thomas Hestermann, Macromedia University of Applied Sciences.

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