iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dan Diffendale @diffendale.bsky.social · 1h

I am tired *and* I have been delving too deeply in geology; I just wrote "multivolcality"

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Dan Diffendale @diffendale.bsky.social · 2h

this has been stuck on repeat in my head, so now I am inflicting it on you Κι ένα σφηνάκι τελευταίο πριν πληρώσω

open.spotify.com

Logariasmos - Single by Katerina Lioliou | Spotify

Katerina Lioliou · single · 2026 · 1 songs

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andrew phillips @herfst.bsky.social · 23h

Chameleon, from the Greek χαμαί ‘on the earth’ and λέων ‘lion’, was calqued from Akkadian nēš(u ša) qaqqari lit. ‘lion of the ground’, a figure attested in the Epic of Gilgamesh (line 314 ᴜʀ.ᴍᴀʜ šá qaq‐qa‐ri). The term is paralleled in lexical tablets from Ebla (ca. 2300 BCE) as na‐iš qar‐qá‐rí‐m.

Neo-Assyrian cuneiform clay tablet with a portion of the Epic of Gilgamesh, heavily fragmented.

Line art of cuneiform tablet. The term ‘lion of the ground’ is highlighted.

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Dan Diffendale @diffendale.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The Etruscan tumulus of Pisa, ca. 700 BCE. Carefully excavated in the 1990s, no remains were found in the central chamber, and is interpreted as a cenotaph. An iron trident was deposited above, and a horse was sacrificed on an altar on top, which was then dismantled and interred.

Vertical photo of an open grassy area, in the middle of which is a very wide (about 30 meter diameter) low tumulus, surrounded by a ring of standing slabs of schist. In the sky is the sun, causing a lens flare that curves upwards, mirroring the curve of the tumulus.

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Mark Knight 🍉 @markknight63.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Old school analogue methodology, tons of enthusiasm and a simple research question: what was the topography and deposit sequence of the Flag Fen Basin at the time of the Flag Fen post alignment?

Badge: Flag Fen Auger Survey 2025 (green circle, white back ground and an image of a Dutch auger)

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Dan Diffendale @diffendale.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

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cmrn knzlmn @ckunzelman.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

If you are a graduate student in the humanities (construed as broadly as possible), what is the MOST EXCITING book published in the last five years to you? Please repost if you’re not a graduate student!

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Dr Tess Machling @tessmachling.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

This is why you don't just dig things up. Look at the amazing info we've got now: We know how it was all placed in ground & we have all of it, none damaged & conservation possible both as excavated & after. We can also look at the soil, for organics, pollen etc. #Archaeology #Detecting #Treasure 🏺

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Sarah Clarke - Not your doll @damselindystopia.northsky.social · 27/09/2026

I'm not gonna quote post that estrangement article doing the rounds cos I ain't giving them the metrics but part of being in queer community is knowing a lot of people who are estranged from family. None of them broke contact for trivial reasons.

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10k com K 🚂 @sratoz.com.br · 27/09/2026

I just read this whole article and it is AMAZING. Mind-boggling. I have known of Doggerland for a while now, but this text makes it COME TO LIFE. I read it lightning-fast, it is that riveting

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Melissa Johnson, PhD @ladyhistorian.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Running for president as a single-issue candidate: Requiring websites to make Boolean searches work again

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Dan Diffendale @diffendale.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Has it been a month? Very well, then it has been a month. Yet we remember

youtu.be

Who Knows Where The Time Goes?

YouTube video by Fairport Convention - Topic

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Dan Diffendale @diffendale.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

the KSAR team does amazing work on a shoestring, but they're really feeling the crunch these days - even just a vote here would help:

mygivingcircle.org

Vote for Kabul Small Animal Rescue to share in $2,500,000

Each year MyGivingCircle gives $2,500,000 in grants and donations

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Dan Diffendale @diffendale.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I saw Briny Death Pools in 2003 in a basement at 46th and Locust

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Cat Manning @catacalypto.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

can we say “some people don’t know how to read for context, and many of the ones who do don’t want to”?

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I don't disagree with the thread below but frame it somewhat differently as an academic who regularly sees people who read for a living fail in the way described here. From that perspective it seems more a cultural crisis than an educational one

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andrew phillips @herfst.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Inscription in Old Akkadian from Naram-Sin’s reign (2254–2218 BCE) commemorating the construction of the temple at Marad. The spelling still reflects some archaic pronunciations, like his title, 𒈗 𒆠𒅁𒊏𒁴 𒅈𒁀𒅎 šar kibrātim arbaʾim ‘king of the four corners (of the world)’; arbaʾim ‘four’, later erbêm.

Fragment of limestone gate socket with Old Akkadian inscription.

Detail of Old Akkadian inscription on limestone (5 lines).

1. Narām-Sîn
2. dannum
3. šar
4. kibrātim
5. arbaʾim

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Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I would be more impressed if a language model trained entirely on human-authored text automatically understood that it was a machine that did not feel pain or anything else But the probabilistic human response to pain is "ouch" so it says "ouch."

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Luke LeBrun @lukelebrun.ca · 26/09/2026

Tech companies suddenly decide they can, in fact, moderate content on their platforms after all

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David Stifter 🍵📄🦊 @davidstifter.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

My working group on 𝐀𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐂𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐜 in @scs-dias.bsky.social will commence on 6 October and will continue every Tuesday at 16:00 (local Dunsink Time). If you want to join, in person or via Zoom, please let me know via email.

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Brett "Solidarity 2026" Banditelli @banditelli.org · 26/09/2026

My top 4 Crow Full Moon shots tonight. P L E N T Y of video to edit someday! 🪶 🐦‍⬛

a crow flies in front of the moon, greyish sky, the crow is flapping their wings down

two crows fly in front and near the moon, in the middle and the bottom left, a snowy egret is out of focus below the moon, greyish sky

a crow flies in front of the moon, dark sky, the crow is flapping their wings up but not fully extended

a crow flies in front of the moon, dark purple sky, the crow is in full cruise mode

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NHM Library and Archives @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

When the NHM opened in 1881, visitors with cameras had to buy a permit and send two copies of each print to the Museum’s collections. You can scroll through a few highlights from each album by swiping left in this post. See every page here: buff.ly/31893CL #MuseumArchives #DigitisedCollections

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Katelyn Burns @katelynburns.com · 25/09/2026

The only one making money on this story is the Boston Globe while the bar still fucking struggles.

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Katelyn Burns @katelynburns.com · 25/09/2026

If you're not from Western Mass, you will completely miss the dynamic that the Greater Boston area has been exploiting the western part of the state since literally the founding of the country. The Globe writes these stories about WM and the Pioneer Valley on a regular basis.

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Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 25/09/2026

In case you're looking for a good time, it's Verona with the Catullus airport

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Dan Diffendale @diffendale.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

it's a wonderful gift, but I particularly like how the photo suggests that it might be funding an actual, and very expensive, chair

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Kevin Gannon (now a Moo Deng fan account) @thetattooedprof.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Not the most important party of this story, but it's hilarious they discovered the labels were fake because they said "established 1363"

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Dan Diffendale @diffendale.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

may they meet the end of Crassus

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muscular baby jeb lund @mobute.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

this is so cool

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Dan Diffendale @diffendale.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

not to brag, but one of my colleagues today dubbed me "intelligenza artigianale"

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shaun @shaunvids.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

join the military, you get to starve on a rusting ship that repeatedly sails into and out of the range of enemy missiles in order to manipulate gambling websites where people bet on your death

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Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 24/09/2026

It really can’t be stressed enough that the freaky AI doom cult stuff that is so influential in Silicon Valley is an AMERICAN phenomenon. The AI industry in Europe and in Asia is not, from all I’ve heard, taking this weird millenarian stuff seriously. But much of US Big AI? It very much is.

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Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

On tour with my lovely students and colleagues from Ancient History @unibonn.bsky.social in Venetia et Histria. Day 2: Verona

View over Roman theatre, the river Adige and the city of Verona

Roman city gate, Porta dei Borsari, Verona

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Dan Diffendale @diffendale.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Welcome, Autumn! Back in jeans, nature is healing. The day of the sport coat approacheth

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Dr. Rachel Schine @rachelschine.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I'm fighting the urge to just up and learn Ancient South Arabian because I've already got the two most helpful feeder languages (Arabic and Ge'ez) in hand, for the simple reason that I figure once you're learning a language we only know from rocks you might as well become an archaeologist too. 🤷‍♀️

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Sophie Carr @sophiecarr.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

This is the ridiculously cool Stuðlagil (basalt canyon) in east #Iceland, taken on my first ever trip there in July 2020. The water isn't always this colour.

A very turquoise green river comes through a narrow canyon lined with upright basalt columns. Long exposure makes the ugly froth in the middle look nice and smooth.

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Antiquity Journal @antiquity.ac.uk · 23/09/2026

📕 #BookReview 🏺 #Archaeology Placing people with disabilities at the centre of historical archaeology, Laurie A. Wilkie & Katherine M. Kinkopf's 'An introduction to crip archaeology' explores how disability studies can transform how we think about the past 1/2 (£) doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

Cover of the book reviewed, depicting various metal spoons with diverse shapes and decorations, with the text 'Book Review, Antiquity'.

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Rose @rartorata.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Inne fæġer Verona, hwǣr wē leċġen ūser stede.

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andrew phillips @herfst.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

šitqultu (ʟᴀʟ₂ 𒇳), Akk. ‘equinox’, from šitqulu ‘to be equal, in balance’, Gt stem of šaqālu(m), ‘to weigh (out)’. ūmu u mūši šitqulu 6 ᴅᴀɴɴᴀ ūmu 6 ᴅᴀɴɴᴀ mūši ‘day and night were in balance, 6 double‐hours of daylight, 6 double‐hours of night’ (ᴅᴀɴɴᴀ 𒆜𒁍 = bēru = 1/12th of a whole day)

Akkadian text in Neo-Assyrian cuneiform on clay tablet

Transliteration
ᴜᴅ‐mu u₃ mu‐ši
šit‐qu‐lu
6 ᴅᴀɴɴᴀ ᴜᴅ‐mu
6 ᴅᴀɴɴᴀ mu‐ši

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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The 2030 Census is now squarely in the Trump admin's crosshairs. But states, cities, counties, NGOs, and (yes) you can fight back. New from me in @newrepublic.com: newrepublic.com/article/2153...

newrepublic.com

The Fight to Save the Census From Trump Starts Now

The administration’s proposed changes to the 2030 census will harm states and cities. Here is how they can fight back.

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Schrödinger's Sneetch Belly @rtodkelly.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Please know that this is one of my few legitimate areas of actual, high-level professional expertise: Kicking the healthiest people off of a health insurance program will bankrupt it. Not 'could;' not 'might,' not 'probably," but absolutely will, with mathematical certainty.

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Dan Diffendale @diffendale.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Leaving the office after an over-long day, fried and tried, I was passing the pizzeria at the end of the block when Maledetta Primavera came on and all was forgiven. (Everything that can be forgiven, that is)

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Your regular reminder that this is a public website and things that you say can and will be used against you.

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Dan Diffendale @diffendale.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

these days, when basically anyone can feed a prompt and create a historically-dodgy video of ancient life, the work of serious reenactors is more important than ever imo. Staying with the Roman context, in particular, the non-military aspects of ancient life are not particularly well represented

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Brandon Bishop @brandontbishop.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

The goal, of course, is to get a big enough part of the educated public *waves at Bluesky* demanding research into things like the pre-Last Glacial Maximum Pleistocene or the tectonics that shuttered (or opened) circum-planetary ocean circulation or The Great South American Biological Experiment, or

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