iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Helen Lovatt @helenlovatt.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The interpretation of hope at the end of the Pandora myth is much disputed: but this is a good one. Also, it is my sister’s middle name.

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Dr Rebecca Tyson @tyguson.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

1. #MedievalSky, grab a lifejacket and a seasickness bag, we’re casting off on a thread about the Norman invasion fleet in 1066! 960 years ago, the Normans landed at Pevensey and established a base at the Roman shore fort which was already succumbing to erosion from the sea on its south side. 1/20

Photograph of Pevensey Castle with an information board in the foreground showing an artists impression of how the view may have looked in 1066 when the sea came almost up to the walls.

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Alison @ampage.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

What a sentence. What. A. Sentence.

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Helen Lovatt @helenlovatt.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Just spent a chunk of time looking for a phantom Lucan simile of a dying soldier crushed in the sea battle compared to a collapsing theatre awning. Not at the line references claimed by Gemini. Pretty sure it doesn’t exist - shame because it would have been cool. AI sigh.

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Helen Lovatt @helenlovatt.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Did a good solid day’s work plus travelling yesterday. Today I’m scattered af

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Helen Lovatt @helenlovatt.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Today’s resolution: keep remembering that life is finite and be grateful I get to do it all again this year! Mantra: I get to do this again.

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The Kimono Gallery @roger1952.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Cover illustration for a magazine called “Metro Guide” being distributed thought metro stations in Tokyo from September 2017.

Riding away along a glistening, stone-paved lane (ishidatami), a solitary cyclist moves beneath an arching canopy of autumn maple leaves (momiji) blazing in brilliant shades of crimson, rust, and orange. To the left, traditional timber townhouses (machiya) border the path, their dark wooden facades outfitted with hanging shop curtains (noren) and subtle lanterns. Along the curb, wild pampas grass (susuki) bends gently in the crisp air, while fresh rainwater pooling on the wet flagstones reflects the bright sky and fiery foliage like sheets of stained glass. Created as the cover illustration for the free publication Metro Guide, distributed across Tokyo metro stations starting in September 2017, this piece reimagines the historical genre of meisho-e (pictures of famous views) through a contemporary watercolor lens. Designed to encourage urban commuters to pause and rediscover seasonal beauty within and beyond the capital, the artwork bridges graphic publishing with classical landscape sensibilities.

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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 17/09/2026

Every day, the stories from the UK read like a dystopian novel.

Screenshot of a Reddit post from r/transgenderUK titled "Excluded from school for supporting a trans girl." A parent describes their daughter, who has Complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (CAIS), choosing to use the boys' restrooms in solidarity with a trans classmate who was forced to do so, resulting in her being excluded from school.

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elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Friend shared this video of a man unveiling the library he hid when he fled Damascus in 2011. It’s incredible

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Helen Lovatt @helenlovatt.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I particularly admired the not getting mired in unnecessary detail at the beginning of Ancillary Justice

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Helen Lovatt @helenlovatt.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Feels so weird being here on my own. No cars to bring me mice. No Andrew to ask for a cup of tea. No housemate to talk to. Not bad, just weird. I guess I will get through my backlog of proms listening.

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University and College Union (UCU) @ucu.org.uk · 11/09/2026

Every worker facing redundancy at the University of Birmingham is from a migrant or minority ethnic background. UCU members will meet on 17 September to decide whether to ballot for strike action. No compulsory redundancies. Release the equality impact assessment. www.ucu.org.uk/article/1463...

ucu.org.uk

University of Birmingham staff to consider strike ballot over redundancies that fall entirely on minority ethnic staff

Staff at the University of Birmingham will meet next week to consider potential strike action in a battle against redundancies, the University and College Union (UCU) said today (11 September).

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Tamsin Lewis @passamezzo.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Today's #marginalmusicians are playing the #trombamarina. Along with a pair of #elephants, one of them pink. Not playing music, but I liked them. From a #15thCentury book of hours, c1410. Chantilly, fonds principal, 0064 (1671) #MarginaliaMonday #ManuscriptMonday #pinkelephant #earlymusic

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Helen Lovatt @helenlovatt.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Up to Nottingham for preterm meetings. Trying to frame this as ‘I get to do it again!’ This run has been going for 23 years now. Not bad.

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Helen Lovatt @helenlovatt.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

My kids (definitely) and my students (mostly) do make time for fun, debates, discussions, thinking etc. They are good at scheduling and pack a lot in. Gen Z rock.

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Helen Lovatt @helenlovatt.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

In other news I have let my eyebrow muscles atrophy and can no longer raise one eyebrow. Sad.

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Helen Lovatt @helenlovatt.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

So: how professorial have I been in the last five years, while going blind and looking after teenagers/dying parents? Let’s find out!

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Marc Morris @marcmorris.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Spat out my tea reading this review of The Uprising. The what of what now? Popular understanding of medieval history has taken a hell of a pounding in recent weeks. www.theguardian.com/film/2026/se...

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Helen Lovatt @helenlovatt.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I note I’m putting off everything to do with my calendar, so guess I’m in denial about the imminent approach of term. Go on helen, you know you enjoy getting out of the house and talking to people!

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Helen Lovatt @helenlovatt.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Self promotion makes me feel sad. Also my computer has stopped talking to my monitor. Sigh.

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Helen Lovatt @helenlovatt.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

And with that I am going to put the phone down and do useful things

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Rachel Pope @prehistorian.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I’ve been slowly writing the history of northern Iron Age studies in tandem with Ian Ralston (over 30 years). Ian’s new paper now shows that W.J. Varley was right on hillfort ramparts, and Wheeler (as ever) wrong. Regardless, the southerner went on to a glittering TV career, the northerner let go.

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Helen Lovatt @helenlovatt.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

It’s about getting the balance right. As someone who weekly commutes and works from home, it is easy to lose touch with community. So we need to make reasons for students to want to be there. Our MA activities are concentrated on Tuesday, so more students come to them.

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Helen Lovatt @helenlovatt.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Did a task I’d been struggling with and putting off for a while! Yay! Tired now.

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Helen Lovatt @helenlovatt.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Let me fix this. ‘How having a disability became very slightly less stigmatised’

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Martin Lewis @martinlewis.moneysavingexpert.com · 23/07/2026

Pls spread word. Three digits can help protect you from scams: 159. If you're suspicious of a 'call from your bank', politely hang up and dial 159. It connects you to a switchboard that puts you through to your bank's real number. Watch the video for why its extra protection

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Helen Lovatt @helenlovatt.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Look who’s sitting in my chair

Ginger cat staring resentfully at the camera in an office chair

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P.A. Cornell (She/Her) @cornellwriter.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Editor Scott Beggs some some really nice things to say about my story "A Game of Go." If you haven't yet read it, it's linked in this piece. I hope you'll check it out. This one means a lot to me.

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Alistair Barrie @alistairbarrie.com · 01/09/2026

Yes. Someone really needs to start differentiating between 'Natural disasters' and 'Disasters that are happening to nature'.

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Aven @avensarah.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

New podcast episode! We’re jumping into the Odyssey movie discourse, finally! We discuss our reactions to the Nolan movie and then chat with some podcasters who’ve just released relevant books. Oh, and Marcie has a song about Odysseus. www.alliterative.net/podcast/2026... #podcast #nolan #odyssey

alliterative.net

Episode 127: The Odyssey, the movie -- and more! — The Endless Knot

We’re jumping into the Odyssey movie discourse, finally! We discuss our reactions to the Nolan movie and what we found interesting about it, and then chat with some podcasters who’ve just released r...

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Helen Lovatt @helenlovatt.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Just enjoyed a reread of Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance which even acknowledges cousin I didn’t like much, and ‘um stepfather’ as important relationship categories

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Helen Lovatt @helenlovatt.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Is it weird to come back from holiday feeling burnt out? It doesn’t help that you come back to whatever you didn’t manage to get done before you went, of course.

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Jack O’ Lantern 🎃 @muninnherself.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

It's cold! It's raining! I need a cardigan! #smalljoys

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Chaucer Doth Tweet @levostregc.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

ChatGPT: What ys your name? Me: Nobodye. ChatGPT: How are you feelinge? Me: Ich love generatyve A.I. Ich fynde it useful. ChatGPT: Nobodye loveth generative A.I. ! Nobodye doth fynde me useful!

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Kieron Gillen @kierongillen.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

I would be team Nolan if he put the giant robot back in and just justified his choices with “giant robots awesome, gods suck”

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Great wee creature in the National Museum of Scotland

Some sort of badge from a ship with a picture of a shrew with an unimpressed look on its face. Above it is the word TERMAGANT, which has historically been used to describe moany nagging women

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EMILY WILSON @emilyrcwilson.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

I wrote about the Nolan Odyssey for the LRB. I'll summarize some of my main points below, in case you don't feel like reading all that. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

lrb.co.uk

Emily Wilson · An Uncomplicated Man

As they say at the awards shows, I was humbled to learn that Christopher Nolan has read at least the first line of my...

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Helen Lovatt @helenlovatt.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Nolan’s Odyssey has definitely made Homer more famous again! Audiences of Apple of Discord were keen to talk to me about films, and request episodes from the Odyssey. I even met some fans!

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Helen Lovatt @helenlovatt.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Our department will be merging with history and philosophy, so I guess I will be a historian soon (or even less likely a philosopher), assuming I don’t lose my job, that is! This thread gives me hope.

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Greg Jenner (Historian) @gregjenner.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

🚨Double You’re Dead To Me drop today! 🚨 New episode on BBC SOUNDS & iPlayer about Ancient Egyptian power couple Akhenaten & Nefertiti, with comedian Sikisa and Egyptologist Dr Campbell Price And global release of our Homer, Odyssey & Iliad episode on YouTube/all pod players…

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Helen Lovatt @helenlovatt.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Halfway through second run of Apple of Discord and it’s going way too fast! So much fun! Grab tickets now if you can www.universe.com/events/apple...

Remaining tickets for Apple of Discord a few tonight and tomorrow, sold out Friday

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Helen Lovatt @helenlovatt.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Best bit of the Nolan Odyssey? The bit where Odysseus tastes the Cyclops’ cheese and declares it quite good. (And how can you consider the cyclops a non person if he makes cheese?? The dehumanisation of the monsters was a shame, I think driven by the need to adultify the adventure stories).

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Helen Lovatt @helenlovatt.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

On my way to Nottingham for a week of Apple of Discord fun! So different in every way from Nolan’s Odyssey, which I managed to fit in last night at my daughter’s instigation. I have Argonaut related thoughts. Might get a chance to write them up.

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Helen Lovatt @helenlovatt.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Having one of those ‘why did I never live up to my potential?’ sort of days.

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Joseph Rezek @rezekjoe.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

The inimitable, sublime Louise Glück:

TELEMACHUS DETACHMENT
When I was a child looking at my parents' lives, you know what I thought? I thought heartbreaking. Now I think heartbreaking, but also insane. Also very funny.

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Dr. Jeroen W.P. Wijnendaele @drdragases.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

I am once again begging Hollywood to stop using the Greek alphabet for an Ancient World movie, if they can't afford to even throw a couple of quid at anyone with an inkling of the language. Unless they really think audiences are dying to see THS THDPSSSSPS

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Helen Lovatt @helenlovatt.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Only 6 days to go until Apple of Discord returns! Come see me being Homer! Prep for Nolan’s Odyssey by starting at the very beginning of the Trojan story! Book here: www.universe.com/events/apple...

Cassandra is very worried and the audience too?

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