iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Nothings Monstered @nothingsmonstrd.bsky.social · 1h

Sherdar Madrasa at the Registan Square in Samarkand — Vasily Vereshchagin, 1869-1870.

A painting of a beautiful building in an Islamic Style. a couple of smokestack-like Towers, a couple of pointed domes. the facade is decorated colorfully.
the square in front of the madrasa is quiet but the life of the city is going on: people walking around, people selling things

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Jenny Schwartz @jennyschwartz.bsky.social · 2h

Can you "go ramp"? Can you "go stairs"? Then you, too, could be President of the United States! #PrezSkills

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Jenny Schwartz @jennyschwartz.bsky.social · 4h

"That’s because we take librarians for granted. They are expected to stand strong in the face of censorship, intimidation, and threats. Their mission is to maintain balanced collections and put credible information into the hands of their patrons. ..."

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Jenny Schwartz @jennyschwartz.bsky.social · 8h

If you need to escape reality this weekend... 📚

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Jennifer Graham @jennrgraham.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Every intro to sociology class I teach gets this image.

A small digger trying its hardest to dig out the Ever Given ship that has run aground. It says, “Structural Problem” on the giant Ever Given and, “Making different personal choices” on the tiny digger.

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wendy norris @wendynorris.bsky.social · 9h

If the NDAs don't kick in to silence the "whistleblowers" (gag), then this latest media parade is in service to the company. Signed, your friendly neighborhood information scientist and former investigative reporter/editor.

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Jenny Schwartz @jennyschwartz.bsky.social · 17h

Last thought of the day: Being human includes the desire to encounter the "other". That desire drives exploration. It creates cryptids, tells stories of angels & demons, and hopes for aliens. It imagines AI as something more than it currently is. AI is not yet other. It is echoes of our existence.

static.klipy.com

Penguin puts on eye mask and goes to sleep

Alt: Penguin puts on eye mask and goes to sleep

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Jenny Schwartz @jennyschwartz.bsky.social · 19h

#listening to David Krakauer and now wondering if no longer using analogue devices (eg maps replaced by GPS) really does change our intuition. Do we think/reason differently?

open.spotify.com

What Is Intelligence? With David Krakauer

StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson · Episode

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Jenny Schwartz @jennyschwartz.bsky.social · 19h

I haven't read the article. I'm stuck on "algorithmic pre-crime justice".

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Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 22h

Fascinating world of ancient #glass! #Roman dove-shaped vessels were used as perfume bottles. The liquid was sealed inside and the tip of the tail or the beak had to be broken to remove the perfume. This particular example, discovered in a first-century burial at Rovasenda, Italy, is...🧵1/2 🏺

A close-up of an undamaged, translucent glass vessel shaped like a dove. The vessel contains a clear liquid with a reddish sediment visible at the bottom.

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Micah @rincewind.run · 02/10/2026

Discworld QOTD, from Moving Pictures "If the abnormal goes on long enough it becomes the normal. It was just that, when you came to explain it to a third party, it sounded odd."

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Emory 🩶 @emory-f8.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Did you know? In the Victorian era, a French woman established a 100,000-franc prize ($19,300) for anyone who could communicate with another celestial body and receive a reply. However, Mars was excluded because apparently it was not considered difficult enough. #Victorian #history

It shows an illustration of a group of humans encountering aliens on a mountain ledge.

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ContempraInn 🌹 @contemprainn.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Edinburgh Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

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Alison Fisk @alisonfisk.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Ornate Saxon copper disc brooch decorated with gold and garnets, AD 650-670. It must have been a treasured possession! From Floral Street, Covent Garden, once the heart of ‘Lundenwic’, the early Saxon town of London. Museum of London 📷 by me #FindsFriday #Archaeology

My photo shows a circular Saxon brooch made of copper, the front of which is ornately embellished with gold and garnets. There are five raised, circular, gold bosses which are outlined with inlaid garnet slabs, and each set with a central, round garnet. Four of the gold bosses are arranged around a fifth, larger, gold boss in the centre of the brooch. The central boss sits within a star-like, four-pointed geometric shape composed of a mosaic of inlaid garnet slabs. The outer edge of the brooch is decorated with two rows of tiny inlaid polished garnets. The eight gold sections at either side of the four smaller bosses are decorated with raised gold filigree which looks like looped, braided cord. Parts of the brooch are worn, with some chipped edges, and missing garnet stones. The brooch measures approximately 7 cm in diameter. It is displayed on a clear glass surface. It was excavated from a woman's grave by AOC Archaeology in 2000 ahead of development construction works. This type of brooch was a fashionable status piece amongst wealthy aristocratic Anglo-Saxon women in the AD 600s. The woman's grave also contained glass beads and silver rings.

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Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 02/10/2026

Calling all NYC artists — painters, filmmakers, poets, musicians and more! Did you know our city provides grants to support your work every year? And this year, we're DOUBLING the amount — from $5,000 up to $10,000 per artist! Deadlines are approaching fast — apply today at nyc.gov/artistgrants.

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Jenny Schwartz @jennyschwartz.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Doctor Galaxy Humanity was unprepared when its galactic neighbors came calling. a.co/d/0bVsbm0H #scifi

static.klipy.com

Mysterious UFO Over Highway

Alt: Mysterious UFO Over Highway

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Rich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Pope Leo to Artists; “We live in the age of search engines that offer us thousands of instantaneous answers. Yet, no matter how powerful they may be, they merely return what already exists and tend to give us what we already want.”

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Kristel Clayville @kristel.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I've been following this too because I'm a religion scholar who teaches CS ethics, which has all become about AI. There is a rampant Gnosticism running through this--the devaluation of our material existence in favor of union with some abstract idea of consciousness-- that doesn't even exist!

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Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Me today.... So glad the weekend is almost here 🫩 Etruscan amber pendant in the shape of a monkey, height 4.7 cm. Found in Vetulonia, Italy, dating late 8th/early 7th century BC. 📷 Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Toscana

Small translucent amber figurine carved in the shape of a squatting monkey. The figure has a detailed face with expressive eyes and rests its chin on its hands, appearing thoughtful. It sits atop a rectangular platform supported by four rounded, balloon-like legs.

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Sistory History Podcast @sistoryhistory.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

This intricate statuette of #Herakles - shown with his club and lion skin is exquisite and a wonderful way to start the weekend on this #findsfriday Hellenistic period bronze. 📸 Us, Archaeological Museum of Corfu #skystorians #ancientbluesky #AncientGreece #archaeology #classicsbluesky #Hercules

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Archaeology Magazine @archaeologymag.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

According to Pliny the Elder, the Garden of the Hesperides—where Hercules is said to have slain a dragon—was in what’s now Morocco. Specifically, at the site of Lixus, a port city that became entangled in the intrigues of Caligula … archaeology.org/issues/may-june-2024/off-the-grid/lixus-morocco/

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Duncan Mackay @theduncanmackay.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Sometimes you see an artefact where myth, magic & reality all seem to converge… Behold, the Iron Age Torrs Pony Cap; pulled from a Scottish bog in the 19thC & dating to the 3rdC BC, the horns were still attached when found. Chariot ponies knew they were cool. National Museum Scotland #FindsFriday

Decorated bronze pony cap with long, slender curving horns

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Jenny Schwartz @jennyschwartz.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I've never seen the blue nodding lily. Gorgeous 😍

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Jenny Schwartz @jennyschwartz.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

This week I discovered true luxury: I paid someone to assemble my Ikea furniture. There were no arguments, no ominously "leftover" screws. Is this heaven?

static.klipy.com

Ikea Furniture Assembly Challenge

Alt: Ikea Furniture Assembly Challenge stick figure drawing of someone failing and phoning for help

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Jenny Schwartz @jennyschwartz.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I haven't read the article and I definitely don't condone toddlers driving, but I have a clear memory of me, aged 3, grabbing the steering wheel and CORRECTING Dad's driving. I know I was young because it was the benchseat Valiant station wagon. PS I now feel ancient!

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Biodiversity Pics @biodiversitypix.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

🌳 Lake Superior: its character, vegetation, and animals, compared with those of other similar regions.. Boston: Gould, Kendall & Lincoln, 1850.. [Source]

Vegetation illustration from historical archives

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The Xylom @thexylom.com · 02/10/2026

In 2003, the U.S. military bombed Iraq’s national seed bank in Abu Ghraib, effectively eliminating hundreds of varieties of indigenous seeds adapted to growing in the drought-prone desert climate. A year later, U.S. law prohibited Iraqi farmers from seed saving. (First published in 2025 by Prism)

thexylom.com

Saving Iraq’s Seeds, One Garden at a Time

Comprising a diverse range of backgrounds and ages, the collective fosters a space for voices of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian seed stewards from the Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA) region…

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Sardonicus @sardonicus.eu · 01/10/2026

'Pendant, Memento Mori from a Chaplet’, ca. 1520-1530 www.bowdoin.edu/art-museum/e...

The miniature four-sided carving shows a sequence of figures—including a youthful face, a grimacing expression, and decaying features—accompanied by carved Latin scrolls like "SEQUERE ME" (Follow me)

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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Smile, Earth! You're being photographed by, er, Smile. That's the name of a European and Chinese mission to study space weather, and its first images are here—capturing spectacular auroral substorm raging above the North Pole.

scientificamerican.com

Satellite images reveal ethereal auroral storm raging above the North Pole

The satellite, Smile, is a joint European and Chinese mission to study space weather and geomagnetic storms above Earth

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Jenny Schwartz @jennyschwartz.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Space Deputy - Thelma Bach is mad as heck and out for revenge! Is the Saloon Sector ready for her? Um, no. a.co/d/0cAu6OoG #scifi Space Opera

static.klipy.com

Woody saying, You're my favorite deputy

Alt: Woody saying, You're my favorite deputy

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History Cafe ☕ Ottoman Heritage @ottomanhistory.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

📷 Studio Portrait of an Ottoman Woman, Istanbul, c. 1880 (Colorized Photo)

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Dr Jo Ball @drjeball.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

A #Roman figurine of a dog with a raised paw, looking upwards to an unseen viewer. Dogs were popular in the Roman world as both working animals & pets, as well as being associated with healing #Archaeology #AncientBlueSky

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Archaeo - Histories @archaeohistories.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

A prehistoric basalt steatopygian figurine, often called a mother goddess, dating back to 4th Millennium BC from Saudi Arabia. The figurine known for steatopygia (exaggerated hips and thighs) and stylized facial features, reminiscent of other ancient Venus figurines. (H. 22cm) Private Collection

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Admirable Women @admirablewomen.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Van Deman was a photographer, compiling an invaluable documentary archive of >2,700 images capturing ancient ruins & the expansion of modern Rome. Her 1934 book, "The Building of the Roman Aqueducts," is a definitive & monumental study of Rome's complex ancient water infrastructure. #archaeology

A bird's-eye architectural photograph taken in 1903 by pioneering American archaeologist Dr. Esther Boise Van Deman (1862–1937). The image captures a highly detailed, monochrome sepia view of an active archaeological excavation site in the Roman Forum, highlighting the House of the Vestals (Atrium Vestae) and surrounding ruins. In the center foreground, a prominent circular brick foundation is arranged like a wheel with radiating wedge-shaped segments around a dark, circular core. To its left sits an elongated, rectangular stone basin or pool. Beyond this central area, a low stone wall features a neat row of weathered, ancient marble statues standing atop pedestals. In the upper left background, a massive classic structure stands tall with a grand portico supported by multiple towering Corinthian columns. Scattered rubble, blocks of stone, and trenches run across the landscape, which is bounded in the lower foreground by a wooden protective guardrail and a terracotta tiled roof structure. The composition is framed tightly from an elevated vantage point, emphasizing structural layouts, masonry lines, and brick patterns. The mood is analytical and historic, documenting the precise layered textures of ancient Roman concrete and brickwork that Van Deman systematically used to establish the standard chronological dating framework for classical Roman monuments.

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Jenny Schwartz @jennyschwartz.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

So many good points. Prompted thought: how AI misses nuance and proponents of AI try to dismiss nuance as irrelevant, wasteful, or wrong (inc using ideology to proclaim it evil). A world of nuance requires judgement/discernment which is a human skill and independence, respect.

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Jenny Schwartz @jennyschwartz.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

The political world WITHOUT politicians - it's still murder! Stars Die #mystery #fantasy Be enthralled! a.co/d/03POu6Ru

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Angela Lansbury Eating Popcorn

ALT: Angela Lansbury Eating Popcorn

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CosmicRami 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @rami.spaceaustralia.com · 01/10/2026

This morning #BalmainMax and me went to our local community-contributed library on our walk to donate some books. Dropped off several text books which I now have electronic copies off — hopefully some students pick them up! He loves going in here. Little nerd. 🤓

A small dog in a local community library, surrounded by books.

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Sandy Horne @sandyhorne.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Late afternoon golden light over Old Gluepot Dam at Gluepot Reserve, South Australia. Very unusual to see water in this place. We have jokingly dubbed it "Lake Gluepot" 😄

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Dr. Peter Paul Rubens @peterpaulrubens.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Street in Rome. Knife-grinder busy with customers. And a young Flemish artist draws after Bernini, because he knows what matters here! By Michael Sweerts, born on this day 1618.

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Jenny Schwartz @jennyschwartz.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I'm writing a promo post - please escape in this space-traveling castle - because I've deleted way too many attempts to comment on the political weirdness in the news (and the corruption underlying it). So... be happy for a few hours and take a fiction break! Uncertain Sanctuary a.co/d/00vwlKhg

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Purple Creature Dives Into A Book

Alt: Purple Creature Dives Into A Book

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Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

There is a moment at the very very end of Abdul El-Sayed's podcast with Ezra Klein (book recommendation section) where he talks about the idea of "speaking truth to pain" and this will be staying with me for an extremely long time. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/25/o...

But there’s also something about truth to pain. We talk a lot about truth to power, but I think it’s actually a lot harder to speak truth to pain. I say that as someone who went to medical school, realizing that in a lot of our politics right now, we’ve got to get a lot better at speaking truth to pain if we’re going to get through some of these challenges that we have.

What does “truth to pain” mean?

It’s one thing to look power in the eye and say: You’re wrong about this. But there’s a way in which pain is very difficult to reason with. Because when somebody is in their pain, they’re in their trauma. They see that pain, and they may not see what’s causing it.

I remember just very explicitly being in a trauma ward with a gunshot wound patient and watching this big guy with his hand on his gunshot wound. All the folks are trying to pull his hand off his pain, that point of his gunshot wound, this clear vulnerability.

And this emergency room doctor had the presence of mind to be like: Everyone, stop. And she looks him in the eyes, and she’s like: I get that really hurts, and I’m so sorry that you’re here. You don’t want to be here. We don’t want you to be here. But if you don’t let us fix this, you could die. So I’m going to take your hand, and I’m going to move it off, OK? Because I need to get there so that you can live.

She was speaking truth to pain. He understands he’s at the hospital, he needs care, but he also doesn’t want anybody to touch the wound. Which is a natural thing. And I think it is a really great metaphor for how we think about a lot of these challenges we talked about today.

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Simon Fisher @profsimonfisher.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

How do brightly coloured butterflies successfully evade being eaten? Fascinating new research suggests this relates to visual illusions created by their fluttering wings. The spots & stripes, combined with the dancing flight, interfere with a predator’s sense of the insects’ speed & direction. 🦋🧪

theguardian.com

All of a flutter: how butterflies avoid being a predator’s lunch

Their whirring wings and bright patterns help keep them safe from birds, British study finds

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💚🌏Myles🌏💚 @rainbowregionmyles.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I want politics to become embarrassing for wealthy people again. Not dangerous, or violent, just deeply, socially, spiritually fucking embarrassing to hoard obscene wealth while your neighbour skips dinner.

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The Editorial Board @editorialboard.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Every day seems to evoke that famous line from All the President's Men: "The truth is these are not very bright guys...and things got out of hand."

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