iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

A sad day, hearing that Sam Neil has died. A terrific actor and winemaker, and genuine nice guy. RIP Sam

A photo of Sam Neil, a great film actor from New Zealand

A bottle of 2 Paddocks Pinot Noir wine - from Sam Neils’s winery

John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Beethoven deservedly grabs first and second spot on the ABC’s top 100 ‘greatest of all time’classical music competition. #music #classical #beethoven

Top five pieces in ABC classical music competition. Beethoven’s 9th symphony wins, his Emporer piano concerto second, Holst The Planets third, Vaughan Williams Lark Ascdnding fourth and Handel Messiah fifth

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Silk exchange, holy grail, and Cathedral

Twisted design on columns with a gothic ceiling and moorish influenced portals at the Valencia silk exchange

The ‘holy grail’ on display in a gold display above a chapel alter in Valencia Cathedral

A close-up of the ‘holy grail’- (downloaded photo) from Valencia tourism site

Photo of Cathedral showing towers and treed square

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Valencia top three highlights. Stunning light show on the ‘Sistine Chapel’-like ceiling of St Nicholas church, East/West fusion renaissance architecture at the Silk Exchange, the ‘holy grail’ on display in the Cathedral #spain #valencia

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

The history, community and beauty of Cadiz is stunning and well worth preserving - while still welcoming visitors

A coastal vista showing the Cadiz cathedral next to the ocean

The historical castle of San Sebastián at the end of a 770 metre causeway

An attractive cobbled palm lined street in Cadiz

A Roman mosaic from Cadiz in the Cadiz museum

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

Cadiz also host many large cruise ships - I just counted four here. Although these don’t ruin residential neighbourhoods and bring business revenue & employment their size and sheer number is reaching a tipping point of capacity for such a small intimate city

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

Cadiz is a beautiful place, one of Europe’s oldest cities. Its old town, port, historical atmosphere & hospitality, together with great beaches attracts many many tourists. Cadiz is now at the epicentre of resistance to short term rentals eg AirBnB etc squeezing community & culture #cadiz thread -

A cartoon showing an old Spanish couple with suitcases leaving an apartment as young tourists in shorts and T shirts arrive

A poster in Spanish protesting real estate speculation fueled by tourism

A banner across a street saying in Spanish ‘no surrender from our neighbourhood’

A banner across a street saying that clean and pure neighbourhoods are vibrant neighbourhoods

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

If you live in Australia you can access the hybrids between finger limes and mandarins developed by CSIRO - Australian red centre lime or blood lime and the sunrise lime #plantscience 🧪 link - www.csiro.au/en/research/...

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Harvest time for finger limes at our place. These Australian native citrus fruits have small caviar and pearl-like inclusions that explode in the mouth for a lime taste burst. More common in Australia nowadays and loved by chefs for a visual and sensory sensation. Great with avocado! #plantscience 🧪

Cut avocado with red finger limes sprinkled on top to provide a colour contrast and limey taste

Finger limes in a bowl with one cut in half exposing the citrus segments and caviar-like appearance of the fruit inclusions

Finger limes on a bush just before harvest

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

A quick one day stop over in London on my way to Spain. What to do? The Ramses II exhibition at Battersea Powerhouse Station & the enormous, amazing irreverent show Banksy Limitless at South Kensington combined unusually well to re-experience my estranged & loved birthplace #banksy #art #archeology

Gold bust from the exhibition of Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II

Very large stone head and torso sculpture from the Ramses II collection

Iconic Banksy street art of a protestor dramatically in the process of throwing a bunch of flowers rather than an explosive

The wonderful street artist Banksy’s version of Monet’s famous Giverny painting with discarded shopping trolleys and street markets in the lotus garden

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

Overview of GM crops in Australia over the past 30 years www.csiro.au/-/media/Scie... #plantscience 🧪

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

In 2019 we planted Australian native Davidson’s Plums (Davidsonia pruriens); a bushfood called Ooray in First Nations language. They are a large (~20M) tree with ecotypes adapted to NNSW & N Queensland rainforests. The first we planted now has its first beautiful but very tart fruit #plantscience 🧪

Dark bluey black plum like fruit forming in the tree canopy

Cut fruit showing the bright crimson flesh inside

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

If you are in Sydney don’t miss the 2026 Ocean Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Australian Maritime Museum. Amazing images that elicit awe, wonder, despair and hope for the two thirds of the planet that is the ocean. Here are a few I liked…. 🧪

A Komodo dragon cooling off in the shallows

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

At the University of Canterbury in Christchurch there used to be a Department of Old Botany- presumably providing a home for die hard taxonomists that forego all new technologies. Now this building is a hotel and part of an Arts centre …..

Door sign ‘Old Botany’ on entrance to an old Uni building in Christchurch

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

This person thinks they really are fake

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

This was my favourite from last year’s competition plus the winner, the pictures were exhibited at the Sydney Maritime Museum

A white ferret climbing between two rock

A baby primate sleeping in its mothers arms - winner of 2024 competition

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

Cirque du Soleil’s stunning Corteo production currently touring Australia - check it out and wonder at what an amazing spectacle trusting teams of acrobats can create #acrobats #circus #gymnastics

Female acrobat steps down and is caught one handed by her male partner

The Italian clown character Corteo balances on top of a 6 metre freestanding ladder and is about to be collected by an angel swooping down from the black sky

Two teams of acrobats high up on ropes throw and catch each other

A large cast of characters brightly dressed in diverse costumes mingle on each side of the stage as acrobats catapult each other up in the centre

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

Plant nostalgia from the Singapore Botanical Garden. Founding Director HN Ridley imported 22 seeds of the rubber tree from Kew Gardens in 1877 and in 1905 perfected the herringbone method of tapping latex. By 1917, his team had provided >7 million seeds for the new Malayan industry #plantscience 🧪

An early 1900 picture of Ridley and a worker standing by a rubber tree stem that has a herringbone cut in it to tap rubber

A large present day rubber tree established in the Singapore Botanical Garden. Picture is the tree trunk looking up to the canopy

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

A beautiful Coastal Carpet Python (Morelia spilota mcdowwelli) soaking up the sun on the pool box this morning. Looks like it has eaten something big recently - checked the pets and it’s not one of ours. Hopefully it will move on once it has finished digesting #snakes 🧪

A large (~3 metre)python with carpet like markings resting in the sun on a garden box. It has a large fat lump suggesting a recent meal

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 11/05/2025

If it gets too hot for you in Cordoba I recommend you all head deep into the Mezquita

Interior of the moorish Mezquita in Cordoba with its colourful archways , it is so big it also contains an interior Cathedral built from bricks and stones after the moors were evicted. It is cool inside all year round

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

Visiting the the 🇦🇺Gold Coast? Take the 30 min drive to Murwillumbah in NSW to the Tweed Regional Gallery. It has a stunning Margaret Olley collection and reconstruction of her Sydney home & btw also Monet’s Haystack😲. Views across the caldera to Wollumbin and riverside dining at The River House

Green landscape with Wollombin (Mt Warning) in the distance - this is the central volcanic plug of the ancient caldera of this region

Monet’s impressionist painting of haystacks shimmering bin the sunshine

Fine dining at The River House, a dish of cured fish on a balcony table with views across the Tweed River to Wollombin

The reconstruction of Margaret Olley’s Sydney house at the gallery. The image shows a cluttered living room with pictures, furniture, art and personal objects - a chaotic image of colour

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

A stunning visual representation of global ocean and lower troposphere atmosphere warming over time. Plus the counterintuitive but expected reciprocal cooling effect in the upper stratosphere atmosphere - all explained in this recent AMS paper 🧪 #climatechange journals.ametsoc.org/configurable...

A colour coded bar chart of temperatures of ocean and atmosphere at various depths and heights. Ocean and troposphere getting redder (warmer) over time, upper stratosphere bluer and cooling

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

Jackfruit! We are growing this large impressive fruit on our sub-tropical property. So far only one 10 kg fruit (pictured) harvested after three years of growth - we are looking forward to next year’s harvest after reading this article #plantscience 🧪 link here - www.croptrust.org/knowledge-hu...

Photo shows a large still ripening jackfruit attached to the stem of the tree - it’s long, green and gnarly -

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 20/04/2025

The link is to a LinkedIn post, looks like you may need a LinkedIn account to connect to it. Here is a screen shot of the post text that appeared when I clicked on the BlueSky post. Sorry for inconveniencing you.

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

A great example of the application of AI in agrifood innovation using chickpea as a subject #plantscience 🧪 link - doi.org/10.1016/j.cr... image- ars.els-cdn.com/content/imag...

Diagram of a workflow for Chickpea flour innovation

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

Globally, renewable energy keeps rising and nuclear energy is in decline. Energy from fossil fuels also now declining, albeit slowly. #climatechange 🧪

Graph showing trends in world energy sources, fossil fuels still the highest at ~60% but now in slow decline, renewable energy rising to 30% and nuclear in decline to <10%

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Sea birds are beautiful subjects

An albatross in flight over the sea following a boat on Stewart Island New Zealand, a rocky coastline is in the background

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

Autumn in the subtropics is red dragon fruit time. Hailing from Central America Hylocereus costaricensis grows as a climbing cactus. It flowers at night with its blooms dying by midday. Its fruits are a visual delight with a delightful perfumed taste and are highly nutritious. #plantscience #botany

Red dragon fruit cut in half revealing the bright red flesh with small black seeds

A white petaled flower with yellow sepals on a climbing cactus

Red dragon fruit forming on a climbing cactus

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

Ice core data shows the following. Source is from an article by a NZ team niwa.co.nz/antarctica/g... 🧪

Graph showing ancient carbon dioxide levels in gas bubbles of Antarctic ice cores - present day atmosphere is the higher than anything measured in cores

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

Same relentless curve down under measured at the appropriately named Cape Grim station run by @csiro.bsky.social 🧪https://capegrim.csiro.au/

Graph showing relentless increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels at Cape Grim

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

More plant nostalgia. The University of Canterbury in Christchurch New Zealand was built in 1873. The original campus is now an arts centre with a hotel, where I am staying, part of which was the Botany Department. Sorry, just ‘Old Botany’ - I guess we are doing new botany these days #plantscience

Old stone building door with Old Botany carved above the door

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

Its definitely heating up down under www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02...

Graph shows dramatic increase in recent temperatures compared to the 1961 to 1990 average

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

The peace and tranquility you crave can be found at McLean’s Falls in the Catlins in New Zealand

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

Congratulations to @alisonrbentley.bsky.social on her appointment as Deputy Director of CSIRO Agriculture and Food. I couldn’t think of a better choice 👏👏 🧪 #plantscience

Picture of Alison Bentley in a denim shirt standing in front of some mature wheat plants in a glasshouse

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

Some plant nostalgia. On the Stewart Island coastline in New Zealand Muttonbird scrub (Brachyglottis rotundifolia) grows profusely. It’s large leaves are firm with a white papery undersurface. They were used as Stewart Island postcards accepted by NZ post offices until the early 1970s #plantscience

Dark green upper side and white papery underside of leaves are shown, written on the leaf is ‘a letter on a leaf, not a message in a bottle’

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

If you are wishing you were somewhere else with all that is going on. How about a trip to New Zealand’s third island Rakiura/Stewart Island. Yes, close to the end of the world but stunningly beautiful

Liking out from Deep Bay we can see distant islands between two headlands

From a hill above Golden Bay peeking through the bush there are boats moored and a rainbow in the distance

Oban is the ‘capital’ of Rakiura with half-moon bay its centrepiece, boats moored and the ferry terminal projecting out

A sign post at the Bluff ferry terminal to go to Rakiura, Sydney is 2000 km, London is 18000 km and New York 15000 km away - it’s remote

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

International food expert Jack Bobo says at EvokeAg that the impact that GLP-1 weight loss drugs will have on the food system will be greater than that of climate change in the coming years as their use spreads

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

Australia’s annual big AgTech event EvokeAg kicks off in Brisbane. Theme is ‘Common Ground’ respecting diverse views and seeking new solutions for the Australian and global Ag and Food sectors by listening and working with all. Opened and welcomed by local indigenous Turrbal people

Two Aboriginal women dressed in traditional animal skin cloaks on stage singing with a spectacular lighted flower background

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

Here is our specimen- hopefully conserving the species

Picture shows a small, about one more high, Wollemi pine growing in a garden surrounded by lawns with trees and a glimpse of a house in the background

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Grow plants, like dragon fruit, please enjoy -

Pic shows a large white flower with a yellow centre growing from a dragon fruit cactus. There is a tiny bee in the stamens in the middle of the flower

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

I just stumbled upon the discovery of Coccoloba gigantifolia in Brazil in 2019. Its massive leaves made me wonder about photosynthesis but also about the potential for ultra large infiltration experiments. Link to paper is here doi.org/10.1590/1809... photo Rogerio Gribel #plantscience 🪴🌱🧪

Man standing in the bush holding a single very large green broad leaf that is about 2 metres long and 1.5 metres wide

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

Figs, Panama berries and Lemon Myrtle (a native with a super strong aromatic lemon smell). I have rounded it out with some beautiful Golden Penda flowers, not edible but very nice to look at. I will post more edibles as the season progresses

Figs on a tree branch, one red and ripe others green

Lemon Myrtle flowers, clusters of small light green and white petals- smelling strongly and can be dried and used as tea

Small red Panama berries, a bit like cherries on leafed branches

Bright yellow clusters of fluffy Golden spends flowers reflecting sunlight

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

Tahitian limes, local Australian native Fingerlimes, Lychees and grapes (these are Chambourcin, a wine grape also good for juicing)

Green limes in a clump surrounded by leaves in the tree

A finger lime, a native of Australia. This is a dark red fruit more like a thumb in shape and size, strong citrus caviar like flesh

Dark red grape bunch hanging on a vine surrounded by grapevine leaves

Red lychee fruit on the end of small branches surrounded by tree leaves

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

In the sub-tropics we can grow many plants from diverse climates. What are we harvesting in the orchard at the moment? First, tropical fruits - bananas, papaya (paw paw), jackfruit and passion fruit. Follow the thread 🧵for fruits suited to other climates

Picture shows a large bunch of green bananas up in a banana tree

A small clump of ripe and green passion fruit on a vine climbing along a fence

Papaya otherwise known as paw paw fruits attached to the stem of a papaya tree, one just turning yellow ready to pick others green

A large jackfruit attached to the trunk of the tree, these are dark green with a rough skin and can weigh several kilos

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 05/01/2025

In Australia we love cricket & most of all we love The McGrath Foundation that uses the game to raise millions of $ to support a national network of nurses to help cancer patients & their families #pinktest mcgrath-pt-personalized-images-production.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/Mcgrath-Foun...

The image shows a picture of seats with my name and three friends who have been affected by cancer in recent years

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John Manners @jmaus.bsky.social · 01/01/2025

Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania is a historical and beautiful city. Fortunately, the concrete-loving soviets left the old city untouched during their occupation. Liberated and democratic Lithuanians have now restored it & brought its culture and energy back to life. Try a stop-over in Vilnius

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