iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Better photos of the central motif from the House of Dionysus on Delos, the original of which is in the Mykonos Archaeological Museum. The tesserae on this are *minuscule* - my hand for reference (no, I was not touching it!) Happy #mosaicmonday everyone 😁 #ancientBluesky

A very fine mosaic showing a winged Dionysus riding a tiger, with motifs of grapes and a wine cup

Detail of the face. The tesserae are absolutely tiny, maybe 1-2mm each

Close up of the wine cup with my hand for scale. It looks like I'm touching it but I'm not, honest!

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

This isn't a hillfort, but I'm posting it on #ancientBluesky anyway... Incredible amphora/dolia with friezes representing the Trojan War. Love the warriors peeking out of the horse on the neck of the vessel! Some of the scenes below are v violent though 😬 At the Mykonos Archaeological Museum, 📸mine

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Beautiful Delos for #MosaicMonday. Photos my own, from yesterday! I could have stayed all day 🥰🥰🥰

Black and white mosaic floor in a ruined house with stone walls and no roof. A large stone bowl sits on the floor in the next room.

A close up of the large stone bowl and the mosaic

A mosaic floor surrounded by marble columns. Three center of the mosaic depicts Dionysus riding a tiger.

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

@sailorrooscout.bsky.social, what do you think of this? I trust your opinion more than most!

A new antibody strategy prevents Epstein-Barr virus, which infects 95% of adults and is linked to multiple sclerosis and various cancers, from entering human cells.
Researchers at the Fred Hutch Cancer Center and the University of Washington have developed genetically human monoclonal antibodies that successfully block Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection.
Affecting about 95% of adults globally, EBV remains dormant for decades, causing mononucleosis while significantly raising the risk of multiple sclerosis and various cancers. Because the virus binds to almost all human B cells, discovering protective antibodies has been extremely difficult.
To bypass this, scientists utilized genetically engineered mice carrying human antibody genes, generating ten human-like antibodies designed to neutralize the pathogen without triggering adverse anti-drug immune reactions.
The research team targeted two viral surface proteins, gp350 and gp42, which normally allow EBV to attach to and penetrate human B cells. In tests using mice with humanized immune systems, a gp42-targeting antibody completely blocked EBV infection, while a gp350-targeting antibody offered partial protection. This discovery highlights critical structural vulnerabilities that can guide future vaccine designs. Crucially, these antibodies offer a direct pathway to clinical therapies for high-risk patients, such as transplant recipients who are vulnerable to life-threatening, EBV-driven lymphomas.
source: Chhan, C. B., Lang, K., Davis, A. R., Wan, Y. H., Aldridge, N. T., Kher, G., Scharffenberger, S. C., Hardy, S. R., Iureniev, R., Giltiay, N. V., Edwards, K. R., Radtke, S., Kiem, H. P., Pancera, M., & McGuire, A. T. (2026). Transgenic mouse-derived human monoclonal antibodies targeting EBV gp350 and gp42 provide basis for therapeutic development. Cell Reports Medicine, 7(2), 102618.

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

This is a really good article, and puts a finger on what really bothers me about these people and their omnipresent tech. www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

"Most people have the capacity for awe, to gasp at the jeweled beauty of a songbird or the otherworldliness of a whale’s exhalation or the intricate latticework of an ancient holy site. Children have the capacity for pure awe; so do 90-year-old actors in suborbital space. To experience awe is to dissolve into the swirl of the universe, to feel small in the best way. This sense of interconnection is also why we grieve when we witness strangers suffering, and feel the great sorrow of extinction. The fact that this capacity seems to be missing from the men who hold our collective fate in their hands is a personal loss for them – and an existential crisis for the rest of us."

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Saw the original post. Thought crossed my mind: ' @themerl.bsky.social needs to know about this.' Then I glanced down Hats off to you, folks, always on top of the absolute units 🎩

Two Bluesky posts from my feed. One is a truly gigantic pig, with text reading "everything is terrible, but look at this pig". The VERY NEXT POST is the MERL, reposting the first post.

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Important discussion on the Discord server this morning

Two comments: "Can you imagine if Pokémon were based on Australian wildlife? It'd be a whole lot darker". "In Australia, Pokémon collects YOU"

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Meet the General. I believe in this photo he is just about to make a rather penetrating legal argument about the right to privacy

A black cat wearing a formal white ruff around his neck is trying to enjoy his bed by the fire. An impertinent and persistent hand is patting him. His ears are back, and I think we all know what happens next

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

so far, so good! We have some serious skills showing up, Digging for Britain has clearly had an impact 😁 #archaeology

Junior archaeologists on the job. No knee complaints as of yet! 😁

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Come one, come all to the Hertfordshire Archaeology Fair, TODAY at the Welwyn Roman Baths until 5pm! I'm at the EHAS booth, where we have a mini-dig set up for budding young archaeologists😁 #archaeology #ancientBluesky

the EHAS booth at the Archaeology Fair, just waiting for diggers!

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Trying to come up with a hashtag for today’s Archaeology Festival at the Welwyn Roman Baths and failing miserably 😂 (#subterraneanSaturday ?)

the East Herts Archaeological Society stand, all set up and ready for visitors!

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Got to see this wonderful mosaic in person at the Leeds Museum over the weekend. The happiest, derpiest wolf in all of art history 😁 She makes me smile every time. #ancientBluesky #mosaicMonday

A Roman mosaic depicting Romulus and Remus with the she-wolf. I'm just about certain the artist never saw a wolf in real life. But her wide grin says she's happy 😁

Close-up of the same mosaic. Even derpier

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

I recovered my first one from a skeleton last week! Unbelievably small, no wonder they're so hard to spot when washing! (Malleus and toothpick for scale)

A plastic bag containing two tiny bones, with a toothpick for scale. The stapes looks like a stirrup, and I'm not sure the end of the toothpick would have fit through the hole in the middle.

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

This was our Monty on Sunday. They could have been brothers

A dog with shiny black fur and brown eyes cocks his head, waiting for a crisp at the pub. (He had ALL the crisps)

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

My 15-year-old best boy does hydrotherapy too! It's been great for him 🥰

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

Are we talking about these guys? Cause I have my doubts tbh

Medieval manuscript illumination depicting a gigantic and frankly terrifying rabbit or hare, wearing a belt, and using an equally gigantic sword to cut of a man's head

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

Ooooh treats in the post this weekend!! Thank you very much @hildur.bsky.social, and a special thank you to Uggi for the customisation... excellent work! 😁

A paperback copy of Hìldur Knùtsdòttir's novel The Night Guest, with special tooth marks courtesy of her wonderful dog, Uggi

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

You know what - I read this and said fuck it, I'm not waiting to have the top bits bleached... I'm doing the ends NOW. and I feel way waaay better for it too ✊🏼

A blonde woman (me) with pinkish-purple tips on her hair, smiling cause she feels like herself again

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

British folks, I know I go on about this, but this IS the reality right now in the US. Please do NOT be complacent about the #NHS. Powerful interests want to privatise in order to profit. We must not let them. It's not exaggeration. It's not a fuss over nothing. It's really, really important.

January 2, 2026
He canceled his insurance yesterday.
He's 31. He's been on an ACA plan for three years, paying $94 a month after subsidies. His new premium: $486 a month. That's $5,832 a year for a plan with a $3,000 deductible. He'd have to spend nearly $9,000 before the insurance pays for anything.
He went to the doctor once for chest pain. Nothing wrong, just stress. The bill was $4,200. He's still paying it off.
Outside, a car sputters past the house. He doesn't look up. The confirmation email is still open on his phone, the screen dimming, then going dark.
If something serious happens, he'll let it kill him.
He's done the math. Dying is cheaper.
What do you call a country that makes dying cheaper than living?

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Fuckin 'ell. Someone up there have a little mercy, PLEASE

My 2026 word is, apparently, 'melancholic'. FFS

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

In our house, we have a mouse. This happens every winter (we live in the country). But this one seems especially stubborn. No baits tempt it, only the bin... So I shut the lid. Today, we found this:

A grey plastic kitchen bin, with a GREAT MASSIVE HOLE gnawed in one corner of the lid

Close-up of the hole, with tiny serrated tooth marks all round the edge. This is an interspecies 'fuck you' if I've ever seen one

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

I mean...could be worse? Maybe I'll get to punch a Nazi.

A movie poster for Raiders of the Lost Ark

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

Having a great shopping day at #Dragonmeet today, but neglected to bring along my trusty foldup shopping bag. Oh well, had to have SOMETHING to carry stuff in... 😁😁😁

A canvas tote with a very silly medieval scene of a Knight battling a snail. The text reads "Prithee carry mine shopping, cur!""Chill out, Nigel"

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

How about it @hertscc.bsky.social ... you ready to do the right thing yet? Your biases are really showing, and they're not pretty. Take the racist flags DOWN already.

"Inevitably violence has resulted in the arrest of the man who has been behind the Raise the Colours campaign in Faversham and the wave of anti-migrant demonstrations, Harry Hilden.
KCC's Green Group Leader Mark Hood commented "This is what happens when the county council acts as the compliant cheerleader for these plastic patriots imposing their divisive campaign on our communities. Kent Police have been equally culpable for their permissive attitude which is contrary to the law of the land, nothing should be attached to a lamp post without prior permission. People are entitled to fly whatever flag they wish from their own property but we are talking about intimidation and division as identified by Kent Community Health NHS Trust who say that their Black and Asian staff felt deliberately intimidated, and that “It felt like the flags were creating no-go zones.”
Enough is enough there is little surprise that residents are taking the flags down themselves."

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

Witnessed an event today that's been happening for over 800 years - the Lord Mayor's Show (this year the Lady Mayor's Show). Terrific not just for the spectacle, but because it's a parade of all the guilds, crafts & organisations that have always been London's heart.

Marchers in what looks like 16th century uniforms, with helmets and pikes (I kid you not)

The Pearly Kings and Queens, one of London's quirkiest traditions that evolved from Cockney market traders in the 19th century. Their regalia can weigh up to 30kg/66 lbs and is covered with mother of pearl buttons.

Part of the Company of Butchers retinue, carrying a paper mache pigs head and dressed in their hats and aprons

The Fan Makers guild, carrying (approximately) a giant fan

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

I recently participated in the London Zombie Walk, and along our shamble we passed a church where the bride and groom were just emerging. About 30 zombies stopped to yell congrats 😂

A buncha scary zombie folk shambling through London for charity

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

I took this one, I've always liked it. An incredibly photogenic building

Close up photo of the Taj Mahal - an enormous monument built of white marble. Hard to explain how impressive it is unless you've been there.

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

They probably didn't intend the homage, but I imagine Janey Godley's spirit is cackling right now 😁

British comedian and all around legend Janey Godley, standing on a Trump golf course with a handmade sign that reads, "Trump is a cunt"

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

I've seen exactly that sign, in Krakow! I loved it too ☠️

A corroded metal sign showing a skull and crossbones with a red lightning bolt passing through it, and text in Polish with many exclamation points. I think it was warning not to touch because of a risk of electric shock.

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

What the actual fuck, @theguardian.com? Normalising the idea of a complete breakdown of the US Constitution is not what I expect from you. Get it straight or GTFO. #NoKings #NoDictators

"Next time the [Ryder] Cup crosses the Atlantic, at Hazeltine in 2029, whether during Trump’s third term or not, the hosts will have a choice to make about what kind of event they want to run – and what kind of country they want it to reflect.

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

Mine is telling me he is LITERALLY starving to death (his dinner is 25 minutes late)

A black furry dog face giving me the big eyes, clearly about to perish of hunger

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

Just posted on another account about the living dinosaurs that are cassowaries. Couldn't upload video there, but here it is. I particularly like the guy who calmly decides the other side of the picnic table is much better, thank you 😂

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

They are 100% living dinosaurs and no mistake. We got a closer look than we really intended in QLD one summer. They call to one another in almost subsonic rumbles. It's utterly intimidating.

Cassowary on the road. He has brilliant blue and pink on his neck and a bony crest. His visible foot is huge and scaly and unmistakably that of an ancient creature.

Close up from the car. He's walking like he owns the place (and he does)

Face close up. The crest and the eyes are very dinosaur.

That's as close as he got. I have video, but Bsky won't let me upload for some reason

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

We do fish on Mondays in this house (cause that's when the fishmonger comes)

Pan-fried bream in garlic butter with linguine, tenderstem broccoli and spinach

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MandaEEEK🎃🐈‍⬛🧙🏻 @mandalee.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

Ooh ooh, may I piggyback on this post pretty please? This stunner showed up in our bathroom last night, I'd love to know what he/she is...

A beautiful moth with black and white stripes like a zebra

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