iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Dr Luke Walker @drlukewalker.com · 24/06/2026

🔥 What a combination - @zackpolanski.bsky.social and @willdalrymple.bsky.social! So much here: - Palestine - India - absence of colonial history in schools - wilful ignorance of politicians & media - and the East India Company's lasting corruption of British democracy 🤑 youtu.be/13zQVPW9LjU?...

youtu.be

The British Empire’s Downfall: From India to Palestine | William Dalrymple

YouTube video by Bold Politics with Zack Polanski

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Ben Mitchell @ohbendy.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

With such a mixed patchwork of ethnicities, languages and scripts, and many areas inaccessible to international linguists, it no longer surprises me when encountering undocumented writing systems in SEAsia...

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Ben Mitchell @ohbendy.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

I've just completed studying and documenting the use of generic combining marks in minority language orthographies using Thai script: fontpad.co.uk/Documents/Ge... As always, comments/corrections very welcome!

fontpad.co.uk

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Jen Richards @smartassjen.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Casting notice for UK trans women! I've been working on this passion project with my friends & mentors for years, and we are now looking to cast a young trans actor for one of the lead roles. This is an incredible part, one I hope to help make a future star.

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Caroline Lucas @carolinelucas.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Starmer should immediately & unequivocally ban access to British airspace to US warplanes. The UK should not be accomplice to a US President who is threatening more war crimes. Period.

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Ben Mitchell @ohbendy.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

Very interesting! Can't find any info about this unusual script used by the Aka / Hrusso tribe in Arunachal Pradesh.

Sign for Panchattatva temple, Arunachal Pradesh, showing an undocumented script for the Aka (Hrusso) language. The letters are mainly O, U and C shapes hanging from a headline with many diacritic dots inside and around the letters.

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Last Will and Testament Moss @williammoss.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

This is quite something from Singapore's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vivian Balakrishnan, in an interview with Reuters. The end of the post-war order, diagnosed in technocratic language. www.mfa.gov.sg/newsroom/pre...

A screenshot with a block of text:

Minister: The US is now a revisionist power. For 80 years, the US was the underwriter for a system of globalisation based on UN Charter principles, multilateralism, territorial integrity, sovereign equality. It actually heralded an unprecedented and unique period of global prosperity and peace. Of course there were exceptions. And of course, the Cold War was still in effect for at least half of the last 80 years. But generally, for those of us who were non-communists, who ran open economies, who provided first world infrastructure, together with a hardworking disciplined people, we had unprecedented opportunities. The story of Singapore, with a per capita GDP of 500 US dollars in 1965.
Now, lit is| somewhere between 80,000 to 90,000 US dollars. It would not have happened if it had not been for this unprecedented period, basically Pax Americana and then turbocharged by the reform and opening of China for decades. It has been unprecedented. It has been great for many of us. In fact, I will say, for all of us, if you look back 80 years. But now, whether you like it or not, objectively, this period has ended. There is no point trying to assign blame or pejorative adjectives. That is not helpful. Basically, the underwriter of this world order has now become a revisionist power, and some people would even say a disruptor. But the larger point is that the erosion of norms, processes, and institutions that underpinned a remarkable period of peace and prosperity; that foundation has gone. What you are seeing now, whether you watch the war in Ukraine, in the Middle East or elsewhere, including in Asia, to me these are symptoms of the underlying tectonic rupture. Big powers and even lesser powers have a more narrow definition of national interest.

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🌙Evil Sonny Ross🌞 @sonnyross.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Old news to us but some of you still just don’t fucking get it so

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Joseph Fink, we're going to win @planetoffinks.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

This is starting to get like universal basic income where every single objective study shows the same result but the people who don't like that result go "uh, well there's just really no way to know"

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Ben Mitchell @ohbendy.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

Disappointing to see Google Translate thinks 'Myanmar' is a language. Myanmar/Burma is a country, home to over a hundred languages. One of those languages, the official language, is Burmese, but it's incorrect to call it anything but Burmese because it is the language of the Burman people.

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feeb | yuritober!! @magicmooshka.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

it’s come to my attention that my tumblr post has been crossposted to bluesky, so I’m posting it on my account here #AntiAI #GenAI

recently my friend's comics professor told her that it's acceptable to use gen AI for script-writing but not for art, since a machine can't generate meaningful artistic work. meanwhile, my sister's screenwriting professor said that they can use gen AI for concept art and visualization, but that it won't be able to generate a script that's any good. and at my job, it seems like each department says that AI can be useful in every field except the one that they know best.

It's only ever the jobs we're unfamiliar with that we assume can be replaced with automation. The more attuned we are with certain processes, crafts, and occupations, the more we realize that gen AI will never be able to provide a suitable replacement. The case for its existence relies on our ignorance of the work and skill required to do everything we don't.

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Ben Mitchell @ohbendy.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

Futura 100 Myanmar now supports Asho and Western Pwo, in addition to Burmese, Eastern Pwo, Mon, Palaung, Pa'O, S'gaw and Shan. ☞ www.type-together.com/futura100-my...

Futura 100 Myanmar's glyph set for Asho language, in six weights.

Futura 100 Myanmar's glyph set for Western Pwo language, in six weights.

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Ben Mitchell @ohbendy.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

My top 10 books of 2025! Hit a bit of a slump this year and only managed 20 books in total, but enjoyed a mix of different kinds of fiction. Special favourite for fantasy lovers: 'The Garden of Delights' by Amal Singh. #booksky #sff

Selection of books:
The Book of Fallen Trees by Marcus Attwater
The Garden of Delights by Amal Singh
Silver in the Wood by Emily Test
The Owl Men of Shanidar by Coy Hall
Dissolution by Nicholas Binge
Where the Axe is Buried by Ray Nayler
The Ancients by John Larison
Seascraper by Benjamin Wood
The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

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Matthew Noe @noethematt.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

"I DON'T NEED YOU TO FUCKING REWRITE WHAT I'VE JUST WRITTEN!"

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Typotheque @typotheque.com · 05/10/2025

People perceive thickness of letters very individually, and that’s why we are conducting Font Weight Survey to understand the regional preferences of font weight. Could we ask you for 10 min of your time? The findings will be published publicly once we have some results. tptq.com/weight

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Ben Mitchell @ohbendy.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

New release! Futura မြန်မာ ខ្មែរ ລາວ ไทย and more!

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Ben Mitchell @ohbendy.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

Having trouble getting Myanmar fonts to trigger the Myanmar shaping engine on Word/Windows — reordering isn't even occurring — does anyone have troubleshooting suggestions? I fear having too many Unicode ranges (geometric shapes etc) selected might be interfering with USE handling?

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Ben Mitchell @ohbendy.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

Had a little time over the last few days to make progress with this pair of typefaces. Couldn't find a Lao version of the Stranger Things logo so here's my guess how it could look, along with Thai, and the geo-grotesque interpreting how a contemporary loopless design might have looked in the 1980s.

Lao and Thai interpretations of a Benguiat display font and a loopless geometric grotesque. Text reads 'Stranger Things' and 26 November

Ten weights of my in-progress geometric grotesque loopless Thai typeface

Ten weights of my in-progress geometric grotesque loopless Lao typeface

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Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC) @csmc-hamburg.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

New documentary out now! Around Luang Prabang is one of the world’s few regions where traditional manuscript culture still thrives. Researchers Agnieszka Helman-Wazny & Volker Grabowsky spent years capturing the voices of those keeping this legacy alive. 🎞️Watch the full film here: uhh.de/csmc-laos

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Ben Mitchell @ohbendy.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

This book, The Garden of Delights, is a real treasure! Such a joy to read! Deeply imaginative, deliciously written, multi-layered story with magic, gods and flowers. Stunning! Thank you @amalsingh.bsky.social

Photo of paperback book The Garden of Delights by Amal Singh.

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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 19/04/2025

The fundamental miscalculation that the ruling elite in the UK are making is that they can have polite fascism against trans people. You cannot contain it. Don't be surprised if Reform UK is elected into power with Farage as PM in the next few years and plunges the UK into authoritarianism.

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Anthony Moser @anthonymoser.com · 14/05/2025

This is why they can't fix it: it's not broken It's *structurally indifferent to truth*

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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

We persistently underestimate the vulnerability of democracies to authoritarianism, because we treat tyranny as something that attacks democracy from the outside. We need to recognise it as something that can grow up within democracies, and that wins support by latching on to democratic ideas.

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Andrew West 魏安 @babelstone.co.uk · 12/03/2025

Monumental three-volume Handbook of Epigraphic Cultures to be published by De Gruyter, early next year hopefully. Open Access eBook! Includes chapters on Khitan and Tangut epigraphy.

Flyer publicizing two forthcoming Handbooks on Material Text Culture from De Gruyter: Handbook of Medieval Book Ornament [ISBN 978-3-11-141107-1] and Handbook of Epigraphic Cultures (3 volumes) [ISBN 978-3-11-124094-7]

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Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

Don't use generative AI

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Prof Julia Steinberger 🌹🌱🌍 #ClimateAction #Fightfascism @jksteinberger.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

As promised, here are the slides I shared with students to convince them to NOT use chatGPT and other artificial stupidity. TL;DR? AI is evil, unsustainable and stupid, and I'd much rather they use their own brains, make their own mistakes, and actually learn something. 🪄

NO CHATGPT Or other artificial stupidity: motivation
First, clarity on distinguishing AIs:
Non-generative: grammar aid, translation, dictionary, text-to-audio (e.g. Natural Reader): no problem
As long as you use the appropriate tools (least intensive in data and server energy use).
Why? Because you provide the content. Your brain is doing the most important work
Generative: ChatGPT & Co.
You only supply the prompt, the AI supplies the content.
Why is this delegation of work problematic?
3 domains: ethical, environmental, intellectual engagement.

(Caveat: generative is probably ok for computer programming, where it can be useful and save time. Not relevant to this class.)

1) AI and ethics
Mass theft of all and everything
«learning» on books, articles, blogs, social media, images, music, cultural production, without permission of authors/creators, and leading to their mass joblessness. Profits are not reditributed to originators.
Permanent destruction of the mental health of underpaid precarious tech workers in the Global South (Kenya, Philippines …):
«correction» to avoid production of violent and pedophile contents etc, tech workers are obliged to watch and correct super violent contents for days on end, leading to extreme psychological suffering and trauma, from which recovery is doubtful. No or little compensation (certainly not at the level of the suffering inflicted).
In short, an industry built on theft of real human creation and sacrifice of real human health, profiting a few megafortunes.

2) AI and (un)sustainability

Massive consumption of electricity, water, server capacity for generative AI.
Outcome: keep fossil fuel companies in business, using up new renewable capacity, without any satisfaction of basic human needs.
Massive misappropriation of the finance necessary for climate and ecological action (renewable generation, efficiency and retrofit for buildings, public transit, infrastructures for cycling etc) towards AI industry.
Overall: undermine climate action, reinforce fossil industry, waste resources necessary for human development.

3) AI and intellectual engagement

First, what learning is (or should be) about:
The goal should not (only) be the reproduction of «correct» knowledge,
But mainly personal engagement and experience of thinking about topics of interest. Personal engagement = using one’s own brain.
The most important activity for learning and intellectual engagement is the experience of making one’s own mistakes, by trial and error, corrections based on new ideas, starting over again. Learning to recognise nuances, knowledge gaps, better explanations
This kind of learning is possible only through using your own brain, not AI.
Also, Ais are not «intelligent». At all.
They simply reproduce pre-existing patterns. They «bullshit», invent false references, false facts, false data, simply because those sound plausible. VERY DANGEROUS.
If you learn how to NOT use AI, and how to research facts and data on your own, this will serve you and your communities for the rest of your life.

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The Diplomat @thediplomat.com · 31/01/2025

Myanmar marks four years of a bloody civil war on Saturday. According to Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED), at least 73,069 people have died in this conflict with almost 20,000 deaths added to the list in 2024 alone.

buff.ly

Amid Hope and Despair, Myanmar’s Civil War Enters Its Fifth Year

As the conflict drags on, politicians and “irritating voices” emerge from the liberated rear.

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T. Greg Doucette @gregdoucette.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

➡️ January 20: FAA director fired ➡️ January 21: Air Traffic Controller hiring frozen ➡️ January 22: Aviation Safety Advisory Committee disbanded ➡️ January 28: Buyout/retirement demand sent to existing employees ➡️ January 29: First American mid-air collision in 16 years Making America Great Again!

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Typotheque @typotheque.com · 28/01/2025

Working with the languages of the world means also engaging with the world and feeling both its joys and pains. After the unspeakable horrors in Lebanon and Gaza, @tptq-arabic.com thought it was highly inappropriate to go about business as usual, and promote fonts.

tptq-arabic.com

TPTQ Arabic: After the pause

TPTQ Arabic Blog: A blog about fonts, typography & graphic design, News about typefaces, design writing, books and t-shirts.

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Mass-Driver @mass-driver.com · 06/01/2025

If you’re starting a new project this week and reaching for the Lorem Ipsum text, make sure you also testing with real-world copy. Latin always looks great, it’s all n’s and o’s and beautiful rhythm — real text is messy, full of k’s and 5’s and punctuation. Design for the mess!

Two blocks of text, set in the same typeface (MD Lórien) at the same size. One is the classic ‘lorem ipsum’ dummy text, with a very clean, regular appearance; the other is English (taken from an article about type design history), with punctuation, capitals, numbers and a bit of italic all contributing to it being a messier, less rhythmic texture.

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Ben Mitchell @ohbendy.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

Has anyone managed to get scrollbars back in Acrobat Reader? I've enabled 'always show scrollbars' in Acrobat preferences and in Mac system preferences, and I've disabled new Acrobat Reader. Still no sign of scrollbars, quite annoying in a long document to only be able to advance one page at a time.

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James Vaughan @equusonthebuses.bsky.social · 01/01/2025

Just learned that, for the first half of 1849, a newspaper called the 'Fonetic Nuz' was published in London...

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Ben Mitchell @ohbendy.bsky.social · 28/12/2024

Proofing Thai Mon letterforms for Pali language, which use different constructions for a few letters, and add loops to others. See how Thai characters ๚ and ะ are used as separators, along with ᪥. There's also a contextual version of the round -aa vowel to avoid ambiguity after certain letters.

Screenshot of text in round, looped letterforms of the Mon-Burmese script.

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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 26/12/2024

we should be concerned about the impacts of social media on kids and teens, but i don’t think we’re worried nearly enough about what it’s doing to middle aged people and seniors

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Ben Mitchell @ohbendy.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

As someone who has looked at dozens of ancient inscriptions from SEAsia, I find the lack of erosion a bit fishy if this is ~2000 years old. And 'inscribed with a conic drill' in that era?

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Ben Mitchell @ohbendy.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

Anyone here know the Myanmar-script orthography for Asho language? I understand we can find initial clusters ကွၠ ခွၠ ဂွၠ but I'm not sure how they should look. Top or bottom version?

Myanmar consonants with marks below. Top line shows the medialLa to the right of medialWa. Bottom line shows medialLa to the left of medialWa.

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Ben Mitchell @ohbendy.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

And this is why I won’t touch LLMs

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Ben Mitchell @ohbendy.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

My top 12 books of 2024! Moved a bit away from SF&F this year to mostly historical fiction, learning about times and places through the eyes of protagonists with stories to tell. This year it's been Syria, St Kilda, Malaysia, Georgia, Texas, Kerala, Barcelona, Sri Lanka & more, some treasures here:

Photograph of twelve books:
As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh
The Lost Lights of St Kilda by Elisabeth Gifford
The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng
The Dead Wander in the Desert by Rollan Seisenbayev
Hard by a Great Forest by Leo Vardiashvili
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alier Sáenz
The Covenent of Water by Abraham Verghese
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka
Victory City by Salman Rushdie
The Surviving Sky by Kritika H Rao

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Ben Mitchell @ohbendy.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

Excellent, in-depth analysis of why generative AI is not the panacea promised by the tech companies.

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Ben Mitchell @ohbendy.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

Nice to see our font NaN Metrify Thai in use for Chiang Mai’s local organisation เชียงใหม่ ฉันจะดูแลเธอ (chiangmaiwecare.com) Visit NaN’s microsite to play with or license the fonts (which have three versions with different letterforms): www.metrify.world/tweet-decisi...

Map of Chiang Mai city with headline in Thai typeset in NaN Metrify Thai B bold font.

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Pooja Saxena @matratype.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

I’m trying to read more about matchbox designs from around the world, with a focus on Asia. Lovely people of Bluesky, do you have any book recommendations? (I’ve already read The Match Book 🇮🇳 / Light of India 🇮🇳 / Striking! 🇸🇬 / Matches 🇮🇷 / and have Matchbloc next on my list) Please RT for reach!

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Ben Mitchell @ohbendy.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

In the same way the Latin script has loads of extra letters like ⱭƁƐƏꞰŊÞẞƔ for different languages, the Myanmar script has lots of extra letters for some of the 100+ languages of Burma. Even where language groups use the same letters, different communities have their own preferred letterforms.

Image showing the letters used by 22 of the languages spoken in Burma, with the various letterforms preferred by each group

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Ben Mitchell @ohbendy.bsky.social · 22/10/2024

First draft of a proposal for Letalanyah, an orthography of S’gaw used by Buddhist communities in Myanmar. Comments most welcome. fontpad.co.uk/Documents/Le...

fontpad.co.uk

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