iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Rick Ansell @rickansell.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The last mast from the Richard Montgomery was just lifted.

Rick Ansell @rickansell.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

For @fakehistoryhunter.net Navigation tutor explains why 'Viking Sun Compasses', much seen on the Internet, aren't. He actually went and looked for the roots of the myth. It all began with a broken bit of wood... www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3EG...

youtube.com

Viking Sun Compass Do Not Exist

YouTube video by The Map Reading Company

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Hassinator @hassinator.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

a great letter in the times today. perhaps worth sharing in these troubled times. #RNLI #heroes

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Edain @d20yfx.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

I'm trying to book tickets to go on the Postal Museums underground railway. I won't let me, as my post code isn't in their database. The irony is killing me.

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Rick Ansell @rickansell.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

RNLI Blackpool put up, with permission, a message they received in the last few days. I will share, as someone the RNLI once rescued, just one part of that message. "You don't rescue passports. You don't rescue religions. You don't rescue nationalities. You rescue human beings."

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cultauthor.bsky.social @cultauthor.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Fears reduce us to inaction. A turning inward. Fears reduce us to seeking comfort - the rewatch, the reread. We know this and ignore our knowing out of a sense of self-care. Often we can only feel confident about our culture when it rediscovers a total joy in novelty.

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Rick Ansell @rickansell.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

@cultauthor.bsky.social Having read the splendid Fragments One... I did what a lapsed analyst does and dug. There is a more than evens chance that you know this, especially having been a reporter in the area. But the murder of the owner of the Orange Tree is still unsolved. 1/2

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The Fake History Hunter @fakehistoryhunter.net · 22/06/2025

For me the most recognisable thing Jane Austen ever wrote was this in her letter to her sister Cassandra, September 18th, 1796:

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Rick Ansell @rickansell.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

Attn @fakehistoryhunter.net Myth also attached to various other places in England.

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Rick Ansell @rickansell.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

I see people in my feed cheering on setting buildings used as detention centres alight. In order to support the people detained there. Or something. Fires in buildings where lots of people are locked in with no way out are not known for their lack of casualties.

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Rick Ansell @rickansell.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

Terry Pratchett captures the essence of a worldwide problem: Sergeant Colon had had a broad education. He'd been to the School of My Dad Always Said, the College of It Stands to Reason and was now a postgraduate student at the University of What Some Bloke In the Pub Told Me. * Jingo

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Rick Ansell @rickansell.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Attn @hookland.bsky.social Cos I think my prior post wouldn't have alerted you. bsky.app/profile/vch-...

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Rick Ansell @rickansell.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Quote Posts all the way down I'm afraid... Hookland and Victoria County History mentioned in the context of Local History and The Orb tracklisting.

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Alison @finger-post.blog · 04/02/2026

Overheard in the hospital: “The history course is doing my head in. I’m not learning about history because historians just talk about themselves and how wrong all the other historians are.”

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Dr. Sarah Parcak @indyfromspace.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

I've been mostly offline today and I saw Erik Von Daniken died. He was a virulent racist and bigot and a convicted felon, and his alien archaeology "theories" did incalculable harm to the field of archaeology. Those are his legacies.

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Ant Dawson @railwayhobbit.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

Close the coal house door lad, There's bairns inside. Bairns upon the mountain side, Bairns who saw the blackness slide, Bairns who had no time to hide. Close the coalhouse door lad, there's bairns inside.

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Rick Ansell @rickansell.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

Because people may be needing a Timeline Cleanse. Thanks Jo.

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John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

Canadian B&B owner offered me an umbrella this morning, which was sweet. I politely declined. Madame, I am British. I have a number of small umbrellas concealed upon my person at all times.

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Rick Ansell @rickansell.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

Autism is known to have existed since the 1700s, with strong evidence that it existed earlier. Paracetamol was developed around 1890 and has been on sale since the 1950s (US: 1950, UK: 1956). Also, apart from small scale experiments, large scale vaccination has existed since 1880.

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Tamara Keel [Scary Remix] @tamslick.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

British aircraft designers only have two settings: “Supermarine Spitfire” and “Fairey Gannet”.

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Rhianna Pratchett @rhi.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

He was very good in person with his trans fans too. Growing up going to SF cons, I met many trans people before I even knew what trans meant. I gave my parents very little they needed to accept in their child, so they had lots left over for everyone else. 😉 www.thepinknews.com/2021/08/06/t...

thepinknews.com

Author Terry Pratchett was an unflinching trans ally, say the trans fans who met him

Claims that the late, great Sir Terry Pratchett would've been anti-trans have prompted a flood of transgender fans to share their happy memories of

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Edain @d20yfx.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

In before any dickhead tries to say the Philippines Coast Guard weren't complying with ColRegs Let me introduce you to Rule 2 (b)

A section of the International ColRegs. Rule 2 is displayed, with a highlighted section of part b reading "due regard shall be had to all dangers of navigation and collision and to any special circumstances... which may make a departure from these Rules necessary to avoid immediate danger"

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Rick Ansell @rickansell.bsky.social · 10/08/2025

Attn @cultauthor.bsky.social Not sure it's 'justice. But it is irony, deliberately created irony, well done to whoever is responsible.

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Jason Kingsley @jasonkingsleyobe.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

The heavily armoured cable has indeed been gnawed through. The teeth marks seem preternaturally large and there are uncanny slashes or clawing around the area. Last night there was chanting to be heard in the distance. I did not sleep well.

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cultauthor.bsky.social @cultauthor.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

I have never known anything broken that is fixed by hate.

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Rick Ansell @rickansell.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

OPSEC. It's a thing. An important thing.

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The Fake History Hunter @fakehistoryhunter.net · 28/07/2025

Adolph Gysbert Malan (1910 – 1963), AKA Sailor Malan, was a South African fighter pilot and flying ace in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Battle of Britain and post-war leader of a liberal anti-authoritarian organisation that opposed the introduction of the apartheid system.

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The Fake History Hunter @fakehistoryhunter.net · 28/07/2025

Once about 10 of my friends and I walked into a supermarket in England. We were all wearing historically accurate medieval clothing. Nobody even looked at us. But the girl behind the cash register said to one of us: "Oh sir, you smell of battle". It was glorious.

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Dreadnought Holiday @dreadships.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

There's been lots of rumours that legendary Russian engineering basketcase and occasional aircraft carrier Kuznetsov will be decommissioned. More evidence for those rumours comes from seeing its vital supplies of massive atmospheric pollution reassigned to corvette Soobrazitelny...

Russian corvette pumping out an amount of black smoke that would have shamed the 19th century fleet. Incredibly this ship was built in the early 2000s, although evidence would suggest the engines haven't been serviced since...

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Rick Ansell @rickansell.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

Attn @k8lister.bsky.social Starts off slow, but here is David Willey, former Curator of The Tank Museum, on an object and sex and war. Thought you might be interested etc. youtu.be/divFSpGnfUY?...

youtu.be

History in a Saucy Case

YouTube video by David Willey

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Rick Ansell @rickansell.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

Sometimes we need a boost in this world. From a 2015 BBC article, a comment by a survivor of 7/7: "And on that day on the train, I didn't see one selfish person. It was at once the awful side of humanity, but also the magical side."

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Rick Ansell @rickansell.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

Noting that a huge proportion of posts about the Battle of Waterloo today are using images of the Lion Mound to signify it. The mound wasn't there at the time of the battle and the earth moved to make it altered the terrain sufficiently that you cannot longer get a good appreciation of the ground.

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cultauthor.bsky.social @cultauthor.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

Mrs. S. has learnt the Italian for such things as: 'Help! There's a ghost in my room! This means she is now shouting out Italian Hookland-meets-Scooby-Doo phrases. Typical Friday night.

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Nick Harkaway @nickharkaway.com · 04/06/2025

I live in a house with a bricked up vault in the cellar. Do we unbrick the vault? No, we do not, because it is *at best* 4msq of dirt and earthworms and at worst the beginning of every horror movie ever made in the universe

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Rick Ansell @rickansell.bsky.social · 24/05/2025

Attn @orkneylibrary.bsky.social Jo is an International Treasure and a bastion of the fight against distorted history. Blatent plug: Do you have her book in your stock? "Fake History: 101 Things that Never Happened - 2023, Jo Teeuwisse"? Or is this all Old (as oposed to Fake) History to you?

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Rick Ansell @rickansell.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

Attn @fakehistoryhunter.net Thought you might like this/these. Repair of a 1942 Radiodgram so it works again and addtion of Bluetooth link to replace the AM radio stations that are no longer there. (Two videos)

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Rick Ansell @rickansell.bsky.social · 21/04/2025

Attn @fakehistoryhunt.bsky.social Somebody else angry over fake history. And someone worth knowing about that is part of that history. youtu.be/HG1324unhcA?...

youtu.be

Ada Blackjack: Real History Vs Insulting AI Slop

YouTube video by Forgotten Weapons

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The Fake History Hunter @fakehistoryhunter.net · 17/04/2025

As current today as it was when Thomas Mann wrote it in Der Zauberberg (The Magic Mountain): "Prägen Sie sich immerhin ein, daß Toleranz zum Verbrechen wird, wenn sie dem Bösen gilt." "Do not forget that tolerance becomes crime, if extended to evil." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_...

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Traceism @traceism.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

❤️Credit to Chloe Hayden, Autistic Actress, Author and Activist❤️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Do not use the puzzle piece: The puzzle piece was popularised by Autism $peaks. It was created to signify that we have a piece missing or that we have something that needs to be solved. The creators believed that autism was a puzzling condition and originally paired it with a weeping child, showcasing autism as a tragedy. The puzzle piece plays into the stereotype that autism is a children's disorder. The visualisation has led to decades of harmful therapies and unwanted"treatments. I am not missing pieces. I do not need to be solved.

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Rick Ansell @rickansell.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

As everybody is focussing on the actor fellow: I beg to inform people that PC Trevor Lock GM, hero of the Iranian Embassy Siege (1980), died yesterday. He was 85.

Wide-eyed British Police Officer in uniform (shirt and tie plus tunic) with peaked cap. He has strong eyebrows, is strongly lit from the front against the background of a dark corridor with an arched roof and looks somewhat startled. He has the opposite of a 'heroic' face and stance.

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Rick Ansell @rickansell.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

Suggestion: When reading stuff online, treat every day like it's April 1st

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