iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

One of the things I love about true capitalism is I don’t HAVE to give my money to anyone.

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Everybody hoarding cash might turn out to be right too

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

In honor of #FatBearWeek, here is how to circumvent the AI apocalypse. Behold, an 1872 letter about military action at FORT BRADY that has tricked all the bots into thinking it is about fat bears. Practice your cursive, it's the new encryption! #ConfidentButWrong #historian

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Weird how people question if the chicken or the egg came first when if chickens are just tiny lame dinosaurs the answer must be “egg.”

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

And so, the FBI slowly won police departments across the country over to fingerprinting, which while imperfect proved to be far more accurate than measuring the lengths of peoples' toes. Source: NARA 65-CC-63 (7/7)

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

The campaign continued through the 1940s, when the FBI identified the late Elizabeth Short based on fingerprints in 56 minutes. She had previously been nicknamed "The Black Dahlia," but her prints were on file because of her application for a post office job years before. (6/7)

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

The Kelly twins used to use their appearances to create confusion and make identification of the perpetrator impossible. A Black man named William West was arrested for murder, but his jailors were forced to believe his innocence when they found the REAL William West already in their prison. (5/7)

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

The FBI used the Fleagle case as one of several "postcards" to convince police agencies that fingerprinting was the way forward for identification. Previous methods relied on the Bertillon system, a series of measurements of various body parts, but this had obvious flaws. (4/7)

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

The Fleagle Gang escaped that day, but over a year later, one of the brothers was arrested for an illegal weapons stash. Local PD sent his prints to the FBI, who connected him to the bank robbery and doctor. The whole gang was found and convicted! (3/7)

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

The Fleagle brothers and their two compatriots robbed a bank in Lamar, CO in 1928, but one got shot in the process. They tricked an MD into treating the wound, but did not let him live. They left ONE fingerprint on his car's window when they tipped it into a ravine (2/7)

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

How did fingerprinting become "a thing" for disparate police forces spread across America? Turns out, the FBI had a whole campaign to get them adopted, and their PR materials got saved at the US National Archives One of the first cases used was four bank robbers called the Fleagle Gang 🧵

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

There is a story behind this decision and I must know it.

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

There are Easter eggs in the endnotes and my favorite one has officially been found! I made a comment that submarines work better when NOT filled with water. I provided a “citation.”

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Oh my gosh YOU FOUND MY SECRET JOKE????? Thank you!!!!! That DOES help my week a lot, thank you. I’ve spent my whole day doing plumbing repairs so I feel I have the expertise to back up that claim 😉

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

There will be no history content from me this week, sorry. I’ve explained it in this video and I don’t have the energy to do it again. 😊 Send cookies. I stopped all leaks before commencing Floor Time. youtube.com/shorts/uztIX...

youtube.com

When Life Happens, History Content Missed a Week. Send Cookies.

YouTube video by Rachel Lance

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

There are not enough movies where women commit laudable murders.

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

But how does it do at its other two jobs?

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Oh I know right!! Can you imagine submitting the application to blow yourself up in the workplace and getting it approved for anything less than Nazis?? I’m glad you liked it 😊

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Reposted by Rachel Lance

RG Poulussen @rgpoulussen.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

The "Chariot" Mark I, a manned torpedo, inspired by Italian successes. #WW2 #HISTORY

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

It looks so fun. Absolutely would ride it.

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Reposted by Rachel Lance

Luca @lucagalletti.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Bro about to do some serious engineering. IG: @canoe_carrier Algonquin Highlands, Ontario 🇨🇦

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Devices pictured are from Imperial War Museum London

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

The long history of mining in the UK (remember Billy Elliot??) meant the Brits had long chipped away at the question of safe breathing systems. Even today, miners carry breathing systems in case they hit a pocket of toxic gas. In WWII, they modified these same devices to take them underwater!

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Other gas mask models used the same elements. Some, like this one meant for soldiers in the trenches removed weight by taking away the O2 bottle, instead assuming they could get to safety before they ran out.

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Valves on the right and left sides of the mouthpiece force the gas to travel in one direction only, so it HAS to go through each component. These valves are little rubber flaps, called mushroom valves because of their shape.

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

A second tube delivers the scrubbed, refreshed gas back to the user, replete with yummy O2 and free of toxic CO2. The miners lives to dig another day! (Unless he gets shot, it is still war) The tubes are corrugated to keep them flexible, so the wearer can move their head

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Then, of course, we do need more O2 as we use it. Most devices use a valve called a demand valve, which opens when the counterlung squishes down to a preset level. The opened valve allows in more gas, which reinflates the counterlung and ensures there’s enough gas to breathe!

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

The breathing gas has to go SOMEWHERE. When it’s being reused, it gets sent to hang out in a flexible bag called a counterlung until the user is ready to inhale again.

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Removing CO2 is KEY. As discussed with the Trojan Horse, and basically with anyone who sits next to me, it’s the CO2 that’ll kill you first when you keep rebreathing your own exhalations. I love that the material to remove CO2 looks like kitty litter 💜 🐱

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Tubing collects the exhaled breath of the wearer, then channels it down into the functional part of the gadget

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

WWI devices like this one were the ancestors of modern dive gear. This model, the Proto, was used by military engineers trying to dig below and behind enemy trenches. The same concept kept soldiers safe from poisonous gases like chlorine. Here’s how the gizmos worked!

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Awwww. Poor plants. But happy squirrels. We’ve also got black squirrels where I grew up in Michigan, and my favorite was when there was an occasional hybrid, like a black body with a brown tail. So cute

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Oh I came to mention the Brevard squirrels! I’m sorry you missed them. I promise they’re real, and so cute

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

I’m glad you liked it! I genuinely did not know if anyone else would care 💜

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

How long could soldiers have survived inside the Trojan Horse? I know it’s the question that haunted us all through the movie*, so I did the math! *only me youtu.be/iiruwIMfpbo?...

youtu.be

How We’ll Build a Survivable Trojan Horse

YouTube video by Rachel Lance

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Internal reports are the first application of AI I find myself agreeing with!

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Bold parental choice to pair up the name Clytemenestra with Helen

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Reposted by Rachel Lance

Jonty Wareing @jonty.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Life goal: Get a plaque this good

Stephen Hales DD FRS 1677- 1761

Curate, Twickenham, Middlesex. The first person to measure blood pressure (in a horse) and sap pressure in trees. Found how to stop a pie crust sagging

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Now I must know his pie crust secret

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

I get that she may have had good intent, and I think everyone deserves the space to learn. Hopefully she did.

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

In the 1800s there was a submarine inventor who tested his prototypes in Lake Michigan. He died in one, and was later recovered. Sadly, he brought his dog with him. I’m not sure if it’s the museum one!

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

I want to share a fact about a real submarine in the Great Lakes but now I must restrain myself. What a conundrum.

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Rachel Lance @underwaterlance.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Dang Gary better push all the buttons and see what function those red wires controlled!

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