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Joumana Medlej

@majnouna.com

2.4K followers 750 following 4.1K posts

Artist-scholar, specialised in early Arabic (Kufi) scripts & historical/natural materials. Interest in material culture & things real. Beirut émigré in Oxford. Earth lover, plastic-free. Contemplative. Whovian/Gallifrey… Links: https://linktr.ee/Majnouna

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Joumana Medlej @majnouna.com · Nov 24

Did you know I publish a #Substack that has a large, free-to-read archive of articles based on my own research? It's called
#Caravanserai: "An artist lighting her way through dark times by relearning forgotten art practices and natural ways."
Check it out on majnouna.substack.com

Thumbnails with titles for three articles: Blue of Blues, Zafimaniry Geometry, and A Mamluk Masterpiece.

Thumbnails with titles for three articles: Lost Symbols, Quest for Lost Dyes, and Heavenly Figures

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Joumana Medlej @majnouna.com · 7h

I’m envisioning this in the context of a workshop, perhaps reserved for the apprentice who finally graduated to full scribe, first day on the job 🤭

Joumana Medlej @majnouna.com · 8h

There’s nothing like fresh madder root!

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Joumana Medlej @majnouna.com · 8h

Oh there’s no ink in the inkwell, you just fill it with tamarind juice instead. It looks like ink, unless you have a reason to scrutinise it carefully, but it certainly doesn’t write!

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Joumana Medlej @majnouna.com · 12h

Hmm I got the same thing but that part's managed by the ABC so I can't fix it. I'll send them a message to let them know, but you could also email them so they let you know directly when it's fixed?

Joumana Medlej @majnouna.com · 13h

Medieval Islamic scribes, such stuffy serious people! 😜

Dr. Nick Posegay @nposegay.bsky.social · 14h

Fantastic practical joke for medieval scribes.
(from §22 of this book payhip.com/b/BoYj4 by @majnouna.com)

"To render the scribe unable to write from the inkwell: Squeeze the juice of a tamarind and transfer it to the inkwell. No scribe will manage to write from it."

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Joumana Medlej @majnouna.com · 13h

I'm just finishing the slides and it really is 😄

Joumana Medlej @majnouna.com · 13h

Absolutely, all who sign up will be able to watch or re-watch it later.

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Joumana Medlej @majnouna.com · 14h

Ooh!

Joumana Medlej @majnouna.com · 14h

There's still time to sign up for my Thursday talk. Teaching the Abjad numerals while going on interesting tangents about astrolabes, how Indian numerals changed Arab mathematics, and how disinformation is far older than the internet.

www.arabbritishcentre.org.uk/whatson/when...

When Letters Were Numbers: Rediscovering the Abjad Numerals with Joumana Medlej - The Arab British Centre

In this online talk, Joumana Medlej shares her research into this forgotten aspect of Arabic writing history, that is also known as hisāb al-jummal. She tells the story of the Abjad numerals — their o...

www.arabbritishcentre.org.uk

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Joumana Medlej @majnouna.com · 18h

Christ on a bike!

Greg Jenner @gregjenner.bsky.social · 20h

You may call it ‘Chatfishing’, but I shall only refer to it as ‘Cyrano de Berger-App’
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

‘I realised I’d been ChatGPT-ed into bed’: how ‘Chatfishing’ made finding love on dating apps even weirder

Where once people were duped by soft-focus photos and borrowed chat-up lines, now they have to watch out for computer-generated charm. But it’s one thing to use a witty phrase – another thing entirely...

www.theguardian.com

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Joumana Medlej @majnouna.com · 18h

THE BEST

Joumana Medlej @majnouna.com · 18h

People who use chatgpt in dating and relationships should be put on a register.

Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 20h

WELL THEN IT'S NOT MEANINGFUL IS IT, NICK www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

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Joumana Medlej @majnouna.com · 21h

Boaty McBoatface didn't come out of nowhere.

waltydunlop @waltydunlop.bsky.social · 22h

Job occupations, from an 1881 census. Every one of these sounds like something a sorely provoked Captain Haddock would should at someone in times of heavy stress.

Joumana Medlej @majnouna.com · 1d

I'd go back to this in a hearbeat if it meant prioritising good storytelling.

Joumana Medlej @majnouna.com · 1d

All these ladybirds have moved into the house for winter and they're asleep all over but they change location regularly, so we're having this humorous experience of having at least one ladybird walking through our field of vision at all times, going: 'sup.

Reposted by Joumana Medlej

Ayman Makarem @aymanmak.bsky.social · 1d

The IDF is genuinely addicted to bombing, airstrikes, and destruction. This is from earlier today.

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Joumana Medlej @majnouna.com · 1d

That's the way you do it.

Marie-Pierre Cleret @marie-pierre.bsky.social · 1d

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

French appeal court increases sentence of Gisèle Pelicot rapist

Husamettin Dogan loses appeal after jury at retrial finds him guilty of raping Pelicot while she was sedated

www.theguardian.com

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Joumana Medlej @majnouna.com · 1d

SAME.

Dr Eleanor Janega @goingmedieval.bsky.social · 1d

If I see you posting AI slop, it's an instant block. Even if you think it's cute or says a lot about society. If you are purporting that some AI slop is real news, I will report you for misinformation, and then block you. Sloppers should be marginalised.

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Joumana Medlej @majnouna.com · 1d

It's absolutely astounding anyone can be "yay good news, now we can move on".

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Joumana Medlej @majnouna.com · 1d

Seriously what the hell is there to celebrate, you psychopaths

Caitlin Johnstone @caitoz.bsky.social · 1d

"Why aren't the Free Palestine people cheering about the ceasefire?"

If you saw a man beating a child into a coma, would you cheer after the beating stopped? No, your first reaction would be horror at what happened and your second would be fear that he'll attack the kid again.

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Reposted by Joumana Medlej

Caitlin Johnstone @caitoz.bsky.social · 1d

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Reposted by Joumana Medlej

Dr. Nick Posegay @nposegay.bsky.social · 1d

The IDF is supposed to withdraw in three phases. This is Phase I, where they retain control of 58% of Gaza. Critically, even Phase III formalises Israeli control of a portion of Gaza, including all of Rafah and the border crossing with Egypt.

The January ceasefire never made it past Phase I.

Al Jazeera-produced map of the first IDF withdrawal zone for the Gaza ceasefire. Palestinian-controlled land is shown in white and IDF-control is shown in yellow. The yellow areas include the following areas listed in a box on the side of the map: Beit Lahiya; Beit Hanoon; Parts of Gaza City's Shujayea, Tuffah, and Zeitoun; more than half of Khan Younis; nearly all of Rafah; all crossings in and out of Gaza. A large caption in the top left reads: "Israel retains control of 58% of the Gaza Strip"

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Reposted by Joumana Medlej

Margaret Morgan 🇳🇱🇦🇺🇪🇺 @margaretmorgan.bsky.social · 1d

Without understating the parlous impact of habitat loss, climate change & the impact of invasive species on Australia's flora & fauna, we should note that the reason its species are going extinct at a higher rate than in other countries is that most of their extinctions happened centuries ago.

Guardian Australia @australia.theguardian.com · 1d

And then there were none: Australia’s only shrew declared extinct

The tally of Australian mammals extinct since 1788 is now 39 species – far more than for any other country It’s official: the only Australian shrew is no more. The latest edition of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List, the world’s most comprehensive global inventory on extinction risk, has declared the Christmas Island shrew is extinct. This little animal is extremely common all over the island, and at night its shrill shriek, like the cry of a bat, can be heard on all sides. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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Joumana Medlej @majnouna.com · 1d

And unexpected!

Joumana Medlej @majnouna.com · 1d

Reported and now I'm blocking you as you're clearly a source of misinformation.