Dr. Michelle I. Turner

For the Monday crowd — a deep insight into how DOGE tore through federal small agencies like #NEH detailed by the NYTimes based on discovery from the MLA, AHA, & ACLS lawsuit. See second post for a link to all discovery materials

Coin used as Leeds bus fare was 2,000‑year‑old currency The coin was handed down to Peter Edwards from his grandfather in the 1950s.

This is the sort of thing a cashless society robs us of, the opportunity to try to get away with paying the bus fare in Carthaginian currency www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

When DOGE Unleashed ChatGPT on the Humanities

Huge NYT article on the back story of those two weeks in March/April 2025 when DOGE illegally terminated hundreds of NEH grants. Gift link!!

www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/a...

Oh I had a different version of this. I needed to extend my rental for a day and the chatbot was super quick and efficient and said “ I’ve extended your rental!” Except it hadn’t actually made any changes so I would’ve been late if I hadn’t checked to confirm… Impossible to get a human agent.

Meet three scientists who said no to Epstein The warning signs included a web search, a mother’s doubts, and inklings of a “sexist attitude”

Meet three scientists who said no to Epstein | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

Winter in Stockholm, 1944. Einar Jolin. Oil on canvas.

My photo shows a Roman fresco of a brown rabbit with long ears, curled on the ground, with a rounded, soft-looking body. Its head is lowered as if nibbling at three figs placed in front of it. The figs are small and round with short stems, painted in dark reddish and bluish tones. From Pompeii. Now on display at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples.

Here’s a charming Roman fresco of a little rabbit eating figs 🐰❤️

From Pompeii, 45-79 AD.

Now at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli. 📷 by me

#FrescoFriday
#Archaeology

Ships sunk by submarines since World War Two, thread

1.

4th Dec 1971, Pakistani submarine PNS Hangor sunk India frigate INS Khukri with a torpedo

Closeup of yellow forsythia blooms. In the background is a window with a snowy view.

Reminder that this is the time of year to bring in forsythia branches to force indoors. I've done cherry branches in the past too. (Just cut them and put them in water, they'll bloom in a few days.)

‘Pompei: Below the Clouds’ Review: Trembling Beauties, Old and New

Not totally sure what this documentary is about, but it looks very beautiful and seems to be at least partly engaging with Pompeii archaeology. Gift article 🎁 www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/m...

Six women bale hay with a red hay baling machine

Evelyn Dunbar was the only woman commissioned by the War Artists' Advisory Committee.

Discover D in our A-Z of women artists 👉 https://artuk.org/discover/curations/an-a-z-of-1000-women-artists-represented-on-art-uk-dabis-to-dwight-18093

🧑‍🎨 Evelyn Mary Dunbar (1906–1960) 📸 Museum Wales

A button pin with a dinosaur skeleton with a big red slash through it. I got this at the SAA a few years ago and think of it every time someone doesn't know the difference between an archaeologist and a paleontologist.

Super nice checkout guy at the store and we got to talking about chiles and our mutual love of New Mexico. I told him I'm an archaeologist and was there for research last month... and then he asked if I found any dinosaur bones. Sigh, I don't even know how to be polite in response to this question.

Norway Invests Millions to Preserve Its Medieval Stave Churches - Medievalists.net Norway has announced new funding to preserve its medieval stave churches, including maintenance projects, research grants, and a 3D scanning project at Borgund Stave Church.

Norway Invests Millions to Preserve Its Medieval Stave Churches.
www.medievalists.net/2026/03/norw...

A button pin with a dinosaur skeleton with a big red slash through it. I got this at the SAA a few years ago and think of it every time someone doesn't know the difference between an archaeologist and a paleontologist.

Super nice checkout guy at the store and we got to talking about chiles and our mutual love of New Mexico. I told him I'm an archaeologist and was there for research last month... and then he asked if I found any dinosaur bones. Sigh, I don't even know how to be polite in response to this question.

Epstein had petroglyphs moved for décor at Zorro Ranch, federal records show The Justice Department files show Epstein and his employees discussing multiple times moving petroglyphs at the ranch.

Over the years at Zorro Ranch, Jeffrey Epstein instructed his staff multiple times to move petroglyphs estimated to be hundreds of years old for the purpose of decoration, U.S. Justice Department emails and photos released in January show. sfnm.co/3N3cGYy

Will Americans Get Over Their Fear of Eating Animal Blood?

Meanwhile at the NYT www.nytimes.com/2026/02/24/t...

A dog wearing a coat, standing in a sidewalk canyon. The wall of snow is well over his head.

A dog in a coat, with a huge pile of snow looming behind him

A little bit of snow

Painting of an urban wintry scene, with a hill at back featuring numerous sled riders

I've always loved the background of Jacob Lawrence's 1943 painting "City College is Like a Beacon Over Harlem," with its snow-covered hill featuring numerous sled riders at play

Still snowing… Those little lumps are the backs of our chairs— so close to 2 feet of snow sitting on top.

Can confirm, from Pawcatuck. So much snow. We’re just glad for no power outage!

‘It was terrifying’: hundreds fall sick after swimming in bathing waters More than 1,200 people became ill last year, despite most waters being rated good or excellent. One mother said ‘no family should have to go through this’

More than 1,200 people became sick after swimming in designated bathing waters across England last year, despite three quarters of those official swimming spots being rated “good” or “excellent”.

Comes as "Fountain of Filth" installed in London

www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...

Myth, monsters and making sense of a disenchanted world: why everyone is reading fantasy I have made the leap from literary fiction to fantasy – for those who think it’s mere wish-fulfilment, here’s why we need that thing with the dragons

"I’d argue that, as well as expressing our frustrations with the disenchanted world, [fantasy is] also our best means for capturing the ways in which the world remains enchanted, for all our strenuous buffering." - Francis Spufford

www.theguardian.com/books/2026/f...

Mammoth skeleton

Giant camel

A little bat fossil, so beautiful!

Saber tooth cat!

Had a great visit at Yale Peabody Museum, my first time since they reopened. Beautiful spaces, great exhibits with everything updated and lots of info. I really loved the ice age mammals.

This might tickle your whiskers.

Blue frog

Red frog

Two yellow frogs

For this cold wet evening, here are some little jewel box froggies from the Peabody museum yesterday. They have a tiny little “living lab” space that was one of the busiest spots in the whole place.

And the minerals are absolutely breathtaking and beautifully displayed

Mammoth skeleton

Giant camel

A little bat fossil, so beautiful!

Saber tooth cat!

Had a great visit at Yale Peabody Museum, my first time since they reopened. Beautiful spaces, great exhibits with everything updated and lots of info. I really loved the ice age mammals.

This local Wolfdog joined an Olympic ski event and triggered the finish-line camera. This is Nazgul. He snuck into a cross-country skiing sprint this morning and raced the homestretch with some competitors before being escorted home. 14/10 someone get him a medal

What’s it like to have two grandchildren in the Winter Olympics? Let John Irving tell you Birk and Svea Irving, grandchildren of the great American author John Irving, are competing in Milan Cortina this week.

a few weeks ago in Aspen, a convo with Olympic freeski halfpipe hopeful Svea Irving turned to her family. "Tell me about your mom, your dad ... Tell me about your grandparents ..."

"Oh, my grandpa," Svea answered, "he's like, a kinda famous author."

"Really? Who?"

www.nytimes.com/athletic/705...

The Worst-Case Future for White-Collar Workers The well-off have no experience with the job market that might be coming.

"Americans would hate a world without work, where the jobless rate floats at 30 percent instead of 4 percent." Yeah, I would think so.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...