Ernst Gerhardt

I am begging everyone with my heart and soul to read a fucking book. If you haven’t done it in a long time, you can still do it. A lot of people are investing in illiteracy futures right now, and they’re playing in your face trying to get you to pay for your own ignorance.

He's a water leader, filling the sacks on the horses with water for delivery. Here's two examples from Randle Holme (I can post better pix later, if needed).

I think it’s hard for outsiders to grasp how low staff and faculty morale get at universities where everyone’s job gets worse every year because there’s a hiring freeze and program cuts and any real money is locked up in new projects meant to help higher admin shine so they can move somewhere better

This sounds very similar to what they did at Laurentian during the CCAA fiasco. Administrators claimed that "savings" would derive from cancelling the teaching releases Dept Chairs received and giving FAR fewer releases to new School Directors, who have been exceptionally overburdened (IMO).

Congress 2026 | Congrès 2026 Announcement: 2026 CSRS/SCÉR 50th Golden Anniversary Conference Call for Article Abstracts In celebration of its golden anniversary, the Canadian Society for Renaissance Studies / Société canadienn…

2026 CSRS Conference, June 6-8, l'Université de Montréal. 2026 SCÉR colloque, juin 6-8, l'Université de Montréal. Announcement with Call for Article Abstracts / Annonce avec Appel à communications: csrs-scer.com/congress-202...

My experience is with a Canadian context, but the increasing high school emphasis on English primarily as communication and/or self-expression leads students away from reading. If students' focus is on self-expression, there's little motivation for them to read others' writing in its entirety.

That entire thread is ripe for an analysis of how the personification of cars minimizes drivers' agency.

We barely read (well) now and it’s a problem. I don’t think A.I. will end reading but even mid market penetration for this mid-tech will diminish negative feedback for poor readers. So I hope I die before it all comes to a head.

A sign that says, "Emergency Safety Plan: Yell."

Sounds about right.

Gah, he called it a Bomb but that’s Bouchard. That was a Wallbanger

I wish more Oilers accounts were here. Reading the TL really enhanced the game-viewing experience.

Detail of an early modern image of a person blowing a trumpet on a horse backgrounded by words and a sun

For those who missed it: The English Short Titles Catalogue (ESTC) has finally been relaunched with the help of the Consortium of European Research Libraries (CERL) following the cyber-attack on the @britishlibrary.bsky.social. Find it here: datb.cerl.org/estc/

I think in part the higher education funding crisis and the LLM-teaching crisis actually strike at the same problem, which is that education doesn't work without a broad, society-wide sense that the *actual content* of education - not the credential - is valuable.

Play la bamba, baby!

The Shakspaires of Trinity Lane: A Possible Shakespeare Life-Record Hereford Cathedral Library holds a fragmentary seventeenth-century letter addressed to a ‘Mrs Shakspaire’, concerning her husband’s dealings with a fatherless apprentice named John Butte or Butts. ...

Delighted to say that my article, "The Shakspaires of Trinity Lane: A Possible Shakespeare Life-Record" is now fully published and open-access! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Screenshot of the first page of a faculty job ad: The School of Liberal Arts in the Faculty of Arts at Laurentian University invites applications from suitably qualified candidates for a tenure-track faculty position at the rank of Assistant Professor in Indigenous Interdisciplinary Studies with specialization in Indigenous Cultural Expression. The preferred start date is 1 August, 2025 and the position will remain open until filled. The successful candidate will have the following essential qualifications: ● Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit and Metis) to Turtle Island with ties to their community. ● Comprehensive understanding of Indigenous worldviews and frameworks. ● Understanding of Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit and Metis) to Turtle Island culture and traditions including their importance within an academic framework. ● A Ph.D. in Indigenous Studies or a Liberal Arts field focused on Indigenous literatures, film and media, rhetoric, and/or creative writing by Indigenous creators OR equivalent qualifications and experience with demonstrated research/creative productivity and teaching experience. ● The ability to contribute to Indigenous Interdisciplinary Studies and other programs within the School of Liberal Arts through teaching and developing courses such as Indigenous Literatures, Indigenous Poetics, Indigenous Film, Indigenous Oral Storytelling, Media Representations of Indigenous Peoples, and/or Creative Writing, in accordance with the candidate’s particular areas of expertise and experience. ● Evidence of the ability to teach effectively at the undergraduate level with a commitment to pedagogical and academic excellence, promoting a safe, inclusive, and welcoming learning environment, and advancing Laurentian University’s tricultural mandate. ● Evidence of strong scholarly activity which may include creative work. ● Commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion, promoting a diverse, inclusive, and vibrant academic and work environment.

Be my colleague? We're hiring in Indigenous Interdisciplinary Studies, a tenure-track position focused on cultural expression. Scholars/creators of media and literature may find this particularly important. Deadline: 25 May, 2025. laurentian.ca/careers/facu...

Two contradictions in this statement. First, Canada currently "works"; it's not perfect but it's far from broken. Second, you don't annex a country unless you need something they have. If Canada is so empty of value, why make it a state? Just leave it alone.

crucial context for the embrace of ChatGPT

Welcome to the Republic of Quillette

Article 5, the mutual defence pact which makes up the backbone of the NATO agreement, has been enacted only once and in that case every member nation responded with support.

It was on 9/11.

YouTube video by International School History Hawley–Smoot Tariff - Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

I miss the world in which this was commonplace knowledge.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuOH...

Unfortunately, no. Any ideas?

A manuscript notation in a sixteenth-century hand.

This note appears in a mid-16c printed copy of an interlude I'm editing. I haven't made any headway in reading it. Any ideas from anyone here?

How much have property taxes risen over that period? My impression, which could be mistaken, is that DC charges get raised because raising property taxes to appropriate levels is practically impossible. Cities need to generate revenue somehow.

A lino-cut print of a man lifting a cauldron lid, copied from a sixteenth-century woodcut print.

One of my research projects has led to examining some printers' woodcut ornamental initials. I thought I'd try to learn how to make prints myself to get a better idea of what's involved. I've been practicing with lino-cutting, and while far from perfect, I'm fairly happy with the progress so far.

A Student’s Guide to Not Writing with ChatGPT Site web d’Arthur Perret, enseignant-chercheur en SIC.

In response to OpenAI’s recent ‘A Student’s Guide to Writing with ChatGPT’, Arthur Perret (maître de conferénces, Jean Moulin Lyon 3) writes a line-by-line rebuttal — A Student’s Guide to Not Writing with ChatGPT www.arthurperret.fr/blog/2024-11...