Historian Around Town

Meanwhile, in Germany, the public weighs in on what they think of the Epstein Administration.

#BrutalButAccurate

Was talking to one of the guys doing some work on my house and he's paying $500 a month for his son's student loan interest so that when he graduates from college, he doesn't have to deal with the compounded interest and I just ... want better for students and their families than this.

"Eighty-two years after his execution by the Gestapo on June 16, 1944, the Jewish historian and resistance fighter Marc Bloch will be inducted into the Pantheon on June 23... His family requested that 'the far right, in all its forms, be excluded from any participation in the ceremony.'"

Screenshot from Tumblr User hatingongodot: “In 1404, King Taejong fell from his horse during a hunting expedition. Embarrassed, looking to his left and right, he commanded, “Do not let the historian find out about this.” To his disappointment, the historian accompanying the hunting party included these words in the annals, in addition to a description of the king’s fall.“ LMFAOOOOOO rip to that guy User Shitacademicswrite: i thought maybe this was fake, but there’s even a citation! Taejong Sillok Book 7. 5th year of King Taejong’s Reign (1404), February 8.

Never forget the anniversary of King Taejong falling off his horse!

Stop Meeting Students Where They Are What I learned when I finally started assigning the hard reading again.

Stop Meeting Students Where They Are

What I learned when I finally started assigning the hard reading again.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0... | @theatlantic.com

The climatologist told me
historians
will wonder
why we didn’t do more.

The epidemiologist told me
historians
will wonder
why we didn’t do more.

The activist told me
historians
will wonder
why we didn’t do more.

The historian told me
that nobody
listens to historians.

"Bro!"
Beowulf: A New Translation, 2020
Maria Dahvana Headley 🇺🇸

Kroger tried to charge me more than $10 for a cabbage today.

Screenshot showing Bluesky data export - including media

Screenshot showing Bluesky archive loaded, and processed.

Screenshot of my Bluesky timeline - posts and images.

This is so cool.

mary-ext.codeberg.page/skeetgen lets you download full archive of your Bluesky posts including all the media.

I've been on Bluesky since 2023, and it took about 20 minutes to download my full timeline, and then another few seconds to make it into a viewable, searchable archive.

Calling all the PhDs I know to make monumental annoyances of themselves (and honestly, who better)

spreading the news about the Cambridge Early Modern Science and Medicine Essay Prize 2026 Competition! Early Science and Medicine and the Early Sciences Forum of the History of Science Society's prize competition for the best essay...

"All things considered, Teaching with AI is not without value; it is a case study in how even well-meaning educators operating in good faith can become inadvertent agents of a pedagogical de-skilling and institutional dehumanization."

Mr. Dressup (and Mr. Rogers, of course) were such a big part of my childhood. ❤️

Another exodus from the other site, from the sounds of it? If you're looking for the #EarlyModern gang, we've got three starter packs that compile a bunch of them. I can keep adding to the third, just poke.

Here's the OG: go.bsky.app/VQeQbbF 1/3

Here's a VERY Rare Book!
Dare I say.... a UNICORN?

How could I (almost) miss that it's #NationalUnicornDay?
#volvelle #interactive #popup
#NewberryLibrary
i-share-nby.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01...

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/c...

None of these anti-AI assessment strategies y’all are promoting are at all reasonable for adjuncts or folks who teach asynchronous online classes or who have large large classes. Imagine adjuncting an asynchronous online class of 50 students and doing oral exams.

post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't nirvana, pearl jam, soundgarden, or alice in chains

"Quiet quitting" by professors when it comes to AI and student writing is a serious risk.

The temptation to give up (in effect) instead of devoting *substantial* resources (of time, energy, and emotional investment) to what can seem like an unwinnable fight is real.

But it *is* the good fight.

I hope the discussion mentions the extra time and energy women put into preparing feedback as we brace for being challenged.

I started teaching as an adjunct in the wilds of community college night classes, which meant I was very much alone without backup or mentors. Lots of crazy grade challenges

Experimental evidence that students are more likely to contest grades when they are delivered by an evaluator with a female-sounding name.

"These findings suggest that women in evaluative positions face disproportionate resistance when delivering negative assessments."

Photos of bottom of skillets, before and after. Before I cleaned it, and after I bought a new one.

Wondering how I did it?

I boiled water and added two tablespoons of vinegar, baking soda, and lemon juice.

I soaked it for 20 minutes, and after that, it looked the same, so I bought a brand new one.

Lighte the laumpe
Not the ratte!

boring soup? chili crisp. writer's block? chili crisp. the neverending drumbeat of a dystopian hellscape? you guessed it

When viewing the fake article in Google scholar on my university network, there is a link to access the article via my uni's library. That link sends me to a library page that makes fake article appear real... Turns out library page is made programmatically from info on Google scholar 🤦

To clear the air here, because I am getting a lot of questions and feedback on this, we are cooked. Here is why:

We Let AI Run Our Office Vending Machine. It Lost Hundreds of Dollars. An AI agent ran a snack operation in the WSJ newsroom. It gave away a free PlayStation, ordered a live fish—and taught us lessons about the future of AI.

Gift link, probably the funniest thing the Wall Street Journal has done this year.

YouTube video by PhyloFilms Phylo Returns Home

"It appears my work on this planet is complete."

RIP Anthony Geary. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y646...