Very sad news. I never met him but always learned much from his work. It’s nice to discover a little more about him.
I just heard via a colleague who lives in the same street, that Rodo Pfister (*14.10.1962 in Langenthal) passed away a few days ago. He was a prolific Early China scholar, with encyclopedic interests in the history of medicine, sexology, materia medica, drugs and spices, (1/14)
Unfortunately...
Nearly half of the Buddhist adults in America converted to Buddhism. And slightly more than half of those raised Buddhist no longer identify that way.
NEW: 5 Facts about Buddhists in the US https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/03/11/5-facts-about-buddhists-in-the-united-states/
AAS Vancouver. Saturday at 2pm. On Utopian history in ancient and medieval China. Drop by and have some fun! #AAS2026
(Taking an Asian retreat from European history)
Nick Dyer
I’m planning my outfits first, and then I’ll plan panels.
Coming mob-handed with a crew from Hamilton, ON.
Do you know a social scientist persuaded there's a religious resurgence happening in the UK or US? I'm looking for a panelist or two to make an empirical case for revival in a session at the Soc. for the Scientific Study of Religion meeting. https://sssreligion.org/annual-meeting/meeting-info/
If you're headed to #AAS2026 in Vancouver this week and you're not an American citizen, be sure to check if you need an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) before you go! www.canada.ca/en/immigrati...
Come to my Mentor Session at #AAS2026 to talk about "Traveling a Non-Standard Career Path." 3pm Saturday, Vancouver Convention Ctr, Ocean Foyer, Level 2.
I should know better but if anyone at #aas2026 spots this on @uchicagopress.bsky.social stand could they snap me a picture? I'd be childishly pleased. Thanks so much.
Trapped in a recurring episode of “I thought I understood this text until I tried to translate the preface.”
On the day that the US and Israel started bombing Iran a shortwave radio station began broadcasting numbers – a technique commonly used by spy agencies to transmit orders in code. A strange, compelling listen – thanks @scannerdot.com for the heads-up
theiceman.substack.com/p/a-new-spy-...
Three days left until we kick off #AAS2026!! Today: get ready by reviewing our accessibility guide—your road map to an inclusive and comfortable conference experience.
https://www.asianstudies.org/conference/accessibility/
Coming to Vancouver for #AAS2026? If travelling light, I highly recommend taking the Skytrain directly from YVR airport to conference site (and nearby hotels). Only $10 CAD, clean, comfortable. Takes only 30 mins and way cheaper than taxi or Uber. 2 zone fare, get off at last stop, 5 min walk.
Buddhist read: 'Shakyamuni Descending from the Mountain' 15th century, Japan. © Metropolitan Museum of Art. Zen wp.me/pFy3u-301.
Today is Décadi the 20th of Ventôse in the year 234.
Ventôse is the month of wind.
Today we celebrate twine. #JacobinDay
More information on twine
Construction of the Alaska Highway involved 11,000 soldiers and 16,000 Canadian and American civilians.
The 2,451 kilometre highway, including 133 bridges, was built in just 233 days in 1942.
This is the story of that construction.
🧵 1/12
#AAS2026 starts one week from today! Registered attendees, check your email—you should have received a message with your check-in barcode a few minutes ago. Make sure you have that on hand when you arrive at the badge pick-up counters next Thursday!
As we get closer to #AAS2026, a number of scholars on the Diversity and Equity Committee panel "Pedagogy Under Threat (in the U.S. & Beyond)" have found that they cannot attend the conference due to visa issues. We are therefore encouraging scholars to stop by and share in this important discussion.
Mar 9th 1964 - After 3 transfer requests (one of which occurred on this date) Walter E. Kurtz was finally accepted for a transfer to Airborne training, Fort Benning, Georgia.
📽️📅 Apocalypse Now (1979)
Congratulations to Dr. Mark Scott, Associate Professor at Stonehill College and McMaster B.A. Honours in Religious Studies 2001, on the recent publication of his book, The Beauty of Souls: Aesthetic Encounters with Marilynne Robinson (Fortress Press, 2025)!
www.fortresspress.com/store/produc...
OMG this is awesome.
"We find that poor tour weather reduces participants’ likelihood of applying. Tour participants, for example, are 10 percent less likely to apply when their tour is hot and 8 percent less likely when precipitation occurs during their tour."
The Strange Adventures of a Pebble (1921) "The purpose of this little book is to present the chief features in the strange story of the pebbles; and so of the larger pebble we call the earth." By the same author: The Adventures of a Grain of Dust (1922): publicdomainreview.org/collection/t...
This map by @xruiztru shows the Iranian diaspora around the world.
Crowns worn #onthisday in 1963 by young Jewish girls participating in a Queen Esther costume contest on Purim in Granada Hills, CA. The holiday celebrates the events recounted in the Biblical book of Esther, in which the queen saves the Jewish people from annihilation. #OTD 📷 LAPL Photos
In the 1920s, a Swedish-Chinese team excavated over 50 prehistoric sites in north China, housing many finds in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities in Stockholm. Now, 100 years later, researchers re-examine these "forgotten treasures" #MuseumMonday 🏛️ #Archaeology 🏺
🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
A "migrant worker who became a Buddhist monk and anti-colonial activist in early twentieth-century Asia."
"Born in Dublin in the 1850s, U Dhammaloka energetically challenged the values and power of the British Empire and scandalized the colonial establishment of the 1900s."
