James A. Benn

Today at 4:30-6:00pm, Dr. Aya Oba will give a talk entitled "Building Connections in a New Land: Chinese Religious Communities and Support Around Funerals" in LRW 1003.

All are welcome to attend!

Louise Moillon, 1610-1696, Still Life with Fruit, 1637 (Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum)

4 Screenshots from the movie "Airplane II: The Sequel" (1982): First, a middle-aged lawyer in a brown suit and tie stands in a wood-paneled courtroom, addressing the judge and jury with a serious expression. The subtitle reads: "On March 5th, 1980, flight 209 into Chicago lost its crew in midair." Second, the same lawyer, now looking slightly more intense, continues speaking with the subtitle: "I'd like to call one of the passengers from that flight..." Third, the lawyer smirks slightly, raising his eyebrows and tilting his head as he finishes his statement with the subtitle: "...if it pleases the court." Fourth, a shot of the judge, an older man in black robes, sitting at the bench with large grins on their faces.

Mar 5th 1980 - Ted Striker, an ex-fighter pilot and traumatized war veteran, saved the lives of everyone on-board Flight 209 after the flight crew became sick with food poisoning. The date was mentioned in Airplane 2 (1982)

📽️📅 Airplane! (1980)

#DOTD: Cai Yuanpei 蔡元培 (1868–1940), philosopher, politician, and education reformer. As president of Peking University 北京大學 @PKU1898 and Academia Sinica 中央研究院 (@ihptaiwan), he was one of the most influential educators in #ModernChina.

#DOTD in #ChineseHistory: Cai Dongfan #蔡東藩 (1877–1945), #historian and writer of popular historical novels or '#romances of all #dynasties' #歷朝通俗演義 from the Former Han #前漢 to Republic #民國. #文史 #ChineseLiterature

「我寫的是歷史，不是故事。」

▓▓▓░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 17.40%

Worn #onthisday in 1942 by a construction worker building the Shasta Dam across the Sacramento River near Kennett, CA. 15 million tons of concrete were used in the dam's construction, which took 8 years; masks protected workers from inhaling concrete dust. #OTD 📷 CSU Chico

Star chart with large triangle with labeled stars at the corners.

The distinctive #WinterTriangle is formed by the 3 bright stars Sirius, Betelgeuse and Procyon. It’s also part of a larger pattern of stars known as the #WinterHexagon. It's easy to spot and serves as a guide to some of the finest celestial sights of the season. 🌌🔭
buff.ly/mLfMu9A

📸 EarthSky.org.

Polymarket to allow bets on the name of the new terrorist organization spawned by the war in Iran.

Thich Quang Duc was protesting against anti-Buddhist policies not against the war.

The World of the New Testament: Encountering Texts in Context The World of the New Testament fills the need for an undergraduate-level textbook in biblical studies, theology, and religious studies that focuses on the traditional world(s) of religion,…

Dr. Lily Vuong (McMaster PhD 2010 and Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Oregon) recently published a co-edited volume entitled *The World of the New Testament: Encountering Texts in Context* with Fortress Press.

www.fortresspress.com/store/produc...

It was only 20 years ago that specialists in the history of US foreign policy began to take religion seriously* in foreign relations.

Before that the consensus was religion was at best a “side issue.”

So if you’re now on board, don’t forget to cite who taught you what is “obvious” now

*YMMV

The successful candidate will be a cross-disciplinary historian of infectious disease and historical epidemiologist whose research advances understanding of pandemics and epidemic disease across time, including how environmental and climatic forces shape patterns of transmission, vulnerability, societal response, and resilience. The appointment will foster a long-term program of scholarship and training at the interface of history, epidemiology, environmental science, and clinical infectious diseases.

JOB: Associate Professor/Professor, History of Medicine, McMaster University

Cross-appointed with Division of Infectious Diseases
universityaffairs.ca/search-jobs/...

I did not know he was from Gravenhurst and came across the statue of him there quite by chance. I really only knew about him from reading the Chinese sources.

Sensation: The Sounds, Visions, and Words of David Bowie - University of Agder David Bowie (1947-2016) is one of the most influential and visible artists in the history of popular culture. Ten years after his death, interest in his work is stronger than ever.

Upcoming conference: “Sensation: The Sounds, Visions, and Words of David Bowie. Bowie is one of the most influential and visible artists in the history of popular culture. Ten years after his death, interest in his work is stronger than ever. Sept 29-30, 2026, Univ of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway.”

Catherine O'Hara standing indoors in front of a patterned metallic wall with round lights. She is shown from the waist up, wearing a long-sleeved red textured top. Her shoulder-length blonde hair is parted near the center, and she is smiling slightly while facing the camera. The background features repeating rectangular metal tiles with warm reflections and two visible round light fixtures on the right side.

On this day in 1954, Catherine O'Hara was born in Toronto. A Canadian comedy icon, she received two Emmys, a Golden Globe, a Governor General's Performing Arts Award, the Order of Canada and a star on Canada's Walk of Fame. She died on Jan. 30, 2026.

I have given to you the ocean under your sandals. (WWO)

Bright pink and green auroras in the background, and a little church in the foreground.

Now is a good time to see some #auroras! As we move into March, we are entering an aurora season. These periods of increased auroral activity occur twice a year, around the March and September #equinoxes. 🌎🔭

Why? It’s all about magnetism and geometry. Find out more:
buff.ly/j7SkkiD

📸 JD Smith.

1908: the Lancet, one of the most respected scientific journals, calls for 18 age limit on reading in bed amidst a moral panic surrounding children becoming "addicted" to novels, which were "designed to keep kids hooked" and destroy their attention/mental health

An old time-y illustration of a Hedge mustard.

Today is Quartidi the 14th of Ventôse in the year 234.
Ventôse is the month of wind.
Today we celebrate hedge mustard. #JacobinDay

More information on hedge mustard

Entangled Territoriesདཀའ་རྙོག་ནང་གི་ཡུལ་སྡེ། - Museum of Anthropology at UBC Closed Mondays October 15 – May 15

Join upcoming events in March such as panel discussions and curator tours for Entangled Territories: Tibet Through Images, an exhibition curated by our Assoc. Prof Fuyubi Nakamura!

If you're not able to visit in-person, enjoy an online tour hosted by Dr. Nakamura.

IWM Q 559 Watering horses at No. 5 Veterinary Hospital at Abbeville, 3 March 1916. https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205072053

IWM Q 560 Surgeon, helped by the AVC troops, performing an operation on horse under chloroform at No.5 Veterinary Hospital; Abbeville, 3 March 1916. https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205072054

IWM Q 561 A mare and her foal look out from a makeshift tent at No. 5 Veterinary Hospital, Abbeville, 3 March 1916. https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205191381

Mar 3 1916 At No. 5 Veterinary Hospital in Abbeville, France, official war photographer Ernest Brooks takes these photos of horses being taken care of, including one horse that has been given chloroform while getting an operation

#OTD in 636: The Tang Bureau of Historiography 史館 completes five dynastic or standard histories 正史 of its immediate predecessors, History of the Liang 梁書, History of the Chen 陳書, History of the Northern Qi 北齊書 and Northern Zhou 北周書, and History of the Sui 隋書.

It's #TangRestorationDay! #OTD in 705, Li Xian 李顯 (656–710), known to posterity as Zhongzong 中宗 (r. 684; 705–10), restores the Tang 唐 after the Zhou 周 interregnum of his mother, Empress-regnant Wu Zetian 武則天 (r. 690–705). #BringBackTheTang

I am entertained by the new discourse of the rapture and end times in American politics flooding social media.

It's almost like religion departments in universities have been dismissed for decades.

Buy your local Religious Studies scholar a drink and catch up

Screenshot of moon app shows full moon

Moon update:

The sky quivers, the earth quakes before me, for I am a magician, I possess magic. I have come that I may glorify Orion, that I may set Osiris at the head, that I may set the gods upon their thrones. (PTF)

religion is still not done with you

At 85, Korea's oldest college graduate this year proves it's never too late to learn - The Korea Times With a navy cap perched above her permed brown hair and a shy smile, 85-year-old Kim Jeong-ja slowly made her way up to the podium at Sookmyung Wom...

At 85, South Korea’s oldest college graduate this year proves it’s never too late to learn
Kim Jeong-ja received an associate degree in social welfare from Sookmyung Women’s University. Her 7 years of study began when she first picked up a pencil at age 78 to learn how to read and write.

The only translation I regularly consult.