really...?!?

I think a great counter argument to your thesis can be found in the writing of @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social. She has made great arguments why the things most current AI does/is designed to do is just a grift for that tech world.

@scalzi.com Having read your film criticism from your blog and now this from another author I like very much, would you say the form itself helps you develop as a writer?

The Book as Extractive Technology

The Institute for Ideas and Imagination has posted a lecture I gave in September on extractivism, ”AI”, and book slavery in Ancient Rome on their podcast feed. open.spotify.com/episode/5cGH...

I am glad the universe sent you both to the right place at the right time

Sounds like the opening to a new novel....

Schumer needs to be defeated as leader in January 2027.

There is real rancor in the caucus with him; this is an achievable goal.

Call your senators, ask your candidates - do not support Schumer for leader.

Abolish Ice should be a centrist position

Are you a PhD student studying urban or metropolitan history? Apply to join the inaugural Alison Isenberg Dissertation Colloquium that we're running at the SACRPH conference this October.

Come for the snacks, stay for the mentorship, camaraderie, and writing help.

Kate Elliot's Unconquerable Sun and the sequel Furious Heaven.

This looks very cool.

An upcoming exhibit at the Museum of the City of NY—exhibit on occupied NYC during the Revolution.

mcny.orghttps//www.mcny.or...

The History Department is committed to interdisciplinary approaches to the study of the past. We seek a scholar of early modern empires, whose work on concepts of social difference and distinction (e.g., complex paradigms of unfreedom, muti-ethnic and multi-religious port city community formations, histories of raza and casta) would bring a distinctive, bridging focus to comparative and connected histories across Indian and Atlantic oceanic world regions and geographies. We are especially interested in scholarship focused on novel approaches to understanding difference and hierarchy in the early modern world, with a focus on social identities, community formation, maritime networks, and economic exchange. Fellows would have the chance to draw on existing synergies with current department members at Barnard as well as Columbia.

JOB: Early Career Faculty Fellow, History, Barnard College

Early Modern empires

2 year appointment, 1-1 teaching load
www.higheredjobs.com/faculty/deta...

I'm not a sports columnist or else I'd be busy right now banging out my column: "The Enshittification of the NHL Winter Classic."

Do people know that there are almost 1 million Muslims in NYC? Where are the stories about how Muslims are feeling about the first Muslim Mayor in NYC?

No one could read before Gutenberg. Except five priests and the pope. The alphabet was a secret.

Beastly Transformations as gluttonous as a pig, as angry as a lion, as quarrelsome as a dog

What does the so-called zombie apocalypse of drug addiction in Kensington, a neighborhood in Philadelphia, have to do with early-modern drunkenness? Check out my latest short piece about the monstrous drunkard's "Beastly Transformations" in @contingent-mag.bsky.social.

WELCOME MY SIBLINGS IN PIE

I think you could argue Saving Private Ryan is also competence porn, again in the best way. The Captain is just damned good at his job, which is why gets the shit detail in the first place.

Sydney Opera House

This spectacular image of the planetary alignment of Saturn, Mars, Venus, and Jupiter above the Sydney Opera House was taken in the early morning around April 21, 2022, and featured as NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day on April 26, 2022

🔭 Yesterday I made a last attempt to capture 3I/ATLAS, our interstellar visitor.
By now its brightness has faded to just magnitude 13.3, but after an hour of exposure it still showed up. A faint glimpse of a traveler from beyond our solar system. 😀
#Astrophotography #seestar #3iatlas #comet

No one should have to be awake for dentistry and healthcare should fully cover sedation.

#SedatedDentistry2026

Do I have your vote?

related: teeth are not optional bones and dentistry should be fully covered.

❤️❤️❤️

A nebula X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: T.A. Rector (NRAO/AUI/NSF and NOIRLab/NSF/AURA) and B.A. Wolpa (NOIRLab/NSF/AURA); Infrared: NASA/NSF/IPAC/CalTech/Univ. of Massachusetts; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare & J.Major

This is NGC 2264, also called the "Christmas Tree Cluster." It's a cluster of young stars about 2,500 light years away.

They were 'born' during the Pliocene Epoch (2-5 MYA), about the same time as early hominids like Ardipithecus or Homo habilis, so they're barely older than humanity.
🎄💫🔭

We're all descendants of a bunch of Mesozoic mammals who scrambled around trying to avoid being lunch for dinosaurs.

I don't know what that makes you feel, but remember how far your DNA has come, and that there lies within you a plucky survivor.

Stop Defending Bari Weiss It is impossible to take her actions at face value given the context in which she is operating.

"Weiss is following a long-standing instinct to turn every Trump abuse into a debate, a generosity she does not afford targets on the left...impossible to take her objections at face value given the context in which she's operating."
-@jonathanbchait.bsky.social

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

BEAUVAIS MISSAL ALERT! I am so excited that @rarebookschool.bsky.social acquired this leaf! Here's its record in @fragmentarium.bsky.social , updated with the new location! Can't wait to use this for teaching in '26! fragmentarium.ms/overview/F-0...

That character on here who keeps insisting "you can't read everything! no one actually reads all of the literature in their field" has never met an exam committee.

fwiw, for me the whole discourse about AI "summarizing" materials comes from the idea that doing the Humanities is "easy" and books/ articles are simply information conveyance mechanisms, not the thing they are - knowledge creation machines with nuanced arguments

First-of-a-kind study shows encouraging data for trans kids who socially transition Ninety-four percent of participants in a new study stood firm in their trans identity after five years, and "detransitioning" is rare.

The name "Popular Science" doesn't mean we shift our coverage depending on public opinion. It means we cover relevant subjects that are rigorously researched, reliable, and grounded in reality.

And trans lives are grounded in reality.

We see y'all. No matter what.

www.popsci.com/science/tran...