Joyce Chaplin

#NoKings Boston! The Common is crammed, the posters are primo

“The Ministry of Peace concerns itself with war, the Ministry of Truth with lies, the Ministry of Love with torture and the Ministry of Plenty with starvation. These contradictions are not accidental…they are deliberate exercises in doublethink.” Orwell, “1984”

And the first week of the new academic year starts with some excellent news www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

First day of the semester, first day of a new class, a freshman seminar on “Moby-Dick,” the novel and its significance for the history of resource extraction: “wonder ye then at the fiery hunt?”

412 Joyce Chaplin, The Franklin Stove How did Benjamin Franklin’s stove save energy? What does it reveal about wood, trees, and attempts to control the climate?

Franklin didn’t just invent a stove—he invented five. Each one was designed to conserve fuel and control smoke. His final models in Europe? Built to burn coal cleaner.

Sound familiar? 📻 Listen to @joycechaplin.bsky.social‬ break it down: benfranklinsworld.com/412

#EnergyHistory #History

The first anti-vaxxers worried that the original vaccine, which used cowpox against smallpox, would turn them into cows, a bizarre fear depicted here by caricaturist James Gillray—today is his day.

Maybe it’s bad travel karma to travel with a novel whose manuscript was traveling on a train when it crashed?

E pur si muove…

Thank you so much!!

Earth will spin faster today to create 2nd-shortest day in history Our planet has been rotating at its fastest since records began in 1973.

You may not have noticed, but today is the second shortest day in history—if we get many more days like this, by 2029, atomic clocks may have to register a negative leap second www.space.com/astronomy/ea...

Many thanks!

I am so sorry Joanne, but also glad there are still people who are kind when kindness is needed

If we include natural history, Rachel Carson, David Attenborough…

Your annual reminder of science’s foundational role in US history: on July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was first publicly read, in Philadelphia, from a platform originally built for astronomers to observe the 1769 Transit of Venus—science was the literal platform for revolution

“More than 98 percent of [Harvard] faculty who responded to the survey supported the University’s decision to sue the White House.” www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

Bruce Lee, birthright citizen

‘This is a fight for life’: climate expert on tipping points, doomerism and using wealth as a shield Economic assumptions about risks of the climate crisis are no longer relevant, says the communications expert Genevieve Guenther

Fantastic piece by @doctorvive.bsky.social about the climate crisis, a must-read and a necessary pushback to abundance-narrative delusions www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Yale backing Harvard in lawsuit against government In a joint motion with 17 other universities, Yale argues that cutting federal funds to Harvard endangers the nation.

Dogs and cats, living together… yaledailynews.com/blog/2025/06...

🔥Did you know colonial Americans worried about climate change during the Little Ice Age?

Benjamin Franklin had a solution: a stove that used less wood, produced more heat, and filled the room without smoke.

🎧 Episode 412: benfranklinsworld.com/412

#EarlyAmerica #History #ClimatePast #USHistory

“This splendid account offers a rich new perspective on the origins of climate science”—wow, and thank you @publisherswkly.bsky.social for the starred review of my new book on the FRANKLIN STOVE

Trump Administration Halts Harvard’s Ability to Enroll International Students

Since Harvard’s founding, its international students have spoken a great many languages, each of which would have apt and colorful expressions for telling the Trump administration where to get off with this blatantly prejudicial statement
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/22/u...

Yes, and the blow-by-blow commentary is also withering

Trump Administration Live Updates: Meeting With South African Leader Turns Contentious Over False Genocide Claims

And today’s award for National Leader Maintaining Extraordinary Grace under Egregious Trump Pressure goes to South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa

www.nytimes.com/live/2025/05...

Boston-area climate activists report visits from the FBI Local climate activists are on edge after people claiming to be FBI agents visited at least six at their homes on the same day in Greater Boston in March. Weeks later, the motivations behind these vis...

This is bad www.wbur.org/news/2025/05...

Now we’re cooking

The pope has no airplane. The pope flies on chartered commercial aircraft. The plane he uses is, for the duration of the flight, designated as: Shepherd One.

Having blood drawn to see if I have measles antibodies—as one now does

Trump Is Poised to Accept a Luxury 747 From Qatar for Use as Air Force One

Recalling today the graciousness with which President Abraham Lincoln declined King Mongkut of Siam’s proposed gift to assist US transportation: “a stock from which a supply of elephants might be raised.” www.nytimes.com/2025/05/11/u...

This is exactly the thing NOAA would never say unless it needed to signal it was being held hostage