Seth Morgan

Cryptid?

Danton, Robespierre, Desmoulins.

Captain's Choice: Frightening Books Intriguing nightmares

Looking for some spooky reads? The Enthusiast has some recs (no paywall). My choice was White Tears by @harikunzru.bsky.social , a furious, haunting read I haven’t stopped thinking about since I read it. open.substack.com/pub/theenthu...

Later the narrator says, “she found that nothing offended her but cruelty.” Could be a coincidence, but Shklar’s ideas fit well with the themes of the novel. Maybe the nerds at @liberalcurrents.com or @jacobtlevy.bsky.social know if I’m on the right track.

Right now I’m reading The Fraud by @zadiesmith.bsky.social and Judith Shklar’s Ordinary Vices, and I’m pretty sure Smith read Shklar! Eliza in the Fraud says “Cruelty stands apart. In any degree cruelty is a crime. It is the very worst that we can do“ echoing Shklar’s “putting cruelty first.”

My timeline is now full of other people posting about how they are similarly confused 😂. Must be a big list.

I just followed a Liberal Currents starter pack. Are you in that?

Trees are natural ACs for cities, if you plant the right ones Urban trees are on the rise but researchers are only starting to uncover the best way to cool cities with them

Urban trees can lower temps by up to 12°C, but it’s not just about quantity. Species, layout and local climate all play a role in how effective they are. Strategic planting leads to cooler streets, cleaner air and healthier communities, especially in neighborhoods vulnerable to rising temperatures.

lol, same!

On the Phone with Robert Redford Pick it up and listen

Great piece from Steven Kennedy on the late great Robert Redford’s ability to act while talking on the phone: open.substack.com/pub/theenthu...

Collections: Life, Work, Death and the Peasant, Part I: Households This is the first post in a series discussing the basic contours of life – birth, marriage, labor, subsistence, death – of pre-modern peasants and their families. Prior to the industria…

Really enjoying @bretdevereaux.bsky.social's series on pre-modern peasants -- the majority of people who have ever lived. So knowledgeable and fascinating. acoup.blog/2025/07/11/c...

The letter is ready, thanks to all those who helped out! Starting to gather signature now, please consider signing (link at top of letter) & spread the word.

docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Open Tombs: Donald Hall and Jane Kenyon the pain-deadening walk forward after loss

Got an essay out about the poetry power-couple Jane Kenyon and Donald Hall. Also loss, grief, and mortality. open.substack.com/pub/theenthu...

Really loving @liberalcurrents.com these days. Always challenges my brain and adds to my reading list. Good stuff by @paulcrider.liberalcurrents.com , @adamgurri.liberalcurrents.com , @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com and others.

With my latest project I switched from stargazer to modelsummary for generating tables. Really great R package! Thanks to @vincentab.bsky.social. modelsummary.com

Is there a field biologist in the Portland, Oregon, area who wouldn't mind being in a bear suit for an hour in the woods on August 4. For science. DM me.

My practical tips for designing and analyzing powerful experiments

My practical tips for designing, implementing, and analyzing powerful experiments. In today's blog I summarize a new paper I've written for a special issue on power calculations. A key message is that it does not make sense to talk of “the” power of an experiment. blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...

🦐 Shrimp farms in Indonesia yield more when surrounded by mangroves.

Restoring mangroves = better shrimp + stronger climate resilience. Let’s farm smarter, not harder.

Learn more about this work here link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Looking for economists to follow on BlueSky, in particular in your field or geographic area? IDEAS has various lists to help you. See there as well to get listed (hint: just add your BlueSky handle in your author profile)

ideas.repec.org/i/ebluesky.h...

#RePEc #EconSky

The first commit for the #rstats {tigris} package was 10 (!) years ago, and the package is still going strong.

tigris gets geographic data from the US Census Bureau into R for you -- often in a single line of code.

As tigris turns 10, let's review what it can do:

Adrian Tchaikovsky is terrific! Really loved Children of Time. Maybe favorite sci-fi and up there with Iain Banks for being full of ideas.

How should we measure household wealth in our surveys?

Nice resource on measuring wealth in surveys: blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...?

I am pleased to share the most significant study that I have so far contributed to. We find overwhelming evidence that mechanical thinning and prescribed fire reduce subsequent wildfire severity across seasonally dry forests in the western USA. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

My words exactly 😂

Bildungscomics: An Internet Coming of Age Clicking "Random" again

I wrote a love letter to my favorite webcomics. Thanks @badmachinery.com , @meredithgran.com and @katebeaton.bsky.social for being there for me in my adulting years! open.substack.com/pub/theenthu...

Nice. And the list of topics just keeps getting longer! 😂

‘In his company you could not be lazy’: remembering my friend Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o A giant of African literature whose best works existed between the political and the personal, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o was warm, funny and friendly – and liked to bet on my pool games

Just saw today that Ngugi wa Thiong'o passed away last week. Farewell to a great writer! If you haven't read Wizard of the Crow, do yourself a favor and pick it up. It's a wild and furious ride. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...

How much mobility is there? Mobility Rates Out of Low-Wage Work in the U.S.

Some economic sociology for #econsky to ponder from @rollingdownhill.com "How much mobility is there?" - More than you'd think but less than you'd hope. And Michael does a good job at pulling texture and detail out of the data: www.rollingdownhill.com/p/how-much-m...

Annual Report for Science Come learn about what the science team at TNC was up to in 2024.

What happens when 1,000+ scientists come together to tackle some of the world’s biggest nature and climate challenges in over 80 countries around the world? Innovation, impact, and hope--that's what!

If you're looking for encouraging news, check out our 2024 @nature_org Science Impact Report ⬇️