Want to read an excerpt from the Prologue of THE WESTERNERS before committing to the whole book? If so, get thee to @literaryhub.bsky.social! lithub.com/frederick-ja...

The New York Times Got Played By A Telehealth Scam And Called It The Future Of AI Since the New York Times published its semi-viral big profile of Medvi last week — the "AI-powered" telehealth startup that it breathlessly described as a "$1.8 billion company" supposedly run by just two brothers —…

Hearst: U.S. Rep. John Larson of Connecticut has filed articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, accusing the president of war crimes and piracy. www.ctinsider.com/politics/art...

Perhaps you need a distraction? Listen to this incredible new interview with @mkn.bsky.social: draftingthepast.com/podcast-epis... 🗃️ #skystorians Unless you are a member of Congress. Then please go do something useful.

Mood. www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwcK...

Best. Unboxing. Ever. “Hey, a book,” he says. #ThePublicScholar from @hopkinspress.bsky.social coming this month. Order yours today! www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/...

There are just three weeks left until the deadline for our #nacbs2026 call for papers! The extended deadline will close on April 27 so get those proposals in!! You can read the full CFP here: www.nacbs.org/call-for-pap...

Do horses want cake? We conducted an investigation into statements published by @bencollins.bsky.social in the print edition of @theonion.com.

It's not the "Muslim name for God"; it's the Arabic word for God, used by Arabic-speaking communities of multiple religions. This is why Religious Studies education is important.

In the spirit of yesterday‘s discussions, here is a reminder that my new book about why Shakespeare was Shakespeare is out in the world!

British Satire Collection. #Trump #Iran #Hegseth

We wanted to know how everyday Judean people felt about the crucifixion of Jesus. So we talked to three Roman soldiers at a taberna in Gadara.

A few weeks ago I wrote that everyone loves to write feminism's obituary. Then the NYT, of course, published ANOTHER obituary for it.

More from the great clear-out: one of the charming features of print only publications were the offprints. They might be autographed by the author and mailed to you. Here, samples from Christopher Hill(to me) and Keith Thomas (to my husband).

In the great clear-out I came across my job applications from the early 1980s. Here for your amusement is a sample letter from 1982. Without email phone numbers very important if you wanted a convention interview.

To put it another way: the technology that means the most to us, and which requires the most active and effective MAINTENANCE, is society itself. If we value the maintainers, then we must look askance at genAi and its owners.

800,000 people who died because of the lack of lifesaving food and medical aid were unavailable for comment.

Awesome plague news! "local populations of Y. pestis may disappear under the influence of adverse climatic changes ... in arid landscapes ... A new activation of epizootic processes occurs due to the introduction of the plague pathogen from other epizootically active territories." 1/3

It's really wild to be teaching the Putney Debates on the day that the Supremes heard arguments in the birthright citizenship case. "Men may justly have by birthright, by their very being born in England, that we should not seclude them out of England". And that is from Ireton, the conservative.

People think writing is this: Aha! I have a fully-formed idea, I will now write it down What writing really is: I kind of have an idea but I will only know what it is as I write it. Then I'll *really* know what it is once I've revised it a few times.

An NBA player was quoted on a podcast as saying if your kid is good enough to be competitive then they’re too competitive to pay to play. It was a comment on the pyramid scam of youth travel leagues. Parents lit him up in the comments. I was reminded that no one likes to know they’re being scammed.

#earlymodern (doesn't 'Long 17thC' cover this? 😁)

Thoughtful and beautifully-written review of The Experience of Work in Early Modern England in @lrb.co.uk by @tomlukejohnson.bsky.social. It's surreal to see #earlymodern deponents and workers like Lucretia Harward getting their day in the 21st-century sun! www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

FACT OF THE DAY. 26 March 1953. In a huge medical breakthrough, US medical researcher Dr Jonas Salk announced that he had created the first polio vaccine. Polio cases fell from 58,000 per year in 1952 to 6,000 by 1958. Salk’s vaccine was replaced by a new one developed by Albert Sabin in 1962.

‘If a girl gets through childhood without experiencing sexual abuse, she will probably find out that some close friend or relation didn’t. Men could find this out too, if they listened to voices besides their own.’ Susan Pedersen on Epstein and entitlement. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Just out! New #plague podcast from the Multicultural Middle Ages on "Pandemic in the Medieval World: Teaching a New Black Death Narrative in the 21st Century" with @monicamedhist.bsky.social, Dr. Lucy Barnhouse, and me, interviewed by Will Beattie. www.multiculturalmiddleages.com/post/pandemi...

Students have no idea how much we root for them

I know this has circulated with alacrity recently, so you may have already seen it, but if you haven't... WOW BOY HOWDY it's the most useful thing. Thank you cardcatalogforlife.substack.com -- this is a very very very helpful public service: cardcatalogforlife.substack.com/p/google-has...

Another university getting rid of things you could only ever do at a university and replacing them with stuff a 13-year-old can do on a phone

So, um... this is bad. Really bad. I looked at the letters that were translated by the AI, and the very first one I found was almost entirely hallucination. Thread:

'Beyond utility: pleasure and play in the works of William Leybourn, writer, stationer, and mathematical practitioner' *NEW* #OpenAccess article from @mdpowelldavies.bsky.social emerging from the #WrittenWorlds project at Birkbeck! Free to read here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

How do we know Shakespeare was Shakespeare? Historian @sdamussen.bsky.social shows how we can be certain that the glover’s son was the author behind Hamlet, King Lear and The Tempest? Join us at @toppingsbath.bsky.social on Tuesday 24th: www.toppingbooks.co.uk/events/bath/... #Bath #booksky

This is why note taking is important. Such a great account.

A fantastic video about project Co-I @lsangha.bsky.social 's Creative Fellowship working with musician Chris Hoban 👇 🎶📜 @leverhulme.ac.uk @uoearchhist.bsky.social #History #EarlyModern #Skystorians

A few months before his death, Sam Clemens reflected on one of the turning points of his life, a measles outbreak in Hannibal: "For a time, a child died almost every day. The village was paralysed with fright, distress, despair." Click through to read more and respond.

We think of the courts dealing with the big issues, but this thread is a great reminder that judges are furious about the incompetence of the government prosecutors in “routine” criminal cases.

There is so much wrong here, but when you are very rich, you can be stupid and no one will tell you what you don't know.

It is grim. Very very grim. And it leads to people taking 1800 (or 1900) as the starting point, as 'normal' in deeply unhelpful ways.

Rube President Continues High Velocity Collision With Reality talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/rube-...

The problem is that this kind of stupid idea *based on a satirical article* is exactly the kind of thing that 47 would think really smart and decide to do. And no one will say "no" to him.

@sdamussen.bsky.social #earlymodern

The short peak season has begun in the strawberries on CA's Central Coast. In this 9 hour day, "Irma" managed to pick 90 flats or 1,020 of the plastic 1 pint boxes we buy at a supermarket. (A flat holds 12 plastic one pint baskets). She earns $2.20 a flat. #WeFeedYou

This whole thread.

“Are you a patriotic American eager to do your part? Then there’s something important you can do! It may be a sacrifice on your part, but it will be a vital help to your country….” “I’ll do ANYTHING. What is it? Tell me!” “Your income tax!” 🗃️

What happens when wealthy, determined women raise money—and attach conditions? What historians call “coercive philanthropy.” Today’s Women’s History Month post tells the story of Mary Elizabeth Garrett and women who forced Johns Hopkins Medical School to admit women. 🗃️ https://tinyurl.com/5n6mc7n5

Going through boxes I've ignored for years, and discovered that when David Underdown did the population estimates for Revel Riot and Rebellion, he used the unused pages of student blue books. #EarlyModern

Habeas corpus is also an English thing that is MORE than 700 years old and yet strangely enough, Stephen Miller doesn't seem to be all that upset about its demise.