People on the left generally seem to have a better understanding of the risks of AI than this thread does: for example, many on the left understand how capital will use AI (whether it works or not) to attempt mass job cuts. The hype is immaterial at this point, this has already begun.

Non-Classicists finding out about Thomas Hubbard because he turned up in the Epstein Files was not on my 2026 bingo card… and yet here we are.

My plan for this afternoon: ▫️Lock in a write 3-4 lectures ▫️Put together a coffee table What I actually did: ✔️Clean up a massive mess cause by a snow leak happening on top of my dog’s pee pads ✔️Call multiple people to fix roof (still have no one leak is continuing )

I bet everyone mad at the halftime show can do the Macarena in their sleep

I’m fine with not understanding song lyrics because I was raised on the classics (One Week by Barenaked Ladies)

People complaining the songs weren’t in English as though they’ve never belted out “revved up like a douche” when singing along to Blinded by the Light

Canada pairs free skate to the gladiator soundtrack??? Am I hearing this right?

This Super Bowl Sunday, I’d like to introduce you all to the magical curse bowls used in Upper Mesopotamia and Syria in late antiquity. Written in Mandaic (as here) or Syriac Aramaic, they trap demons who trespass on a household by sucking them in with spiraling spells to the center of the bowl.

it's his day #SuperbOwl

i need an emotional support perogi

Ok so who is watching men’s figure skating???

Begging high schools to stop encouraging students use chat gpt. Make them write in class essays instead. By hand.

Child at the podium: “A woo woo woo.” Mamdani: That’s how I felt when we came up with this plan. Together, we will expand the idea of what is possible in our city—and what sounds and noises we can make at a press conference.

It is really infuriating to see how misogyny really does unite men across the sociopolitical spectrum. And, in so far as the Epstein files go, they sort women into two categories: fuckable or irrelevant. When they near a hint of accountability they complain about not being able to make women prey.

I actually started looking this up when the files were released. Epstein referred to himself as Julius Caesar a few times. It also appears he bought ancient art from Christie’s. Then there’s this

Really nuts how many men were like "Me Too went too far, and I need to email Jeffrey Epstein about it."

Classics mental health break question: Is Bring Me to Life by Evanescence the story of Orpheus and Eurydice from the perspective of Eurydice? Discuss.

MISS PIGGY AS CIRCE!!!

This is very, very good.

Epstein’s economic power among academics was made possible by a capitalist system that makes higher education dependent on the charity economy rather than a public good supported by taxing the rich

Doing the Orpheus and Eurydice myth for my Fall of Rome class to discuss what happened to Roman mythological figures during and after Late Antiquity. We are reading: Ovid, Virgil, Boethius, and Sir Orfeo.

Tell me five classes you took at university: 1. Intro to Viticulture and Enology 2. Intro to International Agricultural Development 3. Medieval Latin 4. Latin Prose Comp 5. Astronomy

i remember reading once that, in studies of sexual violence, the vast majority of cases are done by repeat offenders who never get punished just thinking about that right now

I am gonna need the dudes who thought they were cool and edgy when they played devil’s advocate in their philosophy 101 courses to take a back seat when it comes to the files.

I absolutely *do not* need to play the All The Things She Said remix from Heated Rivalry and discuss whether or not Erasmus was a twink in order to get my lower div world history students interested in Renaissance humanism.

Me: bad news students, I found my first grey hair this weekend. It’s all downhill from here. Student 1: have you picked out your plot? For your grave? Student 2: do you know what you’re going to wear for your funeral? Student 3: you should probably get your affairs in order.

Friendship is sending each other the same recycled meme over and over again until you die

i have just gotten off a productive call with sauron where i laid out our requests - nazgul bodycams - morgul knife must remain sheathed unless suspect is determined to be carrying the one ring - shelob will be the new point of contact

How are you able to do scholarship in these times?????? Like on top of *gestures wildly* I’m also fighting a data center from coming in by my house and am stressing over medical bills, I have 0 mental energy for my scholarship right now.

Okay anyone else on upscrolled? I just joined, I’m there as @ vintagehistorian

I think it’s really cool and interesting when Boethius said, “it is our chiefest aim to refuse compliance with evildoers.”

He woke me up to let me know about the view outside

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara: "People have had enough. This is the third shooting in less than 3 weeks. The MPD went the entire year last year recovering about 900 guns from the street, arresting hundreds of violent offenders, and we didn't shoot anyone ... this is not sustainable."

Time for a little mental health break with Mushroom the Pug

i hate living in the second act of CABARET. i miss living in the first act of CABARET

👋🏻I’ve worked on Roman gender stuff, you can ask me about it, it’s cool.

Me: Dad, have you ever heard of trees exploding from the cold? Dad, who was a park ranger for 20 years: No because I live in California.

Alright, I’m stocked up on fire wood, chomps sticks, la croix, string cheese, bananas, canned garbanzo beans, and chips. Am I doing winter storm prep correctly?

“feelings aren’t facts” actually, Audre Lorde says “our feelings are our most genuine paths to knowledge. they are chaotic, sometimes painful, sometimes contradictory, but they come from deep within us. & we must key into those feelings. this is how new visions begin.” so there.

I love how we can land a man on the moon & we have surveillance technology that would make Orwell faint, but we can’t predict the weather in Ohio. Will there be 3 inches of snow? Will there be 18? Will there be an ice tornado that wipes out every town between Cincinnati and Columbus? Who’s to say?

Okay how can I fit Sinners into my ancient history in modern film course? Thinking maybe music history in Africa?

As a historian I predict that unchecked and rampant AI (and their data centers) will cause the decline of modern society through environmental, educational, and economic collapse. And I’m a pretty devout follower of Peter Brown, so saying this is actually a big deal.

I had a dream last night that JD Vance was Rasputin reincarnated and this came to light because people discovered they wore eyeliner the same way.

I gave my students a printed out chapter from The World of Late Antiquity instead of a PDF, and idk if it’s because it was a physical copy or if it’s because it was Peter Brown (both?) but the engagement and discussion was the best I’ve had maybe since Covid.

Musk and all his little DOGE minions should be buried under the jail

I keep thinking about Telesilla, the poet who defended Argos from Sparta by arming her fellow women (and the children and elderly). What strikes me about that story now is that it was the Spartans who backed down—they forfeited, rather than fight and kill a city of armed, nonmilitary people.

I’m currently obsessed with this mosaic of the Three Wise Men wearing Phrygian caps. From Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, Italy, photo by Nina-no, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ma...

Once white women–particularly white women in suburbs with college degrees–began to consistently vote for the Democrats, conservative media no longer felt a need to appeal to them and instead A) disdained them and B) felt it could caricature white women the same way it does other "out-groups."