I got to share with a new group of people today that Kash Patel and Zohran Mamdani, both children of Indian-Ugandan immigrants, represent the true duality of man

I couldn't remember the name of the Boots Riley film and thought it was "Thank you for" something

Submitted an article! My first ever on my new research. Stay tuned for more details (I hope)

Back briefly to say: Ban "deploy" from academic prose, unless it's specifically about nations deploying troops. I just read a sentence about a vegetable being "deployed" as an agent of cultural identity, ffs.

Back briefly to say: Ban "deploy" from academic prose, unless it's specifically about nations deploying troops. I just read a sentence about a vegetable being "deployed" as an agent of cultural identity, ffs.

I’m going to deactivate for a few months to focus on work! Maybe when I come back, the news will be less bleak

REMEMBERING GAZA SCHOLARS A group of academics have spent the past 18 months creating an archive that commemorates the lives of Palestinian scholars killed by Israel. 83 of our colleagues, so far, have bios; the group's work continues rememberinggazascholars.org

Late to the game, perhaps, but the whole two hours are worth listening to. Side note: I appreciate the host’s encouragement to guests to speak freely in the moment and ask later to have things edited out if they’d like. It‘s much easier not to self-edit in the moment if you have that assurance!

I recognize there is a complicated taxonomy for what the different color heart emojis mean but I'm drawing a line in the sand on that one and refusing to learn. A man has to have a code.

Ne-Yo in shambles

Please, no, I already lived through "Will Americans eat more vegetarian food if it looked more like meat," and it resulted in the Impossible-ification of all veggie burgers. I can't do this again with seafood.

Doctor: *says my name* Am I saying that right? Me: *pronounces my name the way I pronounce it* Doctor: *tries again, gives up* Oh never mind, I won’t get it right anyway. People mispronounce my name all the time, so it’s really important to me to get patients‘ names right. Me: Is that…what this was?

"We are at war, and thousands of people are dead. We are at war, and we are complaining about high gas prices and long lines at the airport. We are at war, and running late for our next appointment." organizingmythoughts.org/the-zombie-d...

Let's remember some of history's best analog posters Martin Luther Confucius Equality Phil

This sounds great "Fahmida Riaz transports readers to fifth-century Ctesiphon, the zenith of the Sasanian Empire... follows Mazdak, the first socialist revolutionary in history, as he challenges the power structures of his time, attempting to bring about a more fair and just society."

people who hear a researcher describe a problem they've not been able to solve and immediately think "i'm going to enter this into chatgpt and send this person the results," what's going through your beautiful mind?

he wants occurrences to please stop occurring

tfw you find a 2013 blogpost comments section about the exact problem you're trying to solve, and a commenter says they've prepared a presentation on this very topic, and then the link is dead

I spoke to another mother, Griselda, picked up in Florida on her way to work. She was sent to ICE detention in Texas by herself even though she said she told agents about her 1-yr-old US citizen and 4-yr-old, who were with a babysitter. Their separation lasted four months. 4/

Was feeling really good about my recent writing output until I came across this in Lewis Mumford:

My kingdom for a murder mystery that doesn't give away the plot by casting exactly one high-profile cast member who would obviously not be in this film just to be somebody's aunt.

When I hear french people loudly fighting on the street, for some reason I always assume it’s about philospohy.

And then there’s small signs that no human actually read the whole thing: the “19th century translation” tab frequently includes an ad for New Advent or other information that belongs in the description or metadata. Overall, a troubling site but not, I think, the last of its kind.

As for why people are in such a rush to get projects out, well, it is probably because of the personal branding hell we all participate in, coupled with the feeling that if you’re doing this work without institutional support, any day could be your last day doing it.

This project seems to be the work of a single developer and inspired by the dissertation of another. I think it is the kind of situation where we will see people defend the use of AI translations: a single person without expert domain knowledge or grant money to hire translators or metadata editors.

Anyways, the DH community + Classics are going to have to have a long discussion on the (lack of) ethics and IP morality of using AI (which has stolen countless translations published by humans) alongside 19th century Latin and Greek translations. We haven’t had that conversation yet, but we should.

Relatable king

Saving some useful sayings in my Pleco cards for later

These two sentences are all you need from this: 1.) “He remained allergic to un-rigorous thought, no matter its political allegiance.” 2.) “His rejection [of me], in the end, was unequivocal.”

So, I read a few chapters of the book that was pulled because of credible allegations that it was produced by LLMs. I am now convinced that if the LLM email affect is “even-keeled, says nothing,” the LLM fiction/pathos affect is “melodrama; unrelenting abject debasement”

More Money, More Problems? A Hayekian Rejoinder to Modern Monetary Theory

meanwhile, a lot of teenagers think Harriet Tubman, Anne Frank, and Helen Keller were hoaxes

Eid Mubarak! عيد مبارك! ⵚⴻⵃⵃⴰ ⵍⵄⵉⴷ ⵏⵡⴻⵏ! ʕuqbɑṛ gabəl! Wa kay yeesi! Far too many people right now trying to celebrate Eid under attack, or driven out of their homes... Hoping and praying for their safety.

Eid Mubarak. Here is my daughter fending off a Beirut cat who belongs to the cafe but wanders in and out depending on the menu. If you celebrate, may your meal be as tempting as the makdous bi labneh was to this kitty.

For the first time in 60 years, Palestinians are being barred from praying at Al Aqsa mosque, one of the holiest sites in Islam. This morning, Palestinians tried to pray Eid right outside and were brutally attacked by the Israeli Occupation Forces.

the phrase, “if you’re a mama with littles…” makes my skin crawl lol

A couple of new 🐶 books have just arrived

I have a great pre-20th century version of a Chinese literature joke based on a 17th century commentary on a Chinese literature joke about a 13th century Chinese literature joke updated from a 12th century Chinese literature joke about a 9th century Chinese literature joke

Shatranj ke Khiladi is a wild film ( complimentary)

Democratic consultants: To replicate Mamdani’s success with the young people we must appeal to their short attention spans with memes and TikTok Mamdani (actual quote): In the fifth century in what we now know as Ireland, a British warlord named Coroticus had laid waste to the countryside

I know I am biased. I’m a huge consumer of this genre. But I think this is the exact right lane for that character. He’s basically Jessica Fletcher.

Between Harris and Krishnamoorthi, it's clear that the system is rigged against Tamil people.

“It is no small act to weep with those who weep” — Mamdani’s powerful St. Patrick’s Day message infused with echoes of Karbala, the defining moment of Shia history

ME: it's so funny that when Sweet Baby grabs my phone she so often bashes the screen in such a way that turns the WiFi off GOD (*head in hands*): son I am SCREAMING at you, I could not conceivably be more clear about my will for you

And big shout out to Rosemary Graham, the St. Mary's College professor who inspired Ryan Coogler to become a screenwriter. AAUP member since 1994! 🎥🎬🍿 ✊🏾✊🏼✊🏿

Oscar-winner Ryan Coogler recalling how a college writing professor pushed him to become a screenwriter & the possibility of #Sinners being taught in film curriculums someday: “I have so much respect for professors…for dedicating their life to future generations & making sure their minds are solid.”

He also manages, in his resignation letter, to blame the Iraq War and US intervention in Syria on “Israel and its powerful American lobby.” The cognitive dissonance in the isolationist wing of MAGA between loving Trump and hating this war is going to be resolved with a lot of antisemitism.

There's got to be a word for when a researcher coins a term to identify a phenomenon and its harms, and a few years later, an influencer uses that same term as a convenient how-to for that phenomenon.

Been looking forward to this book!

It’s true. Some of us do it of our own volition. Feelings are 9 to 5, this is what it sounds like