“This poem revolutionizes our understanding of the ancient world,” says Trinity professor Oliver O’Leary. “We had no idea that the ancient Romans had knowledge of Nantucket, let alone met a man from there. And the rich anatomical detail—“

I don’t know how to tell you this, Mr Schmidt, but if ‘Someone offers you a seat on the rocket ship and you don’t ask which seat’, then you’re a moron. I hope someone offers you a seat on a rocket ship, and you only find out later it comes with a one-way ticket.

Look, Middlemarch is a great novel. It complexly mediates class conflict, the commodification of all life, emerging ideological structures in Victorian capitalism. I just personally think it’s more impressive when a novel does that through a story about a guy who hates a weird fish.

Any book publishers on here by chance?

Amid all the book-length lists of "100 best books" of this, that and the other type, why isn't there one of the 100 funniest novels? We could all use something like that right about now.

I feel confident that this man has no idea what the women in his house do.

These. People. Are. So. Weird.

If you can think of a more repellent way to announce the death of a husband and father, I'd be fascinated to hear of it.* *no I wouldn't. Don't bother.

Interesting. Leaves illness or disease out, but oddly includes pregnancy and associated reproductive care as ‘external’. I’d figure pregnancy was one of the most internal things a person could do, but hey, I’m not a doctor.

Niche ballet post: Covent Garden bans all live animals onstage. The Royal Ballet’s La Fille Mal Gardée is now sans Shetland pony, & Peregrine has been retired to a farm in the country. (The ROH swears this is not a euphemism.)

File photo (with Paris, right)

All those dead novelists, sitting around going “Jesus feck, they never told me it was a competition!”

I would liked it nailed to the doors of Westminster, but I've settled for signing it. petition here: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/76...

Isn’t he the dude who confused The Odyssey and The Iliad? I can see why he’s so invested then.

‘The vehicle made contact’: that must be one of Elon Musk’s so far uninvented driverless cars, because according to Cornell’s deeply rigorous investigation, no one was driving, and the car ran over a student all on its own. IT’S ALIIIIIIVE!

The funny thing happening at this place is a critique of the Old English chatbots' syntax

History can bring contemporary joy. The 21st Royal (North British) Fusiliers, known in the 19th c. as the Buffs, in the 20th c. merged & became the Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment. No longer colloquially known as the Buffs, after the late lamented Princess, they became -- ta-da! -- the Squidgies.

Lovely appreciation of David Munrow, 50 years after his shockingly early death. How much he accomplished in less than a decade.

Note @newsweek.com misogyny: not ‘Another Sexual Predator Revealed’, but this poor delicate little man has been ‘targeted’ by the evil ‘Me Too women’. Just disgusting.

What do you know. Ronald Lauder, multi-billionaire art collector, donates (?) the contents (?) of his private Neue Galerie to the Met. I guess that's what you do when you're 80+, your son-in-law is Thiel-buddy nominee for the Fed Reserve & you want those Trumpy rich-folk tax credits. #taxtherich

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, this is the first known usage of the word 'parachute' in print. That's it, that's the whole post. Just a bunch of parachuting sheep.

OK I dont like Trump but this is just mean

'What British People Really Mean when They Say Sorry' leaves out one important thing. 'Sorry' never means 'I am sorry'.

JFC

Amazing that the journalist’s response to hearing someone was the recipient of an antisemitic tirade is, ‘But you’re not Jewish.’ Do we presume it would have been OK to the journo if he was?

I got one of these ‘grandparent scam’ calls. I kept the little fucker on the line for at least 20 minutes after he called, crying, ‘Grandma, I’ve been arrested and need bail,’ before I shouted, ‘IT’S A MIRACLE! Because I don’t have children!’

Really, I can’t see any problem with historians being replaced by AI. It’ll all be fi— . Oh.

Things I never believed could happen, part 9 million: Me: *grudgingly beginning a book on the development of 19th-c. insurance practices* *10 minutes later* THIS IS SO INTERESTING!

Not only have I no, never noticed this, but...

But aside from that it’s all good, right? RIGHT?

Ouch.

Good morning to all of us with something to hawk 👋

I'm not sure I've ever heard an announcer as ego-inflated as Elizabeth Alker on @bbcradio3bot.bsky.social. 'I'm Elizabeth Alker [first/last name]. My team [not the or our team] is [first names only]. Then 'Here's my ensemble' [not the ensemble]. Lizzie, you're a radio announcer, not Rudolf Byng.

Is this bad? This sounds bad.

Great graphic from this great newslettter: chatgptiseatingtheworld.substack.com

Thought this was a model response from @celiarichardson.bsky.social to a pretty harsh article in the Spectator about the National Trust

this graduation speech moment is notable, and her amazed shock at having failed to read the room feels instructive. when you're inside the bubble, you think everybody else is. but everybody isn't.

An ex-editor thinks: Hmm, really shocking use of apostrophes there.

A tale as old as time.

this is wholly insane. not saying that the scifi canon doesn't include a tonne of "AI turns evil" stories but this argument demands that claude personally identifies with the AIs in the stories, and understand what blackmail is and that it is an evil act jfc they are so high on their own product

Ladies and gents, I give you Hungary’s (likely) new health minister. New regime, new air guitar!

Great thread on how to improve archives and access to archival material. (Clue: it ain’t AI.)

See? Some days do bring us all good things.

Instead of protests, Hungarians gathered for the first time in a very long time to greet their new Prime Minister and welcome the new government.

@waywordradio.org More on how (not) to answer a phone. Admiral Hill-Norton, who according to one obituary was known as 'the rudest man in the British navy' was said to pick up the phone with 'State your business quickly, we're busy men here.'

And I love the woman at 1:08. She is one of the few who knows the words, and she is belting it out.

For those who think symbolism doesn’t matter.

If only there was a room they could put it in…. Maybe call it a baal room

𝐴𝑤𝑒𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒

Seniors in a park enjoy a statue of an old man shaking his fist at clouds.