Nov 11-12, 1940: Unseasonably warm weather turns into a raging snowstorm without warning, trapping hunters in Minnesota and sinking 3 ships on Lake Michigan. By the time it's over, the "Armistice Day Blizzard" kills 154 people in one of the worst weather disasters in the Upper Midwest.

I have never seen northern lights this vivid from Nebraska.

Check out Revolutions in Retrospect! Our new podcast that explores the revolutions that remade the Atlantic world, from the civil wars of 17th century Britain, the Jacobite Uprisings, & American Independence, to Revolutionary Haiti, the French Revolution, the Enlightenment, & everything in between.

Surprise! @jeanettepatrick.bsky.social and I have teamed up with @lynnprobbins.bsky.social and @patricklong.bsky.social at Primary Source Media to bring you Revolutions in Retrospect, a podcast that explores the histories of the revolutions that remade the Atlantic world.

It’s also established there’s no time to die, so…

Yes but the franchise has established you can only live twice, so…

welcome to bluesky. if the word "mapquest" means anything to you and/or you used it as a verb, you're in the right place

And just like that, it's real. When Democrats Won the Heartland: Progressive Populism in the Age of Reagan, 1978-1992, from @illinoispress.bsky.social. Due out 4/14/26. Thanks to everyone who tolerated this dream and made it happen. Pre-order if you'd like: www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p0...

There's a book to be written on the places these companies choose. Meta and Amazon are not investing tens of billions in North Louisiana because they respect the local population. Quite the opposite. And they prefer that there's no critical local journalism or anyone to write that book.

Not bad for a first attempt.

Spending a drizzly morning on some planning before heading out to work on farmstead tasks.

Hello.

Currently reading: Love for the Land: Lessons from Farmers Who Persist in Place by Brooks Lamb 📚

Hello.

I wish Douthat had followed up and asked Andrews what "areas of inquiry" have been "ruled out of bounds in history" because they are "too controversial" and lead historians away from "truth seeking."

Finished reading: American Zion: A New History of Mormonism by Benjamin E. Park 📚

In a list of the most important technologies that have shaped the American West, barbed wire would be near the top. It's great for the livestock industry, but can harm wildlife.

“See, the truck nobody else wanted had been my office. I’d built a portable desk inside it. My truck desk, I called it. A couple of planks screwed together, our union sticker slapped on, the whole deal sealed with shellac.”

Really excited to see our new issue of Current Research in Digital History with articles on topic models, event extraction modeling, network visualizations, maps, visualizing art, and computational analysis on congressional roll call votes.

Don't see a way out of this apart from the strict legal regulation of all generative "AI". Everything needs to be labeled, the use of the likeness of real people (alive or dead) without their express consent needs to be libel (even in a labeled video), and the fines need to be ruinous.

"Certain chemicals used on farms, including pesticides and herbicides, have been linked to increased cancer rates. There’s also some evidence that nitrates, which can seep into drinking water from crop fields, are linked to some forms of cancer." minnesotareformer.com/briefs/repor...

those of you who are afraid of aging, please understand that one of the huge blessings of middle age is arriving at this exact station

That’s not what those are for, ladies.

I warned Indigenous people last year about this: "AI" slop is destroying Indigenous knowledge transmission over the Internet because people won't know what's reliable info, our distinct cultures being further sloppified, this slop is regurgitated as "fact", kinda like OG anthropology / archaeology

New from 404 Media: AI generated history videos are flooding YouTube, and drowning out real history. "It’s worrying to me just for humanity. It’s not good for the state of knowledge in the world. It makes me worry for the future." www.404media.co/ai-generated...

An impending wind storm and drop in temperatures means we christen the new chicken coop tonight. Still some work to wrap up, but close enough to keep everybody safe and warm.

I made a similar point last week at our generative AI roundtable. LLMs cannot know History or our sources because it mimics them back. Our sources are unreliable narrators and these systems cannot handle ambiguity—feed it that ambiguity, we get ambiguity back.

Emma Thompson is a queen.

I made a similar point last week at our generative AI roundtable. LLMs cannot know History or our sources because it mimics them back. Our sources are unreliable narrators and these systems cannot handle ambiguity—feed it that ambiguity, we get ambiguity back.

I’m bearish on generative AI and it’s role in historical research, but stuff like this is genuinely interesting.

There are now 183 videos of our Greenhouse #envhum book talks available to view via our Vimeo showcase. This includes our most recent talks. You can also listen to the audio-only podcast, which is slightly behind with 154 episodes available: newnatures.org/greenhouse/f...

There is still time to review a book this Fall semester! Check out some of the awesome new titles that I have available for review. Pass it on! #envhist #envhum #energy #aghist #ecocrit #conservation #sustatinability #envtech #water #naturewriting docs.google.com/document/d/1...

No words.

I got to do a reprise of my "generative AI isn't great for History" conference presentation last week to a group of undergraduates this week.

built on theft and at massive environmental cost and most importantly, numerous studies keep demonstrating that genAI tools often work a little better than by chance. how is it that we can’t expunge these slop machines out of our institutions and communities www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/...

The Trump administration has finalized a plan to open the coastal plain of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling, renewing long-simmering debate over whether to drill in one of the nation's most sensitive wilderness areas. n.pr/42WZfy6

Soon.

I hadn’t heard our coyote neighbors in months, but tonight I could faintly catch their songs in the distance.

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which tracks human cases, and the Department of Agriculture, which monitors animal outbreaks, have both suspended routine communication with states, leaving many officials without up-to-date guidance on how to detect and contain the disease”

In the mailbag! @jeffmanuel.bsky.social

Terrific time, as always, at #WHA2025 in Albuquerque. Great panels and wonderful time meeting up with old friends and making new ones. I'm proud to say I ate chiles on every meal, too.

All this data and information, and there are still zero stories on the NYT or WSJ homepages about this very large, very important national event. WaPo has at least two. CNN's main story on homepage is No Kings coverage.

For folks that attended our #WHA2025 panel on generative AI, here's yet more on its harms (beyond capital-h History).

It's been a while, but I have exciting news! Our department is hiring a Digital Historian with a specialization in Early America. Help us spread the word by sharing this opportunity within your networks. #DigitalHistory #DH #HigherEdJobs jobs.uc.edu/job/Cincinna...

Book haul. #WHA2025

Proud to play my part as the AI curmudgeon at our panel this morning.

Kick off your morning at #WHA2025 with some spicy takes on Generative AI and history from Sean Fraga, Rachel Birch, @jasonheppler.org, @regan008.bsky.social, and myself (8:15-9:45am, Santo Domingo Room)

I've been thinking a lot about generative AI not only from the standpoint of their use in our computer systems, but about their very physicality. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/int...

If you're at #WHA2025 I hope you'll join @cblevins.bsky.social, @regan008.bsky.social, Rachel Birch, Sean Fraga and myself on Friday at 8:15 to talk with us about generative AI and History. I have a strong feeling I might be quite curmudgeonly, so come join us!

Conference essentials. #wha2025