Two lessons I learned when I was a bridgemaster (on a railroad swing bridge, coincidentally): 1) they are not exactly subtle constructions, especially when they start moving, but 2) boaters sometimes had very unrealistic expectations for what the bridge can or can't do. #2 trumped 1 here it seems.

Thinking of Artemis this morning!

Prose style when you start writing up some research, versus when you're trying to squeeze under a word count.

I have a papyrology joke bu[t ca. 15 ].

They’re telling me a great empire will be destroyed if I attack Persia. Even the oracles who don’t like me very much, very nasty, they all said to me, “Sir, it’s one of the great empires, and it’ll be destroyed. And all because you attacked Persia.” That’s what they’re telling me.

Thanks a question on the Liverpool list, I looked up Seneca's bit about death by lightning versus diarrhea, and can now report that the word Seneca uses for diarrhea is the extremely vivid "deiectio," or "downthrow" (as Corcoran's note). The grandeur of ancient literature!

A really great book on a fantastic topic. If you haven't checked it out already, now's the perfect time! 🌴

Former prime minister Scott Morrison tries to dog whistle about Islam, accidentally calls for the banning of the Latin Mass in Australia: www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...

The name "Popular Science" doesn't mean we shift our coverage depending on public opinion. It means we cover relevant subjects that are rigorously researched, reliable, and grounded in reality. And trans lives are grounded in reality. We see y'all. No matter what. www.popsci.com/science/tran...

It is such an honor to work with Dan. Take a few minutes to listen to his conversation (with Waleed Aly).

One exciting thing about checking my spam filter is discovering that a new volume of the "everyone in antiquity was actually Saint Mark" saga has dropped.

Richard Burton playing cricket on the set of Alexander The Great during filming in Spain in the summer of 1955

The petition is LIVE! uOttawa suspended Greek & Roman Studies without consultation ending advanced ancient languages teaching and Ontario's only ancient languages programme in French. Please sign, share widely and follow for updates. buff.ly/hjj4J7u #SOSClassicsUO #SaveHigherEd #ONfr #Ottawa

A great night last night at the Monash Student Communities awards as Orion College was named College of the Year for the second time in three years. A tribute to the great work of the members and advisors who have built a fantastic community. #BigPurple

Marc Bloch will be admitted to the Pantheon in Paris! The date for the "Panthéonisation" is set for 16 June 2026. Meanwhile, @sorbonneparis1.bsky.social has launched a website to keep track of the many conferences to celebrate the event. Some of them start this month. marcbloch.pantheonsorbonne.fr

Hey pocket friends. Just a heads up that if I'm suddenly blanking you after December, it's not you, it's my government.

I found @brianphillips.bsky.social's defense of the em dash to be thoughtful, beautifully expressed, and human!!!

Say, hypothetically, you had a godson who has just turned 8 and has (thanks partly to you and partly to Bluey) gotten really into cricket, but who lives in a non-cricketing country. Would anyone have suggestions for presents? I have some thoughts but would be glad for any ideas!

Hack to make Proquest 'Ebook Central' actually functional for academic work >

“American Academy of Arts&Sciences reports 96.3% of humanities grads age 23-32 fully employed. Earnings in humanitiess comparable to social/life sciences, job satisfaction levels too. A serious mismatch bw actual employment for hum grads +general perception." www.mellon.org/voices/human...

There's a Frinkiac for Detroiters now: l

For the 30th anniversary, the Summer Institutes are not only still going strong, but will also be coming to 🇨🇦. papyrology.org/summer_insti...

If you're going to be around Melbourne on July 6, this sounds really fantastic: two hours of music from Mikis Theodorakis and Manos Hatzidakis, in the friendly environs of the Greek Centre.

Beautiful afternoon to see the women of the mighty Borough come down the coast to take on the Sandringham Zebras!

I've got some great colleagues with smart things to say. Here's Rohan Howitt on his new book and Australia's Antarctic aspirations over the years

Open-access scholarship/books in papyrology (and related fields): a thread I hope to periodically update, as new material comes out. 1/?

Birds: aren't they great?

One reason why I think respectability is stupid is because it's often used as a mask. Such judgements are rarely about the clothes themselves, but more often about the bodies beneath them. To wit, no one raised an issue when Elon wore a graphic t-shirt and ball cap to meet the Trump cabinet.

Pere Catalá Pic, ‘Crush fascism!’, 1936.

So aside from the obvious questions (can a lion even blow a horn? How is it holding up the horn with just its lips?), Clive Palmer's new bunch really, really need to work on their Latin.

I never met him, but he was a scholar whose work I always looked forward to reading, whenever I came across something new (to me)—consistently interesting and thought-provoking, no matter the topic.

The water at breakfast this morning seems like a good omen for the first day of #ascs2025!

More open access Ptolemaic scholarship! Really looking forward to getting into this one--the papers sound fantastic! www.degruyter.com/document/doi...

On a happier note: someone in my neighborhood has what I can only assume is a giant cutout of Tintin's head.

I'm working on assessment design at the moment, so I decided to try Copilot in a use that some of my students have said they use it: finding a line (that says what they want a line to say). So far, it has made up lines it attributes to Faulkner, Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, and Cormac McCarthy.

Applications now open for the Tytus Visiting Scholars Program!

A more interesting post about Roman lead this week! 😄

To put it another way: after centuries of smelting around the ancient Mediterranean, blood lead levels in the "northern and southern Roman Empire" were still only one-fifth (or so) that of the average American toddler in the 1970s. www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

One down, six to go!

More open-access Ptolemaic scholarship! This came out of some conferences on Ptolemaic Egypt, aiming at "using the region of Fayum as a case-study," so there's some pretty interesting papers there, especially for Fayum enthusiasts. (Ignore the odd preview thumbnail and give it a look!)

Had a fantastic day working with a colleague and some ace material scientists to do a little experimental papyrology yesterday. Plus we even included myrrh, so it was seasonally on brand! 😄🎄

One little game I like to play when the end of year "best books" lists come out is to see if the selections are 100% fiction, or just 75+.

I'm a big, big fan of Aussie bakeries, and the fact that every small-town example has somehow won dozens of awards for their pies and slices, but how in all this time has no one introduced the idea of a half-slice?

It isn't the most punny of titles, but I quite appreciate whoever came up with "Future Currents in Aqueduct Studies" (1991). It helps that there are some interesting chapters, too!

Rhythm 35 is just a 25 minute exegesis of the development of Belgian neutrality up to 1914, in midi format 😄

Emmanuel Macron annonce l'entrée au Panthéon de l'historien et résistant Marc Bloch, fusillé par la Gestapo en 1944. L'annonce est intervenue lors du discours du président pour commémorer le 80e anniversaire de la libération de Strasbourg. www.francetvinfo.fr/societe/deba...

An exciting development for an already great site!

Seeing all the starter packs popping up inspired me to try to start one for Roman history. It was useful (for me) to be a little more rigorous in trying to find more of us on here, and I hope it might be helpful for others also. And, of course, very happy to add to it! go.bsky.app/FRyw2gA