one of the funniest vocabulary introductions to modern English has to be "chud," from a 1980s b-movie about sewer dwelling mutants. "MAGA chuds" is instantly recognizable in its meaning

Are you a member of the Caxton Club? If you are, you can catch my short piece about the book collection of longtime MSU fencing coach Charles Schmitter in the new Caxtonian! If you’re not a member of the premier bibliophile club in the Midwest… why not???

why does he look like a white convert to Islam who has a podcast about fiqh

Canvas being down just reminds me that Rutgers had its own native course infrastructure (Sakai) and it eliminated it to pay money to Instructure instead

London-based friends and researchers, I have a fellowship-supported two-week research trip at the V&A in the planning stages. Any good recommendations for short-stay apartments that are affordable and or all the way out in places like Watford or Morden?

American Lysenkoism

@theodramatist.com is there any way to get a look at the parish survey questions without actually doing the survey? I'm helping our rector with the parish response and would love the opportunity to plan...

SENATOR: In your confirmation hearing, you swore to me - swore - you would preserve this nation's willowy gay physiques, so WHY have we seen a dramatic INCREASE in "twinkdeath" since Jan 2025?? I ALMOST suspect you WANT our gay boys to develop dadbods. RFK JR: t h a T ' s ,, p r E p O s t e R O u S

Wow I had no idea

RIP Susan Leigh Star you would have loved this

more proof that for so many of these people Christianity is a set of vibes, a pop culture argot, that they put on to achieve a certain goal. it's not the result of any kind of sincere faith

Spring Break, 2005, at the DC Holocaust Museum. I'm reading the memorial plaque to the Bielski brothers. An old man turns to me, points at the plaque, and says "I was there. Those men saved my life." I stammer a response, look at the plaque, but when I turn back to ask him a question, he's gone.

Are you looking for an online global book history festival that features work on ancient through contemporary textual cultures? Look no further! Registration is open now! events.zoom.us/ev/Ap9iEZwmC...

St. Magnus the Martyr’s Easter Sunday service had the vidi aquam set to Irving Berlin’s “Easter Parade,” which old liturgy queen made that choice???

many people are saying this

Did NOT get my favorite Easter hymn today (Welcome Happy Morning) but I did have a marvelous Easter morning service with my family that makes it acceptable. And the hymns we did get were great!

the Know-Nothings are back, rank anti-catholicism is the order of the day

Not entirely unwelcome but ironic given my concerns with Augustinian theories on sin!

Still reminded of this 3 years later. never got a clear answer for where this particular devotion came from or the justification for it; the priest otherwise had a very robust view of the Real Presence!

Having discovered a friend at church is a relative of the late Guyanese poet and literary figure A.J. Seymour, she shared a book of his poetry with me. We discussed one of her (and his) favorites, "I heard a rooster call" - a fitting start to Palm Sunday and Holy Week.

I've been studying a 20th century bookseller Boies Penrose II who was the wealthy heir of Drexel family money. He bought incredible books and his obit said he "never engaged in business." He put his wealth to work developing culture and learning, serving on museum and historical society boards...

In addition to the very apt criticism of "Chinamaxxing" on racial grounds (I won't even get into Piker...) while the article does touch on TikTok algorithms and the role of influencers it's not addressing another social media vector, which is is how the discourse also flows from Chinese social media

I noticed a subtitling mistake in a 12-year-old episode of Nirvana in Fire and have no way to contact the subtitling team, why am I so annoyed over two simple words that mean nothing in the grand scheme of things

I would never have put money on David Bentley Hart of all people translating the Daodejing

Even ten years ago I got asked by a random Chinese woman on the street in Shanghai, "are you Jewish? You look Jewish" (I am not). Nonplussed by my polite denial, she immediately pivoted to "Jews are very good at business, very smart." Almost verbatim, 你是犹太人吗？看起来是个犹太人。犹太人，商业得好，很聪明。

I would pay good money to see a film set in the Shang Dynasty, but it's got to be a crazy art film like Masahiro Shinoda's "Himiko," really lean into the alienness of Shang religion and society. The recent blockbusters of the Investiture of the Gods are good but are (naturally) too Ming

up next for the Times, "Daji did nothing wrong: Lake of Wine and Forest of Meat actually soup kitchen"

Threads is a cesspool of rancid Lunar New Year vs. Chinese New Year discourse, it is so exhausting

Bourdieu and Goffman staying relevant in the Year of Our Lord 2026

one of my favorite Indian films is 1968's Thillana Mohanambal (starring the immaculate Padmini!) which has incredible dance and music scenes, but the absolutely funniest one is where the nadaswaram character played by Sivaji Ganesan plays Western dance music at a garden party in response to a dare

Classical Chinese folks, how would you render 天下溺援之以道， 人民愚訓之以經 here? CCPosters goes with "the world is drowning and it needs the Word to save it. If the people are fools, teach them with Bible" but that feels quite simplistic. I'm having trouble parsing the 訓之以經 and 援之以道.

has anyone written on the role of the Other in Chinese television media? I was watching the Cdrama "Vendetta of An" (长安二十四計）which revolves around the infiltration of Chang'an by a foreign people who have been in deep cover in the capital for years. There was a similar theme in Nirvana in Fire （琅琊榜）

Liu Bei bro appreciate you coming by my house three times while I’m out but next time just ping me on WeChat and ask me out for coffee

“Children of the night! What music they make!”

When the Qianlong Emperor died, his favorite Heshen was accused of corruption. When his estates were searched he was found to have amassed, among other treasures, 58,000 taels of pure gold, 100 pure gold bars, and 1,100 million tales of pure silver, equivalent to 15 years of state revenue.

不恤農時 民失其業 橫徵暴斂 姦臣誤國呀

I'm reading an academic paper about Chinese bookplates and it's pretty clear the author uses "bookplate" and "seal" interchangeably! Very problematic!

Week 1 poll, Intro to IR, Spring 2026: "What is your first IR/world affairs memory?" The modal answer so far is..."Election of Donald Trump (2016)." The kids are alright, but they have no frame of reference of "normal politics" at home or abroad anymore. Also, yes, they're getting music lessons.

This is the logic of a domestic abuser

It's Bibliography Week y'all, who's going to be in NYC with all the fine folks at the @bibsocamer.bsky.social ?

名不正，則言不順；言不順，則事不成。

the Iranians should do the funniest thing ever and restore the Qajars, just to make the Pahlavi camp lose their minds

this was a cellphone. my mother had this exact model!

every NYT headline is like…They expected pee: poo greeted them instead

you rangggg....?

born in the wrong time (too late to receive a formal 子 style name from my elders by which I am referred to in polite society)

my pronouns are 殿/下, please take note