this is what awaits us if we fail to crush Platner in the primary, "oh the party of Nazi Tattoos has something to say?" every time forever

This, from Ada Palmer as part of The Chronicle's survey of 11 scholars on the future of higher ed, is what I needed to end the week.

The closing of African American Studies and GWSS at Iowa is absolutely heartbreaking. It is such an important time to study these subjects. Words really cannot express how upsetting this decision is. www.thegazette.com/higher-educa...

OK, I’m doing this If you live in Philadelphia and have (or know of someone who has) a room for rent, please hit me up privately ASAP One of my best friends on Earth is escaping an abusive living environment and needs somewhere safe to land by SUNDAY, MARCH 1st Please spread the word for me

Hey Philly! I need your help finding 3 walls for 10x10ft murals this fall all about the most charismatic bugs in the city. Each mural must be in a different neighborhood, so we have to cast this net as wide as possible. Please help us spread the word! Submit your wall at bit.ly/bugwalls

I wish the New York Times hated rich pedophiles as much as they hate trans kids.

BLEAK. Bleak. I’d been paying attention to Columbia selling out its governance to the Trump admin, not so much its stance on AI. www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2026...

It is one thing for professors to resist AI in education; it is far more powerful when students do. Only a coalition between the two groups of students and teachers —and not the antagonistic one between “cheaters” and “cops”—will be powerful enough to create a movement.

Can’t wait for another major snowstorm in Philadelphia! After the last one my street stayed icy and treacherous for 3 weeks and the garbage and recycling piled up for 3+ weeks. @inquirer.com

He ruined my hometown paper for the sake of yet more uncountable riches.

NH remains the worst state in New England.

The subheadline on this NYT piece is going to turn me into the Joker. Like... this... is exactly what trans people have been saying was going to happen for years.

Something is awry in higher education. Indiana University agrees to pay the football coach more than $100 million, shortly after cutting hundreds of academic programs. www.espn.com/college-foot...

Some context for this new policy, which makes me 🤯: The last time they counted (the administration now tells us that the lawyers advise them to refrain from doing so) tenured faculty in Arts and Sciences were 70 per cent male.

👀The federal judges in West Virginia, where ICE has been pulling over and detaining people on the freeway, are literally screaming about ICE's tactics. "It is an assault on the constitutional order," Judge Goodwin says. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

the title of this op-ed is helpful because we do see that 'free speech' - to kirchik, to dash sulzberger, to the harper's crowd - is an issue about The Mob, lesser people who should have no power. Also known as The Groups

BREAKING: The Department of Education has ended its directive that attempted to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in schools nationwide. This is a victory for academic freedom and education equity.

On Feb. 4, Matt Selman, The Simpsons EP, texted Christine Nangle with an idea. Their friend, Dan McQuade, planned to write about their Philly-themed episode. But he passed away before he could do so. Selman and Nangle decided to add him to it — days before it aired www.inquirer.com/sports/dan-m...

New open-access book of potential interest to historians of universities & #MedievalSky -- an edited volume of texts & analysis from the 1409 Prague debates over a range of subjects in the university curriculum: www.brepols.net/products/IS-... #openaccessmiddleages @brepols.net

notorious radical left communist rag says tax the rich

If I didn’t have cats I would adopt these two.

So....the Fourth Reich?

It is .

NEW: For the second time in 2026, Kentucky state police have charged a woman with homicide after a pregnancy loss. Both were criminalized after seeking medical care—one for a miscarriage and one for self-managed abortion—and face charges of abuse of a corpse and concealing a birth @autonomynews.co

A conscientious journalism grad withdraw from a job when she learned the Cleveland Plain Dealer uses AI to write its stories. Now the editor is castigating her and journalism professors for not being “prepared for the workforce.” You can’t make this shit up. www.cleveland.com/news/2026/02...

Yes. Damn.

Tomorrow evening, online! Do sign up and hear all about technology and intimacy.

Seconded. Oftentimes when I sit down to write after researching and interviewing, I don’t know what exactly I am going to write. The process of writing of discovery. It’s learning which parts go together and which don’t. It’s finding the underlying narrative. Relegating it to a machine won’t do that

'If they choose to take up the Voluntary Severance Scheme, open to all academic staff in the School of Humanities and the School of Modern Languages, staff essentially make themselves redundant in return for a good pay-out.' 9 months' pay; 3 weeks to decide. 1/3

There’s a lot in here to parse, but for my money, the most psychologically devastating phrase here is “said to be.”

👀 Invoking Orwell, a federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to restore panels and historical acknowledgments of the history of slavery that the National Park Service removed in Philadelphia. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Napsmaxxing.

If you want to understand why rich guys are turning back to eugenics and recreating the rhetoric and theology of slavery, it’s because they know on some level this level of wealth inequality is unjustifiable bsky.app/profile/marl...

RIP Frederick Wiseman <3 <3

📣 Call for submissions: Singer Prize 2026 Submit your unpublished essay (< 10 000 words), based on original research into any aspect of #HistSTM! 🎓 Eligibility: current postgraduates or awarded a PG degree within the past 5 years 📅 Deadline: 30 April ℹ️ Learn more:

Let me tell you a tale of how completely the normies have been mobilized. My 14 year-old niece has done School of Rock for the past 5 years; last summer she was part of their touring band, and the kids loved playing together so much that they decided to keep doing it. (1/?)

Sad news through the network that Barcelona historian Julio Samsó passed away yesterday. Many of his papers on medieval Andalusia and the history of astronomy in Islamic lands are available here: barcelona.academia.edu/JulioSams%C3... #MedievalSky #HistSTM

This is a powerful story for me. Several branches of the Women's Institute are closing across the UK in protest at the new trans-exclusionary ban against trans women. It cuts through the lie by the media and GC groups about speaking on behalf of women. Solidarity. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Yesterday morning kids were sent running from their bus stop in panic because ICE showed up. This guy at today’s ICE Out of Lindenwold protest is a must watch 😭. @maddow.bsky.social

Hey, Bluesky history nerds! Who are your favorite pre-modern historians on here?

“Epstein’s passion for injecting eugenics into conversation after conversation in his emails should shape the way we think about his role in funding scientific research and development—and steering richer men’s money in that world”

Academics vying for a spot in Epstein‘s world. There are so many. I feel the need to make a thread, so I don’t keep confusing them. 1/

Washington has a rich scientific history! Come hear Greg, Teasel, and Sara talk about it at AIP on the evening of Thursday, Feb. 26.

Not at all surprised to learn that Bad Bunny has a historical adviser. His halftime show was a reminder that our history and culture are deeply intertwined with the rest of the western hemisphere. We should think of his performance as part of #America250. #SuperBowl news.wisc.edu/pop-star-bad...

A super bowl featuring a superb owl! Hellenic, ca. 700 BCE, in the Archaeological Museum, Fiesole.

Buried in this piece is a throwaway line about how actually her real hustle is selling online courses to aspiring AI hacks, marking an extraordinary symbiosis of my two most hated internet poisons

The Librarians premiers on Independent Lens on Feb 9! @heykellyjensen.bsky.social has advice about how to support your local libraries: bookriot.com/how-to-suppo... + bookriot.com/gifting-with...)

"Moving forward, Oklahoma institutions without R1 status must offer fixed-term, renewable contracts. ... Tenured faculty members at Oklahoma’s two R1 institutions — the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University — will be subject to post-tenure review every five years."

It's kind of amazing how the worst consequence many of our most powerful people can conceive of is someone being mad at them online, to the degree that they are driven to distraction about it even in the abstract.

This gets to some important points. There was always something cold, even chilling, about Brockman's "Edge" culture. That feeling still pervades some scientific circles. There's a real problem here that won't go away with Epstein. www.theverge.com/2019/9/19/20...