You look fabulous tonight, Midtown.

This is a cliché of historians, that we write in footnotes but it really works this way. By analogy, citations aren't just a foundation, they are the principle building material, it's what you frame in the rooms with, and put under the floors, and seal up the roof with. /9

Today @cameroncorduroy.bsky.social writes a normal, dryly analytical, definitely normal essay for us, which you should read for your edification

It turns out that some AI transcription software is not, in fact, doing straight transcriptions of historical documents. Historians beware! 🧵

AI note takers approved by the Ontario government for physician use are riddled with errors. 60% (SIXTY FUCKIN' PERCENT) recorded a different drug than what was prescribed. 9 (NINE) of the 20 approved AI scribes fabricated information. www.thetrillium.ca/news/health/...

The feeling that the lights are slowly going out one by one.

“Droplet transmission” is a figment of the imagination of people from 100 years ago who did not understand aerosol chemistry and physics. All respiratory infections are transmitted by aerosols. Yes, it is really that simple. See my pinned post for a tutorial.

By the time you’ve been dead for 80 years, chances are everything you ever said or wrote will be thrown in the garbage or scrambled by bit rot. The only surviving information about you will probably be this form. Think of how happy your descendants will be if you got the long form!

You know what part of American culture seems completely unhinged to us foreigners (aside from the politics, etc)? It’s the way fast food chains are treated as an identity. You introduce yourself to an American and the next thing out of their mouth is, “I’m from Hooperville. We have a Wendy’s!” 🧵

You know what part of American culture seems completely unhinged to us foreigners (aside from the politics, etc)? It’s the way fast food chains are treated as an identity. You introduce yourself to an American and the next thing out of their mouth is, “I’m from Hooperville. We have a Wendy’s!” 🧵

This man is notorious for claiming that his couple of months at community college were useless to him. I can think of no sadder way to destroy a university’s credibility. Sucks to be a graduating student at Saginaw Valley State.

This is an entire new way to use Civic Searchlight. Our new map view allows you to instantly see which local governments are talking about an issue. We have also added a timeline feature that lets you filter by month.

Skimming a page of terms and conditions this afternoon, I learned that you are not allowed to NetFile your Canadian income taxes if you are claiming more than 22 children. You just know they had to make that rule because of somebody.

Tomorrow is Canadian Independent Bookstore Day! This selection of bookmarks represents some of the past and present in Toronto's book scene. Where will you visit this weekend?

I hate the people running this province but I care deeply about the people in it. Grateful for the brilliant minds behind this activism. (Somerset and Preston bus stop in Ottawa)

Not only does Alex Karp of Palantir misunderstand Tolkien, he also fails to grasp the most basic mechanics of sword arts. Also, that weapon looks like a cheap, bad wallhanger, even on a tiny screen.

More than a million German renters are generating their own clean electricity — not with rooftop solar, but with two panels plugged into a regular wall outlet on their balcony. No electrician. No permits. No landlord permission required. www.youtube.com/watch?v=gehK...

Some Toronto back laneways are galleries.

Here it is. The story of Hungary's democratic development is first the collapse of the incumbents who failed to become a capable opposition AND the intense work to develop a party that could challenge Fidez

It's kinda interesting to think about how differently Justin Trudeau and Stephen Harper have spent their retirement years

Magyar’s speech is powered. From a contact in the audience: “He’s basically just asked all the puppets, all the supreme justices, all the heads of media, all the heads of the ministries to leave their jobs tomorrow and not wait to be fired.”

Perhaps Magyar's most important promise, and the one that certainly resonates with voters: "never again a country without consequences!" The crowd chants: "To prison! To prison!" [with the corrupt officials of the outgoing government]

I'm thinking that now would be a good time for historians to jump in and give us a history of the etiquette of written threats by heads of state. Being a medievalist (but not a historian of war), I can't think of any that top today's threat from POTUS in their complete lack of diplomatic skill. 🗃️

#ArchivesAtoZ: D is for digitization: it's more complicated than you'd think, meaning we need to be selective and strategic: peelarchivesblog.com/2017/05/31/w...

Drinking and staring at your tablet, sixteenth-century style.

Update: it gets so much worse. All of Bede's letters have no basis in the original Latin at all. This one reads like a modern email! (Original Latin, real translation, fake "translation")

AI has some uses for transcribing and translating historical documents, but without a knowledgeable human editor, it’s just spewing slop into the world.

Controversial but - students *perceive* they have been failed when what has happened is they have failed to understand information retrieval is a skill requiring effort. I don't believe a zero friction experience is realistic or desirable in learning, actually.

Toronto vibes in 50 photos.

The art to what Mamdani does is that he doesn't assume you know anything of the story he's telling. But he also doesn't assume you don't know. He tells it in a way that is a compelling retelling to those that know and a compelling first telling to those that don't. (hint: this is very hard)

I'm teaching Louis XIV and Versailles soon, and I will make very clear to students how relevant early modern European court culture is.

The leopards won't eat my fa...

I can’t believe there are already spoilers all over the internet. 😉

Fyi, if you are having problems accessing essential online archives.

Almost 90 people being cut. Canadian historian Adam Chapnick, a professor of defence studies at the Royal Military College of Canada: “I don’t know how you justify this decision if you have any sort of commitment to history."

Treasures from Iran I saw at the Aga Khan Museum today.

The hallucination alone is a dealbreaker, obviously. But I was much more disturbed by the effect it had on my own sense of communication. Words are for connection. If you continually threw a rope into the darkness and no one caught it, you'd begin to think there was something wrong with the rope.

Exclusive: Prior to Iran attacks, CIA assessed Khamenei would be replaced by hardline IRGC elements if killed, sources say reut.rs/4l9SCAs

I can follow the hockey game by listening to the whoops and groans coming from my neighbours’ apartments.

OMFG, I just googled my father, who died in 2018, and found the same AI slop site raising money in his name. Rage.

You can hear Shahaddah Jack live at the City of Toronto Archives this coming Friday at 6:30.

OMG. I did not know about this until now.

Art.

Post a banger not in English. youtu.be/Z_uIGTW9raY

This book looks cool. I’ve heard a few of these myths carried across the Atlantic.

Morning mood.

Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took in university (actual course titles optional): 1. All About the Years the Prof Spent Getting Very Drunk with Peasant Rebels in the Highlands of Peru (and why he’s no longer allowed into Peru) AKA Social and Cultural Anthropology

lurs only do this when they are agitated, caged together within a small environment 😾

The US govt has always taken a dim view of violations of its own consulates abroad. Like when a group of (inebriated) Canadian militiamen tore down the US flag at the consulate in St Thomas, ON, in 1894, prompting late-night telegrams to DC (transcript in alt-text) #cdnhist #onthist #vexillology