Your rates got set by Jerry Powell

BREAKING: Fed Chairman Powell says the Fed got a grand jury subpoena on Friday. Of his testimony about Fed renovations, Powell says, “Those are pretexts,” saying this is about the Fed not doing what Trump wants.

BIG FIGHT AT POLAND’S WROCLAW ZOO!!!

The civil war is already here, it's just not very evenly distributed.

"...Erinyes, that under earth take vengeance on men, whoever has sworn a false oath..."

This was a really fun project to work on — beyond the usual Storyteller advice, it's primarily a collection of extensive system hacks for running DtR in alternate settings (high fantasy, space opera, etc.) and/or incorporating the other Chronicles of Darkness splats as Deviant characters.

AND ANOTHER THING, WHILE I'M AT IT: ENOUGH WITH THESE BULLSHIT CLAIMS THAT AI CAN REPLACE HUMAN TRANSLATORS!!! Translation is *not* the science of finding the perfect definition of a word from a foreign language and putting that definition into the text. Translators translate, of course. But!

Swap out some text and you've got a splash page from the 2nd edition AD&D Player's Handbook.

I recently joined José Leitão on the Hadean Press podcast to talk about _Cypriani Magici Septem Horae Magicae_, José's new book exploring the modalities of Cyprianic magic in early modern Iberia, which features my translation of one very weird treasure-finding operation!

a lot of people don't realize that Christmas carols and traditions are actually folk memories of suppressed pre-Christian events, namely the end of the Third Age and the Fall of Sauron.

@nuffofabby.bsky.social dishes on our upcoming joint project to bring Native American folklore and cultures to #TTRPG . Please share to help build excitement for this cool project! Kickstarter link in comments. youtu.be/BaJgsDuHX6Y

Academics: what's the best bit of knowledge you created this year? I co-authored a new model of the Irish Neolithic, effectively rewriting social structure and the role of large funerary monuments for the creation of community identities

I completed the first ever English translation of Cecco d'Ascoli's commentary on De Sphaera Mundi, explicitly demonstrating (w/ co-author Mat Hadfield) Cecco's place as the earliest documented vector in the Latin West of certain demonological theories that would inform the later grimoire tradition.

Loki got his ass.

No document will protect you. All they have to do is take it from you and "lose" it; take it from you and say you never gave it to them; claim it's fake ⬇️; make a new rule that you need ANOTHER document. Citizenship is a made-up status that governments decide the rules for. No one is free until all.

In honour of Rob Reiner, have David Moore's thread on the best sword fight in movie history and exactly how nerdy it is.

What looks to be another significant contribution by Doctor Gal Sofer to the rethinking of historiographic premises in the study of magic, currently free to download.

_Cypriani Magici Septem Horae Magicae: An Iberian Book of Pacts and Treasure Hunting_ by José Leitão, to which I contributed a translation of the titular text, is a fascinating case study in the books of Saint Cyprian and magical treasure-hunting, now available from Hadean Press.

As we trudge ever closer to the end of December, forgive me if I briefly impose upon you to advertise certain services of mine of which you may wish to avail yourself in the coming year. 🧵💳

I want jobs for humanities experts to kill AI systems.

This book IS a necessity... unless you can read it fluently in the original language. But most can't.

It's really hard to find joy in anything while the world continues to be ruled the stupidest, most evil people I've ever seen in my life, but fuck them, I accomplished a hell of a lot this year, and I have no intention of stopping anytime soon.

Eleven years ago, I wrote to Tom Stoppard to ask about this coup de théâtre from 1949. It took me down an unexpected rabbit hole - in memory of Stoppard, here's what I found.

Has there been any linguistic research into the arthrous/anarthrous distinction between American and British English usage? E.g. "in [the] hospital", "in [the] future", etc.

Welp, looks like my external hard drive has died, exactly eight months after the warranty expired 😐 Thanks, Seagate. No, it's fine, I'm sure I won't need those 2000+ articles, WIP backups, rpg pdfs...

One of the most rewarding parts of doing serious philological research is getting to sometimes write lines like "ass-legged cannibal women" with a completely straight face.

Once again, @yaelrice.bsky.social and I published this article in 2020 so that no one ever has to debunk this vile nonsense point-by-point ever again. As we write (see the next post in this thread)... hyperallergic.com/604897/how-s...

Final reminder, then I'll shut up about it! 101 Tales of Magic and Mystery, a treasure trove of TTRPG adventure frames inspired by the culture, folklore, magic, and politics of Elizabethan England (six of which I wrote!), is fully funded, but you have less than 48 hours to get it for just $15!

This book has been far more useful than I expected, and I regret not ordering it as soon as it was released.

We're in our final week, and just short of the stretch goal for 10 more original illustrations!

Today's work is formatting text and footnotes for a Secret Project™ while listening to Vox Vulgaris, _The Shape of Medieval Music to Come_ voxvulgaris.bandcamp.com/album/the-sh...

It's official, so you should officially consider donating to your local food bank or similar resource right now, if you're able.

Stretch goal unlocked! Our #TTRPG sourcebook 101 Tales of Magic and Mystery is 150% funded on Kickstarter! A treasury of narrative focused adventure plots grounded in the history and folklore of Renaissance England. Back now to help us reach the next goal! www.kickstarter.com/projects/she...

I had the honor to contribute to this awesome collection of system-agnostic one-shots alongside talented creators like @chrishopper.bsky.social and @timothyferguson.bsky.social. @shewstone.bsky.social poured so much work and thought into this tome - check it out!

So, I coauthored a book of RPGs scenarios based on Elizabethan folklore. More commentary in the Kickstarter's page from the editor and coauthors. It's useful in most fantasy based settings, although my stories in particular lean toward urban settings.

A brief vignette of the Colonial American intellectual milieu; or, "when your square friend gives you a good-natured ribbing for your weird hobby":

Since every comedic actor of a certain age gets a documentary after they die now i think it's important we establish that the dan aykroyd one should be no shorter than 6 hours, one episode of which is entirely dedicated to his relationship to fairies and magic

There are actual spells in the Greek magical papyri (<400 CE) for doing almost *exactly* this.

The campaign for the compiled book of Populated Hexes Monthly, Year Four is now live. We're raising funds for new art and an offset version of the book. You can check it out here: www.kickstarter.com/projects/thi... #ttrpg #dnd #osr #hexcrawl

🗣️ PLEASE SHARE 🗣️ I'm writing an intro & sourcebook on late ancient Gazan literature for Dar al-Kalima University Press. The press and I plan to produce an Arabic translation to make Gazan literature more accessible to Palestinians. Help me compensate the Gazan translator! spot.fund/dn8t744sc

Honestly, I really don't care what anyone does to the East Wing — the building that stood there was younger than my grandparents. What's infuriating is the fact that $250 million is being spent on redecorating while SNAP benefits are being cut off for millions of Americans, to name just one outrage.

I mean, you should not be citing primary sources *you have not seen* without saying "Cited in." 🗃️ It is hella annoying when people cite sources I found & translated from an archival source - while using *my translation & not mentioning me*. So I don't want my students to do that to others!

Williamsport PA

Ah, there's my people.

🎧 Today’s show is a heartfelt send-off to our friend & co-host, Terry Robinson. Adam, Bryce, Charles, Josh, & Pooka share stories, followed by messages from the community and words from Joseph. You can also grab the free Book of Tributes PDF. Listen magethepodcast.com/memorial-for...

Have raised this a few times in articles and directly with a few state-level electeds. If they aren’t already gaming out how to lead tax protests, they’re falling behind. Logistically complicated, but not impossible.

_101 Tales of Magic and Mystery_ has funded 🎉 But we've still got 20 days and 9 stretch goals to go! So, for each of the next 6 days, I'm going to share a super condensed (<300 character) summary of one of the 6 adventure frames I wrote for the book. www.kickstarter.com/projects/she... 🧵 1/x

Happy John Brown’s Raid day to all who celebrate

Game masters, what #TTRPG do you run where you could use narrative-focused adventure plots from this book? @marklawford.bsky.social @wranglerofchaos.bsky.social @timothyferguson.bsky.social @bjohnsonfreelance.bsky.social @chrishopper.bsky.social www.kickstarter.com/projects/she...

I'm usually pretty meh about the provenance of manuscripts, and in general about 16th C printed books... But Ott.lat.1902 is the copy of Copernicus that was owned, read, an annotated by Tycho Brahe, and has his notes about orbital mechanics bound in at the end. digi.vatlib.it/view/MSS_Ott...