i almost posted a take about graham platner and then i remembered i could just do my favorite activity, Absolutely Anything Else

Reading a Persian text that gives a folk etymology for the Arabic موسى mūsá "Moses", as a compound of supposedly Syriac words mū (casket) + sá (water). Has anyone seen anything like this? Spurious of course, and no such words in Syriac AFAIK, but I'm curious if this myth is repeated elsewhere.

It’s the first of June, the beginning of Pride month. Stonewall was a riot. Trans rights are human rights. No one gets to erase us from history. Fight back against book bans. Fuck anybody who thinks we don’t deserve love or bodily autonomy. They don’t get to steal our joy.

Happy Pride, Y’all. The DC Circuit has just enjoined Pete Hegseth from enforcing his anti-trans policy. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

I still insist that whoever becomes the first Anti-AI university will have record demand, and their graduates will most likely ride out the AI maelstrom better in the long term. It's so low-hanging fruit, it's embarrassing that no one has done it.

I'm getting the NICEST messages about my book! Shipping a new load tomorrow, if anyone wants one superfast.

Anyone have a PDF version of the textbook associated with this course they'd send me? Wilfred M. McClay, Land of Hope: An Invitation to the American Story (New York: Encounter Books, 2026).

Oh fucking kill me.

Finally, a new Caravanserai post: open.substack.com/pub/majnouna...

Adding a “How To Use The Library” scavenger-hunt assignment to my intro to Roman culture class was the single best addition to my pedagogical practice last year. Am now creating versions for basically all my classes moving forward. Also, the students LOVED it.

‼️Look at this insanely perfect shot my husband just captured with his phone. We're both very sad he didn't have a real camera, but this is still amazing.

We all know that "back in the good old days" sort of talk is broadly nonsense and "back in my day we didn't have XYZ social concern" is usually incomplete thinking, but sometimes I think that doesn't give enough credit to the ways the past was progressive. This is from a 1959 YMCA teen manners book.

Got news that _Strike_ is going to be translated into Turkish. My first ever book translation into a foreign language! Yaşasın! 📕

thrilled to be attending “Ancient Nubia: Kingdoms along the Nile,” organized by my UCLA colleague, Prof. Solange Ashby

Not in this case 😉 The Semitic "chair/throne" words ultimately go back to Sumerian /guza/, then Akkadian /kussû/, etc., while the "belly" word is inherited Semitic.

Hey language freaks, is the Ge'ez word ከርሥ (abdomen, womb) cognate with Arabic كرسي? Because for the sake of my own geeky satisfaction I *feel like it should be.*

My unpopular opinion is that you *should* be allowed to make any two people you want fight on your birthday, actually. But you also have to pick the weapons system/style (battle of wits? chess game? giant Q-tips?) and explain the reason you've selected said individuals to those spectating.

Me: *munching on an apple and some dates* Spousal Unit: “…enjoying your religious fruits?” Nothing in this household is ever just mundane lol goodness.

New ALILI! To make up for an unexpected podcast pause, Ep. 38 is four languages for the price of one. Imar Koutchoukali discusses the Old South Arabian group, included among them the language of the Queen of Sheba. Acast: shows.acast.com/a-language-i... Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/0hty...

My new book is out in the UK and will come to the US in the fall. Grateful for this review. www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...

The testudo remains effective. 🐢

Anyway, time to resume normal posting. Eid mubarak! كل عام وانتم بخير!

Eid Mubarak! عيد مبارك! Ṣeḥḥa lɛid nwen! Wa kay yeesi!

May's Document of the Month explores a surprising phenomenon among the Cairo Geniza documents: Muslim blessings for the prophet Muḥammad in mercantile letters sent by C12th Jewish traders. Read Alan Elbaum's piece now on our project website: bit.ly/DotMMay26 #medievalsky #cairogeniza #documents

Converting to Catholicism so I can tell my bosses using unregulated AI is against my religion and I will sue them like that cake lady who hated gay people if they make me use it

Free event at the Weston Library in collaboration with @ochjs.bsky.social and part of Jewish Culture Month. A talk featuring two case studies of Jewish and Christian scholarly collaboration in past centuries by Professor Judith Olszowy-Schlanger and Dr César Merchán-Hamann.

In Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo apologizes for the Doctrine of Discovery, which sanctioned colonialism & slavery, to talk about AI. Here, I thought I went off the rails in Data Empire, where I insist the Doctrine of Discovery is critical to the history of data’s power www.vatican.va/content/leo-...

Read. To. Your. Kids. I. Promise. You. Have. The. Time.

The Camel in African History: Ancient Ships of the Sahara www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-camel-...

I can't do psychedelics dude sometimes I get freaked out by a font

Hey @nathanielbdemiller.bsky.social I believe this post is for you…

this thing where professional writers get in their feelings when people comment on their work is bizarre to me

Late Antiquity scholars I will always sing praises for because you need to know how lucky we are to have them in our field: Ellen Muehlberger @emuehlbe.bsky.social, Andrew Jacobs @drewjakeprof.bsky.social , Young Kim @youngrichardkim.bsky.social,John Penniman @historiographos.bsky.social

When writing an article first get your draft fleshed out then move your conclusion to your introduction where it actually belongs. Now rewrite the second half of your paper to create a new conclusion. Move that conclusion to your introduction, too. Now you have two intros and no conclusions so next

"Benefits of the Parts of Vultures" (From the Manafi' al-Haywan of Abu Sai'd Ubayd-Allay Ibn Bakhtishu) (verso) https://clevelandart.org/art/2006.149.b

YOU’RE LISTENING TO SISYPHUS FM, THE HOME OF NON-STOP ROCK

New piece: Minnesota lawmakers are acting - in collaboration with local organizers and government officials - to defend disability rights against the federal government. It’s good law. It’s a shitty situation. (Gift link)

Waterhen by Ohara Koson (1877-1945), Japan

Sorry to have to point this out but I'm in a European country where people who study populism still can't understand why the US is nuking its massive advantage in higher ed, and then I log on and its another NY Times piece about the problems with US higher ed. Who is out of touch here?

At Cornell, courses on concrete and sheep husbandry are more numerous, and probably have higher enrollment, than courses devoted to teaching students about critical race theory (or whatever else happens to be the right-wing's bogeyman-of-the-month).

Going forward and for my mental health, if an article in the national press frames itself as being about "college" or "universities" without further differentiation between public/private, two-year/four-year, SLAC/R1, and so on, I am simply going to stop reading

NYT: "no one has ever thought of teaching ranching at university" Every ag school: um, would you like to meet our cows NYT: "No, not like that. More romantic. More dilletante. Ugh, we're not /farmers/."

I find out any of my colleagues feeds my tenure file to spicy autocomplete because they couldn't be bothered to read it, its gonna be swords at dawn. Hell, it might just be swords in the department hallway.

We need to shame people who don't do their jobs ethically, more frequently.

Was just informed by @katgelk.bsky.social that _From Slave to Saint: Onesimus Throughout Christian History_ now has a page on @fortresspress.bsky.social's website! Consider pre-ordering for Jan 2027 to learn more about Onesimus from the 1st–20th centuries www.fortresspress.com/store/produc...

Today is the official publication day of my book! You can still use the code SPRING26 to get a 40% discount. And, if you can, please ask your university library or public library to purchase the book. dukeupress.edu/the-business...

My heart and my solidarity go out to our Muslim sisters & brothers suffering in the wake of today’s shooting Peace be with you and may light perpetual shine upon the three men lost to their loved ones in San Diego 🙏🏼💔

The death and violence is not in my hands to solve directly, but for the terror in the living, I can do my small part: doing everything to remind the terrorized how many people wish them well and mourn with them