Not quite...but still golden from @theonion.com

NASA & NEH & NEA & the NPS = examples of good things accomplished with public funding.

I'm delighted to let you know that the Computer History Museum now has a travel grants program. computerhistory.org/access-and-r...

I visited here once, on my way from the Salton Sea; highly recommended www.bbc.com/travel/artic...

If you agree with me here you can help by amplifying in the hopes @projectmuse.bsky.social might pay attention.

This is just one more small knife wound in the scheme of things but it really kind of sucks for scholarly communication that links into one of my field’s major journal hubs now default display with a robot lockout instead of title and thumbnail of the article in question. muse.jhu.edu/article/794477

wait...so Anthropic *doesn't* want people to steal intellectual property?? Hmmm. www.wsj.com/tech/ai/anth...

"The budget cuts had hit our classroom hard. Math was off the table. Also, our trial version of American History had expired, so we were able to access events from the New Golden Age (2016 to the present,with illegitimate four-year interregnum from 2021 to 2025)." www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...

today in comic relief...

Boeing pulled out of the competition altogether, and the Air Force awarded the Sentinel engineering and manufacturing development contract to Northrop Grumman through an unprecedented single-source bidding process. fas.org/publication/...

Spotted on the river today...thought of @bengoldfarb.bsky.social's book

Leaving #ASEH2026 happy and with my clothes smelling like BBQ smoke...

Shuttlecock and twaddlecock, KC.

In my history of science classes, I narrate how the U.S. system of doing science came to be dominant... @rossandersen.bsky.social's new essay will help round out this story by showing that such systems are fragile, don't last forever, and can be broken. www.theatlantic.com/science/2026...

“Sometimes I can’t stop remembering and talking about him,” Mike Watt said, and sighed. “There’s something about that I won’t ever get over. I still carry it with me. I owe D. Boon for everything.” #friendship www.nytimes.com/2026/03/26/a...

My latest on catastrophe markets and the long history of weather gambling in @aeon.co aeon.co/essays/what-... Grateful for feedback from terrific readers along the way: Jackson Lears, Ann Fabian, Meagan Wierda, @jeroenputtevils.bsky.social & @urbanhistoryua.bsky.social, & editor Sam Haselby. 1/2

“D. Boon’s spirit is here,” Watt said, haltingly. “But he ain’t here, because of the hand that got dealt.” Hell yeah... www.nytimes.com/2026/03/26/a...

Having serious concerns about the longterm viability of UC graduate programs in light of this news; in my own department, we are now limited to having only 2-3 new students per cohort, something that makes sustainability of our undergraduate courses questionable: www.noozhawk.com/uc-academic-...

I’m in Kansas City for #ASEH2026. I co-edit a history of technology book series for Johns Hopkins University Press. We are always looking for titles that intersect with environmental history. If you have a project, let me know and let’s talk 🙂 #envhist

Filing under "Not Even Wrong..."

This one hurts...when I was writing my last book, Kidder's Soul of a New Machine was one of the books about computing that got me fired up to do the project www.nytimes.com/2026/03/25/b...

I thought they banned Plato for being too woke...

I’m in Kansas City for #ASEH2026. I co-edit a history of technology book series for Johns Hopkins University Press. We are always looking for titles that intersect with environmental history. If you have a project, let me know and let’s talk 🙂

Today, in "Regulation" #goodnews coloradosun.com/2026/03/25/c...

I'm flying out of DEN today...fortunately, the situation here isn't as insane. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/24/u...

The old PSAC (President's Science Advisory Committee) used to be an august and fairly conservative guardrail for US policy making...these kleptos have no experience for advice-giving or knowledge to share.

The new representative from Mar-O-Lago...

No bucks, no Buck Rogers...

Interesting, esp. given that Google already operates a quantum computing lab in Santa Barbara. coloradosun.com/2026/03/24/g... Thoughts @dcbrock.bsky.social ??

Reading Michel Foucault on 19th century natural history... marveling at how much he got wrong and ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ as to why so many historians still cite him.

NYT handling the complicity with the usual velvet gloves... www.nytimes.com/2026/03/24/u...

So Israel and the Saudis now run our foreign policy.

Sorry to see this...Brian's work was a useful reference when I was writing The Visioneers and he later wrote a thoughtful review of it for Reason. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/23/u...

Officially on the @berghahnbooks.bsky.social website: "Antarctic Materialities," which I co-edited with Ximena Senatore, featuring chapters by @medievalpenguin.bsky.social, @fwinckel.bsky.social, @sarahmpicks.bsky.social and more! #histsci #envhist #polar www.berghahnbooks.com/title/McCahe...

Homage to a stellar song... pitchfork.com/reviews/trac...

"Artificial souls" sounds about right for 2026....

In writing/researching a book about books about computing, one of my own take-aways was that almost no author is happy with their press or their marketing... mitpress.mit.edu/978026255348...

After having spent a lovely week along the Arizona-Mexico border doing some birding, I have observed that too many Americans dislike Mexicans but still like Mexican food.

Ah, this is a sadness. When I was writing *Making Art Work*, Calvin Tomkins' papers at MoMa were some of the best and most fun sources to go through. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/a...

Seth Fishman, a literary agent, said “Authors feel their work has been stolen.” Replace "FEEL" with "WAS" and then it's accurate. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/19/b...

jfc fire this incompetent menace www.nytimes.com/2026/03/18/u...

NYT article about the reputation-washing of Epstein. I met Seckel at a weird party in Malibu years ago; super-creepy and notable (to me) for argument that he got into with my medievalist partner about witchcraft...a few years later, he drove off a cliff in France. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/18/b...

Don't want to see DJT on your National Park pass? You can cover up his scowl with a decorative sleeve....

Insulting and wrong on so many levels...

This California pipeline - which has had catastrophic leaks in the past - is managed by a Texas company with a poor safety record. The pipelines comes ashore in one of the lovliest sections of the Central Coast. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/16/u...

Despite misinformed WSJ writers, Iran's nuclear program started in the late 1950s with USA aid...

“Some things I predicted have not come to pass,” Ehrlich said “For instance, starvation has been less extensive than I (or rather the agriculturalists I consulted) expected. But it’s still horrific, with some 600 million people very hungry and billions malnourished.” www.nytimes.com/2026/03/15/b...

Curious about the "reason" for what we're doing in Iran?? Check out Jake's book on U.S.-sponsored nuclear proliferation. global.oup.com/academic/pro... "American promises ended up exporting violence...and set in motion the creation of today's expanded nuclear club."

Fantastically fun and also rather heartbreaking essay that combines two of my favorite things - fly-fishing + 1960s 'zines theflyfishjournal.com/blogs/exclus...

Happy John Snow Day for my history of medicine colleagues... #histmed