more like the “MENguin history of europe” en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pen... 🗃️

Widgets are a revolutionary revolution to the way we revolutionize. —B. Sales, a salesman working at Widgetforce

If research excellence is linked to research specialisation, why don't more specialist universities routinely outcompete more generalist ones in global league tables? And should UK HEIs intent to climb the rankings think twice before mothballing their Arts & Humanities? Asking for a friend. 1/5

the first rule of having an effective “to do” list is “never put anything on the list that you don’t know how to do”. sounds basic, but if you need to work out the steps to finish the task, working that out should go on the list before you consider adding “do baffling thing”

My favourite captcha, recently reposted.

Do you ever dream of electric sheep? Are you capable of showing empathy? Have you ever seen attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion, or C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate? Things I wouldn't believe?

📢FESTIVAL OF SOCIAL HISTORY📢 ❓Celebration of 50 years of the Social History Society 📅 Fri 24 April 📍 Senate House, London 🫰£30 (£10 non members) Join us for panel discussion, stalls & tours, plus keynote from Prof. Naomi Tadmor. 🗃️ #EarlyModern socialhistory.org.uk/events/festi...

helpç captcha wont let me tick “im a human” and now i have ontological doubts

I urge you to fill in this consultation if you can - with this very helpful support from Amnesty International - although AND because ! it is heart-breaking that this country has sunk so low that Amnesty suggest in a number of cases to provide no answer as the terms of the question are so evil

Maryam Aslany - Peasants Makers of the Modern World À paraître en septembre chez Flammarion

The SOMS research project is delighted to share another clip from 'The Secret of Her Success' documentary film. The full trailer can be viewed on BlackBark films website: www.blackbarkfilms.com #humsbristol #artsmatter #bristolresearch #womeninselfemployment #blackbarkfilms

Alasdair Roberts and I touched on some of this in our 2005 article 'Odo Blundell: a different kind of historian' which had sections on 'Walking the Ground' (as well as 'Walking under Water') - partly a gentle riposte to a historian's recent comment about writing his books w/o leaving the library

when someone asks for another set of eyes on something that’s a call for peepers

CALL FOR PITCHES @dan-sinnamon.bsky.social and I are at work on a new version of Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century aimed at a more general audience. We’re looking for new contributions: your model close readings of texts, canonical and not, from literary studies and not. Details below!

“Does being in a landscape automatically imbue us with a greater understanding of it? … We all find our own way, and notice different things as we go.” @markhailwood.bsky.social manyheadedmonster.com/2026/02/10/i... 🗃️

off to paddington this morning reminiscing fondly about the time in december that i was meant to be going to paris, went into autopilot commute and found myself trying to get the eurostar from paddington

Last week @mappingthemarch.bsky.social held a launch for my new book and a new book by the brilliant @mattlampitt.bsky.social in the atmospheric crypt of The Mount Without. It was so much fun to celebrate with friends, family, and colleagues who have supported us along the way! #medievalsky #newbook

Consultation closes Wednesday; please respond if you can.

wow the Wikipedia page for “famous early modern people who conspiracy theorists have ruled out as authors of shakespeare’s plays” really just has one entry

First commercial fax service arguably 1865, still famously in use in 2026 in the NHS. A solid entry for Edgerton’s “Shock of the Old” hypothesis.

This is the clearest explanation I have yet seen of what is really a huge shift, and one that could not come at a more challenging time for UK universities.

by 2030, i, an author, will be able to generate 100 novels a minute, and this is certainly a good thing that will no doubt not backfire on me

Never forget the anniversary of King Taejong falling off his horse!

'Six Axioms of Failure', by @willpooley.bsky.social.

having written “im doing DIY” i have come to the conclusion that presumably the direct formulation would be “i’m DIM”

the washington ghost

Delighted to announce our seminar - 'Race and the Early Modern' - now has a full schedule of events. We'll be convening monthly to discuss research on race, racemaking, and racialisation across #earlymodern studies. @kingsartshums.bsky.social @folger.edu kingsearlymodern.co.uk/race-and-the...

We are organising a big "Festival of Social History" at the IHR, Friday April 24. The ticket price is an absolute steal for SHS members (join!). Trust me when I say this one's built different, it will be a hands-on day demonstrating how vibrant and engaged UK social history is. ONLY £10!

taking my mind off the *waves hands* by rereading this banger doi.org/10.1086/ahr....

Take the time to do this folks. The proposed changes to ILR are shocking and cruel, which is made abundantly clear in the text of the public consultation linked below. Please lend your voice to try to mitigate the cruelty.

A French caving guide did propose a spring Olympics for the Pyrenees in 1988! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... Would have had adventure sports like mountain biking, paragliding etc

Our conference #cfp is now live! This year's conference, "Embodied Histories: Body, Mind and Experience" will take place on 17th July 2026 at University of Birmingham! Keep on reading to find out more...(1/9)

Sometimes reddit is an amazing resource. www.reddit.com/r/Cooking/co...

Puddle surfing

sorry to be a downer, but im actually more excited about next year and the spring olympics

I just got a copy of my cover for my forthcoming book! It features a postcard from Fez by the Moroccan Jewish photographer Joseph Bouhsira. Bouhsira was the first Moroccan to establish his own commercial photography studio, and many of his images featured the Jewish community in Fez.

I am giving the Edinburgh Uni LGBTQ+ History Month lecture on the evening of 27 February, with the title 'Scottish Trans Pasts, Useable and Otherwise'. Details and link to register are here: hca.ed.ac.uk/updates-even... Do come along if you're in Edinburgh!

“The existence and extent of the new institutional weighting leaves open the possibility for distortions in Unit ranking to the benefit, generally speaking, of larger, research intensive units.” #REF2029 blog.royalhistsoc.org/2026/02/02/w...

I need this alt history high budget netflix series .

For anyone interested in our 18-month post in British Studies please follow the link below. @ihr.bsky.social www.jobs.london.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

every time i see a reference to arno mayer’s “the furies” my mind does a double take

winbuzzer.com/2026/01/28/g... (what’s the betting that the answer to this mystery is LLMs and crawlers)

Google books going down is just the latest in the long catalogue of “don’t rely on big tech to save the commons”

Reminder that "jaywalking" was literally made up by american car manufacturers to shift the blame for accidents from drivers to pedestrians. "Jay" was a slang term meaning "idiot" or "rube".

*drum roll* Here is the cover for my book, which will be published by @cornellupress.bsky.social on 15 April 2026! I thought it would be nice to share a bit of info on who these men were and how their lives and interests inspired the design...

I just learned about something called recency bias. It's my favorite thing ever.

What happens if you fail to pay your exorcist tax? Your house gets repossessed👻

New article by Katherine Astbury and Abigail Coppins, 'French prisoner-of-war sociability in Hampshire during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars' Open Access here: doi.org/10.1093/fh/c... @frenchhistory.bsky.social

Just uploaded a recording of the SSFH Douglas Johnson lecture to the society's youtube channel. You can explore some past lectures there as well: www.youtube.com/@societyfort... 🗃️#skystorians

I am still shocked at just how much emailing is involved in being evil