The issue with all these takes is "controversial" usually means "something historians settled 25 years ago"

Gets me everytime its so funny

The Tenet theory of politics: "Don't try to understand it. Feel it"

The Tenet theory of politics: "Don't try to understand it. Feel it"

Good afternoon work mix:

Five years, four authors, one book. Out now (fully open access), our new book on local priests in the tenth century 🌟 www.cambridge.org/core/books/l... @jbwaagmeester.bsky.social

@samottewillsoulsby.bsky.social's The Emperor and the Elephant is a new history of Christian-Muslim relations in the Carolingian period that provides a fresh account of events by drawing on Arabic as well as western sources. Now in #paperback! Read a free sample: press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...

St. Peter at the Pearly Gates: Did you live by the Ten Commandments? Mike Johnson: I have no idea. I have not seen those

One thing I really missed in Germany was my mechanical keyboard, its a Keychron V6. I really recommend getting a mechanical keyboard if you type a lot like I do. Plus it looks cool and sounds neat

ah yes every time I get a new computer I have to re-add "Carolingians" to the dictionary on my word processor

Woof I read maybe a paragraph of that article and closed it, what a bad faith mess.

A movie you've seen more than seven times with a gif

My kingdom for a watchable NFL game this season, so many blowouts

This week I talk about the distinction between a king and a tyrant, featuring quotes from my hometown after the Boston Massacre, John Locke, and naturally, Arnulf #medievalsky

Ok i dont usually watch baseball but im getting annoyed I cant watch now, this game sounds awesome (but also game 7s are magic)

This week I talk about the distinction between a king and a tyrant, featuring quotes from my hometown after the Boston Massacre, John Locke, and naturally, Arnulf #medievalsky

In 1855 Massachusetts passed a law, the Personal Liberties Act, which tried to circumvent the Fugitive Slave Law. (If MA was serious they could do something similar now probably). One of the authors was a state senator named O.W. Albee, who was one of the first teachers in my hometown of Marlborough

Don’t know why trick-or-treaters are annoyed I’m scooping guacamole into their bags. It’s a premium add-on

Also, maybe we come up with, like, two more holidays, say in the early and late spring, that involve walking around the neighborhood and talking to your neighbors?

For my desktop I kept my Linux setup pretty much the same as my laptop, but couldn't resist using a portion of Claude-Joseph Vernet's The Shipwreck as the background

Bluesky has NO ALGORITHM. Likes are PRIVATE by default. If you enjoy someone's content, you've GOT to get used to circulating it. The point of social media is to be SOCIAL. It's literally just a 2nd button press; please help artists out by hitting reblog, too! Likes are nice, reblogs get exposure!

I’m delighted to hear that the translation has been useful! You can find it and many others by myself and @ralphtorta.bsky.social here: salutemmundo.wordpress.com/primary-sour...

American Politics 1990 (?) - present

Today on the blog, we descend into a dark, dangerous underworld to answer the question, is Charlemagne in hell? #medievalsky salutemmundo.wordpress.com/2025/10/30/t...

At 240 million a month, they could fund it for over a year without running out of money. If the shutdown lasts a month or two (a more realistic timeline) means using around 500 million, leaving around 8 BILLION in the fund. Open em up and call it the "Dem Rescue Pantry" or something

Next up in the subway reading series:

consider this part one of what will be an ongoing series making the case for an imperial congress (gift link)

Centrist pundits, faced with any evidence that Democratic leaders are already following their advice, and none of it is breaking through because we aren't living in a pretend ealry 1990s media environment:

To commemorate the Battle of the Milvian Bridge which happened on this day, why not read about the echoes of the battle in the reign of Arnulf? #medievalsky

No way to reconcile this with using other funds to pay different things except as a political choice

I'm so interested in how Alfred and Arnulf are treated differently by historians/popular perceptions. Both died in 899, but national historiographies have shaped their legacies in radically different ways. Especially when it relates to illness and royal authority

This was always a challenge in "consensus" meetings that took 3+ hours, few who were working or tired could make it, so it was dominated by the most intense and abrasive people. Instead of real action it created alienating symbolics

A reminder that we're collecting books, chapters, and journal articles by non-TT historians for publication in our year-end lists. Anything with a 2025 pub date is eligible and you can submit for your friends/colleagues! contingentmagazine.org/yearly-pub-l...

The world when I rediscover the 5+ hour audio file of my friend explaining the 40k lore to someone at a party:

My hot take is that an institutional understanding of politics and political behavior can't adequately explain the current moment, whereas an agent based understanding (like in the medieval world) fits better

"hit Dems hard" like its all a simple game, instead of 40 million people going hungry. Ghoulish framing

The most important thing is not any party winning. Partisanship can distort one’s thinking. The most important thing is the survival of the American republic, which requires two parties committed to liberal democracy. Can’t solve all the other problems we have unless you solve that as well.

Political communication needs to be updated for the times, but shitposting is toxic for public discourse. I want serious people making important decisions. Instead, perpetual campaigning and social media leaves us with politicians and candidates engaging in digital flame wars while everything burns.

Ill repeat something I said a while ago: I hope those who get to become professors 25 years from now remember the entire generation who never even got a chance. Take a moment to think about all the people doomed to never follow their dreams

Nvm:

Going back for more Monday night football:

This is the kind of overly broad statement I tell my students not to write

Ill say that Ghost produces orders of magnitude less subscribers than the generic Substack recommendations

This is the key IMO, I am more, not less, secure in my own beliefs but I'm also willing to ignore leftists who say things like getting a job is "selling out"

OPSEC is clean

begging y’all to get a grip

This applies to teaching too tbh

"The protocol taught us that technology can be based on human values like ethics and morality. It showed that voluntary compliance works when all parties benefit." On robots.txt. www.heise.de/en/backgroun...

the most harrowing part of this is getting to the end and seeing Michael Clayton with a 7.2 and Master and Commander with a 7.5

I put Linux on both my laptop and desktop and it is a much cleaner experience than the cluttered Ad+AI Windows OS. I want to have control over my PC, which is something that Windows increasingly doesn't want you to have