🚨CfP: Land and Power in the Late Roman World. Deadline: 11 Jan 26, event 29 Jun-1 July 26. Come join the Land & Loyalty team in sunny Tubingen to discuss why land was so important in the late Roman world. ECRs especially solicited! research.st-andrews.ac.uk/landloyalty/...

So... errr... not sure what I did to all of the sudden attract dozens of new followers. But hello, welcome, and join the digital fireplace! I work on all kind of things Late Roman Empire, Early Medieval West and Byzantium. That and I share a lot of memes here. A. Lot.

Tenuretrack professor in Cultural and Societal Storytelling (Faculty of Arts, KU Leuven) academicpositions.com/ad/ku-leuven...

After this, no one should doubt Trump’s intention to invade Greenland. The EU needs to step up fast.

Apropos of nothing in particular, the main charge at Nuremburg was plotting and waging aggressive war.

It's only day three of 2026.

hey remember when a bunch of middle-aged drunk korean lawmakers climbed the locked gates to the national assembly to hold an emergency session after the president gave illegal orders to the military, all of which ended with said president being sentenced to prison

It's New Year, so time to look back and forward. These are 10 things I think we need to recognise in 2026. It’s a response to what I think are profoundly damaging mistaken assumptions I’ve heard and read from practitioners, journalists, and analysts in 2025. Warning: very long🧵

Start the New Year with a whiff of obliteration.

Still have to see Sinners. But if only the likes of Ridley Scott et al could take a page out of their checkbook like this.

They really have this delightful Gomez and Morticia vibe going on.

... And so it ends.

My 2025. Coincidence has it that yesterday I finished re-reading Josh Whedon's run on Astonishing X-Men for the umpteenth time since it first came out. It hit hard home in the best possible way. It sums up neatly my feeling about the state of the world and my current place in it. (Alt text)

Mijn Goodreads wrapped van 2025. Veel goede boeken gelezen. Absolute topper was De Wereld van Clovis, waarvan ik veel bijleerde en @drdragases.bsky.social slaagt erin ondanks weinig bronnenmateriaal een heel coherent verhaal te brengen.

Roses are red It’s almost New Year

This imperial stout paired exquisitely with last night's penultimate episode of Stranger Things.

Remember: When Tylenol was poisoned *by an outsider* and killed people, the company recalled all their products & redesigned them. When Intel’s Pentium had a bug so obscure it affected 1 in _9 billion_ long division calculations, they recalled their chips. ChatGPT was made deadly *by its team*.

Why yes, I do like mixing business with pleasure.

Waarom moeten BVs altijd naar een ver land om te gaan wandelen en ‘zichzelf tegen te komen’? Kunnen die niet gewoon op zondagnamiddag eens gaan wandelen in het lokale bos zoals iedereen?

Today in bad news/good news. Bad news: when unloading my shopping bag, it tumbled aside and cracked one of the Appassimento bottles. Good news: it was 1+1 free deal so there's nothing lost. Libations were offered to the Lares in due process. And one glass salvaged for the dominus. Cin cin, amici!

2020 Lockdown Hipster Santa still wishes you all a merry and safe Christmas, folks!

As has become customary for this time of the year, we conclude our Christmas celebrations with another childhood favourite. Let's see whether it has withstood the test of time.

Now this is totally my kind of Christmas present.

In case you needed to well up a little. "There’s no show… It’s wisdom." He says about the poem, but what a way of summing up how he showcased knowledge and insight on national radio: not to show off yet also not ashamed of intellect.

♬ Dub-a-dub-a-dumb-dumb Dub-a-dub-a-dumb Dub-a-dumb-dumb-dub-a-dub Dub-a-dub-a-dumb Dub-a-dub-a-dumb-dumb Dub-a-dub-a-dumb Dub-a-dumb-dumb-dub-a-dub Dub-a-dub-a-dumb ♬ Merry Christmas everyone!

♬ Closing time Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end ♬ Au revoir, Studio Skoop. En dank voor zoveel schoonheid.

Passeert dit op de aftellijst van Stubru's Tijdloze. ... Cliché tearjerker tekst? Check Eighties bombast troef? Check Oorworm voor de komende dagen? Check ... VOLUMEKNOP DE LUCHT IN

I don’t mean to sound extreme, but I don’t think we should have torture camps for people with criminal records either.

May the earth rest gently on you, Chris. And keep on winning from here to eternity.

Yes, yes, I know we're not supposed to copy from that other infernal site. But I was just reminded this is probably the only thing I ever made that went viral?

The real Roman history mainstream media and deep state Academia are keeping away from you. Trust me. I've done my own research.

Now this is my kind of Secret Santa.

Soon to appear, Eric Fournier and Maijastina Kahlos (eds.), Women and Gender in the Post-Roman Kingdoms, see www.brepols.net/products/IS-... and www.academia.edu/145456266/Wo... (incl. my paper on "Secular Women in the Lombard Kingdom“).

If this is already the normal procedure everywhere, i.e. a google scholar import, universities’ library catalogues will be useless tomorrow.

Give it two more years, and being able to exclude false references from your research will be about as important a skill as including real references is today.

A Lord of the Rings cover band called Helm's Deep Purple.

Only 3% away from kicking off end-of-the-year holidays, folks.

Never Bloody Forget.

Vacancy: Assistant Professor of Celtic, with a specialism in Old Irish, University of Cambridge. #MedievalSky www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/assista...

FFS. There's a reason Firefox is/was my main browser!

Zonet mijn auteursexemplaren van 'De wereld van Clovis' (@Ertsberg)'s vijfde druk (!) ontvangen. Maar had ik geweten dat dit me te wachten stonden, had ik misschien beter mijn allereerste unboxing video opgenomen. Want in de categorie bien étonnés de se trouver ensemble:

16. Now let me go find a pencil to rewind my cassette-tape.