My experience too, 😡

Heather Burns@heatherburnstech.bsky.social · 2d ago

The most terrifying enshittification I've discovered has been learning that Microsoft Word documents no longer auto-save if you are not saving them to one of their own proprietary cloud services. I'm slapping control-S like it's 1999.

As thousands of research academics are made redundant the whole system of free/cheap peer review will collapse.

Is needing to blow up the Danube riverbed to try and provide emergency supplies of cooling water to a nuclear power plant A Good Thing? www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

Romania blasts rock to divert water from drought-hit Danube to nuclear reactor

Hungary and Romania face energy crisis as record-low river levels force atomic power plants to reduce output

theguardian.com

Time Exposures: Catholic Photography and the Evolution of Modern China is a book published by hkupress.hku.hk. Written by Joseph W. Ho and Anthony E. Clark, the book explores historical photography and Catholic communities in China

Forest fire last night in the Netherlands.

Wouter van Bernebeek@woutervanbernebeek.bsky.social · 2d ago

⛈️🔥 Surrealistisch beeld uit de eigen omgeving! Buienwolken in de verte stijgen boven een #bosbrand uit, gisteravond op de grens tussen Brabant en Limburg. Ik was onderweg naar onweersbuien in het zuiden en kwam dit tegen langs snelweg A73. Bizarre sfeer rond zonsondergang...

Nousferatu has been entered in the external-consultant lexicon. It cannot now be removed. The survivors keep excellent minutes.

The Nawab, the Surgeon, and the Parrot: guest contributor Dr Kristof Szitar traces the journey of a Persian manuscript from South India to Hungary (via an English surgeon) in today's new blog post. memorients.com/articles/the...

The Nawab, the Surgeon, and the Parrot: A Persian Manuscript Between Arcot and Northumbria | MEMOs

The manuscript reveals the overlooked role played by colonial intermediaries, such as surgeons, in moving Persianate objects into European collections.

memorients.com

Parau Parau (Conversation, 1891) gathers Tahitians seated in murmured talk across a landscape of soft greens. Among Gauguin's first island scenes, it exists in more than one version and shows him trying to capture the rhythms of everyday local life.

Gardens must be one of the most changeable things in our lives along with the weather and nothing matches the definition of ephemeral more than the Day Lily. #AlphabetChallenge #WeekEforEphemeral. #EnglishGardening #ECK #Photography

Important crossover event

The Southern Three-Banded Armadillo (Tolypeutes matacus) is one of the only armadillo species capable of rolling into a completely sealed sphere: #AGoodPlace Source: www.reddit.com/r/NatureIsFu...

Not only that but *the entire Humanities offering at Hertfordshire has gone and is being taught out*

Cordelia Beattie@cordeliabeattie.bsky.social · 4d ago

I see some people are reading this post as being about Exeter but it’s referring to the University of Hertfordshire. And that’s Owen’s point. Less coverage about the axe falling there but it’s equally sad.

A bit late, but I believe today is the day to celebrate 40 years of the self titled debut album by the brilliant Crowded House!! 🙌 Faves from this?

www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08... In NSW there’s far more AirBnB’s than there are long term rental listings. The numbers are staggering. And residents are being pushed out for short term profits and those enjoying their holidays with homes to go back to. These are creating #homelessness. #auspol 🤬

In towns where thousands of homes are Airbnbs, renters want a tax

Homelessness NSW says it is easier to get a holiday rental than a long-term rental — and that needs to change. But the industry says those claims are unfair.

abc.net.au

So a whole lot of my talented Humanities colleagues are now unemployed as of today. A lot of understandable concern over Exeter. But for over two decades my Hums colleagues were in the top quartile for their research contribution to society. History top 10. Now gone with only a national whisper.

Sir #DavidAttenborough “Things are going to get worse. This is the new extinction. We are in terrible, terrible trouble and the longer we wait to do something about it, the worse it is going to get." #ClimateEmergency

David Attenborough, the voice of Our Planet: “Things are going to get worse”

The voice of some of the most stunning nature documentaries ever made is pessimistic about the future of wildlife on earth.

vox.com

Open-access grammars by UC Publications in Linguistics escholarship.org/uc/ucpress_u...

"Details, in their singularity and idiosyncrasy, point to the capaciousness of human experience." New today in the Society's journal 'Transactions': Joe Moran 'On Detail in Historical Writing': bit.ly/44UMi8C Now available OA @joemoransblog.bsky.social @massobsarchive.bsky.social #Skystorians 1/2

I work at a public library. People who want to use AI seem to have no trouble doing so. People who don't want to use AI have a harder time. I crowdsourced and then finalized this document "How to disable or avoid intrusive AI" and then gave it a short URL: notoai.org Please pass along if it's useful

Thanks to the wonders of AI, people in Aceh are now a short boat ride away from Africa

Iva Vukušić@vukusiciva.bsky.social · 6d ago

When will this festival of humiliation for the U.S. end, I wonder.

This is sad. I really enjoyed my meetings with Femme, the great historian of the VOC. Lovely man, and proud Friesian to boot.

Ad van der Zee@advanderzee.bsky.social · last wk.

Ach, Femme Gaastra overleden. Geweldig VOC-kenner en een heel aardige man ook nog eens. www.zeegeschiedenis.nl/2026/07/28/i...

Worn #onthisday in 1972 by English glam rock band Roxy Music, at the Crystal Palace Garden Party concert in London. "We have plenty of ideas for stage costumes," singer Bryan Ferry told the Evening Sentinel, decrying "the Levi-clad do-your-own-thing of the past couple of years." OTD @gettyimages.com

If you’ve seen this article, you may be sitting with anger, pain, or just exhaustion at dealing with another helping of colonial nonsense. We feel a responsibility to speak back when these colonizing narratives show up, yet again, in such a prominent venue. endangeredlanguages.com/story/respon...

The New Yorker@newyorker.com · 2w ago

The idea that we have a special duty to prevent the death of languages is instantly compelling to anyone who loves languages. But is it true? www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Impossible to put into words how useless Gmail search is. No wait, these guys did it!

"The new water treatment technology captures plastic particle down to 30 nanometres while also pulling out toxic heavy heavy metals, drug residues, and industrial dyes. The findings were published in the Chemical Engineering Journal..."

Scientists built a reusable magnetic material that removed more than 95% of microplastics and nanoplastics from water within one hour and showed early promise in removing some PFAS

Scientists at RMIT University in Australia have built a reusable magnetic material that removed more than 95% of micro- and nanoplastics from water within one hour and showed early promise against som...

m.timesofindia.com

Data Centers are not "job creators." They are resource extractors, siphoning off our water and power.

Bugger

Robert Saunders@robertsaunders.bsky.social · last wk.

Fellow historians: I regret to inform you that the fabulous British Newspaper Archive has changed its website and search facility. It is now impossible to find anything... (I suppose we'll get the hang of it eventually, as the dinosaur said of the asteroid).

I likewise had the great pleasure and honour to have afternoon tea with Niel and benefit from his immense knowledge.

Deborah Lee-Talbot@colourfulhistories.bsky.social · last wk.

As a junior historian, I once had the greatest afternoon, sitting in Niel Gunson's front living room, asking him questions about his journey as a Pacific historian and how he worked in London archives. Super grateful there's an online link to attend this event tomorrow:

Well this is just terrible news 😢 It was bad enough that we lost Tim early in the COVID pandemic. Now we have lost Mr Ecky Thump himself, the brilliant Bill Oddie. Vale mate. Vale. Thanks for all the laughs. What an absolute treasure we have lost 😢 www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

Bill Oddie, naturalist and broadcaster, dies aged 85

Coming to fame in The Goodies, Oddie was later known for his wildlife expertise and presented BBC Springwatch

theguardian.com

The Lon Nol and Khmer Rouge regimes both launched genocidal campaigns against Vietnamese-Cambodians

Global Voices@globalvoices.org · last wk.

Ethnic Vietnamese face discrimination and statelessness in Cambodia https://ift.tt/jM5bDkJ