this is fascinating talesoftimesforgotten.com/2026/07/23/a...

this has been your regularly scheduled image for faculty hiring and/or success in the creative fields

Ben Wurgaft@benwurgaft.bsky.social · yesterday

A friend offers an image: a cargo cultist became wealthy by once finding a refrigerator on the beach. "Do what I did!" He tells young people year after year. "Go to the beach!" They could go for a hundred years.

This was a great ad. #Michigan @abdulelsayed.bsky.social (H/T @underthedesknews.bsky.social )

it is also my Nana's 96th birthday and we just got back from supper

Sir Ian@sir-ian.bsky.social · yesterday

"Today is August 4, 2026,” said a second voice from the kitchen ceiling, "in the city of Allendale, California.” Happy “There Will Come Soft Rains” day, all.

"History involves sorting and organizing hundreds of thousands of facts" I remain astounded by how loud and wrong people are about what history actually is.

This is the tragic yet logical result of a decades-long project—undertaken by rightwing politicians and “business-minded” administrators alike—to distort the meaning of higher education, to deny the intrinsic value of the pursuit of knowledge, to deprive us all of richer, more purposeful lives.

The New Republic@newrepublic.com · 2d ago

President Trump is banning students majoring in degrees that don’t make enough money from taking out college loans. Degrees for social work, art, religious studies, teaching aides, and music will be hit the hardest. trib.al/aaAEu6v

The kind of Swerve we need

Dr. Katja Thieme (she/they)@katjathieme.bsky.social · yesterday

A humble academic proposal: let's not have stars. Everyone hired as an academic at a university is there to teach younger generations, to make new knowledge, to have that knowledge critically evaluated by others, and to act on collective insights. We do not need to designate some people as stars.

It’s syllabus prep season, and I’m thinking about what a privilege and benefit it must be for those academics who get to directly tie their teaching / syllabi to their research / writing. 1/5

oh permanent full-time pre-1800 job at Limerick! Deadline 14 August -- start of the job in January 2027. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DRU993/a... #earlymodern #MedievalSky #Skystorians #Jobfairy

Assistant Professor in European and or Global History (pre-1800) at University of Limerick

Apply for the Assistant Professor in European and or Global History (pre-1800) role on jobs.ac.uk, the top job board for academic positions in higher education. View details and apply now.

jobs.ac.uk

In which @acoyne.bsky.social takes a well-deserved run at Discount Elon Musk aka Shopify Nosferatu. "Mr. Lütke himself is among Canada’s richest people.....He is also a first-class fool, when it comes to matters other than making money." www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

Opinion: One person, one vote is basic democratic principle. We should try it some time

Tobi Lütke’s musings on democracy remind us of what’s at stake

theglobeandmail.com

🧵1/6. #changes. After 28 years working at/for LSBU this is my last week. Social Sciences has been closed & I am redundant. Feeling sad as was proud to work for somewhere that embodied widening participation (since 1892) & research re social justice. Worked with some great colleagues & fab students.

This is on my summer re-reads list.

Guy Gavriel Kay@guygavrielkay.bsky.social · 6d ago

Very seriously, through the years my best ‘marketing department’ has always been booksellers. This was spotted in a Vancouver bookstore by a friend.

cueing up my Barry White cover of "Les Poissons"

Dabididab@dabiwinter.cryptoanarchy.network · 6d ago

Sequel to The Shape of Water just dropped

I would be ashamed to have written any part of this.

Let’s kill the creative industry in the UK shall we? I mean it’s not like everyone is relaxing by watching TV, listening to music, going to the theatre, critiquing Nolan’s Odyssey… even STEM folk like to unwind

Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 6d ago

Creative & performing arts subjects received £16.8 million SPG 2024-25; £12.9 million in 2025-26; £ O million in 2026-27. The University of Creative Arts will thus lose half of its government funding this year; Art University Bournmouth 40.7%, Norwich U of Arts 40.4% and Leeds Arts U 30.3%. 1/2

shh everybody shut up

I attended a funeral this afternoon for a much-loved person who died far too soon. One thing I came to decide from the exp—which, amid the many tears, incl'd a lot of laughs and some call-and-response of both his name and of the refrain from Munsch's Mortimer—is that funerals should incl applause.

Scott Moe is an insufferable right-wing pick-me.

National Newswatch@nationalnewswatch.com · 7d ago

Premier Moe faces criticism over taxpayer-funded Lindsey Graham funeral trip, @prishadev1 reports globalnews.ca/news/1200176... Find out more at nationalnewswatch.com

A CEO said in the town hall shown here that they’d be willing to buy people’s homes if the noise got too loud, & that tells you everything you need to know about the sociopathic disregard for humanity these people hold. To them houses are real estate not sites of family, memory, security, community.

Agreed that this is a good segment. There is not a single component of the AI stack that is not antagonistic to human welfare. An interviewee in this segment compares this to noise torture, and anyone exposed to constant noise of this sort knows it’s hostile to one’s wellbeing.

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · last wk.

This is a well-produced segment. I encourage you to watch so you can hear the noise for yourself. The professor of environmental health science that they interviewed called it an “unprecedented new noise source.”

Well, this is timely. The 1977 Iphigenia (in Greek) is, at least for the moment, on YouTube in its entirety. This movie made a huge impression on me when I was a young teen. youtu.be/o81Ehf3XFL4?...

Ιφιγένεια [Iphigeneia] (1977) full movie in HD | original Greek dub (eng subtitles)

YouTube video by Theaphilius Lingua

youtu.be

Ditto

Final report from Victoria's parliamentary inquiry into university governance warns "corporatised approach" risks public universities' social licence. 17 key reforms to improve staff/student voice, transparency and accountability: www.parliament.vic.gov.au/get-involved... #HigherEd #AcademicSky

Reports - Inquiry into enhancing Victorian university governance - Parliament of Victoria

parliament.vic.gov.au

This is just to say I have OCRed the text thet was in tne arch:ve and whicb yov were prabaldy seamhing for "breahtast" Fargme ms fheg mem debo:w5 sb ?mccf mmb 5c oc1b

say what you will about AI, always-on voice recording and auto dictation has been a game changer for my workflows. Save post and close app. Yeah Footlong meatball sub on white. No veggies. Don't toast it. Ranch and barbecue sauce. Yeah, ranch and bargecue sauce. More. More. Little more please

(to the tune of “Buffalo Soldier”) Odyssey Discourse

[ok I thought of a seventh] 7. Homer and Nolan both use metonymy to show the damage war does to the cosmos. Homer: Astyanax is all the children murdered in the war (book 6) Nolan: Troy is as a metonym for the world: "To burn the walls of Troy was to burn the world entire..."