Tessera

Rebecca Merkelbach

@beccamerkelbach.bsky.social

Doctor of trollology. Saga fangirl. Assistant Prof of Old Norse at Uni Tü. Lefty nerd💚 Powerlifting yoga teaching harpist. She/sie🏳️‍🌈 #SkandiRetten

871 Posts838 Follower 609 Folgt

Katharina Nocun @kattascha.bsky.social · yesterday

Das alles fühlt sich zunehmend wie ein „Don‘t look up“-LARP an. 🫤

Das mitunter deprimierendste am Umgang mit der Klimakrise ist: Wenn man mit Umweltökonomen spricht, sagen die: "Das wäre alles locker machbar, wenn der politische Wille da wäre". Auch ohne große Einbußen für den Wohlstand. Einfach nur ordentlich besteuern & regulieren.
Aber je länger wir warten oder gar zurückrudern, desto drastischer werden in Zukunft die Maßnahmen sein müssen. Und irgendwann ist es halt zu spät. Das ist alles so unnötig, dass es weh tut.

Rebecca Merkelbach @beccamerkelbach.bsky.social · yesterday

Have I finished all of the things I was meant to finish? No. Will I be able to actually not work while on leave? Also no. But my out of office message is enabled, I'm packing my bag, and I'm officially on leave for the next three weeks – or however long I manage to not freak out about lurking tasks.

Rebecca Merkelbach @beccamerkelbach.bsky.social · yesterday

We should bring this back

Daniel Bellingradt@dbellingradt.bsky.social · yesterday

Learn a German word with impetus today: Hitzefrei. Literally translates as „heat free“, and means you should get time off from work or school or whatever you do because it is simply too hot. #hitzefrei

Lee Hurley @hleehurley.com · 5d ago

Amnesty have issued an apology to JK Rowling and the rest. Adjust your expectations, and donations, accordingly www.amnesty.org.uk/latest/an-ap...

An Apology for A Growing Threat briefing, published on 8 July 2026

Amnesty International UK has made a public apology for the publication of the briefing “A growing threat: the anti-rights movement in the UK”. Click here to read it in full.

amnesty.org.uk

Rebecca Merkelbach @beccamerkelbach.bsky.social · 2w ago

Incredibly proud of @julianewitte.bsky.social, the first doctoral student I was allowed to supervise, who today defended her excellent thesis on female anger in Old Norse-Icelandic literature. Congratulations to summa cum laude, Dr Witte!

Rebecca Merkelbach @beccamerkelbach.bsky.social · 2w ago

Valles Marineris

Johannes Franzen @johannesfranzen.bsky.social · 2w ago

Die Wissenschaftsfreiheit wird am besten verteidigt, indem man Universitäten nicht zu Tode spart. Nichts höhlt die "Resilienz" der Institution mehr aus, als das katastrophale Kürzungsprogramm, das gerade abläuft.

"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 2w ago

Just going to say here, I think I've said this before, a 'historically accurate' version of the Odyssey is not possible because the Odyssey does not take place in a historical setting - it takes place in a fantastical pastiche of four centuries, mixed in with gods and monsters.

Watcher Guru@watcher.guru · 2w ago

JUST IN: Elon Musk says Grok will make a "full-length movie" of The Odyssey that is "historically accurate" by the end of this year.

Dr. Timothy Liam Waters @liamh2os.bsky.social · 2w ago

Join us in Leeds next year!

Rebecca Merkelbach @beccamerkelbach.bsky.social · 2w ago

Me at the end of the semester, looking at all the things that I still have to get done

Rav@rvbdrm.com · 2w ago

Julian Schmitz @jschmitzleipzig.bsky.social · 2w ago

Tja.

Aparna Nair @disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 3w ago

fields. Instead, he apparently laced into the company. According to the Financial Times, Eggers told the staff:

“The effect of ChatGPT on educators’ lives is catastrophic. Whether you intended to do it or not, you’ve made every teacher’s life infinitely more difficult than it was two years ago. So, just let that settle in… If students are using it to compose, which is the biggest tragedy of all, they’ll never learn to write. And their voice is stolen from them. They’ll never have the ability to say their truth and tell their own story. And that’s silencing an entire generation or two.”

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 3w ago

“If students are using it to compose, which is the biggest tragedy of all, they’ll never learn to write. And their voice is stolen from them.”

Tarik Abou-Chadi @tabouchadi.bsky.social · 3w ago

Grüne und Linke haben seit der Bundestagswahl zusammen so viel zugelegt wie die AfD. Es dreht sich aber alles um die AfD. Als wäre eh schon sicher, dass sie 2029 regiert. Das Narrativ des „Rechtsrucks“ suggeriert man müsse sich anpassen und könne gar nicht aktiv progressive Politik gestalten.

Deutschland Wählt / Österreich Wählt@de.whln.eu · 3w ago

BUNDESTAGSWAHL | Sonntagsfrage Forschungsgruppe Wahlen/ZDF AfD: 27% (-1) Union: 23% (-1) GRÜNE: 14% (+2) LINKE: 13% (+2) SPD: 12% (-1) FDP: 4% Sonstige: 7% (-1) Änderungen zur letzten Umfrage vom 19. Juni 2026 Verlauf: whln.eu/UmfragenDeutschland #btw29

Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 3w ago

Beautiful work.

Rodrigo Ghedin@manualdousuario.net · 3w ago

Meta glasses ad vandalized in London https://manualdousuario.net/en/they-live-meta-glasses-kylie-jenner/

Rebecca Merkelbach @beccamerkelbach.bsky.social · 3w ago

Bewerbungen für Stellen in Deutschland zu lesen ist so seltsam. Kinder sind vielleicht relevant für das akademische Alter, aber warum gibt man deren Namen an? Oder den eigenen Geburtstag und Familienstand? Welche Relevanz hat es, ob jemand verheiratet ist oder nicht?

Juliane Witte @julianewitte.bsky.social · 3w ago

Now that everyone has returned from this year's @imc-leeds.bsky.social, I thought I'd share my CFP for next year's on female communities and networks again 😊 feel free to reach out with questions as well! #MedievalSky

In line with IMC’s thematic focus on communities, this series of sessions will explore female networks and communities in the Middle Ages from a variety of methodological, theoretical, and disciplinary angles. While many medieval sources focus expressly on men and male characters, relationships between women and female characters exist, even if they are sometimes hidden away at the margins. The goal of these sessions is to put female networks, communities, and relationships at the centre of our focus and thereby gain a more nuanced insight into the Middle Ages and our engagement with the time period and its various outputs.

In this context, both “network” and “community” are defined as broadly as possible, namely as relationships of any sort between medieval women, female characters in texts, and/or female audiences (both medieval and modern, both scholarly and popular). The aim of these sessions is to explore where and how such networks and communities can be located, how they are depicted, what effect they have upon their narratives or their historical surroundings, and how we connect to them now. The desire is for these sessions to be as broad and exploratory as possible, inviting scholars from a variety of disciplines.

Papers could address intersectional communities, religious networks, the performance of community, inclusion/exclusion, and much more in historical, literary, and/or material contexts. Doctoral Candidates, late-stage MA students, and Early Career Researchers are actively encouraged to send in proposals. I am planning an edited volume based on these sessions.

Please send an abstract (max. 300 words) and a short biography to juliane.witte@uni-tuebingen.de by the 31st of July 2026. Please do state whether you’d prefer to attend in person or online. Feel free to also reach out with any questions!

Lesbian Death Bed: The Bed that Eats Pussy (pro orph)@bitterkarella.bsky.social · 3w ago

over the course of my life i've heard many many people say "it's too bad hitler didn't find success as an artist, maybe this could have all been avoided" and rowling really gives the lie to that

s. e. smith@sesmith.lol · 3w ago

The fact that J.K. Rowling successfully bullied Amnesty International into taking down a report that accurately called out her attack on trans people, especially trans women, is so repulsive and such a display of the power of her money, and her choice to put her vast fortune behind persecution.

AKGWDS @akgwds.bsky.social · 3w ago

Für alle #GameStudies Interessierten, die nicht so recht wissen, wo sie denn überhaupt erst afangen sollen haben @hekabeohnename.bsky.social und @letobili.bsky.social einen sehr hilfreichen Leitfaden für die ersten Schritte zusammengestellt. gespielt.hypotheses.org/11097 Neu im Sammelband! #GuDSDDD

🇺🇦 Bundesintellenzmysterium 🇬🇱@cycotom.bsky.social · 3w ago

Swakopmund, Deutsch-Südwestafrika, 1916, nachkoloriert.

Rainer Sigl 🇪🇺@rainersigl.bsky.social · 3w ago

This is the way tech.yahoo.com/wearables/ar...

The Backlash Is So Strong That People With “Pervert Glasses” Are Afraid to Use Them in Public

"A lot of men and their behaviors have ruined this product."

tech.yahoo.com

Dr Vanessa @hpsvanessa.bsky.social · 3w ago

Sex testing in sport is entirely based on the sexist assumption that women are “naturally” bad at sports and likely harmed or made “masculine” by doing exercise. If you know literally anything about the history of this stuff the slide to banning women’s sports is an obvious inevitability not a shock

James Goodwin@jamesgoodwin.bsky.social · 3w ago

My god. The Heritage Foundation, which mercilessly attacked transgender kids in order to protect the "integrity of women's sports," is now attacking the legal basis for women's sports. The transgender student decision is barely 2 weeks old.

Rebecca Merkelbach @beccamerkelbach.bsky.social · 3w ago

Also much harder to do this convincingly with AI, and I think (or hope) that no one tried.

Rebecca Merkelbach@beccamerkelbach.bsky.social · 3w ago

This semester for my seminar on grief in ON and OE literature, I gave my student the option to write personal reflections or creative responses to the texts we read, and this was the best thing I've ever done. From heartbreaking stories about lost pets to sagas in space, from modern fornyrðislag...

Rebecca Merkelbach @beccamerkelbach.bsky.social · 3w ago

Mel Aura @melaura.bsky.social · 3w ago

Aber früher war es auch schon warm.🤡

Frankreichs längster Fluss wird zur Sandbank

REVY @catgirlfingies.quest · last mo.

Just sharing this again at a time of what's happening in Australia. In Event Horizon Sam Neill requested that the Australian flag on his character's uniform remove the Union Flag from the corner & for it to be replaced with the Aboriginal flag, the way he thought it should look in 2047

Sam Neill in the movie Event Horizon.
Wearing a flag patch that has the Australian flag but thr union jack is removed to have the Aboriginal flag in its place

Rebecca Merkelbach @beccamerkelbach.bsky.social · 3w ago

Now 103 hours in and back in Skellige for Act 3. Is it just me or does Eredin look like Dani Filth?

Rebecca Merkelbach@beccamerkelbach.bsky.social · 2mo ago

After about 9 months of playing Witcher 3 (86 hours), I have finally made it to Kaer Morhen www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ol3...

Rebecca Merkelbach @beccamerkelbach.bsky.social · 3w ago

Hauptsache, grüne Frauen dürfen es💪

Johannes Franzen@johannesfranzen.bsky.social · 3w ago

Nein.

Streit über Rollenbilder:
Dürfen grüne Männer pumpen gehen?

Ash Paley @ashpaley.bsky.social · 4w ago

IMC 2027 CfP: Community and the Uncanny: Neurodivergent Inclusion and Exile in the Middle Ages #IMC #IMC2027 #CfP #Neurodiversity #Medieval

A call for papers for the International Medieval Congress (IMC).
There is a colourful medieval style header with 5 rainbow clad people dancing to a lute player. Underneath is a Neurodiversity infinity symbol.
Text reads:
Despite the importance of community for human wellbeing, the neurodivergent experience of what community has meant throughout history has often differed greatly from that offered by neuronormative societies. Building on the success of our 2026 series, Neurodivergent and Neuroqueer Temporalities, we once again invite scholars working in neurodiversity studies and neuroqueer theory within medieval studies to present papers on the IMC’s 2027 theme, ‘Communities’.

This series invites proposals for papers that examine aspects of medieval and medievalist communities through a neurodivergent or neuroqueer lens. This includes, but is not limited to:
-Exploration of the social interactions of neurodivergent individuals in medieval communities.
-Examination of the relationships between neurodivergent and neurotypical characters in medieval literature.
-Discussions of the experiences of neurodivergent scholars in medieval studies.
-Exploration of the formation of neurodivergent or neuroqueer communities across time with figures or concepts from the Middle Ages.

Paper proposals should be under 200 words and accompanied by a bio of no more than 150 words. Proposals should be sent to D.M.Coultas@leeds.ac.uk for the attention of Dan Coultas and Ash Paley no later than Monday, 14th September 2026.
Successful applicants are reminded that they remain responsible for their own conference registration and fees.

Dexerto @dexerto.bsky.social · 4w ago

A Norway fan has gone viral for not taking part in their Row celebration after matches and won't do it if they win the World Cup "It’s factually wrong; they didn’t row, they sailed over the Atlantic”

DocGaby @docgaby.bsky.social · 4w ago

Erst wurden Honorare gekürzt. Dann wurde der Versorgungsabbau vorbereitet: Rund 70 Prozent der Praxen sollen statt 30 nur noch 18 Patientinnen und Patienten pro Woche behandeln dürfen. Und nun soll mit der Streichung des gesetzlichen Schutzes des Mindesthonorars der Todesstoß folgen.

BinGanzBrav@binganzbrav.bsky.social · 4w ago

Unterzeichnen! Bitte! www.psychotherapieverbund.de/todesstoss