"In the living room the voice-clock sang, Tick-tock, seven o'clock, time to get up, time to get up, seven o 'clock! as if it were afraid that nobody would. The morning house lay empty." -Ray Bradbury, "There Will Come Soft Rains" published in 1950 & set #OnThisDay (Aug. 4, 2026) #booksky #scifi 📚

Does anyone else think there's something ominous about this Lobster Pizza Countdown clock? 🦞🍕 www.via313.com #Austin #ATX #ATXFood

Boosting the signal for any medievalists, digital humanists, historians of the book, or manuscript enthusiasts in the audience... #skystorians #MedievalSky #Manuscripts #BookHistory #DigitalHumanities #metadata 🗃️📜

Dot Porter@leoba.bsky.social · 5d ago

Do you use digitized medieval manuscripts in any capacity? Do you have opinions about the metadata that describes them? We want to hear from you! Please take a moment to fill out our very short survey. Please repost and share with anyone you know who might be interested! forms.gle/sBPXAnoRhwe1...

"The new regime of censorship is entering its second academic year." Iván Chaar López reflects on the current state of affairs at UT Austin in his contribution to @penamerica.bsky.social's "Snapshots of Censorship" Project. #histSTM #histtech #tenure 🗃️📜 #skystorians #AcademicFreedom

Snapshots of Censorship: Dare to Obey? Censorship and the Attack on Tenure in Texas

These truths, the product of extensive and rigorous research, are now not allowed to circulate freely in classrooms and across the UT campus.

pen.org

Sixty years ago today (Jul. 30, 1966), the first full-length #Batman theatrical movie was released here in Austin, Texas! Adam West, Cesar Romero, Lee Meriwether & Burgess Meredith attended the premiere, and Congress Avenue was briefly renamed Batman Boulevard. #OnThisDay #comics #Austin #ATX 🗃️

The World Premiere of the 1966 BATMAN MOVIE Was a Colorful, Far Out Affair

A 60TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION: Holy cheering throngs! The film opened with a parade and screening in Austin, Texas, on July 30, 1966…

13thdimension.com

"I was a young man. I was still growing out of the East Side. The only real politics I knew was that if a guy liked Hitler, I’d beat the stuffing out of him and that would be it." -Jack Kirby (Read the full interview @comicsjournal.bsky.social: www.tcj.com/jack-kirby-i...) #comics

Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg@theradr.bsky.social · 7d ago

Reminder that the Golden Age of Comics began in 1938 when a couple of Jews started making stories about fighting evil. So many of the people in power now seen so much like cartoon villains bc those archetypes were literally created after some of the most horrific human beings of our known history.

For the record, @ransomcenter.bsky.social has incredible collections. It also looks nothing like the AI-generated image presented below! (At least Facebook had the decency to label the accompanying post as "AI content"...) #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #AIArt 🗃️📜

🏆 Congratulations to Lucy Jameson (Durham) and Michelle Pfeffer (Oxford), winners of the 2026 BSHS Singer Prize! Read about their award-winning essays, the special commendations and the panel's comments here: bshs.org.uk/singer-prize... More on the authors coming soon!

Also, it's not like this is the first time a tech company sought to "disruptively scan all the world's books." (Read Deanna Marcum & @rschon.bsky.social's Along Came #Google to see how that turned out: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...) #BookHistory #libraries #digitization 🗃️📜

Ben Gross@bhgross144.bsky.social · last wk.

For those seeking another reason to oppose #Anthropic (or #AI more broadly): "Anthropic described the project as 'our effort to disruptively scan all the world’s books' in an internal memo, which noted 'we do not want it to be known that we are pursuing this project'." #booksky #speccolls 🗃️📜📚

For those seeking another reason to oppose #Anthropic (or #AI more broadly): "Anthropic described the project as 'our effort to disruptively scan all the world’s books' in an internal memo, which noted 'we do not want it to be known that we are pursuing this project'." #booksky #speccolls 🗃️📜📚

AI labs buy, scan, shred millions of rare books

If you have retreated to physical books because the internet is too full of AI slop, bad news — now they’re shredding the books to feed their AI slop machines.

news.com.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

So there I am, scrolling through YouTube shorts during lunch, when I hear a familiar name in a @dropout.tv promo... youtube.com/shorts/zTrE9... (Congratulations, @friede.bsky.social!) #Dropout #AdventuringAcademy

Noise Boys On Game Changer, Brennan Interviews Dr. Emily Friedman, and more!

YouTube video by Dropout

youtube.com

I know several museums devoted to #radio and/or the history of communications that would be thrilled to add this to their collections. 📻🐍 #histtech #hisstech

Prof. Allie Alvis 🌷@book-historia.bsky.social · last wk.

From elsewhere in the same catalog: “A radio receiving set is probably the last place one would expect to find a serpent.” FUCK MAN SURE IS

Graffiti on the bus or the first item on today’s to-do list?

Has anyone considered that Jimothy might be a totally normal raccoon who happens to be moving at near-light speeds? (Image on the right is from George Gamow's Mr. Tompkins in Wonderland, 1939: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr_Tomp...) #Jimothy #relativity #physics #histsci #histSTM

Calling all #BookHistory, #GLAM & #speccolls friends---help this post get to 100 likes! (Unless you don't want to see some of the coolest books in @edunilibraries.bsky.social's Heritage Collections...) library.ed.ac.uk/heritage-col... #booksky 📚📜🗃️

Edinburgh Bibliographical Society@edibibsoc.bsky.social · 2w ago

Getting ready for our upcoming workshop! 📜🤫 If this gets 100 likes, we'll drop a thread of our absolute favourite books from the University of Edinburgh Heritage Collection.

“In an emailed statement to Inside Higher Ed, a UT spokesperson said, 'Tenure is privilege, not a right.'"

Inside Higher Ed @insidehighered.com · 2w ago

Border Surveillance Scholar Denied Tenure at UT Austin https://bit.ly/4wLH6Q4

🚨Lauren Gutterman, former chair of the American Studies department and AAUP UT Austin Chapter VP: “Iván’s case is a warning for all faculty across the university, because it suggests that achieving excellence in your field is no longer enough to secure tenure and promotion.” ⬇️

UT border surveillance scholar was a shoo-in for tenure. UT denied him.

American Studies scholar Iván Chaar López fears UT’s unexplained tenure denial violated his academic freedom amid scrutiny of controversial fields.

statesman.com

Iván has been a crucial contributor to UT's #STS community, and the news that he was denied tenure is simultaneously disappointing and deeply troublesome...

🪬Lina-Maria Murillo@drlmmurillo.bsky.social · 2w ago

My brilliant colleague Iván Chaar López 's tenure denial is not only a threat to UT faculty, but to all scholars who research topics considered "controversial." His case is a model for how to deny tenure with zero justifications to him or his colleagues. www.statesman.com/news/educati...

#ICYMI: New CHSTM working groups for 2026-27! -Doing #HistSci -Early Career Scholars Workshop Series -Global Forests -History of Computing -History of Hospitals -History of Math -Psychedelic Cultures, Lab Cultures -Sci. in Frozen Environments -Sci. Studies and the Long 18th c #histtech #histmed 🗃️📜

Beware of geeks bearing gifts...

Yours in negritude, Ryan K. Smith@mewefree.bsky.social · 2w ago

Two people tried to enter a screening of The Odyssey without buying tickets after hiding inside a miniature model of the Trojan Horse. 😂😂😂

An interactive atlas of the British Empire's civil service: ~16,000 Colonial & India Office careers (1820–1966), every move an arc across the map. Rebuilt from the digitized Indian and Colonial Office Lists with a knowledge graph. WIP, feedback welcome: jimclifford.ca/col_matching/

A gentle reminder: libraries are still here, still free, still open to everyone. No appointment required. No subscription fee. Just walk in.

The joke I told about Ixion left the crowd rolling in the aisles...

Harry Turtledove @hntdove.bsky.social · 3w ago

The joke I told about Pentheus just tore me up.

Warren Weaver, the mathematician & administrator who coined the term "molecular biology," was born #OnThisDay in 1894. Weaver was also a #LewisCarroll fan & owned many translations of the #Alice books. Today researchers can consult his collection @ransomcenter.bsky.social. #booksky #histSTM 📚📜🗃️

The #histsci excitement in Edinburgh has drawn to a close, but the #SHOT2026 call for papers is open until Mon., Jul. 20! The theme of this year's meeting is "Technology, Politics & Policy." Read more & submit an abstract: www.historyoftechnology.org/annual-meeti... #HSS2026 #ESHS-HSS #histtech 🗃️⚙️

Ali G: Technology, what is that all about?

Alt: Ali G: Technology, what is that all about?

static.klipy.com

"This unusual book may shock you, will make you laugh, and may break your heart--but you will never forget it." The #CatcherInTheRye was published 75 years ago this week. @ransomcenter.bsky.social owns many editions of the classic coming-of-age novel. www.instagram.com/p/Da26arajGR... #booksky 📚

Coming soon to @ransomcenter.bsky.social: The Worlds of Gertrude Stein! This exhibit, curated by Dr. Sophie Oliver (@liverpooluni.bsky.social), uses manuscripts, photos & artifacts to explore the personal & artistic life of a literary icon. www.hrc.utexas.edu/press/releas... #BookSky #poetry 📚🗃️📜

"Nevala-Lee is an American writer of science fiction, detective thrillers & biographies...He likes to write about creative risk-takers. Alvarez is a natural subject for him." Today's #histSTM & #physics lunch read: Steven Shapin reviews Alec Nevala-Lee's biography of Luis Alvarez for @lrb.co.uk. 🗃️📜

Steven Shapin · Barrel of Greenbacks: Luis Alvarez and the Bomb

The Manhattan Project, which built the atomic bomb, transmuted pure theory into mass slaughter, and it changed...

lrb.co.uk