I just had a kid come round who was dressed up as Donald Trump and I am so happy. Most British kids just wear store-bought outfits. This kid NAILED the assignment.
Venus Bivar
@vbivar.bsky.social
🇨🇦 Historian of capitalism, pollution, Marseille, farming, land use, plastics, climate, and economic growth; misanthrope; hockey player; expert baker; amateur gardener; works at St Anne's College at Oxford; lives in York (the old one).
The trick or treaters have started and I just heard some kids excitedly say that last year I was giving out full-sized candy. YES. I have always wanted a reputation for having the best Halloween candy. I did not disappoint this year with full-size Nerds boxes. Yee haw! Life goal unlocked!!!!!!!!!
Happy Halloween Pumpkin Dance
ALT: Happy Halloween Pumpkin Dance
static.klipy.com
Yee haw! What a most excellent email to receive. May ALL of the train lines be publicly owned.
I will be writing to my MP Jaime Battiste.
David Suzuki Foundation@davidsuzukifdn.bsky.social · 5d agoOttawa is ramming through its Building Canada "Strong" Act. This Trumpian act would allow major projects like ports and pipelines to circumvent key parts of environmental laws that protect endangered species, critical habitats and frontline communities. Write your MP: https://dsfdn.org/3W9FiUa
For the first time in a very long time, the Guardian landing page made me happy! Brazil! Serbia! (If only I had stopped there, but still, FUCK YES.)
Hubby's citizenship application just went in. All told, with the cost of visas and surcharges, we have paid £10,702 for him to become British. Can't imagine doing this for an entire family, and yet immigrants are doing just that, all of the time. And the UK treats them like free riders. Insanity.
British Gentleman Drinks Tea by Big Ben
Alt: Animated British Gentleman Drinks Tea by Big Ben
static.klipy.com
Workplace mental health and wellbeing module, but, hear me out, as PRIMAL SCREAM THERAPY.
Loki Screaming
ALT: Loki Screaming
static.klipy.com
I've been rage reading Guy Shrubsole's Who Owns England? and last night I read that 18% of the land in England is owned by corporations. EIGHTEEN PERCENT. Truly ridiculous. Pales in comparison to the legacy of the aristocracy, but still. www.theguardian.com/books/2019/a...
Who Owns England? by Guy Shrubsole review – why this land isn’t your land
A compelling study uncovers the secrets of English land ownership and argues that reform is long overdue
theguardian.com
Our friends at Category Is Books made this very cool poster for it!
We are having a Trans History Festival! You can see Ruth talk to Susan Stryker, and also many other exciting things!
Ruth Pearce@notrightruth.bsky.social · 3w agoThe Susan Stryker event is part of the two week extravaganza which is Glasgow's Trans History Festival! We'll have a bunch of events running from 22-30 October. Mega props to @echomikeromeo.bsky.social and our friends at Category Is Books for leading on a big team effort.
Teaching Oscar Wilde's trial today and it never fails to crush me. Maybe because he was the first gay person I admired (knowingly that is), and I fell hard for his wit at age 15.
I know I'm very late to the party, but I heard Chappell Roan last week for the first time and I cannot. get. enough. It's Robyn meets the early Cars and I LOVE IT ALL. Do yourself a favour, immerse yourself in the Pink Pony Club. www.youtube.com/watch?v=GR3L...
Chappell Roan - Pink Pony Club (Official Music Video)
YouTube video by ChappellRoanVEVO
youtube.com
I am still picking and eating raspberries off our canes. In early October!
As always @rebeccanagle.bsky.social nailed it with this new podcast, all about how white settler violence is embedded in the US constitution, legal systems, etc. www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/fir...
First America Podcast - Rebecca Nagle - Pushkin Industries
Hosted and reported by Rebecca Nagle and featuring leading Native historians, First America unveils how the founders’ treatment of Indigenous nations—and their resistance—shaped US democracy. The s...
pushkin.fm
Oooh heck yeah.
Robert Suits@robertsuits.bsky.social · 4w agoIf you are in London on the 26th of October, consider coming to this lecture by Princeton's Emmanuel Kreike, hosted by UCL Anthropocene! It looks to be a fascinating discussion of the Great Acceleration in Africa and the use of machine learning for historical imagery. www.ucl.ac.uk/social-histo...
Great cartoon on police violence and student protest in France from artist Johann Danielis.
Back on the train commute to Oxford from York and I've got two guys on phones and one snorer. I like people a lot one-on-one, but humanity as a mass is a supreme disappointment.
Heyo. Any good articles out there on the 'resource curse'? Hopefully something that picks apart the foolish assumptions behind it?
This is an excellent listen: @thedigradio.bsky.social with @quinnslobodian.com and @bentarnoff.com about their recent book. I went in cautiously b/c I can't spare another brain cell for Musk, but the emphasis is squarely on the 'ism'. Super interesting analysis. thedigradio.com/podcast/musk...
Muskism w/ Ben Tarnoff & Quinn Slobodian
Featuring Ben Tarnoff and Quinn Slobodian on their book Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed. What the world’s bizarre richest man reveals about our financially fabulist, hard tech, far-right political-...
thedigradio.com
I just spent two days at a writing retreat and it was effing glorious. I managed to accomplish in two days what I had thought was going to take two weeks. And now today, back at regular work, I am BEREFT.
Ειρήνη Writing
ALT: Ειρήνη Writing
static.klipy.com
This is grade-A academic class politics right here.
David Pyle@davidmpyle.bsky.social · last mo.A sorry tale from 1895.. Richard Solly was a #crystallographer, employed in Cambridge as assistant to the Professor of mineralogy, W J Lewis. In 1883, Solly was appointed Demonstrator in Mineralogy. In 1894, Solly published an introductory text book on mineralogy; he presented a copy to Lewis.. 1/2
Just found this in old archive notes: "Lots of material related to complaints about ricin and pollution for CIQ Boulevard Michelet – goes all the way back to 1957 and it looks like there was a court case, doctor was involved, published a paper on ricin and respiratory illnesses.
If you're in Newcastle, go check out this new radical bookstore - Books from Below - and cafe that was just launched by @emilywebz.bsky.social , @drrobertchapman.bsky.social , and @benbowsher.bsky.social.
bsky.app
Emily Webster, PhD, MSc@emilywebz.bsky.social · last mo.
I had the choice to go to Marseille in July or September. I chose July. And now that the cold has set in I am really regretting my decision. I could be swimming in the sea and enjoying a perfect 27 degrees. Instead I boiled my insides in July and now have to sport a jumper 🤷♀️
I was talking to @momoulton.bsky.social about the purpose of BlueSky, and he said it's like the water cooler in a physical office, and honestly, this has helped a lot to clarify for me which boundaries I do and do not want around this place. And in that spirit, Sheep Detectives is delightful.