My kids (definitely) and my students (mostly) do make time for fun, debates, discussions, thinking etc. They are good at scheduling and pack a lot in. Gen Z rock.

Robert Saunders@robertsaunders.bsky.social · 2d ago

I'm probably a dinosaur, but I wish students were allowed more time just to be students: to study, to read, to think, to talk to each other, to have big ideas - maybe even to have fun now & then. I'm not convinced turning unis into training centres is going to fix bigger problems in the jobs market

In other news I have let my eyebrow muscles atrophy and can no longer raise one eyebrow. Sad.

So: how professorial have I been in the last five years, while going blind and looking after teenagers/dying parents? Let’s find out!

Spat out my tea reading this review of The Uprising. The what of what now? Popular understanding of medieval history has taken a hell of a pounding in recent weeks. www.theguardian.com/film/2026/se...

I note I’m putting off everything to do with my calendar, so guess I’m in denial about the imminent approach of term. Go on helen, you know you enjoy getting out of the house and talking to people!

Severance? Or reality?

McSweeney's@mcsweeneys.net · 3d ago

I help Mondo Mayo hit its sales targets by doula-ing effective Sales Slop generated with SlurryHose, which scrapes the web for consumers’ queries and seeks to answer them more closely than the Sales Slop from the globe’s other two remaining companies, Cagefight Pharma and SodaPorn. buff.ly/RbEQoJg

Self promotion makes me feel sad. Also my computer has stopped talking to my monitor. Sigh.

And with that I am going to put the phone down and do useful things

The Author, Séamas O'Reilly@seamas.bsky.social · 5d ago

Have seen this Nature piece about the effects of X's algorithm mentioned again and it bears repeating; exposure to a right wing algorithm makes you - measurably and predictably - more right wing, even after you stop using it. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I’ve been slowly writing the history of northern Iron Age studies in tandem with Ian Ralston (over 30 years). Ian’s new paper now shows that W.J. Varley was right on hillfort ramparts, and Wheeler (as ever) wrong. Regardless, the southerner went on to a glittering TV career, the northerner let go.

It’s about getting the balance right. As someone who weekly commutes and works from home, it is easy to lose touch with community. So we need to make reasons for students to want to be there. Our MA activities are concentrated on Tuesday, so more students come to them.

Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 4d ago

'Students are attending less, reading less, participating less, and often treating university as one commitment among many.'

Did a task I’d been struggling with and putting off for a while! Yay! Tired now.

Let me fix this. ‘How having a disability became very slightly less stigmatised’

Pls spread word. Three digits can help protect you from scams: 159. If you're suspicious of a 'call from your bank', politely hang up and dial 159. It connects you to a switchboard that puts you through to your bank's real number. Watch the video for why its extra protection

Look who’s sitting in my chair

Editor Scott Beggs some some really nice things to say about my story "A Game of Go." If you haven't yet read it, it's linked in this piece. I hope you'll check it out. This one means a lot to me.

Adventitious.@adventitiouswords.bsky.social · 2w ago

A lengthy look at why these stories made the cut (and why I put them in this order, since everyone who reads short fiction reads collections in order, always). www.patreon.com/Adventitious...

Yes. Someone really needs to start differentiating between 'Natural disasters' and 'Disasters that are happening to nature'.

Robin Berjon@robin.berjon.com · 2w ago

FT, my dear, there's nothing natural about those disasters.

New podcast episode! We’re jumping into the Odyssey movie discourse, finally! We discuss our reactions to the Nolan movie and then chat with some podcasters who’ve just released relevant books. Oh, and Marcie has a song about Odysseus. www.alliterative.net/podcast/2026... #podcast #nolan #odyssey

Episode 127: The Odyssey, the movie -- and more! — The Endless Knot

We’re jumping into the Odyssey movie discourse, finally! We discuss our reactions to the Nolan movie and what we found interesting about it, and then chat with some podcasters who’ve just released r...

alliterative.net

Just enjoyed a reread of Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance which even acknowledges cousin I didn’t like much, and ‘um stepfather’ as important relationship categories

Emily Tesh@emilytesh.net · 2w ago

anyway this is why it's always good to do an Ancillary Justice reread, because that book fully understands that 'we worked together back in the day and I didn't even like her very much' is a meaningful and important and extremely funny connection to have with another person.

Is it weird to come back from holiday feeling burnt out? It doesn’t help that you come back to whatever you didn’t manage to get done before you went, of course.

It's cold! It's raining! I need a cardigan! #smalljoys

ChatGPT: What ys your name? Me: Nobodye. ChatGPT: How are you feelinge? Me: Ich love generatyve A.I. Ich fynde it useful. ChatGPT: Nobodye loveth generative A.I. ! Nobodye doth fynde me useful!

I was so fed up about what The Odyssey did with its story arcs that I had to get it out of my system. Here you go. (There is some story advice in here too!)

The Odyssey and Story Arcs — KJ Charles

‍I am Team Emily Wilson. Not because of fidelity or otherwise to Greek myths or history: that’s not my bag. Rather, I am annoyed about The Odyssey because it didn’t finish its arcs. To quote myself...

kjcharleswriter.com

I would be team Nolan if he put the giant robot back in and just justified his choices with “giant robots awesome, gods suck”

Bill Kuchman@billkuchman.bsky.social · last mo.

Probably a lot of discussion over Homer’s decision to leave the giant robot out of his written version of The Odyssey.

Great wee creature in the National Museum of Scotland

I wrote about the Nolan Odyssey for the LRB. I'll summarize some of my main points below, in case you don't feel like reading all that. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Emily Wilson · An Uncomplicated Man

As they say at the awards shows, I was humbled to learn that Christopher Nolan has read at least the first line of my...

lrb.co.uk

Nolan’s Odyssey has definitely made Homer more famous again! Audiences of Apple of Discord were keen to talk to me about films, and request episodes from the Odyssey. I even met some fans!

Our department will be merging with history and philosophy, so I guess I will be a historian soon (or even less likely a philosopher), assuming I don’t lose my job, that is! This thread gives me hope.

Dr Laura Sangha@lsangha.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Last week, about a third of the History department were able to gather together on graduation day. Rather than lend our intellectual authority to the official procession and ceremony we invited our students to come and celebrate their achievements with us in a shady courtyard. They came. 1/

🚨Double You’re Dead To Me drop today! 🚨 New episode on BBC SOUNDS & iPlayer about Ancient Egyptian power couple Akhenaten & Nefertiti, with comedian Sikisa and Egyptologist Dr Campbell Price And global release of our Homer, Odyssey & Iliad episode on YouTube/all pod players…

Halfway through second run of Apple of Discord and it’s going way too fast! So much fun! Grab tickets now if you can www.universe.com/events/apple...

Best bit of the Nolan Odyssey? The bit where Odysseus tastes the Cyclops’ cheese and declares it quite good. (And how can you consider the cyclops a non person if he makes cheese?? The dehumanisation of the monsters was a shame, I think driven by the need to adultify the adventure stories).