Tessera
Folgen

James Baillie

@jubalbarca.bsky.social

Historian of the Medieval Caucasus, web community organiser, game developer, liberal activist, songwriter and storyteller. Somewhat hobbitish. Also at https://exilian.co.uk/, https://scholar.social/@JubalBarca, and https://hcommons.org/members/jubalbarca/

231 Posts1466 Follower1226 Folgt
East Anglia Bylines@eastangliabylines.co.uk · 2d ago

Farmers are reporting poor yields due to lack of water & rain. Winter silage is already being used to feed animals due to dead summer grass. Agrivoltaics, where solar panels are raised so that more conventional farming can continue underneath is proving a solution with surprising benefits.

Heatwaves, farmland and solar energy

Could mediterranean style agrivoltaic systems help farmers cope with mediterranean style heatwaves, and improve energy independence?

eastangliabylines.co.uk

James Baillie@jubalbarca.bsky.social · 3w ago

Whilst lately I'm running at one step forward, two back most of the time - today's step forward is that I have my Daueraufenthaltsrecht card (rights of permanent residency, card functional for the next ten years). Small wins with no time to rest, but may as well count them when they happen.

James Baillie@jubalbarca.bsky.social · 3w ago

Well, for the second time this year, my gas has been shut off and I have no hot water available in my flat. I not only didn't get any warning of this, I was explicitly told otherwise regarding what would be happening. #Vienna - usually a famously liveable city until sometimes it just really isn't.

Mel Andrews@bayesianboy.bsky.social · 2mo ago

When utilized in literature review, LLMs consistently 1. fail to mention female authors in female-led literatures, 2. insist that men are more influential or more heavily cited when this is contradicted by objective citation counts, and 3. attribute women’s work to hallucinated male scholars.

Steven Teasdale@steventeasdale.bsky.social · 2mo ago

This is a very good online introduction to prosopography for beginners by @jubalbarca.bsky.social. It identifies some central concerns, such as disambiguation and data collection issues around identity, and the importance of scoping projects. #dh #digitalhumanities campus.dariah.eu/resources/ho...

An Introduction to Prosopography

This resource helps students tackle key prosopography challenges, such as disambiguating individuals with the same name, handling anonymous entries, and recognizing fictional people, known as the Rusu...

campus.dariah.eu

James Baillie@jubalbarca.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Historians/academic friends, have any of you worked with having volunteers/interns much? I got approached by an undergraduate looking for things to do this summer as a volunteer to gain experience.

James Baillie@jubalbarca.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Important reading for anyone who edits or indeed uses (so, all of you) Wikipedia. It looks like the Foundation may be going down a pretty bad route re shedding key staff and making anti-unionisation moves: medium.com/@jakeorlowit... #Wikipedia #History #Information

Big Tech’s Anti-Labor Playbook Has Come for Wikipedia

TLDR: In ten days last month, the Wikimedia Foundation fired the longtime lead developer of MediaWiki and disbanded the team whose entire…

medium.com

James Baillie@jubalbarca.bsky.social · 3mo ago

If you know someone who has time to volunteer with me and other good humans - please send them our way. Exilian has a lot to offer, we really need creative, independent, human spaces in the age of slop and media silos, but we need more support to get the message out & support indie creators better.

Exilian@exilianofficial.bsky.social · 3mo ago

We're looking for volunteers! Several positions open, varying sizes, all remote with support as needed to help grow people's skills and train people. No experience needed, just willingness to help indie creators. exilian.co.uk/forum/index.... Please share widely! #GameDev #Creative #Writing #SFF

James Baillie@jubalbarca.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Aaaagh, I have had yet another stupid case of someone deciding to screw around with Wikipedia edits I've done for no good reason whatsoever. Literally it's about fifty percent of edits on that place that someone will mess with, and then people will whine that nobody wants to support/edit it and ???

Stephen Bush@stephenkb.bsky.social · 3mo ago

I do think it sums up “the weird way the Internet shapes politics unnoticed” that “some chants that people should knock off but are mostly an ignorable part of an in-person march” are given more explanatory power than “the website that is full of antisemitism of every stripe that MPs hang out on”.

Jonathan Portes@jdportes.bsky.social · 3mo ago

If the government wants to tackle the "online breeding ground of antisemitism" why on earth are Keir Starmer, the government and @heidialexander.bsky.social still posting on X? www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cw...

Surprised Eel Historian, PhD@greenleejw.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Medieval English laws categorized eels by size. The most common types were: Pimper (small) Shaft (medium) Stub (big) There were also "red eels" which were likely diseased. Customs officers threw them out. Which is weird, 'cause we'd think that the shaft eels were bad mother... 🗃️🧪

Meme. Part of Wencelaus Hollar's 1647 city view map of London, showing the Thames and the bank at Queenhythe. In the middle of the image are two ships, at anchor in the Thames, labeled "the Eel Ships." The main color of the map is beige, and the artwork is done is black line drawing. The spaces between the houses in the city are dark, and full of unknowns. The murky offspring of your sinister imagination are hiding in those shadows. Pickpockets? Muggers? Tiger-bat hybrids? Slick-talking confidence men selling fake eels? Probably. The Todal?* OH YES. It is far better to stick to the bright and open Thames, where you can be sure of real eels, from real Dutch eel salesmen. Meme text reads: "I'm just talkin' about Shaft (eels)" * Per Thurber: "The Todal looks like a blob of glup. It makes a sound like rabbits screaming, and smells of old, unopened rooms. It's made of lip. It feels as if it had been dead at least a dozen days, but it moves about like monkeys and like shadows." It is also sent by the devil to punish evildoers for doing less evil than they could. Honestly, it's not a thing you'd want to meet in even the most well-lit grocery store aisle, let alone in a dark London alleyway.
Trick Weekes@trickweekes.bsky.social · 4mo ago

At this point, I assume that left-wing groups use and encourage that approach for the same reason Evangelical groups have their missionaries use a high-pressure approach: it causes rejection from the masses and encourages the speaker to consider the in-group the only source of truth in the future.

Micah@rincewind.run · 4mo ago

this goes in multiple directions, incidentally - "you stupid fuckwit liberal, you think voting for democrats will save you" is not a particularly good strategy for recruiting folks to more left-wing groups! you gotta figure out if your goal is to change minds or yell at people