Even many of my best student writers have trouble integrating quotations into their prose. So I made this handout. Feel free to resuse/adapt/rewrite it as you see fit: docs.google.com/document/d/1... #AcademicSky #Writing

Integrating Quotations

On the Effective Use of Quoted Material Effective quotations add immeasurably to your historical writing.  Quotations are the evidence that prove your thesis, and they give your writing an air of imm...

docs.google.com

My wife and I are August campground hosts at a tiny public campground favored by families in tents. It is beautiful, but the best part is the kids. They turn half-feral, in all the best ways, the moment they get out of the car. Racing their bikes, skipping stones, marveling over a lizard. Joyous.

The front page of this morning’s Spokesman-Review, Aug. 2, 2026, the day after one of the worst wildfires in Washington state history. More than 600 structures, mostly homes, have been lost in the #OldTrailsFire. Read local news.

We are safe, our house is safe, and we have taken in some evacuees. But damn it's bad in #Spokane and the fires are still spreading this morning.

Alexandra (Alex) Duggan@alexdugganreports.bsky.social · 4d ago

More than 600 (likely homes) burned in and around Spokane County yesterday. The devastation is incomprehensible www.spokesman.com/stories/2026...

Dems are NOT hitting this issue hard enough. Gift Link: Why the Backlash Against Data Centers Is So Potent talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/why-t...

Why the Backlash Against Data Centers Is So Potent

We held an event Wednesday evening at a bar in Brooklyn, co-hosted...

talkingpointsmemo.com

In Iran as in the midterms, it's not that they have a secret plan to win, it's that they are literally too dumb to imagine that they might lose and what the consequences of that might be

People make up rules in their head and then get mad at other people for not following their imaginary rules. This is such a common phenomenon, I feel like there should be a word for it?

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

"ChatGPT, give me a list of famous women in history?" "Would you like me to include brief biographies to explain their fame?" "No, just the list."

Robyn Swirling@rswirling.bsky.social · last wk.

Just went for a mammogram, the changing rooms are all named (weird enough already) for various notable women. Oprah, Sonia Sotomayor, Amelia Earhart, Frida Kahlo, and…

This looks good and important. And it's open access! #Archives #AcademicSky

Ciara Breathnach@ciarab.bsky.social · 2mo ago

So this was a nice surprise to wake up to, thanks to all Cambridge University Press & Assessment and series editor @woolf-atthedoor.bsky.social Delighted that it is Open Access doi.org/10.1017/9781... @researchireland.ie @ucc.ie

Good Lord.

Liz Covart@lizcovart.bsky.social · last wk.

Gosh, the news out of Indiana is horrible. ICYMI, the Indiana Historical Society fired its entire Education and Engagement Team and its Exhibits staff. Apparently, the emergency all-hands meeting lasted 3 minutes & then they were all escorted from the building, having to return later for their stuff

I’ve finally got to see the mural of St Mungo in Glasgow. The image depicts the city’s patron saint in modern clothing as a homeless man holding a robin, in a reference to one of his four legendary miracles.

Smoky skies in eastern Washington.

I feel this.

Hagai Palevsky (he/him)@dialhforhagai.bsky.social · 2w ago

Wile E. Coyote, despaired, takes a bucket of paint and a brush and paints a beautiful two-bedroom house on a mountainside. He paints a beautiful coyote wife in the window, and two adorable coyote kids running around in the yard. He tries to enter this new coyote life, but it is inaccessible to him

Apologies if I sound angry, but it is a real problem that the 'smart' commentary on this war is trying hard to avoid the core lesson ("the president is a fucking moron") because it doesn't sound very clever when it is absolutely the most important takeaway from this debacle.

“The people that built their heaven on your land are telling you yours is in the sky." —Nina Simone

there's really something to be said for having people line up to be blocked.

#Spokane

wileydogger@wileydogger.bsky.social · 2w ago

we took a bike ride last night and turned into fairmount memorial park cemetery - it’s big and adds a few miles. we stumbled across the monaghan statue that was relocated from downtown spokane. it still has the offensive and historically inaccurate plaques. spokanehistorical.org/items/show/600

Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" has perhaps the most memorable opening line in all of Western literature: "I hope you motherfuckers like reading about whales"

chronicle building, 926 sprague, spokane, washington, 2003

CFP deadline today for some great sponsored sessions at @rsaorg.bsky.social 2027 in Philly: The Sack of Rome at 500 www.rsa.org/forms/FormRe... The "Last Florentine Republic" at 500 www.rsa.org/forms/FormRe... Global Cities in the Early Modern World www.rsa.org/forms/FormRe...

Your daily palate cleanser.

WeRateDogs@weratedogs.com · 3w ago

This is Theodora. She shocked everyone with her athleticism during a relay race. Would like to remind everyone that she is a herding breed and has actually been reaching these speeds for thousands of years. 13/10 (TT: rundownriver)

Progressives are so hungry for candidates w/ working class authenticity, some they fall behind anyone (esp. white men) who talk that talk, with insufficient vetting of policies or character. Not just Platner--in my town an indie firefighter with anti-trans views is getting progressive endorsements.

The interior of St Magnus Cathedral at Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands is a stunning example of Romanesque architecture. It’s the UK’s most northerly cathedral and was founded in 1137 by the Viking Earl Rognvald in honor of his uncle, Saint Magnus.

Mitch McConnell's statement today on the passing of his colleague Lindsey Graham: . . . . . .

Verify your age: when I was a kid, nearly everyone routinely threw their trash out of their car windows, and the roads were lined with bottles and cans and Kleenex.

Rachel Gunter, Ph.D. 🗃️@phdrachel.bsky.social · 4w ago

Verify your age: I used to print out Mapquest directions and take them in the car with me.

Your morning mental palate cleanser!

WeRateDogs@weratedogs.com · 4w ago

This is Oreo. He will eventually eat the blueberry. But first he must establish dominance over it. 12/10 (TT: oreominibernedoodle)

I feel this.

John Scalzi@scalzi.com · 4w ago

If I could have a magic box that would let my cats understand me for only one sentence, that sentence would be, "For fuck's sake, throw up on the bare floor and not on the goddamn carpet"

Thune: all right everyone, we have Senator McConnell on speaker, say hi Mitch. Voice on the phone: so cold... Thune: so as you can see, he's fine Voice on the phone: there is no heaven, there is only the thing that stalks you in the darkness after death... Thune: just gonna hang up now

Photoshopping Elon Musk and Bill Gates as Old Beavis and Butt-Head During The Time Your Company Allocated For AI Training (2026)