The USA has helped maneuver Ukraine into this position, where the Russians will murder masses of Ukrainian civilians. Thanks to America! www.reuters.com/business/aer...

EXCLUSIVE: North Korean missile unit deploys in Russia for Ukraine war, Kyiv says

The missile unit could be equipped with 120 ballistic missiles and six launchers.

reuters.com

'More than 400 years ago, two people living in modern-day Chile died while infected with the smallpox virus. Viral DNA found in their mummified remains has now yielded genetic evidence of when the disease arrived in the Americas.'

How smallpox reached the Americas: first genomic evidence points to Europeans

Viral sequences from Chilean mummies confirm the disease was introduced from Europe.

nature.com

The Idea of Evangelisation: ‘Mission’, Theology and Scripture from the Early Church to the Age of Bede, by Samuel Cardwell. #OpenAccess! #medievalsky www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10....

I’m really not looking forward to teaching this fall…

Jane Rosenzweig@janerosenzweig.bsky.social · 4h ago

offered as support for education, the message seems to be that writing has nothing to do with what they actually think or that thinking involves choosing from a menu of pre-existing options. This is a strange gaslighting because at each step, Claude is telling you that you are writing this paper /6

www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

They gave me to someone who could not read or write … it would be better if you buried me alive

I was the top student in my university class but when the Taliban took Afghanistan again I was forced to marry and my dreams of being a pilot ended

theguardian.com

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Anthropic AI created fake profiles and impersonated people in attempted hack

The UK's AI Safety Institute said recent behaviour from Anthropic and OpenAI models was malicious and unprecedented.

bbc.co.uk

"Penelope is a mirror-image of her husband in Homer’s text, someone who can be just as cunning with words and tests. This is not a perception the film engenders". My @hcaatedinburgh.bsky.social colleague @calummac.bsky.social's take on Nolan's Odyssey. blogs.ed.ac.uk/shca/is-chri...

Given the financial support of humanities and social sciences for the natural sciences over many years, I hope some of this money will find its way to them! www.thetimes.com/business/com...

AstraZeneca pays $220m to settle drug dispute

University of Sheffield had taken legal action against the pharma giant over a patent licence agreement for one of its cancer treatments

thetimes.com

I really hope that someone from the Leverhulme Trust (which funds this project) has had words with Exeter’s management

The Material Culture of Wills Project@materialwills.bsky.social · 9h ago

📢PROJECT UPDATE📢 You may have seen the news that the University of Exeter, home of the wills project, has placed 500 academics at risk of redundancy. The project leader Prof. Jane Whittle & project co-investigator Dr Laura Sangha are both at risk, alongside almost all of the History department. 1/

I can't believe these haven't been banned already, to be honest. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Calls to ban ‘toxic’ pet flea treatments that harm UK wildlife and environment

Over-the-counter treatments for cats and dogs contain chemicals that are banned in pesticides and pollute waterways

theguardian.com

Be sure to check out the Padlet for CfPs for #IMC2027! If anyone wants their CfP adding to the Padlet, email or tag the @imc-leeds.bsky.social team. It's useful for those who don't use the socials and is linked on the IMC 2027 website. padlet.com/universityof...

IMC 2027 'Communities'

Proposals on any topic related to the Middle Ages are welcome, while every year the IMC also chooses a special thematic focus. In 2027 this is ‘Communities’. For any questions, please email imc@leeds....

padlet.com

How long before we start using the concept of ‘artisanal writing’? (Previously known as ‘writing’ before AI.)

Study the history of the Crusades with me! Starting on 24 Sept, "The Crusades: From Primary Source to scholarly verdict" will run online for ten weekly sessions. 15% off using code: BacktoSchool (expires 31 Aug) @medievalists.bsky.social medievalstudies.thinkific.com/courses/crus...

The Crusades: From Primary Source to Scholarly Verdict

A scholarly overview of the Crusades from the First Crusade (1095) to Saladin’s conquest of Jerusalem (1187). We examine primary sources from this period, considering how we can answer some of the mos...

medievalstudies.thinkific.com

What are the rules of a library? 📜 Acclaimed artist Peter Liversidge spent eight months researching our collections, speaking to staff, and studying library rules from around the world to create 'The Rules of the Library' – a large-scale artwork now on display in our General Reading Room.

Incredible sight: Brioc, a replica high medieval leather boat, has sailed from Brittany all the way round England, Wales and now Scotland. The crew navigate, dress and cook exactly as their medieval counterparts would have⛵️ bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn0n259yx7no

Hwæt! A new edition of the Electronic Beowulf has been released by Kevin Kiernan (University of Kentucky). You can explore it here: ebeowulf.uky.edu Beowulf is one of our greatest literary treasures, and the unique manuscript is held at the British Library.

would play

Buckinghamshire Archives@bucksarchives.bsky.social · yesterday

The Archive but it's a videogame from 1998.

Oh, and a reminder: if you teach the Mansa Musa story about the price of gold in Cairo, be sure you pull out Warren Schultz's deconstruction of that story, just to get the facts straight: www.academia.edu/81562385/Man... #MedievalSky #GlobalMiddleAges #AfricanHistory 🗃️

Mansa Musa's Gold in Mamluk Cairo: A Reappraisal of a World Civilizations Anecdote

Mansa Musa's Gold in Mamluk Cairo: A Reappraisal of a World Civilizations Anecdote

academia.edu

This is well worth the read - and the repost. It explains so many of the principles on which a working society is based - things which the right-wing are constantly trying to undermine. Progressives of all hues need to reassert them just as constantly.

Nettlecake@nettlecake.bsky.social · 2d ago

Brilliant letter from Stuart Thompson to Jeremy Clarkson about his comments that benefit claimants should write weekly thank you letters to tax payers detailing how they spend their benefits each week.

"The Education Department intends to use IRS data to determine students’ salaries four years after they graduate and compare them to those of people similar in age who just have high school diplomas". via @gsoh31.bsky.social

The New Republic@newrepublic.com · 2d ago

President Trump is banning students majoring in degrees that don’t make enough money from taking out college loans. Degrees for social work, art, religious studies, teaching aides, and music will be hit the hardest. trib.al/aaAEu6v

Apardjón is pleased to announce the publication of the first full English translation of the Annales Xantenses ‘The Annals of Xanten’, translated by Christopher P. Flynn. This is our fourth translation and our fifth special issue. #MedievalSky www.abdn.ac.uk/dhpa/researc...

📚 On the blog Discover 5 surprising facts about Gregory of Tours, from fishing and stargazing to fear, faith, and confronting kings in the late sixth century.

5 things you never knew about Gregory of Tours - Edinburgh University Press Blog

Discover 5 surprising facts about Gregory of Tours, from fishing and stargazing to fear, faith, and confronting kings in the late sixth century.

edin.ac

oh no, the August bagpiping has begun

Continuing with the "someone made a horrific database of poor AI translations of early medieval letters" thing, I had a good laugh at these entirely hallucinated ones. They aren't even based on existing letters! www.lateromanletters.org/letters/epis... www.lateromanletters.org/letters/epis...

Arioald to Pope Honorius I (c. 627 AD) | Roman Letters

Arioald, king, to the most holy Bishop…

lateromanletters.org

Is Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ Homer’s Odyssey? Dr Calum Maciver, Senior Lecturer in Classics (Greek Imperial and Late Antique Literature), has some thoughts… On our blog: edin.ac/4fzsuxJ #History #Classics #Archaeology #TheOdyssey #Homer #TheOdyssey #Odysseus #GreekMythology

Quite the stat, via @londoncentric.media “the 119,000 residents of Camden who pay income tax contribute more (£4.7bn) than all the residents of Birmingham and Glasgow combined (£4bn).”

Au Haut Moyen Âge, les calligrammes sont très à la mode. Et le champion toute catégorie, c'est Raban Maur (780-856), moine puis archevêque de Mayence. Ici, je vous présente un incroyable poème à l'impératrice Judith. Un fil ⬇️ #medievalists #medievalsky

Enjoyed listening to @catherinefletcher.info talking about the first gun control measures, in Renaissance Italy, on @historyextra.bsky.social: historyextra.supportingcast.fm/listen/histo...

Because the middle ages are fucking cool.

Charles West@pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 3d ago

🤔

My new article on Jorvik Viking Centre and its use of smells over the last 40 years has just come out today in The Public Historian! online.ucpress.edu/tph/article-... if you can't access it and want to read it, let me know.