“It is the job of thinking people not to be on the side of the executioners.” — Albert Camus

If you're thinking of attending the Canadian Archaeological Association 2026 in Canmore, and you've got something to say about pseudoarchaeology and anti-intellectualism, come join the conversation! 🏺 We've already got some interesting abstracts listed and more on the way! Deadline is tomorrow!

Curt@neoriffic.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Are you an archaeologist or heritage professional concerned with the increasing use of pseudoarchaeology to erode faith in expert opinion, rewrite history, or prop up supremacist ideologies? This Call for Papers is for you! Join us at the @can-arch.bsky.social 2026 conference! Link in the reply.

Qualicum Beach Museum is hiring a Community Museum Technician! More info: bit.ly/4djCbQ8

In a world in flames, archives might seem inconsequential, yet they represent our collective memory, and their erasure also is a political act. apple.news/A_Mlcl43oQNm...

Library and Archives planning deep cuts to access to information team, document shows — The Globe and Mail

Cuts will put at risk ability to comply with access and privacy laws, department acknowledged in a document

apple.news

Did you know? In generations past, it was not uncommon for families to start with a garage or shack to live in while they built a permanent house. All homes have stories - join our FREE House History Workshop on March 13 to find out yours! More info: https://ow.ly/gUPM50Yf9wB

A historian colleague of mine once blew someone’s mind after he asked “can’t you just look that up online?” and she replied “who do you think finds that stuff and puts it online?”

I held a piece of Delhi that remembers more than Delhi does. 80 feet below the ground. Beneath concrete. Beneath drains. Beneath maps that pretend history began late. When this layer was surface, there were no borders. No Najafgarh. No Delhi. No names. There was a river.

This was such a clever design for a museum show. The pockets of the c18th were suspended from the waist so here, a recreation of the various layers, like an anatomical illustration. The yellow quilted pockets are original amongst the grey blue of the facsimile, #1740s #VandA #FashionHistory 🗃️🪡

"OU undergraduate publishes new research on ancient fossils housed in the Oklahoma Museum of Natural History" @oupaleobiology.bsky.social 🧪

OU Undergraduate Publishes New Research on Ancient Fossils Housed in the Oklahoma Museum of Natural History

In a rare achievement for an undergraduate student, Colby Higdon, a geology major on the paleontology track with the University of Oklahoma has published original paleontological research conducted at...

ou.edu

Fantastic news for paleontology that the Paleontological Research Institute in Ithaca NY is staying open this year! Intensive fund-raising was successful & enough to pay off the mortgage for their building, helping to preserve this long-standing institution for national & international science. 🧪

Katie Collins@spissatella.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Holy shit I'm so relieved I could cry. A very happy new year to PRI!!! www.priweb.org/blog-post/pr...

🚫 MYTH: Only specific museum collections can be used for ESD. ✅ REALITY: Every artifact tells a story about sustainability. There are no limits. History already holds the lessons—we just need to know where to look. #TOWCHED #ESD #SustainableEducation

"Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back." ― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World

Big news about the Toronto Subway Deer! Dug up in 1976 Torontoceros hypogaeus is a prehistoric cervid known only from 1 incomplete specimen. Originally classified as a caribou relative, ancient DNA analysis now suggests it belongs to the genus Odocoileus which includes mule deer & white-tailed deer🧪

there's a reason that my accommodations policy went from "you need to register officially with the whatever office" to "if you tell me you need accommodations, I believe you and you can have them" it's this

Noah Berlatsky@nberlat.bsky.social · 8mo ago

I think a lot of people don't realize how difficult it is to get accommodations for disability. in school, at work. there are invariably tons of hoops; it's slow. often it's humiliating.

recent map experiment of Toronto's terrain made via QGIS/Inkscape/GIMP and TIN data from @torontoopendata.cityof.toronto.ca higher-res here: jamaps.github.io/maps/terrain... #toronto #maps #terrain #topography

This #givingtuesday please consider donating to the Paleontological Research Institution/Museum of the Earth PRI is a major US fossil collection and education center & has been struggling after a major donor was unable to fulfill a pledge but is almost out of the woods, any support helps! 🦑⚒️🧪🐌🐚

Sometimes I think it’s going to be the librarians who will save us all.

"The lack is not in intelligence, which is in plentiful supply; rather, the scarce commodity is systematic training in critical thinking." -Carl Sagan, Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science

Currently doing some marking. A reminder to everyone involved in archives and collections: digitisation is not preservation. If I digitise a box of records and put the files on a USB stick I haven't preserved a thing. It's all about what you do with the files post-digitisation. #archives #digipres

"I promise to question everything my leaders tell me. I promise to use my critical faculties. I promise to develop my independence of thought. I promise to educate myself so I can make my own judgements." -Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

the post office is a public service. it doesn’t need to make money. public transit doesn’t need to make money. the library doesn’t need to make money. some things exist for the public good and we desperately need lawmakers to stop thinking about them in terms of capitalism. these are not businesses.

At the stage in manuscript editing where one coauthor adds a word and another coauthor removes the same word, and repeat. 🧪

🔆Good morning! Dedication to work is to be admired, provided the work itself is of value, but the more of a day’s hours you devote to it, the likelier returns diminish. Why You Should Only Work 3–4 Hours a Day, Like Charles Darwin, Virginia Woolf & Adam Smith 🧪 www.openculture.com/2025/09/why-...

I’m a Paleontologist Here’s the most important tip I can give you: Pick a favorite dinosaur and learn two facts about it Why? Because sooner or later, you’ll meet a child with a dinosaur book (or an obsession) You’ll ask about their favorite They’ll tell you why And then, you’ll share yours 🧪 🧵

Gould was absolutely right about this. For a sobering thought, how many people on the planet now are competent taxonomists for any group of organisms? Certainly fewer than 10,000. 🧪🌍🌿⚒️🐟 #TeamFish

October 1 deadline for @nhm.org Student Collections Study Award. Get some $$ to spend time collecting data in our collections, including @tarpits.org Open to: - current undergraduate and grad students - *not* local to Los Angeles (international applicants welcome) More: nhm.org/student-coll... 🧪

In a Comment article for Nature, Indigenous scholars set out eight steps to stop marginalization in academia and to enable a shared Indigenous agenda in science. #Academicsky 🧪

Decolonize scientific institutions, don’t just diversify them

Indigenous scholars set out eight steps to stop marginalization in academia and to enable a shared Indigenous agenda in science.

go.nature.com

Fort York, Toronto, 1913 Artist: Katherine A. Clarke Medium: Oil on canvas Credit: Baldwin Collection of Canadiana, Toronto Public Library #1910s #fortyork #oilpainting #Warof1812 #landscapepainting #torontoart #art #torontohistory #toronto #canada #jeremyhopkin

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." — Voltaire