Wouter Wagemakers
@wouterwagemakers.bsky.social
Art and architectural historian of renaissance Italy at Leiden University. Also in possession of a law degree
Four baselines for academic conference attendance: 1) keep to your allocated speaking time. 2) everyone is clever; stand out by being warm & kind. 3) be interested in everyone equally - from postgrad to Prof to conference administrator to catering & hotel staff. 4) in Q&A, ask an actual question.
Prachtige aflevering van #zomergasten. Wat mij betreft een zomergasten zoals zomergasten bedoeld is. Wat een verademing hoe Nasrah Habiballah kalm en integer dingen uitlegt. En wat een contrast met de schreeuwerige talkshows. NPO, wat doe je ons aan? #zg26
Marco Derksen@marcoderksen.eurosky.social · 3d agoVanavond #zomergasten met Nasrah Habiballah. Na ruim drie jaar als NOS-correspondent in Israël en de Palestijnse gebieden blikt ze terug op oorlog, journalistiek en het leven tussen twee werelden. Benieuwd naar haar verhaal en fragmenten. www.vpro.nl/zomergasten/...
Wat is Nasrah Habiballah een heerlijke zomergast (naast een fantastische journalist). Wat een enorm kwaliteitsverschil met de stijl van Janine Abbring. #zomergasten
‘Marat addressed his audience with the authenticity and immediacy he wanted to see in politics. He fashioned an intimacy that allowed him to speak for the people.’ Oliver Cussen on the journalist and revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Oliver Cussen · Doctor of the Incurable: Marat Unmade
Beyond the violence and immediacy of his language, perhaps Jean-Paul Marat was popular for a more straightforward reason...
lrb.co.uk
Half the discourse this summer has been about the Second World War and half about Homeric Greece but yes there’s clearly no future for students trained in history
Glen O'Hara@gsoh31.bsky.social · 3d agoSo it's farewell to the History subject area at the University of Hertfordshire, not the first nor the last to go. One of the best departments in the country, just extinguished like a snap of the fingers. Think of the waste. (1/2)
When an EU member is in trouble, esp if instigated from outside, as for Spain in Ceuta, solidarity should be the only EU response. Far-right reactions is yet more proof there’s no “moderate” far-right, only different ways far right forces seek to dismantle European integration
Thomas More in Utopia (1516), as timely as ever: “When I run over in my mind the various commonwealths flourishing today, so help me God, I can see in them nothing but a conspiracy of the rich, who are fattening up their own interests”.
it’s never a great sign for your society when all the competent people who believe in doing a good job for the sake of it conclude that they’re actively being punished for these qualities, while malignantly stupid criminals are making bank
Bordeaux, France, has now recorded more days above 40°C in 2026 alone than during the entire 105-year period from 1920 (when observations began) to 2025. This is deeply shocking.
One of the greatest Latvian historians. A survivor of the Holocaust who, just this past year, published a book on those who worked to save Latvian Jews during the Nazi Occupation. A keeper of the memory of the victims. A man full of light and courage eng.lsm.lv/article/cult...
Distinguished historian Vestermanis dies aged 100
The eminent historian, founder and long-time director of the 'Jews in Latvia' museum, Marģers Vestermanis, has died, the museum has announced.
eng.lsm.lv
Cundhill History Prize long list 🗃️ publishingperspectives.com/2026/07/long...
Longlist Announced for the 2026 Cundill History Prize - Publishing Perspectives
The world’s leading prize for a work of history written or translated into English, the Cundill History Prize today announced its 2026 longlist of 15 books, chosen from almost 400 submissions from acr...
publishingperspectives.com
LinkedIn added an "AI slop" button. The U-Turn is happening, expect to see a lot more of this from other tech companies.
CfP "Negotiating African Christian Pasts in Renaissance Europe: Transcontinental Knowledge Production, Representation, and Power" Travel and accommodation costs of successful applicants will be covered by the organisers. Deadline 31 July www.ieg-mainz.de/en/news/cfp-...
CfP: „Negotiating African Christian Pasts in Renaissance Europe: Transcontinental Knowledge Production, Representation, and Power“ - Leibniz-Institut für Europäische Geschichte (IEG)
This conference, organised by the Leibniz Institute for European History in Mainz, focuses on how knowledge about African Christianities was transmitted and circulated within the intellectual landscap...
ieg-mainz.de
Honestly, I think this is good advice for any profession, including mine.
Wat een flater van Jetten. Dit is géén vandalisme. Vandalisme is namelijk ongericht: dingen worden vernield omdat ze toevallig op het pad van de vernielers liggen. Hier zijn eigendommen van slachtoffers doelbewust uitgekozen om ze te intimideren. Het raakt aan terreur, als dit het al niet gewoon is.
Rob Jetten@minister-president.bsky.social · last wk.Wat een lelijk vandalisme in Engelen. Samenleven is een van de kernwaarden van Nederland. Verschillende meningen mogen daarbinnen bestaan, daarover gaan we met elkaar in gesprek.
My husband, who is in tech, informs me that there is a real backlash building in Silicon Balley against AI slop writing. He predicts people who can actually write will be in even higher demand soon and I completely agree. University leadership once again proves how asinine and myopic it is.
Half the planet is having a massive fight about how to correctly interpret an Ancient Greek poem but go ahead, close some more humanities departments.
Full of despair today. Massive lay offs in social sciences and humanities across the country, Burnham puts out a video saying 'AI can write an essay', and my university is busy integrating co-pilot into all staff and student computers. We are being told we're defunct and there's no resistance.
The point isn't to produce essays, it's to teach students how to think for fuck's sake. The minute you automate that, it's over. You might as well close the course. Which they're also doing. This is an attack on learning, and everyone is just shrugging.
Hmmm. I read the Emily Wilson review of Nolan's The Odyssey and not sure what the hubbub is about. Are negative reviews not allowed anymore? Some nuance of her points seems flattened in the criticisms of the review, too.
Found myself rereading this today after a friend asked for 'good articles on AI'. Incomparably to the point. Thanks to @anthonymoser.com for putting it so well. anthonymoser.github.io/writing/ai/h...
I Am An AI Hater
I am an AI hater. This is considered rude, but I do not care, because I am a hater.
anthonymoser.github.io
The success of Emily Wilson's translation had nothing to do with Christopher Nolan. The hardcover edition came out 9 years ago and was a huge success. The paperback has been in steady demand since 2018. My store has sold 75 copies (a lot for 1 book for us) and 66 of those were before January.
Ignacio Gallup-Diaz@igallupd.bsky.social · 2w ago“A Penn professor thought she’d sell 1000 copies of her ‘Odyssey’ translation. She sold a million this year alone, thanks to Christopher Nolan.” “West Philly's Emily Wilson, who penned a highly acclaimed translation of the epic poem in 2017, is having a big summer.”
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
Turns out “CEO said a thing” is no way to run a business.
The Wall Street Journal@wsj.com · last wk.Many companies stopped hiring entry-level employees, thinking AI agents could pick up the slack. They have since realized that humans are necessary to work alongside AI.
The waste of teaching talent caused by universities’ obsession with low-wage contract work (which drives people out of the profession long-term) is almost unimaginable. A societal disaster.
Dear economists, please read scholarship outside your field before launching studies with statements like this: “Conscious thoughts are fundamental to the human experience, yet they remain remarkably understudied.” Really? Cognitive science, philosophy, religion?
