At ACES: The Society for Editing, we believe editing plays a vital role in supporting the right of people to be heard. Editors help bring clarity, context, and care to language, and that work matters in documenting history, challenging inequality, and ensuring stories are not overlooked or erased.

This one needs the sarcasm font.

When my family came to the U.K. from America in 1965, central heating was considered to make you ‘soft’, and one of my teachers openly mocked the practice; at which point, the whole class turned to stare at me.

Since many of you are distracted by other things or not following any Jewish media, you should know that today, on one of the holiest days of the year, a man drove his car into a crowd gathering to go into a Synagogue in Manchester then got out and started stabbing people. Two people are dead.

A very happy Jewish New Year to everyone (Jewish or not). It's a moment to reflect on the year gone by, and find hope for the future. L'Shana Tova.

Assistant Professor – Global History of Technology - Department of History University of California, Berkeley is hiring. Apply now!

NEW: Tenure-track position in History at UC Berkeley in the GLOBAL HISTORY OF TECHNOLOGY.

We are casting a wide net here: *all* periods, places, and fields are under consideration.

I'm on the search committee, so do let me know if you have questions.

fuck Caryopteris

Dr. Sara E. Brown on X: "Thank you for this clear eyed rebuttal. I have been a member of @GenocideStudies for over a decade and can confirm the process was a disaster from start to finish. Those of us against the resolution tried to submit our concerns for discussion but were blocked by the leadership." / X Thank you for this clear eyed rebuttal. I have been a member of @GenocideStudies for over a decade and can confirm the process was a disaster from start to finish. Those of us against the resolution tried to submit our concerns for discussion but were blocked by the leadership.

Also this follow-up from a member of the body. x.com/drsaraebrown...

I came across this critique of the report, in case it’s helpful x.com/elliotmalin/...

Didn’t Victoria Brittain at The Guardian get into trouble after she allowed a Ghanaian figure to use her personal bank account? I remember when it was first reported, back in the 1990s, and it’s in her Wikipedia entry.

Thanks, but sadly no one is paying my conference travel costs any more! Will send separate email…

I still have a stash of Look and Learn.

I learned to draw a frog very quickly for Biology O Level. Used it a few times as a motif. Then, everyone got me frog merchandise for birthdays etc because that was supposed to be my ‘thing’. Eventually had to issue a stop edict. I still have the frogs (in storage), can still draw one very quickly.

maps.app.goo.gl/UXMfgokiR2gc...

I think there’s another newsagent further down Junction Road that still sells all the Irish papers.

I mean, Archway. What the actual fuck??? I had not been there for a while - what a change. It’s actually relatively pleasant now, even though some of the old pubs have gone and they no longer sell all the local Irish papers in the newsagents at the tube. Does the Sligo Champion still exist?

The Biggest Coverup of the American Revolution The Declaration of Independence condemns King George III for having “burnt our towns.” But the British were not to blame for one of the war’s most infamous conflagrations.

"What neither the American public nor Parliament knew was that the man who would go on to draft the Declaration had secretly encouraged Norfolk’s ruin shortly before it happened." Andrew Lawler on the biggest coverup of the American Revolution:

Thanks, Melissa! Mutual respect, hence comment here (rare for me). Was worried OP minimised concern about kneecap content (“what was there to be scared of” etc). Re speech, BBC makes editorial judgements all the time, in this case legal. I often disagree but not necessarily censorship. Anyhoo…

In case of doubt, Kneecap posted ‘Solidarity with the Palestinian struggle’ the very next day after Oct 7, 2023, and only doubled down since then. Meanwhile, here’s their heroes doing some actual kneecaping of Gazans the other day. Hamas have less support in Gaza than they do in the UK, it seems.

I’m surprised to see you amplify kneecap. Among other things, they praised Hamas for Oct 7. Glastonbury has felt like a hate fest this year.

There you go, assuming you know what’s in other people’s minds, and certain that you alone are right. Don’t you get tired of it?

This may be a factor?

The Death of the Student Essay—and the Future of Cognition One professor's reflections on the end of an era, as AI tools such as ChatGPT have murdered the student essay (RIP). Here's why that threatens the future of human cognition—and how to save ourselves.

After the latest round of grading papers, I wrote about AI, ChatGPT, the death of the student essay, and what it means for the future of human cognition.

My panel with @rcolesworthy.bsky.social, @stephanieyevans.bsky.social, @byjennytan.bsky.social, and @jsavrankelly.bsky.social kicks off in less than 30 minutes!

Honored to follow the opening plenary by fellow @princetonupress.bsky.social author Eddie R. Cole

‘When you’re a Jet, you’re a Jet all the way, from your first cigarette to your last dying day…’

fuck Bomarea

People really aren’t very good at thinking about abstract categories, as in, ‘these things are all alike in x way, but differ from these other things in y way’. It first struck me after a few years of undergrad teaching.

I remember reading him in the 1970s; I still have the books.

A Company Reminder for Everyone to Talk Nicely About the Giant Plagiarism Machine Hey team. It’s your CEO. I know your time is valuable, so I’ll cut right to the chase: It’s come to my attention that some of you have been bad-mou...

"It just really comes as a shock that such accomplished intellectuals, who’ve spent their entire careers pushing the upper bounds of human achievement, could be judgy about a machine that runs the entirety of human imagination through a shredder and glues together what comes out."

The horrified city gate from Wetzlar is shown: it's windows do look like eyes, and the gate itself looks like a screaming mouth.

This is a slow moving thread of screaming and horrified city gates. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa #ScreamingCityGates