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Jim Wald

@citizenwald.bsky.social
5.2K followers 1.6K following 6.4K posts

Historian, ex-Hampshire College, Amherst MA Europe C18-20, book history, historic preservation Past service: SHARP sharpweb.org, Massachusetts Center for Book www.massbook.org Co-editor, Routledge History of Antisemitism tiny.cc/pb7xzz

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Alex von Tunzelmann @alexvont.bsky.social · 4h
Me and my grunge friends would’ve killed A.I. with hammers I can tell you that much
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Dark Galloway @darkgalloway.bsky.social · 5h
The Old St Nicholas Church in Prestwick. Thought to date from the 12th century, with later modifications, the church was built on an early medieval monastic site, of the 8th century or earlier. #blackandwhitephotography #Scotland #History
Atmospheric black and white photo of a ruined, roofless church, surrounded by old gravestones under a dark, overcast sky.
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Erik Reger @erikreger.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Wie der Prozess gegen die Hauptkriegsverbrecher zu Ende geht, @tagesspiegel.de #OTD 1946. Über unsere Zeitung und Nürnberg: www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/gegen... Über Göring in Nürnberg: www.tagesspiegel.de/gesellschaft... Über Speer in Nürnberg: www.tagesspiegel.de/gesellschaft... #Tagesspiegel80
Nürnberg, 25. September (DANA)
Die Urteilsverkündung im Nürnberger Kriegsverbrecher-Prozeß wird wie am Mittwoch bekanntgegeben wurde, zwei Tage in Anspruch nehmen. Am 30. September, um zehn Uhr vormittags, wird das Internationale Militärtribunal mit einem Ueberblick über den gesamten Prozeß beginnen, und am 1. Oktober wird voraussichtlich das Urteil gegen die einundzwanzig Angeklagten und die sechs angeklagten Organisationen verkündet werden.
München, 25. September (AP)
Der alliierte Kontrollrat hat angeordnet, daß diejenigen Angeklagten des Nürnberger Prozesses, die zum Tode verurteilt werden, am fünfzehnten Tage nach der Urteilsverkündung hingerichtet werden sollen. In einer ausführlichen Erklärung bestimmt der Kontrollrat, daß die Hinrichtung „unter Ausschluß der Oeffentlichkeit" durch Hängen oder durch die Guillotine erfolgen soll. Falls der fünfzehnte Tag ein Sonntag sein sollte, wird die Hinrichtung an dem folgenden Tage vorgenommen werden. Wenn die Urteilsverkündung am Dienstag, dem 1. Oktober, erfolgt, wird der fünfzehnte Tag Mittwoch, der 16. Oktober, sein. Die Verurteilten werden vier Tage Zeit für eine Berufung an den alliierten Kontrollrat haben. Eine Berufung ist nur gegen das Strafmaß gestattet, da Artikel 26 der Gerichtsordnung des Internationalen Gerichtshofes festlegt, daß seine Entscheidung, ob schuldig oder unschuldig, endgültig und nicht revisionsfähig ist.
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Grumpy Philosopher @stevecooke.org · 29/09/2026
I'm largely convinced an editor's comments on a piece of popular writing I'm working on have been written using AI. It's giving me the ick and making me super grumpy while I write.
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Dr Vanessa @hpsvanessa.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Ooop www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
Ancient sheep virus found hiding in medieval parchment
Newly recovered sheeppox sequences reveal when and how the virus emerged
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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
And, to close our Wenceslas threads: his saint's day falls between the birth (27 Sept 1772) & death (2 Oct 1803) dates of our own Founding Father Sam Adams Certainly a patriot & a maltster; whether he was also a brewer as the bottle famously suggests, scholars continue to debate

Granary Burying Ground, Boston

set in a green lawn on which also lie a few fallen leaves:
a roughly triangular black rock on which is a metal plate with green patina:

HERE LIES BURIED
SAMUEL    ADAMS
SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
GOVERNOR OF THE COMMONWEALTH
A LEADER OF MEN AND AN ARDENT PATRIOT
BORN 1722   DIED 1803

Bottom left:
MASSACHUSETTS
SOCIETY

round emblem in center

Bottom right:
SONS OF THE
REVOLUTION



at right, a small American flag with a patinated copper emblem denoting a Revolutionary veteran; to the right of that, a basket with flower and feathers

to the rear, in the distance, other headstonesphoto from a Boston hotel room


on the corner of a wooden table

at left a pint glass of amber-colored beer
at right, an open bottle of Sam Adams

red band with white lettering at the top of the neck:

BOSTON LAGER
DISTINCTIVELY COMPLEX AND BALANCED

At the bottom:
the oval dark blue label flanked by leaves in light blue
also in light blue: image of a man in colonial garb raising a tankard in a toast
in red
BOSTON LAGER (and further descriptive details)

in white"
SAMUEL ADAMS
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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
And, to round out our musical selections for St. Wenceslas (Václav) / #Czech Statehood Day, here is the great Baroque mass (c. 1670) by Adam Michna z Otradovic in the classic Supraphon recording Missa Sancti Wenceslai for Soloists, Chorus & Orchestra
youtube.com
Missa Sancti Wenceslai. Mass for Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra - Kyrie
Provided to YouTube by Supraphon Missa Sancti Wenceslai. Mass for Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra - Kyrie · Adam Václav Michna z Otradovic · Český pěvecký sbor/Josef Veselka · Helena Tattermuschová · Jaroslava Vymazalová · Marie Mrázová Česká duchovní hudba baroka a klasicismu / Adam Michna z Otrad
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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
And finally, for those who gravitate toward a "stirring" rendition for large chorus and orchestra www.youtube.com/watc... Whatever your musical tastes: Wishing a very happy St. Wenceslas Day & #Czech Statehood Day to all who celebrate! 9/9
youtube.com
St. Wenceslaus Chorale - "Svatováclavský chorál"
Chorale of Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia of Přemyslid dynasty is considered as Anthem of the Czech Statehood since 12th century.
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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
Among recent treatments of the Wenceslas Chorale: Here's a solo version by Kateřina Winterová www.youtube.com/watc... and one for vocal quartet by Bohemia Voice: www.youtube.com/watc... 8/9
youtube.com
SVATOVÁCLAVSKÝ CHORÁL
Zpěv: Kateřina Winterová -- The Ecstasy Of Saint Theresa www.eost.cz / www.katerinawinterova.com Hudba -- Michal Novinski www.michalnovinski.com a Jan P. Muchow www.eost.cz Režie: Tomáš Zilvar Kamera: Jan Látal / Postprodukce: Tomáš Hájek www.tobogang.com / Kostým: Denisa Nová www.den
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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
The words Kníže naš, pros za nás: Our Prince, Pray For Us At the bottom of the print of Saint Wenceslas by Karel Němec are from the Wenceslas Chorale (Svatováclavský chorál) Here is a lean version by Schola Gregoriana Pragensis/Anonymous III www.youtube.com/watc... 7/9
youtube.com
Svatý Václave – Schola Gregoriana Pragensis/Anonymous III
“Svatý Václave”, the medieval song performed by Schola Gregoriana Pragensis and Anonymous III. The recording was made during the SoundMe concert in Prague (St Peter and Paul Basilica at Vyšehrad), on 11 April 2018. The song “Svatý Václave” (Saint Wenceslas), which is the oldest preserved piece of
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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
David Černý, the bad boy of contemporary #Czech art, produced a great spoof (1999) of the Myslbek Wenceslas statue. It hangs from the ceiling of the atrium in the Lucerna Palace. 6/9
the king sits astride an upside-down dead horse

St. Wenceslas — David Černý Tour
https://www.david-cerny-tour.com/en/st-wenceslas

Saint Wenceslas - David Černý
https://davidcerny.cz/198/saint-wenceslas/

Statue of King Wenceslas Riding an Upside-Down Dead Horse - Atlas Obscura
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/statue-of-king-wenceslas-riding-an-upsidedown-dead-horse
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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
The 1000th anniversary of the death of Wenceslas (according to the then prevailing dating) in 1929 provided an opportunity to celebrate #Czechoslovak history--inadvertently highlighting the extent to which the official culture of the Republic was far more #Czech than #Slovak 5/9
4 of the series of 5 postage stamps commemorating the 1000th anniversary of the death of Saint Wenceslas in 1929. Designed by Mikulaš Aleș, they were issued on May 29

1. green, 50 haléřů: frontal view of the saint on horseback

2. ditto, blue-gray, 60 haléřů

3. blue, 2 Koruny: the founding of St Vitus Cathedral Prague. A saint in center speaks to masons in front of a block of stone at left. In the rear, the Romanesque towers and front of nearby St. George's Basilica.

4. brown, 3 Koruny: martyrdom of Wenceslas: the saint sinks to the ground in front of a church door, as his brother thrusts a spear into his back. Another foe with raised sword appears around the corner

5 (not depicted here) = the same scene in magenta, 5 Koruny

Nos. 1,2, 4, and 5 present the subject in a circular frame with dates (929 and 1929) at the outside the top corners and the denomination in both lower cornersfor the 1929 Prague stamp in the topographical scenes in the set of Czech definitives, the scene depicts the Myslbek statue of St. Wenceslas in front of the National Museum (viewed from the front and slightly to the left)

deep blue, 2.50 Koruny
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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
As part of the patriotic creation of a visible #Czech identity, Wenceslas Square was graced with a new edifice for the National #Museum (1818) at the top of the hill in 1891. So impressive was the building that Soviet troops attacked it in 1968 muzeum3000.nm.cz/nat... 3/9
early black-and-white postcard with an artist's depiction of the museum: a neo-Renaissance building with a classically pedimented and columned center flanked by two wings. Small towers with cupola above each wing, much larger one over the center

Caption in Czech: Prague. Royal Czech Museum
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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
The increasing prominence of St. Wenceslas (Václav) in the modern era reflected the #Czech attempt to assert a national identity in opposition to the #German one. Thus, the old "Horse Market" dating back to the medieval "New Town" was renamed St. Wenceslas Square in 1848 2/9
map of Prague from Meyer's Lexikon, mid-C19

One sees the castle-cathedral complex on the hill at left, and the Old Town and New Town across the river at right.

The Stone Bridge (or: Prague Bridge) is marked in red. Beginning around 1870, it came to be referred to as the Charles Bridge (which name it has borne ever since), in another patriotic renaming: in this case after the great medieval emperor under whose reign it was constructeddetail of previous map: oday's Wenceslas Square, then still known as the Horse Market, circled in yellow as the long, narrow, diagonal space in the New TownGerman-language Czech postcard depicting the long boulevard that forms the "square," running up to the museum building at the top of the hill. Visible are not just the building façades on both sides, but also a tram line (begun in 1884) and pedestrians
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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
28 September: Saint Wenceslas (Václav) Day and #Czech Statehood Day (since 2000). The patron saint of Bohemia, he is said to have been assassinated OTD in 935 by his brother. english.radio.cz/cze... Here, an early 20th-century depiction by Karel Nēmec (1879-1960) 1/9
large elongated (250 x 110 mm) color print: the Duke in a white tunic with accents of blue and gold over what looks like scale armor. A golden halo shines from behind an archaic crown with pendant chains. In his right hand he holds a spear or lance with a pennant attached (gold cross on white ground), while the left hand rests on top of a narrow shield with a light blue eagle on a white ground.
A decorated wreath-like design in shades of blue with gold accents takes up the upper half of the background, from his waist to the top of the frame. In the right half and below it, the background consists of deep blue stripes against a light background.
The Saint stands on a vertical semicircular frame inscribed with the famous motto asking him pray for us.
Behind are the white walls and towers of a fortification.
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💛Magda Teter🟦📖 @mteter-historian.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Americans have lost any moral core there may have been. It's a shallow society focused on prices. Mass Deportations of Mexican workers? Fine. More expensive food from Mexico? That's a different story. -2% for mass deportations is too close for comfort.
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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
27 September 1942: Richard Lichtheim of the Geneva office of the Jewish Agency for Palestine cables his London counterpart Joseph Linton, confirming Nazi extermination plans & arguing that Allied pressure can still save the Jews of Romania, Bulgaria, & Hungary
all text photo

photograph of telegram sent from
Richard Lichtheim in Geneva to Jewish Agency official Joseph Linton in London

body all in blue caps on half-sheet of paper
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𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝙲. 𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚗 @charlescmann.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I sympathize. It really sucks when people just grab up your work without credit or payment and use it as a shortcut to make a product that might put you out of business.
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Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
New from Ryan Lavelle: to be published in November. Bet this'll be excellent! yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300...
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Clare Mulley @claremulley.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
A few less formal pics from the ANFB presentation of the #Chevalierd’Argent & ravivage at the #ArcDuTriomphe. (Mainly courtesy of my lovely sister :) I still can’t quite believe this happened, but utterly delighted that women’s service during the #SecondWorldWar is gaining more attention!
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Wolfson History Prize @wolfsonhistory.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Next in the #ShortlistSpotlight leading up to the #WolfsonHistoryPrize is 'Vanished: An Unnatural History of Extinction' by @sadiahqureshi.bsky.social Congratulations to Sadiah Qureshi and Allen Lane 🎊
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cmrn knzlmn @ckunzelman.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
If you are a graduate student in the humanities (construed as broadly as possible), what is the MOST EXCITING book published in the last five years to you? Please repost if you’re not a graduate student!
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Dr Una McIlvenna @unamcilvenna.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
So this week 446 years ago, Sir Francis Drake arrived in Plymouth after having been the second captain ever to circumnavigate the globe. I talked about it on ABC Radio National, and sang a little bit of a ballad about him! Have a listen here: www.abc.net.au/listen/progr... @ouranu.bsky.social
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old wildlife illustrations @wildlife.nathan.fun · 28/09/2026
The animal kingdom, arranged according to its organization, serving as a foundation for the natural history of animals. v.1 plates. London: G. Henderson, 1834-1837. (source: www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/89…) #nature #illustration #art
The animal kingdom, arranged according to its organization, serving as a foundation for the natural history of animals. v.1 plates.
London: G. Henderson, 1834-1837.
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/89321�
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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Among the most interesting (tho not surprising) findings of the Hampshire rezoning workshops were the aesthetic preferences, which seemed to lean strongly traditional as concerns both scale & style: some fear of tall structures (though some of us pressed strongly) & modern design
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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Science is great. So are dogs. Humans? Not so sure Dogs use a surprising method to understand human language, new study suggests. In a brain activity study, dogs seemed to listen for consonants to figure out when one word ends and another begins wapo.st/4xLT0K2
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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
"John Chapman, born in Leominster, MA, on September 26, 1774, came to be known as 'Johnny Appleseed'...b/c he planted nurseries & individual apple trees across 100K m2 of midwestern wilderness & prairie—resulting in settlers’ planting their own orchards" www.loc.gov/item/tod...
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David M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I hope it has a happy ending
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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I've seen photos & film of some severe storms and flooding from the Carolinas to northern New England--on and near coast--but here the greatly feared Nor'easter has turned out to be pretty much a nothingburger: almost no rain, just some high-ish winds Saw this damage near UMass
A tree has fallen and broken the guard rail at left, lies over road. A police car helps direct the two lanes of traffic around it. Towers of UMass Southwest dorms in backgroundsame scene but with a closer view of tree and police car
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Stori3d Past @stori3dpast.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Copyediting matters.
an eBay listing for Shakespeare's Merchant of Venus
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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Other Hampshire closing news: in grocery store, ran into retired University of Connecticut colleague who said she had been spending a lot of time thinking about us, not least b/c her brother studied here. I was able to reassure her our graduating students are well taken care of
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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Whereas Tuesday's Hampshire College zoning workshop was devoted to listening, Thursday's was more hands-on: participants visited four of five possible stations where they could express their preferences with maps, models, and markers.
all text: agendaall text: descriptions of the five stations
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Susan Klaiber @susanklaiber.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
And yet another @arthist-net.bsky.social post worthy of attention: Baths, Spas and Health Resorts between the 15th and the 18th Centuries Call for papers with deadline 15 November 2026. arthist.net/archive/54418 #earlymodern #architecture #CFP
Conference logo reading: "Baths, Spas and Health Resorts between the 15th and 18th Centuries" / Vicenza 26-27.052027

Image below shows the cross section of a Roman bath.
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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
@jzk55.bsky.social Glad to know that you, too, are a Ježek fan!
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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
250 Garbage Gobblers were placed all over British Columbia in the 1950s. Only a few originals, like this one, are left, and they have historical markers. Many of the originals were removed, as this piece notes, because they weren’t bear-proof. infotel.ca/inwheels/one...
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Transphobes Can't Read @lordaslan.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
"men fucked up. Are women to blame?"
An article titled "twice as many men are single than married today. Are women to blame?"
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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Great insight. Also: Love is different in that it has no middle (or last) name. Fun fact: Robert L. Frost was named Robert *Lee* Frost for: guess who? Not his fault, of course, but I could not resist
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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Thanks, Manisha! I cannot keep up. Busy day, so I had no idea furries were a threat to the national character and security. --tho I was on top of the bestiality thing bsky.app/profile/citi...
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Gwen C. Katz @gwenckatz.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Fuck ChatGPT flyers. The future is broadsheets.
A crowded broadsheet with way too many fonts. It says:
Forget ChatGPT Flyers
Say it with 
Broadsheets
Unlimited fonts
Stretch them
Or cram a really long sentence into one line for no good reason
No whitespace
Mix capital and lowercase
Pointing hands
(They're called manicules!)
Don't be left behind
Broadsheets are the future
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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I talk about this (OK, used to :( ) in my classes: to the extent that professional historians and other scholars cease writing for a broader public, we risk ceding the ground to bad popularizers and charlatans. Witness Tucker Carlson platforming batshit crazy Nazi-stanning fake historians
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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
$1 Billion Donation to University of Oregon Makes History. The gift from Phil Knight, the Nike co-founder, is the largest known donation to a flagship university. It will fund a new engineering college. www.nytimes.com/2026...
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Ed Maibach @maibached.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Happy Stanislav Petrov Day He passed in 2017. As Encyclopedia Britannica puts it, “He is survived by his two children, two grandchildren, and the entire human race.” If you don't know his story, please take 3 minutes now to learn it. @gchalliance.bsky.social @docsforclimate.bsky.social
sammatey.substack.com
Happy Stanislav Petrov Day
Take five minutes to not destroy civilization
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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
And let us celebrate the birthday of Jaroslav Ježek (25 September 1906), a far too little-known Czech composer: visually impaired, avant-garde artist, antifascist en.wikipedia.org/wik... Bugatti Step is one of his better-known compositions youtu.be/G0o5hfP8i2k...
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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
maybe 50 years ago. I remember fellow students debating about what to do if offered an alcoholic drink at an interview meeting: carefully decline? go with the regional cultural vibe: bourbon and branch water, if you please
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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Wishing a happy festival of Sukkot to those who celebrate. Let's see what we have in our bibliophile files. From a 1725 Dutch edition of Dom Augustin Calmet's great Dictionnaire historique, critique, chronologique, géographique et littéral de la Bible
folio copper engraving

against the background of an imagined (orientalizing) city: simple classical buildings with domes with arches (apparently intended to represent the booths of Sukkot) on their roofs

left foreground: a group gathers for a meal beneath an arched structure made of branches and tree trunks, as other individuals bring food and drink and two men climb a ladder to add to the roof while two others, approaching from left, brings more branches (palm fronds?)

at left, two musicians play beneath another arched booth as three others, sitting on the ground, discuss a text. More bundles of palm fronds/branches lie on the ground behind them
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Crisp @crisp91.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
More than 2.5 km of previously unknown Inca roads have been mapped near Machu Picchu using drone-based LiDAR, revealing hidden terraces and platforms beneath dense forest. Even after all these centuries of research, the Andes still hold remarkable archaeological secrets. 🏺🏔️
archaeologymag.com
More than 2.5 km of previously unknown Inca roads found near Machu Picchu | Archaeology News Online Magazine
More than 2.5 km of Inca roads hidden beneath dense forest have been mapped near Machu Picchu using drone-based LiDAR.
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Lou Roper @roperlou.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
#earlymodern
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Leslie Ehrlich @leslieehrlich.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Spent two hours cleaning the (now departed for grad school) kid’s room. Our reward
On a little cafe table on the sidewalk, a spritz and a bowl of peanuts.  And a mostly consumed dog treat.  Next to the table a small curly coated black dog demanding the rest of the treat.
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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Came home to discover (who knew?) that the dog enjoys roasted garlic. Good taste! Bad boy! And his breath was already terrible.
mini-muffin tin in which 12 tiny heads of garlic were roasted: suddenly missing 4
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Owen Davies @odavies9.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
"Troubled by Faith". I've never been disappointed by my publishers' book covers, but this is a favourite of mine. The image is Alfred Kubin's "The Vampire" (c.1900).
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