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Douglas Small

@drdouglassmall.bsky.social
4.3K followers 1.1K following 111 posts

Drug Historian. Author of ‘Cocaine, Literature, and Culture, 1876-1930’. Histories of Victorian medicine & science. #c19th #medhums he/him 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ Website: douglassmall.com

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Tobias Wilson-Bates @phdhurtbrain.bsky.social · 9h
Editor: so, all of these men are in love with the same woman? Bram Stoker: err, yes, sure, I mean, yes, not each other tho, to be clear Editor: and how do they save her? Bram Stoker: they fill her with their combined blood like some kind of hemoglorgy Editor: Bram Stoker: for medical reasons...
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Dr Laura Eastlake @victorianmasc.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Wee cat stoner, huffing the mint plant. #caturday
Two photos: 1) a tabby Maine coonlooking curiously at a mint plant. 2) same cat, faceplanted into the mint plant, huffing deeply
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Noah Caldwell-Gervais @noahgervais.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I have been struggling to process my thoughts on all this and couldn't really sum it up better than this. It's deeply sad. I looked up to Jacob as he presented himself, I contributed a foreword to one of the pieces in his book of scripts, I had him as a guest on the fundraising stream I did.
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Element115Art @element115.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Qian Xuesen's 1949 concept for a commercial spaceplane, designed to carry 10 passengers from New York to LA in 45 minutes. (Render made with Blender, backgrounds NASA public domain)
A silver space plane over the eartha silver spaceplane over the deserta silver spaceplane in space
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Kitty @kittyfisher.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Now that autumn is here, it’s time to think about coats.
1833 French fashion plate of two men looking bang on for autumn/winter. The one on the left wears grey trousers, a dark blue waistcoat and a long grey-green coat that’s open and pushed back, along with a top hat and a very nice cane. On the right, his friend looks smug - as well he might - in a massive dark blue greatcoat with caped shoulders, that covers him to the ankles and looks to be trimmed with velvet or maybe sealskin. He also wears a top hat and a bit of his black waistcoat and white shirt is visible
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𝕾𝖙𝖗𝖆𝖓𝖌𝖊 𝕳𝖔𝖚𝖘𝖊 @strangehouse.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
My artbook themansionpress.com/collections/...
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Dr Laura Eastlake @victorianmasc.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Hungry, hungry hippophagists!? My grim little article about the time the Victorians tried to make horse-eating fashionable is in this month’s issue of History Today and is free online for seven days. #c19th #foodhistory
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Deep Cuts in a Lovecraftian Vein @deepcuts.blog · 30/09/2026
"It is really very hard to work with a superstition as well-known & conventionalised as those of the vampire & werewolf. Some day I may idly try my hand, but so far I have found original synthetic horrors much more tractable." —H. P. Lovecraft to Clark Ashton Smith, [7 Nov 1930]
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Tobias Wilson-Bates @phdhurtbrain.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I think the tendency to take older intellectual property and making it dark and gritty has run its course. Time to start adapting older texts to be maximally horny.
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🌈Dr. Frizzle @swilua.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
We can learn from our queer elders 🫶🏻
bisubites 4h
when my masc lesbian aunt died, women just kept coming, screaming, crying, and saying they were her wives. Eventually we just had to start telling them to join the others. They were all devastated to learn about each other. Except for one who came in, kissed her dead mouth and showed us all that they had matching tattoos. She actually won all the mourning wives over and they all agreed she was the wife. It was so weird.Did not expect more than a few people to see this but yes it really happened, yes it was insane

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bisubites 3h Author
They also ALL read love letters at the podium. It was painful and awkward but the final gift my aunt gave the familyfrom my mom

23h
How many crying wives were at
Aunt Chrissy's funeral
23h
I need a final count
I think 5 maybe 7 why

oisubites 3h
Author
Unread messages
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••.
And a couple girlfriends she was a popular and very liked lol
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Laura Jedeed @laurajedeed.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Neural networks are trained on human knowledge: the books we wrote, the art we created, trillions of words on the Internet. They can rearrange that knowledge into interesting shapes, but cannot develop new knowledge or make leaps of logic There is no path to superintelligence here
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Jess Fink🍉🌈 @jessfink.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
My best advice to new comics ppl getting published for the 1st time is get an agent or lawyer to look at the contact and fight for better royalties & ownership of your work. THE 2ND is to not assume the publisher is doing things for you like submitting things to awards, copyrighting, marketing, etc.
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Gene Haunt 👻🇨🇦🇵🇸 @avin-oops.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Middle England today
Kombucha girl meme. Positive face: concentration camps. Negative face: concentration camps near my village
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Low Quality Facts @lowqualityfacts.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
I'm surprised that so many people don't know this.
Frankenstein is actually the name of the scientist who created the monster. The monster's name is Bradley.
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Dan Snow @thehistoryguy.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
There was a very active critic of the history syllabus in the 90s. Very wise people scoffed at how much time kids were forced to spend learning about the Nazis and democratic decay in the 30s. Turns out we should have gone much harder.
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Ed Morrish @edmorrish.com · 03/09/2026
a lot of people doubted how much the british media genuinely cared about integrity in academia and now is a great chance for the british media to prove that they’re not just gullible racists!
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John Angus Spencer-Barnes 🏳️‍🌈 @johnbarnes.org · 03/09/2026
The marble statue “Eve”, by the Italian artist Scipione Tadolini, sits inside the Kibble Palace glasshouse at the Glasgow Botanic Gardens. It was moved here after previously being housed at the Kelvingrove Museum. There’s no better place to visit than the gardens for a free day out in Glasgow.
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Dr Laura Eastlake @victorianmasc.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Supermarket product: “NEW IMPROVED RECIPE! EVEN BETTER TASTE!!” Everyone: “Did you just add palm oil tho? It’s palm oil, isn’t it?” Supermarket product: “Shhhhhh. ITS BURSTING WITH FLAVOUR!” Everyone: …
Crop of a product label. Text: NEW RECIPE — BURSTING WITH FLAVOUR.
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grant @grantpardee.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
"Tiny Tim, who DESERVED to die,"
Gonzo in Muppet Christmas Carol delivering the line "And Tiny Tim, who did NOT die"
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ex-Lethality Jane @lethalityjane.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
When Amadeus first transferred from London to Broadway in 1980 the Broadway production starred Tim Curry as Mozart and Ian McKellen as Salieri and I would like to go back in time and watch that.
Tim Curry and Ian McKellen in Amadeus.
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Toss @stevenspoints.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
I really cannot think of a greater honor than to have the Muppets say this about you upon your passing
Instagram post from the official Muppets account: Few humans have earned the title of honorary Muppet more than the legendary Tim Curry. As a performer he was unparalleled - witty, charming, unnerving, and deeply funny. We will always consider it one of our greatest treasures to have been part of Long John Silver’s crew. Thank you for everything, Tim.
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Ben Doyle @bendoyle.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Just another 'heads up' that there are unscrupulous scammers out there impersonating Bloomsbury editors. Please disregard ANY emails purporting to come from me that aren't from ben.doyle@bloomsbury.com. Just had another couple of people report this. www.bloomsbury.com/uk/connect/c...
bloomsbury.com
Bloomsbury Fraud Alert | Fraud in publishing - Bloomsbury
We are aware of reports that fraudsters are impersonating Bloomsbury staff, literary agents and Bloomsbury authors in an attempt to target writers, illustrators and others in the wider publishing comm...
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Emma Barry @authoremmabarry.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
If you loved someone's book or article, tell them. If you're looking forward to someone's piece, tell them.
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 23/08/2026
here is the thing. if you tell me that you believe that race is a biological category and that it is a guide to the objective superiority and inferiority of groups of people, i am not calling you a racist to *insult* you, i am calling you a racist because it best describes your beliefs.
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Tade "Will Eat Your Heart in the Marketplace" Thompson @tadethompson.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Domestic abuse is the leading cause of mortality worldwide for women between 19 and 44, more than cancer, war, and road traffic accidents. Be shocked, but also try to do something about it. Donate to shelters, support relevant legislation etc.
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Swords | The Webcomic @swordscomic.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
🆕 C is for Cutlass #comic #swordscomic
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Tobias Wilson-Bates @phdhurtbrain.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Dickens: the first young lady knows nothing of the world, an angel Publisher: go on Dickens: but, there's another woman Publisher: classic Dickens: she belongs to the streets Publisher: *gasp* Dickens: yes. perhaps one good deed can save her from that life. Publisher: DOES IT?? Dickens: no.
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Dr. Alexis Turner @surliertexan.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
I like where this goes, but imho "desire" still treats slop too artistically. Art is rooted in desire/affect/emotionality that slop does away with entirely. I think it's worth sticking with people's gut instinct, if you will, to name AI after a gustatory phenomenon, which foregrounds consumption🧵
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Paintings of London @paintingsoflondon.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
S is for St Paul's Cathedral ------ 'St Paul's and Ludgate Hill' (c.1887) by William Logsdail (Private collection)
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Will Tattersdill @tattersdill.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
So here we go then: the result of many years thinking about how dinosaurs make science and the imagination work together. It's written for both literary critics and scientists and my dearest hope is that it will help foster an academy where we talk to each other more
Photo of a copy of 'The Social Dinosaur', out now from Bloomsbury omg
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Hallie Rubenhold @hallierubenhold.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
If young people are being taught by society/government messaging/their parents/schools that they won't be able to make a living if they study a humanities subject we are creating a vicious cycle. We must ask who does this messaging serve and why is our society buying into it?
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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 11/08/2026
Capital's tendency to accumulate in the hands of the already wealthy (r > g) means that these aristocrats end up setting an ever-larger proportion of our societal agenda, despite their manifest unfitness to govern and their absence of any kind of democratic legitimacy. 38/
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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 11/08/2026
That's when things get dangerous: when aristocrats grow bored with leisure and mobilize their inherited capital to change the way we all live. Billionaire dilettantes are weapons of mass destruction, and their special projects have a wide blast radius and inflict a *lot* of collateral damage. 33/
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Xavier Aldana Reyes @xaldanareyes.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Body Horror is out today in the UK (and I believe already out in the US and other countries)! The code CUP20 gets you 20% off when purchasing the book directly from @ColumbiaUP. I’d be really grateful for any reposts or help with promotion! 🪰🧪🩸 #horror #bodyhorror cup.columbia.edu/book/body-ho...
Cover for Body Horror: Biology, Biopower, Biotechnology, by Xavier Aldana Reyes. It includes a still from the film, featuring Jeff Goldblum. His face shows visible signs that his body is beginning to change.
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Jen Keane @zenbuffy.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
We give combination vaccines for numerous reasons, and a key one is parental compliance. It's hard for parents to see their kids upset when getting vaccines. It's hard to get time off work to take them. It's hard to get appointments. It's hard to remember that it's time to make them.
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Dr Lindsey Fitzharris @drlindseyfitz.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
I cannot contain the white hot rage I feel right now listening to these lies so all I will say is F*CK THIS ADMINISTRATION. Signed, a medical historian.
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Alex von Tunzelmann @alexvont.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
It is just unacceptable that the NHS may have to find funds to fight potentially a slew of nuisance lawsuits funded by one extremely wealthy person with an obsession.
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John C @badsocialism.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
"are there any bad @stephencollins.bsky.social cartoons?" No, of course not, I've been laughing at this one for three minutes
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Dr Laura Eastlake @victorianmasc.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
As a child this one sentence, with its misleading context clues, from M.R. James's 'Number 13' led me to believe that 'stuepige' was a (frankly glorious, and much-needed) noun for the person who had committed an act of stupidity. I am to this day still sad that it means 'housemaid'. #19thC #stupid
'Such things rarely happen in Denmark, but some piece of stupidity had certainly been performed (which is not so uncommon), and the stuepige must be severely spoken to'Clothbound cover of M R James's Ghost Stories of an Antiquary. The font in an old Gothic style.
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A.L. Goldfuss @ghoulpus.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
I’m stuck indoors hiding from wildfire smoke, but how cool is this?
“Not Like Other Girls” by A.L. Goldfuss on my Kobo.
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G. Willow Wilson @gwillow.me · 05/08/2026
Finally
Screenshot of Kermit the Frog in a tuxedo, from a Muppets Christmas special
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Richard Fallon @richardfallon.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
It's extremely neat that the scientific volumes prepared for the British Association for the Advancement of Science's 1901 Glasgow meeting had covers in the ultra-cool Glasgow Style. Just stumbled across this, so I don't know which artist is responsible.
British Association for the Advancement of Science. Glasgow. AD.MCMI. Hand-Book on the Natural History of Glasgow & the West of Scotland. A Glasgow-style nouveau cover with the motto 'Let Glasgow flourish by the preaching of the world'.
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Dr Lindsey Fitzharris @drlindseyfitz.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
I seem to be reaching fewer and fewer people on social media thanks to AI slop and algorithms, so I did the one thing I dread more than a deadline: got on camera. My new book SLEUTH-HOUND is up for pre-order now. It would mean the world if you grabbed a copy👇 Preorder: linktr.ee/drlindseyfitzharris
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Rachel Coldicutt @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Anyway, PSA for the kids, social media managers, and fans of reindustrialisation, you can almost certainly automate manufacturing trains more safely and effectively than you can automate writing contracts, just in case you were wondering.
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Kat Tenbarge @kattenbarge.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
I have no patience for the argument that anti-trans bigots care about protecting women and girls and women’s and girls’ sports. The conservative agenda is to destroy our autonomy and our equal opportunities. This is not a secret. It is the entire point.
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Deep Cuts in a Lovecraftian Vein @deepcuts.blog · 27/07/2026
The only Odyssey hot take you absolutely need to read is Lord Dunsany's.
THE RAFT-BUILDERS
[by Lord Dunsany]

All we who write put me in mind of sailors hastily making rafts upon doomed ships.

When we break up under the heavy years and go down into eternity with all that is ours our thoughts like small lost rafts float on awhile upon Oblivion's sea. They will not carry much over those tides, our names and a phrase or two and little else.

They that write as a trade to please the whim of the day, they are like sailors that work at the rafts only to warm their hands and to distract their thoughts from their certain doom; their rafts go all to pieces before the ship breaks up.

See now Oblivion shimmering all around us, its very tranquility deadlier than tempest. How little all our keels have troubled it. Time in its deeps swims like a monstrous whale; and, like a whale, feeds on the littlest things—small tunes and little unskilled songs of the olden, golden evenings—and anon turneth whale-like to overthrow whole ships.

See now the wreckage of Babylon floating idly, and something there that once was Nineveh; already their kings and queens are in the deeps among the weedy masses of old centuries that hide the sodden bulk of sunken Tyre and make a darkness round Persepolis.

For the rest I dimly see the forms of foundered ships on the sea-floor strewn with crowns.

Our ships were all unseaworthy from the first.

There goes the raft that Homer made for Helen.
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Animation Obsessive @ani-obsessive.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Background paintings from The Secret of NIMH (1982), dir. Don Bluth, Don Bluth Productions
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Deep Cuts in a Lovecraftian Vein @deepcuts.blog · 23/07/2026
Meditation of the day: The causes of H. P. Lovecraft's racism
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Mar Hicks @histoftech.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
The Society for the History of Technology conference extended its call to late August, & this year’s conference will be all online. Details below if you’d like to submit. Also, I’m putting together a panel that has 1 or 2 more slots on it, so lmk if (1/2) www.historyoftechnology.org/annual-meeti...
historyoftechnology.org
2026 SHOT Annual Meeting (Virtual)
Visit the post for more.
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Kym Deyn @kymdeyn.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Rough day, so have a poem about the Jar of Moles in the Grant Zoology Museum in London that everyone has regarded as too thoroughly batshit to publish
Jar of Moles (Grant Zoology Museum, London)
crittery dozened things each pink snout snootling
formaldehyde up it's bamboozler which poor fuck
had to collect them out in the dirt with a shovel
here moley moley  	BONK . I’m only gonna
put you in a jar and let tourists go eww at you
for the next two hundred years god look at me
for two hundred years I’d do anything look 
mummy, one of them’s licking the glass—
honey it's dead  velvety sweet sardined hope
their ghosts are friends teeming in a molish
afterlife dark and circular everything worm-
flavoured tasty buggy snackerels what if 
you smashed the mole jar? vinegared
moles spilling out flaccid & swimming
everyone screaming someone saying Freddy
you gotta get us a new jar of moles—
—goddammit boss I  never asked for any of this
A jar of wet preserved moles, the jar is very full and all the little hands, feet and snoots mark it as both upsetting and fascinating
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