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James A. Benn

@jamesabenn.bsky.social
1.9K followers 2.7K following 905 posts

Medieval Chinese Religions. McMaster Uni. Burning for the Buddha (Hawai'i 2007) pback 2016; Tea in China (Hawai'i, 2015), Chinese trans. 2019. Canadian, obvs.

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Reposted by James A. Benn
Michelle Cyca @michellecyca.com · 1h
recommended reading today — Aaron Hemens’ interview with Phyllis Webstad, published two years ago on @indiginews.bsky.social. Webstad is not even mentioned on the federal government’s webpage for NDTR/Orange Shirt Day indiginews.com/news/orange-...
indiginews.com
Orange Shirt Day’s founder fears Sept. 30 is being co-opted from residential ‘school’ survivors
‘I don’t want Orange Shirt Day to be forgotten — it was started by a survivor,’ says Phyllis Webstad, whose 11-year-old event now coincides with National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
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McMaster Religious Studies @mcmasterreligion.bsky.social · 6h
Congratulations to Katharine Fitzgerald (PhD 2023) on the publication of her book, Women in Greco-Roman Jewish Novels (300 BCE–100 CE)! sheffieldphoenix.com/product/wome...
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CineCalendar @cinecalendar.bsky.social · 6h
Sep 30th - Charlie Bucket found the last golden ticket. The next day he went to Wonka’s factory. 📽️📅 Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
3 Screenshots from the movie "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" (1971): First, a young boy with messy blonde hair looks excitedly at a golden ticket he's holding. Second, a close-up of the golden ticket with decorative edges and text that reads "Wonka's Golden Ticket." Third, the young boy stands with an older man in a nightcap and a woman holding the ticket, both looking surprised and happy.
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The Royal Tenenbaums @theroyaltenenbaums.bsky.social · 6h
Pagoda! Let's hit it!
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Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 4h
"During the 19th century, having children was viewed as a woman’s central function & yet the pregnant body, & the birthing room, are almost absent from public conversation & written histories of the period. Confinement corrects this by exploring stories of pregnancy & motherhood across this period"
thehistorypress.co.uk
Confinement
‘An important, fascinating and frequently shocking read.’ – BERNARDINE EVARISTO, author of Girl, Woman, Other Covering a fascinating period of population growth, high infant mortality and deep social ...
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Working Class History @workingclasshistory.com · 4h
#OtD 30 Sep 1918 bankers in Zürich, Switzerland walked out in their first ever strike amidst growing unrest over the rising cost of living. A local general strike then broke out in support of their demand for a pay rise and was successful stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/1034...
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Tom Flood @tomflood.bsky.social · 5h
mangled fluorescent flex post on a bike lane with tire tracks behind
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Robert Zaichkowski @rzaichkowski.bsky.social · 5h
Having biked on parts of the Trans Canada Trail - including some of Ontario's rail trails - I agree the federal government needs to continue funding the trail after 2027. Please sign & share if you agree as well. #BikeTO #ottbike #VeloMTL #BikeWPG #YYCbike #YEGbike #BikeYVR #cdnpoli notjustatrail.ca
notjustatrail.ca
This is not just a trail | Trans Canada Trail
Help keep the Trans Canada Trail funded after 2027. Send the letter below to your MP to help keep Canadians connected by 30,000 kilometres of trail.
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CineCalendar @cinecalendar.bsky.social · 5h
Sep 30th - On the eve of the Robinson Family's hyperdrive leap to Alpha Prime, Global Sedition terrorists attack the construction site of the Hypergate 📽️📅 Lost in Space (1998)
3 Screenshots from the movie "Lost in Space" (1998): First, a futuristic space construction site labeled "Hypergate Construction Site Earth, September 30, 2058" with spacecraft and a large structure against a starry backdrop. Second, a dramatic scene of a spaceship exploding in space, with debris and fire spreading outward. Third, a close-up of a character inside a spacecraft, speaking with the subtitle "Okay, last one to kill a bad guy buys the beer," surrounded by digital displays.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 6h
“For months, Anthropic has been hosting private meetings like this one, shuttling in dozens of religious scholars from across the world, papering them with nondisclosure agreements and demanding that key aspects of many conversations remain confidential.“ www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/u...
nytimes.com
Is Claude Conscious? Inside Anthropic’s Quest to Instill Morality Into Its A.I. Models (Gift Article)
In a series of private meetings, the company consulted religious scholars to help instill morality into its A.I. models — and make the case that Claude could be conscious.
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Steve Brown - astronomy and astrophotography @sjbastro.bsky.social · 6h
The 79% lit Moon is near the Pleaides open cluster this evening, 30 September, into tomorrow morning.
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MythologyBot @mythologybot.boodoo.co · 7h
C31.1.5 Tabu: opening gourd in which star-wife is kept.
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Alex Wellerstein @wellerstein.bsky.social · 7h
I found a few more entries in the ever-popular "babushkas buffing bombs" genre of photography... (*I recognize that not all are authentic babushkas, but the alliteration was too great for me to resist, I apologize)
mopping RDS-1, the first Soviet atomic bombpolishing RDS-4, the first Soviet tactical nuclear weaponmore buffing of RDS-1, with attention paid t the distinctive eye-like radar altitude sensors that give it such a kawaii facea non-babushka cleans behind RDS-1's ears
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Footnotes in History @footnotesinhistory.bsky.social · 18h
#OTD in 1944, Gordon Hirabayashi returns to court again for resisting the draft. This time, Hirabayashi refused to report to a pre-induction exam for military service. Hirabayashi was arrested less than three months earlier for not returning a Selective Service questionnaire. 🗃 #skystorians
"Hirabayashi Again In Federal Court"
SPOKANE. Sept. 29. (AP)- Gordon K. Hirabayashi, American-born Japanese, who gained nationwide attention in an unsuccessful court fight against evacuation from the Pacific Coast area, was in court again today.
Arraigned before United States Commissioner Raymond F. Kelly on a charge of failing to report for pre-induction examination for militarv service. Hirabavashi was bound over to Federal Court and held in lieu of $2,500 bond.
On Julv 3 Hirabavashi was arrested here on a charge of failing to return a Selective Service questionnaire. The case, based on a Seattle federal indictment, is pending.
Hirabavashi was married July 29 to Miss Esther Schmoe of Seattle
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Stephen Schwartz @atomicanalyst.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
65 yrs ago tonight, CBS broadcast the second nuclear-war-themed episode of “The Twilight Zone” to air in a month. Written by Rod Serling, “The Shelter” dramatically and effectively distilled the profound moral/ethical dilemmas presented by the family fallout shelter during a serious nuclear crisis.
A black and white screenshot of the title screen for the episode “The Shelter” of “The Twilight Zone.”A black and white screenshot of a scene from “The Shelter” showing three men frantically trying to use a large pipe to ram through the reinforced metal door of the shelter.A black and white screenshot of a scene from “The Shelter” showing four men looking through the now broken open door of the shelter, fear and uncertainty on their faces. In the background, two of their wives can be seen at the top of the basement stairs with similar expressions on their faces.
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Penn Religious Studies @upennrels.bsky.social · 20h
The Daily Pennsylvanian has written up an overview of "The Foucault Century," the 2026-2027 Religious Studies Boardman Symposium that took place from Sept. 24-Sept. 25. Co-organizers Prof. Donovan Schaefer and Prof. Daniele Lorenzini are quoted. You can read the full write-up here!
thedp.com
Kislak Center hosts symposium in honor of French philosopher
The Sept. 24-25 conference was held at Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center in honor of Michel Foucault, and drew in researchers from across the country. 
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APTN News @aptnnews.bsky.social · 20h
The Federal Court approved a settlement June 24, 2025, involving 33 Indian hospitals operated by the federal government at various times between 1936 and 1981 | Story by Charlotte Morritt-Jacobs.
aptnnews.ca
Indian hospital survivors shape future of $385M foundation
Indigenous survivors of the Indian hospital system are helping to shape how the $385 million settlement is used.
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Moby Dick @mobydickatsea.bsky.social · 23h
Death is only a launching into the region of the strange Untried
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The Public Domain Review @publicdomainrev.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Image from an 18th-century pattern book consisting of 36 ink drawings showing precise iconometric guidelines for depicting the #Buddha and Bodhisattva figures. More here: publicdomainreview.org/collection/t…
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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Tweed is such a beautiful fabric to wear this time of year because it produces, in Dolly Parton's phrasing, a coat of many colors. Even a solid-colored brown is not just brown, but bits of red, blue, and yellow to produce something that looks lifted off the Scottish landscape.
There are two photos taped together. The top shows a brown stone building with a brown thatched roof. It's surrounded by green grass, stone walkways, and blue-gray sea. Below is a checked brown tweed that reflects the colors in the landscape above it. There are two photos taped together. The one at te top shows a rocky hillside with green and straw-colored grass, gray rocks, and a tan sandy beach below. The blue waters are crashing at the shore. Below is a green herringbone tweed that reflects the colors in the landscape above it. There are two photos taped together. The top shows a field of green and straw colored fields with bits of purple flowers. Below is a a series of checked brown tweed that reflect the colors in the landscape above it. A swatch book of solid-colored tweeds. The green tweed has visible flecks of red, gold, and blue.
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archivetvmusings @archivetvmusings.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
'The Most Special Agent', the first episode of Joe 90, was originally broadcast on this day in 1968.
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Manisha Sinha @profmsinha.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Academic here, yeah I know it’s September still!
Tintin cartoon
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XingWu🐉ChineseFolklore @xingwu.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Centuries before Virginia Woolf imagined “a room of one’s own,” Li Qingzhao had already carved out hers in the Song Dynasty. Born in 1084, she lived in a world where women were expected to remain within the household, yet she built a library of thousands of volumes and 1/2
Here is her most famous poem(translated by Jiaosheng Wang): 《如夢令·昨夜雨疏風驟》  昨夜雨疏風驟,濃睡不消殘酒。 試問卷簾人,卻道海棠依舊。 知否,知否?應是綠肥紅瘦。  Late night wind howled with light shower, Still hungover despite my heavy slumber. Ask for shades to be rolled from sill, Was told my HaiTang blossomed still. Oh honey! But don't you know? Tis the season reds ebb and greens flow.
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Gregory Adam Scott 史瑞戈 @sudasana.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I don't know if 🇹🇼 and 🇨🇳 have ever been side by side on a battlefield prior to this
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CineCalendar @cinecalendar.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Sep 29th 1937 - Photos of Hollis Mulwray's affair, appeared on the frontpage of the newspaper. The photos were taken by PI Jake Gittes, at the request of a lady claiming to be Hollis' wife, Evelyn. Later that day, the real Evelyn confronts Jake. 📽️📅 Chinatown (1974)
4 Screenshots from the movie "Chinatown" (1974): First, a close-up of a newspaper headline reading "DEPARTMENT OF WATER AND POWER BLOWS FUSE" with smaller text about an investigation. Second, a woman in a stylish hat and coat stands indoors, speaking with the subtitle "You see, I'm Mrs. Evelyn Mulwray." A man in a suit stands behind her. Third, the same woman continues speaking with the subtitle "And since you agree with me that we've never met before," maintaining her composure. Fourth, she concludes with the subtitle "you must also agree with me that I never hired you to do anything," her expression calm and assertive.
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Buddhas in the West Material Archive @buddhasinthewest.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
🌟 Series 5 returning Monday, Sep. 28th. 🌟 24 new objects exploring the circulation of Buddhist material culture, to be published through end of November.
Image shows frame filled with multiple engravings, photographs, postcards, stereoviews - and a box of incense - all bearing images of Buddhist material culture. 

This is overwritten by "Series 5," "Returning Mon, Sep. 28," and "Buddhas in the West." Image shows frame filled with multiple engravings, photographs, postcards, stereoviews - and a box of incense - all bearing images of Buddhist material culture. 

It is over-wirtten with labels, such as "Lucky Incense Buddha?" and Pagoda fountain."
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Carmen Celestini @philofwrite.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Days before the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, masked men appearing to be associated with Second Sons Canada displayed a “Got bones?” banner in Kamloops. I looked at the response from Derek Harrison, DerekRants online, who identifies with Second Sons online,
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Retro Computers @retrocomps.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
"As the leading West Coast exhibition devoted to PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS of Artificial Intelligence, AI '88 provides a forum where vendors and users can meet to discuss specific needs, exchange ideas, and get down to serious buying and selling..." (Source.)
An ad for AI West (May 4-6 1998), in black and red. Up top, the beveled logo, with the red call to action: "Plan Now To Attend" Below, the full name: "The Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Computer Technology Conference and Exhibition" A full page red heading declares, "The ONLY West Coast Conference/Exhibition on ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE in 1988!" Smaller headings in the dense text emphasize The Conference ("Emphasis will be on COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS..." "32 Technical Sessions and 12 Tutorials are planned"), The Exhibitions ("Leading suppliers will be displaying their latest equipment..."), Who Should Attend ("Corporate Executives, Computer Systems Designers, Office Automation Specialists..."), Organized By (Tower Conference Management, DM Data, Applied Artificial Inteligence, Society for Computer Simulation, PC AI, Spang-Robinson Report). Bottom center is a clip-out coupon asking for information about attending or exhibiting (complete with line for Telex number), and bottom right is a red wireframe human head.
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Working Class History @workingclasshistory.com · 28/09/2026
#OtD 28 Sep 1985 two days of rioting erupted in Brixton, London after police shot and paralysed Dorothy Groce, an innocent Jamaican mother, in her bed. The police did not apologise until 29 years later stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/1006...
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The French Republican Calendar @sansculottid.es · 28/09/2026
Today is Octidi the 8th of Vendémiaire in the year 235. Vendémiaire is the month of vintage. Today we celebrate amaranth. #JacobinDay See today's page
An old time-y illustration of a Amaranth.
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Ian Petrie @icpetrie.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Higher ed headline du jour, Manitoba edition
cbc.ca
Disgraced former Manitoba law dean racked up millions in Swiss debt ahead of France arrest, documents suggest | CBC News
The elusive former head of Manitoba's lone law school — who'd been in the wind since being disbarred 2½ years ago — racked up millions in debt in Switzerland before he was recently picked up by police...
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Regina Burstein @mplsfietser.bike · 28/09/2026
I was doing a bike tour of Brugge, Belgium today and it started raining and all I had to do was ask to pause for a minute so I could grab my raincoat out of my backpack and put it on, as did my friend. Others grabbed their umbrellas. Then we just continued the ride. It's really that easy.
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1946 News @80yearsago.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
[September 28th, 1946] "Cloak and Dagger", a spy film directed by Fritz Lang which stars Gary Cooper as an American scientist sent by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) to contact European scientists working on the German nuclear weapons program and Lilli Palmer as a member of the Italian
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Worn On This Day @wornonthisday.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Paper identification tags worn #onthisday in 1940 by children waiting with their parents before being evacuated from London during World War II. #OTD 📷️ Reg Speller @gettyimages.com
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Seinfeldism @seinfeldism.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
We had a funny guy with us in Korea: a tail gunner. They blew his brains out all over the Pacific. / S02E03 The Jacket
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The Scholarly Kitchen @scholarlykitchen.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Mental Health Monday’s: What We Haven’t Talked About scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2026/09/28/m...
scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org
Mental Health Monday’s: What We Haven’t Talked About - The Scholarly Kitchen
Today's post shares a personal reflection on the importance of Suicide Prevention Month and how our community can best support colleagues who may need support.
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MythologyBot @mythologybot.boodoo.co · 27/09/2026
D469.2 Transformation: smoke to bridge.
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This Day In WWI @thisdayinwwi.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
On Salisbury Plain (also home to Stonehenge) Canadians repairing rifles and unit mascots like Tabbby the cat and Teddy the dog. 1st Canadians arrived in mass on Oct 14 1914 yet IWM says these photos were taken Sep 27 1914. Maybe advance force? @carlajeanstokes.bsky.social bsky.app/profile/this...
IWM Q 53262 - "Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, possibly the 1st Canadian Brigade with Teddy, their mascot. Bustard Camp, Salisbury Plain, 27 September 1914."
Production date: 1914-09-27
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205286747IWM Q 53253 - "Canadian troops repairing rifles and a bicycle on Salisbury Plain on, 27 September 1914."
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205025653
Production date: 1914-09-27IWM Q 53254 - "A Canadian soldier with 'Tabby' the cat, his unit's mascot, on Salisbury Plain, 27 September 1914."
Production date: 1914-09-27
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205025677
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MythologyBot @mythologybot.boodoo.co · 27/09/2026
K134.8 Trickster temporarily lames valuable horse and buys him for trifle.
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Dr. Holly Walters @manigarm.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I talk to my students about this a lot. In short, that Positivistic Science holds absolute cultural authority over "real" knowledge. Which is why STEM fields are equated with intelligence. Thus, any kind of critical thinking that requires reconstruction, interpretation, or experience is dismissed.
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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 27/09/2026
An early 1970s example of the 670 Lounge Chair and 671 Ottoman designed in 1956 by Charles & Ray Eames for Herman Miller germanpostwarmodern.tumblr.com/post/8289165...
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XingWu🐉ChineseFolklore @xingwu.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
In China’s oldest myths, Xihe, the sun goddess, mothers ten sons, three-legged crows who rest in the Fusang tree by the Eastern Sea. Each day, she sends one across the sky in her golden chariot, bringing light, warmth, and order to the world. But when all ten 1/2 #mythology
🎨 Xihe, by Hua Hua
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Tobias Wilson-Bates @phdhurtbrain.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
*taking a long drag You ever think about the history of man, and how the mysterious mixture behaves under the varying experiments of Time? Or, you know, like, what’s the deal with Saint Theresa?
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Simon Kuestenmacher @simongerman600.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
This map shows the "Francosphere". What share of the population is capable of holding a conversation in French?
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Yilin (she/they) @ check out The Lantern and the Night Moths @yilinwriter.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
While I have your attention, anyone has thoughts on the signature and who it might be? I'm wondering if it might belong to a missionary, sinologist, or photographer with China-related ties, and how it ended up in Saskatchewan 🤔
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Cool Bike Art @coolbikeart1.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Actor George Raft riding at Malibu Beach in 1933 #BicycleBirthday September 26 (1901-1980)
Photo of a man riding a bicycle on a sandy road. He's wearing white trousers and a white cap.
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James A. Benn @jamesabenn.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
One of my favourite paintings.
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1946 News @80yearsago.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
[September 26th, 1946] Task Force Frigid is conducting high-priority Arctic tests in Fairbanks, Alaska. The unit is testing personnel and heavy equipment, like tanks and missiles, against extreme cold. Moving through mountains and glaciers, the convoy is currently heading toward Anchorage.
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Stephen Schwartz @atomicanalyst.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Today in 1997, the post-Cold War nuclear terrorism thriller “The Peacemaker,” starring George Clooney and Nicole Kidman, and directed by Mimi Leder, opened in movie theaters. “I’m not afraid of the man who wants ten nuclear weapons, colonel. I’m terrified of the man who only wants one.”
An original one-sheet poster for "The Peacemaker." In the center, in a scene from the movie, Clooney and Kidman are running side by side, seemingly away from something. Their last names appear on large white capital letters above their images, with the title below them. At the top of the poster are the words, "In the fall of 1997, every nuclear device in the world will be accounted for ... Except one.”
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Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Just got around the watching the #Voynich = moonwater + menstrual blood TikTok and while I am all for the possibility of the manuscript having been written by women for women, the video's interpretation of the images really doesn't work.
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