Reposted by Melissa KutnerGeorge Pearkes @peark.es · 10hThe sort of world view that Hegseth stands for is an inherently unstable equilibrium, a doomed enterprise. It's unable to cope with what even modest levels of abstract reasoning built on basic education can pull off, let alone vastly more powerful social systems. 1047334
Reposted by Melissa KutnerBrandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Pete is lost in terms of modern war. I use the example of this outgunned Ukrainian army officer who successfully terrorized a Russian unit for weeks because she "did the math." At the time, someone commented, "yeah, in combat, 'I did the math' beats 'I can do 100 pushups' every time." 2247011092
Reposted by Melissa KutnerAndrew Riggsby @antiquethought.bsky.social · 30/09/2026And here, in this glum days, is an actual tenure-track job in our department! careers.historians.org/jobs/rss/226...careers.historians.orgOne moment... 0138
Melissa Kutner @melissannbee.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Could write a fascinating paper comparing this (the video as medium, not just the fridge itself) to Dutch still life, though. And not only because she puts the paintings in the fridge. 000
Reposted by Melissa KutnerLauren Donovan Ginsberg @laurenginsberg.bsky.social · 28/09/2026As I write this biography on Octavia, wife of Nero, I’ve gone back & forth about how viscerally detailed to be when discussing my subject’s experience of IPV (especially frequent strangulation)…/1 172
Melissa Kutner @melissannbee.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Nah, I think the antihero thing was a highbrow phenomenon across the board. Which is worth thinking about in its own right. Breaking Bad’s viewership was not impressive until the very end and even then it was still only like half of NCIS’s in the same period. 021
Melissa Kutner @melissannbee.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Yes, and there is a reason that universities want to kill the language requirement. At a recent meeting someone said it was a barrier to graduation & my colleague said, “Well, isn’t math more of a barrier?” 150
Reposted by Melissa KutnerFrovo @frovo.bsky.social · 25/09/2026ME: don’t even talk to me until i’ve had my coffee INTERVIEWER: 419944
Reposted by Melissa KutnerJohn Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 25/09/2026Seeing this job interview discourse having experienced the academic job market I’m struck by how much iced coffee can’t even compete with questions like “Should anyone in the interview be on a hotel bed?” or “Should you be able to hear dozens of other job interviews during yours?” 8817
Reposted by Melissa KutnerTom Scocca @tomscocca.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Do not carry a cold beverage in their presence. Politely decline any drinks or sweetmeats they may offer. Keep a plain iron nail in your left trouser pocket and a sachet or paper twist of coarse salt in your right shoe. Enter and leave your chair moving clockwise. Follow up with a thank-you note. 543303752
Reposted by Melissa KutnerLiv Mariah Yarrow (pronounced "leave") @profyarrow.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Publication day is great, but PROOFS DAY is sometimes more thrilling. IT IS GOING TO HAPPEN. It feels like the moment we shift from theoretical publication to manifested publication. It's been a hot minute since I've seen my historiographical stuff on the printed page. This chapter is timely. 051
Melissa Kutner @melissannbee.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Not sure this can work as a “solution,” however. Taste is often formed through mundane tasks or as a byproduct of them. It also is formed within a community of people circulating ideas and attempts among each other. I think these companies might have a rude awakening. 010
Reposted by Melissa KutnerNils Gilman @nilsgilman.bsky.social · 25/09/2026"This vision of the future, in which as much work as possible is outsourced to AI, promises the ability to move faster, iterate more quickly & require less human staff. But nothing in life comes free." As with prior rounds of automation, the price is homogenization: www.noemamag.com/now-entering...noemamag.comNow Entering: The Era Of Bleh | NOEMAAirbrain, AI and the homogenization of knowledge work. 0143
Reposted by Melissa Kutnerderek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 24/09/2026It's great to see tailoring accommodate such extreme movement today. This level of tailoring was a bit more common in the past, as you can see in old films featuring Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly, but many modern suits will lift off the wearer's neck even when they're just walking. 329164532135
Reposted by Melissa KutnerAndrew McCabe @andrewahala.bsky.social · 19/09/2026The Kennedy Centre was a gift from the world 3700 tons of white marble from Italy tapestries by Matisse woven by the ancient des Gobelins factory in France silk stage curtains woven by Japan Orrefors glass lighting and chandeliers from Sweden Not paid for by the US, gifted by us to honour JFK 39940
Reposted by Melissa KutnerHetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 18/09/2026You asked for a citation, so the AI uploaded the material to the internet so it could cite it! This is how we destroy our information ecosystem openai.com/index/model-... 34120
Melissa Kutner @melissannbee.bsky.social · 18/09/2026This & replies are great. Only a modern genre, I think. At least, I can’t think of any works of Greco-Roman literature that are “of infrastructure ,“ despite the scale of Roman infrastructure. Am I right, ancient Bluesky-ers? Or am I missing something? 020
Reposted by Melissa KutnerLe Monde in English @english.lemonde.fr · 17/09/2026Vast Gallic coin workshop discovered in central Francelemonde.frVast Gallic coin workshop discovered in central FranceExcavations carried out this summer at the Arverni site of Corent in central France have revealed a building where gold and silver coins may have been minted before the Roman conquest of Gaul. 04912
Reposted by Melissa KutnerJeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · 17/09/2026I want to talk a bit more about this novel, The Rouse by China Mieville, because any review is kind of inadequate. You can more or less review one or two "types" of fiction it is without really even peeling away the surface. 1/? 1625430
Reposted by Melissa KutnerCaitlin G. DeAngelis @caitlindeangelis.bsky.social · 17/09/2026What would you like to hold for your portrait? Maybe a little bird? Perhaps a cup-and-ball? A wee drum? No. Fetch my sword. (American, 1841, attributed to Henry Inman) www.liveauctioneers.com/item/2399684... 1315436
Reposted by Melissa KutnerHannah Posts @hannahposts.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Student: Mrs. Posts, if you have 140 students, how can you possibly grade anything quickly? Me: Oh I don't grade quickly. I cry about it and it takes forever 3452
Reposted by Melissa KutnerDe Gruyter Brill Religion, Bible, and Theology @dgb-relbibtheo.bsky.social · 16/09/2026In just over 50 pages, @candidamoss.bsky.social challenges modern assumptions about who counted as a slave trader and demonstrates that the entire apparatus of Roman medicine, commerce, and education was complicit in the manufacture and sale of human beings. Link below 👇🔗 14621
Reposted by Melissa KutnerMateusz Fafinski @calthalas.bsky.social · 16/09/2026How do we think about the "Fall" of Rome today? What can we do to frame it in a more productive way? Our new open access article tries to tackle these questions and offer a new view of the scholarly narrative of the end of Rome. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...cambridge.orgTowards and beyond the ‘Fall’: rethinking Rome’s end | The Journal of Roman Studies | Cambridge CoreTowards and beyond the ‘Fall’: rethinking Rome’s end 415460
Reposted by Melissa KutnerThe Onion @theonion.com · 14/09/2026Archaeologists Discover More Old Shit That Sucks theonion.com/archaeologists-discove… 81671172
Reposted by Melissa KutnerPleiades gazetteer @pleiades-gazetteer.hcommons.social.ap.brid.gy · 11/09/2026The #PleiadesGazetteer is among the data sources cited in a new paper that "analyze[s] monetary circulation across the Roman world": Haddad, Eduardo A., and Inacio Araujo. “Economic Footprints: Mapping Coin Circulation and Economic Networks in Ancient Rome.” Humanities and Social Sciences […]hcommons.socialOriginal post on hcommons.social 026
Reposted by Melissa KutnerEvan Bernick, a finite mode with a smol hooman and a lorg floof @evanbernick.bsky.social · 11/09/2026If you see nothing else, see this. Wait for it. Few moments hit harder. m.youtube.com/watch?v=U3nf...m.youtube.comOpening titles of 25th HOUR (2002)YouTube video by Ambrose Heron 1235
Reposted by Melissa KutnerCarl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 10/09/2026“.. The market has priced Hormuz for 7 months. It has not priced losing the Red Sea too.” - The Merchant’s News 31523179
Reposted by Melissa KutnerMelissa Kutner @melissannbee.bsky.social · 10/09/2026New publication out (open access): "Slavery, School Texts, and Roman Accountants: Gaps and Contexts" in Normative Texts and Occupational Practices Towards New Social Histories of Mathematics, edited by Senthil Babu D. and Roy Wagner. Abstract in following thread link.springer.com/book/10.1007...link.springer.comNormative Texts and Occupational PracticesThis open access book explores the relations between normative mathematical texts, which encode various forms of measurement, calculation and reasoning 102
Melissa Kutner @melissannbee.bsky.social · 10/09/2026New publication out (open access): "Slavery, School Texts, and Roman Accountants: Gaps and Contexts" in Normative Texts and Occupational Practices Towards New Social Histories of Mathematics, edited by Senthil Babu D. and Roy Wagner. Abstract in following thread link.springer.com/book/10.1007...link.springer.comNormative Texts and Occupational PracticesThis open access book explores the relations between normative mathematical texts, which encode various forms of measurement, calculation and reasoning 102
Reposted by Melissa KutnerIrene Soto Marín @irenin.bsky.social · 09/09/2026My book has a face! 🥹📚 So excited to finally share the cover of The Nile Flows with Gold. Forthcoming, Spring 2027 with Princeton University Press. 310121
Reposted by Melissa KutnerSeth Bernard @profbernard.bsky.social · 09/09/2026Publication day: new book on the Roman censorship! Check out my chapter, a global history of water power, censors, and Roman state-formation www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi... 0122
Reposted by Melissa KutnerMelissa Kutner @melissannbee.bsky.social · 09/09/2026Interesting though to juxtapose this with the NYT article yesterday about companies moving to cheap open-source models for a lot of purposes. I wonder if the demand for this kind of very expensive capability really exists. 162
Melissa Kutner @melissannbee.bsky.social · 09/09/2026Interesting though to juxtapose this with the NYT article yesterday about companies moving to cheap open-source models for a lot of purposes. I wonder if the demand for this kind of very expensive capability really exists. 162
Melissa Kutner @melissannbee.bsky.social · 08/09/2026Seems plausible that this is at the heart of a lot of the “useless/not useless” parts of the debate around LLMs? 210
Reposted by Melissa KutnerShiv Ramdas Mens Rice Activist @nameshiv.bsky.social · 06/09/2026me: I just want to drink coffee and look out of my office window cat: no 362636350
Melissa Kutner @melissannbee.bsky.social · 04/09/2026This is fun, but the wick should be in the city so that when you light the candle the city burns. The way it is, the ships will melt before they ever reach Ugarit. 010
Reposted by Melissa KutnerDr. Jeroen W.P. Wijnendaele @drdragases.bsky.social · 02/09/2026In this week in the year 476, the insignificant boy-emperor Romulus (nicknamed Augustulus) was deposed by Odoacer, leader of the western Roman field army in Italy. This event has received notoriety as "the fall of the [western] Roman empire". A thread on one of the biggest Bad Ancient History takes. 413849
Melissa Kutner @melissannbee.bsky.social · 01/09/2026I mean, the issue with “Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?” and “If they had rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population” isn’t lack of LOGIC exactly 000
Reposted by Melissa KutnerDavid Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 31/08/2026The gig is up in the very first sentence of the Supreme Court's per curiam opinion on the Trump ballroom (emphasis added): "In October 2025, the *federal government* started a project to replace the East Wing of the White House." They've collapsed the legislative branch into the unitary executive. 622875720
Reposted by Melissa KutnerDan Diffendale @diffendale.bsky.social · 28/08/2026mutatis mutandis, this thread works for a lot of archaeology, too, probably unsurprisingly 171
Reposted by Melissa KutnerBen Williamson @benpatrickwill.bsky.social · 28/08/2026From journal editing experience, LLMs appear to be *undoing* the good research of non-English speaking scholars. You can see signs of a solid study in a manuscript that chat or claude et al - used for "editing only" - have otherwise *wrecked*. I keep suggesting they try again without AI "editing." 319061
Reposted by Melissa KutnerCandida Moss @candidamoss.bsky.social · 28/08/2026My latest for Nat Geo's Stones & Bones is out! On the destruction of the Library of Alexandria. Featuring work and commentary from Roger Bagnall, Alex Schultz, Cat Lambert, and AnneMarie Luijendijck. www.nationalgeographic.com/newsletters/... @unibirmingham.bsky.socialnationalgeographic.comWhat Really Destroyed the Library of Alexandria?History loves a villain, but the culprit was likely something much more mundane. 1199
