iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Anjali Dayal @anjalikdayal.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

It may not scan immediately from the statement if you don’t pay much attention to India, but this statement identifies and celebrates pluralism in both the India Day celebration and Indian American New Yorkers more broadly—an explicit contradiction of India’s ethnonationalist ruling government

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Scott Reynolds Nelson @nelsonhist.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

One advantage of the history major: exclusive time travel benefits

Steel engraving of 1873 panic, with a photo of a history scholar in the bottom foreground reading sources

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Connor Ewing @cmewing.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Nearly 180,000 Black men served in the Union Army. Another 19,000 in the Navy. Black soldiers accounted for roughly 10% of Union military deaths. A large portion of each were formerly enslaved. I imagine they gave a damn about slavery.

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Ted Underwood @tedunderwood.com · 29/04/2026

I mean if your name is Charles III, it’s not surprising that grade school lessons about the dangers of executive power would leave a lasting impression

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🎃ℌ𝔞𝔩𝔩𝔬𝔴 ℑ𝔞𝔫👻 @mplsnightmayor.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

I can't believe this. @normcharlatan.bsky.social you're a Minnesota Legend, my man.

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evacide @evacide.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

Hacktivists tried to find a workaround to Discord’s age-verification software, Persona. Instead, they found its frontend exposed to the open internet, and that was just the beginning. www.therage.co/persona-age-...

therage.co

Hackers Expose Age-Verification Software Powering Surveillance Web

Three hacktivists tried to find a workaround to Discord’s age-verification software. Instead, they found its frontend exposed to the open internet.

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Scott Reynolds Nelson @nelsonhist.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

New anxiety unlocked: does my discussion of financial disasters in the past make me look like Thanos?

Image of Scott Nelson talking to fund managers at a Renmac conference. Someone points out that he looks like Thanos.

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Scott Reynolds Nelson @nelsonhist.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

From the Journal of the Civil War Era: I have a piece on how the "diploma divide" & the manipulation of new media - then & now - shaped elections. Mostly I am fond of this dig at Elon Musk & the dad he wants everyone to forget. Issue: muse.jhu.edu/issue/56406 My piece: muse.jhu.edu/pub/12/artic...

This 1910 Puck magazine cartoon shows the Hearst family using the media to transform the public sphere. Beginning in 1872 the San Francisco Examiner had criticized ruthless mining tycoon George Hearst for his corrupt dealings in building up the Eureka Consolidated Mining Corporation. To shut down criticism, George Hearst finally bought the newspaper in 1880. In 1887, after the California legislature made him a Senator, George Hearst gave the newspaper to his son William Randolph Hearst who used it to distort the US public sphere by transmitting "venom," "self-advertisement," "misrepresentation," and "personal grievance" in what came to be called yellow journalism. The man in the clown suit should not be confused with Elon Musk, son of emerald mining tycoon Errol Musk

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 19/02/2026

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Scott Reynolds Nelson @nelsonhist.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

Linear Algebra Medieval France and Spain Hegel 19th c. Russian Literature Programming the 6502 (talk about a dog's breakfast)

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Scott Reynolds Nelson @nelsonhist.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

Remember entering a room full of workstations and having to babysit them for 3 hours while they updated? I do. Thanks, Jeffrey. • The Register share.google/mWuY6oajBa2R...

share.google

PowerShell architect retires after decades at the prompt

: After Microsoft, Google, and a long fight for automation, Jeffrey Snover hangs up his keyboard

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Joanne Freeman @jbf1755.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

This IS indeed very much worth reading. [Gift article] www.nytimes.com/2026/01/18/o...

nytimes.com

Opinion | An Old Theory Helps Explain What Happened to Renee Good

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Ike Makos @ikemakos.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

POV: you are A.P. Hill on July 2, 1863, and you could have sworn you just heard someone say “I don’t plan to let you do that” in a Minnesota accent

painting of the 1st Minnesota at Gettysburg, where 262 men charged six times their number of Confederates and halted them

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@NewsJennifer (Jennifer Schulze) @newsjennifer.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

Essential read from @pkrugman.bsky.social on the tech bros media scheme: paulkrugman.substack.com/p/maga-the-b...

Consistent with their agenda of disabling a pluralistic, democratic society, the broligarchy is engaged in an effort to seize control of media, both traditional and social. With Donald Trump's blessing, they are trying to control media so that, as in Orban's Hungary or Chavez's Venezuela, the only political news that we see is what the authoritarian
powers want us to see.

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Reconstructionist @unavaleable.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

holy goddamn

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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

lol

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Justin Wolfers @justinwolfers.bsky.social · 12/07/2025

It is now clear that average tariffs on August 1 are set to be higher than they were on "Liberation Day." Only a fool would look back to the chaos of early April and conclude that the problem was that the announced tariffs were too small. If you're not worried, you're not paying attention.

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Scott Reynolds Nelson @nelsonhist.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

Just a reminder as Netanyahu bombs Tehran to the Stone Age, that most of "western civilization" (including writing, higher math, brass, wheat) actually came to us from North Africa via Persia

Ulric Ellherhausen's 1931 typanum over the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures at the University of Chicago showing Eastern Phoenicians, Persians, and Egyptians passing writing to the west

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Scott Reynolds Nelson @nelsonhist.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

Look at the cover of the Ukrainian translation of my book! #booksky #WhatsHistory www.instagram.com/p/DI1ok8gN4Y...

An instagram post of a person holding a copy of the Ukrainian translation of Scott Reynolds Nelson's book, Oceans of Grain in front of a marble archway

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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

Not true. I see you're a luxury watch dealer. I'm also interested in watches. Let me show you how free and easy migration has allowed you to earn a living. 🧵

Corey Wiley on Twitter writes: "You don’t get it.
Foundational immigration law is morally just and has been established over millennia. Disrespecting these rules and ideals is very offensive to folks who highly value civilized society"

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Scott Reynolds Nelson @nelsonhist.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

Elon Musk's DOGE sacked 10% of EPA officials just as Musk's xAI was spinning up. What is xAI's powerplant? 35(!) huge gas-powered generators in Memphis, all without permits, all discharging uncontrollably ... Colossus indeed www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VJT...

youtube.com

Elon Musk Built an Al Super Computer in Our Backyard: It's Poisoning Us

YouTube video by More Perfect Union

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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

paulkrugman.substack.com/p/cronyism-c...

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Scott Reynolds Nelson @nelsonhist.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

Wow, & straightforwardly implying why Owen was removed too: "CBS's parent, Paramount global is trying to resolve the [Trump] suit as it completes a merger that needs government approval."

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Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 19/04/2025

Actually. How the US benefitted from outsourcing its research interests to experts in universities.

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Glen O'Hara @gsoh31.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

One of the worst effects of successive govts' rhetoric on Higher Ed is that it's 'training for a job'. So 18yos get themselves (and are pressured) onto narrow technical courses. Yet employers are crying out for ppl who can read, think, write, speak! I've never met an employer who said different.

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American Historical Association @historians.org · 14/04/2025

"Since the 19th century, US government actions have led to drastic changes in international trade and finance," @nelsonhist.bsky.social writes in #AHAPerspectives. "And in all four cases, the result was not recessions but depressions." 🗃️

historians.org

Radical Tariffs Aren’t New, But They Have Been Disastrous

In four cases, tariffs have led to depressions in US history.

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Scott Reynolds Nelson @nelsonhist.bsky.social · 12/04/2025

Radical changes in US tariffs have led to 4 US depressions, but carry on believing a rich guy who ought to know financial history, but apparently doesn't foreignpolicy.com/2025/04/11/t...

Bill Ackman suggests that tariffs against China will (somehow) only hurt China, and that China should "Pick up the phone and call the President."

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Scott Reynolds Nelson @nelsonhist.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

Here's my piece in Foreign Policy about how we've seen radical changes in tariffs or trade rules in the past (1819, 1837, 1890, 1930) & it ain't pretty. foreignpolicy.com/2025/04/11/t...

foreignpolicy.com

The Awful History of Tariffs and Depressions

What the 19th century teaches us about what happens next.

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Scott Reynolds Nelson @nelsonhist.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

This morning Wall Street will watch the result of a dead cat bounce. Historians will be here to tell you the crash that followed when Congress surrendered power to Pres. Andrew Jackson, aka Captain Ahab www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-0J...

youtube.com

21 jackson's bank war, or how to understand moby dick

YouTube video by Scott Reynolds Nelson

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Scott Reynolds Nelson @nelsonhist.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

Dear spineless House Republicans: Sep. 1833-6: Andrew Jackson messes w/ intl. trade, esp. hurts 2nd Bank of the US & the 7 sisters (Brit Banking houses) July 1836: Bank of England raises the Bank rate & cuts off the 7 sisters 1837: Depression of 1837 see: Nation of Deadbeats, ch 11

A chart showing international trade based on land & enslaved people, bank notes, pet banks, treasury bills, with Bills of Exchange cut out. 2 presidential acts & 2 acts of congress make this possible:
Sep. 1833 Moves federal deposits from 2nd Bank of the US to his “pet banks”
Aug. 1834 Coinage Act (officially values silver lower to attract gold onto the market)
Jun. 1836 Distribution Act (distribute federal deposits among Jackson’s “pet banks”)
Jul. 1836 Specie Circular (you can only buy federal land with gold or silver)

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Scott Reynolds Nelson @nelsonhist.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

Dear spineless Republican House members who don't know history: 1890: McKinley Tariff of 1890 drastically increases tariff 1891-2: US Treasury loses trust of foreign investors/lenders 1893: Depression of 1893 #history #tariffs see: Nation of Deadbeats, ch. 10

In 1893 Grover Cleveland stands in front of a US Treasury vault that has been looted in President Benjamin Harrison's term (1889-1893) by the tariffs imposed in what has been called the McKinley Tariff of 1890

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Scott Reynolds Nelson @nelsonhist.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

Dear spineless House Republicans: Mar. 1817: Congress passes *huge* tariffs May 1817: Britain makes counter-tariffs Dec 1818: US wheat loses Caribbean mkt, prices drop 50% Mar 1819: Depression of 1819 #wakeup #history #tariff See, Nation of Deadbeats, ch. 4 or www.jstor.org/stable/27105...

London newspaper describing American tariffs aimed at them. Warns that it will retaliate

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Scott Reynolds Nelson @nelsonhist.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

Radical tariff changes put the US into depression in 1819, 1893 & 1929. Hasty executive action did so in 1837. Buckle up #NationofDeadbeats

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Scott Reynolds Nelson @nelsonhist.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

A brief break from our nation's latest dumpster fire: An interview with my mom Carole-Nelson Pond (now 87) about how she broke into broadcasting in Florida, becoming the first anchorwoman in Florida, and possibly the first in the South www.buzzsprout.com/1027078/epis...

buzzsprout.com

Episode 154: Carol Nelson-Pond - No Women Allowed - "Breaking Barriers" - CY6 - Check Your Six

Episode 154 of the Check Your Six podcast brought a ground breaking, barrier breaking lady into the GRP Studios that was the first female TV anchor in Central Florida, Carol Nelson-Pond. Carol was the...

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Rob Parkinson @rparkinson.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

Back in 2017 when Trump 1 wanted to zero out NEH I spent half an hour in my office looking for books that got NEH support. These books. These titles. Another 30 minutes & I could’ve reached the ceiling. Now they’ve actually done it.

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John Warner @biblioracle.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

I wish students could experience how interesting writing (and reading!) can be, the sooner the better. The degree to which they've internalized these actions as purely instrumental and for the purposes of proving proficiency to a standard or authority is a problem.

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Kate Jackson @katejackson.bsky.social · 23/03/2025

Aber, a W&M alum who investigated Russian spies, found dead under mysterious circumstances. I hate that instead of mourning and waiting for clarity my mind goes straight to “oh so Putin has free reign here now too” www.newsweek.com/jessica-aber...

newsweek.com

Ex-US Attorney Jessica Aber investigated Russia, CIA leaker before death

Aber resigned as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia after President Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office.

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Elizabeth Tandy (Ellie) Shermer @etshermer.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

Next Newberry Capitalism Seminar. Fri., February 28th, 3pm CT @janinegiordano.bsky.social will be sharing her work on schooling, homesteading, & the social contract after the Civil War. Comment by @nelsonhist.bsky.social Register here for the paper and Zoom link www.newberry.org/calendar/jan...

newberry.org

Janine Giordano Drake, Indiana University

Hoping on Homesteading: The Failure of the Civil War to Galvanize a New Social Contract, 1862-1872

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Scott Reynolds Nelson @nelsonhist.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

A fellow at Harvard's Warren Center asked me for instructions to get into & out of the economic commodities section, deep in the bowels of Widener Library. I leave this behind for future scholar-adventurers. (NB: you need a Harvard Library card to get in, sigh) youtu.be/fxiBe6BlD2w

youtu.be

Widener walkthrough to the commodities section, for future scholar-adventurers

YouTube video by Scott Reynolds Nelson

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Scott Reynolds Nelson @nelsonhist.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

The Byzantine Empire lasted 874 years (330 - 1204) before the Doges sapped its resources, gave away its military secrets, & then sacked the capital. This republic may not last 250 years

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Civics & Coffee: A History Podcast @civicspod.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

I’ve noticed a lot of requests from people looking for great books to read in honor of Black History Month. Here are a few recommendations from my library. 💗

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Brooke Harrington @ebharrington.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

Back in the days of punch cards, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth and a software patch meant a piece of tape...🦖

Photo shows an old punch card computer program in which coding errors have been patched over with tape.

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Scott Reynolds Nelson @nelsonhist.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

Next week 11 UGA honors students are coming to my house to chew over my book Oceans of Grain. I just read over some of the themes the students picked out to talk about next week. Can't wait! #academicsky #skystorians

1) How countries come to be global powers

2) global supply chains

3) industrialization of food (including secret of hermetic food storage)

4) nation growing its own food

5) how the world works, role of financial instruments hawala - bill of exchange- futures contract

6) plague bacteria, water mold shaping international order or blowing it up

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Jonathan Edward Durham @thisone0verhere.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

If you think about it, the very best books are really just extremely long spells that turn you into a different person for the rest of your life

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Will Oremus @willoremus.com · 10/12/2024

Vlado Chernozemski, who assassinated King Alexander I of Yugoslavia, belonged in his youth to a club that was devoted to a game of regicide. In the game, known as "chess," contestants subtly maneuver into a position that allows them to topple the opponent's monarch.

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