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Paul Collins

@paulcollins.bsky.social
1.3K followers 191 following 700 posts

Author, Professor of English at Portland State, bewildered radio guest. Personal account. www.pdx.edu/english/profile/paul-collins

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Reposted by Paul Collins
lauren @lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com · 03/10/2026
"I should get to sit down when I work but you shouldn't" is a great high level summary of labor disputes
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Paul Collins @paulcollins.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
A+ to Dartmouth's student newspaper: "Dr. Schnell told The Dartmouth in a statement that he used AI 'for language refinement, copyediting, improving clarity and organization...' The newspaper then ran [this] through an AI detector, which flagged the statement itself as apparently written by AI."
nytimes.com
Dartmouth Provost Is the Latest College Professor Examined for A.I. Use (Gift Article)
Dartmouth said it would investigate its provost over A.I. accusations. Similar controversies on other campuses have prompted frustration among students.
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Reposted by Paul Collins
Neglected Books @neglectedbooks.com · 26/09/2026
You know a great thing about Montana? With nothing more than a MT driver's license, you can check out books from any state university library. Just walk in, select the ones you want, stop by Circulation, and walk out with them. Amazing. Do other states do this?
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Reposted by Paul Collins
Chronicle of Higher Education @chronicle.com · 25/09/2026
In a testimony against a bid by Oregon State's women's basketball players to unionize, the Oregon State's provost said he left the same position at Louisiana State after the state's governor ordered administrators to bring out a live tiger at football games. Details here: chroni.cl/4ybanov
chronicle.com
Oregon State U. Provost Says He Left LSU Over Governor’s Demand for a Live Tiger
Roy Haggerty said Louisiana’s governor had “ordered” the university’s president to arrange for a caged tiger to appear at a football game.
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Paul Collins @paulcollins.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Just a reminder: flu's a bigger deal than a few lost days, & it's not just the young & elderly at risk. Flu precipitates other mortalities; heart attack rates zoom up during & after a bout. I lost my old college roommate to it. He was 51. Please: get a flu shot. (Covid, too!) It's really worth it.
nytimes.com
Covid and Flu Can Triple Your Risk of Heart Attack
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Paul Collins @paulcollins.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Every time I went to the Oregonian site this week, Avast flagged it for "fake scan" ads, each time emanating from a different outside site. And it's *only* happening there. I've never run into this with another major news site, or indeed with the O before.
Screenshot of the Oregonian's oregonlive.com homepage, with an Avast antivirus alert of "Multiple web threats secured," specificying fake scan ads.
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Paul Collins @paulcollins.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Fascinating piece on lagging inspections of old power poles, which can topple and spark fires. A utility tried to make pole inspection records confidential, but you can see when a pole was installed & inspected from the little circular tags nailed into them. Some in Texas dated to 1936. 🎁 article:
wsj.com
The Texas Trader at War With His Electric Company Over Power Poles
Wildfires are putting America’s aging electric grid under mounting strain at a time when power demand is soaring.
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Tim Carvell @timcarvell.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
My “Doctor Who” idea is that the Doctor is a frog and his companion is a bear and every week they put on a variety show with the help of a very special guest star.
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Paul Collins @paulcollins.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
My Oregonian digital subscription, which went from $100 to 125 last year, is now set to jump to 165. If I was cynical, and perhaps I am, I’d compare this to steep yearly cable hikes that depend on aging legacy customers not noticing.
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Erin L. Thompson @artcrimeprof.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
A lot of yikes in this article about someone who bought $6.7 million worth of fake Warhols, but the attempt to continue the deception by sending fake appraisers is... chef's kiss www.wsj.com/arts-culture...
"The forgery came to light in late 2023, when the Perlman family invited experts from Christie’s to view their collection, which included famous Warhol subjects like Queen Elizabeth II, Debbie Harry and Superman. After Christie’s raised doubts about the works’ authenticity, Roberts told the family they should get a second opinion, according to the lawsuit. Two people purporting to be from the auction house Phillips showed up at the Perlmans’ home with business cards to reassure them the works were genuine. Phillips later confirmed that the people were not their employees, the auction house said. The Perlmans demanded Roberts produce records proving his connection to the Warhol Foundation and the authenticity of the works they bought, according to the complaint. They sued him after he was unable to do so."
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Paul Collins @paulcollins.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Nothing says "for-profit ed" quite like grifting on toddlers. Good investigative work by the Times:
nytimes.com
Inside the $440 Million Collapse of Guidepost Montessori (Gift Article)
A man with a vision set out to revolutionize preschool. It became a $440 million fiasco.
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Paul Collins @paulcollins.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
My son and I started watching, on a lark, "The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot" thinking it'd be a "Santa Claus vs The Martians" sort of mess, & instead it's a weirdly melancholy movie with Sam Elliott and Ron Livingston
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Reposted by Paul Collins
Steve Herman @newsguy.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
President Trump’s promise of a $5,000 cash payment for your vote reminds me of the inducement offered by a huckster during the 1974 election for governor of Nevada. newsguy.substack.com/p/when-candi...
newsguy.substack.com
When Candidates Promise Dividends for Ballots
Decades before Trump’s proposed national windfall, a charismatic conman in Nevada proved that some voters will swallow an impossible promise even after the lie is exposed.
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caroline cash @cashbrowns.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Nancy 9/7/26 … Happy Labor Day 🛠️
8 Hours for Work, 8 Hours for Rest, 8 Hours for What We Will. Based on a screenprint by Ricardo Levins Morales after the organizing work done by Robert Owen.
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Neglected Books @neglectedbooks.com · 07/09/2026
I regret to inform you that the name Lalage Pulvertaft has already been taken.
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Paul Collins @paulcollins.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Years ago @nymag.com ran a terrific oral history of Ms. magazine. It’s one of the best examples of the form I’ve ever seen, and well worth reading today.
nymag.com
An Oral History of ‘Ms.’ Magazine -- New York Magazine - Nymag
Forty years ago, a group of feminists, led by Gloria Steinem, did the unthinkable: They started a magazine for women, published by women—and the first issue sold out in eight days. An oral history ...
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Paul Collins @paulcollins.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
So TIL that the first formulation of bubble gum was called Blibber-Blubber and that you removed it from your face with *turpentine*
Passage from Prof. Michael Redclift's monograph "Chewing Gum: The Fortunes of Taste" (2004): "It fell to Fleer to experiment with synthetic gum bases suitable for making bubbles, and his experiments lasted more than two decades. Finally, in 1906, Fleer marketed the first commercial bubble gum, which he named Blibber-Blubber.

Despite the facts, that consumers could chew the new gum, that it tasted reasonably good, and that it could produce bubbles, the Fleer factory had not solved the conundrum of how to make a successful bubble gum. Blibber-Blubber stuck to the face, and it had to be removed using turpentine, not a process welcomed in most households."
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Reposted by Paul Collins
WJZ | CBS News Baltimore @cbsnewsbaltimore.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Historic Poe House faces new threat as West Baltimore redevelopment continues
cbsnews.com
Historic Poe House faces new threat as West Baltimore redevelopment continues
The Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum, located in the 200 block of N. Amity Street, is where the famed writer began writing short stories and launched his literary career.
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Left Coast Reads 📚🌹 @leftcoastreads.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Parallel parking competition. Portland rocks.
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Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 27/08/2026
Scientists are drawing the map of autism-linked proteins in search of treatments. Here’s a story on an ambitious new study. Gift link: nyti.ms/4wWPZpM
A map of autism-linked proteins (diamonds) and proteins they partner with (circles). Wang et al, Science 2026.
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Paul Collins @paulcollins.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Take a moment today for the best video game line reading ever:
youtu.be
Tim Curry is escaping to the one place that hasn't been corrupted by capitalism.
YouTube video by geoff EXE
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Paul Collins @paulcollins.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
I was idly curious whether heat islands can be reduced a bit with lighter-colored asphalt, and found that (a) indeed they can, and (b) there is a publication called Asphalt Magazine
asphaltmagazine.com
Four ways asphalt can be colorized for aesthetics and functionality - Asphalt magazine
Asphalt has many different uses, from road paving and coatings to sealants and decorative applications. One of the growing trends is the use of colorized asphalt, which combines visual appeal with pra...
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Paul Collins @paulcollins.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Good reporting here, with a very useful map showing the blizzard of names for Medicaid in every state. Many people don't know they're even on Medicaid, think they're not insured when they are, or vice versa. Though the article's focused on Oregon, it's the story of other states too. Gift link:
oregonlive.com
New Medicaid rules could hit 600,000 Oregonians. Many may not know it
Oregon is racing to notify OHP members about new federal eligibility rules that could leave up to 200,000 people without coverage.
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Kathy Valentine @kathyvalentine.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
if you've ever enjoyed Richard Lloyd's music, it's a good time to show some support and appreciation. Unable to work and the bills are piling up. #Television #FuckCancer
gofund.me
Donate to Help Richard Lloyd Fight Cancer, organized by Sean Seymour
I've organized this fundraiser for Richard Lloyd, my friend and bandmate in the Richard … Sean Seymour needs your support for Help Richard Lloyd Fight Cancer
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Paul Collins @paulcollins.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
This regulation -- that door handles must be clearly identifiable so people can quickly enter / exit in emergencies -- is a really good idea. (Also: it's weird & arrogant that Tesla et al created this problem to begin with.)
nytimes.com
In China’s Biggest Car Recall, Tesla and 8 Others Will Address Door Safety (Gift Article)
China’s regulator ordered changes after vehicle occupants sometimes had difficulty exiting electric cars, an issue that has led to lawsuits against Tesla in the United States.
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Reposted by Paul Collins
iain @maccoinnich.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
This is a good read, and while the Lloyd Center isn't mentioned it tells its story perfectly. KKR announced that it would foreclose on the mall in 2021; it took until 2026 to close it. A lot of the work that happened in those five years was unwinding decades old covenants.
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Paul Collins @paulcollins.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
🎵 I've seen lots of funny men; Some will rob you with a six-gun, And some rob you of your fountain pen. 🎵
nytimes.com
Ken Paxton’s $1,000 Pen Incident Resurfaces in Texas Senate Race (Gift Article)
The pen Mr. Paxton pocketed more than a decade ago has resurfaced as a campaign issue.
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Paul Collins @paulcollins.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
This article on Korean papermaking is lovely, and a fine antidote to any dreary news of the day. Gift link:
nytimes.com
Ancient Korean Papermaking Finds a Home in Ohio (Gift Article)
Aimee Lee learned to make hanji with Korean masters. Now she practices their traditional technique in the United States.
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Adam Bonica @adambonica.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
There are four overlapping scandals here: 1. Fundraising spam tactics are hallmarks of elder financial exploitation 2. The Dem establishment is in on it 3. Most of what is raised goes to fundraising consultants 4. Capitulation to legal threats by NYT and The Bulwark on a fully vetted story 🧵👇
data4democracy.substack.com
Hook and Squeeze
How Democratic consultants, committees, and party leaders built a fundraising spam pipeline that funnels money from a captive pool of elderly donors into their own operations.
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Paul Collins @paulcollins.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Bots Explain My Own Books to Me
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Paul Collins @paulcollins.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
I appreciate how much the Times has been covering this. The US has a real problem with regulating cars and with holding drivers accountable for stuff that would be taken far more seriously in any other context. Gift link:
nytimes.com
Why Older Pedestrians Are More Likely to Die After Being Hit by a Car (Gift Article)
They are more likely than other age groups to die after being hit by a vehicle.
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Paul Collins @paulcollins.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
“He was given two options: step down by July 1 and sign a nondisclosure agreement in exchange for 11 months’ severance, or be terminated, with his last day in December. He chose the latter.” Trying to buy off profs for NDAs is…not a sign of an administration acting in good faith. Gift link:
nytimes.com
He Had Tenure. The New School Laid Him Off Anyway. (Gift Article)
The professor, a longtime critic of the university, was among 19 educators who lost their positions as the institution navigated financial woes.
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Annaliese Paulson @annaliesep.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
New Working Paper with Micah Baum and Joaquin Endara: Students tend to become more liberal during college. We study whether individual faculty make their students more liberal. We find no evidence that faculty affect student partisanship. Working Paper: edworkingpapers.com/ai26-1538 1/
edworkingpapers.com
Do Faculty Affect Student Partisanship?
We study whether Democratic college professors make their students more liberal. We link voter data to salary records from 33 state flagships and show that faculty skew Democratic, especially in the h...
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Paul Collins @paulcollins.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Longing for the days when a drummer could buy cymbals with great brand names like Borg, Krut, and Spizz
Photo of a Krut cymbal, presumably named for the sound it made in a Don Martin comicPhotos of a cymbal, proudly branded SPIZZ in large lettersPhoto of a Borg brand cymbal. You have been assimilated.
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Paul Collins @paulcollins.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
A stroll through the Right to Roam: "The Kinder mass trespass of 24 April 1932... included some 400 young men and women from Manchester, Sheffield & the surrounding mill towns who defied the law and walked across the privately owned plateau of Kinder Scout, which was then used for grouse shooting."
bbc.com
Retracing the defiant walk that changed Britain
Seventy-five years after the Peak District became Britain's first national park, visitors can retrace the mass trespass that helped open the countryside to everyone.
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Paul Collins @paulcollins.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Portland HAD a Disability Accomodation Registry for first responders & disaster planning. It was also important context for police when, say, someone with IDD had a meltdown in public. But when I tried to sign up my son in 2013, I got a letter back that the list had just been discontinued.
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Steve Herman @newsguy.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
I think this battle was lost shortly after Samuel Morse and Ezra Cornell erected their first telegraph poles in 1844.
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Paul Collins @paulcollins.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Yikes: "Firefighters faced an especially dangerous situation in Vall d'Uixo... where the ground contains old ordnance from the Spanish Civil War that explodes when the flames reach the area, Chevi Bolumar, fire chief of the Valencian ​regional government, told public broadcaster TVE."
reuters.com
France and Spain race to curb wildfires before new heatwave arrives
About 220,000 people have been evacuated in France, while further south in Spain around 100,000 have been told to leave their homes or seek shelter.
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Paul Collins @paulcollins.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
You can sleep in Dylan Thomas's childhood home in Swansea, including what he described in a letter as his "tiny, renovated bedroom… Smelly. Painful. Hot water pipes very near. Gurgle all the time. Nearly go mad."
bbc.com
Sleeping in Dylan Thomas' house in Wales
Part time portal, part museum, the legendary poet's childhood home offers travellers an all-access stay in Swansea – and a surreal experience.
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tony romm @tonyromm.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
NEW: In a stunning admission, the Trump administration admitted in court documents that it canceled billions in energy grants to states "based solely" on politics -- and whether that state was represented by Democrats and backed Harris in 2024. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/24/b...
nytimes.com
Trump Administration Admits Canceling Grants to States That Did Not Vote for Him
Federal officials said in court documents that they halted billions of dollars in funding for energy projects to states “based solely” on whether they backed President Trump in the 2024 election.
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Paul Collins @paulcollins.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Hadn't spotted this before today's Wired story, but this is a fascinating student press case in Marin. High school journalists looked up their county in the Epstein files, found stuff, reported it. Adults freaked out & the principal caved. Which is illegal. California law protects HS journalists.
edsource.org
Student journalists’ free press rights tested at Marin County high school
Administrators at Redwood High School in Marin County have been accused of violating a state law that protects the First Amendment and free press rights of student journalists at the Redwood Bark, the...
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Discontinued FoOoOods! 👻🎃 @discontinuedfoods.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
"Great" is truly a load-bearing adjective
A plate covered in well-done pancakes, splattered in chunky Campbell's soup with the tagline "Great idea: souper pancakes"
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Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
shout out to The Strand bookstore staffer who did this
sign that says STAFF PICK:
The Ill-Fitting Skin by Shannon Robinson
Please turn to page 108, because I need to tell you something.

page 108 says:

HE'S GOT A KNIFE, AND HE'S RIGHT BEHIND YOU!
PUT THIS DOWN AND RUN AWAY!!!!!!!!
GO THIS WAY. →
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Paul Collins @paulcollins.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Today in “Headlines That Sound Like 1830”:
lemonde.fr
French court sentences Freemason criminal masterminds to up to 30 years in prison
After more than three months of hearings in a case involving a murder, two attempted murders and several violent assaults, 22 defendants involved in the criminal activities linked to a Masonic lodge i...
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Aparna Nair @disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
fields. Instead, he apparently laced into the company. According to the Financial Times, Eggers told the staff:

“The effect of ChatGPT on educators’ lives is catastrophic. Whether you intended to do it or not, you’ve made every teacher’s life infinitely more difficult than it was two years ago. So, just let that settle in… If students are using it to compose, which is the biggest tragedy of all, they’ll never learn to write. And their voice is stolen from them. They’ll never have the ability to say their truth and tell their own story. And that’s silencing an entire generation or two.”
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The Public Domain Review @publicdomainrev.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Pages from Romeyn Beck Hough’s unique 14 volume work The American Woods (1888–1913), a collection in book-form of more than 1000 paper-thin wood samples representing more than 350 varieties of N.American tree. More samples from the work here: publicdomainreview.org/collection/t...
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Paul Collins @paulcollins.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
I'd totally forgotten about Trump doxxing Graham in the '16 primaries
Screenshot from Grand Jury testimony by Lindsey Graham:

"Q. FROM THE YEAR 2016?

A. YEAH.

Q. OKAY. HOW OFTEN WOULD YOU SAY YOU SPEAK WITH FORMERPRESIDENT TRUMP?

A. WELL, FIRST, NONE. YOU ALL WANT TO HEAR ABOUT THIS?

THE GRAND JURY: UH-HUH.

SENATOR GRAHAM: OKAY. SO I LOSE, HE WINS. HEGAVE OUT MY CELL PHONE. I KNOW NOBODY REMEMBER THIS. BUT HE'S IN SOUTH CAROLINA, AND I'M POUNDING ON HIM,AND NOBODY'S LISTENING BECAUSE HE WAS NOT MY CUP OF TEA. SO HE GAVE OUT MY CELL PHONE NUMBER. AND ONE DAY, ALL OF A SUDDEN, MY PHONE GOES OFF AND I HAVE TO CANCEL MY NUMBER."
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Paul Collins @paulcollins.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Just got a letter from the Washington Post that they got hacked last summer & "data that was affected by this incident included your name and SSN." The last piece I wrote there was in 2013. Wtf are they doing retaining this 12 years? There's NO reason to retain W-9 info for that long.
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Paul Collins @paulcollins.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
Weirdly fascinated by this 1988 FBI report on coin-push carnival games
1988 FBI newsletter article titled "Penny Falls: Friend or Foe?" The author is William L. Holmes, Special Agent, Document Section, Laboratory Division of the FBI.  There's an accompanying photo of massed coins perched on the payout edge of a carnvial coin-pusher machine.
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Paul Collins @paulcollins.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Fascinating Smithsonian piece on the Philly inventor who - as her colony had no patent office - had to sail to London in 1712 to become the first American granted an English patent. Her hominy milling machine was patented in her husband’s name, because women still weren’t allowed to hold patents.
smithsonianmag.com
When Patent Protections Couldn’t Keep Pace With Ingenuity in the Colonies, One Inventive Woman Took Her Case to Britain
Sybilla Righton Masters devised a novel way to work with grains available to her in Philadelphia. A long journey led to the first patent issued to an American (though it went to her husband)
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