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Al Coppola

@qu1x0tical.bsky.social
501 followers 233 following 59 posts

18c Lit at John Jay CUNY. First book: Science, Spectacle, Stupidity. Lately, it's the little things.

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Bart⚓️ @bartgonnissen.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The Facial Expressions of Tethys by artist Julius von Bismarck. A suspended high-sea buoy that moves in real time. Sensors on a twin buoy out in the Atlantic Ocean send live satellite data to motors inside the museum. This makes the indoor buoy copy the exact, real-time movements of the ocean waves.
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Rachel Cole @rmartincole.bsky.social · 29/01/2024
All reports in this thread are from the collections of Northwestern University's Transportation Library. Materials we've digitized can generally be found in HathiTrust. Learn more and search our catalog here: www.library.northwestern.edu/libraries-co...
Text "United States Department of Agriculture. Transporting Watermelons in Bulk and Bin by Truck." Illustration of a semi truck with a watermelon as its trailer.
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Matthew L Reznicek @drreznicek.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Hey #C18 folks, there's a new Consortium for the History of Science and Medicine working group on Science Studies in the Long Eighteenth-Century. You should make sure you join here www.chstm.org/group/scienc...
chstm.org
Science Studies and the Long Eighteenth Century | Consortium for History of Science, Technology and Medicine
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PBF Comics @pbfcomics.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
“What a beautiful universe, hon" says a telescope as gazes upon an aurora borealis. “It really is”, responds the telescope's partner, who it turns out is not a telescope, but a microscope. Hands full of algae, she wades waist deep in a disgusting swamp, amazed by the heavenly microscopic life all around them.
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Annie Waldman @anniewaldman.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Thousands of Americans are getting sick from a foodborne parasite, and federal regulators have still not publicly identified the source. So what's been happening in the federal government over the past year that might be a factor in this outbreak? 🧵⬇️
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Al Coppola @qu1x0tical.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
How the hell is this ok @ibogost.com
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Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 18/08/2025
Here’s my bottom line on the firehose of AI higher ed discourse: for the vast majority for us it’s over. “It” here is not “college” or “teaching”’per se; rather, “it” is the transactional underpinning of those endeavors. Let me explain: 🧵
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Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
Instead of regurgitating the bromide that LLMs are just "autocomplete on steroids" (even by people who know better), maybe we can actually engage in some public education. The problem with genAI is better expressed through a classic computer science concept, known as SYMBOL GROUNDING. 🧵
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Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
We are hiring a tenure track poet! I’m so excited / spread the word… wesleyan.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/career...
wesleyan.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com
Assistant Professor of English
The Department of English at Wesleyan University seeks a published poet for a tenure-track appointment beginning July 1, 2026. Teaching responsibilities include two courses per semester in introductor...
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Al Coppola @qu1x0tical.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
This is a fantastic volume, so proud to be a part of it! I am especially glad to be part of the community of scholars working of 18c science and culture who have connected with each other through the ASECS science studies caucus
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Ted Underwood @tedunderwood.com · 20/05/2025
It’s summer and we’re all looking for beach reads. Fortunately the lesser-known works of 19c authors are often perfect for the beach. I asked o3 to find a few overlooked gems.
Jane Austen, "Style and Stylyness" - Rachel Steingarten is enduring a boring summer at her aunt's house in the Hamptons when loud relatives from Long Beach arrive and turn everything upside-down. To find romance, Rachel must discern the true meaning of "styly."
Louisa May Alcott, "Little Women, Big Waves" - The March sisters reunite for one last family summer on Cape Cod-only to discover that their childhood cottage has been booked for a competitive surfing reality show. Jo vows to write a tell-all, Meg wants a quaint wedding, Amy eyes influencer glory, and Beth... brought a harp for sunset sound-baths. Sisterhood meets salt water-and somebody wipes out.
Henry James, "The Turn of the Tide" - Anxious American heiress Florence Bly arrives on Martha's Vineyard to oversee a luxury-condo inheritance-and immediately suspects the seawall (and the caretaker) are gas-lighting her about rising waters. Is the mansion really sinking, or is it just European suitors angling for her fortune? A slow-burn psychological rip-current.
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tef @tef.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
you know who else came from chicago and was on "a mission from god"
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Hector Diaz @iamhectordiaz.com · 08/05/2025
A Chicago Pope implies the existence of an MLA Pope and APA Pope
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Ted Underwood @tedunderwood.com · 07/05/2025
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but With an eye made quiet by the power Of harmony, and the deep power of joy We see into the life of things
A screenshot of two reposted social media messages on the Bluesky platform. The first post is by @ctrlcreep and reads: “God, who is omnipresent, can hear the rain in every room in every home at once; and the droplets are his fingertips, and the roofs like pianos.” The second post is by @johnattridge and reads: “Babe wake up the snow is falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.” Both posts are poetic reflections on precipitation, rain and snow respectively, and their cosmic resonance.

Reflection:
These two posts form a quiet harmony: one imagines rain as divine touch, music spread across rooftops, while the other draws from Joyce to describe snow as a gentle, universal requiem. Together, they evoke a world where weather is not just meteorology but metaphysics—touch, memory, and the infinite.
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Benita Blessing @bcblessing.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
It’s so easy to vote in the @asecsoffice.bsky.social elections for the Executive Board! Let’s break some voter turnout records!
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Rebecca Shapiro @rebeccashapiro.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
Hi all, The Doctor Is In is preparting for remote ASECS 2025. Our tentative schedule is: Thurs 4/3 3pm-6pm PST/6pm-9pm EST/11pm-2am GMT Fri 4/4 6am-9am PST/9am-12pm EST/2pm-5pm GMT Please reply here if you can mentor. Updates coming soon!
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Carrie Shanafelt @carrideen.c18.masto.host.ap.brid.gy · 24/02/2025
#ASECS member friends, please don't forget to vote in the executive board elections! You should have gotten a reminder from Benita this morning.
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LadySmatter @ladysmatter.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
Hello my ASECS friends! Just in from our ED @bcblessing.bsky.social that voter turnout for Board and presidential elections is at 39%. There’s still time—this week! Voting closes Friday Feb 28. Go vote!!!
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Al Coppola @qu1x0tical.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
Another reminder for ASECS folks: elections for the Executive Board close THIS FRIDAY, and so far the response rate stands at 44%. Cast those ballots! I'm up for one of the Member-at-Large positions, and of course I'd love your support, but the fact is that you can't go wrong whoever you choose.
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Al Coppola @qu1x0tical.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
ASECS friends! Today is the last day for early bird registration rates for this year's Virtual Annual Conference, which is being held March 28-30 and April 4-6. Hope to see you there?
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soul nate @mnateshyamalan.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
me: everyone prepare their christmas song? guy who wrote jingle bells: mine is about bells & horses me: aw ☺️ guy who wrote silver bells: mine is also mostly abt bells me: oh. hm. thats fine guy who wrote carol of the bells: [lighting match & running fingers through it] this world is a nightmare
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Artologica aka Michele Banks @artologica.net · 25/11/2024
One of a kind gifts for all your tech friends www.etsy.com/shop/artolog...
blue and red watercolor with text: Click to submit blue watercolor with brain image and text: No thoughts only algorithm multicolored watercolor dots with text: The algorithm tires of your nonsense green blue and yellow abstract watercolor with text: do not piss off the algorithm
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media archaeology lab @mediaarchaeology.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
not everything is terrible - take this 19th century mechanical kaléidoscope for instance that just arrived! what a beauty.
fair skinned hand holding up a wooden kaleidescope in front of a window. rectangular piece of wood with a intricately colored circular piece of glass inserted in the middle and a rod and small handle are attached to the lowest part of the circle of glass
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Ted Underwood @tedunderwood.com · 05/11/2024
Epistemology for Tuesdays in November
The image is a four-panel comic strip illustrating stages of data processing, ending with a humorous take on exit polls.

- **First Panel ("Data")**: Shows random dots scattered without any apparent structure.
- **Second Panel ("Information")**: Displays a more organized set of dots, suggesting some filtering or sorting of data points.
- **Third Panel ("Knowledge")**: Shows connected dots, indicating relationships or insights drawn from the information.
- **Fourth Panel ("Exit Polls")**: The connected dots form a cartoonish purple dragon, humorously implying that the exit poll interpretation may be creatively or subjectively shaped beyond what the data suggests.
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Al Coppola @qu1x0tical.bsky.social · 02/11/2024
Magnificent
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Ian Carrillo @iansociologo.bsky.social · 31/10/2024
Hoping for a Yankees loss tonight and then a century-long drought of world series titles so that a curse mythology gets built up around these two dipshits.
Two Yankees fans interfere with a play, and try to wrestle away a ball from a dodgers player.
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Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · 28/10/2024
yes me inscribing something completed on the work TO DO list just for the unmitigated pleasure of instantly crossing it off
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Al Coppola @qu1x0tical.bsky.social · 29/10/2024
This is absolutely beautiful
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 29/10/2024
We’ve lost Martin Mull and Teri Garr, which means we must protect Michael Keaton at all costs
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Simon Kuestenmacher @simongerman600.bsky.social · 24/10/2024
It took me a second to read the map correctly. Very cool! What’s the range of the world’s tides? Source: buff.ly/3BVylfq
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Andrew D Wilson @adw.bsky.social · 14/10/2024
Today is World Standards Day. Except in the USA, which will celebrate World Standards Day on Nov 14
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kottke.org @kottke.org · 10/10/2024
Who died and left the US $7 billion? “It was the biggest estate-tax payment in modern history, but no one knew who made it. Then an anonymous phone call pointed to one man.” We don’t even know who our billionaires are. [sherwood.news]
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History Clippings @historyclippings.bsky.social · 06/10/2024
The Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh digital collections have a variety of medical themed soruces for scotland from the #c18th to the #c20th. 🗃️ 🧪 #histmed www.rcpe.ac.uk/herit...
Royal college of Physicians archive page screenshotRoyal college of Physicians archive page screenshot
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Novelty Cistern @noveltycistern.bsky.social · 02/10/2024
it's my daughter's birthday and I ordered her a monster cake from Carvel and this is the picture on the website and this is the picture of it in real life. please note: this is not a complaint. if this had been the picture on the website i would have paid more
photograph of a round cake covered in chocolate crunchies with ice cream cone horns, eyes, a wide pink smile, little arms and a belly indicating a friendly little monster guyphotograph of the actual cake through a carvel box, the guy looks fuuuuucked upppppp. he looks surprised and disgusted
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Tim Hitchcock @timhitchcock.bsky.social · 02/10/2024
Really pleased to announce the launch of a thoroughly updated version of Locating London's Past: locatinglondon.org - new functionality, better mapping, cleaner data. @ihr.bsky.social @long18thsem.bsky.social @ihrhistorylab.bsky.social
The home page of the Locating London's Past website, including a map illustrating thefts 1674-1819, and a panel on the right with information about the site and links.
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Drew Magary @drewmagary.bsky.social · 01/10/2024
Once again it’s October, king of all months
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Boo!-per Lund @cooperlund.online · 01/10/2024
The best way we can all honor the memory of Pete Rose is by banning sports betting again
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Al Coppola @qu1x0tical.bsky.social · 27/09/2024
It's like they hired the Three Stooges to run a campaign, but the candidate who hired them is Shemp
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Jeremy @floregonian.com · 25/09/2024
Just in case anyone feels bad about being blocked, 134 people block me, and I’m the sweetest sweetie who ever sweeted on this platform. Blocking is beautiful, muting is magnificent, no matter who does it to who. Folks get to build their own social media experiences and that’s beautiful.
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Al Coppola @qu1x0tical.bsky.social · 24/09/2024
I mean, they were minor poems
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Erin L. Thompson @artcrimeprof.bsky.social · 16/09/2024
Ok, this is cool: a scanning electron microscope revealed a forgery of a 1933 English penny, of which only 5 examples are known. Someone filed the three off another penny and soldered it on nearly imperceptibly!
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Dexter Palmer @dexterpalmer.bsky.social · 15/09/2024
The Internet in its infinite wisdom led me to the music microgenre "chipmunks at 16 speed" or "chipmunk sludge": recordings of Alvin and the Chipmunks songs slowed down so that the vocals sound normal and the instruments are grimy and melancholic. You can really appreciate the harmonies in this one
youtube.com
chipmunks on 16 speed - Heaven is a Place on Earth
YouTube video by Alex N
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Al Coppola @qu1x0tical.bsky.social · 12/09/2024
Preach!
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Jason Herbert @herberthistory.bsky.social · 12/09/2024
Oh look. Footnotes. A long forgotten technique abandoned by presses who wish to make readers interrupt their study by flipping back and forth front to back so they might include anger and frustration as part of their emotional journey through the past
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SunRaUniverse @sunrauniverse.bsky.social · 08/09/2024
Sun Ra’s application to NASA’s art program. #SunRa
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Adam L. @tsalmoth.bsky.social · 06/09/2024
I hope this is like the Silver Age Superman stories and Kryptonite, and maybe Cool Ranch dye will make mice able to climb walls, Spicy Sweet Chili dye allows them to fly, etc.
popsci.com
The dye in Doritos can make mice transparent
'It’s not magic, but it’s still very powerful.'
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Shiv Ramdas Mens Rice Activist @nameshiv.bsky.social · 04/09/2024
4 yrs ago today, a family member managed a truly spectacular own goal, splintered his domestic bliss, & in the process, united the world for a day. On popular request, I shall now recreate the livetweet thread from that day So gather around children, for this is the tale of The Rice Truck Saga
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