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Nicholas Scott Baker

@renhistorian.bsky.social
621 followers 723 following 238 posts

Historian of Renaissance Italy and other things; latest book: In Fortune's Theater: Financial Risk and the Future in Renaissance Italy; Australian football tragic.

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Nicholas Scott Baker @renhistorian.bsky.social · 1h
Since June 2025, the US Federal government has acquired equity stakes in thirty-five private corporations, but do tell me again how are the Democrats are socialists. www.cato.org/restoring-fr...
cato.org
Government Ownership Dashboard
This tool tracks every deal announced by the US government to acquire an equity stake in a private US company, including the terms of each deal and primary source documents, if any.
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Nicholas Scott Baker @renhistorian.bsky.social · 2h
Have to share this with my students next week! "Little is known about this precolonial empire because its people did not leave a written history, but new archaeological excavations are shining a light on the enormous scale of the centuries-old civilization." www.livescience.com/archaeology/...
livescience.com
Chinese pottery discovered in Great Zimbabwe reveals medieval African empire's vast connections spanning thousands of miles
Archaeologists excavating a medieval African kingdom have discovered pottery from eastern China, revealing connections across continents.
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Nicholas Scott Baker @renhistorian.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
What an amazing line-up.
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Duygu Yıldırım @duyguyildirim.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
So my book now has a cover, featuring one of my favorite archival images. Forthcoming from the University of Pittsburgh Press in 2027!
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Nicholas Scott Baker @renhistorian.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
This is great loss if true. An extraordinary historian and generous scholar and person.
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United States Conference of Catholic Bishops @usccbofficial.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
USCCB President Condemns Plans for Livestream of Fort Hood Shooter's Execution as ‘a Barbaric Promotion of a Culture of Death’ Read the full release at: ow.ly/8pBo50ZWhiV
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Stefan Hanß @stefanhanss.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Truly delighted to see THE MICROSCOPIC MATERIAL RENAISSANCE (@manchesterup.bsky.social, 2027) announced: manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781807076757/ Stay tuned! @uomhums.bsky.social @uomsalc.bsky.social Research generously funded by @britishacademy.bsky.social & @leverhulme.ac.uk
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Celeste McNamara @celestemcnamara.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Would you like to learn about the strange and scandalous way some 18th-century Venetians got out of dysfunctional marriages? Read my new article (open access!) about annulments for affinity by fornication! #earlymodern #18thcentury doi.org/10.1017/S073...
doi.org
Keeping It (Too Much) in the Family: Annulment by Reason of Affinity in Eighteenth-Century Venice | Law and History Review | Cambridge Core
Keeping It (Too Much) in the Family: Annulment by Reason of Affinity in Eighteenth-Century Venice
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Nicholas Scott Baker @renhistorian.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
So much going on here -- I am definitely going to have a find time to discuss this in my Classical Tradition class next semester!
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Charles Keener @charleskeener.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
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Bookshop.org @bookshop.org · 06/10/2026
Anti-Prime Day starts…NOW! 🥳 Today through midnight on 10/7, enjoy free shipping site-wide, all while supporting local, independent bookstores.
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Banned Books Week @bannedbooksweek.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
It's finally here! Are you ready to join us in kicking off #BannedBooksWeek?! This year's event is too big for just one piece of art, so we have THREE! #LetBooksBe bannedbooksweek.org
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Nicholas Scott Baker @renhistorian.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Just about anything from the Hinchcliffe/Holmes period of Doctor Who (Tom Baker, mid-1970s): The Robots of Death, Horror of Fang Rock, Talons of Weng Chiang…So many stories watched in thrilled terror from behind the sofa!
static.klipy.com
Tom Baker: Prepared for the Worst
Alt: Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, looking serious and stating: We must be prepared for the worst.
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
TED LASSO and SLOW HORSES are both on Apple TV, and unless my entire childhood lied to me, that can only mean one thing. We're due for a very special crossover episode. Can't wait.
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Colette Delawalla, PhD @cdelawalla.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Everyone say it with me: AI companies are ✨extraction machines at scale✨. They are DESIGNED to sift through a million stupid ideas per second to find the next golden egg they can monetize. And they are destroying our Earth, at scale, to do this.
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Colette Delawalla, PhD @cdelawalla.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The humanities have been calling out genAI theft since the jump, while STEM has rallied around “discovery potential”. I am *ONCE AGAIN* reminding EVERYONE that science is not the sacred cow, STEM isn’t the exception. They are going to steal our IP, too. We aren’t special.
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Nicholas Scott Baker @renhistorian.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I had an undergrad lecturer who always called the sixteenth century, "the century that shouldn't have happened." I'm sure he would have agreed.
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Nicholas Scott Baker @renhistorian.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
"There are no iron laws of history and it teaches no easy lessons either. There is no algorithm that will do this job of choosing for us, in fact, to relinquish this burden of historical choosing is to give up on the profession of history itself." Essential reading.
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Nicholas Scott Baker @renhistorian.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I'd keep well away from a jar of instant coffee too (regardless of the brand)!
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Nicholas Scott Baker @renhistorian.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Vividly remember watching this, at what some might consider an inappropriately young age, and a little later devouring the books. The BBC made some brilliant television in the 1970s and 1980s.
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Nicholas Scott Baker @renhistorian.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Congratulations! This looks great -- I'm looking forward to reading it, once I get done marking this week!
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Jessica Minieri @jessicaminieri.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
My first article is out!! 🥳🥳 This article explores the role of relics in Alfonso V’s conquest of Naples. It’s OA and can be found here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epub/10....
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Nicholas Scott Baker @renhistorian.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
"MIT researchers warned that the alarming trend is leading to 'cognitive surrender,' effectively overriding their own intellectual agency with the output of AI." I tell my students the loss of the ability to learn is the point: the tech companies want them to outsource their thinking to a machine.
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Erika Gaffney @erikagaffney.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
New from Brepols - Visual Networks of Healing in Renaissance Italy Editors: Sandra Cardarelli, Valentina Živković www.brepols.net/products/IS-... #earlymodern
A nearly square book cover, with the author and editor info presented in black text within a cream-colored square superimposed over the featured image. The image is a renaissance painting (mural?) of a half-dressed woman in a bed with a bandage wound around her right arm. Two women stand by the bed, apparently celebrating the recovery of the woman in the bed.
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Nicholas Scott Baker @renhistorian.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
There is a boardgame (nearing production) about the Italian Wars developed around some of Machiavelli's ideas and language about rulership (eg. sentiment runs from Hated to Feared). Just pre-ordered my copy. This is not a drill! www.gmtgames.com/p-1229-foxes...
gmtgames.com
Foxes and Lions: Renaissance City-States in the Age of Machiavelli
Foxes and Lions: Renaissance City-States in the Age of Machiavelli
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Nicholas Scott Baker @renhistorian.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
In the Discourses, Machiavelli argues that the greatest mistake Appius Claudius made in attempting to make himself tyrant of Rome in the fifth century was thinking he no longer needed popular support (Discourses I, 40-41).
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Nicholas Scott Baker @renhistorian.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
"MOSE was designed to last 100 years, so how many years does Professor Lionello think it will still operate? 'We don't know how many. Maybe 30 years if the most dramatic sea level rise will materialise,' he said." www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09...
abc.net.au
Experts propose four options to save Venice. One is really devastating
Foreign Correspondent guest reporter Anthony Burke visits Venice to see whether this medieval wonder can survive rising sea levels.
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John Gallagher @earlymodernjohn.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
For the last nine months it's been my pleasure & privilege to be the editor of Renaissance Studies, and I think we're well overdue a romp through some fantastic articles we've published this year. See below for some of the finest new research in the interdisciplinary study of the Renaissance! 👇
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Nicholas Scott Baker @renhistorian.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Thrilled at Matthew Rhys's well-deserved double -- but Slow Horses and Gary Oldman's performance in it remain criminally under-awarded. www.npr.org/2026/09/14/n...
npr.org
Emmys 2026: Here's the list of winners
The Pitt and Widow's Bay took home the top prizes in television at the Emmy Awards on Monday night. And actor Matthew Rhys became the first person to win in two lead acting categories in one night.
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Nicholas Scott Baker @renhistorian.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Maybe trying not to breathe at work might be the better option.
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Nicholas Scott Baker @renhistorian.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Yes! Such a great film!
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Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Incredibly honored to receive the Best Related Hugo, and so proud to be recognized by the Worldcon community that means so much to me! I've uploaded my acceptance speech video here, for those who weren't there to see it live!
patreon.com
2026 Hugo Acceptance Speech: Best Related Work for "Inventing the Renaissance" | Ada Palmer
The news broke in the wee hours of the morning Italy time, and late at night Los Angeles time, that Inventing the Renaissance has won the Hu
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Nicholas Scott Baker @renhistorian.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Amazing! Congratulations, Ada! It's such a great (and fun) book. Thrilled to see it acknowledged in this way.
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Nicholas Scott Baker @renhistorian.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Seneca Nation President, J. Conrad Seneca "said in a statement that this name change, which Trump authorized in a Thursday executive order, violated the terms of the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua." thehill.com/homenews/adm...
thehill.com
Seneca Nation requests reversal on ‘Lake America’ executive order
Seneca Nation President J. Conrad Seneca called Friday for President Trump to rescind his order to rename Lake Ontario to “Lake America,” citing a centuries-old treaty between Native Americans and …
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Christine Kooi @christinekooi.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Alas, I think this is exactly what the techbroligarchy wants.
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Nicholas Scott Baker @renhistorian.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
I agree. I tell my students that quantifiable loss of learning associated with gen AI use is the point: The companies want them to outsource the ability to think to a machine.
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Nicholas Scott Baker @renhistorian.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Tell me again how it is the Democrats who are socialists… "The U.S. government would hold a 55% share, split between equity ownership and oil production." apple.news/AsKvaohGWRBC...
apple.news
U.S. to Take Control of Much of Venezuela’s Proven Oil Reserves — The Wall Street Journal
Trump said the agreement would substantially lower gas prices for all Americans
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Dr. Amanda J Summers @amandajsummers.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
youtu.be/8QGy9D_c1pY?...
youtu.be
The Ultimate "Leopards Ate My Face" Rendition!
YouTube video by Franchesca Ramsey
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Nicholas Scott Baker @renhistorian.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
"If people lose confidence in the information on which public decisions depend, the consequences reach beyond the classroom to institutions, social trust, and public life." www.chronicle.com/article/we-n...
chronicle.com
Opinion | We Need to Preserve Human Writing, Before It’s Too Late
In the age of AI, colleges must be custodians of the written word.
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DigiLab, Institute for Medieval Research, ÖAW @digilab-imafo.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
As every year, we are organizing Winter School: HTR of Historical Sources! This time it is virtual (5 afternoons in November/October), with 7 language/script groups (2x Latin, Greek, Syriac, Church Slavonic, Icelandic, German). Call for applications: indico.global/e/htr-2026 . #htr #atr
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Renaissance Society of America @rsaorg.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
📣 Apply Today! RSA Fellowships support scholars at all career stages conducting research in Renaissance studies (1300–1700) across many fields. Award Amounts of $2,000, $3,000, or $3,750 depending on the fellowship type. Take a look: www.rsa.org/news/news.as... #earlymodern #RenTwitter #fellowships
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Henry Snow @henrys.now · 22/08/2026
I'm not particularly anti-AI at this point but I don't think it should play a major role in an undergraduate classroom. I don't teach Excel either. And to the extent it would be useful in historical research, students should learn those skills before they try to automate them
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William M. Cavert @williamcavert.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
My problem here is that in history "skills" are not merely tasks to perform at work. They are intrinsic to being human, who you are in the world, how you feel about your family/home/nation, how you talk to people, where you travel on scarce vacations. It's meaningless to say that AI does these.
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Nicholas Scott Baker @renhistorian.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Yes. This is what I tell my students, in my beginning of class spiel about LLMs and why I don't recommend them: that a machine can never replicate the things that make us human and that they should embrace that and embrace their humanity: creativity, empathy, understanding.
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Nicholas Scott Baker @renhistorian.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
I agree that the piece oversells what LLMs can do (although what really matters is what students think the machine can do). For me, the utility of the piece is in thinking about how to teach why the process (reading, writing, thinking) matters when an LLM can appear to students to do all this.
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Nicholas Scott Baker @renhistorian.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Thoughtful and thought provoking… "The inflection point, then, is not that AI can write a research paper. It could do that two years ago. It’s that it can now do everything we once said mattered more than the paper itself and we can’t reasonably pretend otherwise."
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Nicholas Scott Baker @renhistorian.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Our future robot overlords are not quite ready to assume their rightful place.
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Nicholas Scott Baker @renhistorian.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
During the Renaissance, Italian cities such as Florence operated this way: taxing lower SES groups to pay interest on shares in the public debt that were owned by the wealthy. Some wealthy Florentines had net positive fiscal relationships with the government: receiving more than they paid.
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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Avoiding AI is about to be a superpower.
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CRASSH @crasshlive.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
📣 Open for applications CIRN Intesa Sanpaolo Visiting Fellowship Are you an early career postdoctoral scholar whose research focuses on Italy? Join us for a Fellowship on the theme of 'Italian Ecologies' in Spring 2027 Find out more at bit.ly/3CfiaXi ⏳ Apply by 18 September 2026
CIRN Intesa Sanpaolo Visiting Fellowship.
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