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Melissa Kutner @melissannbee.bsky.social · 9h

Omg there are more: meet Ta-Miu, cat of Prince Thutmose's (son of Amenhotep III, seems to have died young). Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

Stone carcophagus with alert cat seated before an offering table with food and a lotus flower. Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

Melissa Kutner @melissannbee.bsky.social · 1d

I like when trees are cut around power lines so that they look like giant wings

Autumn tree cut around power lines like two giant wings

Melissa Kutner @melissannbee.bsky.social · 1d

Congratulations!

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Melissa Kutner @melissannbee.bsky.social · 1d

Will miss your posts; you are one of the highlights here. Take care.

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Melissa Kutner @melissannbee.bsky.social · 4d

Yes! And it’s connected to many other things (for example brought up by Brent Shaw in “Did the Romans Have a Future?”)

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Melissa Kutner @melissannbee.bsky.social · 4d

This also made me think of Kehoe's point (drawing on Maiuro) about the Roman emperor's control of resources, in contrast to the position of later monarchs (who thus had to borrow, and deal with Parliament etc.)

(From Kehoe, "Land and Securing the Future in the Roman Empire," 2023)

The lack of borrowing on the part of the Roman government, however,
does not indicate the existence of a severe constraint on its scope for action in
comparison with ea rly-modern states. R ath er, the R oman emperor could
generally draw on a much larger reso urce base than could his early-modem
counterparts. Taxation accounted for at most 10 per cent of the empire's GDP
(gross domestic product), with the bulk of this representing tax and other
imposts that were paid to the imperial government, while local communities
collected some taxes of their own. 12 In addition, the R oman emperor controlled
a vast sy te rn of lands, quarrie , and mine throughout the empire,
which provided an important supplement to the revenues corning from taxation.
In Goldsmith's estimate, by contrast, in Elizabethan England, the Crown
controlled about 5 per cent of the land, and the Church a comparable amount.
The Queen's revenues were likely to have been less than 2 per cent of GDP,
and, with all other imposts taken into acco unt, overall tax revenue might have
been in the order of 5 per cent of GDP.13 As Marco Maiuro points out in his
discussion of imperial property in Italy, the ownership of considerable resources
in land was an important element of the emperor's power. Not only did this
land provide the emperor with significant revenues, but it also provided a store
of wealth with which he could amply reward supporters. 14

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Reposted by Melissa Kutner

Melissa Kutner @melissannbee.bsky.social · 5d

Delighted to discover (thanks to the Walters Art Museum's "Soulful Creatures" exhibit, to which this is on loan from the Brooklyn Museum) this sarcophagus for a cat mummy, which seems to depict a cat seated before an offering table, much like a human in a standard offering scene.

Small cat sarcophagus with decoration in a loose, casual style: wings on the side and an offering scene on the end. Photo from Brooklyn Museum website.

Cat sitting before a small offering table, flanked by humans. Photo from Brooklyn Museum website.

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Melissa Kutner @melissannbee.bsky.social · 4d

Accounting is a narrative that can be manipulated; the amazing thing is that everyone sees the manipulations, but hopes to be the one to outrace time and walk away from the ruins with profit.

Here is where the bubble dynamics get complicated. Tech firms don’t want to formally take on debt—that is, directly ask investors for loans—because debt looks bad on their balance sheets and could reduce shareholder returns. To get around this, some are partnering with private-equity titans to do some sophisticated financial engineering, Paul Kedrosky, an investor and a financial consultant, told us. These private-equity firms put up or raise the money to build a data center, which a tech company will repay through rent. Data-center leases from, say, Meta can then be repackaged into a financial instrument that people can buy and sell—a bond, in essence

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David Rafferty @davidrafferty.bsky.social · 4d

The book to read is James Tan’s Power and Public Finance in Rome. Which argues (among other things) that Roman taxpayers had real leverage over elites due to being taxpayers. Turning point: by 167 the empire was so profitable that direct taxation ended. Which ended that leverage.

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 5d

Using his powers to extract tribute from foreign countries, "donors," etc. and then using those extraconstitutional slush funds to bypass the Constitution and the rule of law. Literally the opposite of originalism and a profound threat to the continuation of constitutional democracy in this country.

Scott Levy @scott-levy.bsky.social · 5d

$550 billion in Japanese funding.
Directed by the President.
Outside Congress’s control.

My new @justsecurity.org piece explains how the agreement bypasses the Appropriations Clause and violates the laws that safeguard Congress’s power of the purse.

www.justsecurity.org/123478/trump...

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Melissa Kutner @melissannbee.bsky.social · 5d

Delighted to discover (thanks to the Walters Art Museum's "Soulful Creatures" exhibit, to which this is on loan from the Brooklyn Museum) this sarcophagus for a cat mummy, which seems to depict a cat seated before an offering table, much like a human in a standard offering scene.

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Melissa Kutner @melissannbee.bsky.social · 5d

www.wired.com/story/ai-tea...

Parents Fell in Love With Alpha School’s Promise. Then They Wanted Out

In Brownsville, Texas, some families found a buzzy new school’s methods—surveillance of kids, software in lieu of teachers—to be an education in and of itself.

www.wired.com

Melissa Kutner @melissannbee.bsky.social · 5d

Reminder that in the Brownsville Alpha school this “motivation” consisted of withholding food from children, among other things.

Annie Abrams @annieabrams.bsky.social · 6d

"The role of the teacher is not to be replaced. That role will be transformed to focus on the social and emotional motivation side as opposed to the academic part. I believe we're going to get to a point where a billion children around the world will be able to take this type of education."

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Melissa Kutner @melissannbee.bsky.social · 6d

I always do it that way

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Melissa Kutner @melissannbee.bsky.social · 7d

CFP sure to be of interest to many: Slavery and Humanity Revisited: The Impact of Slave Systems on Personal Experience (for the Symposium Vesuvianum at the Villa Vergiliana) www.vergiliansociety.org/symposium-ve...

Symposium Vesuvianum 2026 - The Vergilian Society

Slavery and Humanity Revisited: The Impact of Slave Systems on Personal Experience Villa Vergiliana, Cumae (October 7 – 11, 2026) Organizers: John Bodel, Brown University; William Owens, Ohio Universi...

www.vergiliansociety.org

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Melissa Kutner @melissannbee.bsky.social · 7d

CFP sure to be of interest to many: Slavery and Humanity Revisited: The Impact of Slave Systems on Personal Experience (for the Symposium Vesuvianum at the Villa Vergiliana) www.vergiliansociety.org/symposium-ve...

Symposium Vesuvianum 2026 - The Vergilian Society

Slavery and Humanity Revisited: The Impact of Slave Systems on Personal Experience Villa Vergiliana, Cumae (October 7 – 11, 2026) Organizers: John Bodel, Brown University; William Owens, Ohio Universi...

www.vergiliansociety.org

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Reposted by Melissa Kutner

Anne Lutz Fernandez @lutzfernandez.bsky.social · 8d

It sounds like employees at this school became inhuman robots in service of the inhuman robot, which demanded results regardless of the cost.

The child was supposed to meet metrics or not get food. MEET METRICS.

When Barrios’ husband brought their daughter to a previously scheduled checkup soon after, her doctor noted with concern that she had lost a significant amount of weight in a short time. Her dad then brought her to school with a note from the pediatrician, Barrios says, instructing her to eat snacks in between regular meals and saw her walk into school with it in her hand. She told her parents she delivered it to staff. Even though Alpha had asked parents in its handbook to “refrain” from sending in “midday snacks,” Barrios and her husband wanted to follow the pediatrician's recommendation, she says.

For the first few days, Barrios says, her daughter ate her snacks. Then one afternoon she returned with them still in her backpack, uneaten. Barrios, alarmed, asked if Alpha was providing different food instead. No, the 9-year-old answered. She told her mom that staff at the school said she didn’t earn her snacks and wouldn’t get them until she met her learning metrics.

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Melissa Kutner @melissannbee.bsky.social · 8d

AI school: started/going

Anne Lutz Fernandez @lutzfernandez.bsky.social · 8d

There is so much to unpack here, I don't know where to begin.

🧵

Parents Fell in Love With Alpha School’s Promise. Then They Wanted Out

In Brownsville, Texas, some families found a buzzy new school’s methods—surveillance of kids, software in lieu of teachers—to be an education in and of itself.

www.wired.com

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Reposted by Melissa Kutner

nilay patel @reckless.bsky.social · 10d

He’s designing the ballroom with AI isn’t he www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

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Melissa Kutner @melissannbee.bsky.social · 11d

Every time I open an assignment to grade, I see this ("AI Writing Tools") and my blood pressure rises.

Feedback section in Blackboard with "AI Writing tools" button that can't be removed

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pony pony huckabuck @spindlypete.bsky.social · 12d

check out this absolutely terrifying ancient babylonian lullaby

12:01
÷73
+ r/AskAnthropology
••
What is the oldest lullaby or nursery rhyme that...
11 upvotes • 1 comment
As far as the earliest we know of, it's another Babylonian tablet, about 4000 years old and most often known as Little Baby in the Dark House. We don't have the music for it, but again, the BBC article has a good go at describing some commonalities of the music that tends to accompany lullabies, so that might inspire you.
The rough translation for that Babylonian lullaby, by the way, is:
Little Baby in the dark house
You have seen the sun rise
Why are you crying?
Why are you screaming?
You have disturbed the house god.
'Who has disturbed me?' says the house god.
'It is the baby who has disturbed you!
'Who scared me?' says the house god.
'The baby has disturbed you, the baby has scared you, making noises like a drunkard who cannot sit still on his stool.
He has disturbed your sleep!
'Call the baby now, says the house god.
• 4 Reply A & Vote &
Join the conversation

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Tim Price @timprice.bsky.social · 12d

A moth got into the shelter tonight and it was the event of the season.

Two cats sitting on top of cages and looking at the ceiling

Two cars on the floor staring up at the ceiling

Two young kittens in a cage taking notice

A cat standing on her hind legs to reach for a moth

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 12d

Been too long since I did a big silly ancient history 🧵so let's bring an old one back over from the Bad Place:

It's time for ::air horn:: Publius Ventidius Bassus, the coolest Roman you have never heard of and the only person to walk in a triumph first as captive, then as triumphing general. 1/

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Katie Harbath @katieharbath.bsky.social · 12d

Picture of the East Wing demolition of the White House taken on my flight out of DCA.

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Cambridge University History Faculty @camhistory.bsky.social · 12d

Chris Wickham's 'Framing the early Middle Ages, Europe and the Mediterranean, 400-800' (2005) is widely seen as a milestone in early medieval studies.

New research published by Robert Portass, Peter Sarris and Caroline Goodson (@cjg70.bsky.social) now offers a critical response to Wickham’s ideas ⬇️

Vol. 43 Núm. 2 (2025): El modo de producción campesino: un replanteamiento de la sociedad rural de la Europa altomedieval | Studia Historica. Historia Medieval

Con la colaboración de la Fundación Española para la Ciencia y la Tecnología | Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades.

revistas.usal.es

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Melissa Kutner @melissannbee.bsky.social · 13d

What makes us think he’s going to stop at the East Wing?

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 13d

a live look at the demolition of the White House's East Wing for Trump's ballroom

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