Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Brandon W. Hawk

Ellen Muehlberger @emuehlbe.bsky.social · 1d

Hell is other people('s AI decisions)

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Reposted by Brandon W. Hawk

Classical Studies Memes for Hellenistic Teens @csmfht.bsky.social · 2d

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Rhodri Marsden @rhodri.biz · 2d

Ivor (3) was watching me charge something up using a USB C cable, and he asked if he could plug it in, and I said sure, and he asked which way up it goes, and I was able to proudly say “IVOR IT DOES NOT MATTER WHICH WAY UP IT GOES AND THAT IS AN EXAMPLE OF HUMAN PROGRESS”

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Reposted by Brandon W. Hawk

Jessica Kant @jessdkant.bsky.social · 2d

To be candid, I want the bubble to burst. Because it will eventually and inevitably, but the longer the current charade goes on the more our planet and communities are decimated— and the more dependent we become on the few powerful people left who control those resources.

Jessica Kant @jessdkant.bsky.social · 3d

Energy requirements for AI mean that the only way for the bubble not to burst would require companies to multiply their carbon footprint to an unimaginable degree. Right now, while AI is barely functional and mostly a novelty for the lazy, it requires so much energy that data centers rival cities.

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Jessica Kant @jessdkant.bsky.social · 2d

It’s a material reality that right now the AI tech bubble is holding up the empire. It increasingly powers all commerce, and is central to the most invasive surveillance apparatus the world has ever seen. Predictive analytics trained on our data have allowed billionaires to track us like wildlife.

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Reposted by Brandon W. Hawk

Natalia Cecire @ncecire.bsky.social · 2d

It makes sense, because libraries are about providing access to sources and AI is about their enclosure

christine @cms.bsky.social · 2d

my institution is also going in this direction. alums and current students got a survey over the summer asking us to pick the new name for the (already merged) compsci/datasci/infosci school, most of them mentioned AI, zero mentioned libraries

Matthew Noe @noethematt.bsky.social · 2d

Hey, this sucks. Like... a lot. 📚

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UNC schools of data science and information science to merge, forming unnamed ‘School of AI’

www.dailytarheel.com/article/univ...

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Reposted by Brandon W. Hawk

Michael E. Carter @deckofcarterhist.bsky.social · 2d

The law of the Internet has been called!

👻 YSUBoOooOooOo 👻 @bassoonysu.bsky.social · 2d

As is always correct and in accordance with all the laws of the internet, I just watched Tom Holland's epic Lip Sync Battle performance, and now I am sharing it with all of you so you can do the same.

Lip Sync Battle - Tom Holland

YouTube video by Comedy Central Latinoamérica

youtu.be

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Brandon W. Hawk @brandonwhawk.bsky.social · 2d

I mean, yeah, I know there are all sorts of issues with what RFK said, but I just want to point out how pissed off the Christian nationalist base should be, since they take the Bible so literally & all.

Brandon W. Hawk @brandonwhawk.bsky.social · 2d

Sooo in that speech by RFK Jr. talking about the "pregnant woman at 8 months pregnant... gobbling Tylenol with her baby in her placenta..." he says women "overwhelm millions of years of maternal instinct." Does that mean he's admitting that the earth is not ~6,000 years old & evolution happened?

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Reposted by Brandon W. Hawk

Elizabeth Boyle @thecelticist.bsky.social · 2d

Papers from the @ria.ie @ceilteachomn.bsky.social @scs-dias.bsky.social conference on the Book of Lecan, which took place last week, are now available to listen to on SoundCloud. Enjoy!
#MedievalSky
#SpéirGhorm

www.ria.ie/audio/the-bo...

The Book of Lecan Conference - Royal Irish Academy

During this two-day event in October 2025, speakers explored the production of the Book of Lecan or Leabhar Mór Lecain, its scribes and patrons, and the texts contained within the manuscript.

www.ria.ie

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Brandon W. Hawk @brandonwhawk.bsky.social · 3d

Ooohhh shiny!

Daniel James @schlawinerkreis.bsky.social · 4d

1/ I'm excited to share that Franz Knappik’s and my Cambridge Element on Hegel and Colonialism is finally out – open access below! We trace how Hegel defends European colonial rule, including transatlantic slavery, and how that defence runs through his entire philosophical system.

Thread below ⬇️

Hegel and Colonialism

Cambridge Core - Classical Philosophy - Hegel and Colonialism

www.cambridge.org

Brandon W. Hawk @brandonwhawk.bsky.social · 3d

I'm so glad! I'm really happy & proud about how many people seem to have read it & learned from it.

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Brandon W. Hawk @brandonwhawk.bsky.social · 3d

And here's my set of translations of The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew and the Nativity of Mary!
bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew and the Nativity of Mary

Check out The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew and the Nativity of Mary - The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew is one of the most important witnesses in Western Europe to apocryphal stories about the lives of Mary, J...

bookshop.org

Brandon W. Hawk @brandonwhawk.bsky.social · 3d

Here's Apocrypha for Beginners: A Guide to Understanding and Exploring Scriptures Beyond the Bible
bookshop.org/p/books/apoc...

Apocrypha for Beginners: A Guide to Understanding and Exploring Scriptures Beyond the Bible

A Guide to Understanding and Exploring Scriptures Beyond the Bible

bookshop.org

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Brandon W. Hawk @brandonwhawk.bsky.social · 3d

Did you know that Bookshop has free shipping today? (Lots of authors have good books on that site!) And two of my books on #apocrypha are there on sale right now!
bookshop.org/beta-search...

Bookshop.org US

bookshop.org

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Reposted by Brandon W. Hawk

Yoïn van Spijk @yvanspijk.bsky.social · 4d

Why do so many French words end in a silent x?
‘Cheveux’, ‘voix’, ‘paix’, ‘deux’, ‘mieux’, ‘faux’, ‘doux’ – the list is endless.

There’s a fascinating story behind this x’s – or actually two stories.

Click and zoom in on my new graphic to read about medieval abbreviations and imitating Latin:

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Brandon W. Hawk @brandonwhawk.bsky.social · 3d

I'm supposed to travel to Chicago next week for a medieval studies conference, & I'm starting to think... perhaps I will not & try to shift to an online presentation, if possible....

southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 4d

The situation in America is not great. www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...

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Reposted by Brandon W. Hawk

Monica H Green @monicamedhist.bsky.social · 3d

#histmed #MedievalSky Minji Lee's book, The Medieval Womb: Hildegard of Bingen’s Views on the Female Reproductive Body, has just been released #OpenAccess: library.oapen.org/handle/20.50...

Cover image of Minji Lee, The Medieval Womb: Hildegard of Bingen’s Views on the Female Reproductive Body. On the complex imagery reproduced on the cover, read the book!

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Reposted by Brandon W. Hawk

Goblin Gower, PhD (the Ph is for Phantasm) @medievaliste.bsky.social · 4d

I'm equally excited by the presence of 14th-century music notation in the margin.

Cambridge University Library's own article here: www.cam.ac.uk/stories/merl...

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NASSCAL @nasscal.bsky.social · 4d

Added to e-Clavis: Christian apocrypha ~ the Questions of Mary. www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-chr...

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Reposted by Brandon W. Hawk

Richard Ovenden @richove.bsky.social · 5d

MLGB is back!! Delighted that Medieval Libraries of Great Britain @bodleian.ox.ac.uk is now back online. We are also working had on plans for the next phase of the resource, enhancing & adding data & functionality. HUGE thanks to my colleagues for their hard & clever work mlgb.bodleian.ox.ac.uk

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KOJAMF🤘🖤🤘 @kojamf.bsky.social · 7d

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

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Carin Ruff @carinr.bsky.social · 5d

Today is also the feast of Bruno of Cologne, founder of the Carthusian Order. Here is a graphic novel version of the founding of the order from a copy of Guigo's Consuetudines cartusienses printed in Basel in 1510. #medievalsky #earlyprinting #bookhistory 🧵

Chantilly, Bibliothèque et archives du musée Condé, impr. XIV-A-001, A2

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Carin Ruff @carinr.bsky.social · 5d

For the feast of William Tyndale, executed 1536, here's a reminder that 500y earlier it wasn't such a big honking deal to translate scripture into English. Here's the opening of John in Cambridge, CCCC 140, an 11c copy of the West Saxon Gospels. 🕯️

On frymðe wæs word ond þæt word wæs mid gode.

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Brandon W. Hawk @brandonwhawk.bsky.social · 6d

I mean, I'm watching it like everyone else this evening.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko70...

Taylor Swift - The Fate of Ophelia (Official Music Video)

YouTube video by Taylor Swift

www.youtube.com

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