DoctorSyntax
@doctorsyntax.bsky.social
Alter ego of Peter Ginna. Editor, writer, & occasional blogger on books & publishing. Former editor & publisher at several houses. Author of WHAT EDITORS DO: The Art, Craft, and Business of Book Editing. Website: peterginna.com
I once went to a debate between Bourdieu and Hobsbawm. Audience question about the difference between a French and a British intellectual. Bourdieu wittered on for ages. Then Hobsbawm stood up and said “There is no such thing as a British intellectual” and sat down again to much applause.
One of my colleagues went to a seminar at Berkeley and when someone asked a question Derrida brushed it off saying ‘what you ask may be important but it is not interesting’.
November 27, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Apparently there’s a new Dr Seuss Thanksgiving special
November 27, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Apparently there’s a new Dr Seuss Thanksgiving special
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
📢Applying for a PhD?📢
My excellent colleagues are running a Zoom masterclass next Weds 3 December on how to write a successful PhD proposal and how to apply for funding.
Free, register below - choose from:
- 10am: lnkd.in/eUPhAXHc
- 4pm: lnkd.in/e_U79jUt
🗃️ #PhDChat #Humanities
My excellent colleagues are running a Zoom masterclass next Weds 3 December on how to write a successful PhD proposal and how to apply for funding.
Free, register below - choose from:
- 10am: lnkd.in/eUPhAXHc
- 4pm: lnkd.in/e_U79jUt
🗃️ #PhDChat #Humanities
November 27, 2025 at 7:35 AM
📢Applying for a PhD?📢
My excellent colleagues are running a Zoom masterclass next Weds 3 December on how to write a successful PhD proposal and how to apply for funding.
Free, register below - choose from:
- 10am: lnkd.in/eUPhAXHc
- 4pm: lnkd.in/e_U79jUt
🗃️ #PhDChat #Humanities
My excellent colleagues are running a Zoom masterclass next Weds 3 December on how to write a successful PhD proposal and how to apply for funding.
Free, register below - choose from:
- 10am: lnkd.in/eUPhAXHc
- 4pm: lnkd.in/e_U79jUt
🗃️ #PhDChat #Humanities
I worked in the Flatiron Building for a decade and never noticed the statue of Chester Alan Arthur just across the way. Now I feel bad. Here’s to presidents who do LESS grifting when they get into the White House. Read this and tip your cap to Chet:
I regret to inform you that I’ve been on the Chester Arthur train for two decades plus now. My NYT piece from 2006.
Let Us Now Praise Sort of Famous Men (Published 2006)
www.nytimes.com
November 27, 2025 at 2:50 PM
I worked in the Flatiron Building for a decade and never noticed the statue of Chester Alan Arthur just across the way. Now I feel bad. Here’s to presidents who do LESS grifting when they get into the White House. Read this and tip your cap to Chet:
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
Truth Coming Out of Her Well to Shame Mankind
November 27, 2025 at 4:32 AM
Truth Coming Out of Her Well to Shame Mankind
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
As we prepare for our Thanksgiving feasts, here’s a great reminder of our power as consumers. This weekend , don’t shop at Amazon , Target or Home Depot . #WeAintBuyingIt open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...
November 25, 2025
Last week, a poll conducted for Global EV Alliance, made up of electric vehicle driver associations around the world, found that 52% of Americans would avoid buying a Tesla for political reasons.
open.substack.com
November 26, 2025 at 6:06 PM
As we prepare for our Thanksgiving feasts, here’s a great reminder of our power as consumers. This weekend , don’t shop at Amazon , Target or Home Depot . #WeAintBuyingIt open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
follow, read and share beat reporting
Probably gonna regret this but…before you curse all “DC media,” please consider that most of us are just working on our little stories, never mixing with VIPs and horrified by these freaks too
November 27, 2025 at 12:30 AM
follow, read and share beat reporting
Shattered Glass is not just a very good movie about journalism, but one of a small number of good films about workplace dynamics. (Margin Call is another.) Highly recommended. And Hayden C is terrific as the ingratiating fraud
The best scene is the editor naming every article and saying speak up if you deny our doubting its authenticity. It's brutal as he names article after article as Glass sits there silent. Nuzzi wouldn't be silent. She just can't.
Shattered Glass (2003)
Currently free to stream.
Shattered Glass (2003)
Currently free to stream.
November 27, 2025 at 4:00 AM
Shattered Glass is not just a very good movie about journalism, but one of a small number of good films about workplace dynamics. (Margin Call is another.) Highly recommended. And Hayden C is terrific as the ingratiating fraud
The idea that Anything “2” is going to get your studio back on track sums up why Hollywood is off the track to begin with
As Disney Animation’s new chief creative officer, Jared Bush is tasked with getting the studio back on track. “Zootopia 2” will be a test.
Disney’s ‘Zootopia 2’ Will Be a Test for Jared Bush
Jared Bush is trying to make the heart of the media empire beat more consistently. “Zootopia 2” will be a test.
nyti.ms
November 27, 2025 at 3:48 AM
The idea that Anything “2” is going to get your studio back on track sums up why Hollywood is off the track to begin with
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
NASA's Youtube channel has an 8-hour loop of a rocket engine fireplace that's captioned "[rockets roar cozily]"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cgT...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cgT...
NASA Rocket Engine Fireplace - 8 Hours in 4K
YouTube video by NASA
www.youtube.com
November 26, 2025 at 9:49 PM
NASA's Youtube channel has an 8-hour loop of a rocket engine fireplace that's captioned "[rockets roar cozily]"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cgT...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cgT...
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
A wonderful essay about what we and our students can accomplish through close reading.
I wrote an essay for @bostonreview.bsky.social about what I learned about close reading when I taught at West Virginia University
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
The Claims of Close Reading - Boston Review
Literary studies have been starved by austerity, but their core methodology remains radical.
www.bostonreview.net
November 26, 2025 at 4:03 PM
A wonderful essay about what we and our students can accomplish through close reading.
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
The average medieval peasant could not buy a gas station delta 9 gummy and watch “Scooter Fail Compilation 5” on YouTube, which makes it difficult to compare GDP across time
November 26, 2025 at 5:03 AM
The average medieval peasant could not buy a gas station delta 9 gummy and watch “Scooter Fail Compilation 5” on YouTube, which makes it difficult to compare GDP across time
Keystone Kops, meet Trump Troopers
New in PN: Bill Pulte and Ed Martin's shitposting legal strategy backfires spectacularly
"There's no universe in which this DOJ prosecutes Trump administration officials. But if these 4chan escapees wind up boning Trump's political persecutions, it will be some minute measure of justice."
"There's no universe in which this DOJ prosecutes Trump administration officials. But if these 4chan escapees wind up boning Trump's political persecutions, it will be some minute measure of justice."
Bill Pulte and Ed Martin's shitposting legal strategy
It's backfired so spectacularly that now *they're* the ones being investigated.
www.publicnotice.co
November 26, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Keystone Kops, meet Trump Troopers
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
What if we thought of journalism as community service?
@terryparrisjr.bsky.social is doing exactly that with his project to set up journalism practices in local libraries. This is exactly the experimentation we need to increase civic information and public accountability.
@terryparrisjr.bsky.social is doing exactly that with his project to set up journalism practices in local libraries. This is exactly the experimentation we need to increase civic information and public accountability.
My @jskstanford.bsky.social year at Stanford centers on one question: What grows when you build a community newsroom inside a public library? I've been testing it in Brooklyn neighborhood. It's works.
We can do this in the 16,000+ library buildings in the U.S. Seriously.
medium.com/jsk-class-of...
We can do this in the 16,000+ library buildings in the U.S. Seriously.
medium.com/jsk-class-of...
I Have An Idea To Open 16,000 Newsrooms In The U.S.
What happens when journalism lives inside the public library?
medium.com
November 22, 2025 at 9:30 PM
What if we thought of journalism as community service?
@terryparrisjr.bsky.social is doing exactly that with his project to set up journalism practices in local libraries. This is exactly the experimentation we need to increase civic information and public accountability.
@terryparrisjr.bsky.social is doing exactly that with his project to set up journalism practices in local libraries. This is exactly the experimentation we need to increase civic information and public accountability.
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷
November 26, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.
I see some book piracy discourse, and, to make a positive argument in favor of buying books, your marginal ability to influence what books get published and support the careers of writers you like is massive compared to most other forms of media.
November 25, 2025 at 11:07 PM
I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.
“Errors”??
How can this article not mention a Federal judge already found Trump officials flat out lied about what’s happened in Chicago. Zero reason to believe these are unwitting mistakes
How can this article not mention a Federal judge already found Trump officials flat out lied about what’s happened in Chicago. Zero reason to believe these are unwitting mistakes
Good judges really don’t like it when you lie to them. Let’s hope that includes the GOP justices on the Supreme Court.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/u...
Times Analysis Finds Errors in Trump’s Supreme Court Filing That Calls for National Guard in Chicago
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 3:21 AM
“Errors”??
How can this article not mention a Federal judge already found Trump officials flat out lied about what’s happened in Chicago. Zero reason to believe these are unwitting mistakes
How can this article not mention a Federal judge already found Trump officials flat out lied about what’s happened in Chicago. Zero reason to believe these are unwitting mistakes
As historians I know have pointed out, we can still read Babylonian tablets and medieval pipe rolls. Lots of stuff that was published on the Web ten years ago….gone. I would save more than PDFs if you really care.
Just a gentle reminder to save PDFs of the work you published this year especially in digital publications because you could look up one day and find that that pub doesn’t exist anymore and isn’t archived anywhere and is just gone
Ask me how I know!
Ask me how I know!
November 26, 2025 at 3:09 AM
As historians I know have pointed out, we can still read Babylonian tablets and medieval pipe rolls. Lots of stuff that was published on the Web ten years ago….gone. I would save more than PDFs if you really care.
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
Hello historians 🗃️! Planning on attending #AHA26 and have book ideas in mind?
Now is a good time to start thinking about contacting editors to meet with in Chicago. It's fun, it's easy, and you'll be chatting with people who love to chat about books! 👇
Now is a good time to start thinking about contacting editors to meet with in Chicago. It's fun, it's easy, and you'll be chatting with people who love to chat about books! 👇
November 25, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Hello historians 🗃️! Planning on attending #AHA26 and have book ideas in mind?
Now is a good time to start thinking about contacting editors to meet with in Chicago. It's fun, it's easy, and you'll be chatting with people who love to chat about books! 👇
Now is a good time to start thinking about contacting editors to meet with in Chicago. It's fun, it's easy, and you'll be chatting with people who love to chat about books! 👇
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
Now this is an overview worth reading #skystorians. I’ve been running table models with pre-trained German language models (with pretty high CER) and it still took my total data entry time down at least 60-70%.
Nearly-perfect printed and handwritten text recognition is the most consequential technical contribution to the study of human culture of the last fifteen years, and it's not even close.
It fundamentally changes our (both lay and expert) relationship with the written past.
It fundamentally changes our (both lay and expert) relationship with the written past.
New issue of my newsletter: "The Writing Is on the Wall for Handwriting Recognition" — One of the hardest problems in digital humanities has finally been solved, and it's a good use of AI newsletter.dancohen.org/archive/the-...
November 25, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Now this is an overview worth reading #skystorians. I’ve been running table models with pre-trained German language models (with pretty high CER) and it still took my total data entry time down at least 60-70%.
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
High crime. Impeach.
The first official confirmation that Noem herself made the decision not to turn the planes around. A couple hundred men were tortured as a result — and soon after, the Supreme Court confirmed that the Trump admin’s Alien Enemies Act process was a total violation of due process.
BREAKING:
“After receiving that legal advice, Secretary Noem directed that the AEA detainees who had been removed from the United States before the Court’s order could be transferred to the custody of El Salvador. “
“After receiving that legal advice, Secretary Noem directed that the AEA detainees who had been removed from the United States before the Court’s order could be transferred to the custody of El Salvador. “
November 26, 2025 at 2:22 AM
High crime. Impeach.
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
this is the way.
My @jskstanford.bsky.social year at Stanford centers on one question: What grows when you build a community newsroom inside a public library? I've been testing it in Brooklyn neighborhood. It's works.
We can do this in the 16,000+ library buildings in the U.S. Seriously.
medium.com/jsk-class-of...
We can do this in the 16,000+ library buildings in the U.S. Seriously.
medium.com/jsk-class-of...
I Have An Idea To Open 16,000 Newsrooms In The U.S.
What happens when journalism lives inside the public library?
medium.com
November 24, 2025 at 4:54 PM
this is the way.
Very useful volumes, especially for academic authors
The Book Proposal Book ebook is 30% off right now at @princetonupress.bsky.social and so is Make Your Manuscript Work!
Use code PUP30 at checkout
Tell your friends & nemeses!
press.princeton.edu/our-authors/...
Use code PUP30 at checkout
Tell your friends & nemeses!
press.princeton.edu/our-authors/...
Portwood-Stacer, Laura
press.princeton.edu
November 24, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Very useful volumes, especially for academic authors
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
I did this in both of my classes this semester. It was super successful. The students had to ask an LLM about a subject they already knew well, like their favorite musician, movie, sports team, or something else they had previously researched.
November 24, 2025 at 12:46 AM
I did this in both of my classes this semester. It was super successful. The students had to ask an LLM about a subject they already knew well, like their favorite musician, movie, sports team, or something else they had previously researched.
Reposted by DoctorSyntax
Strong agree, and I say this as a certified "AI" hater. Ceding that semantic battle was a mistake that by association obfuscates the virtues of useful tech and glorifies the abusive unfitness of unethical, inhumane, useless tech.
y'know, if tech companies weren't so fired up to call every single thing "AI" it would be a lot easier to distinguish "ML spam filter that is well-sandboxed and tuned on your emails" from "giant context and IP-eroding foundation model that makes people paranoid and unhappy"
since the "google is now training gemini on your email contents" thing keeps bumping around here: it's _not happening_. I say this not to defend google but because I know a lot of people that have broken their filtering and made their lives much more annoying from sheer misinformation.
November 24, 2025 at 3:03 AM
Strong agree, and I say this as a certified "AI" hater. Ceding that semantic battle was a mistake that by association obfuscates the virtues of useful tech and glorifies the abusive unfitness of unethical, inhumane, useless tech.