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Nate Ledbetter

@nhledbetter.bsky.social

3.2K followers 260 following 10K posts

ABD, Princeton, East Asian Studies. Instructor, Asian History, Rider University. Perpetually writing my dissertation (warfare in 16th C. Kyushu, Japan). He/Him/あいつ/"That Nagashino Guy." At some point I'll start posting useful stuff here. Maybe.

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Nate Ledbetter @nhledbetter.bsky.social · Nov 9

Since I've got double the followers from a week ago, guess it's time for an intro thread. A post per topic I habitually post about:

I'm a PhD candidate at Princeton, very slowly working on a dissertation on 16th C. warfare in southern Japan (centered around the Shimazu family). 1/

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Nate Ledbetter @nhledbetter.bsky.social · 10h

sUpPOrT oUr tRoOpS party

Aaron Fritschner @fritschner.bsky.social · 19h

A few minutes ago in the House:

- Speaker Mike Johnson officially cancels votes next week, extending the House recess through a fourth week

- House Republicans block Democrats from passing a bill to pay the troops during the shutdown, ensuring they will miss paychecks next week

House Press Gallery: During today's pro forma session, the Clerk read a message from the Speaker designating Tuesday, October 14 through Sunday, October 19 as a district work period.

Punchbowl's Briana Reilly: House gaveled in and out of its pro forma just now w/o recognizing Rep Elfreth, who was seeking to UC a mil pay bill from Rep Sykes.

Elfreth told reporters after that House Dems stand “ready and willing to take” up standalone legislation to pay troops.

Nate Ledbetter @nhledbetter.bsky.social · 18h

Ishiba:

a man in a black hat is sitting in a car .

Alt: a man in a black hat is sitting in a car .

media.tenor.com

Nate Ledbetter @nhledbetter.bsky.social · 19h

Making slides for next week's lecture that include the Olmecs and my first thought was to include a pic/clip of "Legends of the Hidden Temple" because hey they youths like that kind of thing right? Then I looked it up and it only ran from 93-95 a decade before any of these kids were born. Sigh.

Nate Ledbetter @nhledbetter.bsky.social · 20h

It's really amazing, but really messes with you. My brain is used to not seeing out of my right eye for the last 2 years. Plus I think I said this before, but it's like bifocals, except each eye is different. Going to take a while to adjust. But yes, it's great. And worth paying fo rhte upgrades.

Nate Ledbetter @nhledbetter.bsky.social · 20h

The craziest thing is that with the difference, the cataract in my left eye is way more noticeable now. All of a sudden in 24 hours my left has gone from my "good eye" to "can't quite clear the blur from it" like my right eye was when all this started. Gonna have to get the left done soon too.

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Nate Ledbetter @nhledbetter.bsky.social · 20h

Update: This morning I can read the screen with my right eye. I see better in my right eye up close (like reading my phone) than I do in my left. Truly amazing.

Checkup with Dr this AM and she was thrilled with this much improvement so quickly. Says I likely won't need reading glasses anymore.

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Reposted by Nate Ledbetter

Secretary of Defense Rock @sodrock.bsky.social · 1d

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Nate Ledbetter @nhledbetter.bsky.social · 1d

To address the last part:

A. t.A.T.u is Russian. These guys love some Russia.

B. In the video for the song, the 2 members of t.A.T.u were 15. The video shows them in schoolgirl uniforms and is highly sexualized. Pedocon theory strikes again.

scaryssa walmart dog @meo.bsky.social · 1d

how do u even compete with this level of propaganda. and why tf do these vril guys love tatu so much

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Nate Ledbetter @nhledbetter.bsky.social · 1d

y'all, standing at my desk I can look at the screen and read the words on this gif with only my right eye.

That's f'ing amazing. I couldn't have seen the gif itself at 9 AM this morning.

I can ALMOST read the text of posts, that's a little blurry still.

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Nate Ledbetter @nhledbetter.bsky.social · 1d

Man, the things kids these days do to avoid Fish Prohibition.

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Nate Ledbetter @nhledbetter.bsky.social · 1d

Anyway, it's still more coherent than...whatever that fever dream AI clip was.

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Nate Ledbetter @nhledbetter.bsky.social · 1d

...OH WOW ASOKA WAS A MURDERING BASTARD and then the last 10 min or so is him realizing his own role in the horrors of war. It goes from goofy dancing to OH WOW so I may have to show them a dance number just to keep it light.

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Nate Ledbetter @nhledbetter.bsky.social · 1d

Their final project is to analyze examples of history in pop culture, so I'm using it as my film example and showing them the last 45 min (it's 2:45, sooo long), during the week we're covering the spread of Buddhism. The first 90 min of the movie are goofy Bollywood dancing; the next hour is...

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Nate Ledbetter @nhledbetter.bsky.social · 1d

Not that I know much about Bollywood, but I have enjoyed some and will be showing parts of "Asoka" in class in a couple of weeks. That's such an insane (complimentary) movie.

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Nate Ledbetter @nhledbetter.bsky.social · 1d

Also, LITERALLY ALMOST EVERYTHING IS NOW LEGAL. How hard do you gotta suck for the NCAA to go "hmm...you're giving impermissible benefits to student-athletes." YOU CAN LITERALLY PAY THEM MILLIONS OF DOLLARS.

Nate Ledbetter @nhledbetter.bsky.social · 1d

What in Ahura Mazda's name did I just watch?

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Reposted by Nate Ledbetter

Melissa Reynolds @melkatrey.bsky.social · 1d

I just keep coming back to this, the most obvious lacunae in every conversation about “incorporating AI” into our classrooms: no one—literally NO ONE—can explain how it improves the work of learning & knowledge-making. There is, in fact, overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

This whole thread.

Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 2d

A striking thing about articles I’ve read claiming to “study the effects” of generative AI on student writing skills and consumption of information is that (1) they nearly always find the effects are negative and (2) most “conclusions” are still written assuming that we must use AI, for some reason.

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Nate Ledbetter @nhledbetter.bsky.social · 1d

Imagine breaking all the rules to get....THIS UNC football team.

Nicole Auerbach @nauerbach.com · 1d

From UNC: “North Carolina assistant football coach Armond Hawkins has been suspended for violating NCAA rules related to extra benefits. He will remain on leave as the Department of Athletics further investigates other potential actions detrimental to the team and University.”

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Nate Ledbetter @nhledbetter.bsky.social · 1d

Seems like a unique way to cook gyoza

Nate Ledbetter @nhledbetter.bsky.social · 1d

...to keep track of all the historical figures so far, but I'm learning a lot this way. My chair wants me to teach a course on Warring States China, so maybe this will motivate me to say yes. 78 eps is SO MUCH but I'm enjoying it so far. The costuming and sets are amazing.

Nate Ledbetter @nhledbetter.bsky.social · 1d

...month, seemed like a good fit. Already used several screencaps to explain Zhou-era warfare. But since I don't speak Mandarin and I'm not as steeped in the period, I'll admit it's been a challenge (but fun one) to follow everyone. The subtitles aren't great and I have to stop and look things up...

Nate Ledbetter @nhledbetter.bsky.social · 1d

So what am I following it with?

SEVENTY-EIGHT epsiodes of "Qin Dynasty Epic" (2020). 15 eps in and I'm hooked but also wondering what in the heck I've gotten myself into. It's well done--none of the cheese of Taiga Drama, very dark at times. Since I'm teaching WS/Qin etc in Global Hist this...

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Nate Ledbetter @nhledbetter.bsky.social · 1d

Finished all 48 eps of "What Will You Do, Ieyasu?" on Prime and overall quite enjoyed it. Taiga cheese aside, it had some really interesting (and completely ahistorical) subplots. Definitely not what you should watch to understand the history, but amusing if you can parse the diversions from reality

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Nate Ledbetter @nhledbetter.bsky.social · 1d

My right eye:

(Surgery went well this morning. Still a little blurry, but a major difference already).

a man wearing sunglasses and a shirt that says netflix on it

Alt: a man wearing sunglasses and a shirt that says netflix on it

media.tenor.com

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Reposted by Nate Ledbetter

The Onion @theonion.com · 3d

U.S. Military Carries Out Strike On Scuffy The Tugboat https://theonion.com/u-s-military-carries-out-strike-on-scuffy-the-tugboat/

U.S. Military Carries Out Strike On Scuffy The Tugboat
Pentagon Claims Little Red Vessel Working With ‘Narco-Terrorists’

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