Ted McCormick
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tedmccormick.bsky.social
Ted McCormick
@tedmccormick.bsky.social
15K followers 2.3K following 5K posts
Historian of scientific, economic and colonial projects in early modern Britain, Ireland, and the Atlantic; books http://bit.ly/3HYwNiA & http://bit.ly/3rKdAvt; http://memoriousblog.com; views mine; he/him. Montrealer in Philly, except when I’m in Montreal
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tedmccormick.bsky.social
Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 4d
W. S. Merwin (1956)
Leviathan This is the black sea-brute bulling through wave-wrack, Ancient as ocean's shifting hills, who in sea-toils Travelling, who furrowing the salt acres Heavily, his wake hoary behind him, Shoulders spouting, the fist of his forehead Over wastes gray-green crashing, among horses unbroken From bellowing fields, past bone-wreck of vessels, Tide-ruin, wash of lost bodies bobbing No longer sought for, and islands of ice gleaming, Who ravening the rank flood, wave-marshaling, Overmastering the dark sea-marches, finds home And harvest. Frightening to foolhardiest Mariners, his size were difficult to describe: The hulk of him is like hills heaving, Dark, yet as crags of drift-ice, crowns cracking in thunder, Like land's self by night black-looming, surf churning and trailing Along his shores' rushing, shoal-water boding About the dark of his jaws; and who should moor at his edge And fare on afoot would find gates of no gardens, But the hill of dark underfoot diving, Closing overhead, the cold deep, and drowning. He is called Leviathan, and named for rolling, First created he was of all creatures, He has held Jonah three days and nights, He is that curling serpent that in ocean is, Sea-fright he is, and the shadow under the earth. Days there are, nonetheless, when he lies Like an angel, although a lost angel, On the waste's unease, no eye of man moving, Bird hovering, fish flashing, creature whatever Who after him came to herit earth's emptiness. Froth at flanks seething soothes to stillness, Waits; with one eye he watches Dark of night sinking last, with one eye dayrise As at first over foaming pastures. He makes no cry Though that light is a breath. The sea curling, Star-climbed, wind-combed, cumbered with itself still As at first it was, is the hand not yet contented Of the Creator. And he waits for the world to begin.
tedmccormick.bsky.social
It's not just the scrapping of structures that were considered cornerstones of "Western Values" just a few years ago; it's not even that the people scrapping them are the same sort of people who bray about Western Values; it's the casualness, the unseriousness about *their own* Most Serious Beliefs
November 25, 2025 at 5:27 PM
tedmccormick.bsky.social
the response to the pandemic was a dry run, in some ways
strisi.bsky.social Bethy the Vampire Slayer @strisi.bsky.social · 18h
when the AI bubble bursts, remember your worth and how little regard they had for you when they let you go to save money.
November 25, 2025 at 3:36 PM
tedmccormick.bsky.social
A challenge for triumphalist accounts of the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment as harbingers of Useful Knowledge and thus makers of Our Modern Age is explaining why there are so many useful things that we don’t do very well at all, no matter how much of other people’s sacrifice we put into it
November 25, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Reposted by Ted McCormick
jessimckenzi.bsky.social
It is rather odd to begin an article citing a recent paper by *40 scientists* that says "geoengineering was extremely unlikely to work and likely to have dangerous consequences" and then to go on to make the case that "these ideas are gaining traction" and cite the great thinkers thiel and musk
ketanjoshi.co Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 1d
The idea that opposition to geoengineering is largely just lefty extremists and loopy right-wing chemtrail guys feels very much like part of the broader project to normalise it with the ultimate aim of ensuring it is actually deployed as a tacit replacement for mitigation

archive.ph/IYgEB
But at the same moment that scientific and business leaders are softening to the idea of geoengineering, the political opposition in the U.S. is growing. “The politics are wildly bipolar,” Craig Segall, a senior adviser to the Federation of American Scientists and a former top lawyer at the California Air Resources Board, told me. In recent years, he himself has embraced the need to research geoengineering, but he has also watched opponents on both ends of the political spectrum dig in. On the left, the most extreme thinkers argue that the world should be talking only about mitigating emissions—that the solution to climate change is dramatically scaling back energy production. On the right, a contingent of MAGA leaders have become vocal adversaries to geoengineering research and are using it to feed conspiracy theories about government manipulation of the atmosphere.
November 25, 2025 at 3:22 PM
tedmccormick.bsky.social
Then: citing only books by morally impeccable authors

Now: citing only books whose bindings don’t fall apart when you open them
November 25, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Reposted by Ted McCormick
clancyny.bsky.social
On Nov. 22, Vahid Abedini, an Iranian Studies professor at University of Oklahoma, was boarding a flight to attend the Middle East Studies Assn mtg in Washington, D.C. when he was detained by ICE.

OU Prof Joshua Landis says "he has been wrongfully detained because he has a valid H-1B visa."
November 24, 2025 at 10:33 PM
Reposted by Ted McCormick
christinekooi.bsky.social
I've begun a starter pack of scholars of the early modern Low Countries. Let me know if you want me to add you. #earlymodern 🗃️
go.bsky.app/VsHZ9xJ
November 16, 2024 at 5:27 PM
tedmccormick.bsky.social
To be fair, the vast majority of Americans are also not invited to parties on Martha’s Vineyard. Populist move
thelincoln.bsky.social Lincoln Michel @thelincoln.bsky.social · 1d
"elevate charismatic figures such as Alan Dershowitz"

-____________-
Bari Weiss says she wants to use her new perch at CBS News to “redraw the lines of what falls in the 40 yards of acceptable debate” in American political and cultural life. She says the aim is to sideline voices like Hasan Piker, Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes, and elevate “charismatic” figures such as Alan Dershowitz and Dana Loesch who reflect “where the vast majority of Americans actually are.”
November 25, 2025 at 4:09 AM
tedmccormick.bsky.social
perpetual motion is real!
pbump.com Philip Bump @pbump.com · 1d
You have to keep giving money to avoid collapse and if there’s collapse you have to give more money. It’s called the free market.
November 25, 2025 at 12:17 AM
tedmccormick.bsky.social
in science but not of it, as they say
theatlantic.com The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 1d
Over many interviews, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told Michael Scherer about how he plans to remake America’s public-health system. Can he lead the scientific establishment he’s spent much of his life crusading against?

Read more in our new cover story: theatln.tc/q9hXxlbM
November 25, 2025 at 12:09 AM
tedmccormick.bsky.social
ma chère working class
sharonk.bsky.social Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · 1d
there's a lot to unpack here Lord Glasman
We return to politics. The working classes, he says, saved Britain during the Second World War, yet were repaid with contempt. “The way that my beloved working class was treated under Margaret Thatcher was cruel and deeply disrespectful, and we are still suffering the consequences,” he says. At a time when unemployment is ticking up and six million people are parked on out-of-work benefits, he wants to restore dignity in employment and see an end to the cycle of welfare dependency. As the Conservative Party was busy selling its soul, Labour abandoned its pro-worker position. “What Thatcher mercilessly initiated, Tony Blair immaculately consummated,” he says. This was manifest in New Labour’s attitude towards higher education. In 1979, roughly 10 per cent of school leavers went to university. Then Blair set his target, encouraging school leavers to move 100 miles from home and dismiss their intergenerational bonds. And, inevitably, “this very beautiful party was colonised by the progressive middle class”.
November 25, 2025 at 12:07 AM
tedmccormick.bsky.social
Star Whackers sequel looks interesting. I'm willing to see where they're going with this
kevinmkruse.bsky.social Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 2d
A friend has alerted me to this pressing and very real international incident involving the very sane Candace Owens.
Candace Owens & @RealCandaceO •• • URGENT Two days ago I was contacted by a high-ranking employee of the French Government. After determining this person's position and proximity to the French couple, I have deemed the information they gave me to be credible enough to share publicly in the event that something happens. In short, this person claims that the Macrons have executed upon and paid for my assassination. Yes, you read that correctly. More specifically, that the green light was given to a small team in National Gendamarie Intervention Group. I am told there is one Israeli that is on this assasination squad and the plans were formalized. Again, this person provided concrete proof that they are well placed within the French government apparatus. Further to this point, this person claims that Charlie Kirk's assassin trained with the French legion 13th brigade with multi-state involvement. Journalist Xavier Poussard's life is also at risk. This is deadly serious. The head of state of France apparently wants us both dead and has authorized professional units to carry this out. I ask that every person RETWEET and share this. I do not know who in the American government can be trusted, since this source claims our leaders are aware. But I have more specific information which is definitively verifiable, should they care to reach out to me. To the brave official in France who did this because they were so moved by the evil of Charlie's public execution to risk their own life— May God bless you. Truly. Let all be revealed.
November 23, 2025 at 11:34 PM
tedmccormick.bsky.social
the real battle isn't humanities vs STEM, it's humanities vs Books For Dad
November 23, 2025 at 7:34 PM
tedmccormick.bsky.social
I can imagine this happening, but another possibility is that fancy schools just invest in fancy AI
jackiantonovich.bsky.social Jacqueline Antonovich @jackiantonovich.bsky.social · 2d
My hot take is that over the next 10 years, we're going to see more emphasis on and investment in the humanities at Ivy League and other fancy schools just as state schools and small privates continue to decimate and even eliminate the humanities.
rbtownsend.bsky.social Rob Townsend @rbtownsend.bsky.social · 2d
"While other universities report that the humanities are shrinking, at Berkeley, the opposite is true. The music major is the fastest-growing major on campus. We are finding bigger classrooms because film is exploding. English is back to the numbers we saw 15 years ago. We are hiring" bit.ly/4ohKuOe
November 23, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Reposted by Ted McCormick
kerim.one
"Penn does not maintain information on employees’ religion"

Gift link to article. Link to petition supporting Penn's refusal to collect and hand over this information below.
Federal Suit Seeking Names of Some Jewish Employees at Penn Sparks Backlash
www.nytimes.com
November 23, 2025 at 1:49 AM
tedmccormick.bsky.social
More W. S. Merwin. And still more to come, I should imagine
River Sound Remembered That day the huge water drowned all voices until It seemed a kind of silence unbroken By anything: a time unto itself and still; So that when I turned away from its roaring, down The path over the gully, and there were Dogs barking as always at the edge of town, Car horns and the cries of children coming As though for the first time through the fading light Of the winter dusk, my ears still sang Like shells with the swingeing current, and Its flood echoing in me held for long About me the same silence, by whose sound I could hear only the quiet under the day With the land noises floating there far-off and still; So that even in my mind now turning away From having listened absently but for so long It will be the seethe and drag of the river That I will hear longer than any mortal song.
November 22, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Reposted by Ted McCormick
contingent-mag.bsky.social
Calling all contingent historians and their editors--if you haven't submitted for this year's lists, why not? Seriously, these are our most highly read pieces of the year. They are a great way to get your scholarship in front of people and SELL YOUR BOOKS.
November 21, 2025 at 2:33 AM
tedmccormick.bsky.social
everyone has their thing and my thing is that these aren’t Montreal bagels
November 22, 2025 at 9:46 PM
tedmccormick.bsky.social
Oxford Handbook to the End of Academia
November 22, 2025 at 7:59 PM
tedmccormick.bsky.social
going to Ireland in July for the first time in awhile. that is all
November 22, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Reposted by Ted McCormick
johnmkuhn.bsky.social
the multi-year lack of a truly functional manuscripts catalog at the BL is finally over!!!!
hetanshah.bsky.social Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 3d
Latest update from @britishlibrary.bsky.social says they are launching a new version of their main catalogue on Monday 8 December and around that time also launch an interim version of their Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue. Hooray!
www.bl.uk/stories/news...
Restoring our services – November 2025 update
In the coming weeks and months we will be restoring a number of key functions.
www.bl.uk
November 22, 2025 at 2:32 PM
tedmccormick.bsky.social
W. S. Merwin (1956)
Leviathan This is the black sea-brute bulling through wave-wrack, Ancient as ocean's shifting hills, who in sea-toils Travelling, who furrowing the salt acres Heavily, his wake hoary behind him, Shoulders spouting, the fist of his forehead Over wastes gray-green crashing, among horses unbroken From bellowing fields, past bone-wreck of vessels, Tide-ruin, wash of lost bodies bobbing No longer sought for, and islands of ice gleaming, Who ravening the rank flood, wave-marshaling, Overmastering the dark sea-marches, finds home And harvest. Frightening to foolhardiest Mariners, his size were difficult to describe: The hulk of him is like hills heaving, Dark, yet as crags of drift-ice, crowns cracking in thunder, Like land's self by night black-looming, surf churning and trailing Along his shores' rushing, shoal-water boding About the dark of his jaws; and who should moor at his edge And fare on afoot would find gates of no gardens, But the hill of dark underfoot diving, Closing overhead, the cold deep, and drowning. He is called Leviathan, and named for rolling, First created he was of all creatures, He has held Jonah three days and nights, He is that curling serpent that in ocean is, Sea-fright he is, and the shadow under the earth. Days there are, nonetheless, when he lies Like an angel, although a lost angel, On the waste's unease, no eye of man moving, Bird hovering, fish flashing, creature whatever Who after him came to herit earth's emptiness. Froth at flanks seething soothes to stillness, Waits; with one eye he watches Dark of night sinking last, with one eye dayrise As at first over foaming pastures. He makes no cry Though that light is a breath. The sea curling, Star-climbed, wind-combed, cumbered with itself still As at first it was, is the hand not yet contented Of the Creator. And he waits for the world to begin.
November 22, 2025 at 12:55 AM
tedmccormick.bsky.social
before 9/11 we had groceries whereas afterwards we had body spray
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 4d
Trump on Mamdani: "We had some interesting conversation and some of his ideas are really the same ideas that I have. But a big thing on cost. The new word is 'affordability.' Another word is just 'groceries.' It's sort of an old fashioned word but it's very accurate."
November 21, 2025 at 9:16 PM
tedmccormick.bsky.social
so much good work, such shrinking horizons
November 21, 2025 at 9:13 PM
tedmccormick.bsky.social
It’s noteworthy that ChatGPT “fills in the gaps” in obviously delusional belief systems, but over the long term it’s not necessarily better that it also fills in the gaps in *plausible* or widely shared belief systems.

In neither case is the necessary thought or criticism going on.
eliothiggins.bsky.social Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 6d
LLMs give people with delusional belief systems a way to organise those beliefs. The model fills in gaps, supplies connective tissue, and wraps the madness in formal language.
It doesn't make the claims more credible to us, it just tidies them up.
November 21, 2025 at 4:42 PM