Francois Soyer
@fsoyer.bsky.social
3.1K followers 2.4K following 160 posts

Associate Prof of European History, the Inquisition, Antisemitism and Gender/Sexuality at the University of New England in Australia. Hispanophile and Lusophile.

History 43%
Political science 16%
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

fsoyer.bsky.social
Birdlife in Australia is never dull: a discussion in progress at the feeder.

fsoyer.bsky.social
Ouch: why pay $440,000 for AI work ("including three nonexistent academic references and a made-up quote from a Federal Court judgement.")? Then again, why pay $440,000 for a single report anyway? Universities should take note. www.afr.com/companies/pr...
Deloitte to refund government, admits using AI in $440k report
Deloitte will issue a partial refund to the government after admitting that artificial intelligence had been used in the creation of a report littered with errors.
www.afr.com
amandawise.bsky.social
1/At Macquarie Uni we are losing 50% of our units in my faculty. This is on top of cuts in 2020. We estimate by next year my faculty will be teaching 80% fewer subjects than pre Covid. Disciplines being cut do not have declining enrolments. @jennaprice.bsky.social @michaelwestbiz.bsky.social

Reposted by François Soyer

fsoyer.bsky.social
I was sitting at my desk and had a feeling that someone was watching me.

fsoyer.bsky.social
Thank you, response sent. :-)
They're fairly large birds with a very sharp beak who seem to have a particular loathing for cyclists in the springtime! www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5JF...
Swooping season: How to stay safe
YouTube video by Australian Academy of Science
www.youtube.com

fsoyer.bsky.social
Springtime in Australia.

fsoyer.bsky.social
Portugal's foremost twentieth-century poet, Fernando Pessoa, opining on Australia (Portuguese: É-se feliz na Austrália, desde que lá se não vá).

fsoyer.bsky.social
Receiving my author’s copies of my latest book: always a wonderful feeling but this time also a bittersweet one.

fsoyer.bsky.social
Beware swooping trees.

fsoyer.bsky.social
Just found the longest word in the English language.

fsoyer.bsky.social
Saw some of my fellow inhabitants of Armidale using surfboards as makeshift sleds this morning! #Australia #Armidale

fsoyer.bsky.social
Certainly have not seen this much snow since I moved there in 2018!

fsoyer.bsky.social
Siberia Down Under. #Australia #Armidale

fsoyer.bsky.social
Snow in Australia will always feel strange to me

fsoyer.bsky.social
Snow Down Under... and it's only getting heavier! #Australia #Armidale
evansmithhist.bsky.social
4. Every other discipline thinks they can do history but they often cannot

fsoyer.bsky.social
A question for Lusophones. Here is a blasphemous sentence from a inquisitorial trial: “que era puta mui grande e aleivosa farta de cães, gatos e negros." The official meaning of "fartar" is to be "satiated [with food].". Could it have a different (and ruder) meaning?

fsoyer.bsky.social
Congratulations Una!

fsoyer.bsky.social
Another frosty Antipodean winter morning and another colorful visitor in the garden (Armidale, NSW).

fsoyer.bsky.social
Australian King Parrot (Male).

fsoyer.bsky.social
It's winter here in Australia but we still get these colourful visitors on frosty mornings in the NSW northern tablelands.

fsoyer.bsky.social
Latin as a living language in 16th century Europe. In 1552 the inquisitors in Lisbon were interrogating an Englishman accused of sacrilege and because the Englishman "could not speak Portuguese well and knew Latin, they asked him questions in Latin." digitarq.arquivos.pt/.../0b68019c....

fsoyer.bsky.social
Congratulations Rachel! This is excellent news.

fsoyer.bsky.social
My father just sent me these pictures from his (somewhat neglected) village church in Burgundy. Plaster fell off the wall revealing these pictures. Any informed guesses about the age/date. My guess would be 16th century but I'm not an art historian.