Karl Appuhn
@appuhn.bsky.social
Historian of Renaissance Italian trees, critters, medical practitioners, and assorted other stuff. Californian in exile. Veteran. Semi-pro Curmudgeon.
Working on eighteenth-century sources is usually relatively easy. Then every once in a while there's some secretary who was apparently mad at posterity.
December 10, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Working on eighteenth-century sources is usually relatively easy. Then every once in a while there's some secretary who was apparently mad at posterity.
It's been unseasonably clear the past couple of weeks. This is what Venice in November is supposed to look like.
December 10, 2025 at 4:32 PM
It's been unseasonably clear the past couple of weeks. This is what Venice in November is supposed to look like.
It's 100 miles to Fossanova, we've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and you're wearing a reliquary.
Hit it!!
Hit it!!
'Skull of St. Thomas Aquinas being transported to Fossanova Abbey.'
Photograph by Daniel Ibanez
Photograph by Daniel Ibanez
December 10, 2025 at 9:34 AM
It's 100 miles to Fossanova, we've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and you're wearing a reliquary.
Hit it!!
Hit it!!
Flipping the sign to "Zero Days since the Last Typeface Wars."
Also, Minion Pro or go home.
Also, Minion Pro or go home.
The question is not “Times New Roman” (boring) or “Calibri” (also boring). The real question goes like this: why are you all not using “Garamond”? #TeamGaramond
December 10, 2025 at 9:28 AM
Flipping the sign to "Zero Days since the Last Typeface Wars."
Also, Minion Pro or go home.
Also, Minion Pro or go home.
She just invented DeVry.
I mean, in what sense will you be able to say the college “survived”?
December 9, 2025 at 5:32 PM
She just invented DeVry.
I want to agree with this so much. And I think it is obviously true at the vast majority of private schools you have heard of. But there is some category of private college where this won't be true because the students won't know the difference.
If you replace tenured faculty with at-will instructors, no one is going to pay private school prices to go there, and if they do, they won't stay. Sorry. Welcome to how private college works.
December 9, 2025 at 5:30 PM
I want to agree with this so much. And I think it is obviously true at the vast majority of private schools you have heard of. But there is some category of private college where this won't be true because the students won't know the difference.
On the other hand, they thought they were solving their bullpen issues last year with Tanner Scott. I'm not wishing injury on anyone, but I don't think there are any guarantees here.
Dodgers only negative was their bullpen and they just added Edwin Díaz. This is not the Dodgers' fault. Other teams shouldn't have allowed it. They should've done everything in their power to stop it, namely they should've paid more money than the Dodgers. Unfortunately, half the league cries poor
December 9, 2025 at 4:39 PM
On the other hand, they thought they were solving their bullpen issues last year with Tanner Scott. I'm not wishing injury on anyone, but I don't think there are any guarantees here.
As a Charger fan, this is not in the least bit surprising. Of course he did.
December 9, 2025 at 4:31 PM
As a Charger fan, this is not in the least bit surprising. Of course he did.
The guy at the liquor store gave him the lie. What else could he do but defend his honor.
Man arrested, accused of robbing Tulsa liquor store with antique gun
Man arrested, accused of robbing liquor store with antique gun
The Tulsa Police Department arrested a man accused of robbing a south Tulsa liquor store with an antique gun on Friday night.
www.fox23.com
December 9, 2025 at 3:19 PM
The guy at the liquor store gave him the lie. What else could he do but defend his honor.
I had a joke about Theseus, but I kept rewriting it.
I had a joke about Democritus, but it takes a bit of a swerve.
I had lots of jokes about the Thales, but the punchline was always "Water!!"
December 8, 2025 at 5:53 PM
I had a joke about Theseus, but I kept rewriting it.
I had lots of jokes about the Thales, but the punchline was always "Water!!"
I had a joke about Heraclitus, but it never comes out the same way twice.
Yeah, my joke about Daedalus got a little too labyrinthine
December 8, 2025 at 5:49 PM
I had lots of jokes about the Thales, but the punchline was always "Water!!"
I had a joke about Zeno, but I could only ever get halfway through it.
I had a joke about Heraclitus, but it never comes out the same way twice.
Yeah, my joke about Daedalus got a little too labyrinthine
December 8, 2025 at 3:39 PM
I had a joke about Zeno, but I could only ever get halfway through it.
Reposted by Karl Appuhn
In the business this is known as Human Centipede (Final Sequence) ♻️
Your universe is a photocopy of a photocopy of a…
on.ft.com/4ahkNKa
on.ft.com/4ahkNKa
December 3, 2025 at 8:46 AM
In the business this is known as Human Centipede (Final Sequence) ♻️
I named my fists Principia and Mathematica because I'm about to send you into orbit.
I named my fists Moby and Dick because I am about to whale on you.
I named my fists Chekhov and Gun because you know they're coming but you don't know when
December 1, 2025 at 1:53 PM
I named my fists Principia and Mathematica because I'm about to send you into orbit.
This right here.
something i'll note is that if nuzzi ran catch-and-kill ops for rfk jr and lizza knew this prior to him being appointed as HHS, and instead of telling anyone, he decided to save it for his substack long after rfk jr had made communicable disease into federal policy, that's completely fucked
November 22, 2025 at 6:48 PM
This right here.
People on here are dragging the Harvard and Yale players as if the Chicago Bears franchise record for interceptions isn't held by a Yale grad who was one of the anchors of those 1980s Bears defenses. It ain't the SEC, but you might want to slow your roll anyway.
November 22, 2025 at 6:36 PM
People on here are dragging the Harvard and Yale players as if the Chicago Bears franchise record for interceptions isn't held by a Yale grad who was one of the anchors of those 1980s Bears defenses. It ain't the SEC, but you might want to slow your roll anyway.
Happy Veterans Day. But I wish the radio stations would stop playing fucking Lee Greenwood. Speaking only for this veteran, I hate that song. It's shitty on the merits, and shittier because of who has appropriated it.
November 11, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Happy Veterans Day. But I wish the radio stations would stop playing fucking Lee Greenwood. Speaking only for this veteran, I hate that song. It's shitty on the merits, and shittier because of who has appropriated it.
Exactly. Having the self-resepct to be a decent person shouldn't be such a heavy lift that we have to reframe it as something else.
I think we need to stop calling it empathy and go back to calling it decency. It isn't a favour you're doing someone else, it's you proving that you aren't a fucking ghoul
November 7, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Exactly. Having the self-resepct to be a decent person shouldn't be such a heavy lift that we have to reframe it as something else.
Given the Roger Revelle legacy, it makes sense that UCSD would do this. Definitely one of those moments when I am proud to be an alum.
Climate change ‘is the new liberal arts’: Colleges build environmental lessons into degrees.
University of California, San Diego, requires all students to learn about climate change, while other schools have added environmental sustainability requirements.
grist.org/solutions/cl...
#CA
University of California, San Diego, requires all students to learn about climate change, while other schools have added environmental sustainability requirements.
grist.org/solutions/cl...
#CA
Climate change ‘is the new liberal arts’: Colleges build environmental lessons into degrees
University of California, San Diego, requires all students to learn about climate change, while other schools have added environmental sustainability requirements.
grist.org
November 5, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Given the Roger Revelle legacy, it makes sense that UCSD would do this. Definitely one of those moments when I am proud to be an alum.
That tracks. Sliwa is an asshole with integrity. The other two are just assholes.
Zohran Mamdani says on NY1 he didn't get a congratulatory call from either Andrew Cuomo or Eric Adams last night.
He says he got a congratulatory call from Curtis Sliwa, though.
He says he got a congratulatory call from Curtis Sliwa, though.
November 5, 2025 at 2:12 PM
That tracks. Sliwa is an asshole with integrity. The other two are just assholes.
I could smell the mustard and the onions
November 5, 2025 at 1:34 AM
I could smell the mustard and the onions
I could smell the mustard and the onions
November 5, 2025 at 1:18 AM
I could smell the mustard and the onions
Has anyone else seen the Cuomo campaign truck with the jumbotron screen that says you should vote for Cuomo because "the drug dealers are already in the schools?" I saw it in my Bronx neighborhood yesterday morning but didn't get a picture.
October 31, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Has anyone else seen the Cuomo campaign truck with the jumbotron screen that says you should vote for Cuomo because "the drug dealers are already in the schools?" I saw it in my Bronx neighborhood yesterday morning but didn't get a picture.
Man, a Lomborg endorsement should make anyone reconsider their life choices.
“'I think it's great. I think it's also brave,' political scientist Bjorn Lomborg said of Gates’ essay."
That says all you need to know about Bill Gates' latest call to just surrender to climate change. When the climate denialists love you, you're doing it wrong
www.newsweek.com/bill-gates-d...
That says all you need to know about Bill Gates' latest call to just surrender to climate change. When the climate denialists love you, you're doing it wrong
www.newsweek.com/bill-gates-d...
Bill Gates Delivers ‘Tough Truths’ on Climate Just Before Big U.N. Talks
Bill Gates argues against focusing on emissions goals in favor of measures of human development.
www.newsweek.com
October 28, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Man, a Lomborg endorsement should make anyone reconsider their life choices.
Maybe we could organize a trade. The three West Coast states plus New England and New York to Canada and Alberta and its tar sands to the US.
Not sure if the political science literature covers cases where one province in a democratic federal system becomes a hybrid regime, but I think that's what we're seeing in Canada as Alberta sees astonishing democratic backsliding under the UCP.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Striking Alberta teachers forced back to work by fast-tracked legislation, notwithstanding clause | CBC News
Bill 2 passed early Tuesday morning after a long night for lawmakers in the provincial legislature. Premier Danielle Smith’s government introduced the legislation the day before.
www.cbc.ca
October 28, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Maybe we could organize a trade. The three West Coast states plus New England and New York to Canada and Alberta and its tar sands to the US.