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Ben Gross

@bhgross144.bsky.social

4.1K followers 1.8K following 1.9K posts

John Merritt Associate Director for Research Services at the Harry Ransom Center; Author of The TVs of Tomorrow-How RCA's Flat-Screen Dreams Led to the First LCDs (Chicago 2018). Posting in a personal capacity.

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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · Aug 5

Do you:
-Love #literature? 📚
-Adore #art? 🎨
-Fancy #film or #photography? 📽️📸
-Thrill to the #theater? 🎭
-Relish #RareBooks? 📖

Apply for @ransomcenter.bsky.social's 2026-27 #fellowships!

Learn more & submit a proposal by Nov. 3: www.hrc.utexas.edu/fellowships/

#Humanities #Research #CFP #CFA 🗃️📜

A scholar examines a postcard in the Harry Ransom Center's reading room. Her photo is framed by a blue square with "FELLOWSHIP APPLICATIONS ARE NOW OPEN" written on each side. That image is positioned in front of a section of the etched windows on the Ransom Center's first floor, which showcase highlights from our collections.

More info about the Ransom Center's fellowships: https://www.hrc.utexas.edu/fellowships/

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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 10h

It was kind of the #Luxembourg airport to provide an impromptu slogan for this year’s SHOT conference!

#SHOT2025 #LetsMakeItHappen 🇱🇺

A sign printed on the wall at the Luxembourg airport, which reads “Luxembourg: Let’s Make It Happen”

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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 1d

🎶You're either talking or yawning. You didn't listen to a thing you heard. Don't start your morning moaning, or you might end up at the 2025 @shothisttech.bsky.social conference!🎶

(See you in Esch-sur-Alzette, SHOT friends!)

www.historyoftechnology.org/annual-meeti...

#SHOT2025 #histSTM #histtech

Luxembourg

YouTube video by Elvis Costello - Topic

www.youtube.com

Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 2d

"Be sure to smash that like button and support my Patreon to ensure we have enough pennies for Charon, the dark ferryman of the underworld!"

Reposted by Ben Gross

Charles M. Schulz Museum | The home of Snoopy & the Peanuts Gang @schulzmuseum.bsky.social · 6d

It’s your 75th anniversary, Charlie Brown! 💛⁠
⁠
🎉 Today marks the official 75th anniversary of Peanuts! On October 2, 1950, the first Peanuts comic strip, shown here, was published in seven newspapers nationwide. Charles M. Schulz was 27 years old.

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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 6d

“The first 6 flowers were very easy to chose—but the last 4 were much harder. Not because it is difficult to think of 4 flowers one loves, but because it is difficult to reject others.” -#JaneGoodall in Fleur Cowles's The Flower Game

HT @ransomcenter.bsky.social: sites.utexas.edu/ransomcenter... 🗃️📜

Jane Goodall visits United States Mission Uganda on 4 April 2022

Image courtesy of Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Goodall#/media/File:Jane_Goodall_visits_United_States_Mission_Uganda_on_4_April_2022_-_5_(cropped).jpg

List detailing participants for Fleur Cowles’s “The Flower Game.” Jane Goodall is the penultimate name listed at the bottom of the right-hand column.

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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 7d

"There's #ArtificialIntelligence, and there's actual intelligence..."

(Well played, @merriam-webster.com!)

#Dictionary #LLM #Booksky 📖

Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 7d

We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.

Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 7d

It's always nice to attend the "Familiar Terms" works-in-progress series @ransomcenter.bsky.social!

Today's presenter was HRC fellow @jennykenyon.bsky.social, who discussed "nervous realism" in the #radio dramas of Patrick Hamilton (author of #Gaslight & #Rope, among other plays).

#theatre 🗃️📜📻🎭

Jenny Kenyon discusses the work of Patrick Hamilton during the Ransom Center's Familiar Terms works-in-progress series.

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Reposted by Ben Gross

If you know you know @privatechand.bsky.social · 8d

This would be why I am such a strident critic of digitization as a substitute for actual archival preservation. My sixteenth century documents are far sturdier and likely to survive another 500 years than the detritus on the internet. And digitization is not democratization.

Dan Gillmor @dangillmor.bsky.social · 9d

Google deletes history:

Google just erased 7 years of our political history

Google appears to have deleted its political ad archive for the EU; so the last 7 years of ads, of political spending, of messaging, of targeting - on YouTube, on Search and for display ads - for countless elections across 27 countries - is all gone. We had been told

www.thebriefing.ie

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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 9d

Today's minor victory: Tying my longest @nytimes.com crossword streak!

(Onward to 679...)

#NYTXW #crosswords

Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 12d

Next week is going to be really exciting!

On Thursday (10/2), I'm co-hosting an online info session about
@ransomcenter.bsky.social's fellowship program.

Then on Friday (10/3), I've traveling to @utah.edu to discuss the Center's fellowships & collections.

www.research.utah.edu/funding-item... 🗃️📜

"An Archive of the Imagination: Research Opportunities at the Harry Ransom Center"
Presentation by Distinguished Visitor, Benjamin Gross, Ph.D.
October 3, 2025 from 11 am - 12 pm in the J. Willard Marriott Library, rm 1130

Talk is made possibly by Harry Ransom Center and University of Utah's Office of the Vice President for Research

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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 12d

Hmm...that's odd. I just retested the link, and it seemed to work.

As an alternative, you can visit the Ransom Center's Fellowships page and register from there: www.hrc.utexas.edu/fellowships/

(In any case, thanks for letting me know and apologies for the inconvenience!)

Fellowships: Harry Ransom Center

www.hrc.utexas.edu

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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 12d

Heads up, #humanities scholars! @ransomcenter.bsky.social is hosting an online info session about our 2026-27 research fellowships.

Join me & Tracy Bonfitto next Thursday (Oct. 2) at 9 AM, CDT for details about our collections & application process.

events.teams.microsoft.com/event/ad72fe... 🗃️📜📚

Social media graphic promoting the Harry Ransom Center's fellowship program. A photograph of a fellow reading a postcard is surrounded by a blue frame with white text ("FELLOWSHIP APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN") on each side.

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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 15d

I'm reasonably certain this is the 1st time I've ever been included on the short list for a #photography contest!

Many thanks to the @sciam.bsky.social staff for highlighting my recent #SciAmInTheWild selfie @ the Rufus Porter Museum.

(Original post here: bsky.app/profile/bhgr...)

#scicomm #SciAm

Meghan Bartels @meghanbartels.bsky.social · 15d

We posted some of our favorite #SciAmInTheWild submissions and honestly, these make me so dang happy: www.scientificamerican.com/article/anno...

Announcing the #SciAmInTheWild Photography Contest Short List

To celebrate Scientific American’s 180th anniversary, we invited readers to place our magazine covers in the wild. See our staff’s favorite submissions

www.scientificamerican.com

Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 15d

It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue jay.
Further investigation will reveal more about their nature.

#Zorknithology

So What Should We Call This – a Grue Jay?

The rare hybrid offspring of a blue jay and a green jay is likely a result of weather-related shifts in the range of two species.

cns.utexas.edu

Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 15d

I imagine a speech paraphrasing the Tick, "I hate flamin' hot cheetos. And yet, in a sense, I *am* flamin' hot cheetos..."

Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 15d

Historians and STS scholars should be leading the charge against technological determinism in our libraries and universities, waving the banner of contingency above their serried ranks.

Matthew Noe @noethematt.bsky.social · 16d

I want library leaders who can conceive of resistance, who can imagine different futures, not who say "welp, this is the world, guess we have no choice" at every single turn of politics or technology.

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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 16d

Technologically advance a band:

HDTV on the Satellite Radio

Charles Louis Richter @richterscale.bsky.social · 16d

Technologically advance a band:

Jefferson Starship

Jeff Baker @jwbee.bsky.social · 16d

Technologically advance a band:

The B-2s

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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 16d

You're not alone...

Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 17d

"It's your basic Statue of Liberty play with one twist--you throw it to me!"

#Simpsons

Krusty and Bart discuss a Super Bowl winning play in the "Nightmare on Elm Street" segment of Treehouse of Horror VI. (Oct. 1995)

Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 17d

"Well, that depends what you mean by 'crisis'..."

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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 18d

- #MeanGirls costumes✅
-Annotated #ThreeAmigos scripts✅
-The pilot for #30Rock ✅
& 50 years of #SNL history✅

Come & see "Live From New York: The #LorneMichaels Collection," now open to the public!

(Thanks to @mr-jce.bsky.social for visiting @ransomcenter.bsky.social earlier this week!) #ATX #TBT

#TBT: From SNL to Mean Girls - UT Austin opens Lorne Michaels exhibition

Mean Girls, SNL, Three Amigos & more: UT’s Harry Ransom Center unveils the Lorne Michaels Collection, celebrating 50 years of comedy and culture.

cbsaustin.com

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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 18d

Welcome to Austin! If you have time while you're in town, you should swing by @ransomcenter.bsky.social to check out our brand-new Lorne Michaels exhibition.

Further info via @texashighways.bsky.social: texashighways.com/culture/its-...

Saturday Night Live Archives Debut in Austin

The world-renowned Harry Ransom Center in Austin acquired the archives of longtime creator Lorne Michaels in 2023

texashighways.com

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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 19d

"These are the building blocks of the show that's been around for so long, it's really a great history lesson for us."

Curator Steve Wilson discussing @ransomcenter.bsky.social's new #LorneMichaels exhibition on the Today Show.

#LiveFromNewYork #NBC #Today
#SaturdayNightLive #SNL #TVHistory 🗃️📜🎭

New ‘SNL’ Exhibit to Feature Lorne Michaels’ Entire Archive

Live from Austin, it’s Saturday Night! Lorne Michaels, the man behind the legendary sketch-comedy series, is donating his entire archive to the Harry Ransom Center in Texas. NBC’s Priscilla Thompson r...

www.today.com

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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 19d

Further proof that going to @ransomcenter.bsky.social can improve your #trivia skills!

(@kenjennings.bsky.social—You & the @jeopardyofficial.bsky.social crew have an open invitation to tour Lorne Michaels exhibit the next time you’re in Austin!)

www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/...

#Jeopardy #SNL

Sketchy Characters for $800

On Saturday Night Live, this late, great funny man played Matt Foley, battling both wayward kids and his falling pants

The original costume that the correct response to that Jeopardy clue wore while playing Matt Foley on Saturday Night Live, as seen in the Harry Ransom Center’s new exhibition, “Live From New York: The Lorne Michaels Collection”

Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 19d

Thanks to @rmwhittaker.bsky.social & @austinchronicle.bsky.social for the great write-up of @ransomcenter.bsky.social's new exhibit, "Live From New York: The Lorne Michaels Collection."

(Be sure to stop by UT tomorrow for our Campus Preview Day!)

#SaturdayNightLive #SNL
#TVHistory #Austin #ATX 🗃️📜📺

Live From the Harry Ransom Center, It’s Saturday Night!

New exhibition goes behind the scenes of TV’s longest-running sketch comedy show

www.austinchronicle.com

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