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Nicholas Walmsley @hulegu.bsky.social · 10d

it was the first properly cold day of the autumn and I felt a little under-dressed

but not to fear! I outpaced all the snowflakes who had *overdressed* and were furiously shedding layers as they got deeper into the run

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Nicholas Walmsley @hulegu.bsky.social · 10d

I read Nostromo for the first time last year and it was incredibly and uncomfortably familiar and relevant

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Nicholas Walmsley @hulegu.bsky.social · 10d

went for a run today didn’t I

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Nicholas Walmsley @hulegu.bsky.social · 11d

I feel like Starmer in 2025 is like Biden in 2021

considering what went before the bar is remarkably low but he’s not even making that

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Nicholas Walmsley @hulegu.bsky.social · 11d

guess what is 50 this weekend?

clue: Anne Francis stars in Forbidden Planet

Nicholas Walmsley @hulegu.bsky.social · 12d

I went to see the infamous and uproarious midnight showings at the Prince Charles Cinema in London with the live ad-libbed commentary from the resident wags

ptklein @ptklein.com · 12d

The Rocky Horror Picture Show opened on US screens 50 years ago today. Initially a major box office bomb, cult cinema outsiders and queer audiences quickly took up the film’s mantle and turned it into a unique and exciting way of engaging with the movies. Remember kids, don’t dream it—be it!!

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Nicholas Walmsley @hulegu.bsky.social · 12d

Tony Blair finally getting to do his whole White Raja thing maybe he should phone Paul Bremer for advice oh wait he probably doesn’t want to be reminded of that massive cock-up otoh he probably still doesn’t regret it one iota

Nicholas Walmsley @hulegu.bsky.social · 12d

my most recent visit to the UK was my most disappointing and shocking yet

so many areas of the UK are in obvious socioeconomic decline and sorely need massive public investment but yes let’s blame it on tiny boats of immigrants

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Nicholas Walmsley @hulegu.bsky.social · 12d

I’m sick of and tired of speakers of other Turkic-languages giggling at my Uzbek just because I happened to specie in the one Turkic-language that doesn’t observe vowel harmony

Nicholas Walmsley @hulegu.bsky.social · 12d

I’ve signed up for Basic Kazakh haven’t I

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Nicholas Walmsley @hulegu.bsky.social · 12d

in-person

perk of the job

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Nicholas Walmsley @hulegu.bsky.social · 12d

whoops sorry *Qazaq*

Nicholas Walmsley @hulegu.bsky.social · 12d

I’ve signed up for Basic Kazakh haven’t I

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Nicholas Walmsley @hulegu.bsky.social · 12d

neither then nor now has there ever been anything of comparable scale and ambition in the UK not even at my beloved alma mater SOAS where you assume you’d find at least one or two courses in these languages but no

Nicholas Walmsley @hulegu.bsky.social · 12d

I could if I so wished study any one or more of Kazakh Uzbek Tajik Dari Pashto Mongolian Tibetan Kyrgyz Turkmen and on as on and during the school year or summer because the funding and infrastructure and instructors were all there

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Nicholas Walmsley @hulegu.bsky.social · 12d

I went to IU Bloomington many years ago precisely because its Title VI Inner Asia and Uralic NRC was a key pillar of the Central Eurasian Studies Dept

I wasn’t eligible for Title VI funding as an int’l student but I still benefited hugely

Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · Aug 9

It’s not just FLAS. It’s all the Title VI area studies centers. And dozens of labs & postdocs & research opportunities for undergrads funded by NSF and NIH grants. All gone. But the public won’t be aware of the actual consequences unless our leaders loudly & collectively explain to them the crisis.

Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · Aug 8

Again, you cannot unplug 1/4-1/5 of an R1 university's budget & expect the same quantity or quality of "things" on campus. The math simply doesn't work. And pretending it does & we can uphold our "core values," & not talking loudly & publicly about how it doesn't, is not a strategy. It's madness.

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Nicholas Walmsley @hulegu.bsky.social · 13d

I still find it remarkable how little attention the devastating attack on the British Library’s cyber-infrastructure received and continues to received

and yet it seems to have been the canary in the mine

Glyn Moody @glynmoody.bsky.social · 13d

important point; speaks to continuing political and journalistic ignorance about how the digital world changes everything...

Alexander Clarkson @aphclarkson.bsky.social · 14d

Kind of amazing how UK news media still remains obsessed with the structurally limited impact in economic terms of small boats even as this potentially terminal havoc works its way through key UK industrial supply chains
on.ft.com/3Ihb8YF

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Nicholas Walmsley @hulegu.bsky.social · 14d

there’s a bit of rewriting of cultural history in Uzbekistan at the moment

I went to the inaugural exhibition of the Center of Contemporary Arts in Tashkent …

… in May 2019

but now they’re claiming it will be in March 2026 🤔

Nicholas Walmsley @hulegu.bsky.social · 15d

there are good critics
there are great critics
and then there is Ian Penman

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Ian Penman · Infinite Wibble: Brian v. Eno

At a time when most conversation about the arts remained stuck in an Oxbridge common room, Eno was a one-man laboratory...

www.lrb.co.uk

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Nicholas Walmsley @hulegu.bsky.social · 15d

possibly England’s fastest attack since Snow, Willis, and Ward at Leeds in ‘76

Guardian Sport @sport.theguardian.com · 15d

England lay down gauntlet after naming five 90mph seamers in Ashes squad

* Wood, Archer, Atkinson, Carse and Tongue lead attack * Will Jacks gets nod over Rehan Ahmed as reserve spinner Already the quickest scoring team in Test cricket, England will hit Australia with their fastest bowling attack for a generation – perhaps all time – after announcing their 16-man squad for this winter’s Ashes assault. A late curveball from Rob Key’s panel is the inclusion of Surrey’s Will Jacks, offering an attacking option with the bat and serving as the reserve spinner to Shoaib Bashir. Otherwise, the squad is largely as expected, including confirmation that Harry Brook has replaced Ollie Pope as vice-captain. Continue reading...

dlvr.it

Nicholas Walmsley @hulegu.bsky.social · 15d

back on familiar ground

Nicholas Walmsley @hulegu.bsky.social · 15d

welcome to the club

a man and a woman are sitting on an airplane and the man is asking the woman if it is first time

ALT: a man and a woman are sitting on an airplane and the man is asking the woman if it is first time

media.tenor.com

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Nicholas Walmsley @hulegu.bsky.social · 16d

it is heavenly to work finally at a boring university

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Nicholas Walmsley @hulegu.bsky.social · 17d

I guess it makes me super old that I think students a) write better first drafts by hand and b) it’s easier and quicker to mark hand-written or printed work rather than scrolling through a screen

Nicholas Walmsley @hulegu.bsky.social · 17d

I haven’t converted any Kazakhs yet but there are plenty of international students on campus who have brought the game with them from India Pakistan Bangladesh and StinLanka

Nicholas Walmsley @hulegu.bsky.social · 17d

empty stadium
Aussies piling on the runs
Derek Pringle buffet bowling
Dropped catches galore

heaven indeed 😊

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