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Merle Eisenberg

@merleeisenberg.bsky.social

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Merle Eisenberg @merleeisenberg.bsky.social · Jun 12

My review article, "How Mediterranean Economies Were Shaped in the Early Middle Ages" in the American Historical Review is out. This was a lot of fun and I try to make sense of 500+ years of recent economic histories. Find it: doi.org/10.1093/ahr/.... 1/

How Mediterranean Economies Were Shaped in the Early Middle Ages

The clichéd image of the premodern Mediterranean economy is stagnation until the twin forces of capitalism and Industrial Revolution kick-started growth an

doi.org

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Merle Eisenberg @merleeisenberg.bsky.social · 1h

Thanks to those who have weighed in. I make it a point not to debate on social media, since it rarely leads to productive discussions. As I learned from in the Justinianic Plague debates, it's more productive to have a coffee/beer in person and have an open ended conversation. Always happy to do so.

Merle Eisenberg @merleeisenberg.bsky.social · 2d

Definitely worth a read having read Paolo's book in manuscript form!

Christoph Haack @christoph-haack.bsky.social · 2d

Another (quite exciting looking!) book from Tübingen!!

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Merle Eisenberg @merleeisenberg.bsky.social · 2d

Yea NIL for sure, but now they have to directly pay 20 million out of existing funds, so that is separate. It is also a question of limited fundraising dollars, as you said, going to athletics vs. general scholarships etc. If someone gives to sports, they may not give to the rest of the place.

Merle Eisenberg @merleeisenberg.bsky.social · 3d

Thanks! I figure with the 20 million needed to pay players directly now it's going to be far less likely.

Merle Eisenberg @merleeisenberg.bsky.social · 3d

Genuine question: How much does OU athletics give to academics? And, do you know where the money actually goes?

Reposted by Merle Eisenberg

arseblog @arseblog.com · 4d

Another 2-0 to the Arsenal!

Solid if unspectacular, lovely finish from Rice to put us 1-0 up after Eze should have done earlier. No mistake from Saka from the spot after Timber fouled.

West Ham offered so little, we controlled this one pretty easily.

Top of the table (for now), Interlull ahoy!

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Merle Eisenberg @merleeisenberg.bsky.social · 4d

Walking to the office where you stop in a bar? Uh huh. 😂

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Merle Eisenberg @merleeisenberg.bsky.social · 4d

That hardly looks like your office!

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Reposted by Merle Eisenberg

arseblog @arseblog.com · 6d

That second half was hard work. Olympiacos were much tougher to play against, but I think we were also wasteful. Trossard had big chances, Odegaard denied by brilliant goalkeeping and defending.

But he got the assist for Saka's late goal, the least his performance deserved. 3 points, clean sheet!

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Merle Eisenberg @merleeisenberg.bsky.social · 7d

It also has to do with professors in your College. CS tends to be in a College of Arts & Sciences (or Engineering) whereas business or law are often located somewhere else entirely. Law schools might not even be on the same campus and business is completely different.

Merle Eisenberg @merleeisenberg.bsky.social · 9d

Episode 140 is now up on "Tuberculosis in WW1" with Eric Story: infectioushistorians.com/2025/07/08/t.... We look at the impact of TB on Canadian soldiers in particular along with writing this history during Covid. Maybe an interest to @benmschneider.bsky.social and his Oslo crew.

Episode 140 – Tuberculosis in World War I with Eric Story, Infectious Historians

Marian Devotion and Plague in Late Medieval Italy with Bianca Lopez Episode 134 - March 7, 2025 Bianca Lopez (Southern Methodist University) joins the...

infectioushistorians.com

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Reposted by Merle Eisenberg

arseblog @arseblog.com · 9d

GET THE FUCK IN, THAT'S A HUGE WIN!

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Merle Eisenberg @merleeisenberg.bsky.social · 10d

Great set of charts from Ben Schmidt to update his existing work. Worth a look for sure.

Ben Schmidt @bschmidt.bsky.social · 10d

Despite the gutting of the National Center for Educational Statistics, the dept of Ed *did* manage to release 2024 college major counts in the usual format, so I can run it through the same code I do every year. First off, the change since peak of the largest fields -- another year of drops.

A line chart captioned "The big humanities majors were mostly still falling in 2024", showing drops since 2008 for most humanities fields between 10% (Study of the Arts) to 68% (religion) with history, english, and foreign languages all clustered around 50-55%

Reposted by Merle Eisenberg

arseblog @arseblog.com · 13d

Job done. Trossard goal added a little gloss to the scoreline, after what was a fairly risk averse second half from Arsenal.

Big game at the weekend perhaps in the back of our minds, played in 2nd gear, but we really didn't cause them enough problems with the talent we had on the pitch.

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Merle Eisenberg @merleeisenberg.bsky.social · 14d

I just tell them on day 1 they all get an A, since grad work isn't about grades. Then I comment significantly on anything they give me as way to build skills (from grammar to ideas) and add in a long note at the end. I also go old school and grade entirely by hand.

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Merle Eisenberg @merleeisenberg.bsky.social · 15d

This all hit home as I was finishing up a review task today that is paid but if I calculated the hours, would be far, far under minimum wage. But if too many of "me" opt out or disappear, it just can't be done.

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Merle Eisenberg @merleeisenberg.bsky.social · 15d

This outlines the structural problems in history and all humanities scholarship. Do more with less and then be shocked when people have to leave to make money and everyone left is overwhelmed.

Liz Covart @lizcovart.bsky.social · 15d

Something I’ve been thinking about:

History as a profession has long relied on affiliation.

Your university or museum pays your salary, and in return, you give time to edit journals, peer review articles, write book reviews, consult on exhibits, and volunteer for institutional support. 1/

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Reposted by Merle Eisenberg

Minnesota Vikings @vikings.social · 16d

Tamed the Bengals

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Merle Eisenberg @merleeisenberg.bsky.social · 17d

Some combination of: 1) this person is entirely clueless or 2) they know, but are making a political point by acting like an idiot.

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Merle Eisenberg @merleeisenberg.bsky.social · 18d

Nice write up of the 3 year NEH Collaboration grant with Lee Mordechai that I just received. Really excited to get started soon and have some great people coming to give talks and work with us at Oklahoma State: news.okstate.edu/articles/art...

History’s Eisenberg receives NEH grant for collaborative research on the First Plague Pandemic - Oklahoma State University

Oklahoma State University Department of History assistant professor Dr. Merle Eisenberg recently received a National Endowment for the Humanities Collaboration grant for nearly $250,000 to conduct res...

news.okstate.edu

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Merle Eisenberg @merleeisenberg.bsky.social · 20d

It's basically the structural reality in every historical field as far as I can tell parsing the data.

Merle Eisenberg @merleeisenberg.bsky.social · 20d

Basically "yes." Con: the article has a ton of readers and lots often critical feedback (from "this has no point" to people shredding it). Pro: The article gets A LOT better with the good feedback. Have to have thick skin to deal with it.

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Merle Eisenberg @merleeisenberg.bsky.social · 21d

The question here, I would think, is whether the AI cost is higher than just hiring more people to teach/mark in the long term, assuming that the software will require a long-term contract

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Merle Eisenberg @merleeisenberg.bsky.social · 21d

This series is well worth a read. It puts people behind the numbers I've collected here: www.themedievalacademyblog.org/wp-content/u... or the French History society in the US has done: www.wsfh.org/state-of-the.... FYI, I'm waiting until the end of the month to put together my newest update.

Reposted by Merle Eisenberg

arseblog @arseblog.com · 21d

Hard work, but two great subs won us the game!

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