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will o’the wisp pooley

@willpooley.bsky.social

8.2K followers 2.9K following 5.4K posts

historian of witchcrafts, folklore, France 18-20th c ass. ed. French History ed. Cambridge Elements in Magic also #CreativeHistories not *literally* jack skellington

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will o’the wisp pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · Nov 10

My reintroduction: historian of french magic, folklore, witchcraft, tarot. I blog about all that, as well as writing, creative historical methods, quantification and research process.

A surprising number of you sickos can’t get enough spreadsheet chat🗃️
williamgpooley.wordpress.com/2024/05/22/s...

Sheet Happens

When I started working on witchcraft cases in France from 1790-1940, I knew I wanted to count them. This, of course, was my first mistake. The oldest version I have of the Excel spreadsheet I built…

williamgpooley.wordpress.com

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will o’the wisp pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 5h

variety has value. doing things differently is freeing

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will o’the wisp pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 5h

ive recently been enjoying doing things differently, trying to shake myself out of habits of writing, teaching, presenting etc. eg no script for lecture or talk. i think i need to take the plunge and try a no slides lecture

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will o’the wisp pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 5h

when i started my phd in 2010 one thing i definitely underestimated was how much of my life 15 years later would be “making PowerPoints”

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French Colonial Historical Society @frenchcolonial.bsky.social · 16d

Share widely!

We are now accepting paper and panel proposals for our 2026 Annual Conference in Ireland at Maynooth University taking place 25-27 June 2026!

The submission deadline is 14 November 2025, and you can read more information on our website!

frenchcolonial.org/annual-meeti...

Annual Meeting – French Colonial Historical Society

frenchcolonial.org

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Tobias Wilson-Bates @phdhurtbrain.bsky.social · 17h

It’s unfortunate that the general aging population doesn’t get as much interaction with curious, hardworking young people as college professors do. They really will give you hope about the future on a daily basis 🤔

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The Prize Papers Project @prizepapers.bsky.social · 17h

From today, we will release the documents related to the Fort de Nantes, a French ship chartered by Francisco Sánchez de Madrid, a merchant from Cádiz, to travel to Veracruz and Havana. It was captured by two ships of the British Navy on January 5 1747, on its journey back and taken to Plymouth.

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Fantômas, Le contrebandier de DEI @theefantomas.bsky.social · 23h

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Sarah-Maria Schober @smschober.bsky.social · 19h

Want to work on the history of hair? I am looking for a doc and postdoc to join my project team researching #earlymodern hair, race, trade and multispecies history at the University of Lucerne.

Do apply and spread the word!

www.unilu.ch/en/universit...

www.unilu.ch/en/universit...

PhD position in History (100%, 4 years) - Vacancies - University of Lucerne

Assistant or doctoral positions, employment or internship: Looking for a job at the University of Lucerne? Find our listed open positions and apprenticeships here.

www.unilu.ch

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The Onion @theonion.com · 17h

Health Experts Recommend Standing Up At Desk, Leaving Office, Never Coming Back https://theonion.com/health-experts-recommend-standing-up-at-desk-leaving-o-1819577456/

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Omar Khan @omaromalleykhan.bsky.social · 19h

I know statistics are poorly understood and are misused. But facts matter

Between the 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021 Census *every* ethnic group in the UK has become *less* geographically segregated and *all* groups, majority and minorities, are more likely to interact with people not like them

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will o’the wisp pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 18h

“there’s no app to meet other mutant ladies,” declares splinter in teenage mutant ninja turtles (2023),
confirming that the writers of this film hadn’t heard of bluesky yet

will o’the wisp pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 22h

me typing important emails like “this bad boy dan fit so many typos ik it”

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Disco Elysium Quotes @discoelysiumbot.bsky.social · 1d

Still, there's something inherently violent even about dice rolls. It's like every time you cast a die, something disappears. Some alternative ending, or an entirely different world...

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Mark Williams @mrfw17thc.bsky.social · 1d

Look either you're for the current Gnome Office policies or you're against them. There's no middle ground.

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will o’the wisp pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 1d

im sorry americans, we dont all come on here to talk about your politics all the time and some of us are here to talk about the fiscal and taxation implications of factional disputes between elves and goblins

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will o’the wisp pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 1d

the GOP must be stopped!!!

(Gnomes Organizationalist Party)

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will o’the wisp pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 1d

ENOUGH is ENOUGH! donald must be deposed!

(from his position as hereditary margrave of the territories of pinchlebottom)

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will o’the wisp pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 1d

as a service to my followers
i always make sure to carefully label any political posts to make it clear they are NOT about america but about a land populated by gnomes that exists only in my own imagination

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Arts Matter Bristol @uobartsmatter.bsky.social · 1d

✨ COMING UP: Join Prof Justin Williams for a screening & discussion of a new documentary on Hip-Hop in Tanzania

Part of the Sounding East Africa project, the doc charts the development of hip-hop as part of East African musical history

📆 Thu 30 Oct, 6-9pm
📍 @wshed.bsky.social
🎟️ bit.ly/42oG7Ja

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Mark Hailwood @markhailwood.bsky.social · 1d

As you dig out your chunky knitwear from the back of the draw, I know you are wondering: 'How did people prepare for winter 400 years ago?'

Read today's post to find out (and whet your appetite for our new book The Experience of Work in Early Modern England)

manyheadedmonster.com/2025/10/07/t...

The Experience of Work in Early Modern England I: Winter is Coming

This post is part of a series that marks the publication of The Experience of Work in Early Modern England. The book is co-authored by monster head Mark Hailwood, along with Jane Whittle, Hannah Ro…

manyheadedmonster.com

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John Gallagher @earlymodernjohn.bsky.social · 1d

A lot of talk about emotion in the archive recently, and I get it. This morning I've been brought nearly to tears by trying to unpick the history of a Flemish family where the grandfather, father, and son all have exactly the same name.

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will o’the wisp pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 1d

i think it might be because everyone knows deep down they aren’t real animals. but there are loads of emojis of mythical animals: unicorn, clown etc

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will o’the wisp pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 1d

*a few minutes on search engines later*

nope it really never existed wtf memory???

will o’the wisp pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 1d

as all historians know, memory is fallible. however, MY memory cannot be wrong. the seahorse emoji was REAL i can see it in my mind’s eye. i dont know the purpose of this conspiracy but i wont rest until the truth is revealed

mia @miaout.bsky.social · 1d

Why do LLMs freak out over the seahorse emoji? vgel.me/posts/seahor...

Why do LLMs freak out over the seahorse emoji?

Investigating the seahorse emoji doom loop using logitlens.

vgel.me

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