trefeca.bsky.social
Retired (US, business & technology) historian. Twitter escapee. Hope this doesn't go the same way. Welsh & European. Durham resident. Gardener & cyclist.
3,677 posts
979 followers
1,040 following
Getting Started
Active Commenter
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“Widely accepted” germ theory — please remind me which century we are talking about!
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Was she the sole funder of the successful Scottish campaign?
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Mr Maugham’s outfit attempts to assert rights & in many cases the courts say No. Doesn’t strike me that his methods are that different from those of other interest- or pressure-groups that do the same, quite legitimately — using the law strategically, as one campaigning move amongst others.
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Congratulations!
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How different is this from what you do? You raise money in order to engage in legal actions to influence the behaviour of public authorities. Goose, meet gander, meet sauce.
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Sure it’s not just a TV aerial?
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But a _nice_ one, so it’s ok. Like my wood burner. Every time I light it I make myself feel better by saying “at least it’s not a Range Rover.”
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Invites the obvious response “by you & whose army?” The IDF is demonstrating quite well that they have negligible self-defensive & retaliatory capacity, & are degrading whatever is left by now.
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Don’t forget your contribution to small-particle pollution of your entire neighbourhood.
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An old colleague—retired a bit before I did, maybe 2010, excellent teacher—complained in the early 2000s, I think it was, when he returned to teaching after 7 years as a PVC, then research fellowships & heading REF subject panel, that we had become mere assessors rather than teachers in his absence.
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Somewhat better than minimum wage, I suppose. A postgraduate premium.
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I read much of the two volumes of his memoirs — slightly inaccurate memories, from old age. Very self-referential, as you’d expect, but what a restless, action-packed career! He appears to have known absolutely everybody. Olympic-standard name-dropper. Life interrupted by recurrent breakdowns.
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You can’t make an omelette, etc.
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As eugenicists go, he wasn’t too bad — opposition to Nazism & overall “progressivism” moderated/changed his earlier commitments. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC... discusses this, & there’s a good book about the Eclipse of Scientific Racism (can’t remember the author) that’s also quite kind to him
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They were able to do it in Gaza too — still could, but area devastation & then send in the engineer troops with explosives & bulldozers to flatten the ruins is cheaper/more economical/more thorough. Serves their purposes.
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You don’t need the potential for hassle. Who knows whether they’d even let you in by January. Do you have any social media profile that CBP might find interesting?
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Which they probably are. After all, the US has LOTS of generals (& equivalent naval ranks), but only e.g. one House Military Affairs Committee (or whatever it’s called now).
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They have (or at least had) a degree of control over legislation, investigations, appropriations, appointments etc. (including appointments & expenditures _within their own states_) that MPs cd only dream of. And all those staffers, HUGE offices, etc. And now it means nothing vs Unitary Executive.
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This will strike (some) Americans as particularly bad because, while they don’t have a great modern tradition of heckling (& Padilla was merely wishing to ask a question, albeit forcefully), Senators are used to being treated with far more deference than UK MPs or even Secs of State. They MATTER.
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I don’t donate to either of my old colleges because they‘re both so bloody rich that I can find much better charitable destinations for any £ I might give them. I tell them so too. And I wouldn’t donate to my old employer because I am too familiar with its ability to spend money freely but stupidly.
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Every single one an absolute banger. I can hear every single one in my head.
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@johnthejack.bsky.social
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In principle they probably do, but in practice they’re disappointed.
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These guys look more like Laurel & Hardy than the war criminals they are.
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Was nice while it lasted. I had a grad Fulbright at Cornell, a Senior Fulbright at Princeton, and then a Wilson Center Fellowship. Wouldn’t have had much of a career as a US historian without them. Aren’t there any nice private research fellowships you can apply for? Still the visa problem of course
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There was a furniture factory on an industrial estate near here that was about the same vintage, & quite similar — quality brickwork, nice fenestration, a bit of detailing that said “this is not just a utilitarian shed. All gone, not a trace.
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Many — most? — will probably follow these orders willingly. There is a large reservoir of MAGA enthusiasm among the demographics from which they recruit. Minorities too of course.
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It’s appropriate that he should celebrate traitors. They’re all dead, so he can’t pardon them too.
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“Threads”. I’m in awe of the appropriateness of your choice of words (not that you can call a thread anything else, really).
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Let us hope.
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I got my first house in 1976 when I was 24 and had been in my first academic job for less than a year. Nice recently done-up semi with a big garden on a country lane, no central heating, 2 good bedrooms, 2.25X gross salary, sold for twice purchase price in just over 3 years (blessed inflation).
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Hugely important IF…
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Exactly. Today’s line is “we can afford this now because things are getting better,” tomorrow’s for a miserable Spending Review will be that they aren’t. You can’t argue this both ways, especially when “the economy is getting stronger” does not square with many people’s experience. They’re plonkers.
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It’s not as if they have a well-earned reputation for immaculate decision- making that they need to defend at all costs (supposing they could). Their problem is more a growing lack of credibility, which this latest display of weakness (not the course change but lying about it) does nothing to remedy
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Not forgetting the Ku Klux Klan.
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@alistairking.bsky.social
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Egyptian geese, I think.
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Lucky you. I remember a chat with an old Prof. of Mathematics one of whose (overseas) students had interleaved his dissertation with £5 notes (when a fiver was worth having). Said it wasn’t a bribe, simply an expression of gratitude, and the way they did things back home. I only ever got whisky.
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Character limit problem. Brown envelopes, too—make the Councillors fatter, & explain why the Planners are so ****ing useless. Meanwhile the dead Heroes of Dunkirk or D-Day or whatever anniversary is nearest are spinning in their graves, seeing what has become of Britain & their Sacrifice was In Vain
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On local FB groups, the answer to all problems is always (1) free car parking everywhere, (2) no enforcement of speed limits, (3) it’s The Planners’ fault, (4) too many foreigners. Key questions are (a) why is your dog shitting outside my house, and (b) who has parked in my slot?
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Is the coal even the right kind to be turned into metallurgical coke? Anthracite in the west, steam coal in the east, thin & unprofitable seams for deep mining pretty much everywhere.
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Now I’ve got “all we are saaaying, is give Leeds a tram” in my head.