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It's way past my bedtime but new exhibit review should be up tmrr

#got it in at the last second #for my.imagonary need to have a monthly video

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listen to the wind blow btw. and also watch the sun rise

#run in the shadows #damn your love damn your lies

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this bit from hbomberguy’s new video on climate denial is the funniest thing i’ve ever seen

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McGill University is considering its next steps to deal with the camp set up by pro-Palestinian activists on campus grounds in downtown Montreal, officials said Monday. In a statement published on its website, the university said the situation has “shifted significantly” and the number of people in the encampment has “tripled since Saturday.” University officials added “many of them, if not the majority, are not members of the McGill community.” A spokesperson for the encampment said members are calling for McGill and Concordia universities to divest from Israel-connected funds. They demand the academic institutions cut financial ties with Israel in light of the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. Signs at the McGill encampment state “You are funding genocide” and “Free Gaza now” and describe the demonstrators as standing in solidarity with the Palestinian cause and people in Gaza.

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @newsfromstolenland

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Tips for Spotting Bad & Bullshit History

There's no way to make sure you never fall for historical misinformation, and I'm not expecting anyone to fact-check every detail of everything they read unless they're getting paid for it. But you can make an effort to avoid the Worst Takes.

Ask yourself – if I wanted to verify this, where would I start? If you look at a statement and can’t actually find any facts to check, then you already know it’s bullshit.

Read the Wikipedia article on weasel words. Some experts say it’s very helpful!

Look for specifics: a who, a what, a where, a when. If one of those is missing or very broad, that’s a red flag. Statements need to be rooted in a time and a place. “People in the past have always…” Nope.

Vague is bad. Unless you’re looking at a deliberate large-scale overview that’s being broad and generalizing on purpose, you want names and dates and places and primary sources, pictures and quotes and examples.

But an example is not a trend. There’s a difference between what’s possible and what’s common, and history is full of exceptions and outliers. Extremely unusual people and events are overrepresented in the historical record (because nobody writes down what’s normal,) and they can tell us a lot about history, but they’re not directly representative of their place or time. Imagine a historian trying to reconstruct the 21st century based solely on Kiwifarm.

If a historian is competent or even just trying, you won’t have to go digging for sources, they will be shoved right into your face. Not out of mere academic rigor, but because a person who found them, either first- or second hand, is proud to have found them. People who have proof want to show you the proof, people who figured something out will want to show you their work, walk you through it. If they don’t, ask yourself – how do you know this? And - why won’t you tell me how you know this?

Someone might have a legit historical source, and then try to stretch it to cover times and places where it no longer applies. What’s true of 12th century England may not be true of 14th century Venice, even though both are “Medieval Europe,” so watch for those stretches.

Anecdotes are fine, they reveal a lot about people’s values and perceptions, pro historians often use them for context, but what anecdotes are not is factual truth. Notice when someone is feeding you cute anecdotes.

If someone attributes a large-scale social or cultural transformation to a single person or event, yeah that’s usually bullshit. Chances are, that person was part of a larger trend, a small link in a long chain. You can still appreciate their contribution, just put it in context!

Second-guess anyone who acts like they possess secret knowledge that the Media or Academia (or somebody) is hiding, they’re usually bullshit. Remember, if something has a Wikipedia article, it’s not actually a dark secret.

Remember that if it happened in the past sixty years, tons of people will still remember it, and you can literally just go and ask them.

Learn to recognise a smear tactic. Did this person really fuck dogs, or was their posthumous biography written by their worst enemy? Should we take it at face value? Also learn to recognise overt propaganda in the opposite direction: is the king that great or does he have a court historian on retainer? Remember that people sometimes *lie* in their autobiographies.

It’s fine to speculate about what “could” or “might” have happened, professional historians also fill the gaps in the sources with the occasional educated guess. But failing to differentiate clearly between fact and speculation is a huge mistake.

Do not seek validation in history. It's not there. I’m not saying you should approach history in an impersonal, apolitical way, of course not. Our present situation influences our interpretation of history, and it should. What I’m saying is, try not to hang too much of your individual or group identity on a historical narrative. Especially if it’s bullshit. You’re worthy and human because you’re worthy and human today, not because of the deeds and misdeeds of people in the past.

#👏👏👏 #history

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when I see something dated 2019 I think “oh that’s not too long ago” and then I remember that 2019 was not only five years ago but those five years have somehow contained several lifetimes

#im in the same place but so much has changed #mostly for the better tbh

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Sometimes I am editing and I'm like "man my energy is not in this video" but not this one yall. I don't know who this bitch is but she's actually kind of charismatic for once

#charisma is my dump stat #but that doesnt mean i wont pretend like its not

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By studying calcifying organisms, Leanne aims to better understand the impacts of human activity on marine ecosystems. Through her research, she hopes to influence policy that helps protect marine calcifiers in the future.

“Why is this important? The idea is that the more porous the shell, the weaker it is. Mussels need strong, robust shells to protect their inner soft organs—and that strong 3D structure is important for ecosystem function as habitat formers and storm defenses.

Currently, the changes seen in shell porosity are not large enough to influence the material properties, so we aren’t seeing weaker shells just yet. But with further warming in our oceans being predicted, this could potentially lead to even more porous shells, potentially impacting mussels’ function as habitat formers and storm defenses, as well as their ability to protect themselves from predation,” Melbourne explains.

Learn more about her research here.

#check this out #how museums can help scientists learn more about the impact of #climate change

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am I buying dolphin safe tuna? am I buying bat safe tequila? am I buying orangutan safe candy? am I buying bird safe windows? am I buying coral safe sunscreen? am I

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Video is done! I did move the cards around a bit though

Putting up some postcards from my PO Box in the background of my new video 😊

#i need to check my po box #i dont think ive done it in April at all

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'you still listen to music from 10 years ago 🤨?' bitch if prehistoric humans had audio recording technology id be sat up here listening to grog and unga bunga's greatest hits don't play with me

#yes!

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Me waiting for my camera to charge for 10 mins so that I can finish like 5 mins of recording for a video, telling myself "you can eat chocolate and watch the new red letter media video when you're done" through gritted teeth

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Putting up some postcards from my PO Box in the background of my new video 😊

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most british panel shows run the risk of getting stale as an unfortunate consequence of being on air for roughly 400 years each but taskmaster consistently cracks me up even at season 17

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I am on the dunegon meshi hype train

#two of my favourite things on the planet are food and dnd

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odysseus absolutely does present a threat to penelope if he perceives her as at all unfaithful, and i feel the unfairness of this, and i think people tend to undersell how much tension at least potentially exists between odysseus and penelope. but i'm also like. his reaction, all speculation aside, his actual reaction in the odyssey to her flirting with the suitors is delight, because he immediately ascertains that she is running a con. sorry that they're so in-sync in spite of the forces that try to drive a wedge between them, including their own misgiving hearts. sorry that they invented homophrosyne ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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life tip: whenever someone says “I know your father” always respond with “I’m sorry to hear that.” it catches them off guard but they’re always amused. another favorite is “yep, he’s a character.”

#im so sorry youve had the didpleasure of meeting him