Ted McCormick
@tedmccormick.bsky.social
Historian of scientific, economic and colonial projects in early modern Britain, Ireland, and the Atlantic; books http://bit.ly/3HYwNiA & http://bit.ly/3rKdAvt; http://memoriousblog.com; views mine; he/him. Montrealer in Philly, except when I’m in Montreal
Pinned
I don’t plan or draft my threads. So they have one or two beginnings and then it’s a lot of middles and ends interspersed. I do a bit better with articles and books
November 29, 2025 at 6:11 PM
I don’t plan or draft my threads. So they have one or two beginnings and then it’s a lot of middles and ends interspersed. I do a bit better with articles and books
Critics have likened Mr Hyde’s behavior to murder, while others have chalked it up as a cost of doing business with Dr Jekyll
How did the @nytimes.com editors let this sentence appear?
"Critics have likened Mr. Trump’s approach to extortion, while others have chalked it up as a cost of doing business with this administration."
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
"Critics have likened Mr. Trump’s approach to extortion, while others have chalked it up as a cost of doing business with this administration."
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Northwestern University Nears Deal to Resolve Its Conflict With the White House
www.nytimes.com
November 29, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Critics have likened Mr Hyde’s behavior to murder, while others have chalked it up as a cost of doing business with Dr Jekyll
This broadly tallies with my experience of teaching, and what colleagues have shared, over the last decade or so, though of course there are exceptions
An issue we're seeing at all levels of university is that many students are simply refusing to do *anything*. They aren't reading the syllabus, aren't following assignment guidelines, aren't engaging with material, ignoring deadlines. And this might seem like old news, but it truly has ramped up.
November 29, 2025 at 2:41 PM
This broadly tallies with my experience of teaching, and what colleagues have shared, over the last decade or so, though of course there are exceptions
Reposted by Ted McCormick
Put differently: If you look at a group of voters with the same education, their level of racial resentment strongly predicts their vote choice. But in a group of people with the same level of racial resentment, educational attainment does not allow for a strong prediction of their politics.
November 27, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Put differently: If you look at a group of voters with the same education, their level of racial resentment strongly predicts their vote choice. But in a group of people with the same level of racial resentment, educational attainment does not allow for a strong prediction of their politics.
Reposted by Ted McCormick
The Myth of a Rightward Realignment
Let’s discard some stubborn misconceptions about Trump’s support and what happened in the 2024 election. They are only obscuring our understanding of a profound de-alignment.
As the piece is partially behind a paywall, I’ll share some key thoughts:
🧵
Let’s discard some stubborn misconceptions about Trump’s support and what happened in the 2024 election. They are only obscuring our understanding of a profound de-alignment.
As the piece is partially behind a paywall, I’ll share some key thoughts:
🧵
The Myth of a Rightward Realignment
Let’s discard some stubborn misconceptions about Trump’s support and what happened in the 2024 election that are obscuring our understanding of a profound de-alignment
steady.page
November 27, 2025 at 2:06 PM
The Myth of a Rightward Realignment
Let’s discard some stubborn misconceptions about Trump’s support and what happened in the 2024 election. They are only obscuring our understanding of a profound de-alignment.
As the piece is partially behind a paywall, I’ll share some key thoughts:
🧵
Let’s discard some stubborn misconceptions about Trump’s support and what happened in the 2024 election. They are only obscuring our understanding of a profound de-alignment.
As the piece is partially behind a paywall, I’ll share some key thoughts:
🧵
Treating the past as a store of content makes us stupid. Treating the future as a chasm for content makes us unimaginative
You know what we won't need once handwriting recognition software has done its thing? Archivists, curators, conservators, catalogers, codicologists, or paleographers. We won't need archives either. We won't need diplomatics, editorial theory, book or media history, or material culture studies 🗃️🧵
November 27, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Treating the past as a store of content makes us stupid. Treating the future as a chasm for content makes us unimaginative
Reposted by Ted McCormick
fuck you
the memories of a generation lost because of Reagan's homophobia will not be erased
i think we should do something in DC that would make david wojnarowicz proud tbh
the memories of a generation lost because of Reagan's homophobia will not be erased
i think we should do something in DC that would make david wojnarowicz proud tbh
November 26, 2025 at 7:27 PM
fuck you
the memories of a generation lost because of Reagan's homophobia will not be erased
i think we should do something in DC that would make david wojnarowicz proud tbh
the memories of a generation lost because of Reagan's homophobia will not be erased
i think we should do something in DC that would make david wojnarowicz proud tbh
Reposted by Ted McCormick
We sold a lot of copies of the Statute of Kilkenny edition & translation last night in Kilkenny! Thanks to the big crowd who turned out for the event.
Get this beautiful volume while it is still available at:
www.irishmanuscripts.ie/product/stat...
Get this beautiful volume while it is still available at:
www.irishmanuscripts.ie/product/stat...
The Statute of Kilkenny preceded by the Ordinances of 1351 - Irish Manuscripts
The Statute of Kilkenny is one of the most important documents of Irish history. It consists of thirty-five provisions enacted at a parliament in Kilkenny on 18 February 1366, presided over by Lionel ...
www.irishmanuscripts.ie
November 26, 2025 at 7:19 PM
We sold a lot of copies of the Statute of Kilkenny edition & translation last night in Kilkenny! Thanks to the big crowd who turned out for the event.
Get this beautiful volume while it is still available at:
www.irishmanuscripts.ie/product/stat...
Get this beautiful volume while it is still available at:
www.irishmanuscripts.ie/product/stat...
So little discourse these days is aimed at absolutely everyone in the world at once. I blame hyper-specialization
November 26, 2025 at 7:14 PM
So little discourse these days is aimed at absolutely everyone in the world at once. I blame hyper-specialization
Reposted by Ted McCormick
one of the weird occupational hazards of being paid to think in public is the clear tendency to stop thinking at all
November 26, 2025 at 3:07 PM
one of the weird occupational hazards of being paid to think in public is the clear tendency to stop thinking at all
meanwhile, in Canada
November 26, 2025 at 3:16 PM
meanwhile, in Canada
It's not just the scrapping of structures that were considered cornerstones of "Western Values" just a few years ago; it's not even that the people scrapping them are the same sort of people who bray about Western Values; it's the casualness, the unseriousness about *their own* Most Serious Beliefs
Jury trials in England and Wales to be scrapped except for most serious cases on.ft.com/3LY1Ceq
Jury trials in England and Wales to be scrapped except for most serious cases
Proposed changes unlikely to apply for trials of serious offences such as rape and murder
on.ft.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:27 PM
It's not just the scrapping of structures that were considered cornerstones of "Western Values" just a few years ago; it's not even that the people scrapping them are the same sort of people who bray about Western Values; it's the casualness, the unseriousness about *their own* Most Serious Beliefs
the response to the pandemic was a dry run, in some ways
when the AI bubble bursts, remember your worth and how little regard they had for you when they let you go to save money.
November 25, 2025 at 3:36 PM
the response to the pandemic was a dry run, in some ways
A challenge for triumphalist accounts of the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment as harbingers of Useful Knowledge and thus makers of Our Modern Age is explaining why there are so many useful things that we don’t do very well at all, no matter how much of other people’s sacrifice we put into it
November 25, 2025 at 3:31 PM
A challenge for triumphalist accounts of the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment as harbingers of Useful Knowledge and thus makers of Our Modern Age is explaining why there are so many useful things that we don’t do very well at all, no matter how much of other people’s sacrifice we put into it
Reposted by Ted McCormick
It is rather odd to begin an article citing a recent paper by *40 scientists* that says "geoengineering was extremely unlikely to work and likely to have dangerous consequences" and then to go on to make the case that "these ideas are gaining traction" and cite the great thinkers thiel and musk
The idea that opposition to geoengineering is largely just lefty extremists and loopy right-wing chemtrail guys feels very much like part of the broader project to normalise it with the ultimate aim of ensuring it is actually deployed as a tacit replacement for mitigation
archive.ph/IYgEB
archive.ph/IYgEB
November 25, 2025 at 3:22 PM
It is rather odd to begin an article citing a recent paper by *40 scientists* that says "geoengineering was extremely unlikely to work and likely to have dangerous consequences" and then to go on to make the case that "these ideas are gaining traction" and cite the great thinkers thiel and musk
Then: citing only books by morally impeccable authors
Now: citing only books whose bindings don’t fall apart when you open them
Now: citing only books whose bindings don’t fall apart when you open them
November 25, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Then: citing only books by morally impeccable authors
Now: citing only books whose bindings don’t fall apart when you open them
Now: citing only books whose bindings don’t fall apart when you open them
Reposted by Ted McCormick
On Nov. 22, Vahid Abedini, an Iranian Studies professor at University of Oklahoma, was boarding a flight to attend the Middle East Studies Assn mtg in Washington, D.C. when he was detained by ICE.
OU Prof Joshua Landis says "he has been wrongfully detained because he has a valid H-1B visa."
OU Prof Joshua Landis says "he has been wrongfully detained because he has a valid H-1B visa."
November 24, 2025 at 10:33 PM
On Nov. 22, Vahid Abedini, an Iranian Studies professor at University of Oklahoma, was boarding a flight to attend the Middle East Studies Assn mtg in Washington, D.C. when he was detained by ICE.
OU Prof Joshua Landis says "he has been wrongfully detained because he has a valid H-1B visa."
OU Prof Joshua Landis says "he has been wrongfully detained because he has a valid H-1B visa."
Reposted by Ted McCormick
I've begun a starter pack of scholars of the early modern Low Countries. Let me know if you want me to add you. #earlymodern 🗃️
go.bsky.app/VsHZ9xJ
go.bsky.app/VsHZ9xJ
November 16, 2024 at 5:27 PM
I've begun a starter pack of scholars of the early modern Low Countries. Let me know if you want me to add you. #earlymodern 🗃️
go.bsky.app/VsHZ9xJ
go.bsky.app/VsHZ9xJ
To be fair, the vast majority of Americans are also not invited to parties on Martha’s Vineyard. Populist move
"elevate charismatic figures such as Alan Dershowitz"
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November 25, 2025 at 4:09 AM
To be fair, the vast majority of Americans are also not invited to parties on Martha’s Vineyard. Populist move
perpetual motion is real!
You have to keep giving money to avoid collapse and if there’s collapse you have to give more money. It’s called the free market.
November 25, 2025 at 12:17 AM
perpetual motion is real!
in science but not of it, as they say
Over many interviews, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told Michael Scherer about how he plans to remake America’s public-health system. Can he lead the scientific establishment he’s spent much of his life crusading against?
Read more in our new cover story: theatln.tc/q9hXxlbM
Read more in our new cover story: theatln.tc/q9hXxlbM
November 25, 2025 at 12:09 AM
in science but not of it, as they say
ma chère working class
November 25, 2025 at 12:07 AM
ma chère working class
Star Whackers sequel looks interesting. I'm willing to see where they're going with this
A friend has alerted me to this pressing and very real international incident involving the very sane Candace Owens.
November 23, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Star Whackers sequel looks interesting. I'm willing to see where they're going with this
the real battle isn't humanities vs STEM, it's humanities vs Books For Dad
November 23, 2025 at 7:34 PM
the real battle isn't humanities vs STEM, it's humanities vs Books For Dad
I can imagine this happening, but another possibility is that fancy schools just invest in fancy AI
My hot take is that over the next 10 years, we're going to see more emphasis on and investment in the humanities at Ivy League and other fancy schools just as state schools and small privates continue to decimate and even eliminate the humanities.
"While other universities report that the humanities are shrinking, at Berkeley, the opposite is true. The music major is the fastest-growing major on campus. We are finding bigger classrooms because film is exploding. English is back to the numbers we saw 15 years ago. We are hiring" bit.ly/4ohKuOe
November 23, 2025 at 5:55 PM
I can imagine this happening, but another possibility is that fancy schools just invest in fancy AI