James A. Benn
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jamesabenn.bsky.social
James A. Benn
@jamesabenn.bsky.social

Medieval Chinese Religions. McMaster Uni. Burning for the Buddha (Hawai'i 2007) pback 2016; Tea in China (Hawai'i, 2015), Chinese trans. 2019. Canadian, obvs.

Political science 34%
Sociology 34%

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Rob Davis

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During his first Christmas at the Minidoka concentration camp in Idaho in 1942, Tsuguo “Ike” Ikeda remembers that the holiday spirit still found a way to shine.

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Freezing Rain Warning

Now in effect for Hamilton.

"Ice accretion of near 5 mm is likely [this afternoon and evening]. Some areas will also receive ice pellets making surfaces slippery." #yhmwx #HamOnt

weather.gc.ca/en/location/...

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Are these by any chance ... Eleph🐘-🐜ants? 🤭

< 1499 Hypnerotomachia Poliphili @ books.google.de/books?id=lJs...

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Windows 98 starting up for the first time 🔊

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[December 26th, 1945] George Bernard Shaw urged the British government to form a committee to create a new, simplified English alphabet, where each sound is represented by a single, easy-to-write symbol. He argued that eliminating redundant letters—like the final "b" in "bomb"—could save time and

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26 Dec 1776 // 10-gun HMS George, a schooner in use as tender to HMS Milford, captured an American sloop off Nova Scotia while taking supplies out to the Milford. The crew were all taken off and the sloop was burnt. The schooner then continued on her way, but met steadily worsening weather. [1/2]

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Happy Boxing Day everyone!
Boxing Day has a long history in Canada that has evolved over the past two centuries.
But how did a day for giving alms to the poor become a day focused on sales?
This is the story!

🧵1/7
Make a Bond movie casual

From Russia with Best Wishes
Make a Bond movie causal

The World is an Insufficient, but Necessary, Part of an Unnecessary, but Sufficient, Condition
make a Bond movie casual

Tomorrow never dies, or perhaps it does, dunno, whatevs

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THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM (1955)

Sinatra's performance is rhythmic, tense, and instinctive, yet beautifully controlled, and of course, he has a performer's presence...The young Kim Novak's Molly has a dumb, suffering beauty that's very touching.

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This year, remember the true Reason for the Season:

driving out & utterly destroying the demonic Manchu usurpers & eradicating the false gods of Confucianism!!

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There must surely be a connection between the English tradition in painting and their moviemaking, which, visually, is weak and illustrative. (1969)

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happy flumas to all those inadvertently celebrating.

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Merry Christmas, bicycle friends!

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"The Land of Cockaigne", Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1567. https://twitter.com/PublicDomainRev/status/1474852463312351241/photo/1

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this is what some of you look like in your chore coats

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A Chinese scholar at work, c.1905, by missionary Arthur H Smith

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Also check out Michelle Wang's "Global Medieval Studies is a Failure," which is absolute 🔥 and also argues that comparative studies might be a better path forward than "global" ones.
doi.org/10.1086/738440
Global Medieval Studies Is a Failure | Speculum: Vol 101, No 1
doi.org

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A new short piece of mine just came out in the centennial issue of Speculum that (briefly) tries out comparative, rather than global, history on medieval archives from the Shōsōin, Dunhuang, and the Cairo Geniza.
www.journals.uchicago.edu/eprint/JRDRZ...
University of Chicago Press Journals: Cookie absent
www.journals.uchicago.edu

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NARA TO NORWICH ✏️ BLOG POST: Sacred Paths, Protected Lands: Pilgrimage, Ecology and Conservation in the Anthropocene explores the symbiotic relationship between pilgrimage sites and protected natural environments. naratonorwich.org/sa...

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Excited to announce that McMaster Humanities is looking to recruit established international researchers to our institution. Please see the following link for details of the government of Canada’s Impact+ program and reach out to me if you are interested. www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/2025/12/22/m...
McMaster seeking international academics for new Canada Impact+ Research Chairs program – Faculty of Humanities | McMaster University
www.humanities.mcmaster.ca

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We've added a new post to our blog, by Björn Billing on 'Visualising Icebergs in the Early Modern Period'; read it here: whitehorsepress.blog/2025/12/22/v... #envhist @eandhwhp.bsky.social #iceberg #arctic
Visualising Icebergs in the Early Modern Period
Today’s blog by Björn Billing introduces his recent article in Environment and History (online first, December 2025), Visualising Icebergs: Early Modern Depictions, ca 1570–1770 and shows how…
whitehorsepress.blog

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Upcoming two-part graduate student conference at Princeton and Sciences-Po on "The French Revolution and the Sacred." Call for papers here:
fit.princeton.edu/events/frenc...
The French Revolution and the Sacred
“Revolution continues Christianity, and it contradicts it. It is, at the same time, its heir and its adversary.” – Jules Michelet (1848)In the years leading up to the bicentenary commemorations of 198...
fit.princeton.edu

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Sheryl Garrison in Southern Alberta, Canada, sent us this photo on Sunday of a "lake star" formation on a frozen #lake. Thank you, Sheryl! ⭐️🥶📸
buff.ly/eKO1bc3

See more great images and submit your own recent photos at EarthSky Community Photos:
buff.ly/5znDeq5
🚨 Le dernier numéro des #Annales est disponible sur @universitypress.cambridge.org

Au programme : #évergétisme #migrations #mercenaires #valeur #géographie

Avec plusieurs articles en #openaccess

Bonne lecture !

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

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"Votes for Women" sashes worn #onthisday in 1908 by four suffragettes on white horses, part of a procession escorting Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst to a breakfast celebration at London's Court Hotel upon their release from Holloway women's prison--a suffragette tradition. #OTD 📷 London Museum

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New video 🎥🌍 Religion, Theology and Climate Change
How is climate change reshaping faith? The project explores how Christian activists understand their vocation and responsibility to care for our common home. Watch now on YouTube: https://ow.ly/PaGq50XJvAy

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Holiday Hot Take Number 21:

Elf and Love Actually (both 2003) are very powerful post-9/11 Christmas movies in the tradition of using secular Christmas sentiment to process national and international trauma just like A Christmas Story (1983) and It's a Wonderful Life (1946).