Alex MacFarlane
@aghowes.bsky.social
Peripatetic postdoctoral scholar, researching the medieval Armenian Alexander Romance and 19th-century Caucasus cosmopolitanism. Films, trains, British. They/them.
I had a pack of halva in my carry-on suitcase one time and had it bomb swabbed at Luton because on x-ray it looks a lot like a brick of c4
January 9, 2026 at 10:50 AM
I had a pack of halva in my carry-on suitcase one time and had it bomb swabbed at Luton because on x-ray it looks a lot like a brick of c4
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
it's a new Zonai-Boeing coproduction, the plane that unspawns from the sky 3 minutes into flight
January 8, 2026 at 3:13 PM
it's a new Zonai-Boeing coproduction, the plane that unspawns from the sky 3 minutes into flight
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
Amongst everything else, I'm thinking about how eager the UK press were initially to swallow the Met's lie that Jean Charles de Menezes was a terrorist after they executed him in a tube station
January 8, 2026 at 10:11 AM
Amongst everything else, I'm thinking about how eager the UK press were initially to swallow the Met's lie that Jean Charles de Menezes was a terrorist after they executed him in a tube station
I see people post about real, historical killings with censorship asterisks on k*lled and it drives me nuts, it is excruciating that people are using it on one that happened in the last 24h
January 8, 2026 at 6:52 AM
I see people post about real, historical killings with censorship asterisks on k*lled and it drives me nuts, it is excruciating that people are using it on one that happened in the last 24h
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
Protest sign on Route 4 in Paramus, New Jersey reads “ICE murders woman in MN”
January 7, 2026 at 9:20 PM
Protest sign on Route 4 in Paramus, New Jersey reads “ICE murders woman in MN”
I watched a Polish-Japanese film adaptation of The Idiot that someone's kindly put on youtube, and the next recommended video is "Where should Hyrule build their airport?" with BotW Link in a pilot's hat next to an Airbus. Two different genres of video. Both of which I watch, to be fair to youtube.
January 7, 2026 at 9:12 PM
I watched a Polish-Japanese film adaptation of The Idiot that someone's kindly put on youtube, and the next recommended video is "Where should Hyrule build their airport?" with BotW Link in a pilot's hat next to an Airbus. Two different genres of video. Both of which I watch, to be fair to youtube.
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
Back at work this week and I wanted to share something that's actually a cool history post and not just, like, anti-imperialist rage. This is a Buddhist 'dharani' amulet found in a tomb at Chang'an (modern Xi'an) in northern China. It was *printed* (probably by monks) circa 650-670 CE.
January 7, 2026 at 2:06 PM
Back at work this week and I wanted to share something that's actually a cool history post and not just, like, anti-imperialist rage. This is a Buddhist 'dharani' amulet found in a tomb at Chang'an (modern Xi'an) in northern China. It was *printed* (probably by monks) circa 650-670 CE.
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
Commission for @sifu-burb.bsky.social
January 6, 2026 at 11:25 AM
Commission for @sifu-burb.bsky.social
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
Guys, we have failed Bluesky. We have failed utterly. In the days of yore it was clear that if you got two historians into a room and asked them when did the Roman Empire fall you would get three opinions.
Here’s a fun top five: things that are consensus among historians but are essentially unknown by the public. Richard I, a bad king of England. Roman Empire, fell in 1453. Paul, more important than Jesus. Witch burning, a modern phenomenon not a medieval one. Britain last invaded in 1688. Yours?
As someone who wrote a dissertation on that damnable Frenchman; one can only hope.
January 6, 2026 at 12:01 PM
Guys, we have failed Bluesky. We have failed utterly. In the days of yore it was clear that if you got two historians into a room and asked them when did the Roman Empire fall you would get three opinions.
My aunt in Aberdeen meanwhile has had about 10 inches of snow. Have to salve my jealousy by remembering how miserably cold a Scottish heatwave is.
January 6, 2026 at 11:33 AM
My aunt in Aberdeen meanwhile has had about 10 inches of snow. Have to salve my jealousy by remembering how miserably cold a Scottish heatwave is.
The lightest dusting of snow down here in Sussex, to accompany the remains of an overnight dusting from the other night.
January 6, 2026 at 11:32 AM
The lightest dusting of snow down here in Sussex, to accompany the remains of an overnight dusting from the other night.
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
the reason they don’t bother to manufacture the consent beforehand is that everyone just sort of does it for them post-facto now
January 3, 2026 at 5:02 PM
the reason they don’t bother to manufacture the consent beforehand is that everyone just sort of does it for them post-facto now
ugh, every finger crossed
January 3, 2026 at 9:06 PM
ugh, every finger crossed
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
"X, the everything app (everything includes a SCIF)"
They’ve got Twitter up on the big screens in Trump’s Mar-a-Lago makeshift “situation room.”
Photos from Trump’s Truth Social account.
Photos from Trump’s Truth Social account.
January 3, 2026 at 6:36 PM
"X, the everything app (everything includes a SCIF)"
I forgot to post the finished set! It was really fun to put together. No Revali figure, though. Oversight.
January 3, 2026 at 6:52 PM
I forgot to post the finished set! It was really fun to put together. No Revali figure, though. Oversight.
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
[starmer at home, curtains drawn, riverdancing expressionlessly as the phone rings off the hook]
January 3, 2026 at 3:36 PM
[starmer at home, curtains drawn, riverdancing expressionlessly as the phone rings off the hook]
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
It's a big day for those fluent in the good grammar of civility looking to deploy decorum to mask agendas of cruelty
January 3, 2026 at 12:19 PM
It's a big day for those fluent in the good grammar of civility looking to deploy decorum to mask agendas of cruelty
Superman, not Spidey. Off they go on their next mission (next pub on the crawl).
January 2, 2026 at 2:42 PM
Superman, not Spidey. Off they go on their next mission (next pub on the crawl).
2 January, sat in a pub, four lads dressed as Iron Man, Batman, Spiderman and the Hulk (cheap-looking suits, but not subtle) have walked in. I salute the commitment to keeping up the festivities.
January 2, 2026 at 2:14 PM
2 January, sat in a pub, four lads dressed as Iron Man, Batman, Spiderman and the Hulk (cheap-looking suits, but not subtle) have walked in. I salute the commitment to keeping up the festivities.
I've been killing them in my bedroom this december, it's wild
January 2, 2026 at 10:38 AM
I've been killing them in my bedroom this december, it's wild
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
Mamdani: For too long, those fluent in the good grammar of civility have deployed decorum to mask agendas of cruelty
January 1, 2026 at 8:00 PM
Mamdani: For too long, those fluent in the good grammar of civility have deployed decorum to mask agendas of cruelty
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
just saw a billionaire pack all his things in a bindle and start leaving new york city on foot. he turned and looked at me with tears in his eyes and said “maybe one day when this city is safe we’ll return” before walking away
January 1, 2026 at 6:59 PM
just saw a billionaire pack all his things in a bindle and start leaving new york city on foot. he turned and looked at me with tears in his eyes and said “maybe one day when this city is safe we’ll return” before walking away