Karl Appuhn
@appuhn.bsky.social
Historian of Renaissance Italian trees, critters, medical practitioners, and assorted other stuff. Californian in exile. Veteran. Semi-pro Curmudgeon.
Pinned
I think we need a mega thread of everyone's craziest archive stories.
I started this thread because some folks had suggested that Historians could do their research using LLMs, and anyone who disagreed was ignorant. I wanted some stories that illustrated why that's not true. The results exceeded my expectations. Most of the replies are in the form of quote-skeets.
What is the process server going to say to the bear?
Ursine here please.
Ursine here please.
Black bear living underneath California house shows no sign of budging as homeowner mulls legal action
Black bear living underneath Altadena house shows no sign of budging as homeowner mulls legal action
The 550-pound black bear has taken up residence in the crawlspace underneath Ken Johnson's home in California for a month.
www.cbsnews.com
January 2, 2026 at 2:33 AM
What is the process server going to say to the bear?
Ursine here please.
Ursine here please.
Hall of Fame bad response to the JH thread. JH's cardinal sin as a scholar was that he did not recognize anything outside of his own interests as legitimate. If your response is that what he worked on was obviously unimportant, then you are exactly as narrow minded as he is. Congratulations.
January 1, 2026 at 3:39 PM
Hall of Fame bad response to the JH thread. JH's cardinal sin as a scholar was that he did not recognize anything outside of his own interests as legitimate. If your response is that what he worked on was obviously unimportant, then you are exactly as narrow minded as he is. Congratulations.
For the end of 2025, I just want to say that I didn't like Hankins or the AI boosters before, but now I am extra resentful at both because I had to do two serious threads in a row, when my real reason for being here is to make bad jokes. Happy new year everyone.
December 31, 2025 at 11:47 PM
For the end of 2025, I just want to say that I didn't like Hankins or the AI boosters before, but now I am extra resentful at both because I had to do two serious threads in a row, when my real reason for being here is to make bad jokes. Happy new year everyone.
It's a pervasive problem in academia. Definitely not limited to any one discipline.
This thread has reminded me of the people who are angry that we aren’t teaching systematics in frosh biology anymore.
Or that classes that emphasize systematics are disappearing or becoming electives.
Or that classes that emphasize systematics are disappearing or becoming electives.
The politics here are reprehensible but also really sad. He was a great scholar once. He had philological skills that no one has anymore. There are very few people who could produce that kind of work today. And to some extent, that's what this is about. He's mad that our field lost its former status
December 31, 2025 at 4:10 PM
It's a pervasive problem in academia. Definitely not limited to any one discipline.
Reposted by Karl Appuhn
When Hulk Hogan died. bsky.app/profile/thea...
Favorite sports moment of 2025? 🎉
December 31, 2025 at 3:30 PM
When Hulk Hogan died. bsky.app/profile/thea...
Reposted by Karl Appuhn
A really important thread. As we scholars age, our fields evolve. Some older scholars evolve with them. Some gracefully accept the changes happening while continuing to do "old-fashioned" work. And, unfortunately, still others rage against the changes and craft declension narratives to explain them.
The politics here are reprehensible but also really sad. He was a great scholar once. He had philological skills that no one has anymore. There are very few people who could produce that kind of work today. And to some extent, that's what this is about. He's mad that our field lost its former status
The reason this Harvard history professor decided he was done with one of the best and most privileged jobs in the world was, in his own words, because he was forced to lecture in a mask during peak Covid.
I’m not making this up.
I’m not making this up.
December 31, 2025 at 3:28 PM
A really important thread. As we scholars age, our fields evolve. Some older scholars evolve with them. Some gracefully accept the changes happening while continuing to do "old-fashioned" work. And, unfortunately, still others rage against the changes and craft declension narratives to explain them.
This is a much more economical way of saying what it took me twenty posts to say. It is endlessly astonishing to me that they can't see how they're just handing the arsonists a jerry can of gasoline and offering to lend them a lighter.
It seems to me that there are more than a few cases right now of once-accomplished scholars who’ve found and been charmed by right-wing or centrist audiences. They tell each other office gripes, student speech or normal historiography are proof that academia needs a purge. Well: the purge is here.
December 31, 2025 at 3:33 PM
This is a much more economical way of saying what it took me twenty posts to say. It is endlessly astonishing to me that they can't see how they're just handing the arsonists a jerry can of gasoline and offering to lend them a lighter.
The politics here are reprehensible but also really sad. He was a great scholar once. He had philological skills that no one has anymore. There are very few people who could produce that kind of work today. And to some extent, that's what this is about. He's mad that our field lost its former status
The reason this Harvard history professor decided he was done with one of the best and most privileged jobs in the world was, in his own words, because he was forced to lecture in a mask during peak Covid.
I’m not making this up.
I’m not making this up.
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 PM
The politics here are reprehensible but also really sad. He was a great scholar once. He had philological skills that no one has anymore. There are very few people who could produce that kind of work today. And to some extent, that's what this is about. He's mad that our field lost its former status
Charles Grodin was taken from us. And that still makes me sad. The rest of this is just trolling for trolling's sake.
Fascists truly cannot distinguish fiction from reality
This has ELEVEN THOUSAND likes on the hellsite
This has ELEVEN THOUSAND likes on the hellsite
December 30, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Charles Grodin was taken from us. And that still makes me sad. The rest of this is just trolling for trolling's sake.
Haloti Ngata failed my class.
Right folks. Feeling rather down at the moment so bringing back an oldie
Please Quote this with your most minor celebrity interaction
Please Quote this with your most minor celebrity interaction
December 29, 2025 at 11:06 PM
Haloti Ngata failed my class.
You just opened a Star Trek themed restaurant. What are you calling it?
Balance of Terroir
Balance of Terroir
You just opened a Star Trek themed restaurant. What are you calling it?
A Pizza the Action
A Pizza the Action
December 27, 2025 at 7:58 PM
You just opened a Star Trek themed restaurant. What are you calling it?
Balance of Terroir
Balance of Terroir
Make a Bond movie academic
From the IRB with Love
From the IRB with Love
Make a Bond movie academic
No Time To Write
No Time To Write
Make a Bond movie academic
For Reviewer 2’s Eyes Only
For Reviewer 2’s Eyes Only
December 26, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Make a Bond movie academic
From the IRB with Love
From the IRB with Love
I have not seen it. Although there's a diner on Capitol Hill in DC that for a long time had a couple of objects from the set of the movie along with an autographed still. I ate there a lot. So I feel like I've been reminded over and over again how I've never seen it.
Is this a good day for me to confess that I’ve never seen A Christmas Story
December 25, 2025 at 5:20 PM
I have not seen it. Although there's a diner on Capitol Hill in DC that for a long time had a couple of objects from the set of the movie along with an autographed still. I ate there a lot. So I feel like I've been reminded over and over again how I've never seen it.
Search your first name and then "glamour shot" and post a photo.
December 25, 2025 at 3:23 AM
Search your first name and then "glamour shot" and post a photo.
I'm out. I ca't believe I had to tap out on the last day. #whamaggedon
December 24, 2025 at 2:33 PM
I'm out. I ca't believe I had to tap out on the last day. #whamaggedon
I started this thread because some folks had suggested that Historians could do their research using LLMs, and anyone who disagreed was ignorant. I wanted some stories that illustrated why that's not true. The results exceeded my expectations. Most of the replies are in the form of quote-skeets.
I think we need a mega thread of everyone's craziest archive stories.
December 23, 2025 at 4:34 PM
I started this thread because some folks had suggested that Historians could do their research using LLMs, and anyone who disagreed was ignorant. I wanted some stories that illustrated why that's not true. The results exceeded my expectations. Most of the replies are in the form of quote-skeets.
Well, they wouldn't want you falling asleep and drooling on the documents.
In a regional town in Scotland, I went to see the local newspaper. I was ushered into the muniment room, which contained priceless bound volumes. There was a skylight which leaked, and there was mould growing about the place. I was given a cup of coffee to take *into* the archive.
I think we need a mega thread of everyone's craziest archive stories.
December 22, 2025 at 10:51 PM
Well, they wouldn't want you falling asleep and drooling on the documents.
So they're going to spray paint a radio controlled toy battleship gold and let him play with it?
TRUMP: NEW SHIPS WILL BE 'VERY AI-CONTROLLED'
December 22, 2025 at 10:41 PM
So they're going to spray paint a radio controlled toy battleship gold and let him play with it?
I think we need a mega thread of everyone's craziest archive stories.
December 22, 2025 at 3:38 PM
I think we need a mega thread of everyone's craziest archive stories.
Or in a barn. There's a true story about the archives in Vicenza and a now retired historian, Jim Grubb. The archive got a call from a farmer asking whether they would be interested in a pile of old paper in his barn. So they sent someone out to look.
Or still in someone’s attic or basement. Some of these idiots don’t understand how much we do just to find sources.
And often those finds change how the questions we ask.
And often those finds change how the questions we ask.
No, absolutely not.
Most archival materials have not been digitized, many would be illegible to AI (handwriting etc) even if they were. But the question came out of the research. There’s no way AI can do that.
Most archival materials have not been digitized, many would be illegible to AI (handwriting etc) even if they were. But the question came out of the research. There’s no way AI can do that.
December 22, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Or in a barn. There's a true story about the archives in Vicenza and a now retired historian, Jim Grubb. The archive got a call from a farmer asking whether they would be interested in a pile of old paper in his barn. So they sent someone out to look.
Counterpoint: it's almost certainly wrong, so no one should care that it is being kept under wraps.
BREAKING: The Democratic National Committee will NOT release its long-awaited autopsy on Trump's 2024 win. The report is completed but Dem leaders decided it could distract from their winning streak, so it will remain secret. Not good.
Details here:
newrepublic.com/article/2045...
Details here:
newrepublic.com/article/2045...
Dem Leaders Decide to Bury Damning Report on Why Trump Won in 2024
The Democratic National Committee has completed its long-awaited analysis on what went wrong in the 2024 campaign. But in a move that will attract intense criticism, it’s keeping the findings secret.
newrepublic.com
December 18, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Counterpoint: it's almost certainly wrong, so no one should care that it is being kept under wraps.
Waiting to board my flight back to the US, and I just realized that I am going to have to watch that fucking Kristi Noem video when I get there.
December 17, 2025 at 8:29 AM
Waiting to board my flight back to the US, and I just realized that I am going to have to watch that fucking Kristi Noem video when I get there.
Never change, Brooksie. You're beautiful just the way you are.
The Democrats don’t have an answer to Trump. Do the neoconservatives? David Brooks on why the moral tenor of their political writings could be a tonic for a society in crisis:
Bring Back the Neocons
They could be an antidote to Trumpism.
bit.ly
December 17, 2025 at 8:12 AM
Never change, Brooksie. You're beautiful just the way you are.
Palate cleanser, for those who need one. Venetians on ice.
December 15, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Palate cleanser, for those who need one. Venetians on ice.
Okay, sure. But $638K for two mattresses? How is that even possible?
King shit but the new rule is America is to set aside some percentage of your grift for a Trump pardon bribe
December 12, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Okay, sure. But $638K for two mattresses? How is that even possible?