Brian Leech
@brianleechphd.bsky.social
Historian of American West, Midwest, environmental history, mining, energy, food, animals. Currently working on a book about the history of U.S. speed limits & another book about mining in popular culture. https://brianleechphd.net
To the five separate people who stopped me, honked at me, or yelled across the parking lot at me during my short trip to the grocery store: thanks! I have now pumped up my low back tire. We often forget that most people are helpful.
November 9, 2025 at 9:41 PM
To the five separate people who stopped me, honked at me, or yelled across the parking lot at me during my short trip to the grocery store: thanks! I have now pumped up my low back tire. We often forget that most people are helpful.
Nice to read this celebration of hand-drawn movie poster designers, which reminds me that I have some great original movie posters framed and sitting in my basement, waiting to be re-hung. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/01/m...
The Poster Designers Who Helped Bring Movies to Life
www.nytimes.com
November 9, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Nice to read this celebration of hand-drawn movie poster designers, which reminds me that I have some great original movie posters framed and sitting in my basement, waiting to be re-hung. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/01/m...
For some reason I get emails every week about food recalls. The craziest are listeria because the symptoms of an infection usually start within 2 weeks after eating contaminated food but may start as early as the same day or as late as 10 weeks after. This seems unfair to us humans, listeria.
November 6, 2025 at 5:17 AM
For some reason I get emails every week about food recalls. The craziest are listeria because the symptoms of an infection usually start within 2 weeks after eating contaminated food but may start as early as the same day or as late as 10 weeks after. This seems unfair to us humans, listeria.
Reposted by Brian Leech
Hoping for some academic help...updating my readings in a Monsters class & would love a book that focuses on different monsters (zombie, vampire...) from histor/cult perspective. I've used (& enjoyed!) Asma's On Monsters and Poole's Monsters in America, but both are a bit dated by now. Thoughts?
October 24, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Hoping for some academic help...updating my readings in a Monsters class & would love a book that focuses on different monsters (zombie, vampire...) from histor/cult perspective. I've used (& enjoyed!) Asma's On Monsters and Poole's Monsters in America, but both are a bit dated by now. Thoughts?
Reposted by Brian Leech
Perhaps now you will understand the risks involved when you "hang it in the Louvre."
October 19, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Perhaps now you will understand the risks involved when you "hang it in the Louvre."
Reposted by Brian Leech
There’s a lot of impressive Halloween decorations by us, but this house always has the best topical/pop culture references
The Coldplay scandal looks even better as skeletons
The Coldplay scandal looks even better as skeletons
October 11, 2025 at 4:39 PM
There’s a lot of impressive Halloween decorations by us, but this house always has the best topical/pop culture references
The Coldplay scandal looks even better as skeletons
The Coldplay scandal looks even better as skeletons
Reposted by Brian Leech
And here we go. I never wrote this article, and yet it is cited here.
www.liberalbriefs.com/geopolitics/...
And of course, it sounds so plausible, I seriously checked whether I had forgotten it, or the footnote was slightly wrong.
#AIisnotresearch
www.liberalbriefs.com/geopolitics/...
And of course, it sounds so plausible, I seriously checked whether I had forgotten it, or the footnote was slightly wrong.
#AIisnotresearch
October 7, 2025 at 8:17 AM
And here we go. I never wrote this article, and yet it is cited here.
www.liberalbriefs.com/geopolitics/...
And of course, it sounds so plausible, I seriously checked whether I had forgotten it, or the footnote was slightly wrong.
#AIisnotresearch
www.liberalbriefs.com/geopolitics/...
And of course, it sounds so plausible, I seriously checked whether I had forgotten it, or the footnote was slightly wrong.
#AIisnotresearch
Please join the Energy History Working Group online through the CHSTM. Our 2025-26 schedule starts October 10 with Blessy Abraham, ‘No Soviet Petrol Used’: Examining the Standard Oil-Shell Rivalry in India, 1927-28. www.chstm.org/group/energy... @sarahthestan.bsky.social @rlifset.bsky.social
Energy History | Consortium for History of Science, Technology and Medicine
www.chstm.org
October 7, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Please join the Energy History Working Group online through the CHSTM. Our 2025-26 schedule starts October 10 with Blessy Abraham, ‘No Soviet Petrol Used’: Examining the Standard Oil-Shell Rivalry in India, 1927-28. www.chstm.org/group/energy... @sarahthestan.bsky.social @rlifset.bsky.social
Reposted by Brian Leech
If you've done in-person research at any of the following presidential libraries in the last 8 months, can you please follow me/contact me—soon—for a story I'm working on (can be off the record)?
Hoover
FDR
Truman
Eisenhower
JFK
LBJ
Ford
Carter
And either way, can you please share this request? 🙏
Hoover
FDR
Truman
Eisenhower
JFK
LBJ
Ford
Carter
And either way, can you please share this request? 🙏
September 30, 2025 at 10:52 PM
If you've done in-person research at any of the following presidential libraries in the last 8 months, can you please follow me/contact me—soon—for a story I'm working on (can be off the record)?
Hoover
FDR
Truman
Eisenhower
JFK
LBJ
Ford
Carter
And either way, can you please share this request? 🙏
Hoover
FDR
Truman
Eisenhower
JFK
LBJ
Ford
Carter
And either way, can you please share this request? 🙏
Reposted by Brian Leech
Recommend this really moving piece by @bcgl.bsky.social on the challenging questions raised when representing the past with technologies like AI.
“But what if, instead of resisting the deaths of the last survivors, we allow ourselves to accept their mortality?”
The grandson of an Auschwitz-Birkenau survivor grapples with the use of AI to reanimate the dead.
A new essay on @longreads.com, by @bcgl.bsky.social: longreads.com/2025/09/25/a...
The grandson of an Auschwitz-Birkenau survivor grapples with the use of AI to reanimate the dead.
A new essay on @longreads.com, by @bcgl.bsky.social: longreads.com/2025/09/25/a...
September 25, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Recommend this really moving piece by @bcgl.bsky.social on the challenging questions raised when representing the past with technologies like AI.
I guess my college no longer has access to an online meeting platform that can record a meeting. Sigh.
September 25, 2025 at 3:44 AM
I guess my college no longer has access to an online meeting platform that can record a meeting. Sigh.
I guess my college no longer provides access to a video meeting service that can record a meeting. Sigh.
September 25, 2025 at 2:28 AM
I guess my college no longer provides access to a video meeting service that can record a meeting. Sigh.
Reposted by Brian Leech
NJ PBS shutting down next summer.
“15yrs ago Gov. Christie ended 4 decades of state funding for public TV, forcing them to find a new funder. The state cut $750k in funding this yr, but that was hardly the fatal blow; that came from the end of federal funds.”
newjerseyglobe.com/media/new-je...
“15yrs ago Gov. Christie ended 4 decades of state funding for public TV, forcing them to find a new funder. The state cut $750k in funding this yr, but that was hardly the fatal blow; that came from the end of federal funds.”
newjerseyglobe.com/media/new-je...
New Jersey PBS shutting down in July - New Jersey Globe
New Jersey PBS is expected to cease operations in July 2026 following WNET's decision not to renew its agreement, the New Jersey Globe has learned. The
newjerseyglobe.com
September 23, 2025 at 11:31 PM
NJ PBS shutting down next summer.
“15yrs ago Gov. Christie ended 4 decades of state funding for public TV, forcing them to find a new funder. The state cut $750k in funding this yr, but that was hardly the fatal blow; that came from the end of federal funds.”
newjerseyglobe.com/media/new-je...
“15yrs ago Gov. Christie ended 4 decades of state funding for public TV, forcing them to find a new funder. The state cut $750k in funding this yr, but that was hardly the fatal blow; that came from the end of federal funds.”
newjerseyglobe.com/media/new-je...
I have been on the search for some sandals that can handle midwestern snow storms.
September 24, 2025 at 2:19 AM
I have been on the search for some sandals that can handle midwestern snow storms.
Reposted by Brian Leech
"Oxford becomes first UK university to offer ChatGPT Edu to all staff and students" - imagining a lot of staff there pretty upset about, but also it says much about OpenAI's education strategy that it's targeted Oxford as its first institutional capture in the UK www.ox.ac.uk/news/2025-09...
Oxford becomes first UK university to offer ChatGPT Edu to all staff
OpenAI’s flagship GPT-5 model will be provided across the University and Oxford Colleges through ChatGPT Edu, a version of ChatGPT built for universities that includes enterprise-level security and
www.ox.ac.uk
September 19, 2025 at 12:26 PM
"Oxford becomes first UK university to offer ChatGPT Edu to all staff and students" - imagining a lot of staff there pretty upset about, but also it says much about OpenAI's education strategy that it's targeted Oxford as its first institutional capture in the UK www.ox.ac.uk/news/2025-09...
Reposted by Brian Leech
TFW you're ready to start the 2nd half U.S. history lecture that covers Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" & the creation of the FDA when the students tell you there are free hot dogs in the atrium for Constitution Day & you know you're about to ruin their free lunch for them... 🗃️
a woman in a plaid shirt is making a funny face and says oopsssiess .
Alt: Eleanor from The Good Place in a plaid shirt is making a funny face and says oopsssiess .
media.tenor.com
September 17, 2025 at 10:40 PM
TFW you're ready to start the 2nd half U.S. history lecture that covers Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" & the creation of the FDA when the students tell you there are free hot dogs in the atrium for Constitution Day & you know you're about to ruin their free lunch for them... 🗃️
Reposted by Brian Leech
For those who are interested my university had a viral moment yesterday due to the conservative social media mob. My school put out a statement to explain the misunderstanding: ung.edu/news/article...
Statement on concerns about textbook
ung.edu
September 17, 2025 at 6:15 PM
For those who are interested my university had a viral moment yesterday due to the conservative social media mob. My school put out a statement to explain the misunderstanding: ung.edu/news/article...
Reposted by Brian Leech
I'm sorry, worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable permission to my voice and likeness? For what now? In any manner for any purpose???
This is in academia/.edu's new ToS, which you're prompted to agree to on login. Anyway I'll be jumping ship. You can find my stuff at hcommons.org.
This is in academia/.edu's new ToS, which you're prompted to agree to on login. Anyway I'll be jumping ship. You can find my stuff at hcommons.org.
September 17, 2025 at 5:16 PM
I'm sorry, worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable permission to my voice and likeness? For what now? In any manner for any purpose???
This is in academia/.edu's new ToS, which you're prompted to agree to on login. Anyway I'll be jumping ship. You can find my stuff at hcommons.org.
This is in academia/.edu's new ToS, which you're prompted to agree to on login. Anyway I'll be jumping ship. You can find my stuff at hcommons.org.
This morning I put on a suit because I’m talking about the history of men’s suits in one of my courses today. As I walked upstairs I ran into my wife, who was coming downstairs in a T shirt, jean shorts, a hat, and a backpack because at the college she works at it’s “dress like a student” day.
September 16, 2025 at 2:32 PM
This morning I put on a suit because I’m talking about the history of men’s suits in one of my courses today. As I walked upstairs I ran into my wife, who was coming downstairs in a T shirt, jean shorts, a hat, and a backpack because at the college she works at it’s “dress like a student” day.
The humanities! Centuries of bringing the human back to the manatees!
a manatee is swimming in a tank of water and looking at the camera
ALT: a manatee is swimming in a tank of water and looking at the camera
media.tenor.com
September 15, 2025 at 12:42 AM
The humanities! Centuries of bringing the human back to the manatees!
Reposted by Brian Leech
Earth science departments are being gutted across the country, which is utterly bizarre given their relevance to our understanding of climate, hazards and disasters, the soils that feed us, the industries that drive our economies, and the importance of ancient life to understanding biodiversity.
I have just heard an ALARMING report that my former Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Nebraska is threatened with elimination, due to a university & state-wide budget crisis, and despite their ongoing success in scholarship and teaching. This is really shocking.
September 12, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Earth science departments are being gutted across the country, which is utterly bizarre given their relevance to our understanding of climate, hazards and disasters, the soils that feed us, the industries that drive our economies, and the importance of ancient life to understanding biodiversity.
Reposted by Brian Leech
TIL that for some people with irreparably damaged corneas, you can pull one of their teeth, drill a hole in it, install an artificial lens, sew it into their cheek (so tissue attaches), then pull it out and stick it in their damaged eye, and ... it works fine!?! www.nbcboston.com/news/health/...
Man, 34, is no longer blind after tooth is implanted in eye in 'crazy' surgery
Tooth-in-eye surgery sounds like science fiction, but it can help people with severely damaged corneas see again. A patient and his doctors describe what it's like.
www.nbcboston.com
September 12, 2025 at 1:42 PM
TIL that for some people with irreparably damaged corneas, you can pull one of their teeth, drill a hole in it, install an artificial lens, sew it into their cheek (so tissue attaches), then pull it out and stick it in their damaged eye, and ... it works fine!?! www.nbcboston.com/news/health/...
People have identified overuse of the em dash as proof that a person has used ChatGPT to write their documents and I agree that it’s good evidence—evidence that ChatGPT was trained based on my writing.
September 11, 2025 at 10:32 PM
People have identified overuse of the em dash as proof that a person has used ChatGPT to write their documents and I agree that it’s good evidence—evidence that ChatGPT was trained based on my writing.
Reposted by Brian Leech
Does your university have policies around students recording professors without consent?
September 10, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Does your university have policies around students recording professors without consent?
Reposted by Brian Leech
No. But also recently told that FL has a specific bill passed in 2021 to let students record classes for educational purposes AND as evidence in civil or criminal proceedings. Fun times.
Does your university have policies around students recording professors without consent?
September 10, 2025 at 2:21 PM
No. But also recently told that FL has a specific bill passed in 2021 to let students record classes for educational purposes AND as evidence in civil or criminal proceedings. Fun times.