Hilary Davidson
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fourredshoes.bsky.social
Hilary Davidson
@fourredshoes.bsky.social
Dress & Textile Historian | Curator | Fashion History | Culture | Archaeology | Books: @AustenDress 2019; Jane Austen's Wardrobe 2023 | In Lenapehoking / NYC
Reposted by Hilary Davidson
Just a reminder to check for your name in this list of books that OpenAI trained from. If your name is there, they probably owe you several thousand dollars.

OpenAI cried that if everyone eligible author files, the company will go bankrupt, so I'm alerting every author I have ever spoken to.
Search LibGen, the Pirated-Books Database That Meta Used to Train AI
Millions of books and scientific papers are captured in the collection’s current iteration.
www.theatlantic.com
September 6, 2025 at 6:31 AM
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Clueless - 30th Anniversary? - As if!
June 23, 2025 at 7:13 AM
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It's your Monday morning Paul Newman... the rest of the week is up to you.
June 23, 2025 at 7:15 AM
Excellent thread
It's true that progressives valorize "ugliness." But I think this person doesn't interrogate this position enough and thus lands at the wrong conclusion.

Let me give you my perspective on ugliness. 🧵
June 23, 2025 at 7:35 AM
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Harrison Ruffin Tyler, the last surviving grandson of John Tyler, the 10th president of the U.S., died on Sunday at age 96. He was the last of three generations spanning nearly the entire history of the country. When his grandfather was born, George Washington had just become president.
Harrison Ruffin Tyler, Grandson of the 10th President, Is Dead at 96
www.nytimes.com
May 30, 2025 at 3:19 AM
I called my Australian bank from NYC to sort something out. The random nice lady I talked to by calling the central number used to work at the local (now shut) branch ages ago and might have been the person who opened my account! She said my name sounded familiar.
Such an Aussie thing to happen 🤣
May 12, 2025 at 3:20 AM
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if a Gothic novel had these names and backstory, I would complain about it

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honor_F...
April 8, 2025 at 6:51 PM
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But tell us again how the humanities not not important.

Every single authoritarian goes after the libraries, the archives, the writers, and the thinkers.
The Pentagon has ordered all military leaders and commands to pull and review all of their library books that address diversity, anti-racism or gender issues by May 21, according to a memo issued to the force on Friday.
Pentagon directs military to pull library books that address diversity, anti-racism, gender issues
The Pentagon has ordered all military leaders and commands to pull and review all of their library books that address diversity, anti-racism or gender issues by May 21.
bit.ly
May 9, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Half of my Instagram timeline has already seen Superfine at the Met though it opens tomorrow, and I'm feeling left out 😂
May 9, 2025 at 11:45 PM
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RIP Henry James you would have loved the story of an American from the Midwest who enters a world of European intrigue
May 9, 2025 at 10:22 AM
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NEW BOOK COVER REVEAL!!

A Guide To Regency Dress comes out in October-November, depending where you are, published by the marvellous @yalebooks.bsky.social.
May 6, 2025 at 8:14 PM
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Happy World Penguin Day to all penguins, but especially Nils, who didn’t let living in Edinburgh (or being a penguin) stop him from becoming The Colonel-in-Chief of the Norwegian King’s Guard. He’s also been knighted. His official title is Brigadier Sir Nils Olav III and here he is looking regal af
April 25, 2025 at 9:36 AM
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This would also be of interest to any early modern history or English MA or PhD students, either to get involved as actors or to come to the workshop itself!
London-based actors—I am looking for five people to act in a practice-as-research workshop about early modern arrests on the afternoon of 30th May. paid at £50 per actor for the afternoon. details here: ials.sas.ac.uk/events/what-...
April 25, 2025 at 10:56 AM
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Today we honor the flippered citizens of our icy nation.

Whether you celebrate whilst eating a democracy sausage in Oz, doomscrolling in America, pulling maple taps in Canada, or elsewhere, we appreciate the support! #worldpenguinday
April 25, 2025 at 11:50 AM
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Nostalgia forgets pessimism:

It forgets novel reading was frowned upon
It forgets the moon mission was unpopular
It forgets the walkman was anti-social
It forgets the bicycle 'corrupted' women

After all, why would anyone have thought the good old days were bad?
April 25, 2025 at 12:12 PM
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If you're an archivist, librarian, local or family historian, researcher or student of British and/or British & colonial/imperial history (from the Roman era to the present) this introduction to BBIH is worth a look. Google searches are degrading and hallucinating with generative AI; BBIH is not.
Expert guidance on using, and getting the most from, the 'Bibliography of British and Irish History', from @ihr.bsky.social. Booking now available. #skystorians
Join us and @brepols.bsky.social for a webinar introducing the new Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH) interface.

Date: Monday 28 April 2025
Time: 17:00 (Brussels) / 11:00 (Eastern Time, USA) / 16:00 (London, UK)
Duration: 15 minutes, followed by a Q&A

More info: bit.ly/BBIHwebinar
April 25, 2025 at 12:09 PM
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Fellow authors, I love you, and I know it feels like we don’t have a choice, but B&N and Am*zon both scheduled sales this week to preempt Independent Bookstore Day, a hugely vital source of income for indie bookstores. Please don’t promote their sales; please promote your local indie this week.
April 23, 2025 at 11:52 PM
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These are not official/ traditional Anzac Biscuits, but they’re my respectfully-intended homage. www.nigella.com/recipes/seed...
Seed-Studded Anzac Biscuits
Now, there are those who like their Anzac biscuits crisp, and those — like me — who like them on the chewier side (I also like mine made with sprouted oats). To accommodate both tastes, I have cooked ...
www.nigella.com
April 24, 2025 at 9:48 PM
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Care about marginalized people at least as much as you do inanimate objects challenge. Difficulty level: impossible.
“Can ChatGPT experience joy or suffering? Does Gemini deserve human rights?” our tech columnist asks. “Many A.I. experts I know would say no, not yet, not even close. But I was intrigued.”
Should We Start Taking the Welfare of A.I. Seriously?
As artificial intelligence systems become smarter, one A.I. company is trying to figure out what to do if they become conscious.
www.nytimes.com
April 25, 2025 at 2:22 AM
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April 21, 2025 at 10:27 PM
A movie that takes place where you're from

(though it's not part of the plot)
April 16, 2025 at 5:03 PM
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My husband has taught human reproduction and development to the Cambridge medics for over three decades. When people start banging on about "only two biological sexes" he starts with "which sex: genetic, hormonal, or gonadal"?

Biological sex is not binary. www.scientificamerican.com/article/sex-...
Sex Redefined: The Idea of 2 Sexes Is Overly Simplistic
Biologists now think there is a larger spectrum than just binary female and male
www.scientificamerican.com
April 16, 2025 at 12:03 PM
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every time i watch a documentary about early humans i imagine some guy in the afterlife watching over my shoulder and going, “nah, i didn’t chuck that thing into a river to appease a god, i just thought to made a cool KERPLUNK”
February 19, 2025 at 2:23 AM
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Some stats from 100 days in on congestion pricing:
- Complaints about car-honking are down 70%
- The Holland Tunnel has 65% fewer delays at rush hour; time to get thru it is down 48%
- 6 million fewer cars
- Half as many traffic-related injuries
- 1.5 million more visitors to BIDs year over year
How Well Is Congestion Pricing Doing? Very.
One hundred days in, honking is down; bus speeds are up.
www.curbed.com
April 15, 2025 at 7:22 PM