Dr. Alexis Turner
@surliertexan.bsky.social
Taking the scenic route through life. Formerly: PhD in the history of science @Harvard. Currently: exchanging crappy US fascism for crummy UK fascism
Tarot, historical research, writing & editing, tutoring & consulting at drturners.com
Tarot, historical research, writing & editing, tutoring & consulting at drturners.com
Pinned
Knowledge-keeping is subversive. Remembering the stories they want to rewrite, to take from schools, to make dangerous to say, keeps our ancestors’ struggles alive. Keeping those embers lit so they can be blown back to life with a breath is power. Memory is power.
Hey insomniac American academics:
Did scientific research database access ever get back to normal after all those articles started disappearing from the results last year, or is access to articles still being suppressed?
Did scientific research database access ever get back to normal after all those articles started disappearing from the results last year, or is access to articles still being suppressed?
February 13, 2026 at 9:36 AM
Hey insomniac American academics:
Did scientific research database access ever get back to normal after all those articles started disappearing from the results last year, or is access to articles still being suppressed?
Did scientific research database access ever get back to normal after all those articles started disappearing from the results last year, or is access to articles still being suppressed?
The students are usually pretty quiet in this beekeeping class, but everyone has 20 questions about bees fucking.
February 12, 2026 at 8:58 PM
The students are usually pretty quiet in this beekeeping class, but everyone has 20 questions about bees fucking.
I am quickly developing gripes with historical Christian beekeeping practices, but that has not stopped me from being taken with the lady saint beekeeper. I contain multitudes
It's St Gobnait's feast day, so who was Cork's medieval beekeeper @liber-ray.bsky.social @ria.ie looks at the life and times of Ireland's lesser-known patron saint of bees and beekeeping www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2...
It's St Gobnait's feast day so who was Cork's medieval beekeeper?
St Gobnait was an Irish female saint associated with bees in the Middle Ages and is still celebrated by local communities today
www.rte.ie
February 12, 2026 at 9:29 AM
I am quickly developing gripes with historical Christian beekeeping practices, but that has not stopped me from being taken with the lady saint beekeeper. I contain multitudes
It's cliche to say that people see what they want to see.
It becomes less trite when you ask yourself, as a serious task, what it is YOU aim to see when you look at the world.
It becomes less trite when you ask yourself, as a serious task, what it is YOU aim to see when you look at the world.
February 11, 2026 at 12:40 PM
It's cliche to say that people see what they want to see.
It becomes less trite when you ask yourself, as a serious task, what it is YOU aim to see when you look at the world.
It becomes less trite when you ask yourself, as a serious task, what it is YOU aim to see when you look at the world.
Hey bsky. I have a friend who is homeless right now. He is too proud to ask for money to get himself an ID that would help him get a job, but if someone were to send him a digital camera so he could sell a few photographs to get the $ this would make his whole year.
February 10, 2026 at 8:16 PM
Hey bsky. I have a friend who is homeless right now. He is too proud to ask for money to get himself an ID that would help him get a job, but if someone were to send him a digital camera so he could sell a few photographs to get the $ this would make his whole year.
Today's ADHD dive: supposedly bees that feed on belladonna nectar pass the poisonous alkaloids on to their honey.
February 10, 2026 at 6:38 PM
Today's ADHD dive: supposedly bees that feed on belladonna nectar pass the poisonous alkaloids on to their honey.
Experimenting with herbal tinctures and concoctions today and am reminded of how much I love working with valerian root.
February 10, 2026 at 4:26 PM
Experimenting with herbal tinctures and concoctions today and am reminded of how much I love working with valerian root.
Brits have the chance to do the funniest thing ever by not falling for the dumb shit American voters fell for.
Reform is threatening Bangor University over a student society’s decision. The society isn’t Bangor University—but this is a neat preview of how a Reform government would work: public money for supporters only. Trump-style politics, UK edition.
Authoritarian reflex is already working just fine.👇
Authoritarian reflex is already working just fine.👇
February 10, 2026 at 1:01 PM
Brits have the chance to do the funniest thing ever by not falling for the dumb shit American voters fell for.
Me, watching people from leisurely cultures enjoying a slow meal together: yes, this is the way, this is perfect in every way
Me, at a job where I am responsible for the area where people from these cultures eat breakfast: I will cut someone's face off if I cannot clean this table before 2pm
Me, at a job where I am responsible for the area where people from these cultures eat breakfast: I will cut someone's face off if I cannot clean this table before 2pm
February 10, 2026 at 11:28 AM
Me, watching people from leisurely cultures enjoying a slow meal together: yes, this is the way, this is perfect in every way
Me, at a job where I am responsible for the area where people from these cultures eat breakfast: I will cut someone's face off if I cannot clean this table before 2pm
Me, at a job where I am responsible for the area where people from these cultures eat breakfast: I will cut someone's face off if I cannot clean this table before 2pm
My hottest hot take in grad school was when I said I was fine -- delighted even -- if traditional academic disciplines were scrapped in favor of sweeping, multidisciplinary inquiry areas like "Environmental Studies" and "Science Studies." God forbid we center our subjects instead of our process.
February 9, 2026 at 7:47 AM
My hottest hot take in grad school was when I said I was fine -- delighted even -- if traditional academic disciplines were scrapped in favor of sweeping, multidisciplinary inquiry areas like "Environmental Studies" and "Science Studies." God forbid we center our subjects instead of our process.
Reposted by Dr. Alexis Turner
Epstein’s economic power among academics was made possible by a capitalist system that makes higher education dependent on the charity economy rather than a public good supported by taxing the rich
February 1, 2026 at 2:33 PM
Epstein’s economic power among academics was made possible by a capitalist system that makes higher education dependent on the charity economy rather than a public good supported by taxing the rich
The recent cold snap reminding me of xitter dogpiling me for saying not to drink natural water straight from the source. "do you ExPECt uS tO DIE of THIRsT?!?!|\!!" they shouted.
No, sweet summer children. I expect you to boil the water before drinking. Dress in layers & don't use the oven for heat
No, sweet summer children. I expect you to boil the water before drinking. Dress in layers & don't use the oven for heat
February 8, 2026 at 5:49 PM
The recent cold snap reminding me of xitter dogpiling me for saying not to drink natural water straight from the source. "do you ExPECt uS tO DIE of THIRsT?!?!|\!!" they shouted.
No, sweet summer children. I expect you to boil the water before drinking. Dress in layers & don't use the oven for heat
No, sweet summer children. I expect you to boil the water before drinking. Dress in layers & don't use the oven for heat
I am officially in my grumpy old man phase of life & can regularly be heard asking how people can be raised, grown adults living on their own without knowing basic skills like how to place a grocery order, put away their own dishes, or know which foods to refrigerate so as not to poison themselves
February 6, 2026 at 3:48 PM
I am officially in my grumpy old man phase of life & can regularly be heard asking how people can be raised, grown adults living on their own without knowing basic skills like how to place a grocery order, put away their own dishes, or know which foods to refrigerate so as not to poison themselves
In the last 2 two days they have banned multiple people from the hostel for a) stealing staff members' beer & whiskey, b) attempting to sell LSD to other guests, c) overstaying a booking, D) being publicly drunk, and e) using common areas nonstop to film social media content.
February 5, 2026 at 3:59 PM
In the last 2 two days they have banned multiple people from the hostel for a) stealing staff members' beer & whiskey, b) attempting to sell LSD to other guests, c) overstaying a booking, D) being publicly drunk, and e) using common areas nonstop to film social media content.
What is the worst biological subdiscipline and why is it taxonomy
February 3, 2026 at 2:13 PM
What is the worst biological subdiscipline and why is it taxonomy
I'm not normally petty, but when some incel who is ranked significantly higher than me in an online Go forum I'm on challenges me to a game and then berates me to quit and stop wasting his time, you can bet that I am going to drag that game out as long as humanly possible.
February 3, 2026 at 11:22 AM
I'm not normally petty, but when some incel who is ranked significantly higher than me in an online Go forum I'm on challenges me to a game and then berates me to quit and stop wasting his time, you can bet that I am going to drag that game out as long as humanly possible.
My brain seems to be coding language as "English" and "not English" so it keeps wanting to use Greek when I should be using Spanish and vice versa
February 2, 2026 at 8:46 AM
My brain seems to be coding language as "English" and "not English" so it keeps wanting to use Greek when I should be using Spanish and vice versa
The only thing keeping me sane while volunteering in this job are the shift notes other staff members write to describe customers' insane behavior
February 1, 2026 at 1:58 PM
The only thing keeping me sane while volunteering in this job are the shift notes other staff members write to describe customers' insane behavior
I know that this is probably bad praxis or whatever, but I think it's fucking hilarious to tell people who don't know my backstory that I'm on my period when I'm having an especially cranky day and I am, in fact, on my period.
February 1, 2026 at 11:39 AM
I know that this is probably bad praxis or whatever, but I think it's fucking hilarious to tell people who don't know my backstory that I'm on my period when I'm having an especially cranky day and I am, in fact, on my period.
Reposted by Dr. Alexis Turner
During church, I remember trying to find the pictures, looking at the shapes, barely registering the sound of people speaking from the pulpit.
(New writing on the blog)
www.kerrycoran.com/writing/litu...
(New writing on the blog)
www.kerrycoran.com/writing/litu...
Yule — Kerry C. Òran
And every night I’d dream about owls. The owls were crazy ones — strange patches of red and blue and green. Too large eyes that stared at me from within fluffs of feathers. Mythologically sp...
www.kerrycoran.com
January 31, 2026 at 10:27 PM
During church, I remember trying to find the pictures, looking at the shapes, barely registering the sound of people speaking from the pulpit.
(New writing on the blog)
www.kerrycoran.com/writing/litu...
(New writing on the blog)
www.kerrycoran.com/writing/litu...
It's a FULL MOON in this hostel tonight, and the elderly, balding TikTokker who looks like a Central Asian tattooed gangster is weeping while the young EMT lady walks him to the ambulance after he drunkenly fell and hit his head not once, but twice.
January 31, 2026 at 8:19 PM
It's a FULL MOON in this hostel tonight, and the elderly, balding TikTokker who looks like a Central Asian tattooed gangster is weeping while the young EMT lady walks him to the ambulance after he drunkenly fell and hit his head not once, but twice.
Reposted by Dr. Alexis Turner
When attention seeking is someone's whole thing, opsec feels like an existential threat. Some people can't imagine doing important shit and not getting praise and attention for it.
January 30, 2026 at 10:56 PM
When attention seeking is someone's whole thing, opsec feels like an existential threat. Some people can't imagine doing important shit and not getting praise and attention for it.
Any historians of science know what this carrying case contains and/or how to open it? Current theory is a microscope
January 31, 2026 at 3:06 PM
Any historians of science know what this carrying case contains and/or how to open it? Current theory is a microscope
Started a beekeeping class.
January 31, 2026 at 6:47 AM
Started a beekeeping class.
I made a ginger wine as an experiment and it kind of tastes like eating stir fried beef with ginger and scallions
January 30, 2026 at 8:34 PM
I made a ginger wine as an experiment and it kind of tastes like eating stir fried beef with ginger and scallions