Steven Van Impe
@svanimpe.bsky.social
Book historian, rare books curator Erfgoedbibliotheek Hendrik Conscience, Antwerp. Opinions mine, I may be wrong, follow/like isn't endorsement. He/him. Caregiver for a partner with Long Covid. Used to be @RareBookLibAntw on Twitter. Profile pic by LUCID.
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
SCAM ALERT – IMPORTANT
The cat has already been fed.
The cat has already been fed.
January 16, 2026 at 11:35 AM
SCAM ALERT – IMPORTANT
The cat has already been fed.
The cat has already been fed.
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
Fully believe the only university staff who can be (more than) adequately replaced by LLMs are senior managers. The higher up they are, the better.
January 16, 2026 at 8:09 AM
Fully believe the only university staff who can be (more than) adequately replaced by LLMs are senior managers. The higher up they are, the better.
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
Stop using Spotify!
In April 2024, Spotify implemented a new scheme: songs with less than 1k streams per year would no longer receive royalties.
The data for 2025 was just released via Luminate, and 88% of songs have been demonetized.
Read it again: 88% of songs on Spotify have been demonetized.
The data for 2025 was just released via Luminate, and 88% of songs have been demonetized.
Read it again: 88% of songs on Spotify have been demonetized.
January 16, 2026 at 8:22 AM
Stop using Spotify!
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
Does your church have an issue with dogs wandering in? Get yourself some LAZY TONGS.
January 16, 2026 at 8:30 AM
Does your church have an issue with dogs wandering in? Get yourself some LAZY TONGS.
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
I'm looking for a Paris apartment to rent for 3-4 weeks in late March - early April (preferably 2 bedrooms, although a bedroom plus a sofa bed would work). Two adults and a kid. Does anyone have any leads? Thanks!
January 15, 2026 at 8:29 PM
I'm looking for a Paris apartment to rent for 3-4 weeks in late March - early April (preferably 2 bedrooms, although a bedroom plus a sofa bed would work). Two adults and a kid. Does anyone have any leads? Thanks!
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
"So, do you have a quest," the witch asked as she finished dressing the last wound, "or doing general adventuring?"
"A quest. I seek a book."
"Ancient tome of forbidden lore?"
"No, one I read as a child."
"And this dragon didn't have it?"
"Alas."
"Have you asked a librarian?"
"They're scary!"
"A quest. I seek a book."
"Ancient tome of forbidden lore?"
"No, one I read as a child."
"And this dragon didn't have it?"
"Alas."
"Have you asked a librarian?"
"They're scary!"
January 15, 2026 at 8:57 PM
"So, do you have a quest," the witch asked as she finished dressing the last wound, "or doing general adventuring?"
"A quest. I seek a book."
"Ancient tome of forbidden lore?"
"No, one I read as a child."
"And this dragon didn't have it?"
"Alas."
"Have you asked a librarian?"
"They're scary!"
"A quest. I seek a book."
"Ancient tome of forbidden lore?"
"No, one I read as a child."
"And this dragon didn't have it?"
"Alas."
"Have you asked a librarian?"
"They're scary!"
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
👀
Thesis submitted! 🍾🍾🍾
If you'd like to read something that contains both bibliographical formulae and discussions of rimming, then it may be for you!
If you'd like to read something that contains both bibliographical formulae and discussions of rimming, then it may be for you!
January 15, 2026 at 6:02 PM
👀
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
Bluesky, please do your magic: I'd like to know more about a probably anti-Jewish song that appears in the Zurich State Archives as "Gammahu" being sung on the nocturnal streets of Zurich in 1522 under the window of some supporters of the Reformation. Does "Gammahu" ring any kind of bell?
August 26, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Bluesky, please do your magic: I'd like to know more about a probably anti-Jewish song that appears in the Zurich State Archives as "Gammahu" being sung on the nocturnal streets of Zurich in 1522 under the window of some supporters of the Reformation. Does "Gammahu" ring any kind of bell?
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
This is why we celebrate the Boston Substack Party, when the patriots wrote strongly worded pamphlets about tea.
Republican on CNN: You peacefully protest with a letter to the editor. You peacefully protest by starting a Substack or a podcast.
January 15, 2026 at 1:08 PM
This is why we celebrate the Boston Substack Party, when the patriots wrote strongly worded pamphlets about tea.
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
I ordered my cousin Angela's new book for my university's library. It looks good.
January 15, 2026 at 5:10 PM
I ordered my cousin Angela's new book for my university's library. It looks good.
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
Your semi-regular reminder from a dairy farmer: We need a giant subset of skim milk drinkers or we don't get nice things like butter and ice cream at a decent price.
Literally, the stupidest people doing the stupidest stuff and systematically dismantling our democratic norms and institutions
January 15, 2026 at 1:16 PM
Your semi-regular reminder from a dairy farmer: We need a giant subset of skim milk drinkers or we don't get nice things like butter and ice cream at a decent price.
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
wikipedia turns 25 today! the last unenshittified major website! backbone of online info! triumph of humanity! powered by urge of unpaid randos to correct each other! somehow mostly reliable! "good thing wikipedia works in practice, because it sure doesn't work in theory" - old wiki adage
January 15, 2026 at 1:47 PM
wikipedia turns 25 today! the last unenshittified major website! backbone of online info! triumph of humanity! powered by urge of unpaid randos to correct each other! somehow mostly reliable! "good thing wikipedia works in practice, because it sure doesn't work in theory" - old wiki adage
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
"It's not the same as Twitter", friend Twitter isn't the same as Twitter. Old Twitter died years ago, we need to accept that almost no-one under 30 is interested in joining text-based social media - the format will die with us, like floppy discs, Mars Delights, and the concept of hope for the future
January 14, 2026 at 9:56 PM
"It's not the same as Twitter", friend Twitter isn't the same as Twitter. Old Twitter died years ago, we need to accept that almost no-one under 30 is interested in joining text-based social media - the format will die with us, like floppy discs, Mars Delights, and the concept of hope for the future
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
'My year end reading statistics' (originally for @theguardian.com books).
p.s There's still time to pick up new book Physics for Cats at good bookshops and online www.tomgauld.com/comic-books-v2
p.s There's still time to pick up new book Physics for Cats at good bookshops and online www.tomgauld.com/comic-books-v2
December 18, 2025 at 11:50 AM
'My year end reading statistics' (originally for @theguardian.com books).
p.s There's still time to pick up new book Physics for Cats at good bookshops and online www.tomgauld.com/comic-books-v2
p.s There's still time to pick up new book Physics for Cats at good bookshops and online www.tomgauld.com/comic-books-v2
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
I had to look up Lizardman's Constant: the 4% of people who will tell a pollster lizard people are taking over the world, ie the minimum answer you will get for even the most absurd question.
"Do you think it would be a good idea or a bad idea for the U.S. to use military force to take possession of Greenland from Denmark?"
Good idea: 4%
Bad idea: 71%
(Ipsos)
4%. He did it. He finally hit Lizardman's Constant.
Good idea: 4%
Bad idea: 71%
(Ipsos)
4%. He did it. He finally hit Lizardman's Constant.
January 14, 2026 at 7:19 PM
I had to look up Lizardman's Constant: the 4% of people who will tell a pollster lizard people are taking over the world, ie the minimum answer you will get for even the most absurd question.
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
I don't know about this, Woody. Maybe the guitar could say 'This machine gives fascists better training'?
January 15, 2026 at 12:49 AM
I don't know about this, Woody. Maybe the guitar could say 'This machine gives fascists better training'?
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
ok stay with me on this one... sometimes you have writer's block because you're not in Text World. you have to read until you're back in Text World. if you don't read, you're writing in the real world. sentences won't feel right or they'll look goofy. not in Text World though
January 14, 2026 at 3:44 PM
ok stay with me on this one... sometimes you have writer's block because you're not in Text World. you have to read until you're back in Text World. if you don't read, you're writing in the real world. sentences won't feel right or they'll look goofy. not in Text World though
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
I have a fantastic student who wrote a great paper on knitting patterns from a book/media history/history of documents point of view recently and wants to do more research... this is a bit outside my wheelhouse — friends, do any of you have readings you'd suggest?
January 14, 2026 at 1:59 PM
I have a fantastic student who wrote a great paper on knitting patterns from a book/media history/history of documents point of view recently and wants to do more research... this is a bit outside my wheelhouse — friends, do any of you have readings you'd suggest?
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
RT if you've never had a tab of ChatGPT open 'just to do quick research'
![You’ve got super fans pausing and zooming in on individuals frames of your documentary. One allegedly shows one of the Duffers with a ChatGPT tab open on their computer. In your presence, what did they use ChatGPT for?
I mean, are we even sure they had ChatGPT open?
I’m personally not, but the internet seems sure.
Well, there’s a lot of chatter where [social media users] are like, “We don’t really know, but we’re assuming.” But to me it’s like, doesn’t everybody have it open, to just do quick research?
I do.
How can you possibly write a storyline with 19 characters and use ChatGPT, I don’t even understand.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:7t2urmt3i33jl6tjgiolio6g/bafkreidw2tmcr2ayq74oqmjm5pn2tdox6hlxnpqevhuqqj6oa7nsslx3oi@jpeg)
January 13, 2026 at 8:45 PM
RT if you've never had a tab of ChatGPT open 'just to do quick research'
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
This sort of thing drives me bonkers.
Women had two major roles: domestic and ceremonial. Oh, and also manufacturing a product that was a load-bearing part of the region's economy, which is totally not a third important thing because it's a fiber and therefore definitionally domestic.
Women had two major roles: domestic and ceremonial. Oh, and also manufacturing a product that was a load-bearing part of the region's economy, which is totally not a third important thing because it's a fiber and therefore definitionally domestic.
![screenshot of a line from a wikipedia entry:
There were two major roles for Samnite women: domestic and ceremonial. Women would weave, which likely played an important role in the economy.[59][129][65] They also likely](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:b6qa67q2qrr77rcetegdfbfe/bafkreibuzmhp6qmgr7uffrax2vkof3nrcqmrow5jsdo2hl6p3xanzkyfn4@jpeg)
January 14, 2026 at 3:20 PM
This sort of thing drives me bonkers.
Women had two major roles: domestic and ceremonial. Oh, and also manufacturing a product that was a load-bearing part of the region's economy, which is totally not a third important thing because it's a fiber and therefore definitionally domestic.
Women had two major roles: domestic and ceremonial. Oh, and also manufacturing a product that was a load-bearing part of the region's economy, which is totally not a third important thing because it's a fiber and therefore definitionally domestic.
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
Roses are red
These are hard times
These are hard times
January 14, 2026 at 2:34 PM
Roses are red
These are hard times
These are hard times
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
The open access journal Magallánica published a dossier on the external reactions to Philip V of Spain's accession to the throne. I was fortunate to contribute an article reflecting on two eighteenth-century French printed sources: Réal de Curban and abbé de Montgon. 📖
fh.mdp.edu.ar/revistas/ind...
fh.mdp.edu.ar/revistas/ind...
January 14, 2026 at 4:27 PM
The open access journal Magallánica published a dossier on the external reactions to Philip V of Spain's accession to the throne. I was fortunate to contribute an article reflecting on two eighteenth-century French printed sources: Réal de Curban and abbé de Montgon. 📖
fh.mdp.edu.ar/revistas/ind...
fh.mdp.edu.ar/revistas/ind...
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
It was the omg what now of times, it was the omg what NOW of times
January 14, 2026 at 5:00 PM
It was the omg what now of times, it was the omg what NOW of times