James A. Benn

@jamesabenn.bsky.social

1.7K followers 2.4K following 680 posts

Medieval Chinese Religions. McMaster Uni. Burning for the Buddha (Hawai'i 2007) pback 2016; Tea in China (Hawai'i, 2015), Chinese trans. 2019. Canadian, obvs.

Videos

Political science 34%

Sociology 34%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by James A. Benn

Anon Opin @anonopin.bsky.social · 18h

The theme tune to the Professionals was awesome. It combines 70's style blaxploitation funk with a good old British brass band‬

Reposted by James A. Benn

Rachel Gilmore @rachelgilmore.bsky.social · 18h

Mortifying and completely preventable.

www.cbc.ca/news/health/...

Canada loses measles elimination status | CBC

www.cbc.ca

Reposted by James A. Benn

Dreadnought Holiday @dreadships.bsky.social · 19h

Does anybody else find it odd that you don't hear much about pyramids keeping razor blades sharp any more?

When did they stop working?

Diagram of a safety razor inside a pyramid. The diagram notes that the razor blade itself should align north/south to allow the magnetic flow to work to its full advantage. Its full advantage, of course, being absolutely bugger all, but send your dollars NOW!

Reposted by James A. Benn

Wolfgang Behr / 畢鶚 (氒/厥/攸) @behrwolf.bsky.social · 23h

Postdoctoral position in global philology at U. Uppsala (apply by Nov. 26). Specialisations include: Comp./General Lx., Greek and Byzantine Studies, Indology, Iranian Languages, Latin, Semitic Languages, Sinology, and Turkic Languages. tinyurl.com/nhbk8fhh

Postdoctoral position in global philology - Uppsala University

Postdoctoral position in global philology, Department of Linguistics and Philology, Uppsala University

tinyurl.com

Reposted by Anna O. Law, James A. Benn

Moby Dick @mobydickatsea.bsky.social · 1d

it’s better to sail with a moody good captain than a laughing bad one

James A. Benn @jamesabenn.bsky.social · 1d

Very true

Reposted by James A. Benn

EarthSky @earthskyscience.bsky.social · 1d

Fifty years ago tomorrow, November 10, the Great Lakes’ most famous shipwreck claimed the lives of 29 men. SS #EdmundFitzgerald, a 729-foot freighter, sank in Lake Superior. Read about the tragedy: buff.ly/NYMctdR

📸 Greenmars/ Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0.

Huge ship, very long with superstructure at both ends, and smoke coming out of a large funnel or smokestack at the stern end. The hull is painted red and the name Edmund Fitzgerald is painted on the bow.

Reposted by James A. Benn

Michael Erard @michaelerard.bsky.social · 1d

This is about 6 km from where I live. I wonder how this change is going to play with the locals.

On one hand, they're very proud of this cemetery. Families adopt a grave and tend it; the waitlist to do is very long. The annual commemorative concert is packed.

michaelerard.com/blog/at-the-...

James A. Benn @jamesabenn.bsky.social · 1d

Our Religious Studies department is in the Faculty of Social Sciences which I find makes students more open to seeing religion beyond the perspective of the individual. I love teaching our theory and methods class!

Reposted by James A. Benn

Caleb Carter @calebscarter.bsky.social · 2d

Upcoming workshop on spirituality at Kyudai this Friday
For those in the area, let me know if you’d like to join us (sorry, in-person only)

Reposted by James A. Benn

Isabel Köster @iotasubscript.bsky.social · 2d

I got to play with a simulation of a Korean divination technique that is based on the first animal sound you hear (in the new year, technically). The dog bark got me “Many thieves for the year,” so I’d like to remind everyone that the temple robbers are happy to go on tour for a book talk.

Reposted by James A. Benn

Flightradar24 @flightradar24.com · 2d

This is the FAA operations plan that just went into place as of 1900 UTC. A growing list of staffing triggers throughout the day and airspace flow programs are in place.

Overview of national airspace system status.

FAA operations plan effective as of 1900Z.

Reposted by James A. Benn

Xander ✺ @spectralcodex.com · 2d

Mong Tong's Taiwan Mystery II features a montage of unusual architecture and occult phenomena from around the country. It was released along with an art book featuring photos and imagery from many of these sites. The music is also really great; dreamy instrumental psychrock. youtu.be/kwHcZaPLl58?...

Mong Tong - Taiwan Mystery II

YouTube video by Mong Tong

youtu.be

Reposted by James A. Benn

The Local Magazine @thelocal.to · 2d

The Local wrapped its higher education issue yesterday. From the threat of a right-wing crackdown on campuses, to the realities of being a tenant at a frat house, to deep-dives on crises at York and the University of Toronto, revisit the issue:

The Higher Education Issue | The Local

Facing a financial crisis, as well as enormous technological, political, and social upheaval, Ontario's higher education system is in flux. Throughout the fall, we’re reporting stories from Toronto’s…

thelocal.to

Reposted by James A. Benn

Canadian History Ehx @cdnhistoryehx.bsky.social · 2d

On this day in 1946, Viola Desmond's car broke down in New Glasgow, NS. She went to a movie and sat in a Whites-Only area. Her refusal to move helped spark the modern Canadian civil rights movement.

Learn more in my Deep Dive 👇
canadaehx.com/2025/02/04/v...

A black-and-white portrait of a woman with neatly styled, voluminous hair, wearing a light-colored dress and a heart-shaped necklace. She is looking directly at the camera with a slight smile.

Reposted by James A. Benn

Chhiū-ông-kong 樹王公 @shuwanggong.bsky.social · 2d

[“Female Student” (女學生)] was one of 240 works included in the 1930 Poetry of Chin-chuan (金川詩草), making Huang the first Taiwanese woman to have her own poetry collection.
www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/ar...

Taiwan in Time:Bound talent: A female poet’s lament - Taipei Times

Bringing Taiwan to the World and the World to Taiwan

www.taipeitimes.com

Reposted by James A. Benn

https://stephenjones.blog/ @stevejonesblog.bsky.social · 3d

From my series of fieldnotes from the 1990s: village ritual associations of Xiongxian, Hebei
stephenjones.blog/xiongxian-ri...

Ritual groups of Xiongxian, Hebei

Through the 1990s, one of the most fruitful sites for our fieldwork project on the Hebei plain south of Beijing was the area around Xiongxian county, just south of Bazhou, and east of the regional …

stephenjones.blog

Reposted by James A. Benn

Prof. Dr. Michael Hö (Sinologist) 何彌夏 🇹🇼🇪🇺🇭🇰 @medievalchina.bsky.social · 3d

#BOTD in 1875 in #ModernChina: Qiu Jin #秋瑾, #Chinese #revolutionary and #feminist. Known as the Women Knight of Mirror Lake 鑒湖女俠, she joined the anti-Qing movement in #Japan. Executed in 1907, she is worshipped as a #martyr in the #Sinophone world. #ChineseHistory #feminism

Reposted by James A. Benn

Year Progress Bot @yearprogress.bsky.social · 3d

▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░░░ 85.14%

Reposted by James A. Benn

Lit Hub @literaryhub.bsky.social · 3d

@jonawils.bsky.social explores the political and personal upheavals at the center of the 1938 FIFA World Cup.

How the Rise of Fascism Impacted the 1938 FIFA World Cup

In late March 1938, around ten weeks before the World Cup was due to begin, the Austrian soccer federation sent a telegram to FIFA. “Sorry to cancel World Cup enrolment,” it read. “Austrian footbal…

buff.ly

Reposted by James A. Benn, David Darmofal

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 3d

Farmers' Almanac says it will cease publication after 208 years, citing financial challenges

A 208-year-old publication that farmers, gardeners and others keen to predict the weather have relied on for guidance will be publishing for the final time.

apnews.com

Reposted by Louise Edwards, James A. Benn

Gregory Adam Scott 史瑞戈 @sudasana.bsky.social · 4d

Oooh really looking forward to this press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

The Politics of Common Reading

Examines the transformation of vernacular knowledge during a pivotal period of modern Chinese history, 1894 to 1954. What did common readers read in the midst of the revolutions that punctuated Chin...

press.uchicago.edu

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Jan W. Mueller, American Library Association , and 8 more Anna O. Law, Jan W. Mueller, American Library Association, Aaron Sojourner, Margot C. Finn, Ann Bartow, Greg Linden, Rebecca Zorach, Nicole Guenther Discenza, James A. Benn, Southern Africa

max tani @maxtani.bsky.social · 4d

New: Conde Nast fired four employees who were among a group that confronted the company's head of human resources on Wednesday over the decision to fold Teen Vogue into Vogue/recent cuts. Employees who were fired included journalists from the New Yorker, Wired, and Bon Appétit.

Reposted by James A. Benn

Yilin (she/they) @ check out The Lantern and the Night Moths @yilinwriter.bsky.social · 4d

i've been working on translations of two poems from the Classic of Poetry 诗经 (the oldest surviving book of chinese poetry dating back to 11th to 7th century BC). I have had to consult 6 annotated editions, and the most thorough edition has 3+ pages of annotations for every single line lol 😅

Reposted by James A. Benn

Prof. Dr. Michael Hö (Sinologist) 何彌夏 🇹🇼🇪🇺🇭🇰 @medievalchina.bsky.social · 5d

Charles Godfrey Leland, Fusang, or the Discovery of America by Chinese Buddhist Priests in the Fifth Century (London: Trübner, 1875):

books.google.de/books?id=_ZT...

Fusang, Or, The Discovery of America by Chinese Buddhist Priests in the Fifth Century

"Each September, up to 5,000 of the most amazing pieces of British architecture, engineering and heritage are opened up to the public. The main event and the focus of the series is the London Open Hou...

books.google.de

Reposted by James A. Benn

Prof. Dr. Michael Hö (Sinologist) 何彌夏 🇹🇼🇪🇺🇭🇰 @medievalchina.bsky.social · 5d

Who coined the phrase "#Buddhist #conquest of #China"? It appears in Hu Shi's #胡適 English writings as early as 1925, a quarter-century before E. Zürcher's eponymous book. A Chinese #translation of the latter is, titled #佛教征服中國.

Reposted by James A. Benn

Shaily Patel @vox-magica.bsky.social · 5d

hey #aarsbl25, we’re doing a k-pop demon hunters sing-along, right?

Reposted by James A. Benn

Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 5d

I was invited to present some of my research on #Revenge in Gongyang Confucianism #公羊學 at the Qing Intellectual History Network next week. Feel free to join us at the link below on November 10! #ChinesePhilosophy #Sinology

Reposted by James A. Benn

Conversation Kenge @fenken.bsky.social · 5d

Four out of six ships called HMS Invincible sank (one of them really quite assertively). Proving that they were actually pretty vincible...

HMS Invincible at Jutland. It is in the middle of its metamorphosis from battle cruiser to wreck. Oddly enough the ship was so long that while you can see the bow and the stern sticking out of the water here, the broken bits of hull are actually resting on the sea bed.

Reposted by James A. Benn

Kenny Linden @kennylinden.bsky.social · 5d

A+ Chinese history joke right here.

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