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awmerck.bsky.social
awmerck
@awmerck.bsky.social
390 followers 360 following 570 posts
Historian by training. she/her/ma'am. personal account
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awmerck.bsky.social
awmerck @awmerck.bsky.social · Feb 10
my brain is a bowl full of mush
awmerck.bsky.social
saying "no one tests for botulism so we had no idea" in a canned/processed product is like saying "no one tests for trichinosis" in meat. These people are not serious
November 20, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Reposted by awmerck
awmerck.bsky.social
reading about byheart recalls i'm irritated that i wrote this in *2022*: recalled.substack.com/p/yes-were-s...
Yes, we're still recalling formula
The ByHeart recall, and the problem with "clean eating" rhetoric in processed foods
recalled.substack.com
November 18, 2025 at 3:29 AM
awmerck.bsky.social
reading about byheart recalls i'm irritated that i wrote this in *2022*: recalled.substack.com/p/yes-were-s...
Yes, we're still recalling formula
The ByHeart recall, and the problem with "clean eating" rhetoric in processed foods
recalled.substack.com
November 18, 2025 at 3:29 AM
Reposted by awmerck
pleasebegneiss.bsky.social
“keep politics out of kids movies”

disney in 1973:
death to tyrants! from disney’s animated robin hood
July 20, 2025 at 2:30 AM
Reposted by awmerck
katbamkapow.bsky.social
anyway it's wild to me that effectively all federally funded academic research in the u.s. has been either halted or irredeemably slowed and we're just like, "welp 🤷‍♀️"
July 17, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Reposted by awmerck
jlepler.bsky.social
OMG! My first look at “Canal Dreamers” as a physical book is in a viral TikTok! Go @sonyabonczek.bsky.social and @uncpress.bsky.social! So excited to get my paws on the real thing when I get home from #shear2025.
sonyabonczek.bsky.social Sonya Bonczek @sonyabonczek.bsky.social · Jul 16
Thought this was too niche but we’ve gone mini viral on TikTok 😂
Paid actors:
-the Cool Town poster - first book we published in our Ferris & Ferris imprint 😎
-Canal Dreamers by
@jlepler.bsky.social (officially pubs next month! 💙)
-the chewing gum
-Savor the South series, specifically: Catfish
July 16, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Reposted by awmerck
awmerck.bsky.social
olipop vintage cola tastes like how they would have made coca cola during the great depression, or maybe with wartime shortages. 10/10 drink of the summer for 2025
July 15, 2025 at 1:17 AM
Reposted by awmerck
contingent-mag.bsky.social
We've gotten a ton of fascinating submissions so far from people who research the past outside of the discipline of history, but we're looking for more! Share widely to help us get this project off the ground.
Face/Off
Lots of scholars from different disciplines study and write about things that happened in the past. So what, if anything, makes history a separate and coherent discipline? While Contingent is a histor...
contingentmagazine.org
July 11, 2025 at 10:53 PM
awmerck.bsky.social
olipop vintage cola tastes like how they would have made coca cola during the great depression, or maybe with wartime shortages. 10/10 drink of the summer for 2025
July 15, 2025 at 1:17 AM
awmerck.bsky.social
just paid $30 to see some people dress as cardboard robots and pretend to fight each other two weeks from now, this is the level of "despondent and also incredibly silly" i am at
July 15, 2025 at 1:16 AM
awmerck.bsky.social
climate scientists will be like THE GOVERNMENT DOESN'T WANT YOU TO KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT WEATHER and then link to this storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/0c8f...
The 5th National Climate Assessment in 15 Maps
Findings from NCA5 are presented here with information to help contextualize the maps displayed in the NCA Atlas Explorer.
storymaps.arcgis.com
July 12, 2025 at 3:07 AM
awmerck.bsky.social
frances kelsey would like a word
astra.bsky.social Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social · Jul 9
cool cool
July 9, 2025 at 1:02 AM
Reposted by awmerck
costasamaras.com
The President’s budget proposes devastating cuts to NOAA, which helps everyone understand and prepare for extreme weather. NOAA was also in the middle of developing new flood maps for neighborhoods. bsky.app/profile/cost...
nytimes.com The New York Times @nytimes.com · Jul 4
At least six people were killed and frantic searches were underway for the missing after heavy rain in Central Texas set off deadly flooding along the Guadalupe River on Friday, authorities said. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/04/u...
July 4, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Reposted by awmerck
rschumacher.cloud
As just one example, the early-retired science officer at NWS San Antonio was one of the very best in the business, and the most knowledgeable about flash flooding and its impacts
July 6, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Reposted by awmerck
profsecchi.bsky.social
Still amazed at how many experts and such working in the ag/food space in OECD countries do not take seriously food sovereignty for Indigenous people and people in the global South in general.
July 4, 2025 at 2:01 AM
awmerck.bsky.social
explaining how to approach a lit review earlier made me realize that if i have a religious affiliation it might be "zotero"
July 3, 2025 at 12:32 AM
awmerck.bsky.social
Dolly offers an incredibly generous summary of some hidden curriculum elements of this posting - I hope they get many amazing applications
June 29, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Reposted by awmerck
dollyjorgensen.bsky.social
Important news for the #envhist crowd: We are hiring an Associate Professor of Environmental History!

www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...

Application deadline is August 7.

Some tips for those interested from abroad in thread 👇
Associate Professor in Environmental History (281801) | University of Stavanger
Job title: Associate Professor in Environmental History (281801), Employer: University of Stavanger, Deadline: Thursday, August 7, 2025
www.jobbnorge.no
June 26, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Reposted by awmerck
lutzfernandez.bsky.social
I put together a 4-page doc for those wary of the rush to integrate in K-12 schools (though much applies beyond).

Four of the main arguments for teachers using AI tools & introducing kids to AI as early as kindergarten are addressed with rebuttals linked to sources.
Help Sheet: Resisting AI Mania in Schools K-12 educators are under increasing pressure to use—and have students use—a wide range of AI tools. (The term “AI” is used loosely here, just as it is by many purveyors and boosters.) Even those who envision benefits to schools of this fast-evolving category of tech should approach the well-funded AI-in-education campaign with skepticism and caution. Some of the primary arguments for teachers actively using AI tools and introducing students to AI as early as kindergarten, however, are questionable or fallacious. What follows are four of the most common arguments and rebuttals with links to sources. I have not attempted balance, in part because so much pro-AI messaging is out there and discussion of risks and costs is often minimized in favor of hope or resignation. -ALF Argument: “Schools need to prepare students for the jobs of the future.” ● The skills employers seek haven’t changed much over the decades—and include a lot of “soft skills” like initiative, problem-solving, communication, and critical thinking. ● Early research is showing that using generative AI can degrade these key skills: ○ An MIT study showed adults using chatGPT to help write an essay “had the lowest brain engagement and ‘consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels.’” Critically, “ChatGPT users got lazier with each subsequent essay, often resorting to copy-and-paste by the end of the study.” ○ A business school found those who used AI tools often had worse critical thinking skills “mediated by increased cognitive offloading. Younger participants exhibited higher dependence on AI tools and lower critical thinking scores.” ○ Another study revealed those using “ChatGPT engaged less in metacognitive activities...For instance, learners in the AI group frequently looped back to ChatGPT for feedback rather than reflecting independently. This dependency not only undermines critical thinking but also risks long-term skill stagnati… Argument: “AI is a tool, just like a calculator.” ● Calculators don’t provide factually wrong answers, but AI tools have. Last year, Google’s AI search returned, among other falsehoods, that cats have gone to the moon, that Barack Obama is Muslim, and that glue goes on pizza. Even though AI tools have and are expected to improve, children in schools shouldn’t be used as tech firms’ guinea pigs for undertested, unregulated products while AI firms engage elected officials in actively resisting regulation. ● Calculators don’t provide dangerous, even deadly feedback. In one study, a ”chatbot recommended that a user, who said they were recovering from addiction, take a ‘small hit’ of methamphetamine” because, it said, it’s “‘what makes you able to do your job to the best of your ability.’" Users have received threatening messages from chatbots. ● Calculators don’t pose mental health risks because they aren’t potentially addictive or designed to encourage repeated use. They don’t flatter, direct, or manipulate. Chatbots have been designed this way—and this has led to dreadful mental health outcomes for some, including users in a New York Times report. Alleging a chatbot encouraged their teen to die by suicide, parents in Florida filed a lawsuit against its maker. ● Calculators don’t lie. Chatbots, however, have misled users. Writer Amanda Guinzburg shared screenshots of interactions with one that she asked to describe several of her essays. It spewed out invented material, showing the chatbot hadn’t actually accessed and processed the essays. After much prodding, it “admitted” it had only acted as though it had done that requested work, spit out mea culpas—and went on to invent or “lie” again. ● Calculators can’t be used to spread propaganda. AI tools, though, including those meant for schools, should worry us. Law professor Eric Muller’s back-and-forth with SchoolAI’s “Anne Frank” character showed his “helluva time trying to get her to say a bad word about Nazis.” In thi… Argument: “AI won’t replace teachers, but it will save them time and improve their effectiveness.” ● Adding edtech does not necessarily save teachers time. A recent study found that learning management systems sold to schools over the past decade-plus as time-savers aren’t delivering on making teaching easier. Instead, they found this tech (e.g. Google Classroom, Canvas) is often burdensome and contributes to burnout. As one teacher put it, it “just adds layers to tasks.” ● “Extra time” is rarely returned to teachers. AI proponents argue that if teachers use AI tools to grade, prepare lessons, or differentiate materials, they’ll have more time to work with students. But there are always new initiatives, duties, or committee assignments—the unpaid work districts rely on—to suck up that time. In a culture of austerity and with a USDOE that is cutting spending, teachers are likely to be assigned more students. When class sizes grow, students get less attention, and positions can be cut. ● AI can’t replace what teachers do, but that doesn’t mean teachers won’t be replaced. Schools are already doing it: Arizona approved a charter school in which students spend mornings working with AI and the role of teacher is reduced to “guide.” Ed tech expert Neil Selwyn argues those in “industry and policy circles...hostile to the idea of expensively trained expert professional educators who have [tenure], pension rights and union protection... [welcome] AI replacement as a way of undermining the status of the professional teacher.” ● Tech firms have been selling schools on untested products for years. Technophilia has led to students being on screens for hours in school each week even when their phones are banned. Writer Jess Grose explains, “Companies never had to prove that devices or software, broadly speaking, helped students learn before those devices had wormed their way into America’s public schools.” AI products appear to be no different. ● Efficiency is not effectiveness. “… Argument: “Students are already using AI, so we have to teach them ethical use. ● If schools want ethical students, teach ethics. More students are using AI tools to cheat, an age-old problem they make much easier. This won’t be addressed by showing students how to use this minute’s AI, an argument implying students don’t know what plagiarism is (solved by teaching about plagiarism) or understand academic integrity (solved by teaching and enforcing its bounds)—or that teachers create weak assignments or don’t convey purpose. The latter aren’t solved by attempting to redirect students motivated and able to cheat. ● Students can be educated on the ethics of AI without encouraging use of AI tools. They can be taught, as part of media literacy and social media safety programs, about AI’s potential and applications as well as how it can enable predation, perpetuate bias, and spread disinformation. They should be taught about the risks of AI and its various social, economic, and environmental costs. Giving a nod to these issues while integrating AI throughout schools sends a strong message: the schools don’t really care and neither should students. ● Children can’t be expected to use AI responsibly when adults aren’t. Many pushing schools to embrace AI don’t know much about it. One example: Education Secretary Linda McMahon, who said kindergartners should be taught A1 (a steak sauce). The LA Times introduced a biased and likely politically-motivated AI feature. The Chicago Sun-Times published a summer reading list including nonexistent books—yet teachers are told to use the same tools to do similar work. Educators using AI to cut corners can strike students as hypocritical. ● The many costs of AI call into question the possibility of ethical AI use. These include: ○ Energy - AI data centers need huge amounts of water as coolant as well as electricity, pulling these resources from their communities—which tend to be lower-income—straining the grid, and raising household cos…
June 25, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Reposted by awmerck
lutzfernandez.bsky.social
Yet more on the birth rate panic.

Again, fascinating that the people telling us we need to breed more to make more workers are some of the same folks who want to kick out all the immigrants and are some of the same folks telling us AI is going to wipe out a bunch of jobs.
The push for an American baby boom
The Trump Administration wants more Americans to have babies. It's proposing a $5,000 "baby bonus," among other policies. Would this fix the nation's historically low birth rate?
www.wbur.org
June 27, 2025 at 8:13 PM
awmerck.bsky.social
i have once again spent too much money on aperol spritzes
June 27, 2025 at 3:24 AM
awmerck.bsky.social
it has been [ 0 ] days since i talked about catalytic converters
June 26, 2025 at 4:50 AM
awmerck.bsky.social
Just an update, apparently the language on their website was just about parking? I'm still wearing my tinfoil hat and keeping a closer eye on what's happening at NARA though.
awmerck.bsky.social awmerck @awmerck.bsky.social · Jun 25
if you're a grad student and a tenured faculty member tries to convince you not to panic about the situation with Archives II, that you can just pivot and do digital humanities or whatever, you have my permission to throw a book at them and then you might want to find a new advisor
June 25, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Reposted by awmerck
johngmarks.com
OH MY GOD when did Chicago Manual of Style stop requiring publisher location in citations???

I just yelled "WHAT??!" out loud in my living room and my wife was very let down by what elicited that reaction.
June 23, 2025 at 11:32 PM
awmerck.bsky.social
anyway here's "the ugliest statue in DC," a memorial to the temperance movement.
A non-functioning stone fountain in the shape of two intertwined fish, enclosed by four columns and a pedestal with a stork or heron, in a city square.
June 25, 2025 at 1:09 AM