Blake Hartung
@bahartung.bsky.social
Teaching Professor, Arizona State University
When I have time, I research and write on late antiquity, early Christianity, Syriac literature, and the Mandaeans
My book: https://brill.com/display/title/68207?language=en
When I have time, I research and write on late antiquity, early Christianity, Syriac literature, and the Mandaeans
My book: https://brill.com/display/title/68207?language=en
Reposted by Blake Hartung
"This promise of an AI future, is really just a collective anxiety that wealthy people have about how well they're gonna be able to control us in the future."
- @tressiemcphd.bsky.social with an absolute mic drop moment about AI bullshit.
Incredible words.
Listen to all of it!
- @tressiemcphd.bsky.social with an absolute mic drop moment about AI bullshit.
Incredible words.
Listen to all of it!
December 19, 2025 at 12:24 PM
"This promise of an AI future, is really just a collective anxiety that wealthy people have about how well they're gonna be able to control us in the future."
- @tressiemcphd.bsky.social with an absolute mic drop moment about AI bullshit.
Incredible words.
Listen to all of it!
- @tressiemcphd.bsky.social with an absolute mic drop moment about AI bullshit.
Incredible words.
Listen to all of it!
My daughter (2) calls "Feliz Navidad" "Police Peacock" and I just had to share that.
December 10, 2025 at 9:06 PM
My daughter (2) calls "Feliz Navidad" "Police Peacock" and I just had to share that.
Reposted by Blake Hartung
My favourite holiday meme
December 6, 2025 at 9:41 AM
My favourite holiday meme
Reposted by Blake Hartung
you'd think the forced displacement of 10 million people from one of the oldest centres of civilisation in human history would get a little more news attention than beltway journalists writing essays on how Olivia Nuzzi is a genius because they want to bone her and you'd be wrong
'Iran’s capital must be moved because the country “no longer has a choice,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday in remarks carried by state media, warning that severe ecological strain has made Tehran impossible to sustain'
#Iran 🇮🇷
#Iran 🇮🇷
Iran president says capital move now a necessity as water crisis deepens
Iran’s capital must be moved because the country “no longer has a choice,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday in remarks carried by state media, warning that severe ecological strain has mad...
www.iranintl.com
November 21, 2025 at 7:59 PM
you'd think the forced displacement of 10 million people from one of the oldest centres of civilisation in human history would get a little more news attention than beltway journalists writing essays on how Olivia Nuzzi is a genius because they want to bone her and you'd be wrong
Reposted by Blake Hartung
🗣️ PLEASE SHARE 🗣️
I'm writing an intro & sourcebook on late ancient Gazan literature for Dar al-Kalima University Press. The press and I plan to produce an Arabic translation to make Gazan literature more accessible to Palestinians. Help me compensate the Gazan translator!
spot.fund/dn8t744sc
I'm writing an intro & sourcebook on late ancient Gazan literature for Dar al-Kalima University Press. The press and I plan to produce an Arabic translation to make Gazan literature more accessible to Palestinians. Help me compensate the Gazan translator!
spot.fund/dn8t744sc
Click here to support Chance Bonar's story *AncientGazanLitTranslation
*spotfund is the easiest place to create beautiful and free online fundraisers. It takes just minutes to start raising money today.
spot.fund
October 21, 2025 at 5:25 PM
🗣️ PLEASE SHARE 🗣️
I'm writing an intro & sourcebook on late ancient Gazan literature for Dar al-Kalima University Press. The press and I plan to produce an Arabic translation to make Gazan literature more accessible to Palestinians. Help me compensate the Gazan translator!
spot.fund/dn8t744sc
I'm writing an intro & sourcebook on late ancient Gazan literature for Dar al-Kalima University Press. The press and I plan to produce an Arabic translation to make Gazan literature more accessible to Palestinians. Help me compensate the Gazan translator!
spot.fund/dn8t744sc
Reposted by Blake Hartung
"I DON'T NEED YOU TO FUCKING REWRITE WHAT I'VE JUST WRITTEN!"
October 28, 2025 at 10:46 AM
"I DON'T NEED YOU TO FUCKING REWRITE WHAT I'VE JUST WRITTEN!"
Reposted by Blake Hartung
Whenever people complain about the number of folks relying on food stamps, it is worth reminding them that SNAP is, by too large of a degree, a subsidy for corporations that refuse to pay a living wage and their political allies who reject public policy prescriptions to reduce income inequality.
October 27, 2025 at 1:11 AM
Whenever people complain about the number of folks relying on food stamps, it is worth reminding them that SNAP is, by too large of a degree, a subsidy for corporations that refuse to pay a living wage and their political allies who reject public policy prescriptions to reduce income inequality.
Reposted by Blake Hartung
Shared courtesy of my Penn History colleague, Ben Nathans
October 12, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Shared courtesy of my Penn History colleague, Ben Nathans
Reposted by Blake Hartung
A bunch of toxic LA NIMBYs are whining about SB 79, the amazing housing bill the CA legislature passed recently.
It's on the governor's desk, and reportedly he's getting cold feet. Hey @gavinnewsom.bsky.social, please have some spine on the most important issue in your state. Just sign it.
It's on the governor's desk, and reportedly he's getting cold feet. Hey @gavinnewsom.bsky.social, please have some spine on the most important issue in your state. Just sign it.
Homeowners denounce SB 79 vote - Beverly Press & Park Labrea News
Legislation awaits governor’s signature
beverlypress.com
September 30, 2025 at 4:58 PM
A bunch of toxic LA NIMBYs are whining about SB 79, the amazing housing bill the CA legislature passed recently.
It's on the governor's desk, and reportedly he's getting cold feet. Hey @gavinnewsom.bsky.social, please have some spine on the most important issue in your state. Just sign it.
It's on the governor's desk, and reportedly he's getting cold feet. Hey @gavinnewsom.bsky.social, please have some spine on the most important issue in your state. Just sign it.
Reposted by Blake Hartung
We built a calculator that doesn't work, but don't worry, it's also a plagiarism machine that will tell you to kill yourself. It runs on the world's oceans and costs 10 trillion dollars.
August 29, 2025 at 6:24 PM
We built a calculator that doesn't work, but don't worry, it's also a plagiarism machine that will tell you to kill yourself. It runs on the world's oceans and costs 10 trillion dollars.
Reposted by Blake Hartung
“Chicago has long helped to keep alive tiny fields & esoteric areas of humanistic study... Without the univ’s support, & the continued training of grad students who can keep these bodies of kn going, entire spheres of human learning might eventually blink out.” www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...
If the University of Chicago Won’t Defend the Humanities, Who Will?
Why it matters that the University of Chicago is pausing admissions to doctoral programs in literature, philosophy, the arts, and languages
www.theatlantic.com
August 27, 2025 at 12:18 PM
“Chicago has long helped to keep alive tiny fields & esoteric areas of humanistic study... Without the univ’s support, & the continued training of grad students who can keep these bodies of kn going, entire spheres of human learning might eventually blink out.” www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...
Reposted by Blake Hartung
Older technologies have aided and perhaps enfeebled writers. “But with A.I. we’re so thoroughly able to outsource our thinking that it makes us more average, too,” @chaykak.bsky.social writes.
A.I. Is Homogenizing Our Thoughts
Recent studies suggest that tools such as ChatGPT make our brains less active and our writing less original.
nyer.cm
July 9, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Older technologies have aided and perhaps enfeebled writers. “But with A.I. we’re so thoroughly able to outsource our thinking that it makes us more average, too,” @chaykak.bsky.social writes.
Reposted by Blake Hartung
So, here it is. Thanks to a new state law that was NEVER DEBATED, Indiana University has committed itself to abolishing majors in African-American/African Diaspora Studies: American Studies; Art History; French; Italian; Religious Studies etc. DOZENS of majors. www.ipm.org/news-section...
Indiana public colleges cut almost 20% of degrees
Public Indiana colleges and universities have eliminated 19 percent of their degree programs to meet requirements added to the state’s budget, according to the Commission for Higher Education.
www.ipm.org
June 30, 2025 at 9:12 PM
So, here it is. Thanks to a new state law that was NEVER DEBATED, Indiana University has committed itself to abolishing majors in African-American/African Diaspora Studies: American Studies; Art History; French; Italian; Religious Studies etc. DOZENS of majors. www.ipm.org/news-section...
Reposted by Blake Hartung
I HAVE NOW RESTORED THE ROMAN EMPIRE. THERE IS A BEAUTIFUL CEASEFIRE IN ITALY THERE IS NO WAR WITH THE GOTHS AND THERE IS UNIVERSAL PROSPERITY, ANYBODY SPREADING RUMOURS ABOUT A plague IS WRONG, THER IS ALSO NO HERESY ANYMORE ALL IS ORTHODOX
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER, YOUR EMPEROR
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER, YOUR EMPEROR
June 24, 2025 at 1:16 PM
I HAVE NOW RESTORED THE ROMAN EMPIRE. THERE IS A BEAUTIFUL CEASEFIRE IN ITALY THERE IS NO WAR WITH THE GOTHS AND THERE IS UNIVERSAL PROSPERITY, ANYBODY SPREADING RUMOURS ABOUT A plague IS WRONG, THER IS ALSO NO HERESY ANYMORE ALL IS ORTHODOX
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER, YOUR EMPEROR
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER, YOUR EMPEROR
Reposted by Blake Hartung
The cost of the 4 F-18 planes lost in the Red Sea ($240 million) is now greater than the 2025 NEH Budget ($200 million)
May 11, 2025 at 1:38 AM
The cost of the 4 F-18 planes lost in the Red Sea ($240 million) is now greater than the 2025 NEH Budget ($200 million)
Reposted by Blake Hartung
Rinse and repeat for the foreseeable future.
April 22, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Rinse and repeat for the foreseeable future.
Musk apparently refers to his kids as a “legion”. Dude, leave the Romans out of this weird shit.
Weirder than you can imagine and I can imagine really weird www.wsj.com/politics/elo...
The Tactics Elon Musk Uses to Manage His ‘Legion’ of Babies—and Their Mothers
The world’s richest man juggles more than a dozen children and ‘harem drama’ along with running his companies and advising Trump. He recently took a paternity test in a battle with one woman over mone...
www.wsj.com
April 16, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Musk apparently refers to his kids as a “legion”. Dude, leave the Romans out of this weird shit.
Reposted by Blake Hartung
Even accepting the premise that AI produces useful writing (which no one should), using AI in education is like using a forklift at the gym. The weights do not actually need to be moved from place to place. That is not the work. The work is what happens within you.
April 15, 2025 at 2:56 AM
Even accepting the premise that AI produces useful writing (which no one should), using AI in education is like using a forklift at the gym. The weights do not actually need to be moved from place to place. That is not the work. The work is what happens within you.
Some wisdom from my four year old son: “I’m glad we don’t have a king in Arizona. He would tell everyone what to do, and I just wanna do my own thing.”
March 23, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Some wisdom from my four year old son: “I’m glad we don’t have a king in Arizona. He would tell everyone what to do, and I just wanna do my own thing.”
Reposted by Blake Hartung
“When the victory was won, he made the announcement himself”
Suetonius on Emperor Nero’s absurd participation in the Olympic Games.
Suetonius on Emperor Nero’s absurd participation in the Olympic Games.
March 17, 2025 at 7:07 PM
“When the victory was won, he made the announcement himself”
Suetonius on Emperor Nero’s absurd participation in the Olympic Games.
Suetonius on Emperor Nero’s absurd participation in the Olympic Games.
Reposted by Blake Hartung
Usefully sober fact sheet on Ukraine. Please share with those who need it.
understandingwar.org/backgrounder...
understandingwar.org/backgrounder...
Institute for the Study of War
Russian forces currently occupy around 20 percent of Ukraine, leaving the remaining 80 percent of the country under Ukraine's sovereign control. At the current rate of advance, it would take Russian f...
understandingwar.org
February 22, 2025 at 10:43 PM
Usefully sober fact sheet on Ukraine. Please share with those who need it.
understandingwar.org/backgrounder...
understandingwar.org/backgrounder...