Bill Lascher
@bill-lascher.bsky.social
Writer of stories about people, history, and place. Lover of getting lost in research. Player of pinball. I often digress.
Books: Eve of a Hundred Midnights | The Golden Fortress | A Danger Shared
www.lascheratlarge.com
Books: Eve of a Hundred Midnights | The Golden Fortress | A Danger Shared
www.lascheratlarge.com
My Dodger dog earlier this week.
November 2, 2025 at 4:28 AM
My Dodger dog earlier this week.
I have an appropriate shirt on here, though he would be just as enthusiastic calling any resolution of this.
November 2, 2025 at 4:15 AM
I have an appropriate shirt on here, though he would be just as enthusiastic calling any resolution of this.
I’m sorry, the what now? Yes, the actual troubling — if unsurprising — story is Trump’s pondering of domestic military deployments but what the actual fuck? Why is this just hung out as the “usual ramblings” when there’d had been grave polemics cognitive ability and age had Biden mentioned this?
October 28, 2025 at 3:36 PM
I’m sorry, the what now? Yes, the actual troubling — if unsurprising — story is Trump’s pondering of domestic military deployments but what the actual fuck? Why is this just hung out as the “usual ramblings” when there’d had been grave polemics cognitive ability and age had Biden mentioned this?
L is for Lingnan University. OTD (Sept. 12) in 1936, Melville Jacoby first visited Lingnan's campus — then located in Guangzhou (Canton) on what is now Sun Yat-Sen University — and began a transformative year studying in #China.
#MelAtoZ #history #WorldWarII
#MelAtoZ #history #WorldWarII
September 12, 2025 at 10:30 PM
L is for Lingnan University. OTD (Sept. 12) in 1936, Melville Jacoby first visited Lingnan's campus — then located in Guangzhou (Canton) on what is now Sun Yat-Sen University — and began a transformative year studying in #China.
#MelAtoZ #history #WorldWarII
#MelAtoZ #history #WorldWarII
K is for Kunming, capital of Yunnan in southern China. Melville Jacoby made these images In August, 1940, when he stopped en route to a stint freelancing for the United Press in Hanoi. #kunming #meljacoby #melAtoZ #WWII #1940s #history #adangershared
September 11, 2025 at 8:02 PM
K is for Kunming, capital of Yunnan in southern China. Melville Jacoby made these images In August, 1940, when he stopped en route to a stint freelancing for the United Press in Hanoi. #kunming #meljacoby #melAtoZ #WWII #1940s #history #adangershared
Gross. Why are the fascist sympathizers at America First advertising to me on Reddit?
September 8, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Gross. Why are the fascist sympathizers at America First advertising to me on Reddit?
June 14, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Okay, now Google really has gone too far ...
April 16, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Okay, now Google really has gone too far ...
Interesting choice of kids’ lit front and center at the timber industry touting World Forestry Center Discovery Museum in #portland.
#drseuss #deforestation #pdx
#drseuss #deforestation #pdx
April 13, 2025 at 12:12 AM
Interesting choice of kids’ lit front and center at the timber industry touting World Forestry Center Discovery Museum in #portland.
#drseuss #deforestation #pdx
#drseuss #deforestation #pdx
J is for Japan. One can’t write about Melville Jacoby in Asia without writing about Japan, where Mel captured this 8mm footage in the summer of 1937, just weeks after all out war erupted between Japan and China.
Music: “Wakare no Blues,” by Noriko Awaya
Music: “Wakare no Blues,” by Noriko Awaya
April 9, 2025 at 7:02 AM
J is for Japan. One can’t write about Melville Jacoby in Asia without writing about Japan, where Mel captured this 8mm footage in the summer of 1937, just weeks after all out war erupted between Japan and China.
Music: “Wakare no Blues,” by Noriko Awaya
Music: “Wakare no Blues,” by Noriko Awaya
I is for "International." In 1938, @stanford’s student body elected Mel Jacoby chair of its international relations committee. He tried to develop a residence for foreign students and championed financial aid for students in wartime China. Alas, both efforts failed.
#MelJacobyAtoZ #internationalism
#MelJacobyAtoZ #internationalism
April 8, 2025 at 1:53 AM
I is for "International." In 1938, @stanford’s student body elected Mel Jacoby chair of its international relations committee. He tried to develop a residence for foreign students and championed financial aid for students in wartime China. Alas, both efforts failed.
#MelJacobyAtoZ #internationalism
#MelJacobyAtoZ #internationalism
Reporters (including Mel Jacoby, standing with cigarette) at the Chongqing, China, Press Hostel in March, 1940.
Today’s Foreign Correspondents Club, Hong Kong, traces its roots to the hostel. I’ll talk about that history at my book lunch tomorrow, April 2 at the FCCHK. Contact the club for tickets.
Today’s Foreign Correspondents Club, Hong Kong, traces its roots to the hostel. I’ll talk about that history at my book lunch tomorrow, April 2 at the FCCHK. Contact the club for tickets.
April 1, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Reporters (including Mel Jacoby, standing with cigarette) at the Chongqing, China, Press Hostel in March, 1940.
Today’s Foreign Correspondents Club, Hong Kong, traces its roots to the hostel. I’ll talk about that history at my book lunch tomorrow, April 2 at the FCCHK. Contact the club for tickets.
Today’s Foreign Correspondents Club, Hong Kong, traces its roots to the hostel. I’ll talk about that history at my book lunch tomorrow, April 2 at the FCCHK. Contact the club for tickets.
Dictated a reminder to myself to do a first pass at packing my bag and my phone heard this. Maybe we don’t have to worry so much about voice to text yet. Also, mmm, dry rub…
March 27, 2025 at 2:40 AM
Dictated a reminder to myself to do a first pass at packing my bag and my phone heard this. Maybe we don’t have to worry so much about voice to text yet. Also, mmm, dry rub…
H is for Hong Kong, seen here in this early 1937 footage by Melville Jacoby. Mel frequently visited Hong Kong while studying as an exchange student at Lingnan University, then located in nearby Canton (Guangzhou).
I’ll be in Hong Kong next week for an exhibit of Mel’s photos and other events.
I’ll be in Hong Kong next week for an exhibit of Mel’s photos and other events.
March 25, 2025 at 11:53 PM
H is for Hong Kong, seen here in this early 1937 footage by Melville Jacoby. Mel frequently visited Hong Kong while studying as an exchange student at Lingnan University, then located in nearby Canton (Guangzhou).
I’ll be in Hong Kong next week for an exhibit of Mel’s photos and other events.
I’ll be in Hong Kong next week for an exhibit of Mel’s photos and other events.
"G" is for "Garden Bridge," in Shanghai. This 1939 photo by Mel Jacoby shows a Japanese checkpoint on the bridg, which separated Shanghai's International Settlement from Hongkou, where more than 17,000 Jewish refugees forced from Europe and refused entry elsewhere lived.
#meljacobyAtoZ #history
#meljacobyAtoZ #history
March 25, 2025 at 12:20 AM
"G" is for "Garden Bridge," in Shanghai. This 1939 photo by Mel Jacoby shows a Japanese checkpoint on the bridg, which separated Shanghai's International Settlement from Hongkou, where more than 17,000 Jewish refugees forced from Europe and refused entry elsewhere lived.
#meljacobyAtoZ #history
#meljacobyAtoZ #history
It's so frustrating to still see this kind of post where bloggers provide unsourced claims and call it "news." I only just stumbled upon this claim from @bridgetownbites.bsky.social out of curiosity what was happening to the GZ space. Until the author can provide sourcing it's simply a rumor.
March 24, 2025 at 7:20 PM
It's so frustrating to still see this kind of post where bloggers provide unsourced claims and call it "news." I only just stumbled upon this claim from @bridgetownbites.bsky.social out of curiosity what was happening to the GZ space. Until the author can provide sourcing it's simply a rumor.
At this point, the idea that places like this would ever be possible for travel within the United States seems the realm of science fiction. Scratch that. It seems like utter farce. Add it to the pile of sad contemporary realities. #travel #rail #cities #infrastructure
February 17, 2025 at 12:17 PM
At this point, the idea that places like this would ever be possible for travel within the United States seems the realm of science fiction. Scratch that. It seems like utter farce. Add it to the pile of sad contemporary realities. #travel #rail #cities #infrastructure
One of multiple anti-fascist rallies seen in Köln, Germany today. This from atop the city’s cathedral. Unlike my country’s current VP I don’t believe there is room for the far right in Europe or anywhere.
February 15, 2025 at 3:25 PM
One of multiple anti-fascist rallies seen in Köln, Germany today. This from atop the city’s cathedral. Unlike my country’s current VP I don’t believe there is room for the far right in Europe or anywhere.
Out of office message
February 11, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Out of office message
Yes. It’s only Chinese AI gains and not the first week of an unhinged, unpredictable presidential administration that has caused stocks to sink. And utilities are only in trouble for this and no other risks in the news lately. How is the New York Times this credulous?
January 27, 2025 at 1:27 PM
Yes. It’s only Chinese AI gains and not the first week of an unhinged, unpredictable presidential administration that has caused stocks to sink. And utilities are only in trouble for this and no other risks in the news lately. How is the New York Times this credulous?
Is it me or are New York Times heds and subheds getting more obtuse? An example here: Are they trying to say the women are expressing skepticism of Hegseth or the allegations? Why write it like this?
December 10, 2024 at 9:04 PM
Is it me or are New York Times heds and subheds getting more obtuse? An example here: Are they trying to say the women are expressing skepticism of Hegseth or the allegations? Why write it like this?
Throwback to that improbable year, 1988, and the day the impossible happened. Found this Game 1 ticket during an ongoing research project. What serendipitous moments thrill you the most in your profession? #dodgers #worldseries #winforvin #ephemera
October 25, 2024 at 10:28 PM
Throwback to that improbable year, 1988, and the day the impossible happened. Found this Game 1 ticket during an ongoing research project. What serendipitous moments thrill you the most in your profession? #dodgers #worldseries #winforvin #ephemera
